The Anguish of All-Nighters

Featured in a copy of Christ Church's student newspaper UNIfied. Have a look at previous editions at http://ccsu.co.uk/UNIfied.

All-nighters are quite often a customary aspect of the student lifestyle.  You have a deadline looming, but you haven’t even started writing yet and to be honest, watching back to back episodes of Friends sounds far more appealing.

It doesn’t matter how many times you convince yourself that this time you will be organised and prepared, refusing to leave everything to the very last minute; you will probably still find yourself being drawn to other, more interesting things. And as a result, pulling an all-nighter is the only solution you believe you are left with, knowing that in a few precious hours you will be expected to hand in an important piece of work you are meant to have taken time and consideration over.

The thing is, I’m not even criticising you for it, because I’ve been there. In fact, I think we all have. It’s common knowledge in the student world that chatting to your mates on Facebook or Skype is a far more engaging activity than writing an assignment about Wuthering Heights. But procrastination can be poisonous, as more often than not you may find yourself moping into lectures powered with 4 hours sleep or less because you had a deadline and your time management skills had let you down.

We all know that sleep deprivation isn’t good for us, but having a frequent lack of sleep for the three to four years that you’re at University can be seriously damaging to your health.

Studies conducted by professors of sleep medicine have shown that there are clear links between sleep deprivation and the onset of neuropsychiatric disorders, like bipolar depression and anxiety. If you keep forcing your body to stay awake when it’s in severe need of a good rest, your blood pressure can be significantly affected, which in turn increases your susceptibility of cancer and heart disease.

You might even find yourself showing symptoms not just in the long-term; namely, short-term euphoria has been revealed in research at Harvard and Berkeley to be a condition which comes from sleep deprivation.

Here comes the science part: from missing a night’s sleep, the neutral circuit that controls pleasure and reward in your brain (something called the mesolimbic pathway) is stimulated in a process driven by a chemical called dopamine. If your dopamine levels are high, you receive a boost in positivity, motivation, even sex drive. And even though that sounds great, what comes next is not so wonderful.

Because not only is this boost extremely brief, this rush in dopamine also results in impulsive behaviour and addiction. The sections of your brain which control planning and evaluating shut down when they’re deprived of sleep, which means you’re more likely to become careless and happier about taking risks. When your brain is forced to operate in a different state regularly, it can permanently alter itself. So if the ‘mesolimbic pathway’ is continuously over-stimulated by lack of sleep, you could end up with permanent brain damage.

The moral of the story? Organisation of assignments, essays and exams is not only crucial to achieving great results, but crucial in keeping you healthy in body and mind. So every once in a while, switch off the TV, sign out of Facebook, sit down and actually study. If not for the sake of your work, at least for the sake of your health.

Birthday Celebrations/Exciting News!

Today is 26th October. How the hell did that happen? This month has flown, and now the day's are getting shorter, the night's are getting longer and the weather's getting colder.

But let's not get into that. Far too depressing.

Quite a lot has happened since I last wrote so it's most definitely time for an update. I am a year older since my last post, as it was my birthday last weekend! Two of my best friends came down to visit and we had such a brilliant few days together. We went to the zoo (an obvious choice if you know me well enough), failing to forget that it rains on my birthday every year with no exceptions. It's a slight understatement to say that it was 'muddy' at this zoo, but it was a great little place with loads of animals and a lemur enclosure which you could go in and let the lemurs jump all over you. I also held a snake round my neck, which I was pretty proud about, but I drew a line at the tarantula.

We went to Nandos in the evening, which is a given for any occasion. My incredible housemates surprised me with a big chocolate birthday cake and sang in front of everyone in the restaurant - it was slightly embarrassing but lovely of them all the same.

The next night was the party, which had an 'N' and 'K' (my initials) theme, so each person had to dress up as something beginning with N or K. There were some fantastic creations; we had nerds, a Nan, a Native American, a newborn baby, a ninja, Noddy, a nymph, a New Age hippie, N-Dubz, a nun, a kitten, a king, Kermit the frog and an incredible looking Katie Price...and I was a nurse! We had an amazing night, got very drunk and two of my housemates met Fatboy from Eastenders. Success.

And I'd like to finish with some exciting news - I have recently been appointed this year's News and Current Affairs editor of my University newspaper, UNIfied! (Follow us on twitter at @CCSUUNIfied - cheeky plug). The next edition is expected to be released in a couple of weeks so everything is going to be a bit hectic but I'm looking forward to it being finished and all pieced together.

Enjoy the rest of your October, it'll fly past you before you know it...

Nats. X

October News

Happy October! We're finally getting in to my favourite part of the year and I'm so excited! My Dad's birthday was during the week, still to come we have my birthday on Sunday, Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year! So much going on that it's hard to keep up with it all, but so much to look forward to.

I've been back at Uni for nearly 3 weeks now and still loving it. Getting back into work and routine etc. was a tiny shock to the system but one I'm sure I'll adjust to. I'm pretty lucky that most of my classes start at 1 in the afternoon or later this year, but this is sadly supplemented with the fact that two nights a week I don't finish till 7pm. My course modules so far have been a mixed bag, with some seminars being quite boring and others been absolutely brilliant. When I get more into the year I'm sure it'll get much better.

Other things that have been happening lately....I went to see my housemate in a musical last night which was a lot of fun! He played the main character so that was great to see him up there performing like a pro. Afterwards we went to the pub to see another of my housemate's friend's band play live and that was also incredible! The band is called 'Ghouls', if you haven't heard their stuff before you should definitely have a listen: www.facebook.com/ghoulsuk or @GhoulsUK on twitter.

My parents drove up to see me today - I love it when they come and visit. I accidentally left quite a few of my clothes at home when I came back to Uni because I'm a total idiot, so they dropped those off for me and then we went out for lunch. Also have my Grandparents visiting in two days time and then my best friends after that, so it's going to be like Piccadilly Circus at my house for the next week.

Also... as some of you might have realised from my last blog post, I write for my University's newspaper but haven't been doing it for too long as they aren't issued on a regular basis. It's for the reason that I haven't really hit my stride with it yet and have been struggling to come up with ideas. I'd like a regular feature which I can continue with every issue, but I'd also like my writing to be topical. The only problem is that there's quite a big gap between the time you send your finished article off and the time it gets published. So if I were to write about, for instance, the recent news story about Jimmy Savile, by time the article was published, that story might have completely turned on it's head and the points I have written might no longer be relevant. Am I making sense?

I'm interested in hearing what other people think about this and what you think the student population of Canterbury, or even just UK students, would like to read about in newspapers - topics or issues which you want people to be aware of. This is your mission. Please help! Either leave a comment at the bottom or message me on facebook/twitter etc and anything you suggest will be hugely appreciated.

I think that's probably about it, sorry this post was a bit of a rubbish one. Must try harder next time.

Nats. X

Freshers Beware of The Facebook Fraudsters

This article was originally written for my University's newspaper but they ran out of space and it couldn't be submitted. I thought instead of wasting it, it would be a good idea to add it to my blog for the benefit of freshers. Enjoy!

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Coming to University for the first time can be an incredibly daunting experience. There is so much going on around you - names to remember, fancy dress outfits to buy and god know’s what else - that you begin to forget the important things, like security.

Before I’d even arrived at University, it seemed everybody was adding as many fellow first years from Uni as possible, so you could discuss online about the freshers events you wanted to go to, how many pots and pans you were bringing, and if you were nervous, scared or excited. Most students can probably relate to this, knowing that for the majority of the time, you will never end up meeting half of these people face to face. 

But in the midst of a Facebook-friend-adding frenzy, it is vital to be wary about how much personal information you share on your facebook profile. Internet scams can hit students like a bomb, especially during freshers week, and social networking is an extremely easy way to gain access to bank accounts, student finance accounts and more.

The Student Loans Company recently conducted a study on 1100 university applicants from across England, investigating how much information they share on their profiles, and their feelings towards Facebook-exclusive friendships (i.e. people you only know through Facebook).

The study found that 56% of freshers who about to begin University this year will add most of the new people they meet as their friend on Facebook, while a third would give their phone number to most other students at the same Uni as them. It was also uncovered that the majority had only met 51% of their Facebook friends; despite the fact they had included several important and personal details to their profile for all their “friends” to see. In addition, males were found to be at a higher risk of student finance fraud than females, because they are more likely to accept anyone as a friend and make their profile visible to the public.

More than half of the students interviewed had displayed their relationship status and date of birth to their profile, while 41% shared their email address and 14% included their phone number. It is these types of info which can be used to a fraudster’s advantage, so it is certainly worth removing these details off your Facebook page, particularly during the first year of Uni.

Fraud manager at The Student Loans Company, Heather Laing, commented that freshers students are more vulnerable to ‘phishing’ operations because they are often managing their finances for the first time. The scams tend to work using the details they can easily find on most facebook profiles. They will then pose as The Student Loans Company to attain more details, before eventually gaining access to your money. While loan phishing and scamming is monitored very closely, it is still a big threat to all first year students, usually targeted at the three installment dates for student loans – September, January and April.

It’s extremely important to remember that you will never be asked by The Student Loans Company to update or verify your bank details, date of birth, account numbers or passwords. You will never be asked to provide combinations (e.g. your reference number and your password) on the same screen. You will never be given a choice of a secret question – only the question you gave an answer to when you first applied.

Here are some top tips to staying safe:

• Create a strong password with mixed letters, numbers and symbols for your online accounts and ensure to update passwords regularly. Avoid using the same password for different websites.
• Beware of how much information you include in your profile. Addresses, mobile numbers, dates of birth and email addresses are all ways of gaining access to your important accounts, so limit how much you post about yourself.
• Beware of who you friend. 'Phishers' can easily take personal information from your Facebook page and social bots can use friend requests to hack your network.
• Stay updated with your social network’s security and privacy settings. Sometimes when a website changes its privacy policy, your profile can become more exposed to the public than it had been previously.

Inspired by an article in The Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/sep/17/freshers-students

September

Right, I have a bit of a situation. I sat down in front of my laptop to do a new blog post on Thursday evening,  typing whatever came into my head, quite like a stream of consciousness (any psychologist would actually have a field day analysing my brain), hoping that something amazing would come out. But nothing did.

I've now hit the point when I've ran out of things to discuss and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I'm sure I would if I got out of the house and did something spectacular - break a world record or climb a mountain, something like that. But sadly I don't really have the time, or motivation. Because I am a lazy git.

However, I would like to send a little message out there to say thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog and giving me feedback that I was not expecting at all - it's been really lovely to hear that people are actually enjoying reading the rubbish I have been coming out with. As some have read in my post 'Chatalie the Natabox' from a while back, I was absolutely terrified about blogging publicly because I was afraid of the response that I'd get (even found the guts to add a link to my blog on Facebook the other day - ahhhh). Fortunately, you have all been gems and made me feel a lot more confident about carrying on with this. So thank you very much!

Anyway to wrap it up, just to say thanks again and hope you continue to enjoy reading. I've really started to love writing on here. Initially I did see it as something to use to build up my writing portfolio from a professional point of view, but it's become really fun and hopefully it continues to be! Anything you think I should be writing about or you'd like to see me write about (sensible suggestions please...), just leave a comment at the bottom and I'll try and include it. 

Happy September! Have a good one.

Nats. X

What makes an artist an artist?

Setting apart a performer from an artist in the world of music is as pointless as debating which came first, the chicken or the egg.  The simple answer is, we don't know, and never will, because ultimately what makes an artist an artist is completely down to interpretation.  However, that shouldn't prevent us from giving it the consideration it deserves.

The inspiration for this questionable matter was sparked from an article published by NME, which the majority have probably already read, (if you haven't, read the article here).  The piece reported on a comment made by a member of The Vaccines, the indie rock band who stormed into the UK music industry last year with their debut album, 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?'. Freddie Cowan, the band's guitarist, conveyed that pop princess Rihanna is not a real artist because she does not write her own music.

Cowan remarked, "she has 15 writers, 15 songwriters and 15 producers all fighting for space on her albums and she's the face of it."  And in retrospect, this is true. Rihanna's huge international success has quickly sent her to becoming one of the biggest popstars on the planet, but her journey to stardom may not have been so starry without the team of individuals who went leaps and bounds to secure Rihanna's fast ticket to fame.

Nonetheless, does this stop her from being categorised as an "artist"?  In one way, yes.  An artist is defined by their level of creativity and passion, their ability to express their emotions and experiences through the lyrics in their music. Consequently, if a musician were to use the creativity and passion of a songwriter rather than their own, this merely makes them a performer.  In the same way that reading aloud a poem written by somebody else does not make you a poet, singing a song written by somebody else does not make you an artist.

On review, it would seem as though Freddie Cowan has a point.  Then again, his further comment of "I have nothing against it, but I don't want to be associated with it" leads me to question at which point musicians not writing their own music became so repudiating.  Do we lose any respect for Rihanna for not writing all her own material?  While some may say yes, I don't think we do.  After all, there are a number of singers from the past who, like Rihanna, were the faces of songs which they didn't write themselves and are still considered to be legends of the music industry in the 21st Century.  The most well-known hits of the brilliant Frank Sinatra were written by professional songwriters, notably "My Way", "Come Fly With Me", "That's Life", and "I've Got You Under My Skin" were among these.  Welsh superstar Sir Tom Jones did not start writing his own music until he was 62; such tracks as "What's New Pussycat?", "It's Not Unusual" and "She's a Lady" are considered to be the largest successes of Jones' career, yet were not actually written by the singer himself.   Aretha Franklin's massive hit "Respect" was in fact a track written by Otis Redding (subsequently inspiring Franklin to begin writing her own music), yet respect is certainly not something we lose for this highly talented performer just because the song was written by someone else.

Even the king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley, had the majority of his songs written for him.  In fact, it was stated by Mick Jagger that Elvis was "a unique artist...an original in area of imitators."  And there's no doubting that Elvis was original.  He introduced a fresh, new and quirky style of music to the ears of several generations, something nobody had ever heard before and ever will again. Thus, it seems Elvis was an artist, but perhaps an artist of his genre rather than an artist of the music.

These world famous singers were and still are adored and loved by so many, regardless of whether wrote their own music or not.  It is questionable, therefore, as to why the same attitude cannot be applied to the singers and performers of the modern age.  Perhaps, it is the sheer difference in musical and historical eras which set the two apart.  For Elvis, Franklin and Sinatra, the music world was a different place to the way it is now.  The competition has since grown in ferocity, and a singer must fight for longer and harder to attain their own little bit of spotlight.  If songwriting is what defines an artist, diversifying a performer aside from others, then that is what they will do to prove that they are distinctive, new and one-of-a-kind.

It is also hugely significant to contemplate where the songwriting industry would be without a need for songwriters.  There are a vast number of people in the world who have an exceptional talent and gift in writing music, but do not possess the vocal ability to perform the songs themselves.  Singers and songwriters heartily rely on each other - often, neither can gain success without the other one.

When all is said and done, we can probably assume that Freddie Cowan's comment about Rihanna's lack of songwriting credit was evoked by a want for publicity, along with a supplementary inkling of the green-eyed monster.  Maybe if The Vaccines concentrated on their own music rather than denigrating other performers, they might actually have a chance at producing material more worthy of attention.

Dedicated to Tinkerbell

If you own a pet, you're obviously aware of how significant they are to you and your life; particularly if they have been there for what seems like forever. Even though they're quite often off exploring and doing their own thing, their presence is monumental, life isn't quite right without them, you'd always feel like there is something missing.

I myself have never had a proper pet - the furthest I got was a goldfish which I had for roughly 5 years before it died and was flushed down the toilet. But in spite of my inexperience I know that the relationship a person and a pet share is like no other - it is unique in every instance and nothing is remotely close to it, nothing can replace it. So when that relationship is lost, when that bond is broken, or when that thread tying the two of you together snaps, it is unfathomable to understand how that must feel.

And while people may say, "It was only a dog", "It was only a cat", "It was only a rabbit", you have to remember that they are the ones that simply don't get it. They don't understand it like you do. A pet is a family member, so losing someone that you have loved, nurtured and watched grow from strength to strength, is like losing a small part of yourself. You made the life that they lived special - to experience the loss of that life is incomprehensible.

I've written this blog post because very recently, my best friend lost her best girl. Tinkerbell was totally one of a kind, a friend, and a part of a family whom she meant the absolute world to. She was a little comedienne, always making people laugh and smile. She'd always appear at the back door at the sound of the fruit jar being opened, knowing that the food was for her, and if even if wasn't she'd make sure at least some of it was. She loved playing in the snow and you could always see where she'd been as the garden would be covered in her little paw prints. And I'll never forget my favourite story of her making her way from the garden through to the living room, placing herself in front of the telly and watching Deal or No Deal - she was a big Noel Edmonds fan. (but then who isn't?).

While it's unfortunate that I cannot appreciate the unique friendship than an owner and pet share, I know for a fact that Tinkerbell was deeply loved and reciprocated her love back to those who took care of her, nursed her and adored her. Tinkerbell made us laugh with all her antics, her funny little ways, and her enormous love for food. Now she can finally be at peace, enjoying a good rest after her long and happy life.

Rest in peace Tinks, thanks for the memories. xxx