Today's Society is Suicide

photo from Jac Jac's World

During the three days I spent in bed due to fever, a horrible headache and tonsilitis, I was more worried about not being able to do my group blog assignment for university, screwing a presentation next Tuesday and not getting done with an essay a week before the deadline than thinking about my health. I couldn't help but wonder: Why are we always busy thinking about success, when, at the end of the day, staying alive is the real success.

I only went to the doctor to get a paper for uni that says that I am ill. I'm glad I went as the doctor said I need antibiotics. Tonsilitis without a treatment with antibiotics can be dangerous for the heart. And I only thought about the stupid paper for uni.

I told my friend Lea I could not come in to uni because of tonsilitis. She laughed at me saying, I clearly could come to uni with tonsilitis as her brother went to school for his GCSE exam with bronchitus. But, what's a GCSE worth when you are dead?

So many people go to work ill...or half dead. They work for twelve hours, get bullied and feel worse the next morning. Then they take a pill and go to work again. Seriously, we HAVE to treat our bodies better.

I might sound like a hypocrit to some people. Here in England people call me the "beer lady" as I loved to drink two or three beers every day. I smoked for seven years and my eating behaviour was not that of a role model either. Did you notice the tense?

I had to go through a lot to learn how horrible I am treating my body. At the beginning of this year, I had circulation problems on a daily basis, a mysterious stomach pain that no one could explain and on top of that I could not leave the house on my own anymore. I was just a mess. I went to doctors nearly every day, but all they did was doing tests. Just when I started considering to take a year off from university, I had an encounter with a man who is into chinese medicine.

This chinese non-medical practitioner was able to cure me from my stomach pain and my circulation problems. I stopped drinking (at least on a daily basis) and I quit smoking. I changed my whole eating behaviour, which is not easy here in England where the food is just bad and people do not even know what spelt is. (I have to get all my health food and my tea from Germany, which is just ridiculous).

Moreover, most of my problems are the result of my ongoing worries about being perfect. I always want to be the best, want to get the highest marks and feel depressed when I make mistakes. I did not realized how much I damage my body with that.

Friends of mine sometimes do not eat for one day. They smoke, they drink, they take all kinds of drugs. They go out partying even though they are ill. They work all night, all weekends, because they want to earn as much money as possible and get the highest marks. One of my friends died three years ago, because he did not bother to take his antibiotics properly. He did not take his illness seriously and that was his worst mistake in his life.

Unfortunately, society is like that. It is hard to relax and just listen to your body. You will be left behind by competitive society. Your rivals never rest.

When I was lying in bed on Thursday morning with fever, I thought I had made a mistake not going to university and pitching my idea for the group blog. Now I am convinced that I made the right decision. The body we have is something precious. It is the shell of our mind and we'd better not mess up with it as life can be over just like that.

A Review of Google Reader

photo taken from The Wardman Wire

I have used Google Reader for a week now. No, that was a lie. I had a look at it four times maybe, but you cannot say that I really used it. I am very fond of Google News, but Google Reader is just a bit too much.

I can appreciate the idea. I quite like to have MY news on one page. My first impression was: WOW. This semester I read much more online news than newspapers. But I really do not like going on different websites and find my way through that information jungle. There is just too much news and I can't really find my way through it.

With Google Reader, at least, I have everything at one glance. I now have a list of World News from the BBC, bits and pieces from The Guardian, anti-racist coverage from indymedia and blogs that I subscribed to. So, there is a way into the jungle.

But it is still not a European forest. It is just too much information. When you think you finally scrolled down to the end of the page, there is more news to come and more and more and more and then you just give up. It only shows you the news stories that have been updated at last, but that doesn't mean that they are the most important.

A review of Google News

When Jim mentioned Google News in one of our sessions, I was the only one who used it before. I was quite surprised. I was even surprised that Jim seemed not be that amazed about Google News than me.

I think this Google tool is just awesome. It made my life so much easier. I am using it for a couple of months now and since then at least four times a week. I need it for my job as a writer and editor for Debell Publishing, a company that offers current affairs to hotel guests all over the world. What I have to do is to rewrite news on the internet and put it in a layout. This will be sent to the hotels in many different countries at 1am. It has to be up-to-date, so I am only working at night. Obviously I cannot start writing so early, which is why I have to do it under time pressure. That is where Google News comes in.

Google News gives you a general idea what happened around the world. It is offering Top stories, as well as world, technology, entertainment, Health, Sports and Business news. But you can also personalize your Google News page and get other news as well. This tool allows me to work really fast. Even though I have to write only 800 words overall, I have to research into at least ten different stories in current affairs, sports and entertainment.

Google News tells you how many news websites have covered one story. This is a good hint if this story is a top story or not. Moreover you have an overview of different websites that have covered the story plus the matching headlines. This makes it very easy to compare different angles.

I am often using the German Google News page and it taught me a lot about German media and how different media cover stories differently.

Session's Review

Here I am, on another Friday night - the night I normally spend with writing loads of posts for my uni blog. But today, there is not much to be said about the module today. Nothing good though.

I am lying in bed with my tonsilitis - not being able to reach the kitchen without having the feeling of fainting. And then I was looking at the first group blog that my class was starting this week. It made me so upset, because I missed it. I was so looking forward to it and now I just can't do anything but to lie in bed and worry about all the work that has to be done.

I am scared because I don't know what is going to happen. The teacher is not answering my e-mails which is worrying me even more. In fact, I am a bit disappointed now.

In the first week he all asked us to post an article on our blog. He then promised to leave comments over the weekend. He did not. Two weeks later he promised to leave a comment for our first assignment - and he did not. But that does not surprise me. It is just how uni works. I never get my work back and I cannot learn if I do not get any comments back.