Normally I am not one to make resolutions, or bother with this "new year, new me" shit. I once made a resolution to stop swearing...within a few minutes several versions of the word "fuck" had escaped my mouth and from then on I never bothered.
This year, I am giving in.
I am making a resolution. Or two. OK, three.
I hope you are rolling your eyes at me as hard as I am right now.
My resolution, as I admitted, is three-pronged.
First, physicality.
It is highly obvious that I am marginally overweight, despite my doctor telling me otherwise. I have an amazing holiday coming up that I would rather not look like a slightly melted marshmallow stuffed inside a pair of shorts for. So, I am pledging to you that I am going to lose weight. How much? I would like to lose around two and a half stone by December next year. I would like to have lost at least one and a half stone by the end of July, just before I go on holiday. This time I won't do it for six months, lose a stone, get bored then pile it all back on plus extra. I am going to enjoy my last few days of eating all the shit leftover from Christmas whilst I can!
How am I going to do it? Well, conveniently, in order to save for my holiday, pay my bills and survive, I will be living on £12 a week from 1st January. This means I can't necessarily buy all the shit I would usually snack on, or treat myself to the odd take out. I will be buying the same basic ingredients every single week until August - partly out of choice, mostly because I have to. I will also be using my dogs as an exercise tool, making the most out of the walks we go on. I am poor enough that I can't afford the gym, so I will be doing a home workout of some sorts every night after walking the dogs. This means a lot of planning, which I have started to do now so watch this space!
Second, mentality.
I have made no secret on here of my mental health struggles over the last few months. I have already started attempting to work on these, but it is going to be a long uphill battle to the finish line. So, I am pledging to you that I promise to do more of what makes me happy, and less of what doesn't. I am going to try and spend more time working on writing both my blog and my book which has been a great tool to channel my thoughts in to.
I will try to stop taking on too much when I know I can't handle it; I will do the mental exercises that I have been set; I will try to stop getting stressed about the unknown; I will spend more time working on me. I have slowly learned to accept help when I know I need it, so I am going to continue working with that help to get myself back on the right track.
Third, eventuality.
I am a planner. A serious one at that. When I can't plan for something, or the plan doesn't come through it gives me anxiety. It makes me feel uneasy, on edge and unable to function properly. This is what I am dealing with at the moment. Essentially, this works happily, or not so, alongside mentality. My family have always joked that I am too much of a planner and I need to plan everything; I am a sucker for a list and I plan things down to the last second. In a situation like I am in now where it is impossible to plan for anything apart from tomorrow, I am pretty much useless. It would appear that this could be the main cause of my mental health issues at the moment, which hopefully will improve shortly. I need to get past this hurdle in my life. I am at a crossroads and I have no fucking clue where to go with it. I need to sell my house, but the market is slow. I need to save money, but I am paying stupid money a month on my house. I need to find a new house, but I can't do that until I sell this one. It is an endless cycle and even now typing this, I am feeling uneasy about everything.
So, how does this fit in with resolutions? I need to plan slowly for any eventuality; keeping my options open but being prepared for anything that may come my way. I am being organised and trying to get my ducks in a row and I am sincerely hoping that I am going to be able to type this post bloody happier next year.
2019 cannot come soon enough, I am so fucking done with this year! I am currently planning (shock) how to go about all of the above and look forward to sharing and whining with and at you next year.
I still say resolutions are a pile of shit, but here we go!
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Thursday, December 27, 2018
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Year two roundup and summery update
I have realised that this is my 100th post - yay!
First of all I have to make an apology, and a future apology, for my significant lack of blogging. My hard drive on my laptop corrupted *sniff sniff*, so I am currently in the process of stealing different laptops from my family until I have the money to get a new one. It looks like we may be here for a while as I have decided to get a mac *waves goodbye to money*. I am finding other people's laptops increasingly frustrating to handle because of the weird lack of spacing between keys, so this will be fun.
So what has happened in the last few weeks? Well I have finished my second year of university - finally! It has been a significant amount of ups and downs, some worse than others, but here I am still standing! Exams as per usual were living hell and I was so glad to get a rather large volume of alcohol down my throat at the end of it (and a pretty lush curry and milkshake - interesting combo). I am currently waiting on the results of two exams before I decide how well the year went overall, but now I need to start thinking about next year.
I have the joys of figuring out what I want to write my dissertation on (12,000 words of complete bull most the time). Luckily I have a vague idea of what I want to do, so hopefully that will all come together. I've also got to put together an agenda for events to do throughout the year, so I should probably get on that really...
And I go back to work in two weeks for the remaining duration of the summer, so I wave goodbye to spare time, but hello to a hella lot of money, whoopee! So that means new laptop, money towards my after uni plans, and new clothes! Maybe this calls for a haul post...who knows?....
Tomorrow I am off to Bristol for the day, so I may do a cheeky little post about that considering I get to go to one of my all time favourite places to eat - Za Za Bazaar. If you are ever in the Bristol (or Newcastle area for that fact!) go grab something there, it's sooooo good!
Ok, so what do the next few months mean for Lovelychubly?
I have a great few months lined up for you between now and September. I can promise you that you will get at least one post per week, but mostly two. I am starting a new weekly series with the lovely IsThataRedHerring where we have taken up a fitness challenge as motivation to lose some weight ready for next year. So keep up to date with that via both of our pages, we'll link you to each one so you can see how we are doing. Don't forget to comment with any tips on how to lose weight etc because we're going to need the motivation!
I have also got a Disney tag lined up in the next few weeks thanks to LittleBoots so hopefully that will be up soon.
I am also planning on doing a second part to my 22 fictional deaths I'll never get over. Possibly with a few different posts surrounding that as you lot seem to really enjoy that post!
Also some suggestions of things that you want to see would be lovely so that I can keep my content up to date! I am thinking of doing some sort of weekly "follow me" style post so you can see what I get up to if I do anything interesting. Unfortunately for me, most of my time will be spent at work so only two days a week will be running around trying to be exciting. So I'll try my best to do cool things!
It's also coming up to my blog's first birthday soon - how time flies, gosh! So I might do some awesome funky post thing. There is a possibility I am going to create a Facebook like page where you can find all my things in one place, so if you like this idea do let me know!
I think that is everything for now. Stay tuned for the next few days to see my first annoying fitness thingy which starts on Monday. So I must wave toodle-oo to all my favourite unhealthy things; wish me luck!
As always thank you for reading, and all my little links are over on the right.
Stay cheery and I shall speak to you next time!
First of all I have to make an apology, and a future apology, for my significant lack of blogging. My hard drive on my laptop corrupted *sniff sniff*, so I am currently in the process of stealing different laptops from my family until I have the money to get a new one. It looks like we may be here for a while as I have decided to get a mac *waves goodbye to money*. I am finding other people's laptops increasingly frustrating to handle because of the weird lack of spacing between keys, so this will be fun.
So what has happened in the last few weeks? Well I have finished my second year of university - finally! It has been a significant amount of ups and downs, some worse than others, but here I am still standing! Exams as per usual were living hell and I was so glad to get a rather large volume of alcohol down my throat at the end of it (and a pretty lush curry and milkshake - interesting combo). I am currently waiting on the results of two exams before I decide how well the year went overall, but now I need to start thinking about next year.
I have the joys of figuring out what I want to write my dissertation on (12,000 words of complete bull most the time). Luckily I have a vague idea of what I want to do, so hopefully that will all come together. I've also got to put together an agenda for events to do throughout the year, so I should probably get on that really...
And I go back to work in two weeks for the remaining duration of the summer, so I wave goodbye to spare time, but hello to a hella lot of money, whoopee! So that means new laptop, money towards my after uni plans, and new clothes! Maybe this calls for a haul post...who knows?....
Tomorrow I am off to Bristol for the day, so I may do a cheeky little post about that considering I get to go to one of my all time favourite places to eat - Za Za Bazaar. If you are ever in the Bristol (or Newcastle area for that fact!) go grab something there, it's sooooo good!
Ok, so what do the next few months mean for Lovelychubly?
I have a great few months lined up for you between now and September. I can promise you that you will get at least one post per week, but mostly two. I am starting a new weekly series with the lovely IsThataRedHerring where we have taken up a fitness challenge as motivation to lose some weight ready for next year. So keep up to date with that via both of our pages, we'll link you to each one so you can see how we are doing. Don't forget to comment with any tips on how to lose weight etc because we're going to need the motivation!
I have also got a Disney tag lined up in the next few weeks thanks to LittleBoots so hopefully that will be up soon.
I am also planning on doing a second part to my 22 fictional deaths I'll never get over. Possibly with a few different posts surrounding that as you lot seem to really enjoy that post!
Also some suggestions of things that you want to see would be lovely so that I can keep my content up to date! I am thinking of doing some sort of weekly "follow me" style post so you can see what I get up to if I do anything interesting. Unfortunately for me, most of my time will be spent at work so only two days a week will be running around trying to be exciting. So I'll try my best to do cool things!
It's also coming up to my blog's first birthday soon - how time flies, gosh! So I might do some awesome funky post thing. There is a possibility I am going to create a Facebook like page where you can find all my things in one place, so if you like this idea do let me know!
I think that is everything for now. Stay tuned for the next few days to see my first annoying fitness thingy which starts on Monday. So I must wave toodle-oo to all my favourite unhealthy things; wish me luck!
As always thank you for reading, and all my little links are over on the right.
Stay cheery and I shall speak to you next time!
Thursday, December 19, 2013
End of year ponderings
I realised today that I have pretty much hardly blogged throughout December....sorry about that! Things have been hectic and very busy! I had a statistics essay due in which I ended up pretty much bullshitting my way through, and then I came back to my hometown and I have had work, and I could pile a massive load of excuses on to you...But I am here now, so hello!
Just a little side note for any of my regular readers who will probably know the ins and outs of the last few months: I do apologise for my lack of posts. Not felt myself in a while, and I found it very difficult to open up to anyone let alone the entire internet, but now all is back on track and I feel like I can get back to my old style again!
Although I am jumping the gun a bit with this post considering it is only December 19 (probably 20th by the time I edit and publish this) but Christmas is always mental in my family, and I am heading on back home for New Year so I don't think you'll appreciate a hungover ramble about my night. So I thought that I would take now to look back on my year and just have a general chit-chat like I used to before shit got all serious. Sooooo, queue long and boring diary post!
I think the first thing I think that I have noticed a lot more in the last few months is that I am no longer a miserable bitch! Stop raising your eyebrows at me, I am the first to admit that for the last year I have been a right pain in the ass. However, now that there have been certain big changes in my life with things coming to and end, and new things beginning, I think I am a lot happier in general. I am not aiming that at anyone in particular as I know a few people will probably read this and question me, but hey ho. It has been noted that I am a completely different person to what I was at the end of 2012, and there are a few people that I can probably pin-point this to, but I shan't name them because that would take too long and most of you have no idea who they are. Maybe they can have a little dedication at the bottom. Who knows? So yeah, I am a happy person now. I think everything that happened a few months ago, although upsetting and annoying at the time, has contributed massively to my state of mind now. But that is a story for another day.
I am going to take this little section to just say that in the last couple of months I have also found out who my really close friends are. I have always been one for having a larger set of friends and not really let anyone in too much to get too close. But recently I have discovered that I could probably count my close friends on one hand - a bit of a shocker for me to be honest. I think this is probably because I have really dodgy trust issues sometimes, and I just hate letting people get so close that would give them the option to hurt me (of which I have recently learned the hard way again) but I have started to let that go with the help of a few lovely people. Again, naming and shaming is not going to happen - sorry, guys! Basically I found that a few people who I had previously been friends with were all back-stabby and typical girl related shit. This is why most my friends are male; just a gazillon times easier. So yeah. Much love to the select few who put up with all my shit and still love me all the same (especially as I live with a couple of them).
Trying to go through in my head what I wanted to say - finding it very difficult to put in to words without mentioning names and direct situations.
I think the most important development in the last year, particularly the last couple of months, is that my relationship with my mother has come on leaps and bounds. In the past we have never seen eye to eye, and I have probably been the world's shittiest daughter with all the shit that I have put both of my parents through in the last 7ish years. To which I now hold my hands up and admit I have been crap. But since all this shit happened in the last few months, I have grown very close to her which is nice, and we get on pretty well now. I don't know where I would be without her now; I could probably say that I would not be sat here writing to you if she hadn't been there. So if she ever reads this: I love you lots.
I think sort of post-September I have become quite close to a few people that have normally just been bog-standard friends. I don't even know if that makes any sense? But I am so freaking happy with how this year has ended in relation to that, and the people who are currently in my life are bloody amazing. I think they all deserve some extra brownie points for dealing with me!
Apologies for the weird soppiness there. Also, let me know in the comments below if you want me to publish the little thing I wrote when I was going through a lot of shit. It's just a thing explaining my mindset, and I would probably work in some advice around it. So comment below if you want to see that.
I have also finally (sort of) managed to solve my career crisis, yay! If you read my blog a lot you will know that I went through what my housemate would call a "quarter life crisis". You can read about it here, it will probably be a good laugh for you. I have come to the decision that I might do an extra year at university and do a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) and look in to teaching. Completely unrelated to my initial degree, I know, but I work in a school in my hometown and everyone always goes on about how I should be a teacher. I love working there so I thought that yeah I'd quite like to give that a shot. Thus my career crisis came to and end!
Oh, I also managed to get an amazing opportunity working at HMP Dartmoor with Story Book Dads which are an amazing charity who work with prisoners to help them maintain contact with their children through books. It is absolutely brilliant, and I will be doing a post on them in the new year so keep your eye out!
What else has happened this year? Oh, I finished my first year at university last May after several horrible exams and whatnot. I didn't fail so that's good! I also discovered that I can drink a hell of a lot of vodka...don't ask. Ermmmm, oh and my Grampy laughed so much that coffee came out his nose! I am also considering finally putting some videos up on my YouTube...thoughts?
I have also learned a very valuable lesson from the end couple of months of this year. Life is short. Seriously fucking short. Cherish everyone you have in it because one day you might wake up and they won't be there anymore. This applies seriously to your family, especially your parents. They are the only people in the world who will love you and be there for you no matter what shit happens. Everyone else has the option to walk away, but love from a parent is unconditional. If you take anything away from this at all then make sure it's that.
To quickly add to that little advice nugget, something that has hit home this year is that we only regret things we don't do. I have taken on so many different things this year, and accepted opportunities that I would normally just let pass by me. Take my blog for example: 6 months ago it didn't exist. Now I am my own website with a lot of credit for my work behind me! So do something exciting, something you would normally be scared of. Fear is only as big as we allow it to be!
All in all, 2013 has been a year of some serious highs, but also some serious lows. Yet I wouldn't change anything for the world because I have come out fighting and stronger at the end of it and I can sit laughing at the people who fucked me around, or fucked things up. I can 100% walk away from this year thinking I have done the thing that is best for me, even if I almost didn't manage to come out of the entire situation. 2013 went way too fast, and it seemingly showing no signs of slowing down - I don't like it!
Here is a little summary of my last year in one picture:
I have some awesome plans for 2014, kicking off with a trip over to Amsterdam (obviously for culture and not to spend the entire weekend drunk......) and then some pretty cool things for my blog too! I am hoping that next year will be better than this one.
Think I will leave it there for now. Apologies for the scattered nature of this post, I think it kind of reflects my mind a little at the moment.
As always, thank you for reading and I hope to see you all again soon!
Have a lovely Christmas everyone, and an even better New Year!
Love you all, bye!
Just a little side note for any of my regular readers who will probably know the ins and outs of the last few months: I do apologise for my lack of posts. Not felt myself in a while, and I found it very difficult to open up to anyone let alone the entire internet, but now all is back on track and I feel like I can get back to my old style again!
Although I am jumping the gun a bit with this post considering it is only December 19 (probably 20th by the time I edit and publish this) but Christmas is always mental in my family, and I am heading on back home for New Year so I don't think you'll appreciate a hungover ramble about my night. So I thought that I would take now to look back on my year and just have a general chit-chat like I used to before shit got all serious. Sooooo, queue long and boring diary post!
I think the first thing I think that I have noticed a lot more in the last few months is that I am no longer a miserable bitch! Stop raising your eyebrows at me, I am the first to admit that for the last year I have been a right pain in the ass. However, now that there have been certain big changes in my life with things coming to and end, and new things beginning, I think I am a lot happier in general. I am not aiming that at anyone in particular as I know a few people will probably read this and question me, but hey ho. It has been noted that I am a completely different person to what I was at the end of 2012, and there are a few people that I can probably pin-point this to, but I shan't name them because that would take too long and most of you have no idea who they are. Maybe they can have a little dedication at the bottom. Who knows? So yeah, I am a happy person now. I think everything that happened a few months ago, although upsetting and annoying at the time, has contributed massively to my state of mind now. But that is a story for another day.
I am going to take this little section to just say that in the last couple of months I have also found out who my really close friends are. I have always been one for having a larger set of friends and not really let anyone in too much to get too close. But recently I have discovered that I could probably count my close friends on one hand - a bit of a shocker for me to be honest. I think this is probably because I have really dodgy trust issues sometimes, and I just hate letting people get so close that would give them the option to hurt me (of which I have recently learned the hard way again) but I have started to let that go with the help of a few lovely people. Again, naming and shaming is not going to happen - sorry, guys! Basically I found that a few people who I had previously been friends with were all back-stabby and typical girl related shit. This is why most my friends are male; just a gazillon times easier. So yeah. Much love to the select few who put up with all my shit and still love me all the same (especially as I live with a couple of them).
Trying to go through in my head what I wanted to say - finding it very difficult to put in to words without mentioning names and direct situations.
I think the most important development in the last year, particularly the last couple of months, is that my relationship with my mother has come on leaps and bounds. In the past we have never seen eye to eye, and I have probably been the world's shittiest daughter with all the shit that I have put both of my parents through in the last 7ish years. To which I now hold my hands up and admit I have been crap. But since all this shit happened in the last few months, I have grown very close to her which is nice, and we get on pretty well now. I don't know where I would be without her now; I could probably say that I would not be sat here writing to you if she hadn't been there. So if she ever reads this: I love you lots.
I think sort of post-September I have become quite close to a few people that have normally just been bog-standard friends. I don't even know if that makes any sense? But I am so freaking happy with how this year has ended in relation to that, and the people who are currently in my life are bloody amazing. I think they all deserve some extra brownie points for dealing with me!
Apologies for the weird soppiness there. Also, let me know in the comments below if you want me to publish the little thing I wrote when I was going through a lot of shit. It's just a thing explaining my mindset, and I would probably work in some advice around it. So comment below if you want to see that.
I have also finally (sort of) managed to solve my career crisis, yay! If you read my blog a lot you will know that I went through what my housemate would call a "quarter life crisis". You can read about it here, it will probably be a good laugh for you. I have come to the decision that I might do an extra year at university and do a PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) and look in to teaching. Completely unrelated to my initial degree, I know, but I work in a school in my hometown and everyone always goes on about how I should be a teacher. I love working there so I thought that yeah I'd quite like to give that a shot. Thus my career crisis came to and end!
Oh, I also managed to get an amazing opportunity working at HMP Dartmoor with Story Book Dads which are an amazing charity who work with prisoners to help them maintain contact with their children through books. It is absolutely brilliant, and I will be doing a post on them in the new year so keep your eye out!
What else has happened this year? Oh, I finished my first year at university last May after several horrible exams and whatnot. I didn't fail so that's good! I also discovered that I can drink a hell of a lot of vodka...don't ask. Ermmmm, oh and my Grampy laughed so much that coffee came out his nose! I am also considering finally putting some videos up on my YouTube...thoughts?
I have also learned a very valuable lesson from the end couple of months of this year. Life is short. Seriously fucking short. Cherish everyone you have in it because one day you might wake up and they won't be there anymore. This applies seriously to your family, especially your parents. They are the only people in the world who will love you and be there for you no matter what shit happens. Everyone else has the option to walk away, but love from a parent is unconditional. If you take anything away from this at all then make sure it's that.
To quickly add to that little advice nugget, something that has hit home this year is that we only regret things we don't do. I have taken on so many different things this year, and accepted opportunities that I would normally just let pass by me. Take my blog for example: 6 months ago it didn't exist. Now I am my own website with a lot of credit for my work behind me! So do something exciting, something you would normally be scared of. Fear is only as big as we allow it to be!
All in all, 2013 has been a year of some serious highs, but also some serious lows. Yet I wouldn't change anything for the world because I have come out fighting and stronger at the end of it and I can sit laughing at the people who fucked me around, or fucked things up. I can 100% walk away from this year thinking I have done the thing that is best for me, even if I almost didn't manage to come out of the entire situation. 2013 went way too fast, and it seemingly showing no signs of slowing down - I don't like it!
Here is a little summary of my last year in one picture:
Some images courtesy of Jay Stone
I have some awesome plans for 2014, kicking off with a trip over to Amsterdam (obviously for culture and not to spend the entire weekend drunk......) and then some pretty cool things for my blog too! I am hoping that next year will be better than this one.
Think I will leave it there for now. Apologies for the scattered nature of this post, I think it kind of reflects my mind a little at the moment.
As always, thank you for reading and I hope to see you all again soon!
Have a lovely Christmas everyone, and an even better New Year!
Love you all, bye!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
What would you try if you had no fear?
Once again I have become annoyingly and unbelievably philosophical because of a post that I have seen on Tumblr. I will post the original below just to give the owner some credit as this was an image rather than a direct quote.
This post, as you can probably guess has sent my mind whirring away. I mean, what would I try if I had no fear? What would you try?
First of all I want to discuss the concept of "fear". I mean technically what is fear? Surely the fear of something is only as big as you allow it to be? So technically you could have no fear or something in general without this idea? I think I am thinking way too much in to this.
So what would I do if I had no fear? Initially I thought about an absolute ton of things that I would want to try, and then I began to think a lot more in to it. So I think I am going to split this in to several sections. Not quite sure how yet, so lets see how this plans out.
Career/education
If I had no fear I think the first set of choices I would make and things that I would do would relate around my career choices. As you might know if you have read some of my previous posts about having a crisis (which you can read here) then you will know that I am absolutely terrified of the next few years of my life. So that is why I would be tackling this first.
First of all I think I would actually go for the career of my dreams - which would probably be a writer. For some reason I have a crippling fear of even considering this at the moment and I don't know why. I think it's because it has nothing to do with my degree and I just feel that it would be such a difficult career to pursue because of the major setbacks regarding freelance writing etc. Having said that, there are like almost no jobs in the criminal justice system at the moment so I guess that either way I am not going to lose anything.
As much as I love studying criminology, I think if I could try something without being scared of it I would choose to do another degree. I'd love to do a degree in journalism or creative writing or something similar. I think that this is just where my main interest is and I would enjoy it all the time. I do love studying criminology, don't get me wrong, but I am not passionate about it whatsoever. Then again I have said that I don't have a passion in a previous post (which you can read here). I know criminology has opened up some pretty good opportunities for me, including my current work placement with Storybook Dads which I will be writing about soon, but I don't think I want to work in that sector anymore. So definitely doing another degree, or even a postgrad course - money would have to be no object of course!
On a similar note, I would do something about my blog. I am quite scared of altering it in any major way in case it messes up and I couldn't get it back. So I would definitely get over my fear and purchase my domain name and become a proper blogging website. I know a while back I said I would do this if I got over 10, 000 viewers, and I am now nearing 11, 000...but I am terrified of doing it! I literally do not know why. I am just shitting myself about changing it. I also think I would need to employ the help of a web designer to make it all funky and whatnot, but I don't have the money to do that unfortunately.
Relationships
This would be another area I would definitely do something about if I had no fear. For example, I would tell a certain someone exactly how I feel about them. Which sounds stupid because as a rule I would generally just go up to someone if I like them and let them know.
I'd also get the balls to ask Tom Daley on a date! The majority of you are probably now sitting there looking at the screen with a "what the fuck" look on your face because he's all famous and whatnot. He does live near me as I live in Plymouth, and I see him out and about all the time, so he's not a stranger to my life. I speak to him on nights out etc, and I even got a kiss off him (see picture below) so you know...totally in there.
In a more general turn of events, I would definitely do something slightly more adventurous with myself I think. Maybe actually follow fashion?! If you ever see me, you will know that I have absolutely zero fashion sense and my mentality is that if it fits then it's fine. Maybe I should conquer this anyway?
I think if I had no fear I would also try to write a full on novel. It's something I have always wanted to do, and have actually begun planning one several times just to get frustrated with its lack of direction and throw it in the bin. At the moment I am considering doing some fictional writing on top of my blog just to see what direction it takes. Maybe publish it chapter by chapter.
But mainly if I had no fear I would pack everything up, chuck it in a backpack and set off to explore the world and just see where I am going. I take major inspiration from several YouTubers (FunForLouis, JacksGap, and Watchbbbtv) who turn these dreams in to actions. I would love the opportunity to do even half the things they do. JacksGap and Watchbbbtv actually did a collaboration (which you can view here and the JacksGap video here) with some amazing footage from Dubai. So as you can imagine I am extremely jealous of this. If anyone wants to take me around the world and let me blog about it that would be fantastic.
Maybe that's what I should do? I should travel the world and blog about all the things I do. Take a leaf from the Big Bad Bucketlist and do some of these things myself? Tempting....I could start off in Plymouth and just go from there...Thoughts?
To finish on a slightly logical note, I don't think life could exist without fear. As much as it may seem nice for someone to think that having no fear would mean that they could do anything, fear tends to motivate people and define people's limits on things. So without fear how would we know our limits? How would we get the motivation to tackle certain tasks? Surely life would be very slightly boring without fear. Fear provides adrenaline and although we could take part in adrenaline fueled tasks, we would not get that natural sense of it.
So I ask you guys: what would you do if you had no fear? Comment below with your answers.
As always thank you for reading. If you liked this post then be sure to become a member by clicking "Join This Site" to be told when I write more!
Toodle-oo!
This post, as you can probably guess has sent my mind whirring away. I mean, what would I try if I had no fear? What would you try?
First of all I want to discuss the concept of "fear". I mean technically what is fear? Surely the fear of something is only as big as you allow it to be? So technically you could have no fear or something in general without this idea? I think I am thinking way too much in to this.
So what would I do if I had no fear? Initially I thought about an absolute ton of things that I would want to try, and then I began to think a lot more in to it. So I think I am going to split this in to several sections. Not quite sure how yet, so lets see how this plans out.
Career/education
If I had no fear I think the first set of choices I would make and things that I would do would relate around my career choices. As you might know if you have read some of my previous posts about having a crisis (which you can read here) then you will know that I am absolutely terrified of the next few years of my life. So that is why I would be tackling this first.
First of all I think I would actually go for the career of my dreams - which would probably be a writer. For some reason I have a crippling fear of even considering this at the moment and I don't know why. I think it's because it has nothing to do with my degree and I just feel that it would be such a difficult career to pursue because of the major setbacks regarding freelance writing etc. Having said that, there are like almost no jobs in the criminal justice system at the moment so I guess that either way I am not going to lose anything.
As much as I love studying criminology, I think if I could try something without being scared of it I would choose to do another degree. I'd love to do a degree in journalism or creative writing or something similar. I think that this is just where my main interest is and I would enjoy it all the time. I do love studying criminology, don't get me wrong, but I am not passionate about it whatsoever. Then again I have said that I don't have a passion in a previous post (which you can read here). I know criminology has opened up some pretty good opportunities for me, including my current work placement with Storybook Dads which I will be writing about soon, but I don't think I want to work in that sector anymore. So definitely doing another degree, or even a postgrad course - money would have to be no object of course!
On a similar note, I would do something about my blog. I am quite scared of altering it in any major way in case it messes up and I couldn't get it back. So I would definitely get over my fear and purchase my domain name and become a proper blogging website. I know a while back I said I would do this if I got over 10, 000 viewers, and I am now nearing 11, 000...but I am terrified of doing it! I literally do not know why. I am just shitting myself about changing it. I also think I would need to employ the help of a web designer to make it all funky and whatnot, but I don't have the money to do that unfortunately.
Relationships
This would be another area I would definitely do something about if I had no fear. For example, I would tell a certain someone exactly how I feel about them. Which sounds stupid because as a rule I would generally just go up to someone if I like them and let them know.
I'd also get the balls to ask Tom Daley on a date! The majority of you are probably now sitting there looking at the screen with a "what the fuck" look on your face because he's all famous and whatnot. He does live near me as I live in Plymouth, and I see him out and about all the time, so he's not a stranger to my life. I speak to him on nights out etc, and I even got a kiss off him (see picture below) so you know...totally in there.
Moving slightly on from that, I think I am quite scared of trying a different type of guy. I have a tendency to go for the same sort of looking guy which usually ends badly, as the recent one has. So I think for once in my life I need to go for a nice guy.
I am currently at a crossroads in my life where I have just spent the last few months feeling like crap after being treated like complete and utter shit. I did write a massive post about this which ended up being about 2, 500 words but I don't know whether to edit it and publish it or just to leave it sitting on my laptop. Thoughts? So in relation to this, I think I need to stop being so scared of people and scared of putting myself first. It's safe to say I was in complete denial about how someone felt about me which lead to me basically spending the last couple of months in and out of something that has made me feel both worthless and humiliated. So yeah. So I would stop being so scared about putting myself first.
Life choices
Well I have a feeling that this is going to be a very long section. There are so many life choices that I am far too scared to even think about let alone completely contemplate to the point of a major decision. Having said that, I made a few decisions in the last few days (finally) after about a year of wanting to do them.
I will tell you about the decisions I have made recently after bloody ages of thinking about them. The first regards my plans straight after university. As you may or may not know, I am a major Disney fan, and it has always been my dream to work in Walt Disney World and I finally got the balls to properly look in to it a few weeks ago. I found out that they offer graduate places for a year long placement with them working in different areas of the park. So do you know what? I said fuck it to everything and decided to apply. Obviously I can't apply until next year but I am going to either way! So hopefully I will get accepted in to that. I have also decided to finally start saving to make the big move over to Australia! I know this will take me a long bloody time but it is definitely something that I would love to do and have thought about for a few years now so it's like fuck it, lets do it.
Now, if I had no fear what life choices would I make? Hmmmm, this is a difficult one I think. As a rule I tend to make my life decisions with or without fear. Although I think I would be a bit more bold in my choices.
I think I would try to take on more things. Not in the form of work or anything, but I wouldn't say "no" to certain things. An example of this was about 10 years ago I got the chance to go to Australia and I turned it down because I was scared to go without my parents. Basically I am an idiot.
Adrenaline
This is a bit of a difficult one because I am such an adrenaline junkie and I will do anything to try and scare myself, whether that be watching a scary film or jumping out a plane. So instead I think I will just tell you about the things I want to, and plan to, do!
First of all I want to go skydiving! I don't know why, and I don't know when, but I am going to do it! I have always been curious about what it feels like to jump out a plane just strapped to someone else...the mind boggles.
I also want to go cage diving with great white sharks - something that has been offered to me in Australia when I go! My mind literally went "dksjfklsdgknd" when I found out that I could do this. I mean how awesome would that be? I am soooo excited. My mum won't like it though...
In slight relation to skydiving, I also want to do bungee jumping. Ideally off the Grand Canyon - how freaking awesome would that be?!
On a slightly less adrenaline filled activity is diving/scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I'm glad that I can say that i am going to tick this off my list in a few years. I have seen so many pictures of friends who have done it and I am so excited!
General
In a more general turn of events, I would definitely do something slightly more adventurous with myself I think. Maybe actually follow fashion?! If you ever see me, you will know that I have absolutely zero fashion sense and my mentality is that if it fits then it's fine. Maybe I should conquer this anyway?
I think if I had no fear I would also try to write a full on novel. It's something I have always wanted to do, and have actually begun planning one several times just to get frustrated with its lack of direction and throw it in the bin. At the moment I am considering doing some fictional writing on top of my blog just to see what direction it takes. Maybe publish it chapter by chapter.
But mainly if I had no fear I would pack everything up, chuck it in a backpack and set off to explore the world and just see where I am going. I take major inspiration from several YouTubers (FunForLouis, JacksGap, and Watchbbbtv) who turn these dreams in to actions. I would love the opportunity to do even half the things they do. JacksGap and Watchbbbtv actually did a collaboration (which you can view here and the JacksGap video here) with some amazing footage from Dubai. So as you can imagine I am extremely jealous of this. If anyone wants to take me around the world and let me blog about it that would be fantastic.
Maybe that's what I should do? I should travel the world and blog about all the things I do. Take a leaf from the Big Bad Bucketlist and do some of these things myself? Tempting....I could start off in Plymouth and just go from there...Thoughts?
To finish on a slightly logical note, I don't think life could exist without fear. As much as it may seem nice for someone to think that having no fear would mean that they could do anything, fear tends to motivate people and define people's limits on things. So without fear how would we know our limits? How would we get the motivation to tackle certain tasks? Surely life would be very slightly boring without fear. Fear provides adrenaline and although we could take part in adrenaline fueled tasks, we would not get that natural sense of it.
So I ask you guys: what would you do if you had no fear? Comment below with your answers.
As always thank you for reading. If you liked this post then be sure to become a member by clicking "Join This Site" to be told when I write more!
Toodle-oo!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Life philosophy - would you do it?
This is a little bit of a bonus post for this week as I saw something on Tumblr that really got my mind whirring. Thought I would share it with you guys and see what you think. Given the fact that Tumblr is probably the weirdest place on the entire internet - if you haven't got to that dark spot then stay away, it will become addictive - I never expected to find this sort of thing on there. This is what I saw:
"If you were given a book containing your entire life story, would you read the end?"
Now then, this seriously got my brain going and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I am not entirely sure why because it seems like a simple statement to make in just a simple state of mind. However, being female I tend to over think everything, and this is one of those times.
I have asked other people what they think of this statement and whether they would actually read the book, and it seems we have a really varied spectrum of opinions. Many people agreed with each other, but also differed in several aspects. It would seem that this slightly simple statement has turned in to something that has been dug even further.
First of all, I will start with what I think about it, then move on to things that other people have said etc.
So, I have several questions for this statement - not that it can ever be answered, so bring on philosophy.
First of all, I want to define "the end". What is the end? Surely the end of every person's book would be the same? It is inevitable that everyone ends in the same way; that end being death. So I am not sure why I would want to read the sentence "and today Danielle died". However, there is an essence of morbid curiosity surrounding this, I think. I would quite like to know how and when I will die. Is that weird? I feel like I am jinxing it now. It would be both interesting and then also terrifying to know when you are going to die. It would be like something out of a movie; a surreal atmosphere of just awaiting when you're going to die. Although it could be argued that this is what a human does. So based on this theory, I am not sure that I would read "the end" of the book simple to stop myself getting stressed.
I think if I did have the option to read anything in this story, I would tackle the middle. This would probably constitute the next 20 years of my life from now. I'd quite like to know about graduating university, what I actually do with my life, and if I ever settle down. You know, all those details that you usually find yourself pondering anyway. Having said this, surely this would then lead to the similar situation regarding the end of the book? You would spend the majority of your life actively searching for the things that you have read will happen to you, which in turn would probably mean that you don't find them at all? Thus technically rewriting your entire story and taking you back to square one?
Although I severely dislike surprises, isn't the entire point of life to have that element of unpredictability to keep everything in check? Whether or not you agree with this, having that surprise element is what most people enjoy in life - not knowing what is going to happen and when. The spontaneity of life would be completely ripped to shreds if you had a copy of your entire life story to hand. Humans are very curious creatures, and the smallest amount of temptation can drive anyone mad. So surely having a copy of this would essentially ruin human nature? People would become obsessed with finding this written prophecy which would probably make the world an even more nightmarish place than it already is.
I think that most people wouldn't like parts of their life story and would think to "edit" parts out, and not face them properly. They'd get increasingly more irate with parts and focus on them, therefore focusing on the bad and blanking the good, which would most likely worsen the confusing nature of humans more.
Having done a bit of research on this, I think people would go one of two ways about their life from reading this. The first being that of what I have already described; being caught up in knowing about what will happen but also enjoying life. Then there would be the opposite person who would give up if their life doesn't go how they had imagined it. It's likely that life would become tiring and boring if everyone knew what was going to happen.
I'd also want to know who had written this book? Who knew so much about me as to determine my future? How had I been described? Maybe I am not as good of a person as I originally thought I was? Would I want to read all about my previous mistakes? Would I want to know about the many mistakes I am most likely going to make?
All in all, I think I would happily sit and watch the book burn. At the end of the day, if my life was already pre-written, nothing that I can do or say will ever change it. Although I would be curious as to what someone has in store with me, I would rather not endure constant panics about maybe I had missed something, or I knew something bad was coming up.
So I ask you; Would you read the book?
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Inappropriate life rant part three | growing up edition
So this week I turned 20 (hold the applause) and was happily informed by my housemate that I should expect a quarter life crisis. To be perfectly honest I just laughed this off and thought that it was one of those stupid phenomenons that you hear about. Then the other day it sort of hit me. I am 20. 20 years old. I am not a teenager anymore. My age begins with a 2. In 10 years I will be 30. Holy shit.
A million and one questions started shooting through my head: am I going to go grey now? What am I doing with my life? What have I done in my life so far? What is the meaning of life? Where will I be in 5 years? How will I get the money for everything I want to do? Will I ever find someone who will ever marry me?
Don't laugh at me. I am genuinely having a panic about everything, literally everything. I genuinely spent an entire day panicking about the fact all I have done in the last 20 years is be in education. So naturally I thought that it would be a fantastic idea to share my panic with you guys to make me feel better about life, and that maybe I am not alone in this little quarter life crisis. I am not sure why this has been placed under an "inappropriate rant" title, but I think that it is fitting. Maybe. It probably isn't. I hope you're still reading.
As you have probably guessed, I am panicking about the fact I am not 20. I had to change my Twitter bio to say "20" and writing that "2" genuinely almost made me have a panic attack. It probably didn't help that my Grandma was telling me that she got married when she was 18...I am like holy shit, and I am just sat here drinking 10 bottles of wine a week in a desperate bid to forget everything else (it works). I mean I have been alive for 20 years...twenty years and what have I done? Sail through the first few stages of education, then spend most of the rest of the last year drunk beyond belief or studying for exams. So thrilling. Although I am trying to think positive and think that my degree will benefit me in the next few years, and might hopefully help me get a better job. If there are jobs anywhere.
This leads me nicely on to the fact that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing with my life. I have been studying criminology for over a year now, and I do enjoy it, but I am starting to think that I really don't know if I want to work in the criminal justice system anymore. I don't even know why I decided on criminology to be honest. If I am blunt with you guys, I really wanted to do law but I didn't think I would get the grades to do it. Turns out I got way better grades than what I thought so I could have done it...oops. Then I started this blog...fucked up everything, that did! I forgot how much I absolutely love writing. I did English Literature as an A Level and hated it (partly due to one shitty teacher) which really put me off writing/reading for a while - despite my mother telling me that I should have done English Language instead (she was right). Gah. I have been looking at postgraduate degrees...the only problem is that you only get a loan for your tuition, and I can't afford to stay down here. I literally have no idea what to do.
I also know that I want to do some travelling, or that sort of thing. Recently I have been looking at work placements in Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida. I was considering taking a gap year before university to do something like that, but then thought that I probably wouldn't go to university in the first place if I did that. So I have been looking at it online recently for something to do for a year when I graduate. There are loads of different things that you can do in Walt Disney World and Universal studios, and I would love to work on the rides and whatnot. But I don't know whether I would even qualify. Have any of you guys worked there before? If you have then do tell me below what it's like.
I am dying to go abroad for a few years when I graduate either way. I have family and friends over in Australia and would love to travel over there. I'd love to move there one day, too, so would be awesome to try and find a nice place to settle. I know that there are a group of Australian's who read my posts, so where do you guys think a good place for me to settle, get a good job, and find a nice man would be?! Heeeeeelp. Also, where are the best places to travel to? Comment your answers below - would love some help.
I have come to the conclusion that I am going to die alone. To make matters worse, I am allergic to cats so I can't become a crazy cat lady. Sad news. So I am going to become the crazy pug lady. I really want a pug. Like really badly. They're so cute!
The worst thing about becoming 20 means I feel like I now have to justify so many things. For your pure entertainment, I give you a list of the things I feel I need to justify:
A million and one questions started shooting through my head: am I going to go grey now? What am I doing with my life? What have I done in my life so far? What is the meaning of life? Where will I be in 5 years? How will I get the money for everything I want to do? Will I ever find someone who will ever marry me?
Don't laugh at me. I am genuinely having a panic about everything, literally everything. I genuinely spent an entire day panicking about the fact all I have done in the last 20 years is be in education. So naturally I thought that it would be a fantastic idea to share my panic with you guys to make me feel better about life, and that maybe I am not alone in this little quarter life crisis. I am not sure why this has been placed under an "inappropriate rant" title, but I think that it is fitting. Maybe. It probably isn't. I hope you're still reading.
As you have probably guessed, I am panicking about the fact I am not 20. I had to change my Twitter bio to say "20" and writing that "2" genuinely almost made me have a panic attack. It probably didn't help that my Grandma was telling me that she got married when she was 18...I am like holy shit, and I am just sat here drinking 10 bottles of wine a week in a desperate bid to forget everything else (it works). I mean I have been alive for 20 years...twenty years and what have I done? Sail through the first few stages of education, then spend most of the rest of the last year drunk beyond belief or studying for exams. So thrilling. Although I am trying to think positive and think that my degree will benefit me in the next few years, and might hopefully help me get a better job. If there are jobs anywhere.
This leads me nicely on to the fact that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing with my life. I have been studying criminology for over a year now, and I do enjoy it, but I am starting to think that I really don't know if I want to work in the criminal justice system anymore. I don't even know why I decided on criminology to be honest. If I am blunt with you guys, I really wanted to do law but I didn't think I would get the grades to do it. Turns out I got way better grades than what I thought so I could have done it...oops. Then I started this blog...fucked up everything, that did! I forgot how much I absolutely love writing. I did English Literature as an A Level and hated it (partly due to one shitty teacher) which really put me off writing/reading for a while - despite my mother telling me that I should have done English Language instead (she was right). Gah. I have been looking at postgraduate degrees...the only problem is that you only get a loan for your tuition, and I can't afford to stay down here. I literally have no idea what to do.
I also know that I want to do some travelling, or that sort of thing. Recently I have been looking at work placements in Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida. I was considering taking a gap year before university to do something like that, but then thought that I probably wouldn't go to university in the first place if I did that. So I have been looking at it online recently for something to do for a year when I graduate. There are loads of different things that you can do in Walt Disney World and Universal studios, and I would love to work on the rides and whatnot. But I don't know whether I would even qualify. Have any of you guys worked there before? If you have then do tell me below what it's like.
I am dying to go abroad for a few years when I graduate either way. I have family and friends over in Australia and would love to travel over there. I'd love to move there one day, too, so would be awesome to try and find a nice place to settle. I know that there are a group of Australian's who read my posts, so where do you guys think a good place for me to settle, get a good job, and find a nice man would be?! Heeeeeelp. Also, where are the best places to travel to? Comment your answers below - would love some help.
I have come to the conclusion that I am going to die alone. To make matters worse, I am allergic to cats so I can't become a crazy cat lady. Sad news. So I am going to become the crazy pug lady. I really want a pug. Like really badly. They're so cute!
The worst thing about becoming 20 means I feel like I now have to justify so many things. For your pure entertainment, I give you a list of the things I feel I need to justify:
Buying Bob The Builder pasta shapes
Going to Walt Disney World
Still watching the Disney Channel and Nick Jr
Loving Phineas and Ferb beyond belief
Buying stuffed toys
Enjoying going in play parks
Thinking that some kids rides are better than bigger rides
Going to Toys R Us
Still loving the films you did as a kid
So I still do all those things...but I do buy more things like Dora The Explorer pasta shapes. Don't judge me.
I'm also panicking about the fact I am going to go grey soon...
The best bit in all this? I already have arthritis....I shit you not. I have it in my ankle.
Fuck.
I am going to stop ranting...this is a bit long isn't it?
Please comment if you are feeling like this, I don't want to be alone!
As always, thank you for reading, and I will see you next time!
Toodle-oo!
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Things uni has taught me
So it occurred to me the other day whilst I was sat on the sofa when I probably should have been doing something, that I learned a lot at university last year. I mean, not just educationally related to my course, but also life lessons and other random bits and bobs.
For any of you who haven't been to university, or aren't old enough yet, then take note. I guarantee you that these little life lessons will become very valuable to you in the future!
#1 - Drinking on a Monday night is perfectly acceptable
Not only is it acceptable, but it is actively encouraged!
#2 - All night library sessions will become second nature
Always a great way to finish that essay due in the morning.
#3 - 40% is the new 80%
I shit you not, if I get anything over 40% I am one happy bunny.
#4 - You can drink in celebration or commiseration
Passed your exams? Drink! Failed your exams? Drink!
#5 - Missing a lecture is acceptable as long as your best friend does too
I mean, if you miss out then they should too, right?
#6 - You can make any meal with baked beans
They go with everything....literally everything.
#7 - Getting hammered on a tenner is acceptable
Who needs expensive drinks anyway?
#8 - Cheese makes everything taste better
Or you can just eat cheese. Either way.
#9 - Fancy dress is not just for kids
I guarantee you will see at least one group of fancy dress per night out.
#10 - Spending multiple days on the sofa is OK
This is something I actively encourage to be fair.
#11 - Going out in a onesie is encouraged
Uni essentials: ridiculous onesie.
#12 - Flirting with someone to get a free drink is OK
This may or may not be the best tactic to get a free drink.
#13 - Kitchen roll is multi-purpose
Clean the kitchen, clean your room, wear it, sell it, anything.
#14 - Kitchen essentials will sprout legs
The sooner you can accept that your cutlery will grow legs and run away, the better.
#15 - 9am lectures are a myth...right?
What's 9am?
#16 - New procrastination methods will be learned
From watching an entire series of new TV, to tidying the house.
#17 - There is always that one housemate...
There will always be one that you won't get on with all the time.
#18 - Freshers Flu is a given
You will get it. It is unavoidable.
#19 - If you even ask if you should go out, you will always go out
As soon as you question it, you know it will happen. It takes like 5 seconds to decide.
#20 - Drinking to cure a hangover works
I shit you not, this is the best cure.
#21 - First year counts as nout
Get 40% and drink the year away.
#22 - Although actively discouraged, Wikipedia is good background info
Your lecturers will hate it, everyone else will love it.
#23 - Always have a back-up deck of cards
You will lose some to alcohol poisoning.
#24 - Having money is a thing of the past
Watch your money walk out your bank account.
#25 - Food several days past the sell by date is still edible
If it isn't moudly, it is fine.
#26 - Anything can be made in to a drinking game
Films, TV shows, people...you will learn.
#27 - Mixing strong drinks is a spectacularly bad idea
Yet we all still do it every time.
#28 - Wine is a great pre-drink
Gets you hammered in half the time!
#29 - Cheap alcohol will become your best friend
Just get used to it.
#30 - Having breakfast at 1am is acceptable
Don't question it, just do it.
#31 - Learning how to sleep on demand should be on your CV
This is something I am very proud of.
#32 - At least one trip to A&E a year is average
Drunken injuries....
#33 - "I'm never drinking again" is a common phrase you will use several times a week
Even though you know that you will be drinking again...probably the same day.
So as you can see I have learned a hell of a lot...
Just remember if you are going to drink a lot, at least get 40% to pass your year! Remember: work hard, party harder.
As always thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post and want to hear more from me then click "Join This Site" to be notified of when I post!
Speak to you next time!
Toodles!
Please drink responsibly.
For any of you who haven't been to university, or aren't old enough yet, then take note. I guarantee you that these little life lessons will become very valuable to you in the future!
#1 - Drinking on a Monday night is perfectly acceptable
Not only is it acceptable, but it is actively encouraged!
#2 - All night library sessions will become second nature
Always a great way to finish that essay due in the morning.
#3 - 40% is the new 80%
I shit you not, if I get anything over 40% I am one happy bunny.
#4 - You can drink in celebration or commiseration
Passed your exams? Drink! Failed your exams? Drink!
#5 - Missing a lecture is acceptable as long as your best friend does too
I mean, if you miss out then they should too, right?
#6 - You can make any meal with baked beans
They go with everything....literally everything.
#7 - Getting hammered on a tenner is acceptable
Who needs expensive drinks anyway?
#8 - Cheese makes everything taste better
Or you can just eat cheese. Either way.
#9 - Fancy dress is not just for kids
I guarantee you will see at least one group of fancy dress per night out.
#10 - Spending multiple days on the sofa is OK
This is something I actively encourage to be fair.
#11 - Going out in a onesie is encouraged
Uni essentials: ridiculous onesie.
#12 - Flirting with someone to get a free drink is OK
This may or may not be the best tactic to get a free drink.
#13 - Kitchen roll is multi-purpose
Clean the kitchen, clean your room, wear it, sell it, anything.
#14 - Kitchen essentials will sprout legs
The sooner you can accept that your cutlery will grow legs and run away, the better.
#15 - 9am lectures are a myth...right?
What's 9am?
#16 - New procrastination methods will be learned
From watching an entire series of new TV, to tidying the house.
#17 - There is always that one housemate...
There will always be one that you won't get on with all the time.
#18 - Freshers Flu is a given
You will get it. It is unavoidable.
#19 - If you even ask if you should go out, you will always go out
As soon as you question it, you know it will happen. It takes like 5 seconds to decide.
#20 - Drinking to cure a hangover works
I shit you not, this is the best cure.
#21 - First year counts as nout
Get 40% and drink the year away.
#22 - Although actively discouraged, Wikipedia is good background info
Your lecturers will hate it, everyone else will love it.
#23 - Always have a back-up deck of cards
You will lose some to alcohol poisoning.
#24 - Having money is a thing of the past
Watch your money walk out your bank account.
#25 - Food several days past the sell by date is still edible
If it isn't moudly, it is fine.
#26 - Anything can be made in to a drinking game
Films, TV shows, people...you will learn.
#27 - Mixing strong drinks is a spectacularly bad idea
Yet we all still do it every time.
#28 - Wine is a great pre-drink
Gets you hammered in half the time!
#29 - Cheap alcohol will become your best friend
Just get used to it.
#30 - Having breakfast at 1am is acceptable
Don't question it, just do it.
#31 - Learning how to sleep on demand should be on your CV
This is something I am very proud of.
#32 - At least one trip to A&E a year is average
Drunken injuries....
#33 - "I'm never drinking again" is a common phrase you will use several times a week
Even though you know that you will be drinking again...probably the same day.
So as you can see I have learned a hell of a lot...
Just remember if you are going to drink a lot, at least get 40% to pass your year! Remember: work hard, party harder.
As always thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this post and want to hear more from me then click "Join This Site" to be notified of when I post!
Speak to you next time!
Toodles!
Please drink responsibly.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
I need a hero
I think I need to apologise before I start this blog, for being an absolutely terrible person and seriously slacking on writing. Sorry - don't hate me! I am back, but am going to limit myself to about a post per week just so I can actually do my uni work...
Ok, so the other day I was talking with my housemates about who our childhood hero's were - you know what I am on about, right? Those people from your childhood who inspired you and who basically shaped you in to the person you are now. And all that shit. We had the weirdest spectrum of answers come up from footballers to the likes of fictional characters. It got to me and I think I had some sort of panic because there are two people who I literally owe my life to. It sort of dawned on me that there was no way in hell that I could pick between the two, so I got all shitty and stuck with two of them.
These two for me are JK Rowling and Walt Disney.
Now before you get all worked up and say that they are quite childish people to have, then listen up, folks. I'm going to tell you why.
First of all let me start with JK Rowling.
I have come to the conclusion that without the Harry Potter books I would never have gotten so in to reading which lead to me loving writing, which in turn created this blog. I mean can you imagine what sort of mess I would be without this space to spill everything in to? The Harry Potter series literally made me realise what I like to do - says the girl who is studying nothing like writing....
I think that the Harry Potter books sort of provided an escape from everything that was happening in the world, and let me delve in to my own little fantasy world that it just so happened I shared with millions of people around the world. Trying to explain this sort of thing to someone who doesn't enjoy reading is so frustrating as I literally cannot comprehend how someone can't get stuck in to a book if they find the right one.
My Grampy used to go to the midnight launch of the books and get me one of the first copies and trundle on over to my house to make sure I had it for the next day. If I hadn't finished it in about 30 hours then everyone would be shocked. Although they did think that they would be funny and grab me a copy of the last book but withhold it from me until we got on holiday. Let me stress that this was to Florida which is a 10 hour flight....I almost went insane knowing that it was on the plane but I couldn't quite get my hands on it. I then sat down by the pool and read the entire thing cover to cover in one sitting.
The thing about the series is that the books are so cleverly written that there are underlying plots weaving in and out of the main and obvious one. No matter how many times you read the books you can still pick out little details from them that you didn't quite see before. Sometimes I would pick the same things up but look at them in a completely different light. I have now read each book about 10 times each and yet I cannot find myself getting bored of them.
The books offer you something that the films do not - the depth and attachment of the characters. A fair amount of my friends don't enjoy reading and just went to watch the films at the cinema. This frustrates me sooooo much as the films miss out about 80% of the things that are written in the books - pretty sure I have done a post on that before...You can tell out of my friends who has read the books by how much they like Snape. People who have read them will know what I mean!
Long story short, these books gave me a place to escape to that was safe from everything else that I couldn't find anywhere else. I am so sure that I owe my life to JK Rowling for keeping me sane and alive throughout the last 10 or so years. Without these books I would probably not be sat here typing this.
Moving on now to Walt Disney.
For anyone who knows me, you will know how much I absolutely adore anything Disney. I mean absolutely love it. I have been to Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Paris so many times that I couldn't count them if I had an extra set of hands. They really are the places where dreams come true. Now then, future person who might somehow want to marry me: propose in Disney or Harry Potter world and you are getting a guaranteed "yes"!
Similarly to the Harry Potter books, anything Disney related offers that sense of escapism into a fantasy world but in a slightly different manner to that of the Wizarding World. Disney sort of portrays this sense that no matter what happens there will be a Happily Ever After. I mean take it or leave it, but I still love it; no matter how false this sort of true love shit is, it's still there in fiction.
Also without Walt Disney, Disney World would not exist and I would be stuck on where to go for my holiday. I have an eternal love for Disney World. If you haven't been there then you are missing out. I actually went there for my 18th birthday 2 years ago (which was the 9th time I have visited there). I am now going back for 6 weeks in 2015 - 3 weeks with friends, and 3 weeks with my family. You can imagine how absolutely buzzing I am for this. Especially because none of my friends have been there, so I get to be all excited like them...we are buying Mouse Ears. It is happening.
I think the sense of magic plays a role in both Disney and Harry Potter in the sense that it is almost like anything is possible. Yes it seems childish, and yes I probably shouldn't fall in to the fiction trap, but I love it. Even just walking in to Magic Kingdom and seeing Cinderella's Castle in front of you...it is literally like you have been transported in to another world. The same applies for Harry Potter world in Islands of Adventure. I think I need to do a post about that....
I am actually finding it hard to put in to words what Disney means to me. Many people think that Disney is aimed more towards children, but I challenge you to go back and watch an older classic Disney film and see how your perspective alters to that of when you were a child. I mean there are some crazily dirty remarks throughout every single film, but also some really good advice. I do still prefer the classic films to those that have been released recently, but nothing will ever top Finding Nemo. I do have a post coming out at the weekend about the best moments in Disney history, so stay tuned for that.
I am not sure what the aim of this post was to be perfectly honest...just felt like I needed to share this with you.
I want to hear about who your childhood hero's were. Were they actual people like mine? Or were they a fictional character?
As always thank you for reading, and I will speak to you next time!
Toodle-oo!
Ok, so the other day I was talking with my housemates about who our childhood hero's were - you know what I am on about, right? Those people from your childhood who inspired you and who basically shaped you in to the person you are now. And all that shit. We had the weirdest spectrum of answers come up from footballers to the likes of fictional characters. It got to me and I think I had some sort of panic because there are two people who I literally owe my life to. It sort of dawned on me that there was no way in hell that I could pick between the two, so I got all shitty and stuck with two of them.
These two for me are JK Rowling and Walt Disney.
Now before you get all worked up and say that they are quite childish people to have, then listen up, folks. I'm going to tell you why.
First of all let me start with JK Rowling.
I have come to the conclusion that without the Harry Potter books I would never have gotten so in to reading which lead to me loving writing, which in turn created this blog. I mean can you imagine what sort of mess I would be without this space to spill everything in to? The Harry Potter series literally made me realise what I like to do - says the girl who is studying nothing like writing....
I think that the Harry Potter books sort of provided an escape from everything that was happening in the world, and let me delve in to my own little fantasy world that it just so happened I shared with millions of people around the world. Trying to explain this sort of thing to someone who doesn't enjoy reading is so frustrating as I literally cannot comprehend how someone can't get stuck in to a book if they find the right one.
My Grampy used to go to the midnight launch of the books and get me one of the first copies and trundle on over to my house to make sure I had it for the next day. If I hadn't finished it in about 30 hours then everyone would be shocked. Although they did think that they would be funny and grab me a copy of the last book but withhold it from me until we got on holiday. Let me stress that this was to Florida which is a 10 hour flight....I almost went insane knowing that it was on the plane but I couldn't quite get my hands on it. I then sat down by the pool and read the entire thing cover to cover in one sitting.
The thing about the series is that the books are so cleverly written that there are underlying plots weaving in and out of the main and obvious one. No matter how many times you read the books you can still pick out little details from them that you didn't quite see before. Sometimes I would pick the same things up but look at them in a completely different light. I have now read each book about 10 times each and yet I cannot find myself getting bored of them.
The books offer you something that the films do not - the depth and attachment of the characters. A fair amount of my friends don't enjoy reading and just went to watch the films at the cinema. This frustrates me sooooo much as the films miss out about 80% of the things that are written in the books - pretty sure I have done a post on that before...You can tell out of my friends who has read the books by how much they like Snape. People who have read them will know what I mean!
Long story short, these books gave me a place to escape to that was safe from everything else that I couldn't find anywhere else. I am so sure that I owe my life to JK Rowling for keeping me sane and alive throughout the last 10 or so years. Without these books I would probably not be sat here typing this.
Moving on now to Walt Disney.
For anyone who knows me, you will know how much I absolutely adore anything Disney. I mean absolutely love it. I have been to Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Paris so many times that I couldn't count them if I had an extra set of hands. They really are the places where dreams come true. Now then, future person who might somehow want to marry me: propose in Disney or Harry Potter world and you are getting a guaranteed "yes"!
Similarly to the Harry Potter books, anything Disney related offers that sense of escapism into a fantasy world but in a slightly different manner to that of the Wizarding World. Disney sort of portrays this sense that no matter what happens there will be a Happily Ever After. I mean take it or leave it, but I still love it; no matter how false this sort of true love shit is, it's still there in fiction.
Also without Walt Disney, Disney World would not exist and I would be stuck on where to go for my holiday. I have an eternal love for Disney World. If you haven't been there then you are missing out. I actually went there for my 18th birthday 2 years ago (which was the 9th time I have visited there). I am now going back for 6 weeks in 2015 - 3 weeks with friends, and 3 weeks with my family. You can imagine how absolutely buzzing I am for this. Especially because none of my friends have been there, so I get to be all excited like them...we are buying Mouse Ears. It is happening.
I think the sense of magic plays a role in both Disney and Harry Potter in the sense that it is almost like anything is possible. Yes it seems childish, and yes I probably shouldn't fall in to the fiction trap, but I love it. Even just walking in to Magic Kingdom and seeing Cinderella's Castle in front of you...it is literally like you have been transported in to another world. The same applies for Harry Potter world in Islands of Adventure. I think I need to do a post about that....
I am actually finding it hard to put in to words what Disney means to me. Many people think that Disney is aimed more towards children, but I challenge you to go back and watch an older classic Disney film and see how your perspective alters to that of when you were a child. I mean there are some crazily dirty remarks throughout every single film, but also some really good advice. I do still prefer the classic films to those that have been released recently, but nothing will ever top Finding Nemo. I do have a post coming out at the weekend about the best moments in Disney history, so stay tuned for that.
I am not sure what the aim of this post was to be perfectly honest...just felt like I needed to share this with you.
I want to hear about who your childhood hero's were. Were they actual people like mine? Or were they a fictional character?
As always thank you for reading, and I will speak to you next time!
Toodle-oo!
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Life advice part two
A few months ago I shared with you a few snippets of things that I thought were good advice for any struggling teenager at the moment. Since then, a lot has happened, and I have had to endure a really bad few days. I was feeling extremely shit about myself, blaming myself for something that has happened although it wasn't my fault, and I haven't eaten properly in a few days. It hasn't properly hit me until now, and I'm genuinely having a bit of a breakdown here!
I then decided to do something I have never done before, and that was to reach out to my mother. For anyone who knows me, you will know that this is a big deal for me as I never reach out to anyone, especially my mother. This forms part one of my life advice for you. I have not been one to reach out to anyone, ever. I do not take advice, and I do not listen to people even when I know they are right. After this incident, which I will not mention simply due to the fact that I am still angry over it, I think I am starting to learn my lesson. I actually have opened up to people and admitted that I should have listened. So this is piece one of advice for you. Do not be afraid to open up to people. If, like me, you have a problem opening up for whatever reason, then work on it. It has taken me 20 years, but I think I am finally starting to make a change to how I am. Especially with my mum. I very much doubt whether my mum would agree with the fact I think I have changed, but I do see it in myself in little things. But that is just matter of opinion.
My mum sent me a link to a YouTube video (which you can view here) which issued some extremely good advice. The video itself was taken from an article written in 1997 by Mary Schmich (you can view it here). I think this really offered something that reached out to me - which is again saying something because I am absolutely shit at admitting that I need help. So I am going to base my advice on this article as I don't think I could have given anything better. If this helps me, then I am damn sure it will help you.
Disclaimer: anything written in italics after this notice is of quote of the author (Mary Schmich) and not of the author of this article. Thus, anything other than this is of opinion of the author.
The first part of her article says this:
I then decided to do something I have never done before, and that was to reach out to my mother. For anyone who knows me, you will know that this is a big deal for me as I never reach out to anyone, especially my mother. This forms part one of my life advice for you. I have not been one to reach out to anyone, ever. I do not take advice, and I do not listen to people even when I know they are right. After this incident, which I will not mention simply due to the fact that I am still angry over it, I think I am starting to learn my lesson. I actually have opened up to people and admitted that I should have listened. So this is piece one of advice for you. Do not be afraid to open up to people. If, like me, you have a problem opening up for whatever reason, then work on it. It has taken me 20 years, but I think I am finally starting to make a change to how I am. Especially with my mum. I very much doubt whether my mum would agree with the fact I think I have changed, but I do see it in myself in little things. But that is just matter of opinion.
My mum sent me a link to a YouTube video (which you can view here) which issued some extremely good advice. The video itself was taken from an article written in 1997 by Mary Schmich (you can view it here). I think this really offered something that reached out to me - which is again saying something because I am absolutely shit at admitting that I need help. So I am going to base my advice on this article as I don't think I could have given anything better. If this helps me, then I am damn sure it will help you.
Disclaimer: anything written in italics after this notice is of quote of the author (Mary Schmich) and not of the author of this article. Thus, anything other than this is of opinion of the author.
The first part of her article says this:
"“Enjoy the power and beauty of
your youth. In 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a
way you can’t quite grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how
fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine”
"Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly."
This I think applies to a lot of teenage girls, and girls around my age. I think that a lot of girls these days have the mentality that they need to look perfect and airbrushed. I have come to accept the fact that absolutely no one is perfect. I mean NO ONE. You may think all these models are perfect or whatever, but you look behind the Photoshop and the airbrushing and the makeup, and they are just normal people like you and I. My advice to you based on this is not to get caught up in all the media attention on this ideology of "perfection" because that only exists in a fantasy world. Go enjoy a million Nandos, go snack on a fucking doughnut. Who cares?! I would much rather be happy enjoying a meal than eating fucking rabbit food. Would you not? Life is far too short to try and iron out every single imperfection.
“Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum”
For any of you who has the ultimate joy of knowing me, you will know that this is a very weird piece of advice for me to be giving you. To be honest, this is a hypocritical thing for me to even be saying, but hey ho (in case you're wondering, I am the biggest worrier about the rest of my life). That statement is so accurately true that it is kind of scary. Worrying about things that you don't even know will, or will not, happen is probably the most pointless thing you can do in life. There is no point in worrying about something that is above and beyond your control. I should probably start listening to my own advice, shouldn't I?
"Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours."
This is probably the most valuable piece of advice I took from this entire thing. Having recently had my heart completely fucked about with, it really hit me. I wish I had been given this advice sooner. It would have saved me a lot of pain and heartbreak, I tell you that. Now, ladies, listen to this advice. No matter how much you may think someone means to you, or you to them, as soon as they fuck up once, get out. I do not mean this in a harsh way at all, but once something is broken it cannot be fixed. You may think you can stitch everything back together, but after a while cracks begin to show. If someone is fucking you about then they don't care about you as much as they say. Remember: you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
"Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone."
Just so everything isn't so fucking heavy. Drink milk. Lots of it.
"Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future."
If you take away anything from this amazingly long ramble, then take away this. Your parents are not going to be there forever. Seriously make the most of them whilst they're there. I have friends who no longer have both parents, and it really makes you think. I know when you're a teenager you say you "hate" your parents and that you wish your friends parents were yours, bla bla bla. I am just coming out of that phase now and I am starting to see what a fucking idiot I used to be. I never treated my parents the way they deserved to be, especially my mum, and that is something I will regret until the day I die. However, I can now begin to make amends. If you are a reading this thinking it is all a load of shit, then I bet that you're a teenager. Take it from me, I was the world's worst teenager, and I am telling you. You definitely appreciate them more when you move out and have to be independent. So listen.
"Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young."
This is something I wholeheartedly stand by, and I will for a very long time. Out of everyone who I have been friends with throughout secondary school, I have had one friend who has been there for almost 20 years now (hi, Laura, if you read this) and I probably owe a lot to her. But then you have the friends who you might not have known for many years, such as my university friends, who you feel like you've known a lifetime. Then you also have the school friends who stick by you no matter what, too. I am lucky enough to have a few extremely close friends, you know who you are, which has been proved to me recently. But just always make the effort with people.
"Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it."
This is the advice I am going to leave you with - advice on advice. Not many people these days are willing to give out advice, so seriously listen when people take the time to do so. At the time it may seem like they're just being a pain in the ass, or they have taken a particular dislike to someone, but 99% of the time they're going to be right. They only have your best interests at heart, you know.
As always, thank you for reading and I will speak to you next time!
Toodle-oo!
Also want to do a quick special mention to the people who have put up with my tears and tantrums over the last few days: Vikki, Josh, James, Daisy and Milky who have been the main people the last few days and have even managed to cheer me up. Also to my mum who has put up with me for 20 years and not killed me yet. So much love for them. So this post is dedicated to you guys.
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