How Sez Sees It

I used to have a subscription to the largest British weekly music magazine dealing with rock and metal. I stopped that subscription and I had some very good reasons for doing so. The main reason was that I had just moved house and I couldn't justify the subscription fee every few months. I just figured that it might be better to buy it on a weekly basis if there were any articles I liked. For example, a wonderful human I know was in the magazine a couple of weeks ago because his new band were in a feature on the 'New Grave' scene. Regular readers will know that I have been supporting Solace in Nightmares for about a year now and it was this band being featured. As I lead their street team I kind of figured that I should buy the mag just for that article. The other reason is basically around the content. I had already decided to cancel my subscription but I was fed up that my favourite bands were not getting the coverage. Just as I cancel they all start getting featured...

Got bored. Did a vlog as you can see below. I am going to tell you the 10 things here, but I will leave you guessing as to the context of some of these things. You will have to wait and see in the video what the hell I mean by number 4... I cosplay I like pandas I run a street team for a band I once punched a police man in the balls I burnt my fingers and feel nothing in them now I love Japan despite never having been there I am a hypochondriac My favourite food is cheese I hate my birthday I can recite 'Withnail and I' word-for-word So, as you can see, there are some odd ones in there. I will leave you to find out more in the video below.

I'm studying a course on poverty and inequality with the Open University via the learning website Future Learn . It is really interesting and I thought I would just share some of the things the course has so far made me think about along with some of the recent news stories doing the rounds. We need to pay more: I am a socialist and, as such, I believe we need to be paying more taxes. I for one would be happy to do so and I certainly think the rich should be paying more. I also believe they should not be allowed to put it in off shore holdings in order to avoid paying tax. I have heard the argument before that if people earn the money they should be allowed to keep it. Great, yes, keep some of it. We are all human beings though and it should be within us to want to help our fellow humans out. By paying more in the way of taxes we ensure that people have a good education and access to health care or that they can afford to travel to work (I am also in support of re-nationali...

So this week I did the unthinkable and bought a Southampton football shirt. This may not seem like the unthinkable to you but it is to me. You see, I was a life long Chelsea supporter. Actually, let's back up here, I still am a Chelsea supporter. Let's start this again or rather go in to more background detail. I have lived most of my life in a small village in Hampshire which is about 6 miles from the city of Southampton . Recently I moved to the city itself and this is likely to be my permanent home now as I have no intention of moving for many years if I can help it. My fiancé was born in Southampton and raised in the nearby town of Eastleigh and has been a life long Saints supporter himself. I have been to more Saints home matches than Chelsea (I have never been to a home Chelsea match actually and only seen them play when at St Mary's against Saints). I can even name more Saints players than Chelsea players (though we are not doing that one right here an...

Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party on Saturday (12 September 2015) with an overwhelming majority. The way the system works is that the members and supporters cast votes in the alternative vote (AV) system. This means you select your favourite and put a ‘1’ next to their name and your second favourite has a ‘2’ and so on until all the candidates have a number. The winner of the leadership election has to have more than 50% of the vote. The person with the least amount of votes goes out in the first round and their results are redistributed if there is no clear winner. This continues until someone has more than 50% of the vote. Corbyn sealed his win on the first round. This is almost unprecedented. His first act was to join a rally in support of refugees. One of the next public appearances didn’t go down as well. He attended the Battle of Britain celebrations and caused the internet to go a little mad when he refused to sing the national anthem. To anyone who doesn...

So, I went to a funeral of someone I didn’t know. Don’t worry, I don’t just gate crash funerals, it was the husband of someone I work with. I won’t go into more details than that. I admit, I didn’t know how my mind would process this information as I have been experiencing existential crisis this year while in the process of moving house. Regular readers will know of my life long death anxiety. What the day did tell me was that life is too short to worry, so go and do the things you enjoy. For example, I recently found out that one of my favourite bands, ONE OK ROCK, are coming all the way from Japan to play three UK shows and one is in London. Now, this isn’t too far away and I could either make it there and back in one night or stay over in London, but the logistics were stressing me out. After realising that this wasn’t important and I’d figure it all out, I went ahead and booked those tickets. I normally stress about going on holiday too. No idea why. This time I’m...

I adore anime but boy does it deal with fanservice! For those not in the know, ‘fanservice’ is basically a fulfilment of a fan group’s expectations and desires. Like, showing a popular character naked or pairing up two popular characters in a suggestive situation/encounter. A big part of this seems to be the portrayal of women. Take the popular series ‘Black Butler’ (‘Kuroshitsuji’). This is set in Victorian England, a time and place so conservative about clothing that a flash of ankle was deemed scandalous. However, there are characters always getting into various states of undress in the anime. Series two has a fancy dress party and maid Mey-Rin and Lizzie’s chaperone, Paula, both wear very little and have unfeasibly big breasts. Even Alois Trancy’s maid, Hannah, gets naked for no apparent reason…where’s her under garments? To be fair, this doesn’t happen in the manga and the undercurrent of yaoi (boys love) remains between Sebastian/Ciel and the advances of Grelle (spelling fro...

It is Saturday and I have dealt with some heavy stuff this week (refugees, money advice, sexuality/gender) so I thought I would just tell you about some of my favourite YouTubers. Some of you know that I also have a YouTube channel and I try and remember to vlog on a weekly basis (try being the operative word there). I was influenced by some of these YouTubers though. danisnotonfire / AmazingPhil Going to put them together because they are essentially one entity now. Dan was sort of inspired into vlogging by Phil anyway and the pair have gone on to become two of the most well known and successful British YouTube stars. They post regularly on YouTube still and are on BBC Radio 1. It was these two that I originally discovered and they are the ones that made me want to get into this whole vlogging thing. Dan has a second channel called danisnotinteresting , though he doesn't use it often. Phil's second channel is LessAmazingPhil . crabstickz Another British YouTuber who h...

For as long as I can remember I have never felt as though I was 100% female. I would say I mostly am but I have never felt as though I was totally female through and through. There are days where I feel more comfortable in more traditionally 'manly' clothes and doing 'manly' things with my male friends. One even commented at school once that he often forgot that I was a girl because he thought of me as 'one of the boys' due to my behaviour, way of talking, way of dressing, etc. My Mum often told me during my teenage years to dress in a more 'feminine way' and behave more 'lady like'. She has since given up talking to me about it. I do enjoy wearing dresses and doing my make up and hair/nails sometimes. All the things traditionally viewed as 'female' traits. I do identify as a woman, the gender I was born as. I think I see myself as a somewhat 80/20 split female/male though. Also, mentioning the traditionally 'female' activities,...

There has been a lot in the news lately about 'migrants' and 'refugees'. This is really the only story you need to read and the only images you need to see. I will let you do that first and let it sink in. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/if-these-extraordinarily-powerful-images-of-a-dead-syrian-child-washed-up-on-a-beach-dont-change-europes-attitude-to-refugees-what-will-10482757.html I don't have the words to describe this. I just don't. I can't even start, I wouldn't know where. There is a huge misconception about what a 'migrant' a 'refugee' and an 'asylum seeker' is so all I can do here is give you the definitions of each. Read and take note. It really isn't what the right wing press would have you believe. 'Migrant' - A person who moves from one place to another in order to find work or better living conditions. 'Refugee' - A person who has been forced to leave their country in o...

Having just bought our first house I can tell you it can be confusing if you don't know when certain things need to happen. How can you put an offer in if you don't have a mortgage? How do you know how much mortgage you need if you don't have an offer accepted? When do you pay and how does it all work? Here is how we did it and this worked really well. Save Get your deposit sorted. House prices change all the time but keep your eye on costs and build up your deposit. I had 10% saved up and used that alongside mortgage calculators (see links in below item) to work out what we could borrow and afford to pay each month. This works the other way too and they can help you work out how much you need for a deposit. There are schemes which require only a 5% deposit ( Help to Buy ) but it is advisable to save up before approaching this scheme too. Remember, you will have to afford mortgage payments and payments to the provider too. Also bear in mind additional costs such as ...

I was brought up by accountants. By that I mean my parents were either full accountants or training. Even my brother has gone into accountancy and, while it was never a career path for me, I have learned a few things about savings and saving money. Here are a few of my tips and tricks (although this is my no means definitive). Savings accounts: There are loads out there and this can seem like a daunting thing. Use a comparison site such as Money Supermarket or Compare the Market (other comparison sites are available...search online for them first) to save time. If you have more time then make a list of banks you trust and go on their own webpages for more information. Often existing customers get preferential rates so if you have a current account see what savings that provider will do for you too. Remember though that most rates only last a year and then drop quite low so it might be worth having a look after a year to see what else is available. The best rates belong to fixed...