I FEEL at the end of this week to be in a far more positive frame of mind about events, but even I have to admit, it has been an odd week for many of us. It’s seen its fair share of sad events, which affected me and also brought tragedy on the University of Northampton. I think this week has reminded everyone of the real perspectives in life because at the end of the day, no-one knows what is around the corner.
Having believed that last week and the start of my third and final Uni year had been a blip extended into Monday. It really shouldn’t have, but it did and again, I only have myself to blame. I was buzzing last weekend, until I heard the tragic news of the crash in America that claimed the life of British racing driver Dan Wheldon in Las Vegas. I didn’t take it well at all and seeing the accident really shook me up. Throughout Monday, the crash video on YouTube kept replaying through my head and I lost my focus of the bigger picture, which was bad. I’ve seen a tribute programme that Sky Sports did last night to the Brit, who won the prestigious Indy 500 event twice, which is a unique achievement. He touched many people’s lives in motorsport and he will leave a legacy through that community and his many fans that have been saddened by his loss. So, why did it affect me so much? Basically, I’ve never witnessed death in motorsport, which as people who know me, is a passion of mine. Throw in the fact that he was British and grew up in the tiny village of Emberton, within my hometown of Milton Keynes and that made me worse. Now if that makes me an odd person; for me to love my hometown and British motorsport, then I’m sorry, but that’s who I am and whoever doesn’t like it, I don’t care. In these instances, I’m a private person, couldn’t really share my thoughts on this sort of thing and that wasn’t a good thing. As the week has gone on, I’ve felt better and more within myself, but I just didn’t feel like buzzing or smiling my face off on Monday. I didn’t feel like it, no point faking it in my view. In spite of that, I should have shown more motivation and belief in myself on Monday and had to have a serious think about myself that evening. I wasn’t coming across well and it was time to refocus my energy and effort – no more excuses.
For me, the rest of the week has ended up being far more positive. A lot of my journalism course buddies are beginning to take stock of the fact that Twitter is turning into such a useful source for communication and keeping up-to-date with the news. I got a BlackBerry last week (whilst all the signal problems were occurring) and can’t keep myself away from Twitter. I will now aim to use this far more often than Facebook, especially for professional standards. Note to self; no good moaning on Twitter now, just in case you get a famous journalist following you! Maybe my tweet on Scottish poet Robert Browning in midweek wasn’t my smartest move, but there you go!
I also feel that I made a significant breakthrough with my dissertation this week. Although things had been going well, they had stalled in the past fortnight and I was in desperate need of gaining more research and academic references from books. As a course, we have been strictly told to not rely on the internet, as it isn’t a preferable source. The tutors are expecting between 10-15 books to be used in bibliographies come marking time and I only had six. It wasn’t looking great, especially as books cost a load of money, which is always a commodity in this day and age. I went to the Uni library in midweek and found far more useful information and books that I could have imagined. Not only do I feel that I have saved a fair bit of money, which might have turned into a complete waste, but I feel that I have now made significant progress to begin typing up my first chapter next week, which is encouraging.
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| PARTNERSHIP: Me and Farida both know what it takes |
The post-group meeting from the Silverstone trip went fairly well too, despite my dismal mood on Monday. Ideas have been drawn up for all three aspects that my group has to do now and I’d say we are in a strong position with at least two of the practical elements now. The TV side of things isn’t looking fantastic as I write this, but that has the element to be changed, especially when you have the best journalist on the course that will always give 100 per cent and is working incredibly hard full stop. No, I am not talking about myself here, I’m talking about Farida. I don’t say much about friends on here, in case it embarrasses them, but this is what I will say about Farida. She is committed to the cause, dedicated to her profession and has done so many work placements in the past two years; she has taken so much from them. I’ve never seen anyone who I’ve gone through the education ladder as motivated and driven as her and I know that she is going places in journalism. Plus, she is such a caring, trusting and respectful individual too. In third year, I am slowly coming around to the belief like those Coca Cola adverts of ‘Eat football, sleep football, and drink Coca Cola!’ My motto for this is ‘Live journalism, breath journalism, succeeding at journalism!’ I know Farida is already doing this and I’m lucky to have met someone like her who you can have a laugh with and share information, but can motivate and drive anyone to do even more. Oh and for all fellow journalists out there, follow her on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/FaridaZeynalova, it’s a great feed for her emotions!
However, whilst some of us go from strength to strength, others have opportunities taken away from them. I started this blog talking about an incident that affected me, so I’ll finish mentioning about the tragic events of the early hours of Wednesday morning. I’m sure a lot of you have seen the news reports of the crush at the Lava: Ignite nightclub in Northampton which claimed the life of 22-year old student Nabila Nanfuka. Nabila was a third year student at the University of Northampton, studying Leisure & Tourism. I personally didn’t know her; I know some on our course did. These sorts of incidents just show how life can be so precious to us and remind us of the cruel twists of fate that can just happen, when you don’t expect them to. RIP Nabila and thoughts go out to her family and friends at what must be a very difficult time for them. I know there was an emotional memorial service on one of the campuses yesterday and I do hope the University will do something to mark Nabila’s time of studying here. She shouldn’t be forgotten by anyone who is currently studying at the University of Northampton.
It’s been an odd week, full of ups and downs, satisfaction and vindication, fate and tragedy. What will October’s final week bring; who’s to say, but hopefully a quieter week for everyone after this week’s dramas. For me, this involves a flying visit home to Milton Keynes and I can’t wait!
Thank you for reading!
RIP Dan Wheldon and Nabila Nanfuka
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