Forward Thinking, But Not Too Far

Looking into the future can be a whole lot of fun. We are inherently tuned to make plans; to always want for something more. This serves as the topic for my upcoming posts, starting with today’s.

My interest for this topic of discussion stems from a number of different sources. Firstly, I’m sitting in the gap between undergraduate life and my first year of professional training. In transitional periods such as this it is difficult not to be in a forward-looking state of mind. The subject of today’s post – an experience I had a couple of months ago – provided another spark of interest in thinking about this type of thing. I also met someone recently who has taken ownership of their life like few others I’ve met before. Listening to this person’s story over the last couple of months has led me to consider my own.

'Scintillating and Inspirational' - My New Found Love for Biffy Clyro

Biff-ocrisy, n.

Purposely not listening to Biffy Clyro for years because of one album, even after writing a blog post which preached trying new things.

“That Martin is a Biff-ocrit.”

I feel like I’ve missed out. For years I’ve shunned one of Scotland’s biggest bands because I didn’t like one of their albums. However, little did I know that while I was being fickle and not listening to Biffy Clyro they were out making some of my favourite music.

Europe 2014: Croatia

More than a month after I touched down on home soil I'm finally getting around to writing the last post about my trip. A number of things have seen me put off writing over the last few weeks but I guess it's time for me to tie up this series of reflective posts - some might say it's taken me too long! 

So to Croatia and our final stop on a splendid month of travel. After the beauty of Slovenia, this country to the south had a lot to live up to, not to mention the fact that I wasn't ready to wind down on the new experiences despite home being but a few days away.

Europe 2014: Slovenia

Slovenia is wonderful. I could just leave this post at that and fill in the space with a few photos but I guess I should prove my point. I'll see how I feel in a few paragraphs.

Reaching stop six on my trip I thought I would be suffering from having already seen some awe inspiring sites - maybe Slovenia wouldn't impress? I was so very wrong. With the help of a hire car and some expert driving from one of my mates, I got to see some of the most breathtaking things in Europe.

Europe 2014: Vienna, Austria

After the whistle-stop tour of Bratislava, we made the short train journey to one of my favourite cities in Europe: Vienna. I could write a book on my love for this vast marvel of a place, but for just now I think I'll keep it short and sweet for you.

Vienna has a grip on me. This was my third visit to the city in as many years and each time it seems to charm me that little bit more. The city was as pristine as ever and its buildings, most of which I've seen before, did not fail in taking my breath away again.

Europe 2014: Bratislava, Slovakia

It seemed fitting to leave Warsaw in the dead of night. I had become so attached to the city that my only way out was to slink away on the night train to Bratislava - another morning and I might never have left.

This was my second experience of a sleeper train and although it's something to be able to say I've done I think I'll draw the line at two. Not only did I get very little sleep, I was awoken at 5am by a gruff Polish man telling us that our stop was in half an hour and, in no uncertain terms, to get up. I've never been so asleep yet so awake in the same moment.

Like zombies with suitcases, we dragged ourselves to our hotel which thankfully had a 24-hour reception. However, although we were able to unburden ourselves of our lives on wheels, our check-in time was about eight hours into the already warming Slovakian day. We set out into the city in search of coffee and/or breakfast and I'm not quite sure what happened next.

Europe 2014: Warsaw, Poland

With two cities under our belts, we took a short flight from Riga to Warsaw in Poland. Having never been to Poland before I was uncertain about what to expect from the country and its capital. Would it be like Latvia or Estonia, or would it be more Westernised? My question was soon answered, along with the discovery of what is now one of my favourite cities.

Europe 2014: Riga, Latvia

Having left a little part of myself in Tallinn, we made the five hour bus journey (complete with a slight hangover) to Riga in Latvia. The bus trip, although punctuated by a few post-drinking moments of unease, was brilliant, with the perfectly straight roads cutting a seemingly endless highway across the Baltic States. And so with tired legs and a tired mind, I rolled off the coach and set foot in Latvia for the first time.

Europe 2014: Tallinn, Estonia

"I want to see the world. I want sunshine and skyscrapers; languages I don't understand; music I've never hear before."

That is a quote from one of my favourite films in recent years - namely, Sunshine on Leith. When I first watched the film I scoffed at how cliché that line was but I've thought about it a bit and found that the truth is that is accurately describes how I feel about traveling. The fact that it is said with a beautiful Scottish accent sends familiar tingles down my spine - a familiarity which makes me long for the unfamiliar. It is with this mindset that I set out on my most recent trip to Europe. 

My next seven posts are going to be about each city that I visit, providing small snapshots into an experience that I'm never going to forget. The first stop was Tallinn a little under two weeks ago and it went a little like this...

Post 100: Symmetry, Change and What's to Come

I've only gone and done it again! It is with great pleasure that I report to you that this post is my 100th on Ramblings of a Twenty-Something. For those of you who have been following me over the years, you will know that we've been here before over on Ramblings of a Teenager. However, this time seems to matter more for some reason.

It has taken me over two years to get to this point again, with the coincidence between the end of my undergraduate degree and this landmark being almost poetic. I'll not bore you with the romance of it all  - I like to write, I think we all get that now! - but it is enough to say that the majority of the 236 posts that I have written over the years map my whole time at university. With that in mind, can you at least let me indulge myself with a quick look back at that time? Tough, I'm doing it anyway!

Good Morning Edinburgh

"Everyone we know is down there sleeping just now".

It's about half four in the morning and we are scaling the side of Arthur's seat to see the city that I love wake up. The wind is crisp and the ground is damp from yesterday's downpour. We're not really dressed for the climb but the warmth of the white wine and beer is keeping out the cold. I can feel my lungs straining and my legs burning with every stone that I scale. Every twenty metres calls for another break; a gulp of ginger beer and half a sausage roll bought from the twenty-four hour shop. Onwards.

Summer 2014 is Here!

Time. Zeit. Summer. Sommer.

I don't want to check the time-stamp on my most recent post because I think it will make me greet. It might have been just after dissertation, or it might have been just after my eighteenth birthday - time has felt like that recently. Anyway, I'm here now and that's all that matters.

Is She?

My break is almost over. It's been three weeks to the day since my dissertation deadline passed and I haven't touched university work since - it's been great. In that time I've had a relaxing week away beside the sea, resolved to make a decent go of improving my German in the summer and rediscovered my interest in poetry. I started writing poetry towards the end of high school and was quite productive between then and the middle of second year at university when it just disappeared from my life. Until this afternoon I hadn't penned a single stanza for two years. 

It felt good to be creative with something again and to get my hands dirty with structure and story telling. Today I remembered how much I love writing poetry and I thought I would share that with you in this post. Underneath I've included an audio of me reciting the poem which I've called 'Is she?'. Hope you enjoy it. 

A day pined for, a day now gone.

A hop, a grape and repeat –

as long as I stand, hit me neat.

Stunned. Stranger yet familiar;

familiar but I’m strange

like that.

I admit: I see you in her, and her in you.

Make it stop, help me start:

another round?

And around we go. Sit and watch and talk and

I will show,

show nothing new, not to you.

For you know my type:

light and loud, heavy and

Quiet.

Is she? I don’t even know her name.

Cheers,

Martin

My Favourite Wikipedia Page

Wikipedia gets bad press. From day one at university we were told, in no uncertain terms, that it is the devil's source and should not be used in any academic work. Consequently, when you tell someone that you found your information (whether that be about how many goals Liam Fox scored for Livingston or the names of the Queen's corgis) on Wikipedia, they scoff. Granted, I'm sure that, overall, Wikipedia comes quite short of being 100% accurate, but you would be lying if you said you don't use it at least a hand-full of times a week.

Once you get past the prejudice against the great online encyclopedia, you can start to enjoy it. Away from the likes of BuzzFeed and Facebook, there is a world of knowledge out there waiting to fill the hours you should be using for other things - knowledge gathering procrastination, you might call it. Anyway, this morning I searched for something I've been meaning to for a while and found what I can comfortably term my favourite page on Wikipedia. Guess I should tell you about it then?

Dissertation Reflections

Dissertation and idleness. Those are the two extremes on what has very much been a sliding scale of emotions and productivity for me over the last couple of months. Before the idleness, however, came the 'Big D' and I think that enough time has elapsed for me to be able to properly reflect on it.

It was a curious experience for me. The biggest hurdle was getting over the disappointment of not enjoying my dissertation as much as I thought I would. When I set out to 're-think liability for defective products' back at the start of fourth year, I had the genuine belief that I could make a valuable contribution to the product liability debate. I set myself up for a fall. 

Questioning, Questioning - Another Guest Post

And so to the second guest blog of the day. Having, I'm sure, enjoyed Iain's post earlier, this post will set another interesting thought process in motion. I've had a great time with the work that I have been sent today and I hope it will encourage others to write their own stuff. The writer of this post has asked to remain anonymous. 

Having volunteered, somewhat over-enthusiastically, to author a guest post for Martin I faced the problem of actually coming up with something to write about. This is one area that normally I have no trouble with - I can ramble on about anything and everything. However when looking at what I would like to talk about I hit a brick wall.  

The inspiration eventually came in the form of a couple of podcasts that I have been listening to recently. The podcasts themselves are not wonderful works of art or a lesson in editing but rather are the discussions of two individuals talking about a range of topics that take their fancy. My listening to them has posed one of the most perplexing questions I have thought about recently: the question of asking questions.

This is not going to be a discussion of a major logical challenge posing issues of regression in relation to questions. Instead I simply query why we don’t always ask the difficult questions?

My Renaissance or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Everything - A Guest Post

It's like Christmas - only better. Today two very good friends of mine wrote some great content for a couple of guest posts. As you will see tonight their writing is great and it's a privilege to be entrusted with some important and personal messages. I hope you enjoy reading them both as I have. The first is by someone who even I am dwarfed by when it comes to thinking about thinking. Enjoy. 

The notion of starting with just a title is one which has always appealed to me. Well, I’m not sure if it’s a matter of appealing or more a matter of the alternative being much less attractive. You could spend an infinite amount of time planning and crafting a perfect sentence that could sum up your life in a way which conveys whatever emotions and experiences you’ve gained from it, but even if I managed to do just that, I don’t think I would be satisfied. 

For me it has to be about the journey. 

The process of documenting my life is one that I began the summer of 2011. Granted, I only get the chance for reflection when my desk isn’t covered in various papers – so not very often – but reflection still remains a big part of my day-to-day life. How I reflect is a bigger issue. I like to be able to discover things about myself. To sit and not know what I’m going to think about, or write about and through this process find out what’s important to me; to pinpoint that one thing that happened today that made me happy. 

This post is going to be a discovery for both of us.

This is getting a bit heavy already. Come, sit down by the fire, pour yourself a fruit-based drink. Let’s talk.

Valentine's Day Through the Years and Through the Day - Part 2

So you've read part one and you're back for more - I'm starting to think people agree with my views? Today wasn't quite what I had in mind in terms of field research by I think I've made a sufficient number of observations today to get this post rolling. Mixed with my 'message for the year', what lies ahead should be good.

Valentine's Day Through the Years and Through the Day - Part 1

Nothing has changed. 

I spent the morning reading through my previous Valentine's day rants and watching some previews for today's skeleton final at the Winter Olympics. Those might seem far removed but there are parallels to be drawn. First of all, both facilitate the (voluntary) falling on one's own face. Both will captivate the whole country today, ending in either sheer elation or misery. And - most importantly given the nature of my posts over the years - both are mental.

This year I've decided to take a different approach to this post - which is apparently the 'only post people look forward to' on my blog. I am going to write a little this morning, head out for my normal day and observe. Think of me as the David Attenborough of blogging, or, at the very least, that odd nature guy from the One Show. 'And now we see an obliged young man picking through the last of the flowers as he heads home from work'; 'This gentleman baulks as he prices his wife's favourite chocolates, settling instead for the easy prey that is the reduced box of Roses'. I'm going to have fun with this.

Classic Me to Classical Music - The Short Journey to Being Boring

This blog could not get any more boring. For the most part I agree with that statement because my writing over the last year or so has taken a turn for, what one might call, the philosophical - or just downright rubbish. Long gone are the days when I would sit down twice a week and make a fool of myself for the entertainment of others. Admittedly that was not the aim of my writing, but in hindsight I can't help but feel that my weekly log of embarrassment brought smiles to more faces that I care to think. 

Nostalgia Continued - My Brief Glance at Ramblings of a Teenager

I've not been writing enough recently, or at least I'm not writing the stuff that I want to be. The final semester of university (or at least undergraduate) is starting to swallow up all of my waking hours, with very little time for myself in between library sessions. Tonight, therefore, I am happy to say that I have found a moment to sit down and relax with a beer and some good television - finally got around to watching last weekend's Musketeers! 

Of course I can't be working all of the time. I have pretty good staying power and focus when I want to, but I am also a pretty astute procrastinator when the right distraction comes along. Tonight I want to tell you about another trip down memory lane that I took this week. It seems that every post that I write just now it looking in my past, but I suppose that's what an impending end does to people.

Elvis Will Save the Day

Until about ten minutes ago this was going to be a post about stress and frustration - I'm glad I waited. I just found out my first exam result of fourth year and I did better than I thought I would - a lot better. The feelings of uncertainty and anxiety about university and finishing up me degree have, for the moment at least, melted away - my furrowed brow morphing into creases from the smile on my face. 

I'm going to write my original post anyway, but it will have a more optimistic tone about it now. I've been making life tough for myself recently and this weekend it has come to a head. I've neglected my university work over the last few days, with socialising and procrastination getting in the way of things a little. I've also made a couple of bad judgment calls recently which have seen me question where the old Martin has gone - and whether he will come back again. So with these thoughts sloshing around in my head, I knew I needed to go somewhere I could get better again; somewhere where everything I need is in one place. That place is the work of Elvis Costello.

The Beauty of the Past

This post is five years in the making. To be completely accurate, it is five years and nine days in the making. On December 23rd 2008 I opened a Notepad file on my laptop and started to write about my day. The event that set me off was the messy capitulation of a high school romance; a break-up that I oddly owe so very much to, in hindsight. Every day from that moment on I would write an entry, some longer than others, in what would be called 'Diary of a Boy'. Between that youthfully painful day and the 27th of May last year I typed thousands upon thousands of words, as I mapped out four and a half very important years of my life.