Imignation, or Lack of...

Another Hate day dawns... and the subject of today is the lack of imagination the younger generation posses.

When I was younger (up until about age 11) I used to spend all my time playing 'imaginary games' ranging from fairy tales to mums and dads to the lion king and then to Easternders and the horror zombie movies as I got older. Slightly strange as I was, this is how I think children should spend their play times, climbing trees, running around etc etc. But it seems as though TV and the Internet have melted our brains to mush...
I asked most of my friends what is known as a 'creative thinkers question' a few days ago, which is basically a question which has a situation in which you have to think creatively to answer, and the answers I received were appalling.

The question was as follows:

Imagine you are stranded, alone, on a desert Island. There is no chance of getting off. You have enough food, water and shelter. What 3 luxury items would you want with you? And why?

Expecting people to come up with things that they supposedly couldn't live without, (like their phone, their friends and family, music, books, wii or whatever) I was ready for a lot of material possessions, rather than important things like happiness, health, etc. But instead the first answer was from my friend George: " A Boat. So I can get off the island" After explaining that the idea of the question was to see what the couldn't live without George said "Oh, okay my phone then." which I thought was getting there until he said "because then I can call up someone to airlift me out".

After several further attempts to explain the idea to him other people started to answer... Most of them said 'ipod' as the first item and when I said what If it runs out battery they named the charger as item two.. not realising there would be no power supply. In all fairness, not everybody was as bad as this, on balance, the girls seemed to do better than the boys and the ones that read often were the best overall. Still, I was shocked at this display of creativity (or lack of).

I remember a while back, when we were writing stories in English lessons at school, some people would spend hours trying to come up with ideas, and even then they weren't brilliant. That may sound a bit harsh, because I naturally find it easy to be creative and imaginative (probably because of all the fantasy books I read) but I remember finishing my whole story before the boy next to me had even done a line!!
What is wrong with today's generation? Why do they lack the creativity that is so important? Has the TV reduced us to robots, incapable of free thought, just to do mechanical processes over and over again?

So, it is my mission, to re-install imagination into the minds of our youths. Wish me luck.

Early Mornings

Yesterday was a Hate day, so Today is a Love day... and today I Love, as ridiculous as it sounds, Early Mornings.

This morning, after waking up at half past 6 (which is extremely early for the likes of me, who have been stuck in holiday mode for the last 6 weeks) I read for about an hour, as I normally do, then, as hunger drove me out, I had breakfast. Soon, I had done my whole morning routine before the time I had usually woken up. Not only did this give me a sense of accomplishment, it gave me another 3 hours of my day to do what I want.

To me, mornings are the most productive time of day... I sit here with 2 enourmous piles of washing, that I am sure would have taken me an extra hour to complete during the day. They are the most peaceful, no one else in the house is awake, there are no cars driving past, just a lovely bit of quiet time when you can actually hear yourself think!

It's has always been a dream of mine to one day, wake my children up early, drive them down to the beach and watch the sun rise. But, as I don't have any children, and live in the South-west, that is unlikely to happen in the near future. Watching the sun rise (although I was far too late today) is a magical experience and definitely worth the effort.

Early Mornings, they may sound horrific but actually, they aren't that bad...

Marmite

Marmite... You either love it or you hate it. Supposedly. My opinion? I like it, but only on toast. And BAM, I have created a whole new option. So now the catchphrase is, Love it, Hate it or Like it, occasionally... not so catchy.

But why are we forced to make this choice? When someone asks you if you like marmite, and you reply "well, its okay," the reaction you receive is equal to that you would get if you replied "both" when a waiter asks if you want soup or salad. A person's opinion on Marmite classifies them into one of 2 groups, the lovers or the haters, but where do the 'okay' people go?

If, when in conversation, the topic of this yeast spread arises, it can either divide the group in half and start a marmite argument (or as somebody who is frequent participator calls them: 'a marmy argy' ) or the conversation can go on for hours as they express their love (or hate) of marmite and discuss the many different way to put it in a sandwich (the classic marmite and cheese to the controversial marmite and chocolate). This obsession with a single preserve is, quite frankly, unnatural. No-one can talk for an hour about the different combinations of Strawberry jam or Plum Chutney, what makes Marmite so different?

The one last thing that puzzles me is why on earth you would create a product, which main selling point splits your entire audience in two. Surely, if you were an entrepreneur, you would want to create a product that as many people as possible like, therefore increasing your target audience, and, in turn, income. Can you imagine pitching marmite to Dragon's Den?

"Hello. I am an inventor and entrepreneur, and I am seeking £100,000 for 20% equity in my product: Marmite. Marmite is a yeast spread."

"And what makes your product unique?" 

"The selling point of Marmite is the fact that only 50% of the country will actually like it"...

They would think you were mad! Why bother selling a product which no-one likes! Why not wait and invent something irresistible which everyone would want?

What's your opinion? Do you love it or do you hate it?