The concept of "beauty"

As a girl I get called every name under the sun because of the way I look; so much so that I am now just expecting a hurl of abuse all the time about it. I know that this is a general thing that tends to happen to females because of the exaggeration in the media of this idealistic representation of beauty, which frankly is beyond inaccurate. But why should we have to endure this? Who is out there drawing up this blueprint of how every female should look, and saying that if they don't look like a certain way then they are instantly inferior and in the firing line of an endless tail of abuse? I would like to find this person and give them a good kick up the ass and a reality check. 

It appears that this concept of beauty stems from magazines and so called 'high fashion'. For example, lets address size zero. First of all, can I reaffirm the fact that in absolutely no way in hell is this either healthy or ideal, unless of course you have an abnormally fast metabolism and there is no way you can help this. Who on earth should go out their way to make themselves look like a lollipop? I know that many young girls are heavily influenced by these models they see in the likes of "Vogue" and all these other trashy things marketed simply to change the mentality of otherwise happy girls. Do these magazines not realise the sheer power they can have over the likes of a 13 year old girl who is trying to fit in with these unbelievably misjudged representations of a woman? They present this screwed up ideology that for some absurd reason looking like a skeleton is 'beautiful'. That is not beautiful in any way. Take for example this picture:

I am not sure who this is, but this is from a Spanish Vogue fashion show, and do you know what the Google image result was for this? "The Modern Cool". I mean, are you actually kidding me? She just looks unhealthy and malnourished and I just want to shove a burger down her throat. I cannot fathom how anyone would be happy like this. I for one have gone through this stage, yes, however I was not heavily influenced by all this size zero bullshit as it sort of occurred a bit after my early teenage years. Do these high fashion things not realise that a lot of young girls aspire to be like the things they idolize, and actually can cause serious long term damage to their bodies because of serious matters like starvation and eating disorders? 

I also have a serious issue with airbrushing. It's like the magazines who post all this shit are just never satisfied. I think the most current example I can think of is with Jennifer Lawrence. Let me show you this image:

I don't know about you, but I would kill to look like her pre-airbrush. She looks a million times more womanly and less little-girl like. If someone can justify to me why airbrushing occurs like this then please do as I genuinely cannot wrap my head around it. It is almost as if they are projecting this false representation of "perfection" that is quite plainly fake as no one can achieve it. Yet the media continues to brainwash society to believe that this is what a woman should look like. What I do not understand is that Jennifer Lawrence has an incredible figure, and is in no way overweight or whatever (another issue I shall address in a second) yet she is still airbrushed. How can the media project this image? Is there someone somewhere along the line who just thinks "fuck it, lets pretend that everyone who comes in here is stick thin and without blemishes"? No, Photoshop does that shit. No one is perfect, whether you believe it or not. Every single being on the planet has flaws, some may be physical and some may not be, but there is no such thing as a flawless person. So why does the media continue to portray that there is?

As I just mentioned weight issues, I will go with that for my next point. Before I launch in to this one, I want to share with you a few images I found on Tumblr surrounding this issue. I haven't credited them because I am not sure of their original source:

"Maybe if I lose some weight someone
will start to care"

"Everyone around me is losing weight and I feel so fat"

"Everything is fine as long as I am getting thinner"




"You don't deserve to eat. You really don't.
Look at you. You're fat. Your bones are being crushed until all this fat. You did this to yourself. Now you have to pay for it. Starve"

"Maybe if I lost weight I'd be able to smile again"







This is fundamental proof that girls are being both brainwashed and dangerously affected by the shit published by these magazines and other forms of media. On Tumblr, when I searched "weight" I would say that a good 70% are posts similar to those I have shown above. How can there be someone out there who is continuously installing this malfunctioning idea into the heads of teenagers and young adults? I am genuinely shocked at some of the things I found on the internet surrounding weight. There is no upper limit or lower limit on how much someone should weight to be classified as "beautiful". It's almost as if someone has gone around and drawn this imaginary suit that everyone has to fit in to be classed as beautiful. I also found this image of what girls tend to class as a 'perfect body':

I find this quite shocking to be perfectly honest. However, I am going to call some home truths about this. The first thing I want to address is the 'narrow waist'. As a female you will get to an age where your natural figure will show, and this generally means your waist will become defined and you will gain what is known as the "hourglass figure" - this is where your waist narrows slightly and your hips widen. That is what I would say is a gorgeous body shape, rather than this stick-insect thing people seem to want. As for collarbones, they tend to be defined in women whether you are slimmer or bigger. Skinny arms...who the hell wants stick arms? What is wrong with a little meat on your bones, seriously? Ah, the thigh gap. Why do young girls obsess over having a thigh gap? It seems to be the be all and end all at the moment. Newflash for you, girls, I have never had a thigh gap in my entire life. Does that make me fat? Does it fuck. The final point I want to address here is the "boobs" section of this. Here is a serious newsflash for you, girls. If you are ridiculously slim through dieting and whatnot, you will not have boobs. It is how nature goes. 

I think the final thing I am going to address here is general image, including the likes of makeup. Looking like you are fresh off the runway seems to be a part of every day life for a lot of young people these days. In recent years there has been a serious increase in the emphasis on fashion, hair, and makeup affecting both males and females. It seems to me that the pressure for anyone to look perfect is at breaking point. I have a younger sister (now 16) who very rarely leaves the house without any makeup on. Where did the acceptance of natural beauty go? I think that a lot of this is down to, shockingly, the media. You always get the pictures of celebrities with no makeup on like ridiculous headlines always focusing on the negative way of how someone looks. It is very rare for there to be a positive comment about how someone looks without makeup on. This seems to get installed in the minds of young people that they will be judged and penalized for leaving the house without looking pristine. The saying that you are your own worst enemy is seriously true. Many young people judge themselves based on what they believe and think others will think - which most the time is not true!

I am going to wrap this up, and stop rambling now. I will definitely make a part two of this article.

I know that this post cannot simply change the world, but I am hoping that it leaves a small part of confidence in any of you who are reading this. Under no circumstances should you change yourself because of something you read, or because someone makes a shitty remark about the way you look. 9 times out of 10 that person is most likely going to be jealous of you in some way. No one is perfect, and you shouldn't strive to be someone that you are not simply to please someone else. You should accept you for the way you are. If you are going through a tough time with people giving you grief because of the way you look then leave me a comment or a tweet, or drop an ask in my tumblr box and I will respond to you personally. I have been through all this shit, and I don't want to watch other people suffer. 

You are worth more than the nasty comments.

Keep your head held high and brush them off - don't doubt yourself because of someone else's insecurities. 

Confidence is key - once you master being happy with yourself you can conquer the world.

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Passions vs interests

Hello there, buddies.

The other day I watched a clip about an economist (whose name escapes me) and he was talking about the differences between interests and passions in relation to failure and success. This clip really got my mind buzzing and I turned to my friend saying that I really need to blog about this sort of thing. So...here it is.

Now I think that there is a clear distinction between something you are interested in, and something that you are passionate about. However, the person who was speaking in that clip said that you cannot be successful by pursuing something you are simply interested in, yet not passionate about. This is something I think I am going to chat about today.

It was also said that you have to be successful to have a 'great' career. Now I say to you, what makes a 'great' career? I think that anything that provides a stable income and something you enjoy doing is a great career. I don't know what your opinions on this would be, so please do tell me in the comments below. The idea of a great career is clearly subjective, and most likely is going to change depending on the outlook of a person and what they enjoy. Also, the status of a career is going to change whether it is viewed as good or great. For example, my dad is a firefighter, a career that many people see as great. From someone who has an inside view, I would say that this would be 'good' career based on the theory provided by the economist. This is because he risks his life on a daily basis, doesn't have a high income, and is most likely something that my dad is not 100% passionate about (although others would disagree). However, someone who has an outside view would view this as a 'great' career because of this heroic stigma attached to it.They are often sensationalized as people who saves lives - which of course they do - but what people always tend to forget is that they put the lives of others before their own...and thy get paid pennies to do it. People idolise the likes of football players (who get paid over 30 times more what my dad gets in a year) who just run around on a field for a while chasing a white ball and over-exaggerating any contact they get. These types of people are passionate about what they do, yes, but they only made a career out of things by luck - nothing to do with being passionate. I would label my dad's career as 'good' because of the sheer fear that comes along with it - would you think that it is great wondering whether your dad is OK after tackling a blazing fire? 

The thing is, it was said that something you are only interested in basically means you are doomed for failure? Do I agree with this? No, I do not. As someone who doesn't have a passion, this basic theory means that I am doomed to fail in life. Now this is just ridiculous. I have very high aspirations for myself, but in something I am only interested in. Does this mean that I will just spend the rest of my life failing at anything I go for? I think not. 

I think it is irrelevant as to whether you are interested in something, or passionate about it, whether you succeed in it. If you are driven enough, know the right people, or have the right attitude then you will succeed. Interest and passion play no role in that.

I would say I am only interested in the subject that I am studying at university, yet I am hoping to have a career in the subject. I also have got relevant experience in it, and a once in a lifetime opportunity in this area without being passionate about it. Do you think I am going to fail simply because I am only interested in it?

The economist is suggested that no external factors play a role in whether you succeed or fail in life, and that it is driven simply by the desire fabricated by a severe interest in a certain thing. Take my blog for example. I wouldn't quite describe my blog as my passion as I find it quite easy to stop blogging for a while and turn my attention to other things; the same can be said about my degree. Someone who is passionate about something can only focus their main attention on that one given subject, without being able to voluntarily cease their involvement in it. 

Would a passion mean that I am more likely to succeed in life? I do take two opposing views on this...First of all, it might help me along my way because of the extent of drive it would enforce in me. I would be likely to continue to pursue what I am doing out of pure interest and the desire to succeed because of how I felt about the said subject. But on the other hand, I feel that I don't need to be passionate about about it to get to that level of success. I can see the opinion of the economist, yes, but what I do not understand is why it is viewed that passion overrules interest. Surely you have to be interested in something for it to become a passion? Whether this interest is furthered to become a passion is down to the perceptions of the person involved. Just because they don't develop that strong attachment to it that develops in to a passion, doesn't mean they cannot be successful in that field. 

I think that passions are a good thing to have, yes. But I think it's rare that you can find something to be that attached to. Some people have passions and go far in life, and some even become famous, but some people just aren't that lucky. For example, me! I am never going to be famous or crazy successful because I am just not that lucky - but that is a post for another time!

I think I need to draw this all together now; I seem to have rabbited on a bit too much, sorry! Long story short, I don't think people should be made to feel bad for the fact that they don't have something they are passionate about. If it were that people weren't successful because of the fact they haven't got a passion for something, then 90% of the world would be unemployed. I think it's more valuable to have multiple interests than to have one single passion so you can keep your options open and have several different talents. People who focus on more than one thing are probably more valuable in the long run. I don't know, that is just my opinion. Maybe I am biased because I don't have a particular passion? I don't know.

Anyway, enough from me.

I want to know your opinion. In the comments below, tell me what you think about the whole "passions vs interests" thing.  If you have a passion I want to know why you have one and how it came about. If you don't have one, then I want to know the things you are interested in, why you're interested in them, etc. Basically, what draws you to the thinks you love?

If you enjoyed this post then do please click "Join This Site". I'd love to know whether you liked this style of post compared to my usual rant-y things.

As always, thank you for reading!

Talk to you soon, lovelies. 

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I can show you the world

Hello there, buddies.

If you didn't sing that to the song from Aladdin we can no longer be friends....I am kidding....Much love. 

I am not sure of the direction that this post is taking....this literally could go anywhere. It could turn in to one of my typical rants, a random post telling you of my failed attempts at doing maths, or we could really go off on a tangent and start talking about purple flying pigs with unicorn horns....I don't know.

Well you all know how much I am dying to do some travelling after my 3 years at university. With my little bunch of friends, we planned out an entire list of about 200 places we wanted to visit. We got all excited and whatnot for it when we realised the only way that it would be possible in anything less than 50 years would be if we all won the lottery. Which deeply saddens me as it won't happen. So we brainstormed a few other ideas. Travelling is something the 5 of us are all seriously wanting to do as none of us took a gap year between sixth

We then went on to plan a 2 week holiday (vacation) to Florida to stay in Disney World as we thought it would be considerably cheaper and more affordable. So we figured it all out and we would all be able to afford it by July 2015. So we got planning and got our dates settled, a quote for a rough price and we got saving. I even made a chart with over 2000 squares on that I could colour in for every pound I saved. Now, the only way we would afford to go to Florida was with Thomas Cook as they are considerably cheaper than the likes of Virgin. When I fly to Florida with my family we go with Thomas Cook - we used to go with Virgin Atlantic but it is far more expensive now. Thomas Cook have since decided that they are no longer flying out of Gatwick airport to go to Florida and the only places they are now going from is Manchester and Glasgow. This I found really fucking irritating due to the fact that most of us live within a close proximity of London (I can be in London in just over 1 hour 15 minutes) so it would be cheap for us to get there. Since Thomas Cook have decided to stop flying from there, our prices would have sky-rocketed another couple of hundreds of pounds to get to the other airports to fly out. Long story short, we have abandoned those plans.

We then re-evaluated and thought that we might be able to do a bit of backpacking and travelling around Australia. Now I can imagine that you are raising your eyebrows at me as Australia is considerably more expensive than Florida. Well shockingly, you are wrong. We did the maths and travelling around Australia for 6 weeks was a bit cheaper than going to Florida for 2 weeks. So we got planning for that also. Now this was a solid plan up until about 5 days ago when we sat down and had a serious chat. We decided that whilst travelling around Australia was affordable, it was not realistic for a bunch of recent graduates with 3 years worth of debt behind them. It turns out we would need about 6 months to do all the stuff we wanted to do. We thought that we could narrow down our list of places we wanted to visit and cut out some of the experiences so that we could do it in two months, but it just wasn't happening as there is so much to do. Basically we have had to completely scrap that idea, too.

Several different conversations followed this shitty realisation. We considered buying an old truck/van/camper van and go on a road trip through America. This turned out too expensive.

Then we thought about literally slumming-it through anywhere abroad including Thailand, Australia and China, but we thought that it might be too dangerous. This is all turning out to be a bit of a bit let down, really. I am still genuinely considering giving up on the idea that I will go travelling until literally I am 50. You may think this is an exaggeration, but believe me, it is not. Especially since I struggled to even get a job this summer, which I am starting like two months late so I will get only four weeks worth of work - and it is casual hours so I might not even get any - despite this, I am extremely grateful for this job as it might have just saved my ass a little bit (a lot). But I am having to start to reign in my exceedingly high expectations of travelling *sob sob*.

So after it all got a bit doom and gloom, we then thought of something a little closer to home....why don't we look in to travelling around parts of Europe? So after some extensive research, we came across the fact that we can get a rail pass for some funky train that goes round the whole of Europe - how awesome?! Turns out it is only like £350 ish for a months unlimited pass, which is pretty cheap. So I made a list of all the countries and cities we want to visit and sort of complied them into a route (which is really awful, by the way...). I have since found a website that does it for me...but it keeps fucking up which is irritating me. So now we are doing a bit of maths (gah) to figure out how much money will have to be saved to travel. Hopefully it won't be too much as my loan is just getting smaller and smaller :( So you never know, you could be reading all about my awesome travels in a couple of years. So all keep your fingers crossed for me. Damn you, government, for lying about tuition fees. Fuckers.

On a slight side note, yet still weirdly related to this post, have you heard that Tom Daley and his friend Sophie are travelling the world with ITV for what I am guessing is free......?!!?! So apparently you now have to be a medal holding Olympic diver to travel the world. I am slightly annoyed at this to be perfectly honest. Sorry, Tom, you know I love you really. It takes normal people like me years to save for travelling, but some people get handed it. Seriously, ITV, you could have had an awesome bunch of desperate students travelling where you would get proper stuff from. Gah. Rage. I think ITV should pay me and my friends to travel the world. That would be nice. 

Hey, Richard Branson, if we traveled by Virgin planes the whole time would you sponsor us to travel and do a documentary on it? Plus crazy promos on my blog? I wonder if he ever would read this. No. No he would not. Was worth a shot though.

I do think that there aren't many options available for students to go travelling after uni. Yes, there are various gap year companies which offer these opportunities, but they seem to be aimed towards people who have had the chance to earn a fair amount of money as I think that they are still slightly expensive...that might just be me, though. I'd like to see more graduate travelling opportunities. I mean, we have spent 3 or so years studying our asses off to get a degree, so I would like a bit of a break to get some experiences under my belt, you know? I have a feeling that I am going to get a lot of negative comments on this about my money situation/people telling me to get a job. So before you post something like that read this: I applied to over 60 places for a job. I had 3 replies from them. One company, which I shall not name, turned me down after an interview as I was a student. This is so unfair!!! I will be spending my first few days back down in Plymouth looking for a job for the next two years, so if you know of any then let me know. Getting a job is hard; there aren't many of them about. So please do not tell me I am not doing enough because that is bullshit and I do not take kindly to those comments.

What are your thoughts on the options available for students to go travelling after graduation?

Anyways, I think I should stop writing because no one wants to read my annoying thing about the poor student who has no money.

There are plenty more posts like this in the pipeline, and some awesome original work from yours truly, so click "Join This Site" to see them before anyone else gets to!

I am also starting to take suggestions for things you would like to hear me rant about, so chuck them my way by any way you want and I will rant and rave about them!

Toodle-oo peeps!

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The rants of a student

Hello there, buddies!

DISCLAIMER: if you are noticing some things in this post that you might have said to me, I would like to inform you that I do not dislike you, I just need to vent my anger to someone who understands....aka the internet. This is an accumulation of things that have happened over the last year, and this rant is not directed at anyone in particular. 


In this rant, I shall be discussing things that have been said to me due to the fact I am at university. This literally ranges from things at uni, to things at home. All you students will probably have experienced the same....and people starting in September, you have all this to come! I have found that people who haven't been to uni (this can be friends, family, random people, anyone) tend to have a very stereotyped image of students, and simply do not understand student life, or do not understand your situation. 

I want to also say that unlike my other posts, this post is completely spontaneous and hasn't had my usual extensive planning, so it is likely to be really broken and written just as it sounds in my head. If you can make sense of it then we are clearly on the same wavelength! All of your comments are welcome whether they be positive or negative. I am fighting my corner and defending my opinion here. Remember that word....OPINION. This is literally my blunt and honest opinion. Enjoy!

Ok the first thing I want to talk about is people's stereotypical idea that all student's do is drink. Well, although it is true that drinking culture is a very large part of uni life, students do a hell of a lot of work. We have to do all our own research for our essays (of which we have about 8 a year), study religiously for our exams, all whilst making sure we attend as many of our lectures as humanely possible, along with seminars and any societies we might be members of. Yes there might be a few times when we miss one or two, but we do try. Life isn't all about going out and getting hammered every night (expect Fresher's week, but there are no lectures then). People are just daft if that is what they think really.

Many people say that people go to university just to prolong having to join the "real world". Well, I will have you know that I have gone to university to INCREASE my chances of getting a job that I want and that will benefit me the most. Would you rather I had no further education and was stuck in a dead-end job that paid me basically in buttons, therefore meaning that it would be likely that I would have to sponge money off the government, which then would mean you would be complaining that I wasn't getting my ass up and finding a better job? Yeah, I thought not. (I warned you this rant would get heated). People like this I believe are very narrow-minded. Although there are some people who go to uni simply because they think it is all social bla bla bla, but those people get a reality check at the end of their first year and tend to drop out. 

On an additional point to this, people tell me that I went to university by choice, so I shouldn't be complaining. There are two issues I have here. The first is with the word "choice". Yes I "chose" to go to university, but I did not choose to be fucked over by the government meaning it would be so hard to get a job, get on the property ladder and move on with my life without getting this higher education. Yes, it would be possible - I have been very fortunate to be given several summer jobs, but none of these are permanent and would be suitable for a career, nor pay enough for me to move out. So all you people who say this to me, I pose you a question. Did you "choose" to be complaining about everything from jobs, to money, to your social life, or did you decide to do it because it is better for you? The second part of this revolves around me actually going to university. Here is a newsflash for you: university is hard! You live on your own, motivate yourself, and if you don't get your work done then you are going to fail. Living on your own is bad enough without having to pass work that is so difficult. It is nothing like A Levels, if you don't do the work it will come back to bite you, and it is very difficult to get a good mark! I would love to see someone who hasn't been to uni to do my work!

Another issue here is surrounding money. People seem to have this idea that students get all this money from the government to spend at our will. Well this is not true. The £9000 (yes, I have the joys of paying this after once again getting screwed over by the government) loan that I get for my tuition fees goes straight to the uni and I don't get to see it whatsoever. Then the X amount of money that I get for my other bits comes and goes just as quickly. My loan only just covers my rent for my house, so I end up with about £20 left over. Do not forget that I need to actually eat whilst at university, and I had to fork out about £1000 last year to live. Does this money come from the government? No. From my fucking back pocket. Then people wonder why students never have any money, and complain that they never seem to do anything. 

Carrying on from this is the fact that the tuition loans have been increase to 9k for all people who started in my year. Most of my friends are going in to their third year or above and pay only £3000 so they will have considerably less debt that I, or any person starting in 2012 onwards, will. To make this even worse, in the 2015 budget announcements, it was said that the interest for paying it back will be increased by quite a lot, therefore meaning that we will have to pay it back at a lot quicker rate, and more money will be coming out of my wages - sad times. 

Then there are the fact that people have issues over my after-uni plans. I want to go travelling after uni with a bunch of my buddies, which will cost around £10 000. Now, I have been TOLD that I should not be complaining simply because it is my "choice". Now, after having read the previous paragraph, can you see why I think this might be slightly unfair? Yes this is my choice, but people who don't go to uni get so many amazing opportunities to do so many things and by the time I have graduated they will have done so many things like that. I want to get some experience under my belt to make me as employable as I can be. Is that so bad?! I think I have the right to complain a little bit here, do you not?

Yes, I appreciate the fact that I am so fortunate to be at university, and have got the grades to get in. I also enjoy every second that I have there, and I have made the most amazing friends there who will not doubt be stuck in my life forever (sorry, guys). But university is so stressful, and there are things to complain about, just like I am sure some people who don't go to university. So if you want to write some comments about how I am unappreciative of what I have, and that everything I said is a lie, but this is all coming from first hand experience and is my opinion. I would love to hear yours, whether you are against what I say, or for what I say. 


VIKKI'S CORNER:
I think uni is a way of becoming more self dependant, you no longer have your parents to help you wake up in the morning, you have to cook your own meals daily (or use your own 
money to purchase a take away), you no longer have anyone to pick up after you if you happen to feel lazy, you do your own washing (which in the first year causes even more expense).



That is all for now.

If you don't agree with what I have said then sorry, but this is all just my opinion.

Toodle-oo.

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