Category Archives: People
Things you shouldn’t post on Facebook according to ME!
After reading this post from Jeff Bullas ‘Things you should not share on social media’
I’ve come up with some of my own in particular…
Things you shouldn’t post on Facebook according to ME!
ANY copy and paste statuses
Most are pointless, some are sickly, some are just a front for racism.
If you have something to say, say it in your own way. They’re like a modern version of a chain letter trying to guilt trip you into posting it on.
Copy and paste this if you love your child/mother/father/brother/sister/nan/dog/cat etc etc.
Obviously if you don’t copy and paste it you are a cold heartless b*st*rd with no feelings. Erm… actually no. I love my family and friends very much. They know this because I am there for them and I also tell them.
Copy and paste this if you know anyone who has been affected by cancer/depression/the common cold etc.
I don’t want to sound unfeeling on this but if people truly give a sh*t about an issue then why not post up a link to a site with information or ways you can donate to the charity? Why not write a note or blog to say why this issue is important to you and why you are raising awareness of it? I care rather too deeply for the plights of people in worse situations than myself. In no way do I think that copying and pasting something into my status will help anyone. Instead I work, share and promote the causes that are important to me.
Copy and paste this if, like me you’re a racist who can’t articulate your own words.
You know the ones. They usually involves some ridiculously inaccurate Daily Mail statistics about immigrants or how our NHS is failing because of Polish people blah blah blah. If you have a valid agrument and have checked your sources fair enough but really, try harder or just don’t post anything at all. Failing that just change your profile picture to Hitler and be done with it.
Copy and paste this if you have no ability to think for yourselves. . . You get my gist.
Over-lol-ing
Now I like to laugh out loud in real life. The occasional typed lol is fine (although I am a haha-er myself) but WHY WHY WHY do people insist on using it as a punctuation? Rather than a full stop people type lol at the end of statuses or comments even when it does’t make ANY sense to whatsoever. LOL.
Just had gammon and chips for tea. LOL!
Took my car for an MOT. LOL.
Broke my leg today. LOL.
NOOOOOOO! Not LOL.
Minute details of pregnancy, childbirth, babies’ toilet habits….
I love babies, I love that some of my Facebook friends are happy to be pregnant. However, I do not need to hear about every symptom they experience from conception to birth. Even more so I don’t want to hear about placentas, the state of their child’s nappies when they do arrive, potty training fiascos or similar. The odd scan picture and a few pics after the birth for us to aaahhh at is cool. One of my Facebook friends would post a weekly picture of her little (VERY cute) baby boy and it was nice to see because you could see how he changed and it didn’t become boring as it was not complete timeline bombardment. Had she posted an update every time he had a poo that would be different!
Relationship issues
People who feel the need to live their whole relationship good and bad via Facebook. Warts and all (in fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if people did post pics of their warts an’ all!). Now occasionally I may post a comment on my beloved’s Facebook and he on mine. Occasionally. If we want to tell each other we love each other we can do that at home. If we want a row we can use our voices to adequately convey our feelings. We do not feel the need for everyone on our friend’s list to know about it. OK so we do occasionally poke each other for fun too but that is also private!
Racism
A sure fire way to get unfriended. No more explanation needed.
Countdowns
42 days until I go on holiday – Repeated every day until said holiday.
Only 196 days until Christmas! I’m starting my shopping today.*smug face* - SAD!
Wishing your life away
Urggh, Monday morning, roll on Friday.
Is it the weekend yet?
It nice to have things to look forward to but Facebook seems to be full of miserable people who just constantly wish their lives away. Live for the now. Yes Mondays can be rubbish but life’s what you make it. If EVERY week you just moan that it’s not the weekend then you need to be reviewing what you’re doing with your life. Get something mid week to look forward to, change your job, sort out your relationship, whatever. Embrace every day. Life’s too bleedin’ short. And if you’re having a bad day deal with it, get help from those you love but please, don’t bring us all down too!
Hangovers *yawn*and Booze Bores
It usually goes something like this…
Can’t wait to get wasted on Friday.
Having a few before we get to the pub.
Incohererent status full of typos.
Oohh why do I feel so terrible. I’m never drinking again.
REPEAT. Every week. Get a life or get some help.
So that’s my rant done for now. LOL. ; )
Stace x
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Christmas 2011 and New Year
A round up of Christmas and New Year, mainly just to get me back in the blogging zone….
Christmas Food
I made cupcakes, peppermint creams and ginger biscuits. This year it was my family’s turn to have us but we cooked Christmas din dins this year to give my Mom and Stepdad a break. It was great. I prepared a lot of the veg the day before. We made turkey with lemon and sage butter with streaky bacon and Topside of Beef. I made Delia Smith’s bread sauce which turned out well. For pud we bought a Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Christmas pud and Ban made a chocolate and raspberry ganache tart inspired by the one Michel Roux Jr did on Masterchef.
Presents
We had some very helpful monetary donations from various family members which we have put towards a new fridge freezer and wallpaper for our living room. Not usually one for branded products I seem to have developed a longing for all things Joseph Joseph. We now have the indexed chopping boards , Preparation bowls set and Fold flat grater. I love the bright colours.
My River Cottage Everyday cookbook will keep us in new recipes for a while and there’s enough Thornton’s Continental left in the house to delay Slimming World for another week. Still on a kitchen theme my brother bought us a pestle and mortar which we’ve been after for a while and I’ve had an addition to my collection of Letraset Promarkers.
People
Ban’s brother Richard lives in Chicago and he came over for a week over the Christmas period. We spent Christmas Day and evening with my family (see Games below) and Boxing Day with his Mom and Dad, brothers and two nephews Sam and Tom who had a crazy amount of presents as always. My favourite was the Harry Potter night bus. I REALLY want some Harry Potter LEGO.
Games
Christmas wouldn’t be the same without games. On Christmas Day we played Rapidough and had a good singalong to traditional songs like Tenacious D Tribute, haha! On Boxing Day we played Top Gear board game with our nephews and then the more grown up Cranium which is quite hard. On New Year’s Eve my little cousin Becky bought her new games Pass The Bomb and LOGO’s to play. At our friends new year party we played Dance Central. I’m more of a head banger than a dancer but it was a laugh. Just imagine me trying to dance to MC Hammer and Britney Spears. Thankfully it’s not on YouTube yet.
Oh and before I forget….Skyrim! I bought it for Ban hoping he’d like it but I’ve been sucked into it too. Awesome.
TV
Doctor Who
A nice heartwarming episode and for a change I didn’t have to hide behind a cushion.
Eastenders
Pat’s dead! David Wicks came back though. Bonus.
Sherlock
Clever and brilliant. Best thing on TV.
Erm.. anyway that’s about it for now. I’ve written something at least.
Happy New Year everybody!
Stace x
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Metal gigs weekend December 2011
After months of waiting, these two gigs were finally upon us.
Trivium at Wolves Civic – Friday 2nd December
On arrival I looked on with my confused face at Ghost whose lead singer seemed to be dressed as a scary Pope. Never one to judge a band by it’s cover (see also The Defiled) and coming from a huge Slipknot fan it would be silly to do so. They’re music was quite good but I didn’t catch enough to fully get them. I need to take time to listen to them but due to their name it’s a bit difficult to track them down. Googling Ghost wasn’t very helpful!
In Flames were ace and just what I needed to get going. I’ll be checking out their latest album for sure.
Trivium kicked off with In Waaaaaaaaaaaaves, the title song of their recent album.
They played Departure from Ascendency which was a first I think. Matt Heafy still looks too young to be that good but he still is. Gutted I missed out on Corey’s pick which landed right next to me but was quickly snapped up by someone younger and more sprightly than me.
Machine head – Sunday 4th December – Birmingham NIA
A big group of me and my mates got together to go to this.
Where's Wally (Stace)?
Some of my boys. (Bro Ricky 2nd left, my man Ban far right).
After catching half of the mighty Devildriver we retreated to the bar whilst Bring Me The Horizon were on. To be fair their music was good, the screamo vocals were not our thing at all though. I fail to see the point in people who watch the supports just to moan about them. Seems people try too hard to be cool not to be cool. You could see the older metalheads jeering or putting ther fingers in their ears. A bit unnecessary I thought. They obviously have a big following and as I often say I would rather our ‘youth’ get into (versions of) metal like this than be at a some charty shit pop band.
Anyway, onto Machine head. We’ve seen them loads of times, maybe into double figures now and they are always awesome. A good mixture of songs old and new. Stand outs from the new album were of course Locust, I Am Hell and Be Still and Know was good for a singalong. I always get very excited at The blood, the sweat, the tears live.
You can see some photos from the gig here courtesy of Danny’s Concerts Captured.
The best thing was despite messing my neck up at Trivium moshing all night to Machine head seemed to stretch my neck back into place and I was fine in the morning. Bargain.
So on my to do list include trying to find some Ghost to judge them properly and getting the In Flames album.
Cheers for reading.
Stace x
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Johnny’s Story – 8 months & counting
Thinking back to the panel on Stigma and Discrimination at the National Drug Conference in Dublin this month it was highlighted that we never read good stories in the papers. Bad news sells. Users get all the bad press but rarely do we hear of the success stories. Maybe we can’t change the newspapers or society’s hunger for bad news but the more positive messages we can get out there the better. Twitter gives me an opportunity to engage with some interesting people and this is the story of one of my Twitter friends. I thought it would be nice for Johnny to get his experiences heard.
Stacey
Johnny Collins and his dog Marley
When Johnny was 16 his grandfather passed way and soon after his grandmother. He had little understanding of how to deal with grief and death and began drinking a lot. One night he tried Heroin for the first time.
“It was my miracle answer; it took all the pain I was feeling away”.
He admits his understanding of addiction back then was that it was all in the head, a choice people made that could be controlled. His use increased to every Friday, then every Friday and Saturday and it wasn’t long before he was using every day. In the early stages off his addiction when he worked he remembers particularly bad times. One of these was when he was talking to a guy at work and found out one of his friend’s had died from an overdose. Again grief affected his use.
“I was convinced something would happen and the penny would drop but then I accepted that I was going to die an addict. I wrote a suicide note explaining to my friends and family how they would be better off if I was dead.”
Luckily before it got too far an unlikely source helped him…
“It was a policeman who came to tell me I was being watched on the town’s CCTV. He noticed my low mood and asked what’s up? I’d wanted someone to listen so I showed him the suicide note explaining how life would be better with me dead!!”
That was how Johnny was first directed to help and got into rehab which began a cycle.
“Every time I got into rehab I always seemed to have it in my head that I would still have to use again.”
He eventually began a relationship with his lifelong friend and it was made clear that drugs couldn’t be a part of it. Although he initially struggled with this, with her love and support he got his life back. Johnny also has high praise for Methadone.
“The reality is that Methadone allowed me to have stability, a fiancé and a life. I think it’s more addictive than Heroin but it gave me a chance to see there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”.
When I asked Johnny what he thinks would’ve helped him more along the way he simply said.
“Reassurance. No one had ever said to me how you are feeling is OK, normal, part of the process. You can do it Johnny”.
Johnny who used Heroin and other drugs for over 15 years is now 31, 8 months Heroin free and engaged to Hazel. They live in Ballymena, Northern Ireland with their ‘son’, their dog Marley. He is looking forward to getting married and getting back into work. He would also like to be able to help others recovering from dependency like him. He would like to say big thank you to all the people that helped him along the way especially Hazel and his big mate Jim.
Johnny and his supportive friend Jim
This is a poem Johnny wrote for Hazel….
Acceptance
While I was looking for a perfect verse, so happy I was fit to burst
Acceptance, just 1 word. Cos u accepted me as I was, a junkie chasing a buzz
This is pure n simple truth, u welcomed me under your roof
At 25 you got ur own place, while i was still gettin off my face
When I was a teen I wanted to sell drugs, cos then id be one of the cool thugs.
How could I be such a fool, for flip sake I was still at school
I love you with all my heart and life would be bad if we were apart
There’s just one dream id like to come true, no more gear-just me, marley n you
I hate it when you cry cos youre my love and thats what gets me by
So, no more tears except for joy, me, you n our doggy boy!
No more madness cos thats the reason for ur sadness
To Hazel
from Johnny.
I love u forever. xoxox
Johnny Collins
Ballymena, Northern Ireland
You can follow Johnny on Twitter @wjc80
National Drugs Conference Ireland 2011
I was lucky enough to be invited back to Dublin again to help at this year’s National Drugs Conference. I flew with Nigel Brunsdon Injecting Advice and now HIT Community Manager and we met Kevin Cundy of Frontier Medical Group at the airport.
It was held as previously at the Radisson hotel (great showers!). Tim Bingham of the INEF again pulled off the organisation of this big event and didn’t seem to stand still for three days but his efforts are very much appreciated. The conference consisted of plenary speaker sessions and break off workshops for delegates to attend.
The full programme of speakers can be seen on the INEF website.
On the Thursday morning we had a manic time registering everyone and it was good to see some familiar faces both from the real world and Twitter.
As always I tend to go to the sessions of my friends or people I know. Roweena Russell who was a big help with the recent tender I wrote delivered a session on how the website Hiwecanhelp has developed and can benefit organisations all across the UK. Check out their funky new homepage.
I also went to see the seriously inspirational Annemarie Ward who really got the delegates engaged. You can read all about the work of the UKRF and their principles are well worth checking out. They (Annemarie and Alistair Sinclair) are doing great work changing the face of recovery to bring everyone together to encourage choices in treatment and developing supportive recovery networks across the UK. See my previous post on the UKRF conference here.
It was good to see the HIT O’ Hare’s again and I’m looking forward to the fundraiser in Liverpool later this month. I also met Stephen Malloy (Scottish Drug Forum) and Julia Elspeth who were formerly just little thumbnails on my Twitter screen.
Of particular interest was a panel discussion on Drugs, Stigma and the Media. The panel consisted of:
Erin O’Mara, editor of Black Poppy, a UK-based health and lifestyle magazine produced by and for people who use drugs.
We were carrrying around this idea that we were wastes, wastes of spaces. . . when you go and seek treatment and you know they are treating you badly you think well I’m a junkie….it gets ingrained and it drives a big wedge and silences people.
Rick Lines, Harm Reduction International
Maureen Brosnahan, a veteran national reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
We need to be conscious of the language we use, junkie versus user, hooker versus sex worker, addiction versus dependency…
Kitty Holland, The Irish Times
Keelin Shanley, RTE
You can see the video of it below.
National Drugs Conference Panel Discussion – Drugs, Stigma and the Media
Good news is unfortunately not news. We are more likely to hear the stories of stereotypical users committing crime than the positive stories of people in recovery who have managed to get through difficult times. People who are stuck in their Daily Mail regurgitating views want the stories that perpetuate what they prefer to believe. They rarely look for what the real story is, the reasons why people may use problematically, attempt to understand dependency, happily keep the ‘us and them’ mentality while quaffing their own drug of choice, usually Alcohol and not recognising the irony or their hypocrisy. Ooh sorry, nearly a rant there.
Anyway, it was a brilliant couple of days and thanks to all involved both during the conference and socialising in the evenings too.
Thanks for reading.
Stacey
UK Recovery Summit 2011 Cardiff
Friday 9th September saw the 2011 UK Recovery Federation summit which brought together providers, supporters and people in recovery from all over the UK.
It was held at the All Nations Conference Centre, Cardiff. I arrived on Thursday afternoon and met with UKRF Directors Alistair Sinclair and AnneMarie Ward who organised the conference as well as other speakers for dinner. It was slightly daunting in some ways as there were a lot of prominent people from the field at the table but they are all really interesting and passionate people and I appreciate the opportunity to meet people who I can learn so much from. Always nice to see my Twitter friends Nigel Brunsdon, Tim Bingham and Melody Treasure too.
We were lucky enough to have a stand there to promote training and EFT for Recovery. There was an immediate interest in EFT and it restored my faith that I should continue spreading the word. There’s an obvious need for people to have access to emotional support at all stages of recovery and EFT can help with that so I’ll keep right on and see what areas of the UK it takes me to. It was an opportunity to connect and it was great to meet so many inspirational people and hear their stories.
Speakers included:
Keith Humphreys Professor of Psychiatry at Stamford University
John Strang National Addictions Centre, Kings College London
Neil Hunt University of Kent and UK Harm Reduction Association
Carol McDaid Faces and Voices of Recovery, Virginia, U.S
Colin Wilkie-Jones Chief Executive, eATA
Bryan Morgan West Sussex DAAT and EXACT
AnneMarie Ward & Alistair Sinclair UKRF Directors
There were two people in particular who made my trip to Cardiff even more worthwhile. Francis and Rie. I met them both separately and then found out they were husband and wife. Amazing people. Here is Rie’s Wired In blog.
http://wiredintorecovery.org/member/blog/2733/entry/11662/a-personal-story2/
http://wiredintorecovery.org/member/blog/2733/entry/11665/a-personal-story.-two/
Next up the Recovery Walk.
Stacey
A 27 year old woman dies and she ‘deserves’ it??
I felt the need to have a bit of a rant after hearing the news about Amy Winehouse. Now I wasn’t a particular fan but of course have followed her life over the last few years as we all have as she batttled her addictions.
Here comes the rant. Having logged onto Twitter and (and Facebook briefly but really, I knew that would be even more ignorant) there are varying comments being made. A lot saying how sad it is, some how it was inevitable but also some that she deserved it.
After the news yesterday about the mostly young lives lost in Norway then of course one death is not as big but the fact is Amy’s death is more relevant to us in this country and she’s a celeb. Celeb stories alway pull in the crowds rightly or wrongly.
Amy had a lot of problems and she did access rehab and help on several occasions but it just shows the power and control that drugs (legal and illegal) had on her that she lost her life due to it. The thing that gets me is that people fail to realise that all sorts of addictions can lead to death. OK so we’re not all dying suddenly like she has but people do die from making unheathy choices in life be it smoking, toking, drinking, snorting, injecting, overeating or engaging in other risky but fun behaviours. In fact how many deaths are really 100% blame free? If someone dies of cancer because of an addiction to legal drug Nicotine should we all not be sad and dismiss it because they ‘deserved’ it. If someone dies of heart disease because they enjoy eating junk food should we not give a shit?? If someone doesn’t wake up on a night out after too much legal beer and vodka do they deserve it? If a young person snorts a few lines too many on a Friday night and their heart gives out should we all hoorah??
I hope Amy is at peace wherever she is and I hope all the people who are making despicable comments do not lose anyone they love because of a natural human compulsion to eat things, drink things or take things that make them feel better.
Peace, love, EMPATHY!!
Stace x
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An Audience with Corey Taylor – The Man, The Legend!
It’s been a while but I felt the need to post about An Audience With Corey Taylor at HMV Institute, Birmingham last night.
For those of you that may not know, Corey Taylor is the lead singer of one of my favourite bands Slipknot and also Stone Sour.
Now non Slipknot and metal lovers will probably think of the cliche that metal vocals are just a screaming noise into a microphone but Corey Taylor is an amazing and diverse vocalist. This event was a bit different to usual gigs as it was to promote his new book Seven Deadly Sins.
In the first half he read excerpts from his book and really connected with the audience answering their questions with banter and honesty. Inevitably he spoke about the death of Paul Gray, the Slipknot bassist who passed away last year.
In the second half it was just Corey and his guitar performing an acoustic set which really showed his vocal talents off.
Highlights for me included this cover of Pearl Jam’s Black…
…and an unforgettably funny rendition of the well known Slipknot song SPIT….. IT….OUT!!! This is the real version which I go loopy at when I see them live.
and this is the version Corey sang….
Brilliant. All in all well worth the ticket price and reaffirmed my adoration of the man, the legend Corey Taylor!
We are not worthy!
Stace x
30 Day Song Challenge – Day Five
Day 05 – a song that reminds you of someone
Ruby – Kaiser Chiefs
This reminds me of my friend Rubee for obvious reasons. I’m not particularly a fan of indie style rock and I don’t think she particularly likes the song either (probably because it’s been sung at her incessantly for the last five years!) but still, a radio friendly sort of tune and it’s mucho fun to sing at her. She is very lovely.
