Lizzard

Full Version or Dr. Martin Luther King’s Freedom speech (17:28)

As silly as it sounds, If you have a dream to make money on the Internet, don’t let anything stop you. Dr. Martin Luther King was shot just before he was due to lead a protest march.
Hopefully you wont die, but there will be hard times, but don’t give up!Another example is Rose Kelly from Waterloo Road. Now you oldies probably won’t even know her and The Gazz-man definitely won’t, because I don’t think they have Waterloo Road down in the Oz! But she is a single mother of 4, who really tries to turn her life around.

She used to be a drunken weirdo, who didn’t look after her kids, but she tried so hard to give up her addiction and got a job at the school cafeteria and joined adult learning course and a friend really helped her with it. He took her to all the meetings and so on. And the head teacher of the school always encouraged her when every one’s in doubt.
This message is that you can’t do everything on your own. You all know who helps you and one day you will be helping others. Don’t try and do it all on your own!
It’s like when your learning to ride a bike, your parents were always there holding on and you were saying “Don’t let go, don’t let go!” secretly wishing they would. And one day you will find your riding on your own, with no help. But of course there will always be times when you fall off, but you will pick yourself up again and carry on!

My last example is… Guess who! Me!! Yes me! You may skip this part if you wish; I know I can go on a bit! A bit, what is she talking about? She could go on for her life! But seriously, recently, well kind off recently! I passed my Grade 1 Oboe exam with Distinction . For those of you who don’t know, Distinction is the best thing you can get !
As I’m sure my Mum can tell you, many days I would be coming home from school being so annoyed with my Oboe teacher. But I carried on!

At the beginning of my first year at my school, I had to decide whether I wanted to play a musical instrument or not, I knew I really wanted to play the Saxophone so I wrote that down. The next day we were told what instruments we could play and Saxophone wasn’t one of them, I asked my teacher and she said we had no-one to teach it. So a few days later we listened to our Woodwind teacher play all the different Woodwind instruments. I had already kind of decided to play the flute because my cousin played it, but when I heard the Clarinet and learnt that it was closest to the Saxophone so then I decided to play that. The next day I heard the Oboe, and woah don’t they sound good! I wrote that down on my list and handed it in. I also had many people in my group come and go and it made it very hard for me not to leave. The people I am with now had learnt scales at the same time as me; this is the only reason why I did my Exam at the same time as them. What I find ridiculous (and sorry for me moaning) is that he somehow thinks he can hold it against me that when I got a bit of my scale wrong that I’ve known it way longer than everyone else!

I can’t remember how long it was, but eventually I was told I would be playing the Oboe. I was happy at first, but after a while I stopped enjoying practising. I didn’t like my teacher and the only thing that was driving me forward was the fact that I thought that soon I would be doing my Grade 1. It was really hard for me because all my friends were doing there’s and they kept bragging that they’d already done theirs and meaning that they were better than me. Also I saw on the desk a letter to hand in about doing Grade 1 with my name on it, but I never got it. He obviously didn’t want to give it too me and it wasn’t that he had forgotten.

Finally I was ready to do my Exam. I really tried to work on the things that I found difficult, but I got barely any support from my teacher so I relied heavily on my mum for support.  When I was rehearsing for my exam at the school I was going to be examined at, I mucked up one of my pieces and I was convinced I would muck up in my exam. But I did say that I was really nervous and apparently I didn’t look it!

The next month I got my results back. There were three of us taking our exam and our teacher said “Well done everyone, you have all past with merit!” He read out every one’s marks and I was the last one. Everyone had done really well and got really good marks but when he got to me he said “Oh, I was wrong you didn’t all get merit.” and I was like Oh no, great I’ve failed! Then he told me I got Distinction! Yay!

And that just about sums up my lecture (LOL). If you stick with it, even though it seems tough. It will be worth it!
And for those of you who are thinking, well I stick with things, I get to the end, but it’s never worth it! Yes it was worth it, you’ve learnt loads of things by getting to the end. If you still don’t believe me speak to my dad, he knows all about getting to the end and not everything being as you expect it. You can find him on my blog roll under cool people, he has also recently set up his twitter, I’m not sure what is it so you will have to ask him, but its worth having a chat with him he’s a wise guy!

And finally I will finish with a few questions for you…

What have you had to pursue through but have been glad you did it?

What have you done that has taken a while and made you think, was it worth my while?

And finally, one to help others…  How did you get to the end?

Thank you for reading my massive lecture.

The Lizzard

As we all know everyone is trying to save money, especially because of the economic climate. Many people (including myself and my family) are using programs and taking courses to help them make money, but it’s a lot easier to save money than you might think. Many of you clever people are probably already doing this and have created your own way of saving money, but I know that some people are unaware of how small things can make a big difference.

Here I have created a list of 10 Easy ways to save money:

1. Spend time shopping:

I know I sound like a mad shopaholic. But honestly, if you spend time looking for the best price you can, you can really save a lot of money. Many people try to get the shopping over and done with as soon as possible, but if you spend a little longer just looking for the cheaper products you could find yourself with a lot more change in your pocket! Tip: Buy own branded products not the big names, as they rip you off a lot!

2. Turn off all electrical equipment when not using it:

This may seem like an obvious one, but many people don’t do it. Simply switching off a light when leaving a room (if there is no-one left in the room, you don’t want to leave them in the dark!) could save a lot of energy and money! Or even turning your computer off instead of leaving it on standby. It doesn’t take much to do these small things to save a bit of energy and money!

3. Use concentrate products:

Concentrate products usually are a lot cheaper than the normal ones, but they still do the same job! So why are they cheaper you ask, well my friends, when you’re sitting comfortably I shall begin… (Sorry I just couldn’t resist!) No honestly, they’re cheaper because they use less packaging and if they’re smaller then they use less Lorries to transport them. Simples!

4. Turn off the charger when the battery on your laptop is fully charged:

Many people might think they do this, but in actual fact they’re only doing half the job. You see, switching off the mains to the charger for your laptop, or indeed any electrical equipment, is doing two things.

A. (The obvious one) It is saving energy and money!

B. (The not so obvious one) It is keeping your battery healthy. As weird as it sounds, if you continue to put energy in to a battery that is already full, it can ruin it. This is where we come to the first line in this section where I said that people are only doing half the job. Many people are just pulling out the charger from either the mains or the laptop, but all that does is keeps your battery healthy because the electricity is still running, even if you unplug it from the mains. So there we have it, always turn it off at the mains, not unplug it!

5. Use rechargeable batteries:

Here you are going to read a short Q and A I took from www.pcursor.com.au when I was searching if it really was cheaper to use rechargeable batteries.

Q. Since rechargeable batteries cost so much less in the long run, why bother using non-rechargeable ones at all?
Peter Lee, Singapore,

A. Rechargeable batteries ARE the right choice in many high-drain applications such as digital cameras, kids toys, flashguns and so on. However, they aren’t nearly as useful in low-current or intermittent use applications such as remote controls or emergency torches.

Because NiMH and NiCd and even Li-ion batteries self-discharge at a fairly high rate, they tend to go flat too soon. If you use good-quality alkaline batteries in these devices, you’ll get up to years of life, where a rechargeable may be flat by the time you need it.
Paul Zucker
I thought that was rather useful, wouldn’t you agree?

6. Use energy saving bulbs:

 They may look expensive when you go to buy them, but in the long run they will work out much cheaper.
Here are some facts about energy saving bulbs, thanks to www.thisismoney.co.uk and www.lightbulbs-direct.com:

·     By buying an energy efficient light bulb rather than the normal ones, you can cut energy wastage by over three quarters.

·     That’s a saving of up to £9 a year for a typical 100W bulb, or £100 over the bulb’s lifetime. Energy efficient bulbs last up to 12 times longer than normal ones. 
Energy saving bulbs typically uses around 80% less electricity than normal bulbs.

·     To help give you an idea of how much you could save, visit http://www.lightbulbs-direct.com/article/energy-saving/ and use their Energy saving bulb calculator.

7. Only use credit cards if you need to:

 Yes credit cards are a convenient way to pay for the more expensive things but it’s a lot better to use cash, or even a debit card! Let me explain, if you use credit cards you could be using money you don’t have and if you use them regularly, then you probably are!  Because the credit card system is basically a bill after each month, it’s harder to keep track of how much money you have, this can often lead to debt. So basically if you want to buy something use cash, if you want to buy something big use a debit card, if you want to buy something really big think extremely carefully about whether you should use your credit card.

8. Ask yourself: do I really need this?

Imagine the scenario. Its lunchtime and you’ve got an hour to do what you like. You find yourself in a shop and there’s a sale on. You pick up a beautifully arranged set of scented candles. And it’s half price. Now, stop! Ask yourself: Do I really need this? Exactly. Now, put it down and walk away.

9. Use your library:

The local library is heaven for the money saver. You’ll never need to buy another cookbook, guidebook or lifestyle manual again and if you can bear to wait a few weeks in the queue for the latest blockbuster, you never need to buy books again. CDs and videos are great value too.

10. Do you need all those TV channels?

Britain is switching to digital-only television and time is running out for you to choose your new digital TV provider. The choice is already confusing and with telephone, broadband and TV services now launched it’s got even more complicated. Packages range from 100 channels+, including every sports and movie channel costing around £50 a month, down to Freeview, which is free. Choose wisely.

I hope these ways of saving money will help you as they helped me and my family. But before you leave, I have a question for you, Dun dun dun!

What do you do to save money? If you could post comments answering this question, I’m sure you could help a great deal of people!

Thanks for reading, hope to see your replies soon!

The Lizzard

]]> http://lizziedickinson.com/46/10-easy-ways-to-save-money.htm/feed 11 http://lizziedickinson.com/1/things-to-do-on-a-small-budget.htm http://lizziedickinson.com/1/things-to-do-on-a-small-budget.htm#comments Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:40:53 +0000 Lizzie http://lizziedickinson.com/?p=1 1. Go to the Beach:

The Beach is free and it’s a great place to spend time with your family or friends. There many activities that can be done on the beach, such as beach ball, sand castle making (for younger children), Swimming in the sea (depending on how warm it is!), Surfing and Body boarding. At most beaches such as Cornwall or Blackpool there are piers or arcades, these offer a wide range of things to do and they don’t have to cost a fortune. The downside to this is that in the winter the beach is less enjoyable but it doesn’t mean you can’t wrap up warm and go for a walk!

2. The Park:

The Park can be a great place for new families to interact with one another in outdoor games or sports. It is also a place where many people go, meaning that anyone can meet new people and even meet up with friends without knowing it! It is also a place to take pets especially dogs were they can run around with children or other dogs, without getting into trouble. The park is free and often a nice place to have a picnic as it is a very friendly environment.

3. Hotel Pools:

Generally hotel pools are for guests only, however many hotels will let you bring your friends and family so long as you don’t disturb the hotel guests. Many hotel pools can also have full scale amenities such as bars, restaurants, and additional activities for the friends and the family to enjoy.

4. Rent a movie:

Renting movies can be very expensive or cheap, it’s finding the right company to rent from. Blockbuster usually has good deals that aren’t too expensive but really it depends on how much you have to spend. If you find the right company renting movies can be ever so much cheaper than going to the cinema and you can get popcorn for about a pound instead of three! It also means that you can watch it again and again until you have to give it back, and you can pause it if you need the loo! But the best thing is there isn’t half an hour of trailers before the film!

5. Host Get Togethers:

Most people enjoy the intimate atmosphere of a few friends getting together and will bring drinks and other goodies to the get together. It’s a good idea to ask friends to bring their friends with them too, meaning that you can meet new people. It’s a chance to have fun without spending a fortune and it can start and end when you like!

6. Spend Time With Your Family:

Family is perhaps the most important thing in our lives and too many times we take advantage of what we have and do not appreciate it until it is gone. Make a concerted effort just to spend time with your family and inform them what is going on in your life. At any moment a family member can be taken away from you and you will regret not having spent the time with them.

7. Playing board or card games:

Playing board or card games can be great fun, you can play them with your family or friends or even work mates! There a wide variety of games that you can play, from ages 6-7 to 60-70! Many people think of these sorts of games as childish, but really they’re not, because there are so many different games that they haven’t even heard of yet. You can even make up your own!

8. Workout in Your Neighbourhood:

Your neighbourhood will provide you with all the terrain and challenges to get a full and quality workout. From running through the city or countryside to doing push-ups on a park or bus bench, your full body workout can be achieved for free.