Turning the corner

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

“I know what is around the corner – I just don’t know where the corner is.” – Kevin Keegan (Former England manager)

SORRY Kevin, no-one knows what is around the corner, but the unexpected can happen so easily to derail things.  However, the second part of that quote can sometimes be said when you are looking for love.  However, this isn’t me pining for something special, this is turning around the corner and feeling positive about me again and that’s the first time I can say that about myself in a long time.

      I can’t quite believe it; it has been such a positive week but the trick worked.  As people who know me, follow the blog, I think the problems I’ve faced of late have been well-documented.  I’ve been a troubled soul before ‘production week,’ last week.  I returned feeling refreshed, with as much power from a standard Duracell battery and ready to take on everything again.  However, what was important was to bring my old self back and return to the caring, supportive, relaxed side that had worked so well in the final weeks of second year at University.  I feel that I have achieved this and I’m on the edge of continuing this momentum.

        Mondays can be such a long slog; but the 9-6 day (with a three hour gap in-between) is good practice for all trainee journalists.  Not only does it remind those who have undergone placement and faced this, it is what is to be expected at the minimum after graduation.  I came home feeling that everything went according to plan and that is the first Monday I’ve felt like that since my birthday over six weeks ago.  I got something out of all the timetabled lectures/sessions, was encouraged by progress made in a group project and understood how to reference a dissertation within your work.  Yep, it was all largely encouraging.  If there was a black mark, then it was confirmation of a choice of five topics for a 2,000 word feature; abortion, death penalty, the right to bear arms, freedom of expression and something else that I can’t remember!  Not a great choice, but as one of my close friends on the course Ellie said the other week, it is no good complaining about this in a proper job.  We all have strengths and weaknesses and sometimes you need to work on the weaknesses.  Excitement is not going to feature in this piece when I write it up, but I can stay encouraged by attempting something that might not only help me understand the law a bit more, but you never know what you might find out in your research.  Oh, I’m not writing about abortion or the death penalty, I do have my limits when it comes to this!

It certainly is and something I want to get used to

       The good vibe continued on Tuesday when I went in to have my first detailed meeting with my tutor on my dissertation.  For stating the obvious, I will not be revealing what I’m doing, but I had already written up my first chapter and felt ahead of the game.  There was a lot of red pen on the paperwork I sent in, which could be seen as a bad thing.  However, the feedback was very detailed, very constructive and I know what I can change and attempt to improve; e.g.; my exaggerated use of language.  Criticism can come in many forms and it is something I have struggled time and again to accept.  I’m one of those who would rather learn and improve, rather than someone come up to me and say; ‘Your work is rubbish, start again you imbecile!’  I still feel confident in meeting my dissertation targets and believe I’m well on track to succeed with one of the toughest challenges.

         It doesn’t end there; I’m now feeling like I’m contributing far more to the group project on Silverstone and motor racing too.  I’m helping out with two of the three tasks and only attempting to stay clear of the third task on the worry that a technical involvement (i.e. editing) will end up in me having to change the tougher individual project.  I feel everything is under control with this too and the good news is I can restart the production folder.  Okay, it’s not the most attractive piece, but for me, a crucial one.  For those who probably were ready to write me off and they may have had a point a fortnight ago, my message now is ‘Who’s laughing now!’  I’m not one to brag, never have been but I feel like I have proven myself and I can cope with third year.  Yes, it is a shame that it took seven weeks to get a grip of it, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.  While I am mentioning laughing, I love that song by Jessie J!

         Has there been any frustration this week, not personally anyways.  BlackBerry’s do seem to have a severe lack of application memory space and the bumbling Sepp Blatter still refuses to quit as FIFA president after a disgraceful comment he made about racism in football.  However, both events are out of my control, so I will not let these issues bother me.  On the charging side of things, I would like to know why the FA (Football Association) charged Luis Suarez 32 days after Liverpool played Manchester United in the Premiership.  Suarez is alleged to have said something to United defender Patrice Evra in the 1-1 draw last month at Anfield.  You would have thought that he would have been charged on the Monday after the game, not a month later.  However, it is the alleged bit that really strikes me and can be used so much in journalism.  ‘He allegedly said,’ or ‘I think this guy has no place in society’ allegedly – it is a word that is so often used to protect quotes and sources.  That’s the thing with this; we don’t know what Suarez said and that’s the same with John Terry in the QPR v Chelsea stormy encounter.  The British justice system has been questioned in the past, but I’m maintaining the belief that these two are innocent until proven guilty and they shouldn’t be trialled by media. 

          Finally, Christmas is not far away now and I can’t wait.  It is weird for me to feel like this, especially as it didn’t appeal so much a few years ago (2006, 2007 era).  Christmas is a time of year where you forget the bad times and remember the good moments, not just in the present, but the past year too.  It is a time for reflection, a time to be with family and the time to indulge in all that food, drink and TV.  In fact, the build-up is almost just as exciting as the day itself.  Let’s never forget the meaning of the festive season and for anyone who says; ‘It’s not Christmas yet,’ it's on TV now and here is my vindication that it is;

See you next time!

Pondering short-term failings and longer term possibilities

By Simon Wright (Personal Piece)

NEXT week is what the University calls ‘Production Week,’ ‘Reading Week,’ whatever you want to call it.  Once again, it will provide me with the perfect opportunity to go home for the week, which at the end of the day, is where my true heart is and where I belong.  Not only will I use the opportunity to refocus, but it is time to ponder my next move in the long-term.

      I am one of those people who like security and want to sort things out and not have grave uncertainty hanging over me.  I’m afraid I don’t have that privilege at the moment and it isn’t a nice feeling to have.  None of us want to have this feeling and perhaps that explains the tricky start I’ve had to my final year at Uni.  We all choose to study on the degree for the right reasons and have to deal with the constructive criticism, the knockbacks and the disagreements of opinion in a calm and dignified manner.  There are tough times for everyone in journalism and as they say in the legendary bobsled movie Cool Runnings; ‘Rise above It.’ For example, I was annoyed to find out on Monday that a feature piece which I had already planned out has been changed to a series of topics that don’t interest me in the slightest.  Not only did I feel like I had wasted some of my time, but it would have been nice to hear about this at the start of the year, not five weeks into the course.  However, sometimes you need to take a step back to appreciate the compromises that have to be made.  I’m aware that you can’t complain if you get a job and have to write something that you don’t have any interest in.  So, no kidding, writing about the death penalty will not excite me but I’ve got to get on with what has been set.  I took things too far and moaned about it on Monday evening on Facebook and let’s face it, nobody was impressed.  Fair enough, it wasn’t a wise move and following up from last week; I hold my hands up and should have kept my mouth shut on the matter.  If I don’t like it, I know where the exit door is.  It will probably help in the short-term not using Facebook for three whole weeks, letting things blow over and take a much-needed break from the social network site which has taken a grip of control of late.  Christmas isn’t that far away, and I must approach that in the season of goodwill, not be the green-eyed Grinch monster!

       Throughout the first month of my final year, I will honestly say that it has been a struggle, far more than I could have anticipated.  However, have I dealt with things in the right manner?  Probably not!  The relaxed approach to everything at the end of last year will return while I am at home next week because let’s face it, nobody like serious, moody Simon.  Not even I like myself when I’m like that.  It might take a knock on the head to help, but we are now in the beginning of November.  I’m going to treat it as a new month, new start and forget the tough times of the first month.  As one of my closest friends said to me via the wonderful BlackBerry Messenger service on Sunday night; I’m a stronger person that what I have shown so far.  Yes, we all get disappointed and frustrated when certain aspects are changed and if you don’t, I’d nominate you for ‘World’s Strongest Individual!’

      So, that’s the short-term goal; to return to my old self, be more open and deal with disappointment in a more concealed manner rather than blowing up on one of those rants.  However, the long-term is still uncertain and that is a test that might be harder to crack.  I know in myself that I am good enough to make it and I’m certainly not burnt out by journalism.  To be honest, I never have been.  True, I get annoyed with some of the media’s tactics in reporting a story nowadays and of course, the phone hacking scandal of the summer really changed the landscape of how media and journalists are seen to the general public.  I still want to chase my dream of ultimately being successful in this industry, but probably need guidance in the next move I make.  I’m 23 now and don’t want to be doing more years of constant studying, especially as I came to University two years later than most of the rest of the course I currently study on. 

     Where do I go next then is the question?  The possibility to do an NCTJ accredited course is very tempting.  I’ve been checking out prices for a variety of courses.  The cheaper option would be a Distance Learning course, which I can do in my own time, over a maximum of two years.  Unfortunately, my University isn’t NCTJ accredited, so areas like shorthand are not included on my course.  In hindsight, it’s something I probably should have thought about more when I was making decisions on University in the winter of 2008.  Sports journalism is where I wanted to end up then and it still is today, but I don’t know if I should be more specific in what I am aiming for.  I feel that without getting an NCTJ course or training for one in a job, I can’t see myself reaching and fulfilling my goals.  Summer 2012 is certainly the best option for this, but I wouldn’t mind getting a bit more guidance in this area.

     So, this is something I would like to timetable at while I am at home next week.  It’s no harm pondering over your options and actually, it’s a good thing that I’m trying to keep open-minded on this.  Unfortunately, the unpredictable economic climate and the lack of jobs out there mean that an uncertain future is one that faces a lot of us.  I won’t lie; it’s a small world and not a great feeling to have.

       In summary, sort out the short-term faults of recent weeks and return to University on the 14 November as a far better and more positive person for the testing start; something I know I’m capable of.  In the long-term; give your goals some thought over the next week as playing the waiting game is rubbish!

Running on empty

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

THE second week back at University has thrown down more challenges and has literally left my head in a spin.  As I sit here typing this out, I know I need to shape up and get things sorted out, otherwise I’m throwing my degree into the rubbish bin and that would be a massive shame.

PREPARATION: Frank Wrathall's Toyota is rolled out into the paddock

      Today saw the entire journalism group head down to the home of British motorsport, Silverstone.  The trip formed part of the main group project we have to do on motor racing in general, with today’s focus mainly on the finale of the British Touring Car Championship which takes place at Silverstone this weekend.  Preparing for the trip in the build-up and a lot of my colleagues couldn’t see the point of going.  I was remaining cautious about how it would go, but deep down, I was really excited.  I had never been to Silverstone, so this was a great opportunity and a fantastic chance to experience the motor racing scene from the pits, paddock and media centre.  By the day’s end, it felt like I was the only one who felt short-changed and fractionally disappointed and everyone else was in high spirits.  So, why did this happen?

      There are a number of reasons for this.  Some I will go into detail now and others I won’t.  The group I’m working in were hampered today by not having a tape to collect any video footage.  This was a frustrating experience and we missed out massively because of this.  What happened to the tape, I don’t honestly know.  Maybe we didn’t get one?  Perhaps it had been carelessly misplaced or maybe someone fancied using two tapes without checking.  Either way, it was a massive blow and means that unless some of the group make a return trip, the video part of the assignment is frankly, screwed up.  The main basis of the day was to take part in a media day challenge; which was to write a 300-word preview on the touring car finale this weekend.          The prize was tickets to the conclusion of the season on Sunday.  Unfortunately, our group didn’t win, which was a shame, but everyone was very phlegmatic in defeat.  

GLORY: My group (Rochelle, Farida & Tamika); three new podium contenders!

     Everyone knows that I am a competitive soul, always have been and always will be.  Of course I would have liked to have won, but we had a go and it didn’t work out.  I have learned to be ‘Magnanimous in victory, gracious in defeat.’  I congratulated the four winners; Amanda, Tom, Shamina and Rebecca on their deserved success and actually, the article is a very good choice and a clear winner.  The article that our group wrote was on the day, not strong enough.  You can read the excellent work of my fellow University colleagues on the official Silverstone website now at; http://www.silverstone.co.uk/news/latest-news/BTCC-news/Silverstone-revs-up-for-a-dramatic-finale/

     I didn’t gain any new contacts, which was disappointing and didn’t make as many visits as I would have liked around the area too.  We did though; interview one of the leading title contenders for this weekend’s event, Jason Plato.  Plato likes to speak his mind, but he was very helpful to us and was a pleasure to interview.  I asked him whether he would take more pride and satisfaction in a third title if it happened on Sunday.  His answer was thorough but very clear and understanding and I was pleased to have asked him such a well-thought question.  We also spoke to the BTCC series director, Alan Gow, who wasn’t giving away too much on how he thought Sunday would go, but was still a very useful interview.  The drivers and teams were all very friendly to us and that was nice.  So, it wasn’t all bad today.  However, I was expecting a bit more and when you don’t get it, you can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with the final experience and it’s best to be honest rather than grit through your teeth.

      I must admit, I haven’t prepared myself properly for the New Year and I think it is starting to take its toll on me.  I’m disappointed with myself to have fallen into old traps from last year and I can’t quite figure out why this is the case.  I probably assumed that it would be a slightly more relaxed start to year three of my degree and instead, it’s ‘Bang Bang, WHALLOP!’ from the outset.  Why did I not see this coming?  I set out high standards for myself and unfortunately, I’m not meeting up to these at the moment.  In fact, I’m not even close and need to turn things around.  Wednesday was a prime example.  I couldn’t help giggling over some of the hilarious jokes about the crashing of the BlackBerry server on Twitter, but after that, I lost concentration, motivation and all sense of direction in what I was doing.  Why did I do that?  My head wasn’t in the right place and I’m not talking literally here.  I am my harshest critic as I feel that it is the best I need to do, so I can achieve the best.  Maybe last year’s stinging criticism from my lecturers has hit me harder than I have let on.  I can’t change what happened last year; I must move on!

     I think an impending family anniversary hasn’t helped matters this week.  I don’t want to go into details, as it is a very personal matter and talking about it only makes things more emotional.  The issue affected me very closely at the time and I think it always will.  I was close to this person and looked up to them in a big way.  This time of year is always a difficult time for yours truly. 

     Hopefully next week, I will return to my old self – as I have let myself down this week.  The old me must return too, the focused and more relaxed me.  In March, I turned over a new leaf.  Nobody’s perfect, so let’s just hope this week was a blip on the agenda. 

Someone put me on charge, as I’m running on empty, it might help haha!

Welcome back!

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

DEEP: I feel like under one of these already!

IT HAS been a long summer, probably a bit too long – but the first week back at University was what I thought, a relaxing week back into the swing of things.  Ha!  Dream on.  Instead, I now have a pile of work that leaves me feeling like the celebrities in 71 Degrees North; buried underneath an avalanche!

     First day back and it was my 23^rd birthday.  The timing could have been a bit better, but at least I got to spend the day with my closest friends from my journalism course at the University of Northampton.  I got many happy returns from colleagues and some lovely cards from the really close friends that I have.  You know who you are, so I’m not going to mention you in person.  First day back began with a 9am lecture on radio.  I’m no fan of radio journalism and think it is quite out-of-date.  If I listen to radio, it’s for sports commentary on Five Live and sometimes will have it on before I go to sleep.  However, I don’t listen to it, their evening programmes are so bad it just helps me get to sleep quicker.  Radio journalism went out-of-date in around 1994 and I can’t help think that, especially when we live in the technological, social networking age of today.  However, it still might be interesting to find out a deeper background into the subject at least.  For the first hour, I sat on my own, just feeling slightly nervous.  I don’t know why; guess I just didn’t want to be the centre of attention.

     In the afternoon, we had our first group session for a very interesting project on motor racing.  People who know me will understand my strong passion for motor racing (see F1 and MotoGP reports), but I’m only into the racing side of things.  All the technical malarkey does not appeal to me and it is only F1 and MotoGP that I follow very closely.  I used to watch rallying, but got bored when the same guy kept winning every rally, have never been a big fan of sportscars or racing in America (Indy 500, CART etc) and as for national motorsport, what championships are they?  Our project is based on the final round of next weekend’s title decider at Silverstone for the British Touring Car Championship.  Five drivers can still mathematically claim the title and the BTCC is an okay racing series.  I watch a few rounds on TV, especially when nothing is on the box on a Sunday afternoon, but it isn’t something that has passion to me; just another racing championship.  The project involves a trip to the home of British motorsport on Friday and that does excite me, no matter what.  It will be an interesting day and an interesting project.  I already reckon that this year is going to be tough, no doubts.

     Thursday morning bought the sad news of Steve Jobs death.  The Apple figurehead (I will do a tribute on here in the next few days) has had a massive influence in the way we talk, communicate and appreciate the technological gadgets we have.  I’m not an Apple person; I don’t eat the fruit and have had regular problems with their software, especially on the iMac’s.  Nevertheless, I use iTunes on a regular basis to listen to my music and no-one can doubt the vision that Jobs had for Apple and the world.  His death is very sad and although I reckon the company will survive without too many issues, they will miss his leadership.  The world is a poorer place without him.

     As for my dissertation, (yep I have to do one of them this year), the early beginnings are looking good and I just wish I had more books I could buy.  I now have an official question title in place and I am probably less than a fortnight away from beginning to type out my first chapter.  Although I won’t reveal the topic on here, the clue is that it is to do with broadcast journalism.  Broadcast journalism is an area where I don’t like doing it, but I seem to end up with better results than the traditional strength I have; print journalism.  If that’s the case, it made my topic fairly easy and sensible to choose.  I have already had a positive meeting with the tutor I will be working closely with, so early signs suggest that although it will probably take me to the brink on more than one occasion, it is something I’m going to enjoy researching, without wanting to do something else.

     One of the presents I got for my birthday was F1 2011; the new racing game on the Xbox 360.  Actually, I’m finding it a real challenge to play, which is great for any racing simulation, as I normally find them too easy to play.  I have achieved a second place finish with Williams in the Barcelona event and have a habit of making great starts from solid grid positions, but it is very realistic.  The days of winning the championship in your first year with Virgin Racing are a distant thing of the past.

HAPPY: Posing with fellow blogger and close Uni friend, Farida

     My lengthy birthday celebrations came to a conclusion with another trip to the Balestra nightclub on Thursday in town.  More people came than I had been expecting and it was a great night, even if the music was a bit naff.  It was a lovely night and a great way to finish the week off with the majority of my closest buddies.  As much as I was hoping to make it a regular feature this year, the workload will determine that and if week one is anything to go by, it is more likely to be a monthly rather than a fortnightly basis.

     So, week one of my final year at University has finished and there is bound to be plenty of emotional rollercoaster’s along the way.  It is great to be back around people who mean a lot to me, but the gauntlet has already been thrown down, so I’d better start trying to dig myself out of this avalanche!

      Welcome back everyone!

Why wait until the last minute?

THE Easter weekend is over and with the Royal Wedding about to happen, we have two more Bank Holidays to look forward to in the next week.  For me, I am counting down the days until I finish my second year of University – now just over a fortnight away.

     I thought today – ‘let’s go into University’ and take advantage of almost an empty environment and get some work done.  I have finished the majority of my assignments this year, except a boring and tedious law exam and evaluations on several topics, where I have to critically assess my work this year.  Typical!  I get to Uni, and the institution is shut!  Why?  It isn’t Bank Holiday Tuesday!  Next up, we will be having a holiday for every political party in Britain.  It is ridiculous.

UNECCESSARY: Why put yourself in this situation?

     Okay, I probably should have checked the university website first before I went in and I only live five minutes away, so it wasn’t like a waste of petrol.  However, give me a break!  It is far from good enough and like I said, it’s not a Bank Holiday, so I don’t understand it!  Does it surprise me?  No, not really.  All the same, it is still incredibly frustrating.

     It also got me thinking about deadlines and getting assignments in on time.  Luckily, I am in a position where I’m not running around like a headless chicken.  In fact, I tried that a couple of months ago and let’s say, it put me in a very bad place.  The relaxed approach I took after March does seem to work.  However, it does get me thinking, why do people wait until the last minute to get work done? 

     For some, it is the way they work.  If so, it can’t be faulted and if that’s how it is approached by them, it’s fine.  However, it could be made a bit easier by getting the job done a bit earlier and quicker.  99% of the time, stuff done at the last minute is nowhere near as good as bits and pieces produced or handed in a fortnight earlier.  I was guilty of that myself at times, especially in Secondary School – largely because it didn’t matter so much.  If I leave stuff until the last minute, I feel frustrated in myself and realise – ‘Crud, why did I decide to take that approach.’  For me, it doesn’t work.  It might do for others, but I always struggle to see the advantages of it.

     Now, some people can just be desperately unlucky and everything they seem to touch goes wrong.  Consequently, I feel for these individuals, who work so hard and get little reward for it.  It wins more respect with me if they have worked hard on a project and are putting the finishing touches to a masterpiece of work just before the deadline.  For those who like wake up at 3pm on the afternoon before a deadline is due and have done like 10% of the work, you’d only have yourself to blame, especially if you had started receiving the work months before.  In my case, some of my assignments begun way back in September 2010, so excuses run thinner than ever before.

     Leaving it till the last minute?  For me, not an option – just an annoying distraction.

Heartbreak For Many As The University Scramble Begins

Last Thursday’s hugely successful A Level results were meant to be full of joy, satisfaction and vindication at two years of hard, successful work.  However, for many thousands, the frantic scramble has begun to get into University, due to record amount of young people applying for higher education study.

Although the competition for places is getting tougher than ever before, it does surprise many outsiders than students who collected straight A grades have not been given confirmed places to the University course of their choice.  Overall, the A Level pass rate rose again, for the 28^th year in succession, with 98% of entries getting an E grade or higher and 27% of students were given an A grade, a 0.3% increase on 2009’s results. 

With the amount of applications that have been received this year, UCAS, the organisation responsible for supplying students with higher education courses have warned that margin for error has been restricted this year and is encouraging students to take a year out, or apply for part-time and apprenticeship courses.  For many though, these alternatives are simply not an option.  More than 660,000 students have applied for University places this year, whereas only 380,000 applied and got into University last year, including myself.  Many of the top-class Universities such as London, Birmingham and Durham have already said that they are full up and have no options remaining.

The recession has made this the biggest and most challenging year for students and with budgets cuts having to be made by most Universities, this just adds to the frustration for many.  There is bound to be many disappointing faces and heartbreak for many students.  The rush to get a spot through UCAS clearing service is now well and truly on.  

Facebook Reaches The 500 Million Mark

On Wednesday, the king of the social networking battle, Facebook announced that it had reached the milestone of having 500million members on its site, just six years after it was set-up in a University room.  This means that nearly 10% of the worldwide population have Facebook available to them.  Last January, it still had only 150million members, so it has had a massive increase in the last eighteen months.  This is despite the rise to the fore of Twitter, though the almost complete dismantlement of Bebo and MySpace must have helped Facebook’s healthy figures.

The inventor of Facebook back in February 2004, Mark Zuckerburg believes that Facebook will have one billion users worldwide within the next five years.  Despite increasing concerns about the publication of personal information and complaints from some over the lack of privacy settings, Facebook’s popularity continues to soar.  The advanced competition continues to give Facebook many more challenges to overcome in the future.  Its delay in placing a child panic button on the site has received a lot of criticism, but that still seems not to be putting people off signing up for the fun features Facebook provides, such as Farmville, SuperPoke, Social Interview and Facebook Chat. 

Recent figures also have come out; suggest that Facebook is now getting more web visits on a daily basis, than the No.1 search provider, Google.  This could provide a major headache for advertisers looking to sell their products, now that Google is being outdone at its own game.  There is continued talk that Google are planning to break onto the social networking craze, though they refuse to comment on such frenzied speculation.    

Despite some who have their fears, Facebook continues to rule the networking area in the world and it is going to have to take something really special to knock it off its perch as top of the class.