Those of you who are more observant will notice that the title of this blog post is the main line of the chorus of Swoon by The Chemical Brothers - the message is simple: don’t forget the only thing that’s really important in life. Sure, everyone has their own opinons about what’s most important in life, but I’ve always thought that finding another person who you love and have a special bond with is more important than anything else. To be honest, I don’t think anything is more satisfying than knowing that there’s someone out there who’s perfect for you - to think that out of the three billon women in the world I’ve found one who’s perfect is pretty amazing. Things like this don’t come along often, so they should be cherished for as long as they last. 

Love does weird and wonderful things to you, it makes you more confident, it makes you feel good about yourself, it gives a whole new meaning to your life in some cases, and gives you something to fight for. I’ve never had anything to fight for before (my previous relationships were definitely not products of true love), and I’ve never really truly cared for anything other than a material possession. Before, the highlight of my week was either riding my bike, getting drunk, or buying something that I’d get bored of within a week. Not true satisfaction or happiness, right? Love also does things to people that may not immediately appear to be good, but are actions that are good at heart, and actions that were carried out with good intentions. Love makes us jealous, oblivious to the lesser things in our lives, and sometimes over-protective. But when you’re in love, actions such as these are not carried out with malice, but more because you love that person so much you’d do literally anything to protect them and care for them - even if it’s considered a bad thing to do. 

I think The Chemical Brothers are right, because the very act of being in love is the best feeling in the world. Literally, bar none. Euphoria, drugs, sport, anything that people do to make themselves happy suddenly go out of the window when you find true love - they suddenly seem boring and incomparable. The word ‘Swoon’ essentially means to pass out or faint from an extreme of emotion (at either end of the spectrum). “Just remember to fall in love, there’s nothing else, there’s nothing else…” are the only words sung in Swoon, so it sends a pretty clear message: don’t forget to fall in love, or remember that you’re in love and someone’s in love with you, because there’s nothing else in life that really matters. For instance, take away everything that you have - your smartphone, your fancy computer, your designers clothes, and what do you have left? Just a human being, and the beautiful thing about that is that love is the only, and the best thing, you can achieve. 

So fall in love, people, don’t just like someone a lot - find someone you truly love. It’ll be the best thing that ever happens to you, it’ll do good things to you, it’ll also do bad things to you but the good outweighs the bad ten to one. I love my girlfriend so much, she’s the most important thing in my life, and nothing comes close to making me as happy as she does. Everyone says it’s bad to make a girl the centre of your universe, but I want to and have made her the centre of mine. She is the best thing in my world, and I don’t care what anyone else thinks. 

You know you’re really in love when she just pops into your head for no reason, when everything else in your life takes a backseat, when you love literally every single thing about her, and when you’d sacrifice anything to make sure she’s happy. 

I’ve been using Bose’s On-Ear headphones for a little under a year prior to purchasing these, and while they were a very good set of headphones, they had a few quite serious flaws. Firstly, they didn’t feel like £120 headphones - they were constructed from a cheap plastic that scratched easily, and the cable felt very weak. The OEs also creaked a fair amount when on the head, which was annoying to say the least. Secondly, they couldn’t really cope with music at high volumes; sound became tinny, and distorted. Along come the AEs.

While the OEs sat on your ear, the AEs (as the name suggests) sit around your ear - this brings much better noise isolation (these headphones, unlike Bose’s QC range, do not feature active noise cancellation) and dramatically increased levels of comfort. I can wear the AEs twice as long as the OEs and not feel a thing. It’s also worth noting that the AEs are significantly better vented than the OEs, meaning that they can be worn comfortably in a warm room or environment for longer periods than the OEs. The AEs are much larger than the OEs, and do not fold up. While some may find this annoying, I don’t really see it as much of an issue for me because the AEs come with a nice carrying bag and fit in my bag just fine. 

The OEs had a detachable cable that was only single-sided. While this was great for making the headset compact and easy to dismantle and carry around, the strength of the cable was dubious and after ten months of use the end of the OE’s cable actually broke on me. The AE’s have a cable that feels much stronger, and is also a lot longer, which makes them more practical. The 3.5mm jack also feels a lot more sturdy on the AEs. 

Now for the most important part: sound quality. The AEs sound amazing compared to the OEs. It’s strange because I thought the OEs were the best sounding headphones I’d used, but the AEs really impress. They have a much more refined sound, and cope with high volume a lot better than the OEs - sure, the sound still distorts a little at extremely high volume, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the OEs. They also have less bass than the OEs, but that’s good because on occasion the OE’s bass can get overwhelming and distorted. Vocals are also much clearer and more refined on the AEs, but perhaps the critical feature of the AE’s sound is that they don’t muffle the sound. On the OEs, I felt that sound came across as slightly muffled, perhaps due to the design of the earbuds which were rather thick. The construction of the AE’s buds is much more direct and uninterrupted.

One thing you may be wondering is why I didn’t go for the AE2s. Well I tried both and actually thought that the sound of the older AEs was better than that of the AE2s. I’m not sure why, and I may be wrong, but they just sound better and noise isolation seemed better, too. 

Overall, I’d really recommend these headphones. They’re not too expensive, at just under £100, and they provide outstanding sound quality across a variety of genres - even better than that of the OEs. They are also ultra-comfortable and look super stylish, a truly winning combination from Bose.

The Kidigi desktop dock is a simple desktop charging and USB sync cradle for the Samsung Google Nexus S. Although the product is made from plastic, it actually feels very high quality and has a good weight to it - this means that it provides a solid base for your phone to sit on, and it’s unlikely that you’ll knock it over when it’s sat on your desk. The dock is designed so that it angles your device upward toward your face; in practise, I found that the angle was absolutely perfect for me and that I could actually easily operate my device with a forefinger or a thumb even when it was placed in the dock.

At the front of the dock, there is a small blue LED that lights up to indicate whether your device is charging or not. Sometimes it’s easy to just place your phone onto the dock without checking whether mains power is on or not, so this is a nice little addition. Of course, there is a Micro USB connector at the front, and your Nexus S would simply slide into the dock and charge immediately. Another nice feature is the small foam tab toward the top of the dock, which prevents your device from being scratched when it is being removed/replaced - again, a very nice touch and shows that the designers paid attention to detail. 

I’d say the main downside of this dock is the fact that those who use cases on their Nexus S will have to remove it before docking, as the size and shape of the cradle section simply doesn’t make allowance for cases. However, those who use full body protectors such as the ones from Invisibleshield should be fine with this dock. It’s also worth noting that the dock can not only charge but also connect to a computer using the provided USB cable, so you can sync data between your computer and phone right from the dock, exactly as you would use a standard USB cable. 

The Kidigi is an excellent dock. It’s well built, good value, and works flawlessly. They even provide a Micro USB sync/charge cable as well as a USB mains adapter, which is always handy. It’s also available for a variety of different devices, and I’d highly recommend it. 

A big thanks to the folks over at Mobilefun.co.uk for sending this product out to me for review. Mobilefun stock a huge range of mobile phone holders as well as a ton of other accessories for your smartphone - go check them out! 

I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. While this hasn’t been clinically diagnosed, I’m one hundred percent certain that I do. Let’s start by talking about why, and how I know. I’ll also be fairly open and comment on how this has affected and is affecting my life, so that those of you who may feel that you are suffering from the same illness don’t feel ‘alone’, as it were.

Obsessions

I obsess over most things in my life. Every morning, I have a routine, and if that routine isn’t carried out in the exact way I think it should be carried out, it bothers me. Severely. My hair has to look a certain way, and again if there’s a bit out of place then it’ll bother me. The amount that something bothers me is relative to how much it matters to me - for instance, if my hair is a little out of place, I’ll be a little frustrated but not angered; however, if someone doesn’t act the way I expect them to, I get mad especially if it’s someone important to me. This brings me swiftly onto the next part of my OCD, expectations. 

Expectations

I have expectations of literally everything. This is the strongest manifestation of my OCD, and perhaps the most damaging. Absolutely everything in my life I have an expectation over, and if it fails to live upto that, I end up frustrated, or even angry. I expect my phone to work in a certain way, buses to run in a certain way, food to taste a certain way, and (worst of all) I expect specific people to act in very specific ways. As is typical with having such expectations, most of them do not happen. This results in me being angry, and while I rarely have fits of rage over such things, it causes an unbearable and torturing amount of stress. This damages my relationships with people, because I’ve categorised everyone and if they don’t act how I’d like them to act, I treat them badly. 

At the end of the day, I simply can’t accept that the world won’t work in the way I want it to. We don’t live in an ideal world, but that’s something that just doesn’t seem to compute with me. I overthink, jump to conclusions, worry, obsess, and over-analyse ridiculously. Absolutely nobody sees the world like I do, and therefore nobody can understand my pain. I’ll be going to see a medical professional about this soon, and I’ll edit this post when I have a final outcome.