Our Planet.

[Gandalf]

Why do you have this need to pretend that I am something I am not in order to make yourself feel better?

I really don't get it. Bitterness, jealousy, spite?
It really is odd. I have like the majority of the electorate no interest in Benjamin. What does it matter to you what I cover or what I think about you?

You have absolutely no idea what I do day to day or what I have done and when I suggested showing or explaining to you in a pm last year so that you could finally shut up about it, you had no interest.

We get it you are a lecturer who works half days and wastes most of his life swanning around reading and boasting about not having kids and good old family values whilst being allergic to families and living alone.

Its 4pm for you and you are clearly bored.

Oh, and I am spiteful am I? You don't get it? You don't recall just now calling me a nobody? That wasn't very nice was it? Was that spoken in jest or politeness?

You don't say very nice things to people either do you? Nobodies are the kinds of people that scrounge, that refuse to raise their game, that refuse to take responsibility. Am I really that person? I would retort with why do you pretend that I am somebody I am not? Is it to make yourself feel better? I mean you have done it to many a person at this stage. And you really don't get it? You don't understand? Maybe that is part of the problem. You have dialogue issues, things get lost in translation, and it is the same language.

If you are going to call me things that I am not then I think I have a right defend myself against those things.

I think people have a pretty good idea about you and what you do as you have told us all enough over the years. It doesn't make a very fortunate, normal or happy portrait to be honest. You also covered up who you were for years too which is unfortunate as it led to many a war on here that needn't have happened. People got lost in the crossfire.

Benjamin would have made you look silly and it is a shame we didn't see it. I can picture the snarl right now.

[Beanz]

Why do you have this need to pretend that I am something I am not in order to make yourself feel better?

I really don't get it. Bitterness, jealousy, spite?
It really is odd. I have like the majority of the electorate no interest in Benjamin. What does it matter to you what I cover or what I think about you?

You have absolutely no idea what I do day to day or what I have done and when I suggested showing or explaining to you in a pm last year so that you could finally shut up about it, you had no interest.

We get it you are a lecturer who works half days and wastes most of his life swanning around reading and boasting about not having kids and good old family values whilst being allergic to families and living alone.

Its 4pm for you and you are clearly bored.

Oh, and I am spiteful am I? You don't get it? You don't recall just now calling me a nobody? That wasn't very nice was it? Was that spoken in jest or politeness?

You don't say very nice things to people either do you? Nobodies are the kinds of people that scrounge, that refuse to raise their game, that refuse to take responsibility. Am I really that person? I would retort with why do you pretend that I am somebody I am not? Is it to make yourself feel better? I mean you have done it to many a person at this stage. And you really don't get it? You don't understand? Maybe that is part of the problem. You have dialogue issues, things get lost in translation, and it is the same language.

If you are going to call me things that I am not then I think I have a right defend myself against those things.

I think people have a pretty good idea about you and what you do as you have told us all enough over the years. It doesn't make a very fortunate, normal or happy portrait to be honest. You also covered up who you were for years too which is unfortunate as it led to many a war on here that needn't have happened. People got lost in the crossfire.

Benjamin would have made you look silly and it is a shame we didn't see it. I can picture the snarl right now.

You don't get it do you? You are a nobody. That is not spiteful you big fairy, that is the truth. You are not a performer you are a lecturer. Stop building your part princess. I don't think I am anybody special either but when I bring up something relevant like actual first hand real life experience of what to you is just some random abstract fantasy or online game, you take it upon yourself to pooh pooh it as though that will make your own 'opinion' carry more weight. You do the same with music, pretending that you have some kind of supreme and exquisite taste, when for the most part it is quite safe, predictable and pedestrian.

Nobody here has an opinion that is more important than anyone else's. What we do and experience in our everyday lives though, does actually count for something. That can make the difference between a more considered and educated opinion and one that is based merely on the observations of others, many of whom will have their own bias and agenda. You want to pretend that I am a scrounger when i have always worked because it feeds into this idea that somebody who doesn't work 9 to Lunchtime, like yourself, in the same role for years as an employee, is somehow flippant and lazy, irresponsible. The truth is I often work 10, 15 hour days and do something different everyday. That is not because I am playing at anything, it is the reality of being self employed.

You look at my social media presence and think that is somehow representative of what takes up most of my working life, when of course the opposite is true. I work for national organizations and individual and group clients for whom the work becomes theirs once it is handed over, and you don't see that. (Although i can point you toward Amnesty, The Arts Council, British National Youth Theatre, The newspapers and magazines i have written for, awards won for mentoring and for my installation work, films,photographs and written pieces for many, many others if you really think that will help disavow you of your nonsense notions).

Your idea that I am this angry unhappy snarly lazy person, refusing to raise their game is a ludicrous one. I have had to improve and add strings to my bow, qualifications, techniques, skills, etc year on year like everyone else, because it is an incredibly cut throat and competitive industry to try and scrape a living in , in 2019. I am sure you do more than just teach, but from what you tell us your life seems incredibly empty. Way more than anyone else on the forum. I know you have made the decision not to have kids and that is yours to make, but it means you seem to have had an awful lot of dead time with which you have not done very much. I could of course be completely wrong but i find it a bit odd when I am constantly accused of not achieving anything despite oversharing myself.

If we can't learn from each other then I see little point in even posting to be honest. I don't expect anyone to share my opinions but if we can't be frank about our own, without people refusing to post or saying 'I want special treatment' then it is all a bit stupid. The planet is fucked mate and in the context of that both of us are nobodies.

[Gandalf]

If I am a nobody then by definition you are equally a nobody, unless of course we do actually mean something to those involved in our lives. Everybody is of course somebody. For every article you may have published, I have a course written and completed and evaluated by those who participated typically to a very high level. I actually do think it means something and likewise I am sure you are proud of whatever it is you do. I think your article was a fluff piece, but I do think the photography was quite nice and you captured Greta far more graciously than the childish tantrum I saw recently. And just as the doctor thinks he is contributing, the Prime Minister thinks he is doing his job, or the cleaner cleaning the toilets well, I am somebody, and I am playing my part and indeed do use the word part meaningfully.

If you want to quibble over definitions, a lecturer is by definition also a performer. It is the art of oratory, being able to express ideas clearly, being able to generate and motivate and interest. You have to be a performer to do that and not everybody can do that. I am not a genius, but it is a craft I have worked at for a long time and I am pretty good at it. Even when under the weather, I get the results. It is in the pauses, in the gestures, the subtle glances, in the way one moves. It is performance, though I argue that my primary role is as a writer and a director with a focus on stimulating greater dialogue and expression. It is about getting others to perform to the best of their capabilities. I am a performer and the experience is a theatrical one. I really work on making it enjoyable.

No, I wasn't saying you haven't raised your game. I was on the assault in response to you, but I was more saying that the genuine kind of nobodies are those who don't step up and there are many. It's the druggy single Mum, it's the alcoholic who refuses to get a job, and all of that. Of course they are somebody, but by comparison if we are to talk about people who influence others in their daily lives, I am not exactly a nobody by comparison to those people. I have family and friends like anyone else and as you know I only live alone a few days a week because I started a new job and on the topic of our planet, driving several hundred miles a week is not good for the planet. Do we not agree on that? And because I am happy, we will rent somewhere closer and compromise on transportation. We have to compromise sometimes and that is what I have done this year. There is nothing incredibly empty about my life. I go for dinners, I go for coffee, I play poker, I have family gatherings, I am home more than half my time and of course am a video chat away from my cat who doesn't bloody understand the concept and just rolls around ignoring me. What exactly is it that you think is empty? It is something you level at me and may have made some sense a long time ago, but now not really. My room is getting clean. It is all kind of normal, and yes, not very wild I am afraid as those days are over. What do you want me to do, start drinking, do zany things? I can't do those things. I grew up.

And don't think for a minute my industry is not cut throat either. Don't forget for every job I apply for there are more than 100 applicants. I do pretty alright all things considered. I want for nothing really and that discipline means less life stress.

I was attacking you mainly in response to you attacking me. I mean the very notion that I am not impressed with Greta because of jealousy is frankly one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I am jealous of nobody on this planet and am very comfortable in my own skin and that hasn't always been the case. My issue with her is that she is threatening people in a childish way and I think she actually does need to grow up a little bit. I think she is being used to bring in a globalist agenda and I don't want that. Nothing she is saying is new, but using a child is very manipulative and the system knows that. I was listening to Springsteen today and at no point was I listening thinking 'Damn I am just so jealous of you. You are someone and I am no one and I just cannot listen to you anymore because of it!' Of course not, the music was awesome and I like him. There is no envy there. "Damn he has hundreds of millions of dollars and I don't! Smash the stereo! Raarrgghhh". It's not really how I think about things. I hate Tony Blair, but there is no jealousy there.

I agree with you that air travel is very unclean and we could use less children and a few more local holidays and things of this nature. I have no intention of heading to Europe or anything like that and I would love to sail to Cambodia on a wooden boat. However, I do not want a one world government to dictate what I can do, it should be personal choice. I do not own a mansion, I do not own a private jet, I do not drive a sports car, I do not do anything out of the ordinary which potentially gets me labelled a nobody as only 'somebodies' have those things and I don't mind that so much.