Perhaps, you've lost the spark!

t is not always the age of a human being that suppresses his or her inner zeal. In fact, your living environment, your backers, the ones who meet you constantly and your thoughts and beliefs do have a lot of upshot on your emotions.

Under the scenario, the once-very-bubbly kind of a human being turns to be faded and requires a shake up to get him or her recovered. Are you one of the similar people who is experiencing a lost in your enthusiasm, despite how healthy and vigorous you appear from outside?

For you, I have brought some of my personal experiences with which you could rejuvenate the old you and at least take a step forward to awaken the lost inner bubbly-self of yours:

• Just A Flashback: You do not need lots of materialistic elements to rejoin the company of zeal you broke up with. As a startup, just help yourself on a couch and take your mind back a few years. Remember how good you were and how efficiently your senses worked with a mere call of your name.

• Kids Do Wonders: Have you ever played with kids? And again, it is not the age which should stop you. In fact, it is the enthusiasm of a person which bars him or her from the process. The best way to revive the old you is to become a kid again in a similar company and view the world in their perspective? Do kids remain out of energy for long?

• Nursery Rhymes: Probably, you might have forgotten the old nursery rhymes that you used to read aloud in your younger days. There's absolutely not a problem. Just visit the internet to find some of these and even play their audio or video on your digital device. Mind you! You would find it more interesting than the social media you are addicted to.

• Cartoons: As they say, "you are never too old to watch cartoons, so be it." Just turn on some channels for kids and try to develop interest. This is a highly effective method to cut down the monotonous drama you bear and this allows you to enter altogether in a different world of entertainment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9673419

Monetise your blog

Work for your supper? I thought so. Worried about your job? Quite possibly. And with talk of a double-dip recession, your concern is justifiable. If you are self-employed, like me, you're probably feeling just as edgy as the employed about your future income.
As a freelance journalist and copywriter, I've occasionally wondered whether to start looking for a suitably sized cardboard box to move into. Earning a steady living in this way can be tough and erratic, and to tell you the truth, I'm a bit sick of it.
But there is another way, or so I've heard. And it's called "blogging". Apparently, it can make you money.

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I'm no stranger to blogs, and started a few after being introduced to the concept when I met former newspaper journalist Craig McGinty several years ago. McGinty told me he earned his living through "online publishing". That is, writing for himself. I didn't quite get it back then.
After going freelance in 2003, McGinty – who had lived in France and has since moved back – turned his writing skills to his site ThisFrenchLife.com (among others), writing advice for foreigners living in France. "As with many freelance writers I first pitched a few ideas to newspapers, but soon realised I was spending more time doing admin than actually writing and interviewing people," he says.
"So I thought I would spend this time writing my own websites and run them as online publications, with a selection of article types, including guest articles, but also competitions and offering a variety of advertising options."
It wasn't long before McGinty stopped relying on a freelance income altogether, and more recently, he's teamed up with landscaping expert Philip Voice to develop LandscapeJuice.com. According to Voice, the site will turnover about £18,000 in 2011. It receives around 90,000 visitors a month but Voice says he expects to see a "dramatic growth in advertising revenue and revenue from other services in 2012".

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As for me, there's a blog I write about travel, TravellingWren.com, and one about giving up diets ChocolateAndBeyond.co.uk, yet with a single paying advertiser between them, they're hardly going to be my pension. But this needs to change, or that cardboard box, and maybe a sheet or two of newspaper for warmth, will become my reality.
What I'd like to do is follow in the footsteps of blogger, internet marketer, and owner of the viral marketing website ViperChill, Glen Allsopp, who at 22, earns more than £10,000 per month from his websites.
I read about Allsopp, from Newcastle upon Tyne, several months ago after researching how I could make myself "location independent" (that is, being able to earn my income from anywhere in the world, such as online). Allsopp has achieved this, and I was inspired by how intelligently and diligently he had constructed the life he wanted through mastering the internet, and becoming the creator of his own wealth.
His internet career started at the age of 16 when he combined his passions for DJing and making websites to build a music-orientated social network which quickly grew to over 10,000 members. After his site was featured in the book DJing for Dummies, he realised how much opportunity the internet held, and spent his days improving his skills. He quit his day job in February 2009 aged 19, travelled the globe for a couple of years, and now lives in Cape Town.
Allsopp says: "When I was struggling to make a living online I vowed that once I finally figured this 'internet stuff' out I would show others how to do the same. After the five-figure sale of my personal development blog at the end of 2010, I knew I was going to miss sharing my thoughts with the world and helping people in the process. ViperChill became my new platform to do exactly that."
These days, Allsopp runs a number of profitable affiliate websites while spending his blogging time teaching others how to market their sites and build an income from the internet. One of those people – as you will later see – is to be me. But rather than having to read ViperChill to obtain Allsopp's wisdom, I'll be getting a personal education – which I'll be sharing.

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Of course, Allsopp isn't the only one earning megabucks from blogging. With his site CoolestGadgets.com (CG) Al Carlton claims that a "bad month" earns £10,000 – a good month can be five times that. And the site, which reviews the latest "coolest gadgets" (did you guess?), receives more than 1m page views a month, with 100,000-plus email subscribers.
Blogging is a full-time profession for Carlton, who has always been something of a "techie". He says: "I previously worked in the software development industry, and when looking for a career change, I set up numerous sites to explore generating a living on the internet."
Carlton explains that he used to run a web-hosting forum and posted about a cool keyboard that was due to come out. He thought it would be fun to share this sort of news on a gadget blog. "As traffic increased, I saw the potential to produce income from it," he says. "It took around a year for CG to generate a modest income."
Sally Whittle has also turned blogging into a full-time occupation, writing for blogs that started as hobbies, and running blog-based businesses, which developed as a result.
From writing WhosTheMummy.co.uk, she created a monthly list ranking the top 100 UK parent blogs – the Tots100 index. This earns Whittle 50% of her income, while 30% comes from another spin-off, the MAD Blog Awards – the UK's first award for Mum and Dad bloggers. Whittle says: "I thought Tots100 would be a good way to increase my own traffic, and also get myself known among other bloggers who would then read my blog.
"After a few months, I started getting approached by companies wanting to advertise on the site or pay me to offer them advice on working with bloggers. After a year, a company asked if they could sponsor the Tots100."
BlogCamp.co.uk – a free UK training event for non-professional bloggers, is another of Whittle's developments.

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Though it is what I'd like for myself, not everyone who blogs as a hobby necessarily wants to make it their full-time career choice. Kash Bhattacharya, for example, writes EuropeBudgetGuide, which focuses on budget travel in Europe, offering tips and advice for readers. He enjoys keeping his blog a part-time interest, earning approximately £900 per month through "advertorials", site banners and a few affiliates. Bhattacharya – who started writing his blog when he was unemployed – has found other work through blogging.
"I don't intend my blog to be my main source of income," he says. "I see it as a platform for my individual talents and for my personal brand. I've learned about social media through blogging which led to me being recruited for my current job and I'm acting now as a social media consultant for travel brands. In short, the blog has opened doors to many possibilities in life."
Currently on a career break from teaching and concentrating on her dream of having a jewellery making business, Viv Smith is another part-time blogger hoping her blog will open extra doors. She set up Poppy Sparkles to accompany her business, but it appears to be developing in its own right, earning about £70 a month in advertising.
"Rather than just being another craft blog, I spend time thinking about my audience. I also place emphasis on quality graphics and images. I don't just showcase anything on my blog, only good images get in, which makes my blog more desirable to readers."
So what I'd like to know is this: how can I go about building a readable, compelling blog that will attract a large audience and through that, generate an income stream? Thus avoiding any need for me to move into a cardboard box. Happily, Allsopp has agreed to take me under his learned wing.
Over the next six months, under his guidance, I'll be creating a blog from scratch with an aim of developing a large enough audience of people who care about what I say, to earn a decent revenue from the site.
This is a very new and unique thing we're doing. And as a reader, you'll be able to follow this process fortnightly in Guardian Work, and learn for yourself some of Allsopp's maverick ways to creating an engaging blog that will be read (be warned: they'll be different to those of other blogging experts).
I'm excited about this project. Hopefully, if I'm a good student and do as I'm told, I may well be on my way to creating that pension after all. And as my friend Craig McGinty used to say about earning your bread and butter: "Why be a sheep, when you can be a wolf?"
Hear me howl.

Since you’re here …

… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

Because I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information. Thomasine F-R.

If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, our future would be much more secure

Finally, Real Madrid prove mettle in Europe

Work from Home

Work for your supper? I thought so. Worried about your job? Quite possibly. And with talk of a double-dip recession, your concern is justifiable. If you are self-employed, like me, you're probably feeling just as edgy as the employed about your future income.

As a freelance journalist and copywriter, I've occasionally wondered whether to start looking for a suitably sized cardboard box to move into. Earning a steady living in this way can be tough and erratic, and to tell you the truth, I'm a bit sick of it.

But there is another way, or so I've heard. And it's called "blogging". Apparently, it can make you money.

Collapsed Buliding: Coroner orders T.B. Joshua to appear November 5

•Building collapse not result of explosion –Fire Service

By Temidayo Akinsuyi / Snr. Correspondent, Lagos

The coroner investigating the collapse of a guest house at the Synagogue Church of All Nations on September 12, on Friday, ordered that the founder and General Overseer of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, should appear before it on November 5, 2014.

He is to appear alongside the contractor handling the six-storey building before its collapse on September 12.

Over 115 people died in the incident while several others sustained various degrees of injuries.

The coroner, Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe, stated that the appearance of the church’s founder was important to the assignment of the court.

Arguments by the church’s counsel, Jude Nnadi (SAN), that the appearance of the pastor would not be necessary because he was not an eyewitness, did not dissuade the magistrate as he insisted that Joshua would have to appear.

The magistrate, who said he had heard that Joshua had addressed the press at various times, said the pastor must also appear before the court to give evidence.

“We have heard that he has been addressing the press at various times. Let him come and address the court. The court has summoned him; let him come and tell us what he knows. He cannot sit over there and be sending words to us that he cannot come. The court has said that for the purpose of what we are doing that he should come over,” Komolafe said.

In his testimony, a Chief Operational Officer, Lagos State Fire Service, Musiliu Adebayo, told the court that his observation revealed that the building did not collapse as a result of an explosion.

Adebayo, who said he had 34 years of experience in rescue operation, insisted that there was nothing to suggest that the accident occurred as a result of an explosion.

According to him, “All the bodies recovered were whole and not dismembered or burnt. Also there were no scattered bricks. The floors and pillars were also not shattered rather the building had collapsed on top of each other. The collapsed building did not depict any sign of explosion or implosion.”

The coroner’s sitting was adjourned till Tuesday 28 for further hearing

War At Old Trafford: Terry, Drogba Wary Of Man United

Chelsea captain,John Terry and striker,Didier Drogba are wary of the threat Manchester United pose ahead of their Sunday showdown. Terry believes Jose Mourinho’s men will have to be at their best on Sunday.
The Blues head to Old Trafford with a healthy five-point lead at the top of the Premier League after claiming seven wins in their first eight matches.
Louis van Gaal’s side are 10 points adrift of Chelsea following their 2-2 draw at West Brom on Monday.
And despite the patchy form of the Manchester giants, Terry is wary of the threat posed by their star-studded attack.
“They’re still a very good side with world-class players in their team,” he said.
“Results haven’t really gone their way so far but we’re still aware at Old Trafford it’s a hostile atmosphere and they’ve got great support behind them.
“We’ll go there expecting them to be very good.”
Drogba concurs:”They are a threat. We know to go there with our belief and our strength, but we also have to know that they’re a good team.

I am alive’, says Boko Haram’s Shekau in new video

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau dismissed Nigerian military claims of his death in a new video obtained by AFP on Thursday and said the militants had implemented strict Islamic law in captured towns.

“Here I am, alive. I will only die the day Allah takes my breath,” Shekau said, adding that his group was “running our… Islamic caliphate” and administering strict sharia punishments.

Nigeria’s military said last week that Shekau was dead and that a man who had been posing as the group’s leader in the videos had been killed after fighting with troops in the far northeast.

Security analysts and the United States questioned the credibility of the military’s claim.

The new 36-minute video showed Shekau, in combat fatigues and black rubber boots, standing on the back of a pick-up truck and firing an anti-aircraft gun into the air.

Standing in front of three camouflaged vans and flanked by four heavily armed, masked fighters, he then speaks for 16 minutes in Arabic and the Hausa language widely spoken in northern Nigeria.

There was no indication of where or when the video was shot.

The heavily bearded Shekau, who appeared to be the same as those in previous clips, said the military’s claim that he was dead was propaganda.

“Nothing will kill me until my days are over… I’m still alive. Some people asked you if Shekau has two souls. No, I have one soul, by Allah,” he said, apparently reading from a script.

“It is propaganda that is prevalent. I have one soul. I’m an Islamic student.

“I’m the Islamic student whose seminary you burnt… I’m not dead,” he added, apparently referring to the destruction of the group’s mosque in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, in 2009.

There have been two previous claims by Nigeria’s security forces that Shekau was dead — once in 2009 during unrest in Maiduguri — and again in 2013.

Following each previous claim Boko Haram has issued denials in video messages.

Elsewhere in the new video, the militant leader said the group had implemented strict Islamic law in the towns that it had captured in recent weeks.

“We are running our caliphate, our Islamic caliphate. We follow the Koran… We now practise the injunctions of the Koran in the land of Allah,” he said.

The group also claimed to have shot down a Nigerian air force jet that went missing nearly three weeks ago.

An air force spokesman said the jet was missing.

“For any group to claim they shot it down is mere propaganda and rubbish,” Air Commodore Dele Alonge told AFP