The Next 20 Years.

In The Next Twenty Years.

In twenty years time my life will have changed beyond all recognition and so will the world and society in general. This isn't exactly ground-breaking news, we only have to look back to 1988 to see just how changed life and society can be in twenty years.

Personal.

In twenty years my son will be twenty-four, an adult, a man, a grown up. This is such a horrible thought. I don't want my little boy to grow up, he's got too grown up and independent as it is and he's only four.
I expect he'll be living his own life hopefully in his own home with a family of his own. I hope he'll visit regularly and not just for me to babysit. I want him to visit because he wants to not because he feels he has to. I hope he'll have a good job he enjoys and one that pays extremely well would be good as Robin and I wont have any money or assets, not unless a miracle happens anyway.

Health.

By the time twenty years have passed I will be in my fifties, hopefully in no worse health than now but truth be told that is unlikely. I will still be diabetic, still have psoriasis but there could be great differences in how conditions (I don't like to say diseases or illnesses) are treated. There could be cures like an injection of something that repairs or creates a pancreas so diabetes will no longer exist. Anything is possible specially when we as the general population have no real, true knowledge on what is being created medical and scientific research wise.

The world and society as we know it now will have changed. Global warming and climate change will have affected us all and how we live our day to day lives. I suspect that we will have new deadly diseases to try to cure and limit like aids and sars.

Fashion.

Fashion tends to go in cycles like the recent trends in flares, smock tops and mini/maxi skirts.
I'm sure there will be new materials and denim jeans will be as popular in the future as they are now. I don't think women will be running around in mini-skirts or all-in-one pantsuits (sorry guys) but I do expect teenage girls to be wearing as little as possible as they always have done. I think we will have more clothing choices with built in protection from UV rays specially with the damaged ozone layer letting more and more rays in.

Education.

Education will be different as most countries are experiencing a "brain drain" and we will need to change our current education laws to stay on top of new technologies. I think home schooling will be more common place specially as the internet will be easily available to all. I think most children will be technologically minded and we as parents will need their instruction and advice more and more with each passing year.

Crime & Law.

There will have to be new laws to contend with the new crimes the mass usage of technology and because criminals are getting increasingly technical orientated.

Financial.

Money will have changed as I think most people will not carry cash but cards to pay for everything. You can see this happening now and as more and more places like shops accept a multitude of cards this way of paying will increase. Plus shopping online just can't be done with cash.

Transport.

There will have been changes in transport both private and public specially when it comes to fuel. Petrol wont be around forever and new ways of powering cars etc will have to be found, maybe electricity will be an option or solar powered card in countries where they have enough sun.
Anything is possible even a decent, regular public transport system although I think it will take more than twenty years for that to happen, specially in rural areas like where I live.

Housing.

Housing will be more apartment or flat based because more homes can be built on the same plot of land that way. The population is increasing and homes will be needed although it is possible if prices continue to soar like they are now that none but the richest will be able to even think of owning a home.

Entertainment.

We will all have huge tv's maybe wall size like you see in sci-fi films so you can eat looking at the sea for example. They will be integrated with the ability to shop, communicate (via a screen) and watch tv. There will be new ways of exercising and having fun energetically. I imagine the wii will be the basis for the new games etc as I can see this being expanded upon much like radio waves gave us morse code and then expanded to radio, tv and the like.

Last Thoughts On The Subject.

Hopefully nuclear war wont be as constantly imminent as it is now and all nations and religions will co-exist together peacefully and tolerantly but I can't see it being the case. I think the main problem we will have will be due to religious differences and a lack of compassion and tolerance.



I don't look forward to all changes but I can see that many are needed and wanted.

As long as food particularly chocolate doesn't become a pill then I'll be happy. I'd be ecstatic if cooking became a thing of the past and we just told the electronic hatch what we wanted and it appeared just like it does in Star Trek. I'd love a robot to do the housework too (I'm more than willing to test any prototypes).

Deadly fear

I am the original scaredy-cat quivering, quaking & worrying in the corner, staring desperately at the floor wishing it would swallow me up whole & rescue me / release me from my fear.
This fear takes over my body & soul, I can think of nothing else & no rational thoughts will battle their way through & as for logic? well, that has no place & is not welcome in my land of fear & panic.

I fear so many things from the run of the mill bugs & spiders to the usual fears about family health & happyness. Then there's the fears & worries over kids education, my marriage, my husbands work & of course our bill paying ability.

These all scare me silly!

I can worry myself to pieces over my son; is he happy? Does he love me? Does he love daddy more? Is he doing well at school? Does he have friends?
Or worry over my husband: Is my husbands job secure? Is he going to lose his job? Is he happy in this marriage? Does he still want me? Want to be with me? Does he want to be with someone else?
Or even fear I'm not a good mother, that my son deserves a better mum, I fear that I'm not a good mum & that I've let him down & I fear that I'm too selfish to be a proper mum, a mu "like everyone else".

Finances are great fodder for worriers like me usually along the lines of: Can I pay the ...... bill this month? Will I be cut off? If I do such & such can I afford to live for the rest of the month? Will the bailiffs be popping round & not for a friendly cup of tea?
These fears are usually accompanied by vibrant daydreams of us living in a home with nothing in it just bare walls, with us only eating one slice of plain, unbuttered bread between the three of us because we can't afford anything more & my son in ragamuffin, Oliver Twist style rags pleading for just one mouthfull of milk. Exaggeration? Yes, of course but once panic sets in all realism flies away & the panic & fear are given free reign to increase.

Then there's christmas to worry about!

My biggest fear, the one that really scares me & wakes me up trembling in fright is the thought of being buried alive or being buried & then waking up in a coffin when it is too late.
The blackness all around me, lying there knowing that each second that passes is the lessening of my hopes to be saved / rescued, all this closing in on me with each breath. I can imagine the worms moving & writhing in the mud surrounding me & knowing that each breath is one less breath of oxygen, one breath nearer to a death of suffocation.
It will not matter how much I shout (which uses up lots of oxygen) or how much I cry & kick all I can do is lie there & wait to breath my last.
I can imagine the coffin getting smaller & smaller & my minutes on the earth diminishing while while family stand at my grave wishing I was still there but knowing I am gone, their hearts shattering into another million pieces while I lie there, trapped, screaming, hoping & praying for rescue.

This fear is apparantly quite a common one, it even has a complicated latin name, it's called Taphophobia.
Many people have the same fear or phobia, some have even arranged to be buried with some
kind of signal they can use to alert people to the fact they are actually still alive. According to Wikipedia there is an urban legend that states that the sayings "Saved by the bell", and "Dead ringer" are both derived from the notion of having a rope attached to a bell outside the coffin, which could alert people that the recently buried person is not yet deceased which sounds like a very sensible idea to me & one I plan to implement when my time comes or should that be passes?

Would you like to talk about your (ir) rational fears? then head on over to Scribbit & post your entry there.


scribbit at gmail.com

Learning via Motherhood & The Internet.

Becoming a mother is the most consistent, difficult & far ranging education a person could ever have. All your pre-motherhood ideas, thoughts & opinions that you were so certain were infallible or correct are if not proved wrong then at the very least have to be adapted or altered.

Motherhood teaches us more than just tips & tricks in hiding carrots so they will be eaten or how to turn a toddlers mind from the current suicide mission usually involving great heights or electrical sockets.

Motherhood has made me interested in things that I wouldn't have thought once about let alone twice about such as immunisation risks, politics, the ozone layer, nutrition & even the language I speak & attendant grammar usage.

While I am currently more knowledgeable than my pre-schooler on matters of maths, reading & how the p.c works for example; I suspect that this won't be so for much longer because if he has figured out how to turn on the cars ignition & knows what button does what function & can log onto my pc by jusy watching & he's not even four years old yet then by the time he's eight I will be trailing behind him begging him to help me with css & html.

The greatest help I have found in learning tips & tricks & getting the information to answer my son's questions such as "why is the sky blue?" or "why do spiders have eight legs?" has been the internet. Any question or information you need whether to help inform your child or keep your brain from turning to mummymush is immediately at my fingertips from online courses & study guides at sites like BBC LEARNING or the ever increasingly useful WIKIPEDIA.
Even my son can learn on the p.c through child friendly games & kids tv affiliated sites such as the CBEEBIES or NICK JNR sites which educate through much loved but highly irritating tv characters.

Anything I want to know more about from tv shows & actors to academic subjects & from celebrity & fashion to the latest news & political intrigue is readily available & best of all free which means that even if we can't afford to go back to school that doesn't mean we have to stop learning, we can do it all for free from the comfort of our own homes.

This post is part of a group writing project on the subject of learning.
You can find out more here

My BAD Habit.

There is a contest at the moment over at Scribbit. where you have to write about your collections & while I couldn't possibly write about all of mine I thought I'd write about those I'm happy for the public to know about.

I have many bad habits I'd like to pretend otherwise but too many people just know me or of me too darn well. One bad habit I have that I'm willing to talk about that is, is the collection of what is most likely classed as total junk or even rubbish.
Here is my confession of my collections.

1) Handbags.

I just adore handbags, buying a brand new handbag fills me with such happyness, I start imagining myself in different outfits looking chic & fashionable rather like Kate Moss. I love sorting out my odds & ends from one bag to another although I have to admit my bags do tend to be muck magnets with tissues & half empty packets of food my son has left.
I'm ashamed to admit but I have over thirty handbags now but that elusive bag that fulfills all my wants & desires is still elusive but I am determined to keep on trying.

2) Recipes.

I am forever collecting recipes for meals & snacks, I rip them out of magazines & newspapers in doctors surgeries, I search for them on the internet & I've even joined sites where you can search for recipes. My main recipe vice is typing an ingredient & then the word recipe into Google & then spending hours looking at them.
I rarely do anything with these recipes though, I hate cooking & I have no skill, talent or inclination to improve, so these recipes get filed away never to see the light of day again.
I don't know why I have this compulsion to collect recipes I never use but I have found one possible use for them, if & when my son gets married & if I don't particularly like her I will give her this collection of gourmet recipes & tell her "my son ate these all the time while he was growing up".

I have other things I collect from the "Alex Delaware" series of books by Jonathan Kellerman to little shoe ornaments, jewellery to take away menus which we rarely use as we live too far away from most of them.
My collections may be becoming obsessions but I get enjoyment from it & let's be honest here mine are all useful they entertain me, look pretty to look at & I can use them to carry things in & thankfully they're cheap to collect as otherwise I'd have a collection consisting of no items.