Racism

Racism, by its simplest definition, is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. People with racist beliefs might hate certain groups of people according to their racial groups

I hate racism. I don't understand it.
I mean, how can people hate other people, solely on their skin colour and/or religion?
especially someone you don't know.

My brother is racist. He doesn't like black people ( which he refers to as niggers and/or monkeys) and he doesn't like asian people.
I don't understand why he feels this way. I've tried talking to him. but he does end up being hypocritical when there's say, a black actor whom he likes, but he tries to find an excuse like "he doesn't look black".

People like him, who hate others just because they look different. it doesn't make sense to me.
To me, people are people. We all have the same things (body wise). We all have skin, organs, hair, voices etc.. so how can pigmentation, something natural, cause such boundaries?!

It's not as if black people or asian people were somehow less capable or more capable or whatnot. it's not as if they were somehow different on a mental scale. We all have different languages and ways of thinking, but it doesn't make use better or worse than others. they are just differences.

With uni, we have anthropology, and in the practicals we examine skeletons, and the other week we had to examine the skull in order to identify which race/ethnicity the person was.
It was so hard to distinguish between one or the other, because they are so similar and the differences are minimal.
On a purely anatomical level, humans are the same with only slight variations when it comes to gender and ethnicity, which aren't always distinguishable.
On a physical level (as in the parts we can see), humans are pretty much the same, with again, slight variations, like height, weight, hair colour, hair texture etc.

So, if we are all so similar, why do some people hate others because of a) something they cannot control, and b) something which is natural?

In my mind, it's pathetic.

Probably going on a trip with uni!

I have just read Esu's blog, and OMG, I will have to make a post or two about some of the things she's mentioned, but later.

I just want to YAY about today, because I went to the information meeting about the trip to Kenya. And my mum said I can go!
I'm probably GOING TO KEEEEEENYA!!!!!

The trip is a lot like the Zambia trip from nearly 3years ago, but there's no teaching in schools this time. We'd stay in a small camp, with similar huts, beds, people. We'd go and see various sites because this trip is for anthropologists and archaeologists. So looking at bones and anatomy and comparing them to humans and also seeing the difference between bones found indoors and outdoors (useful for forensics)

I really want to go.

I love Africa. I really do.
Thinking about Africa (not the main tourist places, but like our trip to Zambia),
it makes me smile :)

Money! it's evil

I actually should be getting ready to go to the library before uni.. So this may be a bit rushed

After reading Esu's blog about MSF and IMC, it got me angry.
not because of what she mentioned, but because of money.
Yes, MONEY.

That HORRIBLE word.
I hate it, I really do.
(well, actually I love having money, but it's more the concept of money and what it makes people do/not do)

Money is an evil thing.
All is does is create conflict, divides people, makes people rich and powerful whilst making others poor and insignificant.

I'm so sick and tired of this whole idea of, the more money you have the better you are, and if you have less than X amount you qualify as scum.
I admit that I sometimes just go with society. not so much with the idea of the more money the better, but more I feel uncomfortable around homeless people.

But the main thing that bothers me with money is that the people who have money, do nothing or very little with it. which relates to Esu's post on Africa.
I mean, there are people who have pots and pots of money, and they use it for personal benefit, when there are people who NEED it.
It reminds me of a scene in Hancock, where there is a meeting between people with money from pharmaceutical companies, and this one guy wants them to give one of their medicines, for free, to people in Africa who can't afford it.
And these men look stunned, "did you say for free?"
As if giving something, to people who really need it, without getting paid, is this alien concept which would kill them.
And it angers me that people don't give more often, that money is all they live by.

You don't realise it, but pretty much everything in everyday life is controlled by money.
How much you spend on food. How long you leave your lights on because of bills. How you travel because of the cost of a ticket. What clothes you wear because of laundry and paying for that.
Or what to buy because it'll cost £x and it might be cheaper next week. Or if you can go out with friends, because you'll need to spend £x.

It gets me so annoyed that we are all so restricted because of money. And those who aren't, pride themselves in having money, but I feel they don't deserve it, if all they are going to do is use it in order to get more money (eg, by investing)
People think money=happiness. IT DOES NOT!!!

Yes I have money, not a lot, but compared to people here at uni with me, I'm comfortable as they say. So when my friends need money, they want to go out and spend time with friends, but have only £10 for the next week, I will buy them drinks. If they need money to buy books, or clothes, or a present or anything really, I will lend them the money.
And everyone seems so surprised by this.
"you're lending them money? but they might not pay you back!"
and, so what?
Am I going to die, starve, fail uni or anything bad, because I've lent my friend £20???
No, I won't, and in the process I have made someone smile if just for a moment, doesn't that matter?

Why does money have to control our every move?! (well maybe not EVERY move, but you get my point)

It gets me so angry.
We are losing important parts of ourselves because of money. It can control our friendships, our family, our "label" in society.
It makes people restrict themselves, be mean, hate others, causes conflicts, and then it can fail and cause chaos (eg bankruptcies).

I mean, remember when the petrol prices when up? it caused so much uproar. All people saw was the price, they didn't think about WHY it went up, or WHERE it came from, or WHO was responsible, all they saw was "it's gone up, I have to spend more money"

it angers me
and saddens me
that bits of paper, coins, and imaginary money (I mean, when you go to the bank, there is no actual hard money there, when you check your bank account, they are just numbers on a screen...)
can cause so much pain, so many conflicts and debates and just... be such an important part in everything, when it really shouldn't be.

and a quick quote I just found

"He does not possess wealth; it possesses him."
Benjamin Franklin

(I'm late for uni!!!!)

Annoyed with a friend *rant*

Well, I want to do more informative posts, sort of, a bit more like Esu's blog.

Today I want to talk about a friend, and I'm really annoyed with him.

My friend, I confided in him about something that's not really a big deal (actually confided in him about other stuff too), just that I've never really had a proper relationship and so have not been intimate with guys(or girls for that matter). and he's gay, and he is, well, slag isn't really the right word, but he enjoys getting laid as often as he can.
All my friends here at uni just assume that I have been intimate, probably because everyone seems to think I'm in my 20's and they just assume, which doesn't bother me.

So, he likes sex. he loves it. he needs it. and he does talk about it with me, about various guys he's been with, about this one guy who is amazing in bed apparently, etc (not in detail obviously).
And I don't mind it.
But when I told him about me, he was gobsmacked (seriously, his jaw dropped and he just looked so shocked)
His reaction was

"OMG Cat, really? You HAVE to have sex, it is amazing, you're really missing out. Why don't you, I'll find you someone. You have to have sex, seriously how can you not?"

Which, is not the best of responses.
But I just told him that it's my life, he loves sex, good for him, and it doesn't bother me. I don't quite care right now. And when I'm ready to, I'll be ready to. I mean, it's my own private life so what the hell.
But he just kept going on and on about it. How I'm a freak for not having sex cause it's the best thing in the world and blah blah blah

It bothered me, I got annoyed but didn't really tell him.
I just kept telling him to stop going on about it, it's none of his business.
But he kept going on about it. And then we'd go out drinking and he'd drunkenly shout at me (when we were out with loads of people), saying "Cat you really need to get laid" , and he'd say it about... a dozen times a night.

And one time I got really angry, I got serious and said "ffs, if you keep going on about it and saying it whenever you get drunk I will get angry and I will stop talking to you"
(I mean, I confided in him, I trusted him, he's supposed to keep it to himself, it's none of his business, he shouldn't go round mentioning it)
He apologised and said he'd try not to go on about it when he's drunk.
And he stopped.... for about a week.

Last night, he got very drunk (as he always does)
and we were in his room with friends, chatting, drinking, smoking.
And I can't remember how it got mentioned, but he just blatantly went "Yeah and Cat's never had sex, she's a viiiiiiiirgin"
as if it was one of the worst things ever

And it's got me annoyed, it's not so much that the others now know, because to be honest, most were wasted and can't remember much, but one of them sort of knew and another he's probably my closest friend here at uni and I don't care if he knows.
It's the fact that he just blurted it out, as if.. it was just a casual conversation, and that my sex life was a perfectly normal thing to blurt out

I trusted him, (granted it's not something that's terribly important but still) and he just kept going on about it and then just told people.
He could blame the alcohol, but that is a shit excuse. it doesn't fucking work that way.

So yeah,
Right now I am so fucking pissed off at him.
I don't even want to talk to him or see him.
Maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing?


I don't know how to react to it, what to do about it.
I don't want to forgive him, because I had warned him, asked him to be careful, and he didn't give a shit.
The alcohol is not an excuse.

*rant over*

29/07/08 - Trekking - Walking Above Clouds - Roque de Los Muchachos

So, when we got to the hotel, we were told of various things around the island that we could do, of which one which is called "Roque de Los Muchachos" - Rock of the little boys (don't ask me why it's called that, I have no idea!) but this place, it is the highest point of the island - 2426m. And from there you can see 3 of the other 6 Canary Islands. It's quite something.
We were given a leaflet of various trekkings, by a company called "natuur trekking" (yes, they are flemish) and basically they do 9 different trekkings around the island (3are easy, 3are medium and 3are hard).
The one we chose to do was a medium - 4hours of walking.
We didn't actually realise what it entailed, and weren't really ready for it! but we managed anyway.

So, we bought the tickets, and on the Tuesday, we woke up early, got ready : packed 2 bags with water and food and suncream and caps and a towel and various other things we needed.

Got on the bus at 8:30am, and we had to cross the island to another hotel to get another bunch of people - took an hour.
So at 9:45 we left the other hotel and started going up the road to the top of the mountain - apparently that road has 420bends in it!
And as people had rented cars, they went up by themselves to a point where we stopped to have a drink and go to the toilet and meet up with the other people who then joined on the bus as they didn't have permission to go to the top (I think).
Oh and when I say toilet, I mean bushes for which to go behind.




Anyway, by then it was about 11am, so we continued up to the top, where there is the observatory

"The seeing statistics make it the second best location for optical and infrared astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere, after Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii. The site has some of the premier astronomical facilities in the Northern Hemisphere, including the adaptive optics corrected Swedish Solar Telescope which provides the highest resolution solar imaging of any telescope"

Then we got to the top, to the Roque and we got off the bus and continued on foot. We arrived there at about 11:45.
The route, well, path, was very rocky, and sometimes very steep! it was EXHAUSTING!
We finished at about 3:30pm and got back to the hotel at 6pm.
I was sunburnt! Being so high up and near the sun, no clouds, hardly any wind.

This is a view from google maps of what we did. I mean, if it took us nearly 4hours, you can imagine just how much it was. I think they said it was about 6-7kms of walking.

There was one amazing thing about the place. When you stopped moving/making noise. There was this silence. No birds, no wind, no talking, no cars, no nothing.

Just silence.


Just nature