Something to look forward to

So here I find myself, like thousands of my peers across the country, and probably the globe. We are fast approaching the dreaded month of September. Almost as dreaded as the infamous monday. The joyous days of summer are over. No more sleepovers where you stay up until 3 in the morning watching Lord of the Rings. No more care free days of having no work to do. The grey clouds on the horizon seem to spell out the word 'School'. *Cue lightning sound effect*. I myself am also dreading the work and early mornings. I am currently writing my Personal Statement and look forward to a year of exam stress and university application. But it is not all doom and gloom. Here are some of the things I am looking forward to in the next 12 months of my life, which will hopefully brighten your spirits if you are experiencing the same end of holiday blues as me.

1) Back to school
This may sound weird from the subtitle, but I promise you that it… well… it is kind of a weird one to start off with. After the school year finishes, there is nothing more exciting than the prospect of 6 weeks of freedom, being able to stay up late and do what you want, when you want. Yet after a while I get a tad bored. Firstly I miss seeing people everyday. Even the people at school who you aren't friends with, it's still nice to see everyone everyday. This coming year being my final one, it'll be strange on the last day, seeing everyone for the final time. I also miss the timetable and structure to it, as well as  using my brain and stretching my cleverness (happens quite a lot…).

2) Halloween
I have to admit, I am a huge Halloween fan. I always get extremely excited this time of year, as it's essentially just around the corner. I'm not going to lie, I have decided what I want to be this year which is sad for a 17 year old I know but who's judging me? I love the atmosphere and decorations, as well as the myths and stories that come with it. Best of all, the food and drinks. Magazines are laden with spooky treats when it turns October which is always exciting. I also love the parties where everyone is dressed up and having a good time. For me, Halloween is always something to look forward to.

3) Winter 
Personally, I love winter just as much as summer. I enjoy the bitter and crispness of the air, the dark evenings watching films with the fire on. I love wrapping up warm in countless layers of thick jumpers and coats. I also get excited whenever I see snow on the weather forecast. Waking up the next morning to see if the world is covered in a white blanket. Usually it isn't mind you… Even when it doesn't snow I enjoy sitting inside when it's howling and gail outside. Of course with winter comes my favourite time of year out of all of them…

4) CHRISTMAS
This was obviously going to be on the list. Who doesn't enjoy Christmas? I personally believe that you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy the festivities. I myself am not religious but I still love to get involved in the nostalgia that comes with the time of year. The atmosphere changes from 'I'm fed up with cold and miserable winter' to a happy and excited mood. The decorations make the house look festive and inviting. Best of all, decorating the tree. As well as that the food is awesome. Mince pies and Yule logs. As well as ginormous roast dinners. A personal favourite that always reminds me of childhood christmases is mum's homemade jam tarts. (Me and my brother didn't use to like mince pies hence we compromised and swapped the 'mince' for jam). Family come round to visit and the whole excitement of Santa's visit. Opening your presents excitedly on christmas morning and spending the day carol singing and drinking alcohol from early in the morning (underage readers ignore that part). And finally collapsing in front of the fire with left over turkey sandwiches to watch the Dr Who christmas special in the evening tops it all off. 

5) New Year
With the post Christmas blues, and the decorations looking worse for wear, everyone is in need of a little pick me up. Right on cue New Year arrives. Obviously the huge party everyone has (whilst getting drunk). Last year was a great event as at midnight, the whole party I was at went down to the local church which is next to the river and watches the firework display. Good evening with good people.

6)Birthday
I have a feeling this post is already long enough so I'm going to quickly wrap it up with one final event which I'm looking forward to. I'm going to sum it up with one equation… 18th= Big Party.

So I hope reading this has lifted your end of holidays blues and given you something to look forward to in the coming months. 

BBYYYEEEE for now >:3

In Touch with Reality

I wanted to write this blog post after finishing today the book 'Paper Towns' by John Green (good read by the way). After finishing the book, the lives of the characters seemed so entertaining and fascinating that I couldn't help but think it would be good to have a life like theirs. This isn't the first time this has happened. When I was younger, I used to be addicted to watching either Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean, and I always wished that I could be one of the characters (usually Jack Sparrow because he is so awesome). 

Yet after finishing the book and recently watching a lot of Friends episodes, I thought why is it that lots of people who watch films and TV and read books find the fictional world so much more interesting than the real world? After all characters from a book are just words on a page, and every book is made up of the same 26 letters. The truth is, we do have the same exciting things happen in our lives, except all the boring stuff in between them isn't cut out. For example in Friends, there are episodes which span over a week long period, and the funny or significant parts of it all fit into a 30 minute episode. 

For a fantasy book or film such as Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, obviously there are no dragons or trolls in the real world and there hasn't been a huge battle between good and evil which could determine whether the world is ruled by orcs. However take the two world wars for example. Evidently there was no magic or myth involved in them but they were heroic, but not desirable, all because they were real life. Take the film 'The Dam Busters' which is a incredibly engaging film about (yep you guessed it) the dam busters in World War II. Yet after watching it, I didn't wish I was one of the heroic busters, mainly because it involved the realistic truth. 

What I was intending to say is that people should not be put down because their life may not seem as interesting as Harry Potter or How I Met Your Mother. Remember that most of these films/books/TV episodes take place over weeks, months or even years. Your life is as interesting as the fictitious characters, just more spread out.

Blank Ideas

After thinking to myself 'I want to write more blog posts' and not really doing much about it, I have decided to do something about it. However I found myself a bit stuck. Mainly I didn't have anything to write about hence why I'm writing about not having anything to write about… if that makes any sense. The truth is, there have been many times where I have come onto the blog website to write a post, yet have gone back to Twitter or Youtube because I have just not been able to come up with any ideas which may be interesting to read. However I did lead to me asking myself - "What causes inspiration?"

My initial thoughts were other people, or as another way of putting it role models/idols. In my personal experience it is very common to find people's work being influenced by another. Why shouldn't we? I quite often see on social media sights such as youtube or, more recently, Vine, people using other people's ideas as inspiration for their own and getting a lot of hate for it. Yet I don't see any reason for the hate such as 'Get your own ideas' and other comments which are probably a bit rude for this blog. I can understand that if they claim the idea is their own then it will get people aggravated. Yet if I saw somebody inspired by one of my ideas, I would be greatly complimented that someone has deemed something I thought of good enough to recreate it themselves.

Yet I think that inspiration doesn't have to come from the people who we spend time with /would like to be, it is all around us. From a dishwasher to the Amazon rainforest, I think that if you look at something from the right angle, then it can inspire you to achieve your goals. For example, I wanted to write a blog post before the earth is swallowed up by the sun (that's how long I thought it would take at my previous rate of progress), however I visited Bournemouth University's open day yesterday and absolutely loved it, and that was my inspiration. I want to go there to study Communications and Media and so I thought to myself, I'm going to start up this blog post to help me stand out from the rest of the crowd which could entail with me studying at the university I want to. 

Hence after reading this, I would encourage you to look around and see what inspires you and act on it. Trust me, you'll feel like you've accomplished something if you do.

Concrete Jungle

My Time in New York City

In February I visited a place I have always dreamed of visiting- The Big Apple. After seeing all the movies which are set in it and all the songs etc, I have been desperate to go. When my dad muttered something which vaguely resembled 'we might go at some point', I kept badgering him to let me go. (He secretly wanted to anyway). I want to share some of my time there as well as giving a top 5 of places to go to when you visit.

My initial thoughts of the city were that it was a) very busy ALL the time, b) the buildings were gigantic and c) it was very much like a 'city'. After watching so many films about it I had imagined a place with celebrities left right and centre, with Ironman being chased by some bad guy and TV studios everywhere. However, it was more city-like than the films made out to be. However it was an incredible place to be in. Different cultures and languages surrounding you, steam rising from the street (yes, like in the movies), all giving rise to a very exciting atmosphere.

I wanted to go to all the famous landmarks in my time there- The Empire State building, Times Square, Grand Central Station etc… Luckily our hotel was a 5 minute walk from Times Square so I got to visit that on the first evening. Yes it is as breathtaking as the pictures make it out to be. We visited Grand Central station later on in the week and it was the most beautiful train station I have ever visited. I definitely recommend visiting it. The Empire State Building was probably the highlight of the trip for me. The picture above was taken from it. The views were breathtakingly staggering. Admittedly it was rather windy but once you were out of the wind it was an incredible experience.

Another brilliant place I visited was Brooklyn bridge. All you have to do is take the subway across the river, get out on the right stop and walk across the bridge. You get incredible views of the financial district, as well as downtown. You can also make out the Statute of Liberty in the distance (unfortunately I didn't manage to visit that… maybe next time). The bridge itself is also incredible. 

The sun was very bright...

Overall, the trip was amazing. The city lived up to my wildest expectations, and more. The food was also delicious, albeit unhealthy. If you have not been to New York already, make sure you go immediately!

My recommendations:

• Times Square, Grand Central Station and The Empire State Building are a must.
• Brooklyn Bridge surprised me and was one of the highlights of the week.
• The High line is well worth a trek- walking two stories high in the city is very enjoyable. 
• If you're a Friends fan, visit the building they used for the exterior shots in Friends. Greenwich village is also a very nice place to walk through.
• If you're looking for a nice place to have a meal, Bobby Vans on Times Square is a nice restaurant with good food (I'm not promoting for any other reason than it was the best restaurant)
• Ice skating in central park is a great experience.

For all you Friends fans out there

The Mystery of the Missing Fish

The Mystery of the Missing Fish

In memory of George the fish (2012-2013)

I have always been an animal person. I had a cat up to the age of 10 and then got a dog when I was 12. (I'm currently 16) I also have had various hamsters, dwarf hamsters, guinea pigs, snails from the garden and even ants. Yet my fish in my room came to a mysterious and, to be frank, abrupt ending.

It all started one day as I was sitting doing my homework at my desk. I looked over to see George (my fish) swimming happily as always. The tank had recently been cleaned so he was probably pretty chuffed. I then noticed a snail on the wall of the tank. Slightly confused as to how there was a snail there I assumed it had arrived with the new plants we I had bought for the tank. Thinking nothing of it I continued with my life as normal.

A few days later I was once again sitting at my desk when I noticed George was not in the tank (or so I thought). I checked round each side and squeezed my head between the wall and fish tank (I wasn't looking the most attractive at this moment in time) but I could not find him. I was in a rush to get somewhere so I concluded that he was in the plants where I could not see him. I did however notice there were a significantly larger number of snails in the tank that I had previously seen. Interesting...

The next day I wanted to be sure that I knew where George was. It wasn't that I was especially emotionally attached to the fish (sorry to all the fish enthusiasts out there) but I just didn't think it were possible for a fish to disappear. I resorted to taking the lid off to get a 'bird's eye' perspective over the situation. I could not find George in the tank anywhere. However the whole of the inside of the tank was infested with snails. There were probably around about 150 snails in a small tank. 

At this moment in time I could safely conclude that George was no longer my comrade in arms. Fuelled with revenge I knew there was only 1 culprit... rather 150 culprits. I knew that there was no other animal/reptile/insect in the tank so it could have only been the snails. Plotting up all the clues together I came up with two possible scenarios. 

Scenario 1: The snails were a group of worshippers who worshipped the mighty snail in the sky. As payment to please the Giant Snail they had to make a worship. George, being the only non-snail in the tank, was chosen as the payment. At 12:00am on Friday the 13th (let's pretend for the sake of atmosphere that it happened on this date) the snails tied up George with the leaves of the tank plants and sacrificed in an almighty ceremony. May he rest in peace.

Scenario 2: One of the snails caught a deadly virus which had been mutated from a piece of fish food. This virus spread from snail to snail until every last one had been infected. The virus turned the colony from calm peaceful creatures who walked hand in hand with other species such as George the fish, to vicious flesh eating zombie snails who eat anything in their path. Pandemonium struck the tank one evening when George was asleep and all the snails attacked at once. The poor fish didn't even have time to float into the middle of the tank where none of the snails would be able to reach him. May he rest in peace.

*DISCLAIMER* The contents of this story may have been slightly exaggerated and there is not in fact a giant snail in the sky, and no, tank snails can't turn into zombies by eating fish food *DISCLAIMER*