Happy Birthday, Mum!

It's my mum's birthday today! She got a load of vouchers to her favourite shop so I get to go shopping with her tomorrow… we went to a few supermarkets and she picked out a yummy coconut birthday cake.

It was a big step today when my family entrusted me with the lighter to do the candles. This 22 year old pyrophobic is doing alright.

I also took her and my brother out to a lovely Indian restaurant nearby, where we got this gigantic naan bread served on a naan tree.

We had a great day all in all, and it's my brother's birthday next week so we have to get thinking about where to go for his birthday meal.

Now playing: Sky News

DVD Night

Zombieland image source

Made Of Honour image source

Tonight I hung out with both my best friends, Beth and Lou (quote from The Mindy Project, "best friend is not a person, Danny, it's a tier!") watching Zombieland and Made Of Honour. We also had spaghetti bolognese made with fuisili instead of spaghetti which was really yummy.

Tomorrow is my mum's birthday and I had to rush out after being at Lou's to get her a few bits and pieces because I'm really disorganised this year. I already bought her a couple of pairs of jeans in the sale but I had nothing to give her physically tomorrow. Now I have 2 books for her, the new Michael Jackson CD and a bottle of gin. So what I lack in organisation I've made up for in thoughtfulness!

Now Playing: My Circuitboard City - The Wombats

A Grumble of Pugs

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Today KT was sad so I sent her a load of pictures of pugs to cheer her up. She loves pugs and intends to adopt an entire grumble of them one day. Right now she's watching an animal rescue show about pugs and telling me about all of the residents of this pug rescue shelter.

I have a week off work starting from today! It's my mum's birthday on Thursday, my best friend's birthday on Sunday and my brother's birthday next Wednesday so there's a lot happening. Oh, and GISHWHES starts this Saturday. Glad it's happening on my week off..!

Now Playing: nothing, actually

Sarcasm, But Extreme

I can be a sarcastic little thing sometimes, and I will go to extreme lengths to prove my sarcastic point.

This mostly comes to light when a friend makes an amusing spelling mistake… take this debacle for instance.

Tunney, my friend from uni, clearly talking about a holiday book. But I can't resist the opportunity to mock a spelling mistake.

Let's look at those pictures in further detail…

See what I mean?

Luckily for me, Sam is about as sarcastic as I am, and loved it; "Best. Typo. Ever."

Now Playing: Sky Papers debate

Image links:
our friend, the hook
his fetching sunglasses
his beachy deckchair
his pool
the pyramids
pisa

Eurasian Sensation

I went to Manchester again today and spent the day with my Grandma as I do every Sunday. It's hard being a quarter Asian but also very Irish and entirely ginger, especially when I'm out and about with her. Once a guy openly stared at us in a Costa coffee shop, clearly trying to figure out what this little elderly Asian lady and pale ginger girl are doing together. My mum looks half Asian, and all my cousins look a bit like Grandma but I don't. Her husband, my Grandpa, however, was ginger too, and my mum tells me I look like a female version of him, but nobody can tell that when they glance at her. People tell me I look nothing like my mum and that "oh, you must look just like your father." I don't though, I actually do look a lot like my mother… Except I'm pale and she isn't. I guess it counts as racism really, and although I am technically Eurasian, I feel very uncomfortable ticking it on forms because I know people will see it, then look at me, and think I chose the wrong box, or that I was having a joke. So I usually choose white British, and feel very disheartened about doing so, but at least I've never had the stink eye for doing that before.

Now Playing:  Backstreet Boys - I Want It That Way

Game Of Thrones

I have a really big problem with TV shows, that problem being that I have absolutely no way of choosing a favourite. I kind of ebb and flow depending on what's actually on, and what's on a break. Just before season 4 of Game Of Thrones started, I thought I'd try and see what the hype was about, and I have to say I was hooked. It's definitely my favourite TV show of the moment. One of my absolute favourite things about the show is, unsurprisingly, it's theme tune. Everybody loves the theme tune, I know, and so I thought I'd compile some of my favourite versions of the theme tune.

Just in case you're one of the seven people who don't watch Game Of Thrones, allow your ears to feast on the epic theme tune. The original, the best.

Buzzfeed recently posted a couple of articles about Game Of Thrones if it were an 80’s TV show. To be honest I think this version sounds like something out of Skins but I love it nonetheless.

Another amazing version is this one where this guy, Dan Newbie, played the entire thing on glasses and other household objects! It's incredible and he's such a talented guy. Respect to him.

Lastly, I'm an absolute sucker for anything 8-bit.

If anyone has any other favourites for me to check out, feel free to leave the link in the comments, thanks!

Now Playing: 80's Game Of Thrones theme tune

Uneventful Day

I've had a really uneventful day but there's no way I'm losing my streak!

I was nearly late for work because there had been an accident, so a journey that would have taken 20 minutes took nearly an hour, it's just a good job I set off early! I have also spent the day listening to Evening Out With Your Girlfriend by Fall Out Boy, I did a dramatic re-enactment of the songs too, it was fantastic.

My friend Shannon for whom the Leeds Festival blogpost was has been trying to convince me to come to Leeds with her this year and I'm surprised with how genuinely tempted I am.

I'm sorry this post has been rubbish, I'll spend some time actually thinking about what to post for tomorrow! Argh!

Now Playing: Honorable Mention - Fall Out Boy

Festival Season

So I know festival season is nearly over but I have a friend who's going to Leeds Festival for the first time in August and she's been asking for a few tips since I went in 2010. This is essentially a post dedicated to Shann and anyone else who would like to know my own tips for Leeds Fest.

I had some friends who had earlybird tickets,  so they offered to set up tents for those of us without. We were in the White Camp, which was actually really good- it's close to the main area and not too far from other bits and pieces like the silent disco and the Relentless tent (whether or not these things will still be there 4 years later remains to be seen.)
One of the first things I went and did after getting all set up in my tent was to show my ID in exchange for an over-18 wristband, I'd definitely recommend getting one as you never know where it'll come in handy and it's much easier than wrestling your ID out of your pocket/bag any time you might need it.
As you can see in the picture above, a good idea is to get a festival sweater early on. You can take it off if you get too warm or put it on if you're cold, and they're fairly lightweight but still keep you warm. Another thing is that they have the line-up on the back, so I found myself making friends who were checking my back to see who was playing that day. On that note, getting a lanyard with the map and the stage times on is another top tip. Don't forget to bring your waterproofs! That means, as everyone knows, wellies, but also I'd recommend a cheap, fold-up parka that you can whip out of your bag in case of rain. You'll also want to bring something warm for night time, as it really does get quite cold, and I had leggings, pyjama pants and 3 pairs of socks on most nights and still ended up feeling freezing.
Don't take a load of valuable things, and make sure you have a bag you can keep on you at all times that fits the few valuables you do take. Don't bother locking your tent because you'll only make yourself seem like you do have valuables, thus making you a target.

Leave the iPhone at home! Take an old phone such as a Nokia- their battery life is more likely to last the whole festival. You won't really need your phone anyway. Just enjoy yourself- don't worry about your followers.








Get a couple of disposable cameras for any photographs you really want to take. Leave the expensive cameras at home- they'll probably only run out of battery anyway.






Image source

You don't really need to take much by way of food as there's plenty of food trucks around and the likelihood is, like me, you'll end up bringing most of it home having not eaten it. I took a load of water which was definitely something I was glad for, but I didn't take a lot of alcohol, so I'd recommend bringing cans - my problem was that the cider I like didn't come in anything other than glass bottles at the time so I was a bit stuck.
Getting down to the barriers on a day when you know you want to be there for a headliner can seem like a great idea but you'll either end up dehydrated, or, if you bring water with you, needing the toilet. Also, your feet will ache for ages, but I'd definitely say it was worth it to see Weezer and Blink-182 from a great vantage point!
I ended up separated from my friends and that definitely dampened the spirits so I'd recommend agreeing with your friends where you're going to go beforehand so you don't end up lonely for an entire day.
The signing tent can be pretty good but prepare yourself for the distinct possibility (which happened to me with All Time Low) that it has not been organised so well and that you may stand around for ages but not get to meet the band.
The comedy tent is a good place to hang out when there's nobody on that you particularly want to see, also at night time when I went they showed movies there, one was Shutter Island but you need to pay attention to that movie in order to know what's going on.
Basically just try and have a great time and use the festival as an opportunity to escape everything for a few days - you can eat, drink and sleep when you get home!

Writing this post has really made me want to go to Leeds Festival again, oh dear. But, my dear Shann, and everyone else, I hope this has helped at least a bit!

Now Playing: How I Met Your Mother

French Braids

I have a lot of hair and little to no patience. I also get bored with all my hair very easily. I love French braids, but I've never been able to do them, because I have so much hair and no patience. Yesterday I tried French braiding my hair, and managed to do quite a lot of it, as you can see, before getting fed up of it. So I took a photo to prove my efforts then tied it there, with the French braid just leading into a ponytail. But when I looked at the photo I got annoyed because I realised it actually looked quite good, so I undid the ponytail and braided it…

Which went okay, I guess, but it could have been better if I hadn't gotten annoyed. Anyway I think my main problem was that I hadn't brushed my hair before starting to braid it so it was all just getting tangled. I'm going to try it again now and let you know the outcome.

17 minutes later

So what I'm learning is that when I want to make my hair look nice it goes all over the place, and when I put less effort into it, it actually looks nice. Annoying!

Now Playing: Reinventing The Wheel To Run Myself Over - Fall Out Boy

Dreams, Man?

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Last night I had a really vivid dream that I was stuck in a lift (or elevator, whichever you prefer) with a friend from my past who's been on my mind a fair amount lately. My studies in psychology have made me interested in the psychology behind dream interpretations, one of my modules even went into interpreting dreams a bit. So naturally I tried to figure out what being trapped in a lift with an old friend could possibly mean. The only thing I could come up with was being stuck in some aspect of your life. However I also figured that, since last night I dropped something and had to crawl under the sofa to get it, it may also have had something to do with my claustrophobia. After trying to suss it out on my own, I googled it, and www.dreammoods.com revealed that it meant this:

"To dream that the elevator is out of order or that it is not letting you off symbolizes that your emotions have gotten out of control. It may be a reflection of your life or your career. You are feeling stuck in some aspect of your life, whether it is your career, relationship, etc."

There was also a bit about the elevator having a screen and you being able to Whatsapp the engineers to come and fix it, but I'm going to assume that just came from using Whatsapp before going to sleep. Then there was the bit about when we finally got out, it turned out people had been around and just hadn't wanted to help us, and in fact they were laughing at us, which is probably something to do with the fact that if you want to get anywhere in life you've got to do it on your own because it's everyone for themselves out there.

So basically, my emotions have gotten out of control and I am stuck… That might possibly relate to that secret I mentioned wanting to talk about yesterday.

I love trying to interpret weird dreams, so feel free to comment below with something I can interpret for you!

Now Playing: Beat It - Fall Out Boy

About Me

It occurs to me that some of you reading my blog may not know anything about me. So I may as well do a little introduction post (especially since I'm a little stuck for ideas today.)

1) My name is Stephanie, I'm 22 years old and I was born in Manchester.

2) I have a hard time telling people where I'm 'from' because I've lived in Africa, England, Germany and Austria.

3) I have ginger hair but a lot of people seem to think it's either blonde or brown. I cringe when people suggest it's strawberry blonde. 🍓

4) I'm actually of English, Malaysian and Irish descent.

5) These are a few of my favourite things: Marvel, Fall Out Boy, going to the cinema, driving, boats, travelling, new languages, yummy food (mainly Asian food.)

6) I am a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Psychology, and I hope to become a British Diplomat, although I currently work in a clothing store.

7) I speak English, German, Spanish, bits of French and really small bits of Italian and Malay.

8) I really want to divulge quite a big secret but I'm keeping an eye on which countries my blog views are coming from and I'm slightly nervous someone will see it. Oooh mysterious.

9) I regularly suffer from writer's block and became stuck for ideas for facts in this post on numerous occasions. I also get very distracted very easily.

10) If you didn't already know, you can find me on twitter at @stephanie_hall!

Now Playing: A Daydream Away - All Time Low

Wagamama's

Today I went to Wagamama's with my mum and grandma. I've been before, and I always get the same main dish every single time: the prawn kare lomen. And every single time, I leave loads of it left because I can never finish it. It's not that I don't want to or that it's not nice (although once I left so much that the waitress actually asked me, really concerned, whether it was all okay or not, bless her.) It's just that the ramen is so filling that there's never enough room for all of it… unless, of course, you're my friend Jade, who is a bottomless pit, especially when it comes to Wagamama's.

There, again, you can see my prawn kare lomen… I promise I'm going to try something different next time! I've already spotted what I want to try on the menu, it's the teriyaki chicken donburi.

That said, I did try a new starter today, the lollipop prawn kushiyaki, which is skewered, grilled prawns in a sweet and sour sauce. They were absolutely amazing! We had to order another plate because we liked them so much. But when we got home and tried finding something on the online menu that the guy on the table behind us was having, we spotted that they do chilli squid and kicked ourselves for not having noticed it there at the time, but all that means is that we're just going to have to go again soon, muahahahahaha.

Now Playing: Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy

Sales, Sales, Sales...

The best things in life are… half price. Or at least, that's according to the back of my sale t-shirt.

Where I work we have 2 big sales a year, the end of summer sale and the Boxing Day sale. All the sale items go in at half price or less. So naturally we open our doors at 5am, or 6am on Boxing Day, and people tell us they've been queuing since before 2am. I personally don't understand the draw- even if my favourite shop was having a sale like this, I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't be waiting outside at 2am just to get a bargain. I'd much rather sit inside and do it all online. I'm quite a big Apple enthusiast as well, and I did get an iPhone 5 on launch day, but like I say, I ordered it online and had it delivered on release day. I'd never sit outside an Apple store just to buy a brand new iDevice.

At least all the staff are in the same position and are sympathetic to each other- I had to take a picture of the water bottles in the staffroom because the little not was so cute. I even welled up a little bit because of how cute it was, I probably wouldn't have normally, but I am very exhausted.

My biggest total transaction today for one customer was more than £700, and that was just on clothes- they hadn't bought any furniture. They'll probably bring at least £500 of that back as returns, so I feel bad for whomever has to process that one.

Now Playing: Budapest - George Ezra

HIMYM

Now that the How I Met Your Mother finale has aired in the UK, I feel like it's okay to talk about that episode.

It was a divisive one, to put it simplisticly. I was personally in the camp of "what the hell was that, you have got to be kidding me" and a load of unhappy swears. We finally met The Mother (Tracy) in the end of the season 8 finale and as we got to know her throughout season 9 we found out that she was awesome. She was everything Ted deserved and a great friend for everyone else too. So the writers created an amazing character, made her everything everyone had ever hoped for… then they KILLED HER. THEY KILLED THE MOTHER. SHE IS THE PERSON THE SHOW IS ABOUT. SHE IS IN THE TITLE. AND SHE IS KILLED OFF. I used to watch One Tree Hill, and I can confirm the show got worse when the main character Lucas left the show. And although Tracy was hardly in HIMYM in any substantial capacity, I still reckon she counts as the main character. And they killed her. What for? So Ted could end up with ROBIN.

Let's back up a few steps here, does everyone remember the central storyline in season 9? What was it? Oh, Barney and Robin's wedding. We had so many episodes telling us how cute Barney and Robin were and how perfect they were together… so obviously the two divorced in the finale. Obviously. And please don't get me started on how they ruined Barney. If he'd have stayed with Robin and become a sentimental old fool that would have been okay, and even cute. But nope, they have him knock up one of his one-night-stands and have him become sentimental that way. It's just wrong. The only characters they got right were Lily and Marshall, but it's hard to destroy the Eriksens.

I'm mad at the blue french horn.

Now Playing: this awesome fan-edit of how the ending should have been.

Early Mornings

04:44 and I promise tomorrow's blog post won't be another boring one about how early I had to get up for work. I got 4 hours' sleep last night which is technically still a vast improvement on 2 hours yesterday, a 100% improvement to be exact. And yes, the sky blue pink is back, and the streetlights (peoooopleeeee) did the whole, "hey there, we see you're here now so we're gonna go sleep now thanks" as I drove past, again.

I did write that at 04:44 but I have to admit it is presently 22:55. I have been awake for 19 hours and I'm honestly feeling slightly delirious. Don't worry, I'm going to sleep soon, and I get to lie in until 7:45 tomorrow as I only start at 9am! Incidentally 19 is my lucky number so I'm sure that's a sign I'll actually get a nice sleepy tonight and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go.

Now Playing: leedle leedle, a song I am singing to myself

Sky Blue Pink

It's 4:55am and I'm at work already. The street lights kept turning off as I drove past them, and there's sky blue pink in the sky which was my dad's favourite colour. He never liked sticking to the rules. If this isn't the most poetic thing straight out of a teen rom-com, I don't know what is. I've always said my life is a teen rom-com.

My problem is that with everything ever, I overdramatise it. I even did it just then. "With everything ever?" Unlikely. With a large portion of things. I'm just a massive fan of the old hyperbole. (No, that's not one bigger than the Super Bowl, or an intense kind of Pokéball.)

I have another 5am start tomorrow, I will send updates of pink blue skies and streetlight people then.

Now Playing: a game with KT of trying to figure out what word I wanted to use in place of 'hyperbole'

The Cinema

Today I went to see Begin Again, the movie starring Kiera Knightly and Mark Ruffalo about a musician making her debut album in NYC. Lou and I were looking forward to seeing it and we both really enjoyed it, it's a relief when that happens. Louise and I tend to go to the cinema every week when there's something on. The next thing we're looking forward to is Guardians of the Galaxy, we're pretty big Marvel fans. I'm still holding out hope they'll release a Deadpool movie, although 20th Century Fox seem to want a 12A Deadpool movie rather than an 18, and you can't have a Deadpool who doesn't swear, it's just unnatural…

My alarm is set for 3:55am because I start work at 5am tomorrow so I probably ought to get to sleep.

Now Playing: The Mindy Project

Fall Out Boy

I painted my nails Germany colours after THEY WON THE WORLD CUP LAST NIGHT!

I had the day from hell at work so I won't talk about that.

I keep putting 'now playing' at the bottom of my blog posts, I wish there was more music there but sadly most of the time I seem to be watching TV. I have quite a varied taste in music, but I'd have to say my favourite band are Fall Out Boy, I've loved them for so many years now and I finally got to see them live in March, it was fantastic, I was right at the front.

I don't really tend to buy merch at shows anymore but I saw this Fall Out Boy jumper and had to have it, I did want the Manchester one but the Chicago one is special too, since that's where the band are from.

Now Playing: XO - Fall Out Boy

Creative Block, Part II

I've really been struggling with a creative block and wanderlust lately. Although I'm not really a fan of the word wanderlust because I feel like people have taken it and twisted its meaning.

Every Sunday I visit my grandma who lives in Manchester today. I took my DSLR hoping to ease my creative block but really, trying to snap some distance shots on the motorway has only served to make my travel bug itch. I'm in the mood for an adventure, but I have a full week of work and it's very hard to get the same time off as my best friends, so the idea of a journey may have to go on the back burner for a while, because although I'd do it, I'd prefer not to take a drive on my own!

Now Playing: FIFA World Cup final (come on Germany!)

Easily Distracted

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I had quite a long shift at work today and I'm really tired and not even slightly inspired to write this blog post but I'm not going to let my streak go that easily when I've already made it this far. That's one thing about me, if I'm ambivalent about something then I'm really ambivalent, but if I'm enthusiastic then I am entirely determined to make it happen. Hopefully I can use this for when I apply to the Faststream in September.

That said, I like to think I can multitask but really I'm just very bad at maintaining my attention span. For instance, I am currently rereading Looking For Alaska, one of my favourite books, despite the fact that I'm in the middle of Insurgent and also The Land Of Stories. It honestly took me a year and a half to read The Fault In Our Stars, and it's not because I didn't like it, because I did! I love John Green- like I say, LFA is one of my favourite books… I just get really enthusiastic about books and end up distracted in the middle of one. I get distracted so much, I've stopped and started this post about four times already, and (okay, make that five) earlier I got a text and started replying, walking out of the room before realising: I was in the middle of pouring a drink!? But it's not a concentration problem because I can easily focus when I want to, I like to think of it as an over-excitable brain that likes to prioritise exciting things.

Hey, this actually turned out to be quite insightful in the end!

Now Playing: Sky News

Stila Eyeliner

Do you ever buy a product on a whim and end up not being able to go without it? I had been looking for a liquid eyeliner which wouldn't smudge or transfer to underneath my eyebrows. I'd been using a Rimmel one which was quite good but I still had that problem with the transferring up my eyelid. So I did a little bit of research and came across this Stila waterproof liquid eyeliner, found out it was available from Boots (a drugstore in the UK, for any confused out-of-towners) and decided to try it out. I'm so glad I did, because it really is incredible! It doesn't smear or smudge at all, and whilst it is waterproof, it's not a nightmare to remove at the end of the day. I really can't recommend it enough, so if you've found yourself in a similar position you may want to consider it.

Now Playing: The Big Bang Theory

GISHWHES

I didn't make the cookies. I'm so disappointed in myself.

I did, however, re-register for GISHWHES! It was so much fun last year and I'm really excited to participate again last year. It occurs to me that some people aren't completely certain of what it actually is, so let me explain.

GISHWHES stands for the greatest international scavenger hunt (the) world has ever seen. When you sign up and pay the registration fees (which this year starts at $18.89, or about £11.36) you either start a new team, join an existing team or sign up as an individual and later you'll be put into a team. Each team has 15 participants, and between everyone you work to complete items on a list of about 300 things. Some of last year's tasks were:

Make a safari animal out of sanitary products

Make a twitter page for an alarm clock, tweet once a day, and get at least 250 followers

Draw George Takei in the sand

Make a shrine to an actor on a show on The CW network, and worship at the shrine

Cover your car with trash

It lasts a week and you don't have to go anywhere in particular to do it, you just do what you can in your area. It's a lot of effort but it's totally worth it for the fun you have!

So far my team is myself and my friend KT, and teams consist of 15 people, so yeah, I'm really hoping some more of my friends decide they want to join in this year.

Ticket Buying

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First things first, I'm the realest.

Wait. No. That's something else.

First things first, a 5SOS ticket update. It was only the presale today and I dint manage to get tickets. In fact I had the Gigs And Tours website open across 3 devices and spent 23 minutes in a queue because apparently the servers were dealing with the maximum number of bookings possible at one time, which I assume to be four given the shambles. It's okay, tickets are on general release on Friday so there will be plenty of different websites to crash. Muahaha.

I've been at work Monday, Tuesday and today, so I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow asleep. I may even make cookies. I like trying to make Millie's-style cookies, but giving them a twist by using Dairy Milk and by adding marshmallows. Mmm, yes, I'm definitely making cookies tomorrow. I still want to take a drive and do a drive-by shooting. (…with my DSLR!) I might save that for Friday, or wait for a day my best friend is off.

Now Playing: World Cup Semi-Finals - Netherlands vs Argentina

Creative Block

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Oh hey look it's me again! Three days in a row, I have no clue who I am anymore. Having said that, I'm already running out of things to say. For instance, I just wrote a massive thing about football and deleted it because it felt like a lecture. I'm gonna get the hang of talking to nobody, I swear.

Those 5SOS tickets go on sale tomorrow and I'm already nervous about buying tickets. It's always a stressful time. Wow, talk about your first world problems. 
I spent today after work watching Community and waiting for the Brazil-Germany match (come on Deutschland!) I tweeted the other day that I want to do a photography project, I saw one where someone took a road trip and took photos never leaving the car, I love that but there's not really anything to photograph near me, which sucks. Ah well, I'm hoping this year's GISHWHES will leave me feeling creative again, if I can find some friends to take part with me.

Now Playing: Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Third Culture Kids

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Trying to blog every day is going well so far; I'm 2 for 2. That's definitely an achievement. Don't worry though, I'm sure it won't last long. Next week I have three 5am starts at work, broken up by a 9-5 shift. The joys of summer sales! I'm actually just biding my time until September, really. I'm going to apply for the Graduate Fast Stream scheme at the Civil Service. I have my heart set on becoming an international diplomat. It's what my dad did, and it meant I got to grow up in Germany. I loved going to international schools, you get to experience such a diverse range of people and cultures. There's a term for people who were born in one place but grew up in different places due to their parents' jobs, and that is 'third-culture kid.' I'm really glad to have encountered that term as I found it really reassuring. I never realised how many people also struggled with the question, "where are you from?"

It seems like such a simple thing really. Most people answer with where they were born, or where they live. Sure, I can do that… but that's one cross-section of my life at the moment. I was born in Manchester, England. But five weeks later my family went back to Tanzania in Africa, where my dad had been posted. Then we lived outside of London for a few years, before moving to Hamburg in Germany, followed by Düsseldorf, and then Vienna in Austria. Then we moved back to England, just outside of London again, and now I live in Lancashire. I tend to just tell people I'm from Manchester these days, and if they comment with, "oh! You don't really have the accent!" then on their head be it when they get the long version.

My dad got to affect policies abroad and help British citizens in foreign countries. Most importantly, he got to travel. I'm sure you can tell that travelling is inherent in my entire existence, hence why I'm chasing that passion. I never stayed anywhere for longer than 4 years until I moved to Lancashire, so I feel the need to change that, and what better way to do it than follow in my old man's footsteps?

Now Playing: I Feel Like Dancin' - All Time Low

Blogging Again

I've never really been one for blogging. I never know what to say, it always feels a bit awkward. Who am I writing to? Myself? My friends who I send the link to like HEY I MADE A BLOG READ IT PLEASE? I used to vlog, but even then I still felt that awkward element of who am I talking to?! It was a lot easier when I had a blog about movies. You don't need to talk to anyone to review movies. But then I kept forgetting to review them, or running out of ways to say "it was awesome!" or alternatively "it sucked, don't waste your money."

I'm trying to get rid of that uneasy feeling. I figure I'll write like my inner monologue talks. Except, you know, a little more focused and with a lot fewer song lyrics. Maybe.

It's just gone midnight and I downloaded an app called Day One from the app of the week section of the App Store after searching to see if there were any updates. I do that a lot. I like to read the app update descriptions too, since some apps like Spotify like to put quirky notes in theirs. OOH this is a perfect occasion to insert a photo:

Obsessed with penguins. Spotify, you're cute. 

Anyway I was hoping Day One would encourage me to blog more until I realised it's more like a journal than a blog, and I must admit I'm a fan of attention. Love me. Also I'm listening to 5 Seconds Of Summer and nervously anticipating the announcement of the dates for their 2015 headline tour. A huge group of us are planning on going to the Manchester show, it's going to be splendid. I just hope tickets don't go on sale whilst I'm at work. I'm also waiting for my energy to replenish on the Kim Kardashian game. That thing is dangerously addictive.

Now Playing: End Up Here - 5 Seconds of Summer