Christmas blog, messages, email and letters!

So here it is, my second blog since I've joined the blogging frenzy, which addmitedly isn't really a fad as me and a lot of my friends enjoy writing about ourselves, life and random odd topics in general.

My odd topic today is not particulary odd as it is quite relevent for this time of year; Christmas and working at the Royal Mail during Christmas!

So I figure a lot of people these days have very mixed views about this time of year, you have those who are religious, those who are traditionalists and those who just love Christmas because it can be an awesome holiday.

I'm not going to get into a huge thing about which of the above is right I'm just gonna say how I feel about it. Sure the basis of Christmas is about the birth of Jesus but religion has very very mixed messages, in fact half the religions, sects and groups all believe he was born and even died on different days. I read something about him being born on the 25th of December though it was possible that he was born on the 6th of January which might explain where the idea for getting bad luck for not taking your decorations down by the end of the 6th comes from. So for myself I have no idea why I'd want to be apart of a religion that can't even stick with the facts.

In any case I am not an expert on these things and really was not bothered to read and do research, honestly religion and the reason why these things have been created and/or based on doesn't bother me. I'm not here to say religion is false or anything negative, I personally just prefere being myself and living my own life in my own way which is probably the best way for everyone to do.

Those who may not believe in religion (Similar to me though I'm agnostic not athiest) may just follow decorations, trees, presents and all that just because that is how it's always been, in other words just because it's traditional.

Really though do we need a reason to celebrate Christmas? Well to celebrate something you tend to usually need a reason but maybe 'celebrate' isn't the right word. It's more of a festival then a celebration in a way. Basically what I'm trying to say, putting aside reasons and religion, it should be just a day where we do the thing we've been doing for years and just enjoy it though if you're religious and want to put in more of a celebration to Jesus then more power to you.

I'll be happy this year just spending time with my friends and family, getting and giving gifts, the christmas decorations and such.

Top 3 things I enjoy about it is:

Starting with the least at number 3: Presents. Yes I admit it, I love the presents. Not just recieving but also giving. I can't wait to see my boyfriends look on his face when I give him his gift. I hear he's already got a gift for me so I am excited to see what he's gotten me. Now there are those who think giving and recieving gifts is pointless, I wouldn't care if I gave £10 and got £10 back. It's the thought that counts and it shows how much two people know and care about each other.

Number 2: Christmas Lights. I love lights, just turning the room lights off and sticking some fairy lights on makes me feel all peaceful. Something about lights and fires this time of year can make me just relax and stair at them for hours, especially with a hot chocholate or cup of tea.

Number 1: Friends and family. My only regret this year is that I won't get to spend Christmas with my Mums and Brothers though this year I will get to spend it with my Grandparents, friends and my boyfriend. I'm much happy to enjoy all the things I love about Christmas with those I love. How boring would it be to do presents and hot chocholate and christmas dinner alone?

So in short I feel you should love Christmas in whatever way you want, whether it's religiously, traditionaly OCD like, or just because you love Christmas that's up to you. I don't think I'll ever bother to talk about religion again, simply because I know nothing about it and would hate to offend anyone.

So one thing that's been on my...nay two things that have been on my mind recently, one of them being the use of the capital letter for words such as Mum, Grandparent, Brother, Boyfriend and Girlfriend. To pass English grammar would you use a capital letter for each of these words or not? I was always told to use capital letters for things that are important. Now family members are all very important to me but does that count towards English grammar? When I type stuff such as; "My Brother..." or "Just got off the phone with my Boyfriend..." and sometimes I look at the capital letter and it doesn't look right. So anyone able to clarify that for me?

Secondly, was anyone else taught as a kid to always walk on the left hand side of the staircase? I remember being taught to always walk on the left but these days it's always the right. Was that just me? Did my school have it wrong? Is it different for other cities such as Croydon and Plymouth or have things actually changed?

Two rather unimportant questions though in a way, rather interesting, if not for anyone else but for myself. One about grammar and the other about walking down the right side of a staircase. Not sure if I needed a shortened paragraph for only two paragraphs.

Oh thank goodness this saves automatically. Just closed down one window and it thought itself funny to close down the other windows. My Grandads browser seems to have a weak sense of humour.

Last thing that I would like to talk about this even which has bothered me for the past week is; England do not know how to write address' on letters.

I think Dan Naylor wrote something very similar about this on one of his blogs while he worked at the Royal Mail. I have been working at the Royal Mail for just over a week now and I'm up and live sorting out peoples mail and making sure they get to the right place. I have noticed that a lot of people do not know how to write a letter. Honestly half the time it's either address' that are so illegible you have to just move on to the next one making that letter take longer to go through, it's not just people with bad hand writing it's also people with very fancy cursive joined up writing; not everyone can read your oh so fancy shit writing. What is so wrong as to just simply use block capitals? What makes me laugh is that people are told not to use New Times Roman because not everyone can read it and use Arial because it is so plain that anyone can read it, but on the envelope they'll write it in Idunno  or  font.
It is not just the way people write, I mean it's not that huge of a deal, the biggest problem I find is people who write their address' in simply the wrong order. Have people forgotten or not been taught how to write an address the correct way?

I always understood it as:

Name
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Town/City
County
Country (If desired or written from another country)
Postcode

I find that half the time the post code is written inbetween the 2nd address line and town/city or that most of the time people have changed the order of county and town/city.

Not everyone knows that Merseyside is a county and that Herts stands for Hertfordshire which is also a county (Though all places ending in shire are) I mean if a first time employer who has just gone live for the first time gets an envelope saying

Blah Road
Blahblah Terrace
Herts
Watford
WD17 2ZZ

One knowing the county should come after the town would instantly think Herts is the town. Course I know that Herts is the county but England is a big place and I'm always finding new places where I'm not 100% sure which one is which. Some times it's just common sense and other times it's "Uhmmmmm, ah crap I'm wasting valuble seconds."

I actually think other countries do a better job at writing their mail though saying that I only have to key in their country and outcode and not their towns and cities.

I could go on for ages about why people can't write mail correctly (I get very OCD when I write mail, though I get like that with a lot of things) but I suppose it'd be to easy of a job if it wasn't a little bit difficult though I have been told I'm doing a good job.

One last thing about mail is I got this one letter and on the envelope it had a load of pictures and a poem that went something like "Come on mail don't be slow" something along those lines. Probably written by a child. All I could think of was "Well it'll be slow if I can't bloody read the address."

Still I guess it's peoples mail they should write it how they wish. The mail will always get to it's destination in the end and usually very quickley despite your crappy handwriting.

In short, a lot of people make it difficult at Royal Mail for writing address' on envelopes like complete idiots.

Name
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Town/City
County
Country (If desired or from another country)
Postcode

Do it right and your mail will get there a lot faster. Sure it usually always gets there on time anyways but it makes our job a little easier. Help us help you.

Well there you have it, my second blog. Can't say I enjoyed writing the first part cause I was talking about religion. It is very hard to talk about religeon while tiptoeing around... well toes in case you disregard other peoples feelings and faiths by accident. The fact I know hardly anything to do with religion is another point that makes it not fun to write about. Christmas itself though is my favourite time of the year. I love it apart from the expense and that it can be very cold.

Now I have other blogs to read and catch up on and shall probably write another blog in the not too distant future. I might do one about computer games or something, y'know a really fun-no-need-to-think-hard-about-things kind of blog.

Goodnight everybody!

Let's start big...

Well I finally got a blog started for myself. Unlike a journal I'll be writing things that mean a lot more to myself, to people and to the world around me without making readers feel weary after every sentance.

It's all thanks to Danzo that I have this blog as he thought it to be a good idea that I start one and as we spoke I mentioned about an article I had been writing for a website I had once loved.

Before I get onto that I'd just like to make things a little clear; I have no problem with whatever I mention here whether it be news, the obvious or even personal secrecy all except other peoples secrecy, afterall I am not a journalist. The name of my blog is all about me, the name 'Nayfin' is just my real name with a childish way of spelling that an old friend once nicknamed me(Or name edited me) I am a child at heart so I'm not just being egotistical when I say it's a 'blog of all ages'. Finally I'd like to make it clear that this originally was going to be a weekly vlog but without a camera that is a tad difficult to achieve. Eventually I shall also make a vlog, sometimes voice and facial expressions can make all the difference.

So boring blog beginnings out of the way let's get onto the main subject that I'd like to talk about to actually give a first blog a big sense of subject.

www.gaiaonline.com

The above is a social networking website similar to Myspace and Facebook but with an anime theme and a selection of forums. The world of Gaia is based in a fantasy realm with it's own story, city and a wide cast of characters complete with personal character creation and accessory applying features, the ability to customize from the head down and even your own homes in the world of Gaia sounds like such a wonderful and fun website that even hosts an assortment of games.

Now for those who know of Neopets may wonder what's the difference between the two. Gaia Online though very similar has a history that continues to advance as real time dates change, fun new events happen from time to time, and new items are created from time to time, it is a world of its own that has its own way of becoming alive to its audiance and keep them entertained in a social enviroment. Very similar to Neopets but in its own way.

So what causes me to be disheartened by this world which I have been apart from for over five years? One could say growing up could well be the reason but on the other hand I was on Neopets just last week. Keeping me on Gaia right now is everything that I worked hard to get; friends, gold, many items and memories. (One could ask questions about why does an online website give such feelings to one person but that's for another blog)

(For those who do not wish to read a huge amount of text there is an explination all in one paragraph below written in pink)

The reason for my constantly growing dislike for Gaia is the fact that it has gotten so advertisingly shit. I realise the before sentance wasn't really an anjective nor was 'advertisingly' a word.

To put it basicaly; I miss the magical days where it was fun to explore and advertisment wasn't all in your face and when Gaia didn't look like a more sparkly Facebook. Nothing wrong with Facebook, I use Facebook for different reasons.

The next few paragraphs users or ex-users of Gaia will understand a lot more then people with less knowledge upon the website.

Gaia constantly brings out new items, or a selection of new items every other day, it was amazing when they'd bring two awesome items in every month (Monthly Collectables) and every few months one or two shops would get new items. Now it's just NEW EVOLVING ITEM EVOLVING NOW along with about two other evolving items also evolving and don't forget these boxes worth about 999 cash points which all have about 30 different items in them that are released every other week. Remember when Pink Magical Giftboxes were all the rage? When did Cash become such crucial methods to gain in game gold. The fact that I use the term 'in game gold' means they've obviously forgotten that it was once a fun online game where real life money did not matter. Sure I used to use real life money to get two items every month but that was no where near expensive as all these new items and what with so many items being released it adds up.

The layout of Gaia nower days is dull and newspaper like, looking for your favourite forum is now reading between words to find the right link, sure it's still colourful but compared to what it used to be like it's a bit of a anti-climax. Though the shops do have a nice picture to view the actual shop and the characters are still on display it still leaves little to the fun of exploration. I'd have kept the shortcuts that they do but via a link but as a standard option I'd have kept the world map a prime visit which was much more fun to explore, it was also a good way to have people click places they may not have used much before. I remember when I found that the Gambino Mansion was accessable for an event by scrolling over it on the world map, I thought that was awesome, Halloween events were much more fun with the map as well though to give them credit I believe they still use them for Halloween event item gaining. (Course can these free items match all the rediculously high priced items you buy with REAL money?) These days the Gaia background and the top bar as well as peoples profiles are the most imaginative things about Gaia's layout. Course everynow and then they bring new colour schemes and backdrops to keep it looking entertaining, presentation can sometimes be everything but I wouldn't say it's Gaia's major problem.

The Daily Chance was actually a really fun invention I thought it was quite clever untill they even ruined that. See before hand it was good to think it was possible, though very little chance, of recieving an item worth a lot of gold. Not too long ago they decided that if you invited a load of people to Gaia your percentage would increase dramatically spoiling the fun of a chance game which was only meant for exploring each page daily, not to mention a cheap way to get more people to join, by using it's current Gaians as tools. That's right I said it, the USERS are TOOLS! Or at least the ones who are fooled into such traps.

Awhile a go Gaia was not doing too bad with its shapechanging, it was better before the changes but not so bad that Gaia was intially ruined (Gaia did not sellout at the time.) So the emotes :cheese: :dramallama: :wahmbulance: :emo: (All ways of typing out emotes) were created because Gaians were being too bitchy about it. At least Gaia at the time was not in it for the money. These days I'd happily set off my Drama Llama due to being not impressed by Gaia.

Again I say perhaps it is because I am getting older, but then again, such things as Mario games, Neopets, trading card games and many other things would probably still not amuse me. No I think it is not my imagination and feelings that is changing the way I feel, I honestly think Gaia has changed in such a way that it has almost killed my interest, excitement and fun for Gaia. What would it take to enjoy Gaia again? Or is it too late, has the damage been done and now beyond repair? The best thing I find about Gaia right now is every now and then I get a little nostalgia about the fun times I had with friends in Gaia where we would go fishing, play in the slots, or just post a lot of posts on the forums. I did once wish to go as far and hope to be a moderator on Gaia oneday, but I wouldn't enjoy being a moderator, if I can't enjoy being a citizen of Gaia.

IN SHORT: I believe Gaia has sold out on most of its users. Most new people who join today don't realise how much Gaia has become money grabbing sellouts. Gaia's way of running the world is by getting as much advertisement as it can including Skittles, Sims 3, Venus Embrace (That's right, a womans shaving tool is a sponsor for Gaia) Kingdom Hearts and Kong Fu Panda along with so many more. The way Gaia brings out so many items that you must buy with real money to get (especially at high prices) one would think would push away new people rather then pull them in. In fairness you can still get these items using in game gold at the Gaia marketplace but users sell these items for so much gold that it's still not as easy to get them, especially so much at once, I wanted to play not work. Don't get me wrong a little advertisement and a little real life money for items to keep them paying the banwidth (Or whatever) is fair enough but Gaia seem to have taken all this into account and using what they know to get so much more out of its users. Once again I feel that Gaia Interactive is using the people of Gaia as tools. I could try to look at it in another light or perspective, but I know sometime soon I'll see another post saying something along the lines of: "NEW AMAZING ITEM WORTH 999 GAIA CASH BUY NOW BEFORE IT'S ALL GONE COME ON GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(1000 Gaia Cash is worth about £6 where if you buy £13 or £26 worth you'll get an item and even with a new item and 5000 cash you still probably wouldn't be able to buy everything)