OK, as always a ranter I am, but this one really needed saying. I am so fed up of the media, be it newspapers or television and their ill portrayal of anything that actually matters in the world. Maybe, even worse still, is the people listen to it, get sucked in by it and then actually start to believe it!
When are people going to learn that the media only shows what is provocative to gain the best response from their readers/viewers and that they are not showing a broad spectrum of things as a whole.
One of the biggest culprits in my opinion are The Daily Express (a newspaper which has the audacity to call itself 'The World's Greatest Newspaper'), who are always spouting propaganda and spreading xenophobia. Some examples:
EXAMPLE 1:
Today, whilst perusing Facebook, I came across an article (here) from them about a man who has been unemployed for 20 years and is demanding the council create a bigger home for him and his 18 children at the cost of the taxpayer.
As soon as a story such as this is run, everyone starts having a go at everyone who claims benefits and casting them all with the same negative opinions. So basically, The Daily Express finds the most outrageous thing they can to publish as they know it will provoke the biggest negative response towards people claiming benefits and then everyone 'gets their guns out' for each and everyone who claims benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances. So people who have been working for many years and lose their job through no fault of their own and then claim jobseeker's allowance are then cast with the likes of this person. So too are disabled people who are genuinely unable to work and the list goes on.
Personally, I see a story like this and other than knowing it is just provocative crap, I think far better than giving them a big house and lots of benefits, would be to find a piece of land and a cheap home, stick them in it, give them a stack of seeds and say get planting! No more benefits, this is all you're getting, use it and survive or rot. They can grow their own stuff and live off that. That's the best way to deal with breeders in my opinion. Mine is a far more viable option than the mindless responses on their post on Facebook or on their website such as 'cut it off' or 'set fire to them' which are quite frankly mindless and childlish in my opinion. I do feel with a family of that size, they need to do something other than cater for their every whim, but silly answers like those are just ridiculous.
EXAMPLE 2:
This article (here), in my opinion, was again published solely to provoke rather than to supposedly question if the sentence was correct. This sort of thing happens around the UK regularly, but The Daily Express chose to publish a story where the perpertrator happened to be a black person, in my opinion, this was published with the sole intention of inciting race hate, something The Daily Express seem to do on a regular basis.
Basically, a white man (who suffered from aspergers) had said something (not sure what as the story seems to purposefully refrain from giving all of the facts) to the black man who had taken offence and punched the white man once. The white man fell and hit his head which resulted in his death.
The black man shouldn't have hit the white man, that goes without saying, but if you punched someone, you wouldn't expect them to die as a result. My point here, is not really about the outcome, so much as the choice of story they chose to run - there are more incidents such as this that occur in the UK, but they didn't choose to run a story where a white man punched a white man which resulted in death or where a white man punched a black man which resulted in his death. Because they like posting racist propaganda, they chose to run this story instead.
At the end of the day, this person took someone's life and they should be punished, and normally I am all for life-for-a-life, but I don't think this was an intentional murder - if I punched someone once, I would not expect them to die as a result, so it is manslaughter. If this person had intentionally aimed to kill the other person, I'd say a life sentence was't enough, I personally think life-for-a-life should be just that - if you willfully take a life (murder as opposed to manslaughter), then in return your life should be taken too. I'd have this opinion regardless of the race of the perpertrator. The person did not lie either, they took responsibility for their actions and pleaded guilty which should count for something.
The Daily Express never pick up on stories (deliberately, in my opinion) that portray racism from white people to black people in action, such as this horrific attack from 2 Scottish white men on a black man who has never claimed benefits and busks to earn a living which was published by The Daily Record in an article (here).
Anyone would think The Daily Express bosses are in the pockets of those who are high earners - those favoured by and including the current government (Conservatives) and also big corporations, hence the constant posts supposedly 'in favour' of the taxpayers, slandering absolutely everyone who claims benefits, regardless of circumstances or who is on a lower income.
That plus they must get nice sideline bonuses from the likes of the BNP, EDL and UKIP for all the racist propaganda and xenophobic views they seem to spread on a regular basis.
Isn't it about time people stopped being so single minded and realise that media publications printing crap like this are probably in the pockets of relevant companies and organisations and only print what they know will provoke the biggest reactions from people and help spread hate. Before people respond to their purposefully provocative posts with mindless insults, they should at least look up facts and see that the shit being spouted by the media in no way offers any sort of factual information which can be found by looking at an unbiased source instead.
Another on my list of shit-stirrers is Channel 4 - they love nothing more than to show programmes that will provoke the nastiest responses. Whenever they run a so-called 'documentary' - they find the worst of the worse people in the communities they are 'documenting' to portray on television - because it makes 'good viewing' - if they made a documentary that actually showed the majority of what each group is like, it would be dull, boring, average people who wouldn't make for interesting television.
EXAMPLE:
Benefits Street - Here's another fine example of a media outlet showing the worst of the worse to provoke a response.
So many people watched this programme and even the most unbiased person was coaxed into believing this was representative of everyone who claims benefits. Responses were very violent and threatening, with people wanting to burn, mutilate or otherwise harm everyone claiming benefits.
But this show is no more of any real value than the Jerry Springer show or the Jeremy Kyle show - 2 programmes whereby the most outrageous stories and the most outrageous people were allowed on because it made entertaining viewing. Let's face it, no self respecting person would want to drag their private business through the public like the type who go on these shows. And Benefits Street is no different. Channel 4 sought out the most outrageous benefit claimants they could possibly find and put them on telly because they knew that would be far more entertaining than putting a true representation of benefit claimants on TV. After all, would it make good viewing watching someone scrape together the pennies to put their electricity or gas back on or to buy a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk? Of course it wouldn't!
My next example of crap comes from the online media section, and this one falls a lot closer to home. It was an online reality series on Vimeo called 'This Is Liverpool' - quite frankly, this could be made by a bunch of foreigners who have never visited Liverpool before in their lives and it has caused quite a stir amongst us Liverpudlians and this is a very poor portrayal of even the dregs of Liverpool (or anywhere else in society for that matter!).
Our city has had its ups and its downs. We are not the only city to have ever had problems, but we've come a long way from that now and it's crap like this series that drag it straight back down into the dumps.
Liverpool was crowned 'Capital Of Culture' back in 2008, quite a prestigious title for our fair city. This year, we were placed 3rd in the top 10 cities according to the highly respected Rough Guides. Yet what this video will show you is enough to scare off even the most open-minded person from visiting this city. To be honest, it doesn't even bare mentioning. But I feel it is important for people to realise this is not what Liverpool is like at all.
The people of Liverpool are mostly very approachable and friendly. I guess scousers as we are known, are quite loud (but not in an abrasive manner) and that might be a shock to people from certain places, but they soon realise that everyone is friendly and approachable. I'm actually not very scouser-like despite being born here and living here, I'm quite quiet (not that you'd know that from my ranting!), and there are other people like me in Liverpool as well, but for the best part, scousers are quite chatty and outgoing.
Of course, I wouldn't claim all Liverpudlians are saints, just like in every other part of the country, you get some good-for-nothing types, but no more here than anywhere else. It's certainly not something you encounter all over the place.
People have the attitude like we are all scallys who take drugs, drink too much and steal cars and you couldn't be more far from the truth. Like I said, you get some trash here, but no worse than anywhere else. In fact, in the most recently published crime statistics, Liverpool where nowhere to be seen in the list of worst offenders! So to all those who claim other wise, let factual statistics prove you wrong! In fact, it was actually our 'beloved' capital London that came out worst through and through!
Anyway, I've come to the end of my rant, else I'd be here forever, I just wanted to vent about how annoying I find the media. I wish people would start to think for themselves instead of paying attention to the scourge that is modern day media and realise they only show you what makes for good entertainment. I'd love to hear other people's constructive thoughts on the matter - please, if you only have a mindless comment, don't bother as I don't want to hear it!
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Friday, 14 March 2014
REVIEW & COMPETITION: MusicAdWorld (YB)
I was recently asked to review some original music advertising material from MusicAdWorld.co.uk.
If you are as big a fan of music as I am, you will be proud to show off your musical taste and I really love having original advertising from my some of my favourite singers/bands to display on my walls. Just to emphasise, their items are brand new and original pieces of advertising material.
If you are confused as to what they are, they are basically matted posters/prints in varying sizes, that were used as the original advertising for new releases from the artists.
I was allowed to review 2 posters of my choice - I picked these:
They have a HUGE selection of posters to choose from, from many different artists over many generations - whilst I didn't choose to get it, I was surprised to also see one available for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (another of my favourites), as I didn't think they would have any, so I was very, very impressed.
Their range is so varied, that I'm sure you might even find the most obscure artist in there somewhere!
MusicAdWorld have kindly given me a 15% off discount code for my readers to use to purchase some advertising material from them - to take advantage of this offer, visit the MusicAdWorld.co.uk website, add your item(s) to your basket and then enter the code MYRBLURB during checkout.
If you follow @MusicAdWorld on Twitter, they will be running at least 3 competitions every week for your chance to win some fab advertising material for FREE!
If that's not enough, they also gave me another poster to give away to one lucky reader of my blog. I'm a fan of David Bowie, so I hoped some of you would be too and as such I picked out this one for the giveaway:
PLEASE NOTE: The top SIX tasks in the Rafflecopter app are COMPULSORY - if you do not complete all of them, you will not be included in the draw! There are more OPTIONAL entries available for which you can gain additional entries.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
PLEASE NOTE: The top SIX tasks in the Rafflecopter app are COMPULSORY - if you do not complete all of them, you will not be included in the draw! There are more OPTIONAL entries available for which you can gain additional entries.
If you are as big a fan of music as I am, you will be proud to show off your musical taste and I really love having original advertising from my some of my favourite singers/bands to display on my walls. Just to emphasise, their items are brand new and original pieces of advertising material.
If you are confused as to what they are, they are basically matted posters/prints in varying sizes, that were used as the original advertising for new releases from the artists.
I was allowed to review 2 posters of my choice - I picked these:
The best thing about these is they come ready mounted in black or white mounts ready for you to frame and the prices are fantastic too. Prices seem to range from £4.99 and postage is a very reasonable £2.25 within the UK + 75p extra for each additional item. They also ship items around the rest of the world too and again, the postage charges are very reasonable. Just to point out, mine were very well packaged and arrived safely, with no damage whatsoever.
They have a HUGE selection of posters to choose from, from many different artists over many generations - whilst I didn't choose to get it, I was surprised to also see one available for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (another of my favourites), as I didn't think they would have any, so I was very, very impressed.
Their range is so varied, that I'm sure you might even find the most obscure artist in there somewhere!
MusicAdWorld have kindly given me a 15% off discount code for my readers to use to purchase some advertising material from them - to take advantage of this offer, visit the MusicAdWorld.co.uk website, add your item(s) to your basket and then enter the code MYRBLURB during checkout.
If you follow @MusicAdWorld on Twitter, they will be running at least 3 competitions every week for your chance to win some fab advertising material for FREE!
If that's not enough, they also gave me another poster to give away to one lucky reader of my blog. I'm a fan of David Bowie, so I hoped some of you would be too and as such I picked out this one for the giveaway:
You can enter this competition by entering using the Rafflecopter app below.
PLEASE NOTE: The top SIX tasks in the Rafflecopter app are COMPULSORY - if you do not complete all of them, you will not be included in the draw! There are more OPTIONAL entries available for which you can gain additional entries.
Friday, 24 January 2014
RANT: School Fines: Right Or Wrong? (YB)
OK, it's been a while since I had a good old fashioned rant about something, but this one's been brewing for a while...
In your opinion, are fines from schools/education welfare justified and reasonable? Is a £60 fine reasonable for poor attendance? Is a £60 fine reasonable for repeat lates? Also, should you really not be able to take your child(ren) for a short holiday in term time?
Firstly, I'm going to talk about the fines for being off school ill and how this has personally affected me.
Well, we have had fines on more than one occasion for our son being off school ill. I must point out, we'd never keep him off with a sniffle, we keep him off only when he is genuinely too ill to go to school. We are due to go into his school again next week regarding his poor attendance. But I feel that poor attendance is based on a statistic - should children or adults be classed as a statistic? Because, let's face it, everyone is different, whether school/education welfare/governments admit it or not. So because the average child is able to attend school 95% of the time, does that mean all children should be able to?
When I was a child, I was off school ill quite a lot, much of which was caused by my asthma amongst other childhood illnesses - I was genuinely ill a lot of the time, this for me continued into adult life and I still get ill a hell of a lot more often than the average person. My husband on the other hand, he's always been in really good health, he very rarely gets ill at all. It's unusual if he gets a cold in a year - the most ill I've seen him since we met is a couple of days whereby he had a stomach bug! Our son, seems to be just like me though, he is ill a lot and ends up at the doctors more times than I care to mention. Maybe me and him have lower immune systems or something, I don't know, but there must be a reason why we get so ill, so much more often.
But the school/education welfare do not see it that way - because all they ever look at is statistics, rather than treating each child as the individual that they are. The last time the person from the education welfare visited us, she basically said something along the lines of "well the doctor must be wrong" - I'm sorry but do you happen to have a medical degree then? I thought not! Initially, they said we should always take him to the doctors when is ill so we have proof for them that he is ill, so we did as they said and apparently that's still not good enough! If the doctor is saying he is too ill to be at school, well that's good enough for me and I think it should be for them as after all, I'm pretty sure none of them have a medical degree!
In my opinion, those people who send their children in when they are ill are selfish - you are sending your child to spread germs around the school to all of the other children, one or more of those children may end up significantly more ill than your child was thanks to your selfishness! The school's don't help either - my son's school incentivises coming into school no matter how ill with the chance to win an iPad Mini at the end of the school year if your attendance is perfect! Even doctors say that schools are to blame for children being ill so often, as they demand children go in with all sorts to pass it on to everyone else. In fact, seeing as they love statistics so, if you look at the statistics for how quickly germs spread in this country, it's a lot higher than some other developed countries - in my opinion, this is because children spread germs like nobody's business! It's not their fault, especially young children aren't as careful with their hygiene as senior school age children or adults (though a lot of them are poorly educated too and are as bad as little kids when it comes to hygiene - honestly, the looks you get sometimes when you're out and about and going to eat and bring out some hand sanitiser before you touch your food, it's like forbidden fruit!), so one selfish person sends in their child with something or other and a few days later, everyone has it!
So, should children be treated as a statistic, or should each case be looked at individually before the school.education welfare decide on giving out a fine or worse? Because, I would feel much more fairly treated if they stopped treating my son as a statistic - stopped saying that because he isn't an average person when it comes to illness, that we must be keeping him off for no good reason, and actually look at the circumstances on an individual basis.
Right, onto the fines for being late to school. I only heard about this today, but apparently they are going to charge you a £60 fine if your child is late more than 10 times in 12 weeks (i.e. the equivalent of 2 out of the 12 weeks) - do you think this is fair?
Well again, a look at each child's/parents circumstances is important I think. And also, by how much they are late - yes being late is disruptive, but there's a difference between 1 minute late and 1 hour late. Occasionally, my son gets there late - well literally just as the school gates are closing and has to go in through the office, this gets him marked as late, but in reality, the other kids haven't even gone into class or settled by this point, so I'd hardly say that was causing disruption. It is very, very rare that he is more than 5 or 10 minutes late, but he is very hard to motivate to get going in the morning - both me and my husband are not morning people at all, we always manage to get up early for school though and wake him and try and prompt him along, but sometimes he just can't get going. Sometimes I put this down to illness - as I know he sleeps bad in the night sometimes and walks around sleepy looking all day long, but he still goes to school, he has to, but on those days in particular it's very hard to get him to wake up, get out of bed, have breakfast and get ready for school and get there on time. He's 11 years old, I'm not going to barge into his room and dress him, throw him over my shoulder and carry him to school! I can try to inspire, encourage and even tell him off, but if that doesn't work, how is fining me going to help him get there on time? On the days he is ill, but goes to school, but has slept bad in the night, I don't really think that is something they should fine you for though. At the end of the day, he's there even though he really looks beyond worse for wear.
I think fines aren't really a good punishment anyway for lateness. If a child is late for school because they have stood around in the shop or chatting to their friends or something, then yes, punish them, give them detention or something deemed appropriate. I'm not sure fining the parent(s) is the way to go though. Particularly with senior school children, most go to school on their own, so the parent wouldn't know. And they may say, well you should take them to school and make sure they get there on time - that's a fair enough idea, but... What if they take themselves to school and their parent(s) go to work, I'm not sure their parent(s) boss(es) would appreciate them saying they'd have to come in to work an hour later as they had to walk their teenager to school every morning!
A single parent with 4 children of different ages, may well struggle to get their children to school on time due to the sheer lack of help, should he/she be punished for this with a fine? Or should their individual circumstances be looked at? Again, should the children be looked at on an individual basis and not just as a statistic?
Right, finally, onto the ban from taking your children out of school in term time for a holiday - do you think this is right?
As long as your child(ren) have good attendance, it used to be at the school's discretion as to whether they could have an holiday of up to 14 days during term time, but now, they say you're not allowed to at all.
Right, this one hasn't particularly affected us, but some people work hard year round, but may only be able to afford a family holiday in term time, as let's face it, especially with these new rules, the price of an holiday during school holidays is going to zoom up even higher than it already was! Should the hard working parent(s) be unable to take a short holiday with their child(ren) during term time when they can actually afford a holiday? Don't they deserve it? And would it really make that big a difference to their learning?
When I was young, at my schools (both primary and secondary), there were a lot of Muslim children, I remember some of them being granted (on more than one occasion) 2 or 3 months at a time off to go back to their country and visit their family - hardly seems fair, that children from this country in the first place aren't even allowed a short break with their family. It shouldn't be one rule for some people, and a different rule for everyone else! And, on the subject of fairness, Muslim children are allowed time off for Eid Mubarak, even though this is during term time, regardless of it being of significant importance to them, should they be allowed to take time off? If children get fined for being ill or going on holiday, then it's not at all fair that they are allowed time off during term time, is it? I don't mean to specifically use Muslims as my source of rage, it's just as there were a lot in my school and now in my son's school, it's easy to see what is different and acceptable for them compared to us and point it out.
I would love to know what other people's opinions on all this are, so please leave me a comment and let me know what you think...
In your opinion, are fines from schools/education welfare justified and reasonable? Is a £60 fine reasonable for poor attendance? Is a £60 fine reasonable for repeat lates? Also, should you really not be able to take your child(ren) for a short holiday in term time?
Firstly, I'm going to talk about the fines for being off school ill and how this has personally affected me.
Well, we have had fines on more than one occasion for our son being off school ill. I must point out, we'd never keep him off with a sniffle, we keep him off only when he is genuinely too ill to go to school. We are due to go into his school again next week regarding his poor attendance. But I feel that poor attendance is based on a statistic - should children or adults be classed as a statistic? Because, let's face it, everyone is different, whether school/education welfare/governments admit it or not. So because the average child is able to attend school 95% of the time, does that mean all children should be able to?
When I was a child, I was off school ill quite a lot, much of which was caused by my asthma amongst other childhood illnesses - I was genuinely ill a lot of the time, this for me continued into adult life and I still get ill a hell of a lot more often than the average person. My husband on the other hand, he's always been in really good health, he very rarely gets ill at all. It's unusual if he gets a cold in a year - the most ill I've seen him since we met is a couple of days whereby he had a stomach bug! Our son, seems to be just like me though, he is ill a lot and ends up at the doctors more times than I care to mention. Maybe me and him have lower immune systems or something, I don't know, but there must be a reason why we get so ill, so much more often.
But the school/education welfare do not see it that way - because all they ever look at is statistics, rather than treating each child as the individual that they are. The last time the person from the education welfare visited us, she basically said something along the lines of "well the doctor must be wrong" - I'm sorry but do you happen to have a medical degree then? I thought not! Initially, they said we should always take him to the doctors when is ill so we have proof for them that he is ill, so we did as they said and apparently that's still not good enough! If the doctor is saying he is too ill to be at school, well that's good enough for me and I think it should be for them as after all, I'm pretty sure none of them have a medical degree!
In my opinion, those people who send their children in when they are ill are selfish - you are sending your child to spread germs around the school to all of the other children, one or more of those children may end up significantly more ill than your child was thanks to your selfishness! The school's don't help either - my son's school incentivises coming into school no matter how ill with the chance to win an iPad Mini at the end of the school year if your attendance is perfect! Even doctors say that schools are to blame for children being ill so often, as they demand children go in with all sorts to pass it on to everyone else. In fact, seeing as they love statistics so, if you look at the statistics for how quickly germs spread in this country, it's a lot higher than some other developed countries - in my opinion, this is because children spread germs like nobody's business! It's not their fault, especially young children aren't as careful with their hygiene as senior school age children or adults (though a lot of them are poorly educated too and are as bad as little kids when it comes to hygiene - honestly, the looks you get sometimes when you're out and about and going to eat and bring out some hand sanitiser before you touch your food, it's like forbidden fruit!), so one selfish person sends in their child with something or other and a few days later, everyone has it!
So, should children be treated as a statistic, or should each case be looked at individually before the school.education welfare decide on giving out a fine or worse? Because, I would feel much more fairly treated if they stopped treating my son as a statistic - stopped saying that because he isn't an average person when it comes to illness, that we must be keeping him off for no good reason, and actually look at the circumstances on an individual basis.
Right, onto the fines for being late to school. I only heard about this today, but apparently they are going to charge you a £60 fine if your child is late more than 10 times in 12 weeks (i.e. the equivalent of 2 out of the 12 weeks) - do you think this is fair?
Well again, a look at each child's/parents circumstances is important I think. And also, by how much they are late - yes being late is disruptive, but there's a difference between 1 minute late and 1 hour late. Occasionally, my son gets there late - well literally just as the school gates are closing and has to go in through the office, this gets him marked as late, but in reality, the other kids haven't even gone into class or settled by this point, so I'd hardly say that was causing disruption. It is very, very rare that he is more than 5 or 10 minutes late, but he is very hard to motivate to get going in the morning - both me and my husband are not morning people at all, we always manage to get up early for school though and wake him and try and prompt him along, but sometimes he just can't get going. Sometimes I put this down to illness - as I know he sleeps bad in the night sometimes and walks around sleepy looking all day long, but he still goes to school, he has to, but on those days in particular it's very hard to get him to wake up, get out of bed, have breakfast and get ready for school and get there on time. He's 11 years old, I'm not going to barge into his room and dress him, throw him over my shoulder and carry him to school! I can try to inspire, encourage and even tell him off, but if that doesn't work, how is fining me going to help him get there on time? On the days he is ill, but goes to school, but has slept bad in the night, I don't really think that is something they should fine you for though. At the end of the day, he's there even though he really looks beyond worse for wear.
I think fines aren't really a good punishment anyway for lateness. If a child is late for school because they have stood around in the shop or chatting to their friends or something, then yes, punish them, give them detention or something deemed appropriate. I'm not sure fining the parent(s) is the way to go though. Particularly with senior school children, most go to school on their own, so the parent wouldn't know. And they may say, well you should take them to school and make sure they get there on time - that's a fair enough idea, but... What if they take themselves to school and their parent(s) go to work, I'm not sure their parent(s) boss(es) would appreciate them saying they'd have to come in to work an hour later as they had to walk their teenager to school every morning!
A single parent with 4 children of different ages, may well struggle to get their children to school on time due to the sheer lack of help, should he/she be punished for this with a fine? Or should their individual circumstances be looked at? Again, should the children be looked at on an individual basis and not just as a statistic?
Right, finally, onto the ban from taking your children out of school in term time for a holiday - do you think this is right?
As long as your child(ren) have good attendance, it used to be at the school's discretion as to whether they could have an holiday of up to 14 days during term time, but now, they say you're not allowed to at all.
Right, this one hasn't particularly affected us, but some people work hard year round, but may only be able to afford a family holiday in term time, as let's face it, especially with these new rules, the price of an holiday during school holidays is going to zoom up even higher than it already was! Should the hard working parent(s) be unable to take a short holiday with their child(ren) during term time when they can actually afford a holiday? Don't they deserve it? And would it really make that big a difference to their learning?
When I was young, at my schools (both primary and secondary), there were a lot of Muslim children, I remember some of them being granted (on more than one occasion) 2 or 3 months at a time off to go back to their country and visit their family - hardly seems fair, that children from this country in the first place aren't even allowed a short break with their family. It shouldn't be one rule for some people, and a different rule for everyone else! And, on the subject of fairness, Muslim children are allowed time off for Eid Mubarak, even though this is during term time, regardless of it being of significant importance to them, should they be allowed to take time off? If children get fined for being ill or going on holiday, then it's not at all fair that they are allowed time off during term time, is it? I don't mean to specifically use Muslims as my source of rage, it's just as there were a lot in my school and now in my son's school, it's easy to see what is different and acceptable for them compared to us and point it out.
I would love to know what other people's opinions on all this are, so please leave me a comment and let me know what you think...
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
COMPING: My Year In Comping 2013 - 3rd Comperversary (YB)
Here's my run down of my third full year of comping (I began comping in December 2010)...
Well, I ended 2013 with a whopping 80 wins in December thanks to the advents - that beats my 60 wins in December 2012! It was fun, but hectic - it was nice when they were over really. I was comping like a maniac!!
December 2013 is also my 3rd full year of 'comping' thus it is my 3rd 'comperversary' as well.
January 2013: 26 wins
February 2013: 38 wins
March 2013: 28 wins
April 2013: 26 wins
May 2013: 33 wins
June 2013: 30 wins
July 2013: 42 wins
August 2013: 23 wins
September 2013: 36 wins
October 2013: 57 wins
November 2013: 28 wins
December 2013: 80 wins
2011: 394 wins, approx. value £20,461
2012: 249 wins, approx. value £10,674
2013: 446 wins, approx. value £15,329
Well, 2013 sees an increase in both the amount of wins and value of wins. Out of my 3 years comping so far, it's my highest amount of wins, but second highest amount in terms of value. I had a bit of a slump in comping on and off throughout the year, so I am very impressed with my wins - I didn't comp as much as previous years due to a number of reasons - being ill, Facebook/Twitter accounts hitting their follow/like limits, lack of inspiration, lack of energy etc., but did really well as it turns out and had some fantastic wins.
Here are my best (in terms of value) and favourite wins of 2013...
JANUARY
BEST
Cooker won from Appliances Online (G+)
FAVOURITE
Nescafe Dolce Gusto & After Eight Mints won from After Eight (FB)
FEBRUARY
BEST
iPad Mini from Odelay (FB)
FAVOURITE
iPad Mini from Odelay (FB)
MARCH
BEST
XBox 360 from Shortlist (WS)
FAVOURITE
£123 from Santander UK (FB)
APRIL
BEST
Paula James Canvas from Pictures Love Canvas (FB)
FAVOURITE
Oblivion Goodie Pack from @bleedingcool (TW)
MAY
BEST
Holiday to Sardinia from Sardatur Holidays (FB)
FAVOURITE
Holiday to Sardinia from Sardatur Holidays (FB)
JUNE
BEST
Children's bundle from @EgmontUK (TW)
FAVOURITE
Deluxe Cadbury chocolate hamper from Latest Free Stuff (FB)
JULY
BEST
Alton Towers Tickets & Fast-Track TheSmiler Tickets from @KraveUnleashed (TW)
FAVOURITE
£100 Tesco gift card from Pepsi Max (WS)
AUGUST
BEST
£100 Chiquito voucher from @TheChiquito (TW)
FAVOURITE
Sony digital camera from @SonyPicturesUK (TW)
SEPTEMBER
BEST
Butlins live music weekend holiday from Wychwood (WS)
FAVOURITE
Scrabble games from @scrabble2winUK (TW)
OCTOBER
BEST
Bulova watch from Nigel O'Hara Diamond Jewellers (FB)
FAVOURITE
£150 Leisure vouchers from Money Off Mum (FB)
NOVEMBER
BEST
ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31A from ASUS United Kingdom (FB)
FAVOURITE
ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31A from ASUS United Kingdom (FB)
DECEMBER
BEST
Hamper from Subaru (WS)
FAVOURITE
12 pies from Holland's Pies Official (FB)
2013 has been a fantastic year for me - I had my first holiday abroad thanks to a comping win in 2012 - a trip to Venice in February AND my second holiday abroad from a win in 2012 - a trip to Barcelona. In terms of 2013 wins though, again some fantastic things. I won a very much needed new laptop, something I didn't think I'd win as you don't see many laptop comps, but was ecstatic when I did! I also won a Butlins live music weekend as well which we are looking forward to in 2014! So many fantastic things, I find it hard not to talk about them all, but that would make for a big blog post! I'm glad I didn't stay in my comping slump, because I really would miss chatting with my lovely comping friends, entering fun competitions, winning fabulous things that I otherwise could not afford for myself or my family - it's what keeps me going.
Here's a review of my 2013 wish list (the things I was hoping to win) and how well I did:
Well, I ended 2013 with a whopping 80 wins in December thanks to the advents - that beats my 60 wins in December 2012! It was fun, but hectic - it was nice when they were over really. I was comping like a maniac!!
December 2013 is also my 3rd full year of 'comping' thus it is my 3rd 'comperversary' as well.
January 2013: 26 wins
February 2013: 38 wins
March 2013: 28 wins
April 2013: 26 wins
May 2013: 33 wins
June 2013: 30 wins
July 2013: 42 wins
August 2013: 23 wins
September 2013: 36 wins
October 2013: 57 wins
November 2013: 28 wins
December 2013: 80 wins
2011: 394 wins, approx. value £20,461
2012: 249 wins, approx. value £10,674
2013: 446 wins, approx. value £15,329
Well, 2013 sees an increase in both the amount of wins and value of wins. Out of my 3 years comping so far, it's my highest amount of wins, but second highest amount in terms of value. I had a bit of a slump in comping on and off throughout the year, so I am very impressed with my wins - I didn't comp as much as previous years due to a number of reasons - being ill, Facebook/Twitter accounts hitting their follow/like limits, lack of inspiration, lack of energy etc., but did really well as it turns out and had some fantastic wins.
Here are my best (in terms of value) and favourite wins of 2013...
JANUARY
BEST
Cooker won from Appliances Online (G+)
FAVOURITE
Nescafe Dolce Gusto & After Eight Mints won from After Eight (FB)
FEBRUARY
BEST
iPad Mini from Odelay (FB)
FAVOURITE
iPad Mini from Odelay (FB)
MARCH
BEST
XBox 360 from Shortlist (WS)
FAVOURITE
£123 from Santander UK (FB)
APRIL
BEST
Paula James Canvas from Pictures Love Canvas (FB)
FAVOURITE
Oblivion Goodie Pack from @bleedingcool (TW)
MAY
BEST
Holiday to Sardinia from Sardatur Holidays (FB)
FAVOURITE
Holiday to Sardinia from Sardatur Holidays (FB)
JUNE
BEST
Children's bundle from @EgmontUK (TW)
FAVOURITE
Deluxe Cadbury chocolate hamper from Latest Free Stuff (FB)
JULY
BEST
Alton Towers Tickets & Fast-Track TheSmiler Tickets from @KraveUnleashed (TW)
FAVOURITE
£100 Tesco gift card from Pepsi Max (WS)
AUGUST
BEST
£100 Chiquito voucher from @TheChiquito (TW)
FAVOURITE
Sony digital camera from @SonyPicturesUK (TW)
SEPTEMBER
BEST
Butlins live music weekend holiday from Wychwood (WS)
FAVOURITE
Scrabble games from @scrabble2winUK (TW)
OCTOBER
BEST
Bulova watch from Nigel O'Hara Diamond Jewellers (FB)
FAVOURITE
£150 Leisure vouchers from Money Off Mum (FB)
NOVEMBER
BEST
ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31A from ASUS United Kingdom (FB)
FAVOURITE
ASUS Zenbook Touch UX31A from ASUS United Kingdom (FB)
DECEMBER
BEST
Hamper from Subaru (WS)
FAVOURITE
12 pies from Holland's Pies Official (FB)
2013 has been a fantastic year for me - I had my first holiday abroad thanks to a comping win in 2012 - a trip to Venice in February AND my second holiday abroad from a win in 2012 - a trip to Barcelona. In terms of 2013 wins though, again some fantastic things. I won a very much needed new laptop, something I didn't think I'd win as you don't see many laptop comps, but was ecstatic when I did! I also won a Butlins live music weekend as well which we are looking forward to in 2014! So many fantastic things, I find it hard not to talk about them all, but that would make for a big blog post! I'm glad I didn't stay in my comping slump, because I really would miss chatting with my lovely comping friends, entering fun competitions, winning fabulous things that I otherwise could not afford for myself or my family - it's what keeps me going.
Here's a review of my 2013 wish list (the things I was hoping to win) and how well I did:
- Holiday to Egypt (my dream destination, specifically Cairo!) X
- Big cash win X
- Laptop (any with a decent spec, but ideally an Alienware) ΓΌ
- Good spec DSLR camera X
- PlayStation 3 (PS3) X
- Red stand-alone cooker (ideally gas, but would be happy with electric) - well I won a black cooker, not a red one, but not complaining as we really needed one ΓΌ
- OK, this one is a bit 'Out There' (pardon the pun), but I am hoping for a third 'The X-Files' movie and to win premiere tickets to it X
- Bed (ours is beyond wrecked) X
- Sony Xperia T, Samsung Galaxy S III or LG Optimus 4X HD (though will undoubtedly change as more new ones are released) X
- Clothing and/or shopping vouchers ΓΌ
Same as in 2012, I guess 30% (sounds more than 3/10!) of my 2013 wish list isn't too bad! Here's what's on my 2014 wish list:
- Big cash win
- Holiday to Egypt (my dream destination, specifically Cairo!)
- Good spec DSLR camera
- PS4 or XBox One
- Clothing and/or shopping vouchers
- iPod Touch (ideally with docking station) or hi-fi system
- Family holiday abroad (never been on a family holiday abroad (Barcelona & Venice were just for 2 people, so me & Paul went) and most class children up to 12 years old as children and as David is 11, could really do with winning one this year!)
- Grand National (Aintree, horse racing) tickets
- Dental implants (might sound odd, but I can't think of anything that would make me happier than getting my teeth sorted out)
- Sky TV subscription paid for a year
And that's it for my summary of my third year in my #1 hobby, comping! I hope all of my comping friends the very best of luck for 2014 :) xxx
Oh and a quick plug of hubby's websites while I'm here ;) In case you haven't heard of it yet, you can use Twitaculous.com to quickly find and enter Twitter competitions quickly and easily and you can use CompersHaven.co.uk to quickly find and enter Facebook like & share competitions!
Oh and a quick plug of hubby's websites while I'm here ;) In case you haven't heard of it yet, you can use Twitaculous.com to quickly find and enter Twitter competitions quickly and easily and you can use CompersHaven.co.uk to quickly find and enter Facebook like & share competitions!
Sunday, 1 December 2013
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