My Thoughts On Sports.

Hello once again readers.

Today is going to be about, you guessed it, sport. I kind of feel obliged to write about this after A. being in an argument about wages of certain sportsmen and B. because I was kindly linked to by a dear friend of mine, Mr Milnesy. If you would like to read his opinionated blogs (which are a real hoot) than just follow the link, I'm sure he will appreciate the viewers. http://milnesy4000.blogspot.com/

Anyway, on to my blog (which of course is far better :P). As previously mentioned, I'll be discussing sports today. I myself am not an overly sporty person. By this I mean, I will not go out of my way to find a game to play, whether it be football, hockey, rugby, or any other sport you can think of. Now that does not mean that I do not enjoy sport. On the contrary, I actually quite enjoy many sports, including football. I am quite a competitive person when I put my mind to it. But the problem is, I'm not actually any good at it.

That has always been one on my main problems when it comes to sport. I'm not a very confident player. No matter how good I am at a sport, there will always be someone who is better than me. I know that may sound silly and rather obvious, but it is fact. In other activities, for instance, blogging, you are always at competition with others, but at least you do not have to be in direct contact with them. In sport however, there is always the chance of the person playing against you being better than you, and I am a terrible loser at the best of times. For anyone who has beat me during a P.E lesson, you will know what I am talking about.

Now, playing sport I am fine with. I will quite happily kick a ball about or go canoeing for example, but I can no see the fascination of wanting to watch other people playing. I mean, this is not as bad if for instance, you are watching your mates play while you sit out. But people who sit down at home and watch a game of football baffle me. Why would you want to watch 22 grown men kick a ball about for 90 minutes? I would understand it if you actually went to watch the game at the stadium, but it just gets boring on TV.

Other sports like snooker bore me to death as well. If you are able to go and play snooker yourself, why wouldn't you? Its not even as if you need a massive team to play. It's just you and one other person. That surely must be more entertaining than watching two fat balding men playing it on the telly.




And finally, I'd like to talk a little bit about wages. As I said in my intro, one of the reasons I am writing this blog is because of an argument I got into with one of my fellow students. I personally do not feel footballers do not deserve the wages they do, especially when other jobs, and indeed other sportsmen deserve much more than they get. I find watching football boring. Now, fast paced, action-packed sports such as motocross and and snowboarding are far more interesting to watch, and they do not get paid half a weeks wages a footballer earns. why is this?

Both the extreme sports I mentioned are far more high risk than football, and extreme sportsmen require a similar fitness level to that of a footballer. The problem is, football is a safe bet for TV companies. You put footy on the TV, and there will be someone out there wanting to watch a match between Ecuador and Kazakhstan. You put snowboarding on, you are really only going to get a few views. I think this is a bit of a shame because I feel very strongly about extreme sports. As mentioned in a previous blog, I am an adrenaline junkie. I would love to go snowboarding, or bungee jumping, or white water rafting, but sadly do not have the money. But football is £5 for a footy and then using your jumpers for posts, so budget wise, I can see footy is a lot more appealing.




Anyway, thank you very much for reading, will post a couple of blogs during the holidays.

Andy*

Correct Me If I'm Wrong...

Hello again dear reader, oh how I have missed you.

I'm sorry I haven't written recently. This is partly down to sheer laziness but also due to the fact that I haven't had a very good idea to write about, but this morning I happened to stumble across one as I was leaving my house for school. This idea was massive, and there was no way I was going to leave without tripping over it. This idea, is game shows and quiz shows.

I am a great fan of this "genre" of TV shows. In fact I would be perfectly happy watching all the repeated old shows on "Challenge" for a whole day, even if they were repeated during the day. But there is one thing that really annoys me while watching shows such as this. Stupid people. The question will be something simple like "what colour is a banana?" and they literally spend half an hour considering the options and still end up getting it wrong. I often find myself screaming at the television the correct answer in some mundane attempt for them to have a random spark of genius or that maybe they will somehow hear me.

You have to wonder how these people got on the show in the first place. Its lucky there is no tests or special requirements for most of these shows, because otherwise there would be nobody participating in them. I suppose that for amusement and entertainment reasons these types of human beings were hunted down and personally delivered to the TV companies so that they could be made a mockery of. It's a pretty good system if you ask me.

But there is one amazing feeling you get from watching quiz shows. This feeling is the feeling of godly power when you randomly guess an answer correctly for a tough question not even the show itself must know. The sense of other-worldliness kicks in, and you start to feel you can take not only this show, but every other show that's out there. "Get in there!!" is one of my most popular outbursts whenever this occurs.

Now I want to show you some people failing at quiz shows, or indeed the show failing itself. Here are a of couple videos that may just bring a smile to your face :).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHUXaYilBxI (Catchphrase FAIL)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owd6M7UgHQs&feature=related (Countdown SWEAR WORD)

Sorry for that, thought you could do with a laugh. Finally, I tried to apply for a game show. Now I know I previously stated that they were for people of low IQ, but it wasn't specifically a quiz show. Oh no, it was something far greater. It was only "Total Wipeout"! But sadly I am not 18 so wasn't allowed. Sucks to be me.

Anyway, thank you for reading, I realise this was quite a lengthy one but thought I owed it to you seeing as I hadn't done one in a while. Have a good night all.

Andy*

Ups and Downs.

Hello to you, Mr or Mrs Reader. How are you? The children look so grown up now, and its only been a couple of weeks since I last saw them!

First I would like to announce (in case you hadn't noticed already) that my page has become a far lot prettier. Just look at the title! It's so fancy! and the background, genius! Please leave a comment about the new theme below if you would be so kind.

Today's post is going to be about Theme Parks, but more specifically roller coasters. Now, roller coasters are a bit like Marmite, you either love them or you hate them. Luckily, I am in the former group, because I absolutely adore them. Roller coasters are one of my favourite holiday treat things. When I get an offer to go to a theme park, I will hands down say yes every time (depending on the bank balance of course).

I am very lucky in the fact that I have been to so many different theme parks a countless number of times. For instance, I have had the chance to go to both Thorpe Park and Alton Towers last year, and the year before I got to go to Alton towers twice. Out of the two, Thorpe Park is definitely my favourite. The quality of rides there is far better then those at Alton Towers, and you don't have to walk as far which is always a bonus.

But, the best rides I have ever been on are those in the Land of the Free. Yes, America can do something right. The rides in America are, simply put, amazing. They say everything is bigger and better across the pond, and there are no exceptions here. The Hulk Ride, or The Kraken are by far the best rides I have ever been on. I love speed, I love loops and cork screws, and both of these rides have more then enough of both of these.

The Kraken, Sea World, Florida

As you can probably tell by now, I am an "Adrenaline Junkie". But there is a new breed of roller coaster coming to Britain on the 20th of March. This sub-species of ride is called a psycho-coaster, because it is meant to not only physically scare you with the loops etc, but also mentally with horrible nightmarish thoughts that are supposed to play on your mind. The ride coming to Britain, and more specifically, Alton Towers, is rather oddly called Thirteen.

Now, I signed up for the newsletter about this coaster, and from the looks of it, it does look quite terrifying. If you have a minute, just google "Alton Towers thirteen" and it'll be the top one. Do you think it looks scary? I certainly think it does. I hate horror films, and things that make me jump out my skin make me want to cry sometimes, partly in terror, but mainly embarrassment. From the looks of it there will be live actors either around the ride or even in the queue, jumping out at you and scaring you half to death.

Thirteen Teaser Photo

Bu If it is either of these things, I may end up avoiding the whole ride completely. I personally feel that a roller coaster is there just to have a bit of fun, maybe to make you nervous as you get on, but ultimately a satisfying venture, not one to make you scare yourself silly even before you get on it. I would've much rather have a ride which was super-fast with multiple loops then one that frightens you, but comment if you are looking forward to Thirteen and the new experience it will give.

That's all folks, and please, don't be afraid to comment :)

Andy*

Get Your Fix.

Hello and welcome once again to Title Under Maintenance.

Today I am going to be writing about addictions. Many people have at least one addiction, some serious, some not so much. You could name any item and I am sure somebody will be addicted to it. It is more than likely that someone has an addiction to collecting different types of batteries for example. Now although some are very silly and are not harmful, some can be very serious.

Now, having an addiction is being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (thanks google definition), which basically means that you enjoy something so much that you cannot function normally without it. My addictions, for instance, are buscuits, writing (hence the blog), and gambling. Now, the first two I feel are in the silly catagory, but comment if you feel otherwise. but for number three, that could be serious.

I love gambling. Half the time though it isn't even the thought of winning masses that draws me in. I love a challenge. My favourite forms of gambling are poker, blackjack, and slots (no thanks to Mr Huckstep). Poker is definatly my favourite. I just really love the skill involved of being able to bluff etc, and that the chances of you winning are not programmed as they are in something like slot machines. But I don't neccessarily need to gamble to fuction properly in my day to day life, unlike some people I know, who must have their fix of something just to make life worth living.

My first example of this is obviously smoking. I know that many smokers cannot help it, and that it is very hard to quit because of lady nicortine running through their veins. But there are other serious addictions that perplex me. For instance, how do you become addicted to video games? I myself am a gamer, but I don't play for 6 hours straight (contrary to popular belief). But some people quit their jobs in order to continue playing games such as World of Warcraft. People who take games like this too seriously really do need councelling, especially before it gets out of hand. Every month there is at least three deaths or murders related to video games, which i sshocking in my eyes. If you need to kill somebody over a game of Halo, you really need to change games and play something like pokemon.

How cheerful. Brownie points if you can name them (easy for a pokefan like myself)

And that is all for this time. Thank you very much for reading, I will get back to you soon.

Andy*

Cereal Killer.

Welcome once again.

You may have read the title and thought "he's spelt it wrong, it's Serial, not cereal" and yes you would be correct if I were talking about someone who has commited many murders. But fortunatly, for the reason that I really do not want to write about serial killers because it would be far to depressing and actually a very hard blog to write well with some humour, I shall be writing about the much safer, and some would argue, much tastier, breakfast cereal.


So breakfast cereal, a real contender for the most popularly consumed food product in the morning. I always try to eat one bowl of the stuff in the morning before school, because it usually gives you enough energy to get to school and drift through your first lessons without falling asleep. But recently I seem to be noticing certain things happening in the brakfast world that many may not have.

For instance, do you remember the pokemon cereal that was out many moons ago? With the marshmallows shaped like pokemon? Where did they go?!?

If you can remember them then you truely must have loved them. they were the best cereal around. I would not eat anything else until I had had a bowl of them for breakfast. I think the main cause for this fixation of this brand of cereal was solely down to the amount of sugar that must have been packed into it. Not only did you have marshmallows in it, but the hoops themselves were frosted. If that wasn't enough to make you hyperactive i do not dare think of what would.



There has also been other sugar laced cereals in the past few years. Who can forget chocolate frosties? So again, not only where the frosted, but they also now came with a helping of chocolate coating as well. But gone are the days of children being allowed to eat whatever they like. Now the best you can do for sugar is frosted shreddies or golden nuggets. I really miss the variety you used to get, and the themed and promotional stuff such as the x-men cereal or formerly mentioned pokemon. Bring them back, please!


You may also have noticed that cereals are not allowed to promote their products with cereals any more. Where are the cars and the figurines and the cool plastic rings like on scrubs? the best that you get now is a short book or a really terrible maze or searchword on the back. Did I miss a change in the law saying that you were not allowed to promote your cereals with small tokens? And if so, why have companies like Macdonalds not have to comply with these rules. Surely a happy meal is going to do far more damage to the kid long term then a box of cereal ever will. Especially seeing as the happy meal toys were always rubbish.


Speaking of Macdonalds, do you not find some of the cereal mascots rather off putting or in some cases quite worrying? For instance, if you look at a nesquik box, it has Nesquik the rabbit on the front. Now, that seems fair enough, but then you look at the product itself. Rabbit? Little brown balls? Did the designer of the character not think that it may look a bit tasteless to use that type of animal for that product? To make it all worse, he is winking!



Another type of character for cereal who has always concerned me is the ones who try to steal it. In America, They have Trix, and the trix rabbit tries to take them from the kids. In the UK, we were blessed with Chip the wolf, who would try to steal cookie crisp from kids. What is this teaching people? That if you want a bowl of cereal, just go steal it from young people? Not only that, they are animals. Animals do not each cereal. They do not have hands to hold a spoon. Not only that, they always fail miserably. Get a job and earn your god damn cereal.


And that is all. Cheers for reading.


Andy*