Please, let it go.

Racists, homophobes, elitists and every separatist idealists out there who believe their belief structure is the way forward for everyone and damn those who disagree... I may not have a lot of money, but I'll give you enough money to go buy a fucking clue that will hopefully lead you to realising YOU are what it keeping the rest of humanity from evolving and reaching our next evolutionary step, let alone a higher sense on consciousness. There will never be an end to "war" until we can stop fighting within ourselves and putting ourselves before others. Every single religion and belief system preaches peace and love for each other, yet so many forget that from moment to moment.
It shouldn't matter what sex a person is, who they go to bed with or how they dress. A person’s character and ability is not confined to their looks and the sooner we all drop this ugly trait, the better.
Personally, I've recently lost my job, I'm worried about paying my rent, I've split from my wife and my new partner who I have fallen head over heals for is leaving the UK to go back home to America and I will not get to see her for a minimum of a year, possibly two. For someone who has basically been in different relationships constantly for around 15 years, this is a terrifying idea... But I've still reached out to people who I know have needed help recently, why? Because I can see when others need help and I would never want anyone to go through the alienation and loneliness I have, in part, brought on myself.
My partner found her flatmate completely freaking out and in a heightened state of panic and anxiety and had no idea what to do. I didn’t even know them and I hadn’t even met this person, but I advised her on how to help her friend and deal with their panic and anxiety and told them to pass on the message that I am here for them and if they need or want any advice, I will be an open ear for them. I may not be the best person in expressing my own feelings but I’m fucked if I’m not going to do my best to stop someone hitting the lows I’ve hit.
I'm no saint, far from it, but even I can see that until we all realise that, at the base of everything, we need understanding and tolerance of others, their way of life and their beliefs, without that, we will just implode. The complete shutdown of communication because of a disagreement on ideas will get us nowhere fast, in fact, absolutely nowhere. The media are no help at all, hidden agendas, back-handers and affiliations with scumbags of every kind just muddy the already almost pitch black minefield of life and until we all realise this, nothing can be done.
The nature of human greed is so upsetting, it still shocks me the lows we are capable of. You have people like Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe who believes that water isn't a human right and everyone should have to pay for it, this an astounding statement that to me, is bordering on the psychotic. Then you have Uruguayan president Jose Mujica who gives away around 90% plus of his monthly wage away to charity. This is not what we see daily by anyone in power, but why not? Why aren’t we leading by example more? And why don’t other care enough to do these things? As I said, I’m no saint either, but I can see when someone is in need and I feel guilt when I am unable to help someone out which is probably why I try to reach out to those I know who may be in need of something as little as a shoulder to cry on or an open ear to just listen and not question. I’ve had some pretty silly and stupid rants to friends or in personal blogs that were almost fevered rantings. Hey, they happen, doesn’t mean I am a bad person for it and neither are others, just try to be there for those in need.
When celebs give money to charity, most do it anonymously. Look at Jay-Z and Beyonce giving money to help out people from Baltimore or when Ellen Page came out as a Lesbian or when Benedict Cumberbatch wore a t-shirt with “This is what a feminist looks like” written on it. All these people have had hate thrown at them in various forms, but why? What is it about humans that we just have to tear each other down? A good joke is great for everyone and help bond people, but to just throw unadulterated hate at each other, removing people from their lives and such is completely counter-productive and frankly an awful thing to do.
I have a friend who put up a status on FB the other day that they bought a homeless person a sandwich, a drink and something else. I can bet you that at least a few people thought the status was for attention, but you know what? Who gives a shit, a person in need was fed for an evening but some judgmental keyboard warrior is gonna try and tell others about themselves? Bitch, please get down off your high horse, because again, this is what needs to end.
This has probably gone off topic and has probs gone a bit ranty, but I don’t care.
I wanted to end this with a pretty amazing quote that Hatebreed used at the start of their song Before Dishonor
"Its not the blood you spill that gets you what you want - it's the blood we share, your family, your friendships, your community! These are the most valuable things a man can have!"

Depression is a liar!

Today is Monday

Monday's are not good days, in general, back to work after relaxing / partying on the weekends is never a good feeling... But sometimes you need to sit down, think about what is happening around you, in your life and the lives of those that you hold dear and try to push away those thoughts.

I know, I've been having a proper case of the "Mondays" today, I work in a relatively small team and one of our team is taking a well deserved holiday, but even though we are a lil bit quiet, it's still pressure I don't always do with. Doing my usual scrolling through Facebook, I find a friend post this and it couldn't be more true.


None of these are easy, in fact, they are all pretty hard actually but the more we do these things, the more we learn coping patterns that can help ease our difficult situations. 

I think that I tend to want to take to helping others, making a blog or Youtube vid, wit the vain hope that it might actually help or comfort someone. 

I'm not amazing with words, I get confused really easily, stumble on my words and when pushed and made uncomfortable, back down to completely silent because of confidence issues, not to mention my learning difficulties, but the possibility to help someone through some of the pain I go through daily makes these things easier to cope with. Although I like my job and very much want to stay here, I think my perfect job now, would be to work in helping or counselling those who need help with depression, anxiety and mental health issues. I'd never get the qualifications needed to be a full counsellor but on some kind of advice line would be great and so rewarding for me. I know that is a selfish view to have but being that I have had trouble in most of my jobs with my energy levels, let alone with motivation, but I can see that being a big thing that will help me get up and into work every day. My current job has been great for that and apart from a week of illness due to a possible chest infection (which led to Sinusitis on top of a chest infection which is why I took a whole week off) I've only had one sick day off since I started in September, which is utterly incredible for me. 

One thing I've started recently is getting hold of some Adult colouring books. You may laugh, but there is a lot of study going on, on how beneficial it is to a mind to just be able to switch off and just do something that doesn't require tons of thought, while keeping your hands busy. I done a few while watching the recently leaked episodes of Game Of Thrones. Here are some progress photos... I didnt realise somewhere out of focus until I looked att hem not long ago, whoops!



















Link  Link  Link 

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=adult%20colouring%20books%20facebook%20groups&es_th=1


I've bought tickets to go to the next Antichrist club night which I'm looking forward to going to. It's a fun night out, the music isn't amazing for my taste but I get to hang out with some great people and just be myself around my friends on the fetish scene. I do find it quite different from being out with "Vanilla" friends, as much as I love my friends who are not on the Fetish scene, once you start hanging out with people who tend to be a lot more open-minded in their attitudes towards sex and such, it's hard to "close that door" again and remember to sensor yourself slightly. As open minded as a lot of my friends are, I know some hardcore piss takers and it's hard enough to cope with normal jokes and ribbings, let alone those that would come from mention the kinks I am into,  

Depression

I keep thinking about what to put down in my next blog, So many things to talk about the next general election,
Enoch Powell being a Satanic child abuserhow good the new Strung Out record is and so many others. 

A big thing recently is the reaction to the plain crash caused by the pilot who crashed a airplane in the alps, killing all 150 people on board. I'm not going to go into specifics on who was a child, adult, black or white because a loss of life, is a loss of life, who that person was is immaterial. They all had families of some description, so to pinpoint what was more of a loss (including which country the dead hailed from) is just crass.

A lot of the media seem to be fixation on the news that the pilot suffered from depression. I'm by no stretch of the imagination any kind of expert, but let's talk about this and mention some facts.

It's been reported that the heart rate of the pilot didn't falter or change in the final few minutes before impact. What does this say to me? It says that he was full in control and "calm" in what he was doing. 

When I am  suffering from a depressive episode or having an anxiety attack, I know for a fact I am all over the place, often suffering from sweats, often headaches and but mostly, a racing and thumping heart. Apparently these were lacking in this pilot at the time. This, even to me, sounds like a psychotic break and not a typical depressive episode. 

I know I'm not everybody, people are individuals and we all react differently but even when playing a practical joke on someone, my heart rate starts to react, not much but enough for it to register, I personally, in the middle of any kind of attack, would have a hard time seeing straight, let alone remember how to operate a plane or be able to run through a plan involving one.


As the British press are well known for their accuracy in reporting facts.... (hahaha sorry, I can't even type that without laughing at how absurd they can be at times) I personally have ignored a lot of it because I know I'll get extremely angry and will end up spending the rest of my free time punching keys, figuratively and possibly actually trying to educate those oh so lovely people in the newspaper website comment sections, none obviously worse than the Daily Fail. Here is a good article on the Guardian website that is worth a read.  


I know that this post won't get out to a hell of a lot of people but, it's worth noting that you never know who is out there, who will find your words, and who will find what you say helpful.
Somewhere around August / September last 2014 not long before I got my current job, I somehow had a mental shift. I woke one day feeling good for no apparent reason, although weirded out, it felt great. I still go up and down often, yesterday is a great example of having a down day, but it's important to anyone who suffers from depression to please hold on, never give in and keep pushing forward.


I can't promise things will be easy as life is a bitch and will beat you down, but the trick is to fight back. It's not easy, even slightly, but I've been through times where those train tracks or high speed traffic looked pretty inviting, or the pull of alcohol (I don't drink and have never been drunk) was getting pretty fierce but I've got this far, doesn't mean others can't.


All this has reminded me of one of my all time heros, Bill Hicks. The legendary comedian couldn't have known the impact of his work, but the famous "It's Just A Ride" skit hit home with me and millions around the world.



Here is the full transcript of the skit...


“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”

While typing this post, a favourite song came on by the rapper Angel Haze. Although the rapper does not like the use of gendered pronouns, I will have to use one to describe her.

A friend told me about her about a year ago, I wasn't keen at first but I was told to check out her first album "Dirty Gold" on Spotify and it is actually a pretty damn awesome album. 'Deep Sea Diver' is my favourite track, but 'Angels and Airwaves' came up on my compilation I was listening to and thought it was pretty apt for the moment. 


Here is a quick sample of the final lyrics, just so you can understand the perfect timing of writing this post and the pleasure it was to have it come on when it did. 


"So when you feel so invisible you're not even sure you exist
So you cut yourself open just to see if you real
You numb yourself with drugs just to hide what you feel
You drink the washed up pain in hopes of rejecting it afterwards
You live everyday wishing you could rewind your life backwards
Because you wanna figure out where the fuck you went wrong
Cause everything in your world ain't been right for so long
I know how it feels
So this is for you
If you're thinking it now
If you're wanting to die
If you're thinking it out
You are so much more than you are in this moment
You never know how great you can be
Don't give up on you

I didn't gave up on me"
Anyways, I think that is enough for now...


Random thought

I only seem to be doing badly in the run up to socialising with the fetish crew. This may be wrong but it could be a trigger as to why I regularly do badly for a week or so, then it gets to Thursday evening / Friday day and I start feeling super positive. I definitely feel sad and down before I go to the Camden Crunch for some reason, but I'm fucked if I know why.

I've been doing so badly at work, I've made mistakes every single day and it's crushing me to get it all so wrong. Wrong maps, wrong addresses, wrong grid information.. It's never ending. Dali met me after work in a little coffee shop in Wood Green and she asked me some super helpful questions on my role and asked me to write down the full processes of my jobs I need to do in my role. Thanks to that, I now have a list that I can edit that can use as a prompt every day, Dali even suggested to create a wallpaper out of it, which I'm going to upload today. I hope it will be of help, I've started taking my vitamins again this morning, hopefully it will give me a bit more power to concentrate and focus on the correct things for the day.

Dali has been so great for me, I haven't been helped so intently since I was at school and my Dad used to help me with my homework. I know it sounds utterly ridiculous and frankly childish, but when you have slow cognitive processing skills, on top of strong Asperger's traits with possible Dyslexia and God knows what else, I'll take any and all help anyone is willing to give me.
I don't mean to play down anyone or any help anyone has given me before, but I don't have normal ways of thinking, my mind constantly wonders and does exactly what it wants to do, when it wants to do it. For example, I was writing down one of my processes yesterday, I was tapping away on Dali's laptop and my mind literally stopped and I pictured and cog, like in a watch, that had just jammed and wouldn't move. I literally saw a cog stop moving and became jammed and that's what happened to me. I told Dali this, she stroked the back of my head and calmly spoke to me and asked me a question or 2. She then said to go back and read from the beginning of the process and try again... But once she did that, I was back on track.

I think that somehow my routine has been disrupted and I need to get back into it and stick to it. I'm not fully sure how, something as simple as not making my coffee and bagel in the morning has thrown me, it's definitely led me to not empty the dishwasher like I do every day,it could be effecting more than just that.
I'm going to try and make notes and use post it notes to remind myself what I'm doing and what time I'm doing it, so I don't lose my place and the information is available for me.
I may have been doing badly for a while, but I'm still definitely trying to pull myself through, instead of running away like I have done previously in my life. I just hope I can do it and make my work and myself proud that I've been able to turn it around.

New blog.. New me? Not really

::EDIT:: I apologise for the formatting on this bloody thing, I can't seem to get it to change and look better. I'll keep trying ::


Well, with this being attempt number 2 because of a crashed app on my phone, I hope to replicate everything I wrote before. 

I've pretty much had all the blogging sites at one point or another and thought I'd give it another go. 


I'm Andrew, I'm 34, nearly 35. That's me on the right with my long time friend Ross. Known him since 1995 / 1996. 


I am a huge music, TV show, film and nerd culture fan. Shawn Barber, Tom Bagshaw, Tyson Mcadoo, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, I Killed The Prom Queen, Doomtree, After The Burial, All Shall Perish, Iggy Azalea, Andrew Hinkinbottom, Papa Ninja, Chew, Saga, Rat Queens, Clue and so many more.

I enjoy collecting comics, tattoos, art and other fun things.  



I love Funko Pop Vinyls, as you can see and I'm fast running out of room to display and store them, ARGH!



I am separated from my wife after 7 plus years of marriage and nearly 10 years of being together. I have slow cognitive processing problems, along with strong Asperger's traits. I also suffer from depression and anxiety. 


I got diagnosed with 2007. I had always wondered why I had such down times, but didn't contemplate that it was actually depression, but the night after my birthday in 2007,


I was walking down the stairs and by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs of the house my partner and I shared, I was in floods of tears, for no apparent reason. Not long before a friend's sister had been kidnapped and murdered, there was a group of people reposting bulletins on Myspace, which was big at the time, to try to help to find her, but within the day, her body had been found and although I had never met the girl and only knew her brother, it sent me into a spiral of depression, so much so, that the doctor signed me off for a month off of work. Since then I have tried more than 6 or 7 and I found them all to be awful for various reasons. Sme of which I have used include Fluoxetine, Citalopram, Paroxetine, and SertralineI've had them at varying doses and still have never agreed with me. I fight the self doubt, down feelings and self hatred daily. To constantly doubt everything one does, makes for a utterly exhausting existence and I wouldn't wish it upon 


I've been in and out of counselling for depression, the latest ending because "I don't seem to be in the right place to want to change anything, I'm more happy with letting things happen"/ This angered me greatly, but as I'm pretty slow, I had no idea how to react, so I left with an invite to get re-referred if I need it or to contact in 6 months for a check up on my situation. Considering I expressed my anxiety about losing my job due to my problems and actually doing a task I was set by them, which was to move out and make changes in my life, it apparently still was not enough... Go frigging figure. After about 7 years of being bounced about for help, do you really think I've got the energy to fight for help by screaming at your and making a scene when I have to fight myself internally every day, juggle work, a separation, Aspergers traits, learning difficulties and the other lil fun things life likes to throw at people. I was actually told by someone who shall remain nameless that I should have fought for help and not let it happen, like I was to blame for them "fobbing me off". Am I the only one in thinking that I shouldn't have to do anything of the like to get help? I've spent 7/8 years trying, isn't that enough for them? Clearly not. 




Since my diagnosis of Depression, I have had Anxiety added to that too. I've had quite a few moments when my anxiety has been so bad that I thought I would pass out, only on two occasions it has happened. Once when I had a kung fu grading when I was young and one when a friendship broke down for a second time and I had just been told that my 2 friends no longer wanted to talk to me. I was about to have a meeting with my team manager at the call centre I worked in and I just felt like I couldn't breath and put my head on the desk next to my manager and ended up falling of the chair on to the floor. One of the managers run over and put me in the recovery position and had an ambulance called. I had all the normal checks done and after an hour or so was told to go home. I've had several close calls since then, I just hope it doesn't happen again anytime soon. 

I've only found out about the Asperger's within the last 3 years but have yet to actually get any help with this, along with the slow cognitive problems. I was given this information while being under the care of The Tavistock and Portman Centre but it was never treated in any way. 

I currently work for a equality and diversity training company and I pretty much love it. The role is varied, I get to listen to my own music and dress in my own clothes and I couldn't really ask for more. However, my processing problems and AS are affecting my work massively and I am worried I am going to lose my job, like I lost my last one. One of my main problems is my lack of attention to detail, I just plain can't see things. I get easily confused and working in an office where the phone can go at any time and with so many varying roles, the need to job to another job is always near and I need to be able to keep track of previous jobs and manage a workload and work out priorities, which is turning out to not a be a strong suit of mine. 
I desperately want to keep my job, so took the initiative to contact Mencap to try and see what they can do to help. I've been given some information that I am going to check out and see if I can get some help before I lose another job because of my ever mounting amount of mental health problems / disabilities. 


I've recently started to venture out on the London Fetish scene. I now have the pleasure of running a once monthly "Munch", the Under 35's at the Cittie Of York Pub in Chancery Lane which I co-run with a lovely lady, Emma. I'm am also a regular at the Camden Crunch which is a fun night out night out for those interested. It's a once monthly club where people who are part of the fetish scene to go and socialise. There is no Play there like other Fetish clubs like Torture GardenClub RubAntichrist and such but it has a great atmosphere, there is a dance floor area with a DJ that plays anything between 60's rock and roll all the way through the years up until the most recent charts hits. There is also a more chilled out side bar where people like to just drink and hang out and catch up with friends. 



I've known about the fetish scene for quite a few years, through the photo sections of magazines like Loaded and such who used to go there to take photos to put in the Lads Mags. My first ever exposure was when Kerrang Magazine reviewed a gig by the industrial Metal band The Genitorturers and there was a huge picture of someone doing their angle grinding act while they were performing. Years later, I would find out that my parents were going out to fetish clubs. A story I love to tell is one when when I was still living at home, I was 19 and a group of friends and I came back to my parents house after a club, it was like 4am on a Sunday morning, just drinking coffee and tea and about 5am we hear keys hitting the front door. So we all poke our heads out of the front room door... To see my parents walk in, clothed in fetish wear, just getting in from Torture Garden. At 19 years of age, I had been outdone by my parents, OH THE HUMILIATION!! But it was definitely worth it for the story. 

I will possibly add to this post but I hope to keep this blog a lil bit more up to date than those previous to it. Hope this has been helpful to anyone out there. 

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