True, some of these opportunities can turn out to be scams. This, however, does not make all opportunities a scam. What really drives me nuts is when people see the word home business or MLM and immediately call it a scam just because it has an upfront cost. Newsflash people, all home businesses are going to have a start up fee. This is because it is a business and not a job.

It is absolutely correct to say that no job should cost a thing to work. Home businesses on the other hand do and should have some type of fees associated with them. These fees are generally there to cover the costs of the tools and resources you get. They are the cost to having the flexibility that a job does not give you such as no schedule, no boss and the ability to make an unlimited income.

Do me a favor, instead of screaming scam the next time you come across a home based busines, do your research on it first. To me, if a business has been around for many years, has a good track record of paying its independents and is building financial freedom for many, this is not a scam. I’ve heard a lot lately about the enigin scam, but seriously these people are just not making money because they are not putting the work in!

It bothers me is people are too used to earning a set paycheck. So, if they do not put in the effort with their own business and see no money come in, they claim it doesn’t work or is a scam. Think about it, if you didn’t show up to work for a week, do you still expect to receive pay for that week? I think not. In fact, I highly doubt you are going to even have that job anymore. The same goes for your own home business people. If you do not put in the effort required to make your business work for you, then why do you think you should be making money from it? It is a very simple concept, really.

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I find it more than just a little bit annoying when I hear what some England fans have got to say about the team and the management since this World Cup has started. I also get fed up reading the papers. England cruised through qualifying and won nine games out of ten. They looked sharp, focussed and deadly in front of the goal. I think what people are wanting, quite rightly, is to see that same team playing in the World Cup.

However, what people don’t seem to understand is that the pressure is different at World Cups and teams are not going to be playing with the same freedom that they did in Qualifying because of the added pressure. Teams simply do not want to lose and this stifles creativity. Once the group stages are over, the tournament arguably becomes easier because it is only your game that matters. You don’t have to worry about other team’s results or goal difference or any of those things.

After England’s first two group stage games they did look awful. The first game was an edgy encounter and a draw was not the worst thing. However, the draw against Algeria was painful to watch. But to hear the English Press and fans actually say that they thought England were going out of the World Cup was atrocious, negative and ridiculous. To hear them insult the manager, who has done fantastic things with this team was also stupid. I just hate how one loss sends the country into depression.

On the flip side of this, since the Slovenia win and our qualification into the Round of 16, the press have gone completely the other way and believe that England can now win the World Cup. Why can’t we have some realistic journalists and send all the ones we have now to United Arab Emirates jobs to depress their football fans? Why can’t we have some reasonable people writing for our papers? England do have a chance to win, yes, but it won’t be easy. We need to beat some world class sides to take the trophy. I do have hope, but that is all anyone can have. Filling our minds with despair or with false certainties is a terrible way to go on.

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The new clash of the titans movie is one of the most stupid movies that have ever been produced. It is a cult classic of Greek methologies. The star of the movie is a great disappointment and watching the movie makes one feel as though they are children again. The movie has a lot of phrases that do not make sense and even though they say it was made for 3D this is not a reality as it is better watched in 2D. This is because it was originally made in 2D but was later transformed to 3D which does not look good and even loses some essence of the movie.

It feels like all the characters in the movie were simplely taken out of wooden boxes; and Samuel Worthington who plays the son of Zeus does not bring the kind of effect that he should have on the audience as something is completely off with him. He is Australian but he focuses so much on the American accent that it is even funny. The star of the original movie did a much better job than him. The original movie was also much better than the remake. There are some scenes which are removed and you will notice that they throw Bubo in the trash and Kraken only appears for a short time.

The producers should have known that it was a mistake to remake the movie just to add a few special effects that do not work. The jokes in the movie are not funny and some scenes look too far fetched to be in the plot of the movie. This is where the actors look as though they have been surrounded by hovering elements which have a very bad effect on the movie. The Gods are not introduced to the audience by name and one has to carefully look at them to get the details.

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The first time I was bamboozled by this “filmmaker” was with Pearl Harbour. The first time I saw the trailers, I was jazzed; finally a new era of war films! But, after only twenty minutes in, I realised that I had been duped. Michael Bay tricked me for the first time.

But that can’t be enough, could it? Well, it can. It happened countless times after that, with The Island and Bad Boys II. But the biggest atrocity of Michael Bay has to have been Transformers. As a child of the ‘80s I was waiting for this beauty for many years, and when I saw the teaser trailer for the first time, I was excited–until I saw that name at the bottom. I ignored my initial desire to boycott the film based on the director and decided to remain optimistic and see if maybe – just maybe – Mr. Bay could make a quality film. And of course as you all know, I was wrong. Only Michael Bay could ruin such a great chance.

And what’s worse, they allow him to do it again! Two sequels (one released, one in production) of a terrible film are allowed to be made. This is unacceptable, and I won’t fall for it. If in the future I desire a dip of nostalgia, I will go rent the classic cartoon. Never in my life will I fall for the trickery of Michael Bay.

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They probably tell you that they don’t know what you are talking about. Then they tell you that you can walk up to the front of the store with them to show them in the advertisement what you are talking about. You walk up with them and they tell you they have never seen it before and probably that they don’t know if they even carry it. You repeatedly tell them that you know they do and that you have seen them before. They insist they don’t and even if they did they wouldn’t know where they would be. So you leave in frustration. You haven’t gotten that thing that you wanted so bad and now all you have is irritation. It never fails that this is the exact situation that happens every time I see something on sale. I have completely given up on ever finding anything in the advertisements. I have gotten to the point of just waiting until the item goes on clearance or I stumble upon it one day when it is on sale but not advertised.

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When I was on holiday with my family and staying at the Bridgehouse Hotel, me and my son were walking through one of the stores there, if you have ever been to Looe it is quite a posh place. And I feel like I should say that the actually hotel there was lovely, but back to the store.

There was a little girl that was joking around with us. She and my son were making faces at each other and just making each other laugh. Just being kids. This girls mother comes around the corner and grabs her daughter and jerks her into an isle. She looks me up and down and gives me a look of disgust. I do have a full sleeve on my right arm of fairies and butterflies and on the other arm a few sporadic girly tattoos. I do not have anything of the devil or death.

This woman looked at me as though I was trying to kidnap her child or teach her that there was nothing wrong with the way I looked. Her mother began to berate her in front of everyone for talking to someone “like that.” I went straight up to that woman and told her the only bad person here was her. She got very mad. I told her about my past and that I fought in the Army for people like her to have opinions and to be able to voice them. I told her I respected her right to have an opinion but, that I did not respect her because of what her opinion was. Her daughter smiled at me and I realized that even if this mother wouldn’t teach her daughter not to judge maybe I did. That made me feel great.

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They were the exact same box as pictured. Everything matched. She huffs and puffs and calls over the manager. The woman behind me in line has her hand on her hip and is also huffing and puffing. Both of them look at each other and give a little smirk and roll their eyes. After about two minutes the woman behind me gets a little bit more agitated and starts complaining under her breath about waiting just to save a few cents. I just looked at her and smiled.

The manager came over and was also irritated. He did not know why it was not ringing up right. He scanned everything over and over again and just could not get the correct price to come up. Finally he deleted everything and just entered in what the price was supposed to be. I gave the cashier my coupons and then she told me the total. It was only the tax for all four boxes. She then got very upset and told me I was stealing from her store. She said that people like me were the reason that the whole economic system was collapsing and that I was just trying to get something for nothing and that she was not going to let that happen.

She said that I was just going to have to wait for the manager to come back over so she could show him what I was trying to get away with. The manager came over. She went on ranting and raving about how I was trying to steal from the store. He looked at my coupons, said that they were legit, and to let me pay and be on my way. She refused saying she would not take part in theft. Next thing you know the manager checked me out and she was in the office with him. I wish that everyone would sometimes have more patience and think things through before accusing one another of things.

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I’m not against those price comparison websites, I actually think they can be a bit useful, though I’m a MoneySavingExpert.com person myself.

However one site that I definitely will not be using is GoCompare. I absolutely hate those adverts. I remember their previous adverts, with the slogan “Why GoCompare anywhere else?” It wasn’t the best advert, but it had a nice, clean professional look to it. But in August 2009, they killed it!

Two mates were in a cafe, having a coffee, when all of a sudden, “GO COMPARE, GO COMPARES,”I mean, who want’s to go compare if this guy is going to pop out and annoy you with his horrible singing voice. And the adverts increased, a group of ladies who plan to get new quotes for their cars, a couple with an expensive sports car, and these adverts seem to crop up during every ad break, with “Gio Compario”, a guy who has now topped the list of guys I’d love to punch in the face.

However it looks like I’m not the only person who cringes every time “Gio Compario”pops up in the screen. According to marketingmagazine.co.uk, a poll taken for the most irritating advert of 2009, GoCompare, was voted the worst advert by 56% of voters, a lot considering there were 22 different entrants. Joint second came Cash4Gold, and Glade Touch and Fresh (remember “Mum, I need a poo!”).

Despite being a truly rubbish and hated advert, it seems that it has achieved its purpose. GoCompare have reported a 200% increase in the awareness of its brand. Does an advert have to be annoying to do the job ad of increasing awareness? Clearly the advertising agency In-house thinks so, as their agency has popped up three times on the poll, and the adverts for Confused.com and Webuyanycar.com, who were also commissioned by In-house, also were pretty annoying coming at 5^th and 7^th for the most annoying advert.

But I don’t think an advert has to be annoying to serve its purpose. In fact, the advert that currently is the best in my book is also loved by others, as it holds a place on the line-up for The Best Adverts Of 2009 on Asylum.co.uk, also a car insurance advert, “Compare the Meerkat.” Aleksandr Orlov, is funny, cute and popular, loved by many, yet they can increase brand awareness without some cringe worthy tosh unlike another company.

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I threw a small party and rejoiced more!

The big day came:

I was there extra early. Three hours early, in fact. Well before any other local cheese-lovers showed up. Just before the doors opened and all hell broke loose a caravan appeared of cheese storage units. In it were some cheese lovers from up north who had caught wind of the new cheese arrival. They queued with me–

The doors opened and we all rushed in. All six of us. We ran down the aisles, we skidded around the corners. And we arrived at the cheese. It was on the counter in front of a magnificent sign that read ‘new extra strong British cheddar!’

So I did it. I took a deep breath (to maximize flavour) and delicately took a piece. I put it in my mouth and prepared myself mentally for the over-load of flavour that was about to come–

And I waited. That was what I did. I kept waiting for some time–until a rage more furious than a hurricane grew within my loins. This was not extra strong cheese! This was a hoax!

I told the man behind the counter as much. Then I quizzed him about the history of cheese. You know what happened? He had no idea about the history of cheese! He was an imposter–dressed to look like a cheese-expert, but completely lacking the knowledge to pull such a worthy position off!

Now I stick to importing my cheese. It’s the only way to get the strength I desire.

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When I am out and about in my little car it really miffs me off if someone starts to tailgate me. My first instinct is to slam my brakes on and allow them to write-off their car and care fees on the rear of mine. But (after realising how silly an idea this is) I invariably just grin and bear it. Well, I don’t actually grin, but I do bear it (just).

Tailgating is one of the most stupid things you can ever do on the road. Well, actually that’s not entirely true… It wouldn’t be too bright to sit playing Monopoly in the middle of the M25’s fast lane either. However, board games have thankfully become far less popular in recent times, so this is not too big a concern for our authorities.

Speeding, overtaking and tailgating are the three main causes of accidents on our roads (obviously there is also the slim chance of turning a corner and finding a group of die-hard Ludo players, but most people are far more well-educated these days on the whole.). Exactly why people are stupid enough to drive so dangerously close to the back of another vehicle is a bit of a mystery. But when you have someone within a couple of feet of you at high speed it is pretty damn scary.

Some people just don’t seem to have an inbuilt sense of danger. They appear to be totally unaware of the risks they are taking; both to themselves and to other road users. It makes me really jolly angry! There should be a lot more people charged for driving like this and then the other nutters might think twice before they do it.

Direct action is always the best answer. I mean, look at how few people you get playing board games in the road now that so many old favourites are available in special ‘travel editions’!

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