Dita Von Teese, ask anybody to name a Burlesque performer and instantly the name will spring forth from most peoples lips. Heralded as the Queen of Neo Burlesque, Von Teese is probably one of the most influential names in this art form at present and has helped raise its profile to something main stream. Of course like all things that gain momentum and capture the public eye more and more people decide they want to give it a try, which is by no means a bad thing. What is the bad thing is when people who don’t actually understand Burlesque turn a hand to it, often with disastrous consequences.
I’m fortunate enough to count the UK’s Suzie Sequin as a close personal friend and maybe I am a little biased in my views but I do honestly believe that as UK acts go she is one of the best, she also was the person who introduced me to Burlesque and became my “guide” for lack of a better title. Contrary to popular belief Burlesque isn’t all about a load of girls stripping off, the art of the striptease is actually a very small part of Burlesque in its truest sense with the strip coming towards the end of an evening of comedy, literary parody, song and dance. Over the years this has become diluted and now to the modern audience, Burlesque or Neo Burlesque as some circles refer to it is all about the girls, but at its core it’s still about theatre with the key element being not what is seen but the tease and what is not seen.
Traditional dance forms like ballet and belly dancing converge with elaborate costumes to produce an exquisite and tantalizing look at the exotic with nudity being very much a sub element, once again this shows it’s not about “Getting them out for the lads” but more about hiding what is on offer and teasing with the merest glimpses of what gifts the girls possess. It truly is an art form in itself and one that many try, but few can master. To do burlesque justice requires huge amounts of physical and stage presence with more than a small dash of humour on the part of the performer. You need a huge amount of commitment to be a stand out Burlesque act and you need to know how to walk the path of the tease, rather than going down the easy path of the sleaze.
I have had the unfortunate pleasure of watching some appalling supposed Burlesque acts who either try and get through a routine as quickly as possible to get to the end and off stage as quickly as possible, to others that seems to have it confused with stripping. As any proper Burlesque performer will tell you, you can’t just throw on a cheap corset, slap on Vamp red lipstick and get your boobs out to R Kellys Bump and Grind and call yourself a Burlesque performer, doing so not only cheapens the Burlesque art form, but also doesn’t do the performer any favours either.
To do Burlesque right, look at the 30’s and 40’s and earlier, look at glamour –and no we’re not talking a Jordan photo shoot, but more old fashion Hollywood glitz- and see what you can emulate. If pin curls and Nylons are not your thing, look at what humour you can put into a routine and for the love of all that is holy do not look to the film called Burlesque starring Cher and Christina Aguilera for inspiration, if anything look at Cabaret if you need a film to inspire you. The key phrase is don’t go tacky but do go unexpected and never forget it’s not what you see but what you don’t see that counts, after all when it comes to Burlesque you’re not selling the steak, you are selling the sizzle.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Born This Way, Or Marketing All The Way? The rise of Gaga
I start this blog by pointing out I’m not Anti Gaga and I’m not Pro Gaga, but I would be lying if I, like so many others haven’t been fascinated by the on stage persona of 25 year old New York native Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, or Lady Gaga as the world knows her as. It is impossible to ignore the impact that Lady Gaga has had on pop culture and the music industry on a whole since she burst onto the scene in 2008 with singles Poker Face and Just Dance, but is she really as her new album proclaims “Born This Way” or rather an onstage creation that has been carefully been crafted to appeal to various sections of the global community to allow for maximum effect and the over whelming global dominance of Brand Gaga?
It’s clear from the get go that Gaga owes a lot to the big female singers of the 80’s, with a sound clearly inspired by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Blondie to name but three women that have been put in the Gaga blender, but it is possibly Madonna that draws the closest comparisons. 80’s Madonna was the shock and awe queen, able to entertain, infuriate and appal in equal measure and you’d have to be blind to not notice that Lady Gaga elicits the same response. For every fan who calls her a genius, you’ll have somebody claiming that she’s nothing more than a fruit loop with maybe a little too high an opinion of herself and her messages of “acceptance for all” and “don’t feel forced to confirm, be a freak like me instead.” Ironically the latter message giving people a whole new image to confirm to and giving the disenfranchised somebody to relate to who they feel is just like them. However if you look into the past of Gaga there are the odd few inconsistences for this woman who has always been a self-proclaimed “freak”.
Before Gaga.
Much like the woman that many claim Gaga has taken so much inspiration from -Madonna- Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was raised a Roman Catholic, however this tough New Yorkers upbringing was softened slightly by her early schooling being at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattans Upper East side, an upscale private all girls Roman Catholic school that is renowned for having the most expensive tuition fees of all the Sacred Hear Schools. Gaga is the first to state that she does not come from a wealthy background, but when you can count the Hilton sisters as classmates (although she never met them) then you have to question the validity of that. One thing you can’t take away from her though is her obvious talent for playing the piano. Writing her first piano ballad at age 13 is nothing short of impressive and shouldn’t be sniffed at, neither is gaining early admission at age 17 to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
All during this time this 21st century pop powerhouse claims that “I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak.” However people who knew her a school claim it’s something of a different story and although she was never going to be the homecoming queen she had a good core group of friends, was well liked, was a good student and had an eye for the boys. One thing that is consitant throughout though is a passion for music, be it singing, playing piano or appearing in musical theatre, which has always been there at the core.
Gaga rises.
The true rise of Gaga starts in 2005 following being signed and then subsequently dropped by Def Jam records all in the space of three months. Little is known about this time apart from the fact that the Lady Gaga persona was very much in its infancy, to the stage where Lady Gaga as the world knows her now didn’t exist. It was shortly after being dropped by Def Jam that she was introduced to the writer producer RedOne, together the sound of Lady Gaga would be crafted. It was also around this time that Gaga claims she started to “find herself”. Her chosen method being experimentation with drugs, alcohol and if her hair styles are anything to go by, far too much hair spray. It was during this time that Lady Gaga would have us believe she was born.
When she burst onto the music scene in 2008 nobody knew what to make of her, she was an eccentric, a maverick, unique, transgendered, you name it Gaga was accused or labelled it which of course just helped serve the PR machine that pushed Gaga further and further into the public eye. Some people seek out publicity other people have it thrust upon them, appearing on stage in dress made entirely of meat, or being carried onto stage in a giant egg it’s easy to feel that Gaga is very much of the former rather than the later, with each interview response – the now infamous Johnathan Ross interview where she proclaimed to have “A Big Donkey Dick”- public appearance and award show attendance designed with only one agenda. Get people talking about Gaga and keep them talking about Gaga.
Gaga fans will point out that the music is what people are interested in but you have to ask the question would you be as interested in tracks like Paparazzi, Just Dance and Poker Face if they were presented by Stefani Germanotta, a 25 year old New Yorker sat at a piano dressed in a simple black dress? Yes Gaga may be able to release catchy club tunes that get everybody’s head bobbing along but compared to some lyricists she’s not exactly a challenging or overly creative writer with lines like “Don’t be a drag just be a queen” or “Just Dance, Gonna be okay, Da doo doo doo” . What keeps everybody wanting more is the theatre and the unexpected, just like a good horror movie you’re not 100% sure whats coming up next.
So is Gaga Born this way? In my honest heart of hearts I sincerely doubt it, I do however think she is an incredibly shrewd business woman who has worked out her target demographic perfectly and knows how best to appeal to it. Does she have staying power though? Well the cop out answer is, only time will tell, but do I think we’ll be talking about Lady Gaga in the same breath as Madonna, Cher or Blondie in twenty years’ time? I hope she proves us wrong as the music industry needs the special breed of crazy that is Lady Gaga but at the same time I won’t be surprised if she fades away after six or so years in the spotlight into a future career of writing for others.
It’s clear from the get go that Gaga owes a lot to the big female singers of the 80’s, with a sound clearly inspired by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Blondie to name but three women that have been put in the Gaga blender, but it is possibly Madonna that draws the closest comparisons. 80’s Madonna was the shock and awe queen, able to entertain, infuriate and appal in equal measure and you’d have to be blind to not notice that Lady Gaga elicits the same response. For every fan who calls her a genius, you’ll have somebody claiming that she’s nothing more than a fruit loop with maybe a little too high an opinion of herself and her messages of “acceptance for all” and “don’t feel forced to confirm, be a freak like me instead.” Ironically the latter message giving people a whole new image to confirm to and giving the disenfranchised somebody to relate to who they feel is just like them. However if you look into the past of Gaga there are the odd few inconsistences for this woman who has always been a self-proclaimed “freak”.
Before Gaga.
Much like the woman that many claim Gaga has taken so much inspiration from -Madonna- Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was raised a Roman Catholic, however this tough New Yorkers upbringing was softened slightly by her early schooling being at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattans Upper East side, an upscale private all girls Roman Catholic school that is renowned for having the most expensive tuition fees of all the Sacred Hear Schools. Gaga is the first to state that she does not come from a wealthy background, but when you can count the Hilton sisters as classmates (although she never met them) then you have to question the validity of that. One thing you can’t take away from her though is her obvious talent for playing the piano. Writing her first piano ballad at age 13 is nothing short of impressive and shouldn’t be sniffed at, neither is gaining early admission at age 17 to the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
All during this time this 21st century pop powerhouse claims that “I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down. I didn't fit in, and I felt like a freak.” However people who knew her a school claim it’s something of a different story and although she was never going to be the homecoming queen she had a good core group of friends, was well liked, was a good student and had an eye for the boys. One thing that is consitant throughout though is a passion for music, be it singing, playing piano or appearing in musical theatre, which has always been there at the core.
Gaga rises.
The true rise of Gaga starts in 2005 following being signed and then subsequently dropped by Def Jam records all in the space of three months. Little is known about this time apart from the fact that the Lady Gaga persona was very much in its infancy, to the stage where Lady Gaga as the world knows her now didn’t exist. It was shortly after being dropped by Def Jam that she was introduced to the writer producer RedOne, together the sound of Lady Gaga would be crafted. It was also around this time that Gaga claims she started to “find herself”. Her chosen method being experimentation with drugs, alcohol and if her hair styles are anything to go by, far too much hair spray. It was during this time that Lady Gaga would have us believe she was born.
When she burst onto the music scene in 2008 nobody knew what to make of her, she was an eccentric, a maverick, unique, transgendered, you name it Gaga was accused or labelled it which of course just helped serve the PR machine that pushed Gaga further and further into the public eye. Some people seek out publicity other people have it thrust upon them, appearing on stage in dress made entirely of meat, or being carried onto stage in a giant egg it’s easy to feel that Gaga is very much of the former rather than the later, with each interview response – the now infamous Johnathan Ross interview where she proclaimed to have “A Big Donkey Dick”- public appearance and award show attendance designed with only one agenda. Get people talking about Gaga and keep them talking about Gaga.
Gaga fans will point out that the music is what people are interested in but you have to ask the question would you be as interested in tracks like Paparazzi, Just Dance and Poker Face if they were presented by Stefani Germanotta, a 25 year old New Yorker sat at a piano dressed in a simple black dress? Yes Gaga may be able to release catchy club tunes that get everybody’s head bobbing along but compared to some lyricists she’s not exactly a challenging or overly creative writer with lines like “Don’t be a drag just be a queen” or “Just Dance, Gonna be okay, Da doo doo doo” . What keeps everybody wanting more is the theatre and the unexpected, just like a good horror movie you’re not 100% sure whats coming up next.
So is Gaga Born this way? In my honest heart of hearts I sincerely doubt it, I do however think she is an incredibly shrewd business woman who has worked out her target demographic perfectly and knows how best to appeal to it. Does she have staying power though? Well the cop out answer is, only time will tell, but do I think we’ll be talking about Lady Gaga in the same breath as Madonna, Cher or Blondie in twenty years’ time? I hope she proves us wrong as the music industry needs the special breed of crazy that is Lady Gaga but at the same time I won’t be surprised if she fades away after six or so years in the spotlight into a future career of writing for others.
The Dragon, The Pitch and the Unenforceable Super Injunction.
You’d have to have been living under a rock over the last week for the Soap Opera that is the Imogen Thomas, undisclosed footballer, Super Injunction saga to have passed you by unnoticed. The basic gist of it is that an unidentified footballer – known only as CTB in the Super Injunction paperwork – has put out a gagging order stopping anybody publishing details of an alleged affair between him and Z list celebutante and former Big Brother UK contestant Imogen Thomas. Unfortunately for the footballer the story doesn’t end there and has if anything descended into a total farce and has questioned if Super Injunctions are worth the court notarised paper they are published on?
Within hours of the Super Injunction being public knowledge via a Twitter leak, rumours of who the mysterious CTB had spread across the internet like wild fire, before the day was out Welsh National and Manchester United Midfielder Ryan Giggs was named as the alleged footballer. Neither Ms Thomas or Mr Giggs reps confirmed this was the case, instead Giggs rep did something worse and began legal proceedings against Twitter, demanding to know the username and identity of the person who named him as the mysterious CTB. However by trying to silence Twitter and the account that named and shamed him, Giggs has created a scandal that is very firmly being pushed forward by “The Streisand Effect.”
What is the Streisand Effect?
Put simply the Streisand Effect is something very much created by the internet and is for lack of a better explanation the reason why things like the “Super Injunction” – or Anonymised privacy injunction to give it it’s official title- can’t really work in the Inter net age. The Streisand Effect happens when an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information actually ends up publicizing the information even further pushing it higher into the public domain which is exactly what has happened in the case of CTB Vs News Group Newspapers – owners of the Sun and the News of the World. Although this is a rather unique Streisand effect as although no English newspapers or media sources can publish the name of the mysterious CTB, this Super Injunction has zero hold over other countries media, and CTB clearly hasn’t taken this into account, or the fact that in the decision to sue Twitter, a US company, CTB has to be named in the court proceedings as per US law in turn revealing his identity, which then raises the question of why is he suing twitter? Which is explained in the court proceedings and BANG, Super Injunction is rendered pointless.
The truly ironic thing is, that had Ryan Giggs (the alleged mysterious CTB) wished to keep the whole episode of an alleged affair quiet, he should have done exactly that himself, kept quiet.
As the graph shows, searches into Ryan Giggs (the blue line, Imogen Thomas is the red line and Golden Balls Beckham is the purple line) were pretty low even when the first Twitter leak allegations emerged. Yes there was a small peak in interest but the news was fast becoming tomorrows fish and chip wrapping, and life for Giggs would probably have settled down to normal and tabloid controversy limited.
Within hours of the Super Injunction being public knowledge via a Twitter leak, rumours of who the mysterious CTB had spread across the internet like wild fire, before the day was out Welsh National and Manchester United Midfielder Ryan Giggs was named as the alleged footballer. Neither Ms Thomas or Mr Giggs reps confirmed this was the case, instead Giggs rep did something worse and began legal proceedings against Twitter, demanding to know the username and identity of the person who named him as the mysterious CTB. However by trying to silence Twitter and the account that named and shamed him, Giggs has created a scandal that is very firmly being pushed forward by “The Streisand Effect.”
What is the Streisand Effect?
Put simply the Streisand Effect is something very much created by the internet and is for lack of a better explanation the reason why things like the “Super Injunction” – or Anonymised privacy injunction to give it it’s official title- can’t really work in the Inter net age. The Streisand Effect happens when an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information actually ends up publicizing the information even further pushing it higher into the public domain which is exactly what has happened in the case of CTB Vs News Group Newspapers – owners of the Sun and the News of the World. Although this is a rather unique Streisand effect as although no English newspapers or media sources can publish the name of the mysterious CTB, this Super Injunction has zero hold over other countries media, and CTB clearly hasn’t taken this into account, or the fact that in the decision to sue Twitter, a US company, CTB has to be named in the court proceedings as per US law in turn revealing his identity, which then raises the question of why is he suing twitter? Which is explained in the court proceedings and BANG, Super Injunction is rendered pointless.
The truly ironic thing is, that had Ryan Giggs (the alleged mysterious CTB) wished to keep the whole episode of an alleged affair quiet, he should have done exactly that himself, kept quiet.
As the graph shows, searches into Ryan Giggs (the blue line, Imogen Thomas is the red line and Golden Balls Beckham is the purple line) were pretty low even when the first Twitter leak allegations emerged. Yes there was a small peak in interest but the news was fast becoming tomorrows fish and chip wrapping, and life for Giggs would probably have settled down to normal and tabloid controversy limited.
On 22 May 2011, the Sunday Herald, a Scottish newspaper, published a thinly disguised photograph of Ryan Giggs on its front page, effectively ending the anonymous court order CTB v News Group Newspapers involving Imogen Thomas. The paper added in its editorial column, "Today we identify the footballer whose name has been linked to a court super injunction by thousands of postings on Twitter. Why? Because we believe it is unsustainable that the law can be used to prevent newspapers from publishing information that readers can access on the internet at the click of a mouse."
In an age where the entire world is connected by just the click of the mouse a newspaper gagging order is meaningless, and an internet based gagging order is all but non-enforceable without draconian like government intervention, closure of whole websites and Big Brother like internet usage monitoring. Giggs, if he is indeed the alleged footballer, will probably one day look back at all this and feel slightly stupid for making a mountain out of a molehill, after all a Premiership Football player having an extramarital affair is hardly shocking or uncommon news. However he can look at this whole circus and smile slightly, as the graph shows he’s 2000% more popular than David Beckham when it comes to internet searches at present and when you can say you’ve beaten “Brand Beckham” even if it’s just for a day it can make you feel like you’ve arrived. Even if it is for a reason you’d rather it wasn’t.
In an age where the entire world is connected by just the click of the mouse a newspaper gagging order is meaningless, and an internet based gagging order is all but non-enforceable without draconian like government intervention, closure of whole websites and Big Brother like internet usage monitoring. Giggs, if he is indeed the alleged footballer, will probably one day look back at all this and feel slightly stupid for making a mountain out of a molehill, after all a Premiership Football player having an extramarital affair is hardly shocking or uncommon news. However he can look at this whole circus and smile slightly, as the graph shows he’s 2000% more popular than David Beckham when it comes to internet searches at present and when you can say you’ve beaten “Brand Beckham” even if it’s just for a day it can make you feel like you’ve arrived. Even if it is for a reason you’d rather it wasn’t.
Friday, 20 May 2011
Tech Talk, The UK says hello to NFC
I said this blog could feature anything and anything it does with this article that will be dubbed, Tech Talk.
This week Orange and Barclays officially announced the launch of its “Quick Tap” scheme, an extension of the ever increasing in popularity contactless payment system which eliminates the need to enter in a pin for purchases made on a Near Field Communication, or NFC, chip equipped credit or debit card. In principal Quick Tap turns your mobile phone into a digital wallet, doing away with the need to carry around your debit and credit card or even cash allowing you to make payment for goods (subject to service limitations) by waving your phone over a contactless payment terminal and the money then being debited from a preloaded amount of funds on your phone. Of course this isn’t actually that new a thing.
Japan, Korea and Finland to name but three countries have all been using this technology since the last decade, but it’s not just paying for your lunch that this tech could be used for.
The applications are near endless although the obvious is from a commerce point of view, imagine in an almost minority report way you walk into your local branch of All Saints for a browse. As you walk through the stores doors a video screen flickers onto life and you are addressed by name by a virtual shop assistant. This process has been triggered by the NFC chip in your phone, it knows that seven weeks ago you purchased a pair of Jeans from the same store using your phone to make payment and now the virtual shop assistant is offering you a few suggestions on what to buy to go with those Jeans. You’ll soon be walking past digital billboards equipped with NFC that upon picking up your phones NFC chip will be able to offer targeted advertising dependant on your purchasing history. What seemed like sci-fi a few years ago is now very firmly sci-fact.
In a few short years it is most likely that your phone will be able to be used for pretty much anything, replacing your house keys, car keys, travel passes even your passport could be replaced thanks to NFC. The tech is still in it’s infancy in the UK at least, but the possibilities are endless, not to mention exciting.
This week Orange and Barclays officially announced the launch of its “Quick Tap” scheme, an extension of the ever increasing in popularity contactless payment system which eliminates the need to enter in a pin for purchases made on a Near Field Communication, or NFC, chip equipped credit or debit card. In principal Quick Tap turns your mobile phone into a digital wallet, doing away with the need to carry around your debit and credit card or even cash allowing you to make payment for goods (subject to service limitations) by waving your phone over a contactless payment terminal and the money then being debited from a preloaded amount of funds on your phone. Of course this isn’t actually that new a thing.
Japan, Korea and Finland to name but three countries have all been using this technology since the last decade, but it’s not just paying for your lunch that this tech could be used for.
The applications are near endless although the obvious is from a commerce point of view, imagine in an almost minority report way you walk into your local branch of All Saints for a browse. As you walk through the stores doors a video screen flickers onto life and you are addressed by name by a virtual shop assistant. This process has been triggered by the NFC chip in your phone, it knows that seven weeks ago you purchased a pair of Jeans from the same store using your phone to make payment and now the virtual shop assistant is offering you a few suggestions on what to buy to go with those Jeans. You’ll soon be walking past digital billboards equipped with NFC that upon picking up your phones NFC chip will be able to offer targeted advertising dependant on your purchasing history. What seemed like sci-fi a few years ago is now very firmly sci-fact.
In a few short years it is most likely that your phone will be able to be used for pretty much anything, replacing your house keys, car keys, travel passes even your passport could be replaced thanks to NFC. The tech is still in it’s infancy in the UK at least, but the possibilities are endless, not to mention exciting.
I said a change, would do you good…
“We can’t possibly do it that way.” Is a phrase I have heard far too often, and it’s an infuriating phrase but nowhere near as bad as the response that followed when I asked the question why? The response “Because we’ve never tried and this is the way we have always done it.” So let me get this straight, you are point blank refusing to look at an idea that could potentially increase customer satisfaction, streamline an over complicated process and reduce unnecessary work all because it’s never been tried? Now it is true that sometimes if something isn’t broke then don’t try and fix it, but even if something does work but it could be even better then surely it makes sense to investigate how you can improve it?
I currently work for a large UK based vehicle maintenance chain as an implant at one of the worlds biggest financial organisations as a service advisor. I am the first to admit that this job is far from demanding and for somebody who is a problem solver by heart I am misplaced, but after making an excellent first impression I had been assured promotion prospects, progression, opportunities to push myself. Simple things really, but things that somebody like me get a kick out of, of course as is so often the case this has proven to be lip service. Tell the people what they want to hear and you can keep hold of them, safe in the knowledge that they will work hard always pushing for that next step that in reality is not going to come, but if you dangle that carrot in front of the person they will always want to reach forward to get that bite, it’s human nature. Sooner or later though people wise up and realise the carrot is out of reach and no matter how hard you try it always will be. Not because they are unable to do what’s required to get it, they are already doing that and more, but because it is deliberately being waved just out of reach.
From the offset I have offered ideas to improve service, new ways to work, new approaches to the way we do our work and each time the response has been “We’ve always done it this way so that’s how it stays.” At first it was disconcerting, then it became annoying now though it serves as proof that I really am in the wrong place for me. Which leaves me with two choices, stay with the status quo, safe and secure knowing that I easily achieve what is expected or, stand up, say “This isn’t enough” and find a way to make my voice heard. Unfortunately for my current employer I have chosen the latter and began searching for a new challenge. I’m pushing my comfort zone and going for something that I have been almost obsessional about since September last year, a challenge I missed by the smallest of margins but rather than put me off has made me want it more and more. If the challenge pays off a whole new chapter in my life will start, if it doesn’t it will just make me even more determined to try again in six months. All will be revealed come 8pm next Thursday but win or lose it’ll be one hell of a ride.
I currently work for a large UK based vehicle maintenance chain as an implant at one of the worlds biggest financial organisations as a service advisor. I am the first to admit that this job is far from demanding and for somebody who is a problem solver by heart I am misplaced, but after making an excellent first impression I had been assured promotion prospects, progression, opportunities to push myself. Simple things really, but things that somebody like me get a kick out of, of course as is so often the case this has proven to be lip service. Tell the people what they want to hear and you can keep hold of them, safe in the knowledge that they will work hard always pushing for that next step that in reality is not going to come, but if you dangle that carrot in front of the person they will always want to reach forward to get that bite, it’s human nature. Sooner or later though people wise up and realise the carrot is out of reach and no matter how hard you try it always will be. Not because they are unable to do what’s required to get it, they are already doing that and more, but because it is deliberately being waved just out of reach.
From the offset I have offered ideas to improve service, new ways to work, new approaches to the way we do our work and each time the response has been “We’ve always done it this way so that’s how it stays.” At first it was disconcerting, then it became annoying now though it serves as proof that I really am in the wrong place for me. Which leaves me with two choices, stay with the status quo, safe and secure knowing that I easily achieve what is expected or, stand up, say “This isn’t enough” and find a way to make my voice heard. Unfortunately for my current employer I have chosen the latter and began searching for a new challenge. I’m pushing my comfort zone and going for something that I have been almost obsessional about since September last year, a challenge I missed by the smallest of margins but rather than put me off has made me want it more and more. If the challenge pays off a whole new chapter in my life will start, if it doesn’t it will just make me even more determined to try again in six months. All will be revealed come 8pm next Thursday but win or lose it’ll be one hell of a ride.
Who wants to be ordinary, In a crazy, mixed-up world…
“You’re weird.” This is a statement that has been levelled at me my entire life, usually coupled with “Why can’t you be ordinary like everybody else?” Without even knowing it, those who have called me weird and asked the question have already given themselves they’re own answer. To put it simply, why would I want to be like everybody else? Yes life is without a doubt easier if you decide to conform to what is the perceived norm, to meander along life following the herd and not diverting from a specified path, but where is the challenge in that? Where is the excitement? Where is the risk? Maybe I am different from everybody else but I need those three things, I need to make my own path, conquer my own challenges and go head to head with my own risks.
That’s not to say I haven’t tried to conform, as a teenager I desperately wanted to fit in, to have something I belong to. I didn’t want to be the lanky skinny teen who had nothing in common with his peer group, and I did everything I could to try and be part of the in crowd. Looking back it’s laughable, in my naivety I thought by trying to be something everybody else wanted me to be, I would be happy. If anything that made me more depressed than being the outsider looking in with envious eyes. Instead I was the liar on the inside looking to the outside, still envious, but of the freedom I had given away in my desperate search for acceptance. The grass really isn’t always greener on the other side.
So why has this subject come to the forefront of my mind today? It’s a twofold one, the subject first came to me after reading a blog post by Lawrence Jones, the MD of UKFast –who if you don’t know who he is I suggest you google him as he is an amazing businessman and his blog wonderfully insightful- about driven people and how these are the people you want around you. Well today looking around the people I currently work with I’ve realised so many of the people I call colleagues are, for lack of a better word, Sheep. They have no passion, no drive to go further, to better themselves. In a job where mediocrity is seen as the highest standard required, they excel.
Now I know this sounds like I’m looking down my nose at them and that’s not how it’s intended but what is clear is that where I am constantly hunting and thinking of ways we could be improving the service we provide or finding new ways of doing things, the highlight of my colleagues day is talking about who is going to win Britain’s Next Celebrity Soap Star turned Taxidermist with Fire Batons on Ice – you may notice I’m not a reality TV fan, Masterchef and my secret bad indulgence of Americas next top model excluded – and all look at me strangely when I remark that I haven’t a clue who they are talking about, or shock of all shocks that I’m busy working, which seems to be an optional activity to participate in at my work place. I don’t think of myself as better than them, I’m not that narcissistic, I’m just different from them. Where they may very well be happy to bumble along from one day to the next free of challenge or variety, it’s these very things I crave, that I thrive off of, that make me feel alive and as if I’m doing something. This is why I have a myriad of hobbies, this is why I’m always looking for a challenge, and this is why I can’t be “normal or ordinary”.
Anybody can excel in mediocrity and if that’s what being normal is, then fantastic for the normal people, me? I’m damned happy that I’m anything but normal, who wants to excel when the competition is so limited anyway.
That’s not to say I haven’t tried to conform, as a teenager I desperately wanted to fit in, to have something I belong to. I didn’t want to be the lanky skinny teen who had nothing in common with his peer group, and I did everything I could to try and be part of the in crowd. Looking back it’s laughable, in my naivety I thought by trying to be something everybody else wanted me to be, I would be happy. If anything that made me more depressed than being the outsider looking in with envious eyes. Instead I was the liar on the inside looking to the outside, still envious, but of the freedom I had given away in my desperate search for acceptance. The grass really isn’t always greener on the other side.
So why has this subject come to the forefront of my mind today? It’s a twofold one, the subject first came to me after reading a blog post by Lawrence Jones, the MD of UKFast –who if you don’t know who he is I suggest you google him as he is an amazing businessman and his blog wonderfully insightful- about driven people and how these are the people you want around you. Well today looking around the people I currently work with I’ve realised so many of the people I call colleagues are, for lack of a better word, Sheep. They have no passion, no drive to go further, to better themselves. In a job where mediocrity is seen as the highest standard required, they excel.
Now I know this sounds like I’m looking down my nose at them and that’s not how it’s intended but what is clear is that where I am constantly hunting and thinking of ways we could be improving the service we provide or finding new ways of doing things, the highlight of my colleagues day is talking about who is going to win Britain’s Next Celebrity Soap Star turned Taxidermist with Fire Batons on Ice – you may notice I’m not a reality TV fan, Masterchef and my secret bad indulgence of Americas next top model excluded – and all look at me strangely when I remark that I haven’t a clue who they are talking about, or shock of all shocks that I’m busy working, which seems to be an optional activity to participate in at my work place. I don’t think of myself as better than them, I’m not that narcissistic, I’m just different from them. Where they may very well be happy to bumble along from one day to the next free of challenge or variety, it’s these very things I crave, that I thrive off of, that make me feel alive and as if I’m doing something. This is why I have a myriad of hobbies, this is why I’m always looking for a challenge, and this is why I can’t be “normal or ordinary”.
Anybody can excel in mediocrity and if that’s what being normal is, then fantastic for the normal people, me? I’m damned happy that I’m anything but normal, who wants to excel when the competition is so limited anyway.
What a difference a day made, 24 little hours……
Or in the case of me, 4 years -almost- you see I had completely forgotten that I had started this blog back in 2007. Part of me is glad I had forgotten, you see I read the old posts and I don’t recognise the person who wrote them anymore. Maybe that’s because the person who started this blog so long ago, no longer exists? Let me explain.
4 Years ago I was in heavy civil partnership ceremony prep for the relationship that I was in, I was 22st 12, I had zero self-esteem and my circle of friends was dictated for the most part by who my partner knew. I was in a word, incomplete. Incomplete, but to the outside world living a good life, after all I had a house I shared with my partner, a dog, worked from home helping to set up and run my partners business. For many people this situation could be seen as picture perfect, lack of self-identity be damned I had it all.
Now flash forward nearly 4 years, I am a failed Civil partnership survivor – the relationship itself imploding roughly 8 months after the ceremony, I’m now a much healthier 14st 7, I have confidence in my own self and what I’m capable of, I have an amazingly supportive partner of almost 3 years who encourages me in everything I do and my friends are exactly that, my friends, nobody dictates to me who I can and who I can’t associate with. But there is still something missing.
Now that’s not a complaint, far from it I’m actually quite glad something is missing, because it gives me something to strive for. But what is that thing that’s missing? Well it’s no one thing it’s lots of things, which I thought I’d list so here we go.
- Finalise dissolution of Civil Partnership – Working on it and should be finalised by the end of summer.
- Get job as an Account Manager at UKFast – Now this is a very defined goal. I know the job I want, I know the company I want to work for and I know I’m capable of getting it. So to that end I have an interview with them next week where I will sell myself to them.
- Own MGF/MGTF by the time I’m 31 – I would like to say there is absolutely nothing wrong with my current car, but the Peugeot Partner Combi that I drive is very much mid-thirties with 2.4 children, which is great if you are that person. I however am not.
- Revisit Sri Lanka, but do it my way – Sri Lanka was where I went for my honeymoon with the ex and I instantly fell in love with the country, but time was limited, my ex worked pretty much every evening we were out there and I missed so much of this amazing country that it would be criminal not to revisit.
- Go to New York, on my own, for a long weekend – This one may seem a strange one, after all why would I want to go to New York, for a weekend, on my own when I have an amazing partner who I love dearly? It is for purely selfish reasons, when I was younger –we’re talking about 13/14 here- I always said that one day I would go there, drink in the city that never sleeps and loose myself for 48 hours, just spend 48 hours experiencing something on my own. So I will do that.
That list is just for starters, I have tons of other goals from eating at Nobu, learning to ride a motorbike – which will infuriate some people close to me, but sorry it’s something I want to do – and my personal big goal quit smoking (quit day locked in for May 23rd and this time I WILL NOT buckle). The list of course is endless and I like that, it means when I have succeeded in one goal I can work on another and then another, I will always have something to strive for and to engage me in life. After all life isn’t a spectator sport and you will only get the best from it by participating to the fullest, and participate I damn well will. I challenge you to do the same.
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