Blogging and my miserable process of getting it done

             Right off the bat, I hate blogging. Well, to be more specific, I hate writing blogs. It is not that I think writing a blog is a stupid thing, or that I do not enjoy reading a good blog. I just hate and I can not express it enough how much I hate the process of blogging. I am writing this blog about blogging, because while blogging, my perspective of blogging changed from thinking that its easy to write a blog, to hating it . Even the spell check for the word blog in this writing program has me frustrated. Anyway, I guess I am going to just go through the process of blogging, that is, coming up with a topic, finding significant points on that topic, expanding those topics, and all the in betweens, and what challenges I face when doing so, and I hope you readers enjoy it!
           The first thing to do when writing a blog, obviously, is to find a topic that you want to write about. This is surprisingly harder than I imagined, because out of all the gazillions of things in this world, finding one single thing to write about is a lot freakin’ harder than I imagined it to be. Endless possibilities float through one’s head, but choosing one that grabs you and inspires you to write is a task. I find it easier to write down all the thoughts I think I could write on, pick the one(s) that has impacted one’s life significantly, for better or worse, write it down on a piece of paper, and start from there.
            After that, coming up with points for the blog that hit home and are important to telling the story the way you want people to receive it. This can be difficult, in a sense of the amount of points required. Whether there is too much information to fit in to the allotted space, or not enough information to fill the blog. It all depends on the limit, but if I can’t find enough to get the blog done, I cuss a little, scratch it off and start over with another topic. Come to think of it, I think I should have put this blog in the things I hate blog, because it’s a stupid blog, about blogging, and how stupid it is. The moral of this paragraph; read paragraph one carefully so you don’t end up restarting your blog by paragraph two.

           Assuming that one has solid enough points on the topic, its time for the best part; expanding! Note the severe sarcasm used. Expanding on your points is basically writing the actual blog. This can be time consuming, frustrating and difficult. Taking the points that one comes up with, and expanding each one, usually in separate paragraphs. Doing this without too much padding, that is, filling it with complete garbage to make the story seem more intelligent, or without enough wording or content, is the real challenge. It helps to do a lot of research and preparation for this area, and use the info gathered to make the blog more interesting. Making the blog interesting is key, so make sure that it is! 1 in 6 people around the world blog, how many of those do you think suck? Moral of this paragraph; No body likes it when you talk, if you aren’t interesting.

           To conclude this blog, I just want to say that I had fun writing this blog, about blogs. The process is tedious and it can piss me off, but after finding my topics, and out of those topics finding one topic, creating points that aren’t pointless, and finally going into detail on these points, it’s a process that is worth it, and I hope I don’t have to blog for class or any other ever again.



                                                                                     Spellcheck -_-

Corrupting Characteristics

             In today’s world, there are people whose characteristics in some way, petit to great, do not blend well with another person. It happens to us all, whether we are aggravated or annoyed by people, or whether we are the annoying or aggravating person to someone else. This is going to be a rant on The type of people that affect me the most; shady, dishonest people, close minded, stubborn people, and people who believe they are better than everyone else and should be treated as such. These three characteristics really get inside my skin, and I can not tolerate those people. Thinking about it right now riles me up to be honest. This blog will be a rant on these three things, and why I hate them so much.
             In all honesty, everybody lies. Whether it be a big fat fib or a little bent truth, to harm someone in some way, or protect them from the something. So it can be argued that some dishonesty is excusable, however, for all the other lies that are told out of spite, deserve no pity . People lie about everything; information about themselves such as age, income, sexuality, occupation, and beliefs to name a few, and about others, saying things behind those person’s back and for what reason? I do not know. Maybe to fit into a judgemental or close minded society or group of people, bringing me to my second point.
            Close minded, stubborn people… Where do I begin? By this I mean people who are very firm on a belief or subject, and will not consider or even listen to any other theory or view. For example, In Barbados, there is a very judgemental society that does not tolerate anything much different from the “normal” way of living. One has to be a straight, Christian, doctor or lawyer if they do not wish to be looked down upon. There isn’t much room for people who are different who wish to stand out from the rest of society. If you are ‘different’ you are judged heavily. Name calling, teasing, harassment, bullying among countless other things are what goes on and it is ridiculous. If one does not share the same view as the other person, they are stupid. Society has become so critical, I sometimes wonder if mankind is progressing or not.
           Thirdly, equality. Equality is something that should be paid more attention to, because the world is becoming so corrupt by people trying to be better than the next person. People should not believe they are any better than another because their skin is a different colour, or because of their occupation, income or belief. We are all made the same, we bleed the same blood and breathe the same air. People who believe that they are better than others are selfish, inconsiderate and vain, it is wrong. Yes, people may be much different, but our differences are greatly outnumbered by our similarities.
           Liars, close minded people, and people on a high horse really irk me to my soul. The worst part about all of it is that it will never end, because society has become so corrupt. its almost unbelievable if one takes a step back and looks on what we do in our every day lives. Even though I dislike these characteristics, people are people, and they will make mistakes, we all do. We are all guilty of doing things we do not agree with at one point or another, but life moves on, so forgive and forget, live and let live.

Skateboarding in Barbados

             Skateboarding in Barbados is not just a sport that people play across the island, but much more than that. Skateboarding is a lifestyle and a passion. We skaters look out for each other, we were all one big family, and I don’t consider that the slightest bit untrue. However, Despite our close bond and love for skateboarding, it is still not recognized as a true sport in Barbados such as cricket or football. The first thing Barbados needs is a skateboard park, where skaters can go to skate without having to worry about the dangers and troubles of skating public or private property. It is a sport that requires a lot of skill and hard work, as a former footballer and athlete, I can definitely say skating takes the most concentration and effort. In the future, with a few helping hands, I would like to see skateboarding reach its full potential as a sport in Barbados, putting Barbados on an international level.
               Barbadian skating is an up and coming sport that is now growing, as it is fairly new to the island. Friends call each other and meet up for sessions, when or if they can find somewhere to skate. There are a few teams, consisting of the more advanced skaters, such as irie one skate team, and the team I ride for, movement skate team. These teams hold contests and events throughout the year, such as the one movement annual summer invitational, in which skaters from around the world from places like Trinidad and Tobago and Canada fly down to attend and watch. There is trouble with the growing scene however due to lack of places to skate safely or legally. We skaters are often called trespassers, but its simply because we have no where to go. Despite many attempts to reach out to the government for assistance, via petitions and direct appeals, amongst other things, we still have no place to call home. This forces us to go to places, where we are attacked or screamed at, threatened, police are called, the list goes on. In fact, at the Barbados Community College, some team mates and I were filming for a video, and a security guard said he wished that one of us would “break ya f*cking neck”.

              Skating has come quite a way in Barbados, but it still has much more to go. It would really take off if a skate park could be built.These parks are too expensive for the "average" person to build, and it is costly to maintain as well, if made of wood. This will allow skaters to practise and progress to higher, more competitive levels, in a safe friendly environment. In an interview with regional action sports online magazine “adrenaline sun” Paul “Irie” Wilson said “The West Indies (Cricket Team) ain’t doing nothing, give us one of their cricket fields.” There are plenty of unused government properties that are abandoned are completely unused and could easily be converted into a park. Skate parks support and encourage vibrant, healthy and active communities in the same way as many other athletic facilities, and will help displace or replace other undesirable activities. It is a good investment, and needs to be looked at seriously.
In the future, I would like to see Barbadian skating compete with the international skate scene in terms of skill, numbers or skaters, and income. These can be achieved by taking steps such as getting a skate park, establishing bonds with international skate associations, and promoting it more in the island. Skating is a multi million dollar industries, with contests away giving away as much as half of a million dollars as prize money to podium placers, as well as products like skate videos, clothing, shoes, and skateboards sold around the world. This can improve the Barbadian economy substantially, with tourism as our number one source of income. There are already persons who fly down here to skate, such as professional skaters Mike Vallely and Carlos Leon, skateboarding could attract many people if developed in the island.

            Skating affects people worldwide, whether it be a group of friends just having some fun, or a sold out contest with thousands of people spectating to see their favourite pro skaters. It is currently new to Barbados, but is growing rapidly and is having a positive outcome. If financial aid could be given to the local skaters, and a skate park could be built, the community could thrive to great heights competing with that of major skate countries around the world. Not only would it benefit the skaters, but the overall economy and people of the island.