Aaaaaand I'm single.

Do not fear, friends. This is only the beginning of my rants about single life.

I keed, this is actually something I won't publish as I'll be too busy with figuring it out privately. Thanks to all friends who have already jumped to help me. I really cannot express how much I just love you guys and you're the best. 

My post-schedule.

A day after the first rant, I sit and show it off in all its...new-ness to my friends. No one has asked but, I thought I'd put it up about the concept of "post-schedule". Some people do a Weekly/Monthly/hell even Daily blog, I on the other hand operate off this: whenever I feel like there is something worth waffling about, such as crap Librarians or whatever, then I'll write. Everyone says I ramble on and on too much, so I shall perhaps limit various things to ramble about to make this blog as entertaining as possible.

Which is difficult because, whenever I try to be entertaining and when I don't, I am. Oh the aggravating difficulty!

First rant: A bad state of affairs in a Library.

Mmmm, this post has that "first rant smell" all over it.*

*to give an idea, "first rant smell" is like new-Comicbook smell. And if you've missed out on smelling that then you've not lived/smelt greatness. 

Anyway, I've decided as a first rant to talk about a Local Library in my area that FAILED at being a decent library with informative/good librarians. Perhaps a history of recent events is necessary as rants aren't fun unless to mention what got you so riled! Last night, I had a wonderful concert in a church in my said-local area of Colwyn Bay and found it awfully pleasant/enjoyed performing in the Choir as a Bass. I got to meet some new people (or well, interact more with the choir, who everyone seemed to keep to their schools and I'm trying to get better at meeting people. So why on Earth am I setting up a blog, which'll make me even more anti-social I don't know. But I'm sure that's for another post some day). 

I was half an hour early before our "last practice" would begin and thought I'd go for a stroll. With no money, food was not an option 'til my lovely Mother turned up and so I stuck in the ol' Ipod and went for a nice walk around town, wondering if there was anything that was needed doing on my mental to-do list. It took me a while before I remembered that I had to go and so some research on "Minamata Disease" as I'm attempting to write a Call of Cthulhu RPG situation. Now, I know what a lot of people are going to ask now so I better ask it for them: 

What's Minamata Disease? 

Okay, so in Japan in the city Kumamoto, there was this disease from the factory of Chisso on the Minamata Bay that basically started unfortunately poisoning people very badly. This was due to methyl Mercury poisoning and it was tragically sad. The reason why I found this good for a Cthulhu situation is because of one line I read in a book in my Biology class "the children could touch Octopus." As far as Call of Cthulhu goes, the idea of being able to go up to tentacle/octo monsters and be able to physically feel them spawned a great idea in my head that I don't want to give away due to possible Players reading this. 

TO CONTINUE: 

I go to where any noble would go to study for such obscure medical disease in Japan: my local library! Why? Because I fucking love libraries. I'm very, very chatty and figety but in a library I can sit down, take out a book and be quite happy with the world. It's always fun to browse and not feel obligated to get anything, just look at books. Then, you can take a book out FOR FREE and have the pleasure of reading it but it not taking up so much space on your shelves. Though, I need to get better at giving books back on time. So, libraries for this 6''06 tall Geek are cool places and many would agree with me on that one. And I will fight against any Government who is trying to shut mine and other people's libraries down. 

I enter, it's that nice quiet stillness that libraries have. It's awfully relaxing. I go to where I think is best, the History section. For a moment, I get distracted by train books.** Then, remembering I'm not just having a quick look and on a bit of a time schedule (I've got to be back at the church at quarter past five, it was by between me getting lost and then having turn around, ten to). I went to 'M' and 'J' just in case it'd fall under Japan, something like "diseases in History" or something. I looked all around and there was nothing. I considered: it was either hidden in some medical textbook, a history book or whatever. So, what to do when you can't find something in a library? Ask a librarian! 

This is happened before. I was with the "GF" (a silly acronym, this 'not naming anyone' is getting tiring but I'll try it out for now) and I went on searching for a copy of Sign of Four in another local library and the librarian, very sweet 'n' all, didn't hear me/wasn't paying that much attention. I guess asking near the closing time of that library meant Librarians were tired/racing to get home. But, these lot had two more hours left, they had to be in proper service for me as far as I'm concerned! I approach the desk, a woman greets me. I ask her immediately if she's heard anything about Minmata Disease and if there would be any informative books in the history section---Except I don't. 

I begin by trying to ask that but she interrupts me with "have you tried the internet?" As if annoyed that I had gone to the library. Presenting an attitude of "good God, coming to a library for research, are you from the Dark Ages?!" I mean, seriously? You're a librarian and you're getting annoyed I'm using your public service provided? In my local library even nearer to me, a much smaller one at that, it's used just to get the odd book, they'd never do that. So why on EARTH would an even bigger library, meant to be used for studying not be gracious I'm using the public service provided. I should explain at this bit: it's not that I don't like internet but, I find a lot of the articles very inaccurate/everything says something different. 

She then goes, "I'll search up something." What's the first site she goes for? Wikipedia. 

Wikipedia.

Wikipedia. 

WIKI. FUCKING. PEDIA. 

Now, I'm know someone is going to say "Aha, but it's all a big misconception that isn't trustworthy, annotations are upon the article so you can check references!" However, I choose to still be sceptical. There's this XKCD, (shown below) that I think is really nice for this bit of the rant. 

Okay, so I don't expect her to know about this XKCD comic and it's message but, you cannot exactly trust everything that goes up on there. Even with references to search, like I said, everything says something different. She prints off the article, all 16 pages and while she's doing this I explain to her politely "I don't trust everything on Wikipedia as they're not definite but tend to follow references but even then, it may not be reliable information." This is where a very long, convoluted debate comes along "The Web VS the Book". No one's sure what's going to be more accurate. You can update the Net whenever, new editions must be released with a book but, one person has studied the entire idea properly and then published is successfully and it may be getting used as a good point of reference for said-topic. 

But I went to a library and expected results! Instead, I got a librarian who seemed to be agitated that I took advantage of my local library! It's ridiculous. I then took the Wikipedia article and by this bit, she realises I'm not just some simpleton and have an understanding of how to research things. Not to a post-Graduate level or anything but, I think I do have a good grasp on how to go about something to research it. That's the thriving historian in me who use to sit with history books and read facts. This librarian had annoyed me, she hadn't bothered to put it into the search engine of contents in the library until I suggested to her. It was getting quite bad. She asks me for more information and I tell her "it was shortly after World War II but mostly in the 60s--" She fixates on WWII and asks her staffers about it, they then start talking about World War II books. 

SERIOUSLY?! LISTEN PEOPLE, GOD DAMN IT, LISTEN. 

By the end of this, I'm directed upstairs to the real researcher. She offers me advice on how to study it, asks me for a full explanation on the disease/what I know about it and where it all based. She gets out the Britannicas and the medical textbooks and I feel this great feeling of research running through me***. Finally, we come up with nothing and it seems my only reliable source is the Wiki Article. She then gives me a letter with contact details so if I should ever come across a book, they could get it in from another Library. I then leave, with a big thank you to the Real Researcher and head down the stairs once more to go back to my practice. The first librarian, getting ready to leave, stops me. She asks if we had any luck and I said "not really, but she gave me a letter so if I come across something then I can call you guys". She looks grumpily at the idea of that and then says about how I should simply "follow the references." 

And thus, I leave to go to a very enjoyable concert, to read my article and to perform in the Choir. (Also, my Ma brought me a Spider-Man to read, was nice to listen to music with it). The moral of the story, intrepid readers: Libraries will shut down with the disdain of librarians likes this when people want to use their library as a place to research/learn. Now, to end my post. Along the way, I hope people learn more about me and my views and get a good chuckle. Maybe I just come across angry but, it's worth a shot to vent my rage in a productive way that may or may not make people laugh too. 

'Til the next ramble, 

Uly. 

**be warned, this is the last time I will mention trains. There are part of a long list of interests that I will probably mention throughout, such as "RPGing", "Cthulhu", Comics and sometimes musicals.

***And a great deal of nerdom. 

A New Frontier

I use to do lunch times with my friends, Sion, Jim and Keith (new names we're trying out, let's see if they get the references) where I'd rant about things I hate. Now, I've decided to enter it to the cyber world. And I want to explain: I'm not an angry person. I'm intolerable, grouchy, moody, miserable a lot of the time but I'm not "angry at the world." I just thought it'd be a good laugh if I could set up a blog where I can rant and ramble without saying "no one cares Uly..." or "Uly, please..." to my face. Instead, I can have regular readers who will go: bwahahahaha, how funny! WHICH IS TOTALLY WILL BE.

My rules: 
I swear,
I'm very slack with checking things I've written

and

I don't want an analytical breakdown of what each post meant. I'm just having a laugh, this is my blog and I'm allowed to do what I want.

That's about it but I'm fickle and indecisive so new rules can appear at any time.

I quote JFK because he's a badass and this blog is perhaps a "New frontier" of mediocre blog writing from a teenager moaning. (So actually, not anything new at all). So, I hope everyone enjoys!