Happiness and Frivolity: Is There A Point?

how does one experience happiness, when he or she is aware of the extreme temporality of it? Happiness, as experience has shown many a person, never truly lasts, and we wonder, therefore, if there is any point in engaging in frivolous activity. Such activities which we classify as 'having a laugh', and 'just having some fun' become useless, when a person contemplates upon not only the temporality of such joys, but also, on a wider scale, the temporality of life itself. We have around 60 odd years to make a positive difference upon the earth we walk, upon the people among whom we find ourselves. If laughing and joking achieves no end, what then, is the point of it? A person opposing this argument against firvolity may argue that we engage in such acts to relax, to de-tox in an increasingly overwhelming world of stress and tension. Granted: our lives within the metropolis that is London are full of chaotic tension, and we need some time to ourselves to relax. But a quite half an hour is sometimes all that is needed, for even the most stressful of days. This work-life attitude, of spending 5 days a week working, and spending the last day of the week laughing incessantly among others seems to go against any idea of progress. Surely, if we spend our lives following this rather mundane pattern, we risk becoming repetitive creatures, just living life in a robotic fashion? I ask you this: If we fail to change our lives, to make a positive alteration to our weekly actions, how are we to make a change to society for purposes of improvement? More to the point: If we argue that our aims are not to make a positive improvement to society, we need to start asking ourselves why, and what our goal is-if indeed there is one.

Music and love

'If music be the food of love, play on.' But what is a person to do when a song reminds them of sad times, of heartache, and of having their heart broken? Music may be the food love, and it may indeed excite the heart towards love, but does it not also cause melancholy when a person has been touched by sadness? Far be it from me to accuse the famous Bard of being insensitive to such feelings-Desdemona, Juliet, and Cordelia are a testimony of his high sensitivity, but I do think that something can be said of the aforementioned line from Twelfth Night, with regard to the notion of music also being the food of melancholy. Even Romeo's melancholy seems to be not melancholic-he seems rather tired and bored, as he cycles through his confused oxymorons: 'brawling love, loving hate [...] serious vanity, misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms'. He does, however, hit the nail on the head, as it were, with his words, that 'sad hours seem long.' This is of course the genious of Shakespeare-that he can almost demonstrate to be so out of touch with the feelings of the heart, and then demonstrate that he knows exactly how it works.

Time

They say that time is a great healer, but those that do utter such statements take no account of memory. It is memory which can almost stagnate that healing power which time posessses. We always hope that our painful memories will fade with the passage of time, that they will blur. Yet, it is our capacity to remember and recall that prevents that blurring from occuring quickly, so that our painful memories take longer to leave.

sharing

how comes sharing things is so important to us as humans? why is it that doing something by ourselves is worthless, and yet, there is 100% value added when we do that same action with another person? Such is the plight of man, and yet, the question which remains is, can there bee happiness for those destined to live life alone? Or is it only misery which lies ahead?

Some of the facts of life

It seems that life will seldom dissapoint, and, so we wonder-is everything we fight for worth it? The answer lies in those inspiring individuals who make us realise that there is, despite the bad, a lot of good in the world. Those who cause us to come to positive conclusions about the state of humanity. Those who act as rays of light in the current darkness which envelops nearly all of existence.

Save a life

I do believe I saved a woman's life today, as I clotheslined her when she was about to cross the road...the lived, but was clearly angry...very bizarre predicament! Such is the life of a walker within London.

Sabbatical Videos

Currently, I am completing my MA in English Literature at Queen Mary University. I was recently contacted by the Students Union to assist in the sabbatical elections for next year. These are the videos which have caused my name to now circulate around the QM campus;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rKXqK19dC4&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayG43FReENs&feature=channel
(there are more links on the right, but these two candidates are very colourful)

Taking tha purple board back (which I used to put behind each candidate before filming them several times!) was an absolutely arduous task today. It was in the Students Union and I needed to take it back to the Queens building, and it was raining, so I thought, 'improvise.' It was after my lecture, and my class (of two other women) and I were due at the Dr Williams library to meet Isabel Rivers. So I hailed down the man with takes all the trash out in this useful little buggy he uses. I told the women on my course to wait, standing in the rain, with my bag, so we could head to the train station together as we didn't know where the library was. I convinced the buggy man that i'd spoken to his boss who had okay'd the use of the buggy for the transportation of the board. He said, 'fine', and helped me load the massive board onto the back. I climbed in, and we were off, and it was through the little window of the buggy that I saw the two women on my course looking at me driving off, in sheer disbelief and anger, as i'd left them with my huge bag! I drove the board back to the Queens building, and the Publictaions Office all cheered the safe return of their board. Then I got a call from one of the women on the course, who said, 'we have your bag, come to the station before it goes missing!' Right. Ran down to the station, to find they were fortunately there. Apparently they'd planned to hide it, but it was too heavy, and they hadn't gotten far. We got to the librray in the end, though my day really ended at 7pm, as I had to head back to whitechapel to teach. The sacrifices we have to make for QM!