COOL THINGS IN MY WORLD
Dear readers, something amazing happened today. A miracle happened. I finally finished my exams. This hectic, seemingly eternal period of time, in which I've had to research and write two assignments, and revise for two hefty exams, has finally come to a close. This strange stationary existence where all I do is work, revise, eat, sleep, feel guilty for doing fun things, is over for three whole days. For three whole days I am liable to absolutely nothing and no-one. And I can't quite stress to you how amazing this feeling is. The last time I felt this way was the very beginning of September. From now till then this has been non-stop, one thing leading into another without a pause for breath. Well now, said pause has arrived, and I was so happy when I walked out my exam that I couldn't stop smiling the whole way down Oxford Road and Curry Mile, all the way to Chunkyz where me and my friends went for celebratory chicken. Absolutely living the dream right now. I don't even know what to do with myself, there's just so many possibilities. It feels like the world is my oyster. I can lie down on the floor and do nothing. I can sleep all day and all night. I can bake enough cakes to feed the entire British population. I can binge watch movies and Vogue UK's You Tube channel (have you seen Alexa Chung's series?). I can paint and draw enough pieces of art to fill a gallery. I can go anywhere I want and spend all day there. I could even write an autobiography of my life if I wanted to. The possibilities really are endless.
So to celebrate this three day vacation where I really genuinely will be luvin' lyf 2k16, I thought I'd put together a little post full of cool things that have happened in my world recently or will be happening in my world soon. It's partly a reminder to myself that there's more to life than revising the length of vocal folds and watching inspirational TED videos about stammering on You Tube, and partly a little window for you to look into my life and see what random things are going on. I also created a rather nineties-esque retro picture to go along with it too. Funky times man. Can you tell how happy I am right now? Anyway, enough of me rambling. I'm going to go put my onesie on and fist pump the air in happiness for a while, then I'm going to watch some more British Vogue. And in the meantime, I hope you enjoy looking at my little list. Much love.
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*COUGH, COUGH, AHEM...*
001. GETTING A TICKET TO SEE THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS
By some kind of supernatural miracle, I managed to get myself precisely one ticket to see The Last Shadow Puppets at Sheffield's City Hall in April. I don't really understand how it happened, I haven't told anyone, nor have I figured just how I'm going to get there or back. Though I do fully understand the nice little dent said ticket has made on my bank balance, and naturally I'm beginning to question why I will happily spend £40+ on a concert ticket but not 79p for some tomato puree. But anyhow, I missed TLSP last time round, eight long years ago, because at the time it was Jonas Brothers all the way, and over the last five years Alex Turner has become my favourite artist of all time, as do I think TLSP are just simply marvellous. So I guess this was inevitably going to happen and understandably I do not regret my decision in the slightest. It's going to be a cracker of a night.
002. THE SPECTACULAR NOW
Recently I've taken to googling 'indie films' when in the mood to sit down and watch a film, because I'm an absolute sucker for them. I don't know what it is about them, but I just love the honesty, the realism, the way they focus on the mundane, normal aspects of life and somehow make them seem so much more beautiful. They make you appreciate and see the world in a different way, as do they change the way you perceive life. The Spectacular Now is one of those films. It's your relatively typical teenage romance but with a few hidden twists, fantastic acting which adds to the believability and a heavy dose of realism to make sure things don't get too predictable.
003. ME, EARL & THE DYING GIRL
This was another indie film I found the other night, and had been meaning to watch for quite a while. It's about a young man named Greg and his childhood best friend Earl, both of whom are keen film-makers. The film focuses on Greg's re-telling of the pivotal time in his life when he encountered and become good friends with fellow classmate Rachael, who is struggling to come to terms with her recent stage 4 leukaemia diagnosis. I loved the unconventional way the story was presented, and accompanied by Greg's moving narrative. I loved the beautiful sweeping views of Pittsburgh, the unlikely and uncanny relationships formed, the premise of the story, the bitter-sweet honesty, the endearing wit, humour and cynicism, the thoughts it leaves you with. It's such a fantastic film and if you're looking to watch something a little different, I'd whole heartedly recommend you sit down and watch, and see what you think.
004. EARLY(ISH) MORNING RUN IN MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE
At the weekend I decided to finally get back into running in Manchester again. In the summer I got so into it, and my love for running became firmly embedded, however when I began placement in September, I found I just didn't have the time or the energy to keep it up. And after placement, I suffered from a major case of cba, and it was a real shame because I loved running so much, yet I just couldn't summon the motivation. However over the Christmas break, I started to venture out again on the odd evening, and surprised myself by getting back into running very quickly. It's like my body remembered everything, and miraculously all the hard work had paid off and the results had stayed put. How fab. So when I came back to Manchester, I decided I'd best continue that, and on Saturday morning I ran into and around the city centre, then back again, running further than I had originally intended to. Although it wasn't my best run, I still hugely enjoyed it, as am I sure the residents of Manchester enjoyed seeing me bright red and emphasising it with my 'I'm red enough said' top. It also lead to me devouring two nutella waffles when I got back, courtesy of my new waffle maker, and spurned a blog post too, so pretty win-win situation.
005. THE CLOSET, MANCHESTER
Now this one is pretty exciting. For the last four months I've been involved with helping to set up The Closet, a sustainable student-ran clothing shop opening next week (aaahhhhh) on the UoM campus, next to Academy One. It hasn't been the easiest of tasks, but we've managed to get there somehow, and there are some absolute gems on our planning committee too, who deserve all the thumbs up in the world for their hard work and dedication. The Closet will be open at select times every week, and sell an amazing variety of clothes, kindly donated from the general public and local businesses, for brilliantly cheap prices. We will also be running events throughout the year and collaborating with student ran businesses too, but the best part is that all money raised will be donated to the local mental health charity Manchester Mind. Likewise we will be promoting the fantastic work they do and the importance of mental health. If you're in the area on Wednesday 3rd of Feb, 6pm onwards, come along to our cracking open event to find out more, and from then onwards the store will be open so come pop in and take a nosey.
006. GOING BACK, RACHAEL ENGLISH
I've been reading this for the last week or so, and bulk read it till the end whilst eating breakfast the other morning. Partly picked because of the gorgeous cover design, it turned out to be a rather enjoyable, nice, easy read. The story initially begins in the 1980's, and focuses on a young Irish girl named Elizabeth Kelly, who's enjoying a summer in Boston with her friends having just finished university. One day she meets a young local man named Danny Esposito, and the two fall deeply in love. The story then moves onto the present day, when things haven't turned out quite how you might expect, and I loved finding out how the story progresses and ultimately resolves. A really beautiful endearing read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Going-Back-Rachael-English/dp/1409145255
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Going-Back-Rachael-English/dp/1409145255
007. CHINESE NEW YEAR
So the Chinese New Year has finally come around, and 2016 is the year of the mighty monkey, which just so happens to be my favourite animal. It also sounds a million times cooler than the animal that marks my own year of birth: the rat, no sorry, to be specific, the fire rat. There, that sounds better. Celebrations will be occurring from Thursday 4th of February-Sunday 7th of February, and judging by the stunning decorations already adorning Manchester's many buildings and landmarks, it's sure to be a wonderful and rather spectacular celebration!
008. CREATING DESIGNS FOR MY BLUBOCA STORE
Yesterday I abandoned revision for most of the day, and instead decided to spend a good few hours updating my Bluboca store and creating lots of new designs after a loooooooong time which didn't involve doing any of that. I always say this, and I still maintain it: exam time is always when I get most productive in all other parts of my life. This time round is no exception, clearly. And boy has it been fun! Doing my designs was so therapeutic, and I forgot what an exciting process it is, bringing an idea to life, perfecting it, and then seeing it appear on all these different products. So cool! And if you want to see some of my designs, just head on over to my store and take a little look.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/bluboca
009. CHEESE FONDUE A LA JUSTIN BIEBER
Naturally every time fondue is mentioned, I have to reference Justin Bieber due to his mention of said food in his hit song 'Boyfriend', so apologies for that. The reason I mention fondue, is because one of my best friends/ house mates came back with this beauty. A fondue maker complete with little dipping sticks and everything! Tres coolio. We gave it it's first outing the other night, using our trusted cheese fondue recipe from Christmas, dipping little pieces of toast into the cheesy goodness and subsequently venturing to some kind of cheese-related heaven. As you can imagine it was quite amazing, especially as we played Monopoly after.
010. 2AM IN THE CAT'S PAJAMAS
This book is just amazing. Something else entirely. I picked up from Manchester Library just before Christmas, purely out of curiosity. The plotline sounded so bonkers and intriguing, as did the title seem rather perplexing too. I simply had to give it a go, and subsequently I finished within the space of a few days. I just couldn't put it down! The story occurs in Philadelphia around Christmas Eve, where we meet super sassy, 9 year old jazz enthusiast Madeleine Altimari, who is recently mourning the loss of her mother, Madeleine's teacher Sarina Greene, who has recently come back into contact with her teenage crush Ben again, and owner of legendary jazz club, 'The Cat's Pajamas', Jack Lorca. Little by little their lives start to intertwine, with all paths hurtling forwards to one very specific, unifying moment in time. Marie-Helene Bernito expertly weaves the three individual stories together in such an effortless, intriguing, beautiful way as does she write in the most striking, unique and mesmerising manner. I was just hooked. I've never read anything like this novel before. It was simply fantastic, a real gem, diamond, work of art, insert any magnificent noun and it should do the job. And if you're wanting to read something a little unpredictable, something a little different, and something that's makes you remember how joyous the act of reading can and should be, I strongly urge you to give this book a read. It's soooooo goooooood.
Photo- The Great Waterway
011. STARGAZING
Next week I'm doing something absolutely amazing, something that I've always, always secretly wanted to do. I'm going stargazing. Apparently at uni we have an Astronomy Society, who will be putting on the free event in the Physics building (maybe Brian Cox will make an appearance!), and I can't lie, I'm absolutely buzzing. I'm such a sucker for stars. Sometimes when I'm walking or running at night, I literally do so with my head at a 90 degree angle because I'm so in awe. I want to take it all in, yet it's such a huge, so magnificent, that it never feels like enough. Sometimes being on Earth really is just like being inside your own personal planetarium, and it's crazy how something so beautiful can be a product of nature's very own creation. How lucky are we to have a sea of glittering lights every single night of our existence (well when it's not raining and cloudy, which is 99.9% of the time here in Manchester). It's incredible, and come said stargazing night next week, I will be the person in the picture pointing. It's practically me anyway.
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