In which Anna is inbetween

I know dementia is a very serious problem, but this poster still makes me laugh. That phrase in particular, "Fighting dementia every step of the way", brings to mind a picture of an old lady saying "Now, I know you've told me, Enid, but where are we going?" Sorry.

I find myself in a rather odd situation right now where I can't say anything about myself for certain. I can't say I'm 20 because I'm practically 21, I can't say I'm a Christian because I'm very confused, and I've dyed my hair it's natural colour which is sort of mousy dark blondey brownish so I can't even identify my hair colour with any certainty.

Still female, though. Still definitely female.

By the way, the tags at the bottom of my posts can be used to track what I've written on certain topics. I tend to reuse the same tags, so generally if you want to find out what I've written about (for example) identity in the past, just click it and see. Nifty!

Fight for freedom

Right! I've been thinking lately about the state our county is in, and I'm going to lay some truth on you. LAY IT RIGHT ON YOUR FACE.

I will, for the purposes of this blog post, be citing my references.

Now, I'm not one of those people who think that everyone involved in government is inherently evil and wants to oppress me. I have a lot of faith in people; I just also think that large numbers of people in power can make colossally stupid decisions.

The UK is the world leader in CCTV use, with approximately 4.2 million cameras. ref That's about one every 15 people.

Nearly 4 million in the UK have their DNA permanently retained on the NDNAD (the National DNA Database); that's 5.2% of the country's population. Compare this to other countries; the second highest percentage of the population with DNA kept on record is Austria with 1%. ref
See, the thing is, they don't wait for formal charges to be made against you before they take your DNA, they do it the second they've got you. This has lead to black men being hugely overrepresented on the database; something that reflects far more on the bias in the police force than on crime statistics.

Another consequence is that the DNA of approximately 100,000 innocent children has been retained on the NDNAD. And once you're on there, it is really, really hard to get off. ref

See, the most convenient thing is if absolutely everyone has their DNA on there. Until very recently I wouldn't have seen anything wrong with this, and maybe you don't either, but this is something worth thinking about:

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Do you trust the Government to look after your data? ref
Do they have a right to your DNA?
Are they taking it with your permission?

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Sadly, the way things are going, it's looking like your permission isn't necessary for them to keep this information. They have been pushing for some time now for a national enforced ID scheme (ref) and have met with a lot of resistance, leading to them trying to sneak it in through teenagers or, worse, implanting subdermal chips in convicts. I've read the leaked government documents on the teenage ID cards, and it really does look like a poor disguise for introducing the system through a side door.

Again, these are all things that I would have once accepted. I can see the practicality in having an easy and conclusive form of ID, but the technology they intend to use is easily cloned, meaning that your identity can be stolen; and since your identity is that card, what can you do about it?
Furthermore, you KNOW how hard it is to get forms filled out properly. Scraping together enough valid identification for a passport was hard enough. I dread to think how many people might fall through the cracks of this system and become officially non-existent.

I think it's important to know your rights, and to fight for them. Everybody thinks that's important, of course, but maybe now's the time to do something about it.

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Taken from the European Convention on Human Rights

ARTICLE 8

1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

ARTICLE 10

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. this right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.
2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or the rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

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Basically... I shouldn't be afraid of taking photos in public. I shouldn't be watched, every second of every day. There are a lot of people out there who know and care a lot more about this than I do, so if you're even vaguely interested in defending these liberties, please check out www.no2id.net.

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name." Revelation 13:16-17. Sorry if it's excessively superstitious to bring that up, but it seems worth mentioning.

Johnny the rugby-tackling alzheimer's patient

Right, I've decided to be a bit more frequent with my blog updates. I don't feel that I've got that much to say, but as we all know it's the quantity and not the quality that counts.

I have spent most of my life with tragically low self-esteem. I was, socially, a wasteland throughout my childhood - hopeless with other kids, introverted, intelligent, and convinced that I was ugly. I am by no means unique in this respect. A lot of people start out that way.

The past few years have consisted of me discovering that I'm more than that. I learned how to win people over with the bare minimum of effort (hint: be interested in them!), I put the books down and started talking to people, and I found out that I'm not Quasimodo's ugly step-sister.

I'm missing my gap year like crazy. The combination of responsibility and freedom was perfect for me; the feeling of doing something practically to help, talking to people about their problems, leading discussion groups, it was just right to push me to the next stage. I grew in confidence over that year, no doubt about it.

And now, to cap it all off, I'm loved in a way I never expected and sure as hell never deserved.

I am having quite a wobbly start at university. I'm being shy and introverted, and because of the nature of my course I'm doing a lot of reading, and I'm scared to get into the church side of things and not really sure how to go about it. But I'm not going to lose sight of who I am now; change in character is a one-way process from my experience and I'm glad of that because I really, genuinely liked who I was in my gap year. I hope and pray to have the guts to be that person here in Plymouth.

Interesting thing of the day: Plug your webcam in!

I remember now!

Ohhh yeah! I'm Anna! Born and raised on the Isle of Wight, good with people, slightly naive, idealistic. Child of God (so if you mess with me... ;) ). Very empathic, well-meaning but lazy, I love sunshine and my boys. I like words. I'm good with words.

If I'm in Plymouth, I have a reason to be here and a right to be here. These are the things I realised on the way home today. That's why I have once again started walking around like I own these streets.

They say university is about finding your identity, working out who you are. It seems a bit of a shame to get it over with in the first two months, so I'm sure I'll forget and remember who I am a fair few times before I'm done. Such is life. But I am SO GLAD to be more sure of myself. I swear, the second it clicked, I started walking differently. I walked like I owned the place on the Isle of Wight, but why should here be any different?

In the words of Churchill.... OhhhhYES.

A public prayer.

God, I need your help. I need to make sense of this world. I need to know what the truth is, and most of all, I need you. It's not just for my benefit any more, it's for the people around me - I'm meant to be a shining light for you, and lately I haven't really been doing that. I don't feel guilty about it, I know guilt isn't a sensible response in a saved person, but I feel like I could be doing so much more.

I remember being so fired up with passion for You. Living for You was all that I wanted; it fulfilled me, gave me a purpose. Please just remind me what that means. Help me look in the right places, Lord, because I know I need You.

Like I say, it isn't just me any more. Thank you that I'm not alone in this; thank you for those who are a support to me, and I pray that you give me the strength and wisdom to be the same for them. Because I'm fully aware that being 'a basically nice person' isn't nearly enough.

Thank you for everything I've been through, good and bad, and I pray that I'm able to use it to help someone.

Love, your child, friend, and servant,
Anna.

A stranger in a strange land

I had one seminar on my timetable for today, and it turns out that was a mistake. So instead of going home and moping, I thought I'd go exploring. I did the same after my lecture yesterday, I found the train station so that I could get my boy next week without getting lost. Today I found the shops! Oh my gosh! I don't really like shopping, but after living in a student ghetto for a fortnight it was such a relief to be back in the real world.

I wandered around happily knowing that I could be myself, that I could talk to people without being nervous. That's who I really am. I'm a vaguely confident, happy person - but for some reason I can't be that at university. YET. I can't wait to start being myself again, it'll be such a relief!

It's been strange, actually worrying about what people think of me. It's affected everything I do, say, and even wear! That's not like me at all! Back home I wear what I damn well like because I know that I know what I'm doing. I know people and they know me. That's a very enviable position to be in, and I never realised that until now, when I'm completely anonymous and there's nobody I know. Fingers crossed that'll change soon.

Things have been a bit rocky with God lately, so any prayers would be so much appreciated. Life in general is a bit odd right now, just because there's so much that's new. But I'm hopeful, and positive, and I swear it's not just the fairtrade chocolate talking. Mmmm. Fairtrade chocolate makes you thinner! And boosts you IQ! And other such self-delusive lies.

(Is 'delusive' right? It should be.)

I want to thank you guys who read / comment here, you're all so incredibly supportive... it's wonderful to know that there are people who care. God bless you.