Back from Wales...and have been for some time!

Hello. Yes, sorry, I know - I fail as a blogger once again. I have been back from Pembroke for over a week and a half now and, despite remembering to update the blog, I have neglected to actually do anything about it. Until now!

So..the week was excellent! As predicted, there was quite a lot of standing precariously close to cliff edges, although this was accompanied by ventures down very steep slopes, across slipperly boulders and along heighty thin ledges to make the experience just that little bit more hair-raising! Having said that, I think doing these activities went some way to combatting my tendency to be over-cautious, so with no broken bones to report we'll put it down as a success!

We stayed in a recently-referbished farmhouse in Nolton Haven (not MILTON Haven as I mistakenly said in my last blog) and this was extremely comfortable and spacious, with enough bedrooms for me to sneak my own room with double bed all to myself - cushy, eh? We had breakfast laid on for us each morning with a packed lunch supplied for our ventures out along the Pembrokeshire coastline which, despite involving an awful lot of walking, proved to be much more interesting than I had anticipated. The weather was kind to us on Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning that by the time we were forced back to the farmhouse early on Thursday due to strong winds and a rising tide, we had already collected a nice lot of field data to be used in the coursework. We were able to witness a large variety of geology and I thought it was especially satisfying to put theory learned in the classroom to use in the 'real' world. Taking notes out in the open was a challenge but we were able to share data upon arrival home in the evenings, then it was off to the nearby pub for our evening meal and several games of pool to round off the day! Overall it was a brilliant trip (in spite of the cliffs) and, as people had said beforehand, a beautiful part of the world that I would definitely visit again. (Something I thought about afterwards was that it was also the first time I had been on a residential since primary school!)

A few pictures...(pictures? WOW!)

OK, so that's that bit out the way - I did say I would try to keep it brief, didn't I? Part two of this blog concerns what I have been trying - and failing - to explain for the last three posts - the relevance of this blog's title!

Some of you may have been *cough* lucky enough to hear me use the phrase 'what is dust', even if you were puzzled by it at the time. If you get to know me really well then you will probably recognise before long that it is not the only strange thing that I come out with. 'What's occurring?', 'is it wise?' and 'it's a bit of a contre-tant' are all phrases that I use on a fairly regular basis which, on initial encounter, appear to be mindless gibberish. However, there is a usually a reason behind them, however bizarre it may seem.

My Dad and I are on the same comedic wavelength and both find satire particularly amusing. This has led to an increasingly uncontrollable tendency to make satirical observations, state the obvious and generally pick holes in anything and everything, even if the object or event in question is intended to be portrayed in complete innocence. We therefore now have a huge collection of inside jokes, coined phrases and 'cult' characters which seem to amuse whenever or wherever they crop up.

So, as I created this blog with the intention of making observations and picking holes in my life and the events of the wider world, I naturally thought it might be fun to introduce this terminology to those completely unfamilliar with such a strange brand of humour.

I hope that's explained it OK...it's not an easy concept to get your head round, but hopefully if you keep reading the blog then you will be able to cotton on to a few inside jokes rather then being alienated by suddenly realising that, yes, I can be very - um - unorthodox at times!

OK people, I think I'll wrap it up there for this post. I promise things will be shorter and funnier from hereon in, now that the formalities are out of the way. I might even get round to actually writing something exciting, who knows?

P.S. What do you mean 'what's occurring' is a catchphrase off a BBC Three comedy show? It wouldn't have been popular had I not coined it in the first place!

Off to Pembroke

I'm off to Pembrokeshire in Wales with my geology class for our second year field work tomorrow morning, so expect heavy rain to continually batter the UK for the majority of the week! We are going in order that we can complete the coursework section of the syllabus which requires at least three days spent out in the 'field' collecting real geological information for use in the project which I haven't yet started due to my inital three-week absence and as a result have little/no idea about (though this shouldn't matter as I will be able to plan based on results which I will then already know - confused? I know I am!).

We will be travelling up in a minibus, staying in a bed and breakfast near Milton Haven throughout the week and returning on Friday, with each day taking us to several sites of geological interest. I don't know anything about the area, but most of the people I have spoken to seem to be of the opinion that it is one of the most beautiful places they have been to, so hopes are high - with any luck the geology should be pretty reasonable too, and so it should be if we are bothering to make such a big trip of it!

I plan to blog briefly about the trip upon return (I'm sure you can hardly contain yourselves with excitement at this prospect) and, fourth time lucky, I might finally be able to tell you what this blog is meant to be all about...so prepare to be thrilled!

Wish me luck (ie that I don't tumble down any steps or get blown off any cliffs) and have an enjoyable week, people!

Muddled Mind

My head is in a bit of a spin - not through any emotional trauma, or extreme drunkeness, or knocking myself out, but simply because I just seem to have so much to do!

Now it may just be me being a slight obsessive compulsive, but I can't seem to be able to relax when I know I have outstanding things which need to be done. In this situation it's easy to feel as if everything needs to be completed urgently, even if it doesn't, and I find myself bound by an overwhelming desire to write everything down in a big, long list. So far I have resisted, although the whiteboard in my room (yes, I do have one!) is crammed with jumbled scrawls reminding me to 'design church Christmas card', 'finish ICT work' and - er - 'write new blog', to name but a few. To make matters worse, this 'list' is getting bigger by the day.

However, I am determined not to let myself become overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. Last year at college I let myself get behind too often, becoming lulled into a false sense of security by the self-assurance that 'I would get it done in the end'. This usually resulted in leaving work until the last possible minute before hurriedly completing it to a sub-standard quality. Ultimately I paid the price for this as I hugely underachieved in a number of subject units, although the experience did serve as a good lesson in that using time constructively, working hard and aiming high really does reap rewards. Apart from anything else it is far more fulfulling completing a job knowing that you have tried your absolute hardest (whatever the outcome), as opposed to doing just enough to get by and no more - the latter of which I foolishly succumbed to on numerous occasions last year.

Based on these words of wisdom I guess it would be best to just take one thing at a time, although I think it might be helpful to at least write down when each task needs to be completed so I can prioritise and plan my time. Part of the problem is that I am away on a geology field trip next week so anything that is important I will have to do over the weekend...

...sorry, I'm just rambling now. Even more so than I was before.

What I would say, however, is that writing this blog has gone some way to putting my mind at rest - it's no longer spinning like a tornado...more a gentle merry-go-round, maybe?

Wow, I've found a use for my blog. Amazing!

Well I suppose I should apologise for another shockingly boring post which mainly resembled a university lecture. And also for not doing what I said I would, which was reveal more about why this blog is called what it is.

The next blog will be better, I promise. It's just it's currently in it's fledgling stage, which is one of extreme tedium, mainly caused by the fact I haven't posted anything for over half a year and have therefore forgotten how to be both informative and entertaining at the same time (though you can't blame me for I am a bloke and we are not expected to multi-task!)

Please bear with me and expect a new (ie GOOD) post within the next day or two.

Laters!

Let me introduce myself...if I can!

Now, before I introduce myself I should just like to point out that I am utterly hopeless at introductions, so you must be prepared for a barrage of clichéd cheesiness and general pointless rambling about stuff you probably already know about...in the introduction, I mean...not the blog itself (although no doubt it will descend into that sort of thing before too long).

The main reason for this is that, although the majority of you will have been ushered here by me in the vain hope that if you really are a friend you may find it of some interest, I harbour the thought that my humble words could perhaps reach some random person just browsing the internet who may actually find them entertaining enough to waste a few minutes reading.

This is part of the reason why I wanted to start writing my blog here on Blogger instead of continuing to post sporadic entries on MySpace - there is scope for reaching a much wider audience as the readers are not limited to people on my friend list - who these days visit the site on an increasingly infrequent basis. I myself have 'jumped ship' from MySpace to rival networking site Facebook over the past year and as a result visit the former only in periods of intense boredom, or to read my sister's blog which is hosted there. It therefore seems illogical to continue to churn out blog entries which will only realistically be read by one or two people.

The other main reason for starting a clean slate is that my old MySpace blog tended to concentrate only on events taking place in my life at the time, usually with little or no mention of my own thoughts and feelings surrounding these events. OK, so these types of blogs may have been interesting to close friends but for anyone else the boredom would have probably set in very quickly. I became tied up in feeling that I had to constantly relay everything that had been going on in my world, meaning that I was far less inclined to write anything at all. As a result, blogs became less frequent and therefore lengthier, with large, off-putting walls of text offering little in the way of entertainment.

The idea behind this blog is, therefore, that I will be able to write regularly about things that have been of interest to me and are worth sharing with an online audience of both friends and general internet users. This doesn't mean I won't ever be talking about things that have been going on in my life, it just means that I will be more selective in what I choose to write about. I also want to express more emotion on these pages than I have in the past. Those of you who know me will realise that I am usually quite unflappable, so don't expect a pouring out my soul or writing about major life crises every other day, but when I do feel like sharing my thoughts and feelings then I hope to be able to do so.

And although this blog will naturally centre around things concerning me, myself and I, one of my aims is to delve into issues of the wider world and cast my opinions on things which are known to more than just the people around me. A steady mix of personal and public knowledge will, I hope, provide me with enough material to keep the blog regular, relevant and, above all, readable...

...although having got this far you are probably thinking that I have failed in that last point already! Fear not, for the tedium is nearly at an end. All that's left to do is...

...introduce myself! (See? Told you I was rubbish at introductions - I have managed to ramble on for half a page without ever having mentioned my name!)

So I'd better say a few things about myself...let's make it easy and say ten things, otherwise I would probably go on all night and I have to get up early tomorrow...

1. My name is Dominic, although most people call me Dom.
2. I am British - that is, I am from the UK - and I live in Hampshire
3. I live with my Mum, Dad and sister...oh and Clara, our cat
4. I am currently a student (which may give you an idea of my age)
5. I am a Christian. It's awesome, and don't let it scare you!
6. I am mildly addicted to my laptop (if you can you be mildly addicted)
7. I enjoy making videos - despite continual movie maker crashes
8. I play badminton and table tennis, albeit not very well
9. My favourite two bands are Keane and Coldplay
10. I would like to become a teacher after university

So, there you are - 10 facts most of you probably already knew and didn't want to hear again. Oh well...laterally thinking there's at least 10 future blog posts there for if I'm ever stuck for something to write about. (I'm not actively trying to bore you all, honest!)

Anyway, I think I will wrap this up for now as I've broken all my own rules in this opening post and it has already dragged on for far too long. I sincerely hope that you are not put off by its unrelenting tediousness and will return over the next few months to see how I've been getting on - hopefully with some sort of entertaining twist.

Oh and by the way, if you are wondering about the origins of the blog title and baffled by the description below then be sure to check back next time when all will be revealed!

Farewell for now...