The Pessimism and Occasional Optimism of Juvenile Adulthood

My fish died and last night, I cried. This is not an excerpt from one of Dr Seuss' great tales but rather, a part of my life which has spilt out onto this blog for the first time since the end of my GCSEs. It was not so much the concept of death or the end of Stripey's life which caused my emotions to pour out of my eyes (he had been swimming sideways in a darkened tank in the months prior to it and he didn't deserve to live in pain). For me it was the end of continuity, the end of a constant in my life and a reminder of how I've clung so desperately onto what I am not anymore. I'm going to discuss my autism in a way I haven't done before. Not because I feel pressured or because I want to be a case study, statistic or be evoking emotion from both of my readers. I'm doing it because I don't want to live closeted by how I feel and I want there to be a greater understanding of how I work and operate and why I can be so contrasting behaviourally to many ...

I was fortunate enough to receive my English Language GCSE Paper 2 back and with marks back. As it happened, my mock newspaper article was rather well received and I scored in the highest band of marks. So I'm going to repost it here, unedited, to share to the wider world. This was written on a cold Friday morning in my school's sports hall and it took me 45 mins. It's therefore far from perfect but I'm happy with it nonetheless. Enjoy... My exam question was as follows: 'All Sport should be fun, fair and open to everyone. These days, sport seems to be more about money, corruption and winning at any cost'  Write a newspaper article explaining your point of view on this statement. Avery Brundage was a keen advocate of amateurism, the belief that sport should be a hobby and not corrupted by commercialisation. Yet he was also president of the International Olympic Committee in the post-war world for over 20 years. Brundage was a principled man. It...

Since I desire a career in sports journalism, the most obvious thing to do is to gather some experience. So that's why last night I wrote a match report for 'Pedigree Hereford FC Website' Bulls News. Bulls Charge Past The Knights Two Goals For John Mills Helped Hereford To Victory Callum Devereux reports from Stratford. For this midweek fixture. Stratford welcomed the Bulls to a chilly Moodchimp stadium, looking to improve after picking up a largely undeserved point at Slough.   Peter Beadle made 5 changes and only named 4 subs as the injury list began to bulge like Jack Deaman's head on Saturday. Out he went, along with Preston, Richards, Symons and Preen and in came Green, O'Shea (fresh from his loan extension), Murphy, Bird and Lance Smith.   The game began with Stratford keen to make themselves known on their bobbly pitch, with Ben Stephens shooting high and wide. Gradually though, Hereford grew into the game with Haysham and Ref...