A blog about... necklaces?

A random topic maybe, but I've been feeling sentimental today, and I've decided to blog about my necklaces.

Yep, necklaces.

Several years ago, when I was still a some-what closet nerd (before I learnt the true wonders of geeking and convention going) I used to express my love of something, mainly Harry Potter, through a necklace.

Necklaces are beautiful, but very easy to hide or display as you please... they are also something that is not obvious, which to my young and embarrassed self was very important, but also something that is close to the heart.

That sounds cornier than I intended. :/ 

Because of this, now at nineteen I will rarely wear a necklace that does not have a specific meaning attached to it.

Here are my three dearest necklaces:

'A'
My 'A' necklace is the same one as worn my Karen Gillan as Amy Pond.
From this blog you will know that Amy means a lot to me... but I wear this more than just when costuming as Amy.
This necklace represents the side of me that I have discovered through costuming as Amy, a side that is confident in herself and not plagued by the insecurities that Lisa is... well, mostly.

Key
My gold Tiffany key is by far the most valuable piece of jewelry I have ever owned. I was given it by my parents for my 18th birthday. It represents my family, and my move to university.
It signifies success to me, this was given to me at a time where my hard work paid off so it serves to remind me of that work and the light at the end of the tunnel.

HP
This one has to be obvious... this is my solid silver Harry Potter logo necklace which I found on ebay about 3 years ago and haven't really seen since.
(I wish I had it in gold, but that was crazy expensive at the time, and this was about £30)
Obviously, the largest aspect of my live is my love of Harry Potter. This is the first necklace that made me discover my love of meaningful jewelry. I bought it at a time when I kept my geekyness to myself, so this necklace was my small way of showing my love of HP.

I have many others... such as my Philosophers Stone book and my Twilight heart (which, even though I am no longer a twilight fan means a lot as twilight introduced me to conventions).

They each have a huge sentimental value to me, and show my true self.

TTFN

Costume plans, 2011

So, as I should have guessed due to my inability to make any form of decision... 

I changed my mind about Amy.

I realised that I don't care about the haters, let them hate. Mhmm.

 I love being Amy, so shall continue to do so... she makes me happy. :)

So, I'm starting on some Series 6 costumes :D

However, I don't plan to be Amy for a while. 

Time for another list.

Costume plans for 2011 (subject to change xD)

EMS March

Jean Grey/The Dark Phoenix, X-Men

Snow White

Memorabilia March

Christmas Special Kissogram!Pond

Femme!11th Doctor

MCM Expo May (Might not be going to this one)

Ariel

LFCC July

X-23 (big maybe)

Series 6!Pond

Bitten 2 August

Jessica Merlottes 

Sophie-Anne

After August I am not sure on my convention plans and thus unsure on my costume plans. :)

But I still want to do Lara Croft at some point... and maybe some other superheroes as they are awesome. xD

Yay for blogging when I have a 2000 word report to write.

TTFN

Reconsidering Fate

So, previously I've written how I do not believe in fate.

And I stick by that... I really do. Other than coincidence I do not believe that I am on a predestined path, or that 'what will be will be'.

What will be is what I make it to be.

However, two days ago I went with my Grandad to the working men's club that he has been a member of since 1942. There, he got talking about the war (which is quite a rare occurence) and in particular about the Coventry Blitz.

The fact of the matter is that my Grandad (and as such the whole of my Mum's side of my family) was bombed out of two houses in one night.

Two houses. One night.

He spoke about how his family went out into the back garden to watch the bombs falling (as they did...y'know) and whilst out there a bomb fell in their front garden. If they hadn't been in the back garden... who knows.

So, with their house not safe they walked down to a relatives house, I believe my Great Aunts middle of terrace house.

Whilst there another bomb fell on the end of the terrace, bombing them out of that house as well.

Luckilly (I think) everyone was okay.

As you can guess... I was in shock.

That is one fucker of coincidence, right? Surely... it's more like... 

Fate.

My Grandad said, and I repeat 'If those airmen had released those bombs a fraction of a second before or later...'

He couldn't complete the sentence, can you blame him? 

But he did utter one, in this case, very relevant word...

"Fate"

At 87 he is stating that that decision by that German airman actually saved his life all those years ago... and as such my Mothers and my own... and so forth.

Wow.

I'm completely at a loss for anything else to say...

TTFN.

So it's been a month

Over a month since I last blogged. Oops.

There has been LOTS that I wanted to blog about, but I just haven't had the time.

(Though I don't have the time now either... I just fancy writing)

Next week I have alot of exams, the week before Christmas... but that isn't what I'm going to talk about.

1) I've decided, though nobody knows it yet, that after New Years Day I am going to give up Amy for a while. I just CBA with the bullshit that follows her and I want a break.

This doesn't mean I'm giving up costuming... ohhhhh no. I have some fab ideas for next years cons, including Fem!11th Doctor. Oh yeah, it's gonna be amazing. I'm not talking about a girl dressed up as the male 11th doctor with a short wig on.

Oh no.

I'm talking Fem!11th. As in a female version of the 11th Doctor. So for me that includes: black super skinnies, 5 inch heals to make me just taller than Matt Smith's correct 6'1, a tweed blazer, shirt and a bow in my hair. Plus the sonic of course. And some big hair pulled into a messy pony tail.

So excited about that!

Also planned are: Ariel and Belle from their respective Disney movies, The Black Widow from Iron Man 2, Wonder Woman (lol, that one isn't actually gonna happen, I don't have the confidence to be /that/ naked in public!) Lara Croft, and finishing off and wearing Poison Ivy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up Amy in the entirety, I'm just going to take a hiatus from her for a few months. :) I think it is time to broaden my costuming horizons. 

2) I NEED to rant about the rising tuition fees.

Two comments I made on Facebook today at a friend who is stubbornly and blindly supporting the fee rise:

"I'm all for the protests... it is one of the few ways that we can show the government that, even though in the past students weren't considered a particularly influential group, we can stand and we willprotest.
We are their future, and if they want that future to be rosy then they need to see that it might be a good idea to listen to us, and not go back on their promises.
All I'm saying is: if I was a few years younger and was facing the rising tuition fees I wouldn't consider going to University in England, I'd go to America or Australia where for the same price, or slightly more, I can get a much better education. This is what I've been discussing with my friends... so if the government want to lose the highly talented students, which would later become our workforce, overseas (or by not going to university at all because they are unable afford it) then fine, they can raise the fees. They're just shooting themselves in the foot. :)"

"All the protests at my uni and others have been peaceful, there are only a select few ANARCHISTS (NOT students, and maybe the odd stupid student) that ruin the reputation of the peacefully protesting students, and they tend to be in the capital. 

But David Cameron is just gonna come along and take 9 grand out of their pockets each year. (well, 9 grand a year in loans creating even more of a mountain of debt than we face. And 9 grand if they want a top eduction, 6ish grand if they don't, hence my you might as well get a top eduction abroad comment)

Tis a shame that this new ConDem government can't see that they are only doing themselves and our future a misjustice by raising the fees, after all, they are particularly hypocritical in the fact that their education was free and now they think that the future generation should pay. Meh, it's shame that the government in this country is messed up, can't wait to leave it. If only they would actually listen to us rather than disregarding us as a group, maybe the students would be less angry."

Think that pretty much sums up my views on the current fee rise...

TTFN

Thinking about Nerdishness

Right now, I really wish I was a vlogger.

(+ I'm really tempted to start vlogging)

Why? Because I just watched Charlieissocoollike (yes, like many other teenage girls I subscribe to Charlie's channel, shoot me) Nerd-off video and it's made me realise just how much of a Nerd I truly am.

And I love it. <3

Here comes a list:

1) Harry Potter. 

Plain and simple. I am one of the biggest HP Fangirls out there, and if I could I would discuss HP 24/7 I would be living a very happy life. 

At present, I own  over 70 copies of the Harry Potter books. And I want to double my collection by this time next year.

I've been to a HP convention. It was the best weekend of my life. Hands down.

I listen to the audio books every day.

Leaky is my homepage.

I listen to PotterCast.

My aim in life is to meet JKR.

I'm going to the DH premier to try and complete this aim.

If I can get her to autograph my upper arm, I will get it tattooed.

I have 4 HP tattoos planned... but I have a needle-phobia so they might have to wait. :(

My original PS, the diary I kept whilst reading DH for the first time and my original PS movie poster are 3 of my most prized possessions.

I would never give up Harry Potter for anyone.

2) Disney

I'm also a disney fangirl. If I won the lottery, the first thing I would do is book to spend the week before Christmas in Disneyland.

3) Doctor Who

Do I really need to say that I'm a Dr Who fan? I'm also a Pond costumer, as I've said... that's gotta put me up on the Nerd front.

I'm also a fan of Chameleon Circuit... and also adore Charlie's rendition of The Big Bang 2.

4) Using quotes from HP, Doctor Who etc in everyday conversation makes me smile.

(Especially when nobody notices... or when someone does and starts a nerd-based conversation)

5) I subscribe to many 'famous' vloggers on YouTube

(But I have yet to start vlogging myself)

6) Friends

What can I say? I'm a 90's kid.

7) I met my best friend online. Because of Harry Potter.

And not only my best friend, I've made dozens of amazing friends due to being a Nerd. Online, at conventions etc. They are amazing, and they understand me.

8) Conventions in general

Not only have I been to a Harry Potter conventions, but I've also been to:

Two Twilight cons (Don't judge me... I was young)

A True Blood Convention

LFCC 2010

And, thus far, 4 (I think) Dr Who events as Pond.

They are amazing and I just wish I had the money to go to more of them.

9) Musicals

I can recite every word from Les Miserables...

And Wicked.

And most of RENT.

And Avenue Q.

And The Lion King (here we combine musical love with Disney love to make AWESOME).

10) Cricket

Here I'm not super-nerdy... but I do adore Cricket and my Christmas present this year is a membership to Warwickshire County Cricket Club. <3

I think I'll stop there... there is probably much more about me that is Nerdy that I've forgotten to add. 

See why I want to vlog about this? I would totally win the Nerd-off.

fin.

TTFN.

A blog about education

So yesterday I saw a youtube video that really got me thinking. And really freaked me out.

It was an RSAnimate to a talk by Sir Ken Robinson about changing education paradigms.

Not really selling it you you am I?

Trust me, it was amazing.

It was so true.

And it was so fucking scary.

It made me realise that even as a 2nd year student in a 'top' university I am no more guaranteed a job than the next person.

Why?

Because everyone, it seems, will be as equally qualified when I go to get a job in 2 years time. The education system in this country is fucked up. Basically. This talk pretty much said that we are educating children in this country as if we were still in the industrial era, and that if we want kids to learn then we need to keep up with the technological era what we are now in. Otherwise kids will get bored.

So last night in my flat we had a bit of a discussion about the university education that we are all receiving.

I can't remember the exact figures, but we were discussing how 20 years ago maybe 3% of the population got a university education... now it maybe 20%.

So even though, in theory, I am against the rise in university fees... it may actually help stop the rise in 'mickey mouse' degrees that devalue my own degree.

I am a Psychology student.

I am a student of BSc Psychology at the University of Birmingham, 3rd in the country for research... well it was in 2009, I dunno about now.

But, many people think of Psychology as a cop out subject.

Many, many people with 'bad' A levels do Psychology at 'bad' universities.

Thus, it gets a bad name.

However, what people don't realise is that there is a BIG difference between BA Psychology and BSc Psychology.

BA Psychology isn't accredited by the BPS and as such is pretty much worthless.

BSc Psychology is a SCIENCE. And is fucking difficult.


</rant>

I've also realised that I have little idea what I want to do with my life.

And that is really freaking me out right now.

Apparently now is the time I'm supposed to be making those decisions.

I'm 19, FFS!

I've barely completed my second decade of life and I'm supposed to be deciding how to spend the rest of it.

Well I'm not ready for that right now, so the world can just wait, I'm sure it won't mind.

TTFN.

I can't believe I'm about to quote this

It's been an odd day.

I've felt quite down for it most of it, and I'm still waist deep in uni work.

I can't believe I'm actually about to quote a Hannah Montana song, but I heard this the other day and right now it really sums up some of the feelings I've had today.

I'm just an ordinary girl

Sometimes I'm lazy

I get bored

I get scared

I feel ignored

I feel happy, I get silly

I choke on my own words

I make wishes, I have dreams

And I still want to believe

Anything can happen in this world, 

For an ordinary girl

Another thing you need to know about me:

I don't believe in 'fate'

So I really connect with this section of that song, especially that anything can happen to an 'ordinary girl'. I believe we make our own 'luck' and that fate is nonsense;  everything we do leads to what we become. I like to think that I am not on a predestined path, that my choices make who I am.

But my thoughts on fate aren't what I'm supposed to be blogging about today.

My blog yesterday highlighted my worries about Amy and how I hate the jealously and bitchyness  that follows her. 

And, of course my insecurities. 

"I get scared

I feel ignored"

Today I felt ignored. Left out.

I hate these feelings, they really bring me down. 

I especially hate thinking that people who I know and like are happy to make me feel this way.

But of course they don't know that they are doing this so it's not really their fault.

I'm not gonna blog my reasons for feeling this way, there are some things that the internet just doesn't need to know. But:

I'm no actress.

I've never claimed to be. I never will be. I'm too insecure 

But I feel that some people are disappointed with me because of this.

Oh well. Fuck it. 

I'm a Psychologist, not an Actress.

I'm a Nerd, not an Actress.

I'm a Dancer, not an Actress.

And most importantly:

I'm a Lookalike, not an Actress.

TTFN.