Home comforts help the growing distance concern

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

SOMETIMES, I do wish that my life was just a bit quieter, or if that can’t be the case, a week where relatively little happens in it.  I guess I’m in dreamland here! 

     Another week, another mixed bag but it did involve a trip back home for a couple of days to my homeland of Milton Keynes.  I couldn’t wait to get away from it all and it turned into a productive 48 hours.  Not only did I watch one of the classics in film; The Lion King, I felt I made significant progress in regards to my dissertation.  In fact, I’m technically 20 per cent through my 5,000 word quota, which is very satisfying.  It hasn’t been proof-read by anyone other than me, nor content has been checked by my supervised tutor yet, but to say substantial progress has been made is very true.  My target to have the dissertation nearly complete by the end of January is well within reach.

      Being at home for a couple of days rocked too.  I do like my independence, so my accommodation in Northampton works out well, but it is also nice to go home and be guaranteed a hot shower, not having to cook for just you, be certain of a decent internet connection and so on.  Home comforts will never go away from me and with the lack of activity around University so far this year; it looks like something I might be doing a bit more often as the year progresses.  Certainly it is something more to think about if I get more of my work done in this area.

       I had to getaway and at the right time too.  I had several run-ins with Uni course mates between Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, all minor disagreements it has to be said but by the time Monday evening came around, I had enough.  It didn’t matter how I reacted, how I felt, what I decided to do, everything seemed to backfire on me and for no good reason.  If I’ve done something wrong, I will be the first one to hold my hands up and say sorry.  I don’t feel I have had to do that in the past seven days, yet can’t help but feel almost like public enemy no.1.  I think these incidents have highlighted a fact of life; I will probably feature next week in the Odd One Out round of Have I Got News for You?  I have very little in common with anyone on my course and it is beginning to show.  I still watch Neighbours, love Formula One and like playing computer games on my Xbox 360.  The majority prefer a meal at Nando’s, love Halloween and are big fans of The Only Way is Essex.  The latter pair is things I can’t stand and wish didn’t exist.  The gap is not narrowing; the distance is growing.  I hate distance between people, it is one of the worst things to happen in life, but I fear it is happening with pretty much everyone and I don’t like it.  I guess it’s a fact of life and sometimes, it’s better to know where you stand sooner rather than later down the line.  However, if it continues, I can’t help but feel that is this going to be a very long, torrid year.  I’ve already been called boring this year, but perhaps I’m more a freak of nature, lame and uncool than anything else.  However, whatever people think is their business, so I guess I'll just get on with it, keep my head down and wait to graduate.

     Regular readers will know that I was quite critical of the lecturers towards the end of last year and rightly so.  However, credit where it is due, they have supported everyone so far this time around.  Any questions have been answered properly via e-mail or in the next timetabled session and often, things have been made clearer after looking like a near impossible task.  I got another e-mail from the head of the course yesterday encouraging people to apply as this year’s student course rep, with the incentive being a free coffee.  Nice try, but I think I’ll give it a miss.  If you were offering a free Sky subscription, an Audi A4 or a holiday to Mexico, then that would be far more tempting to take on.  In a small team, I do feel I can lead a group forward, but I don’t think I would be cut out to take on the challenge of dealing with the problems/issues/enquiries of 30 students.  For me, it is more likely to provide more headaches than delight.  It might look good on a CV come the end of the year, but to me, feels more like a poisoned chalice.  However, good luck to whoever decides to take on the role.

BUSY: People queue in their hundreds to see the Olympic torch

     Today saw the Olympic torch arrive at the University of Northampton in an event put together very successfully by the University and the Student Union.  I went down for a couple of hours to see what was going on.  A very lengthy queue meant I wasn’t going to be able to have my photo taken with the torch, but everyone seemed very happy there today on such a beautiful, autumn afternoon.  Many youngsters could try out a whole range of sports, such as badminton, basketball, hockey and javelin.  I think we can safely say that Britain’s young talent continues to shine through and it makes you think just how close the 2012 Olympics are now.  In a little over nine months time, the biggest sporting event in the world heads to London and I hope everyone will get in the Olympic spirit, because it is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

      Once again, it has been a tough week in news.  There was the tragic accident in MotoGP in Malaysia last weekend that claimed the life of promising Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, followed by the earthquake in Turkey just hours later which has claimed hundreds of lives.  I didn’t feel miserable about these events, but they are a shock.  One of the well-respected students on the course, told me on Monday; ‘People die, get over it.’  I thought it was a barbaric and unnecessary comment and I was unimpressed, especially with all the tragedy around the world at the moment.  However, perhaps I have had carried too much emotional attraction and meaning to some of the issues in the world in recent weeks and that is something in journalism that you can’t have.  Yesterday, BBC journalist Sanjeev Shetty came into the University to talk to us and spoke about his decision to not show the Simoncelli accident on the rolling news channel when it came through on Sunday.  He highlighted the issue of not getting personally connected with the story, so that’s something I have now taken onboard, no matter how bad it is.  The guest lecture was really useful to me, as not only did it show the hard work I have to put in to get where I want to go, but Sanjeev shared some of his experiences with us and that was nice to hear.

TRIBUTES: For Nabila outside University, a touching memorial

      Finally, as I was leaving the Olympic torch event at Park Campus today, I walked past the lovely memorial that has been created for the late Leisure & Tourism student, Nabila Nanfuka.  Nabila was tragically crushed to death in the Lava: Ignite nightclub last Wednesday morning and the story has remained in the news all week, with the inquest into the death, plus news of the owners of the club going into administration.  Flowers and lighted candles were present and I did stop for a minute to pay my respects and look on.  Nabila had everything going for her and her dreams of a successful life have been cruelly taken away.  This is another reminder to those out there who seem to care more about Kitty Brucknell surviving in the X-Factor.  Get a grip; natural disasters have happened and another economic crisis is sweeping through Europe.  These stories are far more important than a stupid TV show. 

      I will leave you this week with the saying; “Never take anything for granted and don’t plan too far infront, because you just never know what is around the corner.”  Thank you and goodnight!

An odd and tricky week

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

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.

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