Lately...

Want to know what I've been up to? Of course you do.

Reading:
Not a lot to be honest, except for blogs. I stopped reading Linger for a bit. I was going to start it again last night but my Kindle needed recharging so I went to sleep instead.

Watching:
Game of Thrones. I finished series 2 last night and now I'm really mad that I don't have Sky Atlantic to watch series 3. I'm super excited that the second series of New Girl has started on E4 now as well, I love that show. I've also seen a few new (to me) films; What To Expect When You're Expecting (pretty funny), The Social Network (which I liked much more than I thought I would), Adventureland (I unexpectedly hated it, despite loving the cast), Breaking Dawn Part 2 (which was obviously shit), and The Woman In Black (which was ok, but it's one of those films where you're constantly having to watch the background for the spooky stuff - it's still pretty jumpy though. Unfortunately it was hard to find Daniel Radcliffe believable as a Dad. Plus he's Harry Potter.)

Listening To:
Tegan and Sara, Bastille, Frank Turner, Justin Timberlake and Jamie T.

Planning:
A holiday to be booked soon I hope. Also, deciding on what to do for my birthday in June and hopefully going to visit my friend at some point. Also, looking forward to warmer weather (which seems to be on its way) so that I can just sit around in the garden and do nothing.

Monday Thoughts

My hours at work are currently all over the place, hence the blogging hiatus. But anyway, my brother and his girlfriend will be coming to visit this week, plus my parents get back from Saudi on Thursday so I'm excited for that. I've been waiting until everyone's here to put the tree up and I'm starting to get a bit impatient - I'm usually one of those people who puts up the Christmas tree on the 1st of December. I've shown a lot of restraint I think! Also, I've had a disaster with my advent calender. I accidentally opened the door for the 17th on the 7th and didn't realise until the next day. So now I'll have to open the 8th on the 17th. It might not seem like a big deal to normal people but I am strange and it has infuriated me, haha.

Did everyone see the X factor final? I'm kind of glad James Arthur won because he was definitely my favourite, but I think he was going to do well without winning, whereas I think Jahmene would have benefited more from winning, I feel like he's less likely to do well on his own. Also, James Arthur might find himself restricted by whatever conditions come with being the winner of the X factor. Oh well, I don't really care that much, I never vote on shows like that anyway!

It's that time of year again where I have been gifted some extra channels for the holiday, including Good Food, which has made me incredibly happy. I love watching cooking shows anyway, and Christmas cooking shows are just the best. Everyone knows that. So I've been watching a lot of old Jamie Christmas specials! 

Anyway, it's very cold today, and I have to wait in for a delivery, so it's quite nice that I've got an excuse not to go anywhere. Nigella's on soon - think I'll watch that with a huge mug of hot chocolate :)

Christmas song of the day: Please Come Home For Christmas by Jon Bon Jovi

Currently reading: Letters from Father Christmas - I nearly finished it last night but I fell asleep. Considering reading Life of Pi next because I really want to watch the film when it's out.

Apocalypse

Morning. I hope everyone enjoyed their extra hour in bed yesterday morning. I definitely did. I have a delivery coming today, I don't know what time except that it will be before 3pm, so I got up at 8 and I'm currently snuggled on the sofa with a cup of coffee and watching Frasier. Bliss.

What I wanted to talk about today is that Derren Brown Apocalypse show that's been on channel 4. I missed it on Friday because I was at work but when I got home last night I watched it because I was genuinely curious to see how it would go. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, Derren Brown (that hypnotist guy) basically selected someone who he thought was the right candidate and convinced him that he was living in a zombie apocalypse caused by a meteor collision. The whole premise of this is obviously completely ridiculous, not to mention a pretty horrific thing to put someone through. I can't quite make my mind up over how legitimate I think it is, because to be honest I'm a massive skeptic when it comes to hypnotism, but at certain times I definitely felt convinced just by how genuinely terrified this poor guy seemed to be. The jury's still out at the moment though. I'm such a cynic.

My main problem with the whole thing is how Derren Brown thinks that by doing this to the poor lad he's somehow helping him live a better life and learn to not take his friends and family for granted, because he's decided that this guy is selfish and lazy and not making the most out of his life. It's so self-righteous. OK, fair enough in the few clips we were shown of him being secretly filmed at home, he did seem lazy and selfish, and I did feel a bit sorry for his mum because she said she wanted him to love her a bit more, but he certainly didn't seem like a terrible human being who deserved to actually be forced to live through what's shaping up to be an amalgamation of every zombie movie ever made. Also, he's only 21 years old, and who's honestly got their life together by the time they're 21? I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything was going to be alright through most of it, I felt so sorry for him.

Anyway, it concludes on Friday when I'm at work again, but I think I'll definitely have to watch it afterwards, maybe I'll be able to decide if I think it's real or whether I think this guy is just an actor (albeit a pretty good one). 

Song of the Day: Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Currently reading: We Need To Talk About Kevin

Lately I've been...

Reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This was one of the books I was most looking forward to reading out of my 30 books, and so far I haven't been disappointed. It's been a bit slow-going so far (I'm not even halfway yet, oh dear), but when I started it I didn't get a chance to read it much because I wasn't at home, and since then I've only been able to read a chapter or two a night, but I'm going to crack on with it this week.


Watching: Channel 5 have picked up that American show Once Upon A Time and so I started watching that the other night. Initially I wasn't too sure because it just seemed a tad ridiculous, but I persevered and now I'm a little bit in love with it. There's just something so endearing about it, even if it is a bit cheesy/cringeworthy at times. And hey, Robert Carlyle makes a pretty creepy Rumpelstiltskin. 

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Other than Once Upon A Time, Daf and I are still slowly making our way through Prison Break and The Office (the American version). I love Jim and Pam, they've got to be one of the best written TV couples ever.


Oh, and also, I went to see The Avengers on Tuesday and it is fantastic. Well, it is if you like superheroes, aliens, explosions and stuff. And I do.


Listening to: Nothing obscure, a lot of Blur and The Kooks at the moment. Oooh, and also Two Door Cinema Club, I really love them.


Laughing at: The tumblr blog Sims Gone Wrong. It's basically full of screenshots of glitches in the game that cause some hilarious and also terrifying sims. Check it out for more, but here are some of my favourites.

demon cat

demon lady

demon baby

Frightening stuff.


Looking forward to: My birthday next month, because the Harry Potter studio tour tickets arrived in the post the other day which got me SUPER excited. I hope there is a gift shop so I can buy Harry Potter merchandise.


Song of the Day: Mr Maker by The Kooks


Currently reading: The Book Thief

I am bad at reading

Sorry for my silence, but now I've committed myself to including what I'm reading in every blogpost, I was embarrassed to update because I'm still reading The Hobbit. Please don't shout at me. I've only picked it up once in the last week. I'm so ashamed. But the good news is I'm planning on finishing it in the next couple of days, so that I can move on to another book. Hooray!


In other news, I went out with some friends on Friday night. I very rarely go out on the town anymore, so whenever I do it's usually a good night because it's such a novelty. It was fun. My friend and I were getting some drinks when some guy standing near us vomited all over the bar and was then surprised that a) they wouldn't serve him and b) that he was escorted out by a bouncer. It was disgusting, but hilarious.


Also, Daf and I have been watching Prison Break on Netflix, and it makes me have vivid dreams that I am either in prison, or I'm being pursued by the FBI for breaking out of prison. It's all very entertaining. Plus it means that Wentworth Miller features heavily in my dreams, and that can never be a bad thing.

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Song of the Day: History Book by Dry the River


Currently Reading: The Hobbit

Where I've been

For anyone who wanted to know how my bowling trip went, out of 3 games I came last twice and 3rd (out of 4) once. I suck at bowling. And I am not the most gracious of losers. To add insult to injury I was also designated driver so I was sat there sipping on my coke while Daf, Jack and Al knocked back pitchers of Coors Light. Ah well, it's all good fun. And our staff do is on Tuesday and we're going bowling, funnily enough, so at least I've had some practice.

I have recently discovered How It Should Have Ended on YouTube, where they do animated alternate endings of popular movies. The one for how X-Men: First Class should have ended is a personal favourite, with honourable mention going to Harry Potter. 

Oh, and I've also started watching the American version of The Office on Netflix, and I love it so much, I think Dwight might be my favourite fictional character ever. Largely because of this face:

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Song of the Day: Better Half by Frank Turner

There must be a better half somewhere out there/She lives a better life, a life that she shares/Shares with a better man, a man who is there when she calls in the night/Who says "Hey, it's alright"

No, I do not know the history of everything

Before work yesterday (which I accidentally managed to show up half an hour early for) I was watching The Chase, which is a quiz show where people compete against really clever quiz... people (or whatever the correct term is). One of the contestants was a History student, and he got a question about Elizabeth I wrong, and afterwards the Chaser said, "I'm surprised you got the history question wrong" to which the student replied, "Well I specialise in Russian History." But the Chaser didn't look impressed.


I can totally relate to this. Because I have a History degree, everyone expects me to know the history of absolutely everything ever. What they fail to realise is that actually I only know the stuff I have actually studied, and that History is a pretty broad subject. If I'm playing Trivial Pursuit or something and get a History question wrong, everyone tuts at me and tells me I should have got it right, even if it's something obscure like "What was the name of Henry II's cat?" (By the way, I don't know if Henry II had a cat so please don't ask me about it). It's really irritating.


Anyway, it's starting to get colder, and it's getting darker earlier so autumn/winter is rapidly approaching. There's been a lot of squirrel activity in the garden which is funny because Daf thinks squirrels are hilarious and he keeps giggling like a five year old every time he sees them prancing around.

Big Brother

Hello. Remember me?

It's been a while, I know. I didn't really want to write anything when the riots were going on because it made me angry. Cher Lloyd got to number one, but that made me really angry too. What is the world coming to?

A brand new series of Big Brother starts tonight at its new home on Channel 5. When it had its big finale last year, I knew another channel would pick it up at some point, but I didn't think it would be back on our screens a year later. It's like it never went away really. I was never a huge Big Brother watcher, there was only one or two series that I properly got into. Anyway, I'm going to share my top 5 Big Brother moments, you lucky things.

In no particular order...

BB7's Nikki Grahame's infamous "Who is she?!" rant in the diary room. Nikki was the best ever. Incredibly irritating but so so funny.

Alex Sibley from BB3 hiding behind the door then miming along to That's The Way I Like It. Brilliant.

My next one is from BB7 again but I cannot find a video for it anywhere and it's really annoying me because it's amazing. It's the bit when Glyn is singing his song about cooking an egg for the very first time. There's loads of remixes on YouTube but I want the actual clip and I can't find it. Never mind, moving on.

OK, the internet is failing me and I can't find videos for anything, so here's just a generic 'best bits' one for you, if you feel like being nostalgic about Big Brother.

I feel really let down by YouTube.

Mixed messages

I've just ordered my cap and gown for graduation, so that's all very exciting. I couldn't find a tape measure to measure my head, but I did find one of those things you use to measure the length of a room or a doorway or something. They don't work as well because they don't really bend, but I'm reasonably confident in my guesstimation. Besides, a reliable friend informed me that there are spare hats on the day, so I'm not too worried.

The company I had to order from sent me an email with all the information I needed, and at the top of the email it said this:

Right, okay. Please print, I'll be sure to do that. Underneath this was my reference number, a record of my payment and other confirmation details. Then, at the bottom was this:

Well, now I'm confused. I checked just in case this footer was a hotmail related thing, but it is actually from the graduation gown company place. Now I feel like I'm in a lose-lose situation. I have to print the email, but I'm going to get judged for it. I don't need judgemental emails in my life.

In other news, I miss Lost. I've been watching some of the special features on the DVDs to try and fill the void, but it's not quite the same. Sigh.

Oh, and just before I go, I've finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End which is the third one (bit behind the times, I know), and I literally had no idea what was going on for most of it, and I can't believe they gave Will and Elizabeth such a sad ending. I won't say what happens in case I get accused of ruining it for someone, but seriously, you're better off giving it a miss, it's awful. It's so awful that not even Jack Sparrow could save it, and I love Jack Sparrow.

That being said I still want to see the new one because Will and Elizabeth aren't in it and there's MERMAIDS involved I think.

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Song of the Day: Only Wanna Be With You by Hootie & The Blowfish

You look at me, you got nothing left to say/I'm gonna pout at you until I get my way

A bad blogger's weekly round-up

I do believe it's been over a week since I blogged. I've been meaning to, but I've been busy in a kind of non-busy way. Last weekend I went to Ludlow for a gathering for Soph's birthday which was fun, she got given a tent which she tried to convince me we were sleeping in (I am not a fan of tents or camping). On Monday Daf came up on the train from Barmouth for a few days. We went to the cinema on Tuesday to watch X-Men: First Class which was really good if you like that sort of thing (and I do). On Wednesday it was my birthday! 22 years old, it doesn't feel like such a fun age. Anyway, I got a lovely present of a cold, so it wasn't one of my better birthdays. I really don't remember what happened on Thursday, it has disappeared from my memory, but yesterday I went to a local pub/restaurant to chat about starting a job there, which I will be doing next week. It's just a Saturday job at the moment but it'll pick up as it gets busier, also I could maybe get another job for the week. Either way I'm pretty pleased that I only got back from university just over a week ago and I already have a job on the horizon. Yay for money! Oh, and also Daf and I have now completely finished Lost. What an emotional rollercoaster, that's all I can say. I was up early this morning to drop Daf off at the train station, and the ONLY good thing about this is that as a result I was able to watch Spongebob which is always a winner in my book.

Sorry to go all, "On Monday I did this, and then I did that..." on you but it's my attempt at explaining my absence. Hopefully I'll be back to updating a bit more regularly now.

Here's some photos!

These were all taken in Soph's garden in Ludlow.

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Song of the Day: Nightingale Song by Toad The Wet Sprocket

And little ever changes if anything at all/Just reminds ourselves how small we are

 

Guess what?

I went ahead and pimped my blog, that's what. Initially I was just experimenting with the title font and colour, but then I decided to see what it looked like with a black background. I thought I was going to hate it but actually I kind of love it, so IT'S STAYING. For now.

In other news, hey, we're still here! Of course, there's still just under 6 hours left of today, but I would've thought the rapture would have been here by now if it was coming. All in all, a very mundane Saturday. Oh well, only half an hour until Dr Who is on. Man, I would have been gutted if the rapture interfered with regular scheduled programming.

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Song of the Day: Keep It Together by Guster

Keep it together/Can we keep it together/We're singing a new song now/And everything starts today

Eurovision, prizes and birthdays

Oh Eurovision, I can't help but watch you. 

It's pretty terrible most of the time, although there are one or two hidden gems (Jedward are so well suited to Eurovision - it's the hair, along with the unstoppable enthusiasm). Russia are on at the minute and the backing dancers are HILARIOUS. I think I'll wait until Blue have been on, then I'll try and tear myself away.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I won a years worth of credit from O2 because I topped up between certain dates and my phone number was picked - although a years worth in this case is equal to £150. I was told that they were going to send me vouchers, so I assumed I would be able to top up as and when I needed to. However, yesterday O2 sent me a text saying my account would shortly be credited, and after sending a text this morning I was informed that my balance was now £156.79 - quite a lot of credit to have on your phone at once. I'm not complaining (well, I'm trying not to) because free credit is free credit after all, but I can't say I like having the credit all in one lump like that. Never mind, I shall just be careful with it.

In other news, my big brother turned 25 today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES! You are OLD.

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Song of the Day: Whatever wins Eurovision. I'll let you know. I hope it's Moldova.

Books and water and Grey's Anatomy

In celebration of finishing my dissertation, I went out and bought myself a few books to read recreationally. They are all Stephen King books, because I've never read any before and they were 3 for 2 in Waterstones. I got Carrie, The Shining, and Dreamcatcher. I also went to Smiths and bought It because they didn't have it in Waterstones and it was actually the one I most wanted to read. 

I've read Carrie now, it was the shortest so I figured I'd start with that one, and I think I enjoyed it. It's a weird book, but well written as I really wanted to know what was going to happen, but at the same time I was dreading it. No easy feat so well played, Stephen. I've now moved onto It. I haven't got very far yet but I'm wondering if it was the best idea. Like a lot of people, I'm not particularly fond of clowns. I don't have a phobia or anything, but there's just something about a painted on smile which is incredibly sinister. I have a feeling that It might turn my simple aversion to clowns into an inherent fear.  

Whilst looking for a creepy clown photo I found this list of creepy clowns, where the above photo was found, which is actually from the movie version of It I think.

Anyway, I've had to put the reading of It on hold, as Daf has inadvertantly knocked a glass of water all over it. He dried it off with my hairdryer and it's now sitting underneath a pile of textbooks in an effort to flatten it down. It was only an accident so I'm not mad, but Daf has a habit of pouring water all over my stuff . In our first year of university it was my brand new laptop which was the unassuming victim, and I spent a very nervous half an hour wondering what I was going to tell my parents whilst a techno-savvy friend tried to fix it. Luckily, he did fix it, but it wasn't the last time Daf accidentally watered down my belongings. I'm beginning to wonder whether he has an unconscious wish to destroy of all my possessions.

As well as reading, I've been watching a lot of Grey's Anatomy before I get myself into a heavy revision routine. I really like it, but something devastatingly sad happens in nearly every single episode. It's exhausting. Also, a lot of really bad things happen to the characters, they're always nearly dying or something. It's ridiculous that these poor people should be plagued by such terrible misfortune. No matter what happens in the future, at least my life will never be as depressing as theirs.

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Song of the Day: Traffic Jam by Vega4

All I want is someone to pull me out/I'm stuck in a traffic jam/With nowhere to run for miles