Hi Guys!
Here’s some highlights from my Summer, I hope you enjoy!
If you did like it please share, like and subscribe as it really helps me out!
Have a great Christmas and a happy new year.
Joel Wood.
Lanzarote 2014
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School Memories
As my school career has come to an end with Uni on the way I have been reminiscing a lot about the ‘old times’ and what memories I have from the many years of schooling. Here are just a few –
Number 1 – Heads Down Thumbs Up
If you haven’t played Heads Down Thumbs Up then you simply haven’t lived. It would be the end of a long day in year 3 after hours of stressful colouring, playing and mischief and the Teacher would stand in front of the class and announce it was time. You knew from that point on that today was going to be the best day of the week. Now there were two situations you could be in. The first situation is that you have been picked to be on giving you the role of the pincher. Now there was a few ways you could go about this. You could take the gutsy approach and pull off a full squeeze or you could take a more stealthy approach and barely pinch at all. I was a gutsy pincher myself. On the other hand you could be in situation where you are the victim of the pinch. Now we all know what really happened at this point. Instead of playing the game and thinking who could be pinching you we all just cheated. This was easy, all you had to do was place your head over the edge of the table in order to see the ‘pinchers’ shoes. After you had conclusive evidence who the ‘pincher’ was you would stand up with confidence and shame the ‘pincher’ taking all the credit for your win.
Number 2 – D.I.S.C.O
The annual disco was greatly anticipated throughout the whole year. One thing I can remember is the latest fashion trends everyone would reveal on this one night of the year. 
A personal favourite of mine amongst the boys was the allusive flaming shirt (pictured). Now this shirt not only expressed to your peers that you meant business but it also presented that you have no cares in the world and that night would be unforgettable. Another huge factor to a Primary School Disco was the music. The DJ at such events were usually a son of one of the staff members who fancied himself as the new Pitbull where in truth all he did was repeat the first 5 tracks of Now 70. However we all know the one song that will be played at Key Stage 3 Disco for the rest on internity and that song is… The ‘Cha Cha Slide’ sung by the renowned Mr C aka The Slide Man. Whenever this song started to play a rush of kids would make their way to the dance floor where a well-rehearsed choreographed dance routine would be performed.
Number 3 – Yes or No Rubbers
Yes and No Rubbers were a regular appearance within someone’s pencil case. Now this utensil held great authority and power over a great deal of areas throughout the class from relationships to dares. The owner of the rubber would declare two names within the class and then throw the rubber into the air. If the rubber landed yes the class would fall into a hysterical laughter as the rubber had now chosen for these two people to ‘go out’ which of course would lead into marriage and all the rest of it. However if the rubber landed no and great sigh would be heard leading to the thrower naming two other random names hoping for a yes to been thrown. Additionally there was something unheard of within the rubber throwing world and that was for 
the rubber to land on its side. Now this meant the rubber gods were undecided on whether these two people should ‘go out’. To combat this the rubber owner would write the words maybe on each side creating great confusion and mystery over the couple named.
Number 4 – Year 6 Benches
Throughout the majority of your primary school years assembly was seen as a painful uncomfortable and overall negative experience where you sat on a dusty old wooden floor breaking you neck to see anything. However when you finally made it into Year 6 assembly’s changed for the better as you were finally promoted up to the benches. The benches were located on the sides of the hall giving you a great view of the entire school. These benches gave the Year sixes great authority and power as it allowed them to look down on the lower school provoking great fear and admiration from the youngers. _____________________________________________________________________________ 
I hope you enjoyed this short little blog. If you did please comment down below about any other memories you have from your schooling years.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Joel Wood.
APRIL 2014 PLAYLIST
Just a few songs I’ve been enjoying in April.
If you didn’t catch my last post please check it out!
❤
AUSTRIA 2014 | JOEL WOOD
Video
Here’s a short video of my time in Austria. Enjoy!
What’s the deal with all these #trends?
Its seems in today’s society that the new trends in the media have to be consumed to such a level that within a short period of time they have grown old and boring and therefore the next new big thing has to step in a replace it. Is this system unhealthy or is it good to have a new fresh medium to captivate us. Many trends usually involve parents splashing out on the new big thing such as iPhones, iPads and Kindles (the list goes on) just to fit in with the majority of their peers who already own this great new product.
Trends can spread across many different subjects from social media, games, gadgets and clothes highlighting just how hard it is to get away from this every changing want for the cool and most popular.
Social Media
With the creation of the internet social media sites have always been trend setters. Just within my life time the key social networking sites that I have HAD to sign up to are Bebo, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. I can remember whenever the new trend would arise it would be the talk of the school and whoever didn’t have a page or account would be ‘uncool’. I find it crazy how similar this sites are with statuses, pictures, comments and messaging etc. It must be the new styles and layouts which captivate millions into transferring over.
Amongst these social networking sites lay a variety of their own trends. With the introduction of Facebook came one very ‘special’ trend… that will be remembered throughout history as one of the most influential of a generation… this is of course Farmville. Farmville allowed any Facebook user to own and look after their very own cartoon pig, cow, sheep and chicken! (a great responsibility). Whoever had the biggest and most impressive farm would instantly be catapulted to the top of your farmer Facebook friends list.
However this trend on Facebook has long since faded away with one of the new trends taking Facebook by storm. ‘Nek Nomination’. This trend involves people drinking the most ridiculous pint they can think of within the quickest period of time, after this they then go on to nominate whoever they like who has to then go on and create their own video within a 24 hour time frame. This trend is now a few weeks old so I would not be surprised if we saw the end of this within the very near future.
Apps
Trends have now started appearing within the iPhone and Andriod apps, the most recent being Flappy Bird. This app involves a small bird (doesn’t even look like one) being guided through a series of pipes, however if even a feather brushes the pipe he will nose dive to his death where the user will have to start the game over for the 752nd time. Personally it would be much appreciated if this trend decided to fade away with the others as my life recently has become a ball of rage towards this small pixelated bird. My high score is only 71… the shame.
YouTube Videos
With the ever growing YouTube audience where people consume the majority of their media today, we are always treated with a new video that sweeps the world by storm. Examples of these ‘works of arts’ are Gangnam Style, the Harlem Shake and What does the Fox say? The combined viewing total of these videos is 2,302,008,658+… proving the huge audience these YouTube trends have. However as we’ve learnt before these videos will be a thought of the past with a new cat or fails video stealing the limelight.
We will never escape the idea of trends as its just human nature to want to fit in with a crowd and want the biggest and best new thing. So what do you think will be the next ‘big’ thing?
If you enjoyed this blog please don’t hesitate to follow.
Thanks for reading.
Speak to you soon!
‘Netflix’ the new global epidemic?
Netflix is the new way we consume mass media. From Indie movies to the biggest block-busters it’s all on there, and with its 40 million streaming members it’s not going anywhere.
I’m not ashamed to admit I am one of these 40 million and a big fan of the service.
However it seems I’ve actually contracted the ‘Netflix’ bug. On average I spend about 1-2 hours a day on Netflix consuming a variety of shows. My recent ‘addiction’ has been the US Office. I have now finished the whole 9 series accumulating to 21.5 days (as you may have noticed I am suffering badly from this new bug).
The question I ask myself is ‘Is this epidemic fatal?’ and ‘Are there any ways I can prevent this bug?’
I have created 5 ways in which you can spot if you have the same bug and therefore put in place the ways in which to prevent it:
1) Tiredness – This is due to that ‘One more episode’ moment you have at 1am in the morning.
2) Your things to do list increases – You will find important things such as work and family members Birthdays seem to cease from existence.
3) Your desk becomes cluttered – A nice cup of tea is needed whilst the marathon watch is commencing, however the cups stack up to form a majestic cup castle.
4) Growth of fangs – Peak watching times are at the early hours of the morning transforming you into a TV loving vampire.
5) Small things become HUGE – You will start to see petty things such as your laptop battery running out become a huge ordeal of which uncontrollable rage will ensue.
If you possess any of these symptoms I’m afraid you may have contracted this disease. But don’t fret there is help for you in the form of 3 easy steps.
1) Venture Outside – As crazy as it seems a trip outside is very beneficial.
2) Hobbies – Hobbies are a great alternative to mass watching sessions.
3) Socialise with friends – It may be a hard concept to understand but talking to friends instead on catching up on ‘Skins’ could change you for the better.
*RESULTS MAY VARY
If you take these steps you may end up being cured from this disease.
Anyway these ‘Breaking Bad’ episodes (new addiction) aren’t going to watch themselves you know. I’ll keep you posted with my treatment. You’re not alone out there, keep watching.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Christmas is my favourite time of the year.
I love the snow, mince-pies, Christmas trees, presents, movies and of course the same old games you play on the special day every year (charades, monopoly and scrabble are some personal favourites).
However I’ve got one little bug bear…
Do we really have to start the ‘Christmas build up’ in late October early November! I mean come on. It seems as soon as the days start turning into nights and there’s a little frost on your car window the media begin to bamboozle you with adverts for the “NEW SPECIAL GIFT THIS FESTIVE YEAR!”
On top of this I’ve started to see Christmas lights getting put up on the outside of homes in my local area. You’re only feeding the fire people! I believe there should be a law put in place to stop this behaviour. I propose to you that there should be no adverts, lights and special Christmas deals until the 1st of December. Therefore by the time Christmas shows its festive little head we aren’t bored of it all.
I believe those 25 days in which you can go all out for the festive season is plenty of time to grab a present for all your Uncles, Aunties, Grandmas, Granddads and dog walkers great Grandson (it really wouldn’t surprise me) in which they can cherish and enjoy.
I’ve added a poll to see if it’s just me who thinks this, please have a vote and see what people think.
Additionally I hope you have a very Merry Christmas just don’t get too excited just yet.
Joel Wood 