The best sporting moments of 2012

2012 was the best sporting year in my lifetime and there were some incredible moments and I have put a few videos and pictures up. 

Even though I am a Manchester United fan, the drama that happened on the last day of the season where they lost the title to the blue side of Manchester with the last kick of the game was something that we will never see again. I can't believe I am going to put this on but I have to. Apparently it builds character and all that:-
 

Spain absolutely dominating in the final of Euro 2012:-

LeBron James finally gets his championship ring:-

A move never done before in Netball:-

The Ryder Cup with an amazing message:-

The tour de France:-

The Australian open:-

The womens:-

The mens:-

The US open:-

The womens:-

The mens (I love the "Well we've waited 76 years, we can wait a few seconds longer"):-

And the small matter of The Olympic Games but you can read my blog post on it if you haven't already:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/olympic-games-2012.html

I guess if there is one thing that keeps me going in life-apart from music! It is sport. What a year. Absolutely amazing. Thank you for reading and if you watched the videos, hope the quality and everything was OK.

What shit can I do this year?

This was last year. Copy and paste please:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/getting-ready-for-new-year.html

I find it weird how I am never happy. I think this year I am not going to look for things that make me happy. Maybe I subconsciously already do that. I don't know. I am not and have told people to not go on about how it's " going to be a good year. a new year and a new start". I hate that kind of thing.

I truly do believe that if anyone wanted to make their lives better, they would do it the next day. Or that day. Some people actually WAIT til New Years day "to change their lives for the better". Idiots.

In sport, it was the best year ever. Even though being a Manchester United fan, losing the title on the last kick of the season wasn't nice but the whole drama of it was amazing. In fact-I'm going to write a new post just on the sport.

I feel really empty as I write this. I said the same thing last year. I think it's all in the mind where a bit of me is maybe thinking "Shit, another year Mukesh and what the fuck have you done with it? Nothing as always."

Will this feeling ever end?

Gambling advertisements + Payday loan advertisements = Credit crunch + High suicide rates

First of all if there are people who need someone who understands and is impartial to talk to then my email address is somewhere on my blog as a post. Feel free to write.

I was watching a game of football the other day on TV. They weren't really teams that I cared about but football is football. About 20 minutes in I noticed that both the teams had gambling websites sponsoring them. They do that now? Online gambling sites can sponsor football teams? Yes, it has been the case for a few years now.

During half-time I actually for once (not subconsciously) paid attention to the advertisements purely because the first one was a bet in-play for what the score will end up being for the football match. The next advertisement after that was one for another online casino offering a free welcome bonus (stating in small writing at the bottom that "terms and conditions apply" but doesn't state the likely fact that if you accept the welcome bonus you would have to gamble it an estimated average worth of 2000 times that amount before you will be able to withdraw anything INCLUDING your own money). The advertisement after that was one for a payday loan. "If you're short of a bit of money then a payday loan could be just what you need" (not stating that if you take one out, it could lead to financial catastrophe and ruin your life with it's 2000% interest). Only a few days ago in the newspaper there was a story of a man in hospital. He had attempted to commit suicide after he had become involved with payday loan companies. He ended up doing what a lot of people do and that was to take a 2nd payday loan to help pay towards the 1st one and then a 3rd one to help pay towards the 2nd one and then on and on and on..... The man had a wife and 2 kids. One payday loan company kept trying to ring him whilst he was in hospital and even took all the money from his account whilst he was in there. That is what they do. They are legal and there are more and more payday loan companies emerging just as there are more and more bookmakers and more and more online casinos. There was an actual suicide not so long ago of an 18 year old man who got addicted to gambling on his phone. He took out payday loans to fund his habit and then got into a load of debt but couldn't handle it anymore when it all spiraled out of control. Just 18 years old.

People say things like "The credit crunch has made a lot of people go out of business as less people can afford to buy things."

But that is a load of nonsense. Where did the credit crunch come from? Why are so many people becoming more broke? Why are so many people all of a sudden struggling more than they were a few years ago?

The answer to me is so simple. It's because of gambling.

In the town I live there used to be 3 betting establishments in the town centre. Now there are 6. Each 30 seconds (if that) walk away from each other. Shops are closing down in place of more betting shops. Within a 10 mile radius from my house there are over 100 betting establishments! They are becoming so common that you can't go down the street without one being near by.

With all the advertising, sponsoring of betting shops, online gambling and payday loans that are so easily available that a lot of them now boast how fast they can get money into your account (some as little as 10 minutes), is it any wonder that this country is seriously getting fucked? Anyone can get addicted and once you are, it is very hard to get out of. You'll constantly be trying to chase your money back to no avail. If you would be lucky enough to win your money back, you won't stop. It is a downward spiral. And it's happening to more and more people. Now there are so many easy ways to get money from payday loan companies when it should be more difficult to get loans if there are more people out of work then there used to be. A gambler if he had a job, could lose his wage the very day he got it, take out a payday loan, lose that too and then take out another and another. I write "COULD" lose his wage and take out payday loans but I don't know if that is the right word because people ARE doing just that. Hundreds everyday.

There are addicted gamblers who if there were no betting shops would spend their money on other things. Things in normal retail shops maybe, thus funding their business and keeping it afloat. With people having no money to buy things that they would normally buy if they hadn't lost their money, that is the reason shops (apart from betting shops) are losing money and going out of business.

In 2004 the then Prime Minister, the absolutely idiotic Tony Blair said that "Super Casinos would regenerate run-down areas of Britain." How he thought that would be possible I really don't know.

The fixed odds betting terminals or what most people just refer to as "roulette machines" in betting shops apparently take in just under half of the betting shops' profit. Which I think is very surprising as I really thought it would be more. They are dubbed as "The crack cocaine of the betting industry".

Apparently in 2011, in the UK, more than £1 Billion was lost on these machines.

According to research done by a channel 4 documentary, the target areas are mostly poorer areas that have high unemployment.

A couple of months ago, the Labour deputy party leader Harriet Harman said that they made a "mistake" over the gambling laws and that it had ruined peoples' lives. She said the following:-

"I got the most heartrending letters and emails and calls that I've ever had in 30 years of being an MP, just saying 'Please do something about this. It's ruined my life, it's ruined my family, it's really dangerous and the problem is it's getting worse and that's why we need the law to be changed so that something can be done about it'.

Yet nothing does get done about it. It was 4 months ago when she said this, yet things are getting worse! Now there are payday loans available everywhere too! You can download casinos and betting apps on your phone! You can't walk down the street without coming across a bookmakers. The only people that would notice this would be a gambler or someone that knows a gambler. The only people who first hand really notice how damaging gambling already is, again is the people who gamble and maybe the people who know that they gamble and maybe the staff in the betting shops.

It is curious how some people think that if you were a gambling addict, it's not as bad or as serious as being an alcoholic or as a drug addict. Why is this the case? Why do people think this? How many more suicides will it take for this shit government to finally open their eyes and do something? Stop the advertisements, stop the growth of the betting shops. Close them down.

But another huge problem with gambling is how secretive it can be kept. There are no physical signs unlike an alcoholic or a drug addict. A gambling addict can easily just lose all his/her money, then go back to work or back home without anyone knowing at all. Gambling is often referred to as "The hidden addiction".

Worldwide, suicide rates because of gambling are very high. Higher than cocaine or alcohol or any other substance. The reason for this? It's because there is only so much cocaine your body can take. There is only so much alcohol your body could take before you end up in hospital or dead. But in gambling there are no limits. You could lose £100,000 in a day. If you could get access to more, you would lose that too. A very scary fact that I read 3 months ago is that worldwide 1 in 5 problem gamblers attempt to kill themselves. About 80% of problem gamblers think about killing themselves. Only 5% of problem gamblers attempt to get treatment.

The simple fact is that gambling kills you because it doesn't kill you.

The shame, the frustration, the loss of faith, the realisation after it is over can all make a problem gambler want to end their lives. Dealing with the lies you have to tell people. The pathetic excuses why you can't go out, or buy anything and being to ashamed to tell anyone the truth is not easy.

With alcohol, drugs or substance abuse if a person was strong enough to quit that, then their lives can get better. With a gambler, more often than not, they are in debt. If the debt is substantially higher than what they earn, the high of gambling is gone but the desperation to get out of debt isn't. It only takes one big win to get life back on track. Even if you're not in debt, the thought of all he money you have lost is always in the back of your mind. That would only go if you happened to have a big win. And that is why it is just a bottomless pit which more and more people are getting into.

Talking of pits, a few months ago a gambling addict was being hounded by creditors. He ended up digging a hole under his kitchen and hid their for 2 months. Talk about symbolism. People end up alone. They are that ashamed, they do things like this.

One thing I do want to point out is that being addicted to gambling ISN'T a moral failure. People need to realise that you can be addicted to a behaviour and it really needs to be addressed because there are more and more people, some who are genuine good people who are becoming trapped in this sick vicious cycle. Unfortunately it looks like things are going to get a lot worse. 

Get rid of the guns part 2.

Another mass shooting in America. More innocent people, many of them who were children, get killed. Please copy and paste:-

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/12/14/school-shooting-connecticut/1769367/

I did write it in July that it would happen again if nothing gets done about the guns. I wrote that in 6 months time it will happen again. It was short of 5 months later when it's happened again. Please copy and paste again:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/get-rid-of-guns.html

The president speaks. Please copy and paste the speech:-

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/415456/20121215/connecticut-school-shooting-newtown-gun-control.htm

Thank you for the history lesson Mr President. Thank you for reminding us how many times this kind of thing has happened and yet NOTHING gets done about gun control. Absolutely NOTHING.

There were people outside The White House protesting about the what seems to be non-existent gun laws and wanting a change starting today. Some had signs saying "today is the day".

Unfortunately, I don't think today is the day, no matter what day you are reading this blog post.
I'm not saying that even if there were stricter rules on guns that shootings won't happen. People will still be able to get guns somehow, but when it is SO EASY to get them, what do they expect? Some psycho again will easily get their hands on some and do this again. It keeps happening because it seems guns are as available as easily as chocolate. Why is this?

DO SOMETHING TO STOP THIS HORROR MR PRESIDENT. Or you might as well start planning your next speech.

Is doing the right thing...doing the right thing?

As with most people, there are times when I do wonder what would happen if I did that instead of this? If I chose to go this way or that way? Should I be an idiot or shouldn't I be an idiot. What would happen if I did things differently? A lot of people think about this everyday of their lives.

Last week I was out. Drowning my sorrows. Wondering why I don't have a job AGAIN. Why have I lost 3 jobs this year? Why is it that I always seem to be stuck in a rut? Why I am now feeling like I'm running out of motivation, any positivity that I might still have left in me and constantly wondering what it is I actually want? Sometimes I don't even know. Wondering why a rock bar was playing dance music and why everyone was dancing to it.

So I see this handbag on a table. Unattended. I don't know much about ladies handbags- I don't know much about ladies- but this handbag seemed quite large. It was outside, I had just gone to get some fresh air. There was nobody around the handbag. I waited in the cold for about 15 minutes. Nobody came. So I walk up to this huge expensive looking handbag. Look around again. Nobody. What else could I do but pick it up?

Out of simple curiosity I looked inside. Money. About £100. Maybe more, maybe less. I just glanced inside. I didn't see any kind of identification or anything. So what should I do now? Bearing in mind I had no money, no job, no anything.

An honest person would hand it in. After all it wasn't my money. How would I like it if someone stole my money? Which someone had done so in the past. It obviously isn't a good feeling losing money. The right thing to do would be to hand it in. Even though I don't believe in karma anymore:-

http://muksblogaboutstuff.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/karma-or-just-load-of-crap.html

When did doing the right thing get anyone anywhere?

A person who would claim to be kind of honest but would say things like "charity begins at home" would take the money and then hand in the bag. After all if someone else had found the bag, surely they would do that exact thing? So at least the person would have their bag back with anything in it that they might need or be important to them. The money would be gone but surely that is better than everything going? Yes, that would be what most people would surely do? Take the money and then hand the bag in. A benefit for yourself and also the person who had lost their bag.

Now what would a completely dishonest person do? What would an idiot do? But would it be being an idiot or would it actually be being sensible? Take the money, dispose of the handbag and have no qualms about it whatsoever. £100 is a lot of money. What do I need? New jeans? A new phone? How much are phones these days? £100 could go towards a new phone but I probably would have to find a few more handbags to get a brand new decent quality phone the prices they go for now. Or I could just put it all in the bank-I could use it over the next couple of weeks or so. I had no job for crying out loud. Surely it was time for me to be selfish now?

So what did I end up doing then?

In all honestly, I ended up being the idiot. No I didn't take the money and dispose of the bag nor did I take any money at all. I handed it in. All of it. Contents and all. Yes my beautiful readers THAT is being an idiot. The strange thing was that I didn't feel righteous. I didn't feel like I had done a good deed. Even though of course it WAS a good deed. My first thought was a couple of years ago about someone I know who isn't a thief but who for some reason stole a camera out of a girls' bag just to see if he could. Sick I know. He wasn't found out or caught and didn't even need a camera. That person has an amazing job and an amazing life.

I told 10 people about finding the bag and what I did. 9 of them said they would have taken the money but that I "did the right thing". The other person simply said "good boy" which just made me feel like I was supposed to get a pat on the head and a bone.

There was no pat on the head or a even a bone. 

Diwali #3

Well here it is again. My favourite part of the year. Even though it doesn't feel like it as I just lost my job last week. But it is Diwali. It is a little later this year which I do prefer though. When it is after the pointlessness of Halloween. Also after bonfire night too. As promised, last year I said if I was still around, I would write another Diwali story so here it is:-

Long ago the world was taken over by evil. All the people in the world had turned wicked. There was no goodness left in anyone. Everyone had turned selfish, greedy and power hungry. Demons and ogres had taken over. And on this occasion, The Gods were powerless to do anything about it. In desperate hope they turned to a Goddess called Devi for help.

Devi agreed to help rid the world of all this evil and took on the form of The Goddess of destruction called Kali. Kali means "time" and She has 3 eyes which represent the past, the present and the future. But Kali can also mean "black" in regards to the first creation before light itself. In ignorant people She creates fear but to others she removes the avidya (ignorance) that makes us fear Death.

Kali went on a rampage across the whole world, terrifying and killing all the evil in it. One particular demon called Raktabija was difficult to beat as he would produce more demons each time drops of his blood hit the ground. Eventually millions of clones of Raktabija were produced and The Gods thought that they would be defeated. So Kali covered the whole battlefield with her tongue and would lap any of the blood up before any drops hit the ground. The Gods destroyed Raktabija but would have been unable to do so without the help of Kali. All the evil eventually was destroyed. But Kali became carried away with the power and couldn't stop. Some believe that She was drunk on the blood of Raktabija. She carried on destroying the whole world as the anger and fury of seeing all this evil had actually taken over Her. She had gone mad with rage and would often dance out of madness. The Gods tried to stop her but were unable to do so. The Gods then asked Her husband Shiv for help and to try and stop her. But even he couldn't. So when Kali was on one of her unstoppable rampages, with skulls draped around Her, with a sword in one hand and a decapitated head in the other hand, Shiv laid down in front of her and as soon as Kali puts her foot on him, she realises what she has done and what she is doing and stops. It subdues her anger and She then sticks out her tongue in disbelief and remorse. Her hair is disheveled and Her eyes are red and She would wear a garland of 50 human heads that would represent the 50 letters in the Sanskrit alphabet symbolising infinite knowledge. Also she would have demons hands hanging from her belt which symbolises karma. This is often how you would see pictures and statues of Kali.

There are people who don't understand why people would worship someone like Kali. To some people, God is good and The Devil is bad and that's it. But not everything is that black and white.

Anyway, that is another story of good triumphing over evil and light over darkness. Happy Diwali everybody. I will try and write another next year if I am still around!

East is........West

I have never been into Indian films. Or as most people say-"Bollywood" movies. I actually hate the term "Bollywood".

Now as a kid whilst I was growing up, my parents used to watch "Bollywood" movies all the time.I always thought that they were so awful. So dull, boring and predictable. The same things would happen in almost every movie. There would be some girl involved who gets saved by the guy, then they would break into song and their clothes would magically change whilst in mid song and so would the setting. "Bollywood" movies are like musicals and I HATE musicals. I had to play a major part in a musical once. Herr Schultz in Cabaret. Even though I cannot stand musicals, ironically that part I played was one of the best things that I have ever done in my life.

But back to the subject. As much as I couldn't stand "Bollywood" movies, they were at least Indian movies. With Indian actors. It is a different script now. Not just in films, but in the general lifestyle as well.

Nowadays, even though the movies are basically still all the same, there is a more sexed up theme in them an in the way Indian people are now living their lives. Saris are starting to be replaced by short skirts, instead of  a "Namaste" there is a hug and a kiss on each cheek with a "lovely to see you darling" and instead of dark skinned people (which Indian people generally are), the movie stars-especially the women all seem to be.........white. Here are just a couple of examples:-

Why are they white?

There are now talk shows, where the movie stars would go on. The women wearing next to nothing whilst sitting on couches in shows like "Koffee with Karan" (a 2 word alliteration there). Once I saw some actress go onto the couch with a purse which was weird and they would talk about sex and strangely they would speak in English.

Why do they speak in English?

Talking of speaking in English, a current leading Indian actress called Katrina Kaif couldn't even speak Hindi in her earlier movies. She had to have a dubbed voice. Isn't half the acting in the voice? If not half then at least some of it is. Right? So why was she chosen to act in Hindi movies when she couldn't speak Hindi? Because she looks so Westernised! She lived in London! I do believe that is the only reason. She isn't a great actress and doesn't have any personality whatsoever it seems. For anyone who doesn't know who she is:-

 

It's no secret that the Indian lifestyle is becoming more and more westernised especially when it comes to entertainment shows and movies. But why? Not that there is anything wrong with the western culture at all! But my question is why are they doing this? They seem to be getting rid of their own originality just to act like whores. And the beauty of the east is fast becoming an all too desperate attempt to be like the west. Forgetting the term "Bollywood" but just with everything else. Not wearing many clothes, the stupid pointless chat shows (I don't think there has ever even been one cup of coffee drunk in "Koffee with Karan") and the frigging speaking in English thing is really messed up and just makes them look like cheap imitations because they are desperate for attention. 

Now Playboy have even opened a club in Goa. Claiming that "it will be non nudity". Yes of course it will be non nudity-for now. Bear in mind that recently there was that first Indian lady to pose nude for playboy. I can't remember what she was called. I'm sure most people have also forgotten her name.

I just do not understand a lot of people sometimes. Dark people wanting to be white. White people getting tanned wanting to be brown. Just be yourself and accept yourself for who you are. Change your life for the better but don't go making yourselves be something that you're not.