I have been given five writing tasks by my good friend David Tubb and I shall be writing one of these each day this week. These will be somewhat different to my usual entries, and so I am just writing them as well as my regular entries, rather than instead of.

Today’s task is to pick a close friend/relative and to write about how much I care about them.

Wow, this is another tricky task, not tricky because I don’t care about my friends and family, but tricky because I don’t like to openly value any one person over everybody else. Of course, I might privately say to somebody “You’re my favourite person” but I would hate to say “Hey everybody [name] is my favourite person” because I’d hate anybody to think that, while with me, I am valuing somebody else above them. So, I am going to cheat and write about ALL of the people I love and just be briefer, so, let’s begin (in no order at all): I’ll start with David, since he’s the one who gave me the tasks: he’s so likeminded and kind-hearted that I am so lucky to know him, I can do anything with him and it is wonderful. Now, my nameless friend (or Tulin as she says I should refer to her) another very, very kind person who I am incredibly lucky to know who goes far out of her way to do nice things for me, she is my beloved ‘sister’ (to use the half-nickname I have used since she called me her ‘big brother’). Moving on, Naomi Brennan, another paragon of kindness who seems to have the ability of sounding nice even when talking about nothing, a very selfless person too. Next, Oscar Taylor-Kent: I know a lot about video games, and so does Oscar, this gives us an unlimited well of discussion, a very nice one too, he’s a very kind person and it is a delight to spend time with him. Also, Dalfino Madrigal Keyte, always very concerned about upsetting others and so extremely nice as a result. Next, Rory MacLellan, niceness just oozes out of him and with so many shared interests, I am always ecstatic to spend any time with Rory, I miss him often. Now, Elliott Egan, just your regular guy, but he seems to care passionately for his friends in a way which is very admirable, anall round wonderful person really. Also, Mairi Mac Arthur, always a very fun person to spend time with, a terrible shame she’s an internet friend and not a real life friend. Next, another nameless person, Rhinowater, I can chat with this lovely, lovely person for literally hours, he’s great to talk to, very kind and on top of that an excellent storyteller, another person I wish I knew in real life. And finally, my family (my Mum, Sam and Kristen), the trampoline which launches me into the jump of life, thanks to them I never have to spend time alone and can count on them for companions in fun activities, which is lovely. Of course, there are many others I could have mentioned and, in fact, I feel bad as there are others who I have probably forgotten even though they do mean a lot to me, and I’m sorry to all of you (in my defence, it is very late),  I also hope, that by including so many people, that anybody  feel what I have said is insincere, because they shouldn’t, every relationship is very important me. I shall end by saying simply: I love you.

I have been given five writing tasks by my good friend David Tubb and I shall be writing one of these each day this week. These will be somewhat different to my usual entries, and so I am just writing them as well as my regular entries, rather than instead of.

Today’s task is to write about my future (assuming everything goes to plan).

Well, this is the trickiest one so far, and will probably be the shortest, but I’ll do my best! Anyway, Of course, I’d still be updating my blog regularly but hopefully at some point or another I’d have found a way to earn some kind of money from doing so, that would be quite nice. To say I’d have some kind of book out (a collection of short stories perhaps) seems just a little too optimistic. I like to think that my main source of income would be through working at a secondary school as an English teacher (I’m sure trouble making teenagers could make a blog entry or two!). Although, frankly, I would be quite happy even if I were just a supply teacher at a school, or even a TA. Actually, even if I just worked in Waterstone’s I would be perfectly content. Of course, all of my friends, or at least, all of the people I like the most, will be close enough for me to visit them all very regularly (no more than a bus ride away, I’d hope!). I guess I would have my own house too, or more likely, my own flat, and I’d like to live with a close friend too (meaning, any close friend, not that I plan to live with anybody in particular at this point). Also, depending on how far in the future this is (if it’s REALLY far, I guess I would just write ‘not dead’ as my hopeful outlook) but I have sometimes thought about adopting a child at some distant point in the future, but I’ve never really thought too hard about it. But, yes, those are my thoughts on an optimistic future!

I have been given five writing tasks by my good friend David Tubb and I shall be writing one of these each day this week. These will be somewhat different to my usual entries, and so I am just writing them as well as my regular entries, rather than instead of.

Today’s task is to write about an amazing experience.

I must say that the word ‘amazing’ isn’t really one which really suits any of my cherished memories. The events which have caused me to gain the most happiness in past have generally been very small quiet moments which the word ‘amazing’ might not quite fit. As such, I have decided to take the word ‘amazing’ just to mean ‘meaningful’ or ‘significant’ and so while the following anecdote may not be easily be described as ‘amazing’ for me it still fits the criteria.
    It was hard for me to decide what to write about for this entry as there are several moments or events with friends of mine that sprung to mind instantly and it was very hard to pick one to be the subject of the entry as I would hate to feel I was valuing one over another when all of them are very significant. In the end, I decided to choose a time when I was by myself in the Wilderness at Corsham. It was a sunny day and I was lying on a hill looking out at all the scenery. I stayed there for an hour or two and didn’t do anything at all, I was very happy because I had a complete feeling of contentness. This contentness wasn’t due to everything being absolutely perfect in my life, everything was just normal as it always is, I was just so completely happy to be there enjoying nature. If I can feel so happy when I am alone, then I should never really worry about loneliness. I love all my friends, of course, and while I would like them to stay there forever, it’s an unreasonable expectation, so it’s nice to look at a moment where I was very alone but at the same time very happy.

I have been given five writing tasks by my good friend David Tubb and I shall be writing one of these each day this week. These will be somewhat different to my usual entries, and so I am just writing them as well as my regular entries, rather than instead of.

Today’s is for me to write about three good things that have happened in the past week.

The first is also the most recent: Today I met with my friends Dalfino Madrigal Keyte and Christian Watkins and visited a pub with them. Dalfino now goes to a university in Plymouth and so I, unfortunately, do not get to see him very regularly, though I can still chat with him using the internet. Christian is somebody else I don’t get to see too often, but, unlike Dalfino, he has a very minimal internet presence and so my communication with him is very small. So, it was very nice to see the pair of them today and Christian very kindly bought me lots of Diet Coke and even gave me a hug as I left. Dalfino also invited along my old friend Michael Woodham, somebody who I have known almost my entire life, and while I may not be as close with him as I am with Dalfino and Christian, it was still nice to see him again.
    The second is actually the day when I was given these writing tasks (Thursday). I popped  into Bath and spent the afternoon doing things with David. We popped into the toy shop, the game shop, the sweet shop, had a pizza, got some books and all other kinds of fun things. It was during this day that I discovered the mint flavour M&Ms, which I found rather tasty. At the end of my time with David, I was very kindly given these writing tasks and also got to briefly see my friend Naomi Brennan. Much later in the day, I also had a nice conversation about onions with another friend of mine (who I can’t name).
    The third event concerns another friend of mine who I am unable to name (so similar to the other friend, hey? Almost as if they were brother and sister) specifically, my friend Rhinowater who I wrote about the other day. This won’t take many words to explain, but he and I planned out the storyline for a collaborative writing project we are making together entitled Monster Village. So, that was a very nice and with that there are my three happy things of the week!

I decided I would write a blog entry about niceness as it seems to me that it is virtue which is rather undervalued. How often do you hear somebody say (about somebody else) “Yeah, they’re nice, but…”? My question is: but what?
    I find that a lot of people view niceness as a bonus, but tend to like people if they’re intelligent, funny or any other additional things that are generally valued more highly. But this seems silly to me, from my point of view, niceness is the most important of all virtues. I don’t need the people I like to be funny, intelligent, outgoing, loud or any of the rest of that kind of thing, I just need people to be nice, and the more nice somebody is, the more I will like them. I mean, why do any of the other qualities I mentioned even matter to people? Niceness is important as it is a sign that a person can be depended upon, no other virtue really has that upside. Although, I will say that intelligent people do tend, in my experience, to be nicer, but, to counter that, many intelligent people can be arrogant and rude, and some unintelligent people can be very nice indeed.
    Sorry, this blog entry may be a bit short (and lacking a point) but I just thought I’d raise something which I don’t understand about a lot of people. Why is niceness (the thing which is most important to me) not valued as highly by others?