I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

 

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

 

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed--and gazed--but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

 

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

 

William Wordsworth, 1888

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

Apple Prepare For iPhone 5 Launch On October 4th

Having looked at the dates of upload to GMOAI the last few months, it's fair to say it's been a little neglected. Not a lot has ended up at the end of that URL. But that's what happens when you have many fingers in different pies. So apologies to all, but I promise to get you something AT LEAST once a week.

Today, we're gonna talk Apple. And we will do next Tuesday too. But tonight the official invitations for the iPhone event at Apple HQ in Cupertino next Tuesday were leaked to the world. And not only has social media gone nuts, but so has every Apple geek across this planet - and I'm one of them.

And there it is, in all its wonder. Now, let's decipher it. Obviously, the 'Calendar' is the date of next Tuesday, the 4th of October. The event will begin at 10AM, as 'Clock' says. 'Maps' shows us it'll be at Cupertino, but the most intriguing part is the 'Phone' application, with a big red '1' button on it. Indicating a new phone? Just one?!

Having seen all the rumours and leaks over the last year or so of the new iPhone 5, we've also seen a growing number saying that we're quite likely to see a cheaper version produced too, knows as the iPhone 4S. So why hasn't that been listed too? Will it even happen?! All questions I'm sure we'll see answered over the next seven days.

Equally, there seem to be plenty of rumours flying around about 'secret' features to iOS5, also expected to be rolled out just before the iPhone 5 is in a few weeks' time. We've already seen the announcement of Twitter integration into the core software, but will we see Facebook jump on board too? There seems to be a deep hatred of Google between the two of the biggest companies in the world, and so it would surely make sense to come together and beat Android, and Google+ together. But we'll have to see with that one.

Seemingly, Facebook may feature again next Tuesday, with the announcement of their very long-awaited iPad app. Supposedly ready since May, Facebook are ready to unveil what will be the most-used app on the iPad over the next two weeks, and thus increasing their own personal market share of the social networking market even further. Or so they hope.

There'll be plenty more to look forward to - the inevitable 'One More Thing', Tim Cooks' first keynote as CEO, and all the new features of the new products - but until this time next week, we'll just have to keep second guessing...

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

The University Loneliness

There aren't many times in life that you stand and wave, before turning and feeling something is missing now in your life. The first time you leave home. The day your kids grow up and leave home themselves. When friends emigrate abroad.

But I didn't expect to be making so many of these goodbyes this September, when I had to turn, walk home, and be sat in an empty house for hours on end.

As you're all aware by now, a 'school administrative error', as I am now calling it, purely so I don't continue to get really wound up, caused my university place to blow away aimlessly in the wind to some other poor sod waiting to sort his life out. Letters should have been sent in March, as opposed to handed to me to send on Results Day - ending up in a complete and utter debacle where my place disappeared into thin air. I wouldn't mind so much if it was my fault, or the university's fault. But the fact it was the schools' fault, and it was the simplest thing to sort, makes it all the worse. But hey ho.

Thankfully, there are a fair few of us affected by school-related issues, and therefore we're staying behind - whether it be to re-sit the entire year, re-sit specific subjects, or hold out for an unconditional offer next year, knowing you've got the grades.

But that doesn't make it any easier. Oh no - far from it. Watching your friends disperse across the country, enjoying themselves this week in what is Fresher's Week, whilst I sit watching lunchtime re-runs of Celebrity MasterChef as I've already done all my jobs for the day.

It does beg the question: why don't people have some consideration? I know that if I was in their position, knowing that my best friends were left lagging behind, I'd keep stumn, keep my excitement from them, and keep it off the web. There's no humility - there's a level of arrogance that people are crossing every now and then, which just makes you feel awful. And it's not just me either. Having spoken to friends up and down the land, they're feeling the anguish too.

I don't mind the evenings, as they're what they always have been. But I hate the days - the long, drawn-out days that continue to get longer. With nothing to fill them but two hours of lessons every Friday morning, and the lack of jobs available to those in need of filling time, there is a distinct emptiness that continues to grow and grow, alongside this incessant loneliness of a silent house, and a lack of contact from anyone.

There's only so many Tweets you can send, emails you can check, and songs you can listen to before the echoing silence becomes deafening. And I'm only 48 hours into my 12 month stint at this.

I know a lot of people have been in this position previously, and are now in high-paid, enjoyable jobs, and have great lives. They say the 'Lonely Year', as we've called it, made them who they are today. I also know that I have close friends that have stayed back, because they're in the same position. But without seeing them, or being able to have a proper conversation with them, because our lives are now placing us elsewhere, it becomes more and more difficult.

So I hope you all enjoy your first year at university, and all enjoy the fun nights out and the new friends and experiences you will inevitable make and enjoy. But please - for the sake of people like myself stuck in this void year, stop making it worse for us by posting your fun across your social networking platforms?

The long road to the end goal has only just begun. Prepare yourselves for plenty more of posts like this...

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com

9/11: The Day The Earth Stood Still

There are millions upon millions of articles and blog posts about 9/11 that will all have a more provoking meaning than this one. This blog needed writing, especially on this 10 year anniversary we are honouring today.

I remember vividly my own memories of 9/11. I was 8 at the time - and just home from school. I flicked the TV on, ready for the children's programmes to start, but was met with an image of two burning towers. I shouted through to Mum 'The Twin Towers have been hit by two planes' - reading the tagline from the breaking news, before being told to stop making things up. However, when she came through, she was glued to the telly too, watching this grotesque and vulgar act pan out across the world's media.

I remember watching them fall, and the next morning too. Dad's birthday is the 10th September, and Mum's is the 12th - and she just didn't want to celebrate her birthday. The newspapers were all full of the most horrific images, and every TV channel was showing the previous day's events. I remember school being one of the most sombre days to memory - with assemblies and a minute's silence - a very novel idea to an eight year-old. Every lesson had some element of sadness, and nobody wanted to be there. Bearing in mind we're from the UK, it proves quite how big a global impact Bin Laden's scheme had caused.

Nobody could really calculate quite how big an impact this would leave. The Twin Towers were once the tallest buildings on Earth, and now they're a graveyard, and nothing but steel and rubble at ground level. But looking back upon that fateful day, it wasn't the actual attacks that touched me the most, but the reaction of the American people.

Yes, of course there were tears, and sadness, and it was the worst day in American history. But there was a sense of patriotism, and almost a sense of pride that their country would continue to stand tall, and that the attacks would not halt their wonderful America.

That's what I'll remember - there are some poignant interviews on the internet with people who lost loved ones, yet still feel that pride in their country.

Today, we remember the 2,977 people who lost their lives in the events of September 11. We also see all their names unveiled in public for the first time at the World Trade Center Memorial. Today will be a day that will bring back horrific memories, but also that feeling of not being beaten down by Al-Qaeda, and that the American people can never be beaten.

Taken from General Musings of an Idiot: http://www.gmoai.com