Visiting Brighton, self-care, and being the annoying vegan friend

one.
After getting my results and finding out I'm getting into my first university choice in Brighton, me and my family decided to go away for a few days to check out the area a bit more and look at the accommodation sites (as they didn't come with me on the open day, although I ended up rejecting the accommodation I was offered) and I'm really looking forward to living there now, not that I wasn't before like I knew Brighton was a lovely place hence why it was my first choice but visiting it again knowing that I'm definitely going there sort of reinforced that. Also, there were quite a few record shops (#hipster) and a mahoosive guitar shop which me and my Dad spent a rather lengthy amount of time in.

two.
I went round to a friend's house to watch American Horror Story (although we watched one episode and then ended up watching Orange is the New Black because I still hadn't finished it, but I finished it now!!) and I established that I am crap with directions. Literally it took me an hour and a half bus journey to do a trip that should've been less than half that time, I knew I wasn't so good in directions on foot but I've honestly hit a new low . . . (Damon Albarn voice: this is a looooooooooow)

three.
I went to go see the Bad Education movie with a few friends and it was so funny, if you like the series you're going to love the movie and it's really nice way to end the series. We also went to Costa afterwards - I've gone vegan again so it took me a while to order (I had to go online and check what was vegan on the menu, yes I'm becoming the annoying vegan friend . . . )

four.
I was feeling really down so I decided to ignore my phone most of the day and play piano all day, I find it so therapeutic and ever since finishing grade 8 I've been majorly neglecting the piano, but it has such a positive effect on my mood I really should find more time for it - I feel like I'm being productive by learning new pieces and I just generally like playing the piano, so it's definitely one of my favourite forms of self care.

five.
I decided to watch Harold and Maude again as it's been a few years since I first watched it, and whilst I really enjoyed it the first time, I really really loved it the second time round. The whole film is about control and enjoying life, but not it's not at all cheesy like how you would expect a film which essentially expresses #YOLO to be. Definitely one of my favourite films and an exquisite, cult classic.

six.
I'm not sure if I've vocalised this many times but I am a massive Saved by the Bell fan. I used to watch it a lot when I was younger (I must've been really young and they must've been re-runs, but I do remember watching them with my older half-sister) and then I found them all online a while ago and watched the series a few times, then I was given the box set for Christmas one year and I return to them a couple of times a year and it's time - I've been speeding through it, I've watched quite a couple of series in a matter of days. I'm enjoying myself profusely, but it means Breaking Bad has taken a backseat once again.

seven.
I went to go visit my future home in Brighton and I'm looking forward to moving in now, it's nothing special like it is your average student house, but I really like Brighton and I think the change would be good for me.

eight.
I've become re-obsessed with Everybody Loves Raymond. This used to be one of my favourite shows when I was in primary school, right up there with Friends, because it used to be on about 7:30am and in primary school it didn't take so long to get ready in the morning so I had time to watch it, and I do actually own a series on DVD that I revisit quite a lot, but it had been a while I had watched it on TV and I've actually been recording them (TiVo wishlists are a Godsend), so I've been watching series 9 and it's become one of my favourite things to do everyday. Nothing better than starting your day with some porridge, a cup of tea, and a couple of episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond - I'm pretty certain I am Robert, like I'd love to think I'm Ray, but if I'm honest I'm Robert.

nine.
I got round to voting in the Labour Leadership election (as well as the one for mayor and a bunch of other ones that I didn't know I had to vote for) and I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I voted Jeremy Corbyn as leader - I've said it once and I'll say it again but Jeremy Corbyn has been the only thing keeping me optimistic regarding politics since the election, I'm really hoping he wins.

ten.
I went round to my friend Ma'Suma's house with Isabella for one last sleepover before we go off to University (well I don't really leave for another few weeks but Isabella leaves in a few days, she's a big leaver) which was cute. We watched a lot of Friends and A Hard Day's Night, if you haven't watched any of The Beatles' movies you really need to, even if you don't like The Beatles' music they're such funny boys with a dry sense of humour. I personally think Help! is their best film but I do love A Hard Day's Night, just avoid Magical Mystery Tour at all costs . . .

How have the past couple of weeks been for you?

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Ten things and ten blogs #6

one.

I was looking back at some of my old videos on my YouTube channel, and I found the cringeworthy vlogs I did with one of my best friends a while ago, and it got me thinking that I want to start vlogging again once I get a new phone (I would like to buy a vlogging camera but y'know baby steps), I'm thinking of making a side channel for it though rather than having everything on my main channel - not sure though, please tell me whether you'd like that!!

two.
I got the results of my grade 8 piano exam that (I feel) I've been harping on about for ages, I passed!

three.
I reached 300 followers on this lil old blog of mine, I know that's not a lot to some people, but I'm still surprised that 1 person wants to listen to what I have to say let alone 300 - so y'know thanks for following us here on fashion, beauty and an existential crisis!

four.
For April Fool's Day, my friend decided to prank us (on a Whatsapp group chat) saying she had decided to vote Conservative rather than Labour in the upcoming 2015 election. I predicted this was a prank but she denied it initially, so we spent about an hour telling her why voting Conservative was generally one of the worst things a person could do.. for her to then say, I can't believe you fell for it. I THOUGHT IT WAS A PRANK, I SAID THAT FIRST OF ALL, seriously where is pranking etiquette these days?

five.
Cynthia Lennon, John Lennon's first wife, died and I'm really upset as she's my favourite Beatles girl. She had developed cancer and she was 75 but I really liked her, I read her book 'John' quite a few years ago and it moved me so much reading about her turbulent relationship with John and I grew to love her as individual outside of the mania of The Beatles.
R.I.P Cynthia.

six.
I had a lovely meetup with a few of my friends, as we usually do, we did a little bit of baking (see the picture below) and watched a Disney film, this time it was Aladdin which was really lovely although it's the first Robin Williams film I've watched since he died, so that ruined it a little bit for me. Plus it hit me how much Jasmine and Aladdin look like sister and brother, like I'm sorry if I've now ruined it for you too, but whilst I loved it these things were at the back of my mind the whole time.

seven.
Maddie uploaded a video on her YouTube channel about body confidence and I just thought everything was well said and it's definitely worth a watch!

eight.

I haven't really been doing much over the Easter holiday except for revising and watching films (which you can now see what they are in my new series - what I've been watching), but I've strangely been really enjoying revising Psychology. It's the course I've opted to do in University and I'm planning to retake one of my As Psychology exams, and I've really been enjoying going over the As stuff because we did a whole topic on gender and basically whether we're born gender neutral or cisgender (although that's not the word they use in the book) and it's just generally really interesting which is good!

nine.
I finally got round to watching the last episode of Glee (yes I got back into Glee about a month ago, deal with it haterz) and I cried just a lil bit. Everything I could've ever wanted to happen in the finale happened and whilst I'm sad that it ended in the series where it got good again, I'm glad they've ended on a good note and I don't think they could've done any more series. I'm just a bit sad because I started watching Glee when I was 12 and I'm 18 now, it's literally been there my entire teenage life.

ten.
I've been obsessed with Russell Brand's Trews recently, I don't know whether it's just because it's coming up to the General Election and what he's saying is just more relevant now, or whatever the reason is, but I've just been looking forward to his Trews. I had watched a few in the past and I remember liking them but they have been the highlight of my morning (as I've been off school the past couple of weeks, I've been able to get up a little bit later and have a cup of tea whilst watching the Trews, it's been rather enjoyable)

blogs.
Mermaidens
NikkieTutorials
The rawrdrobe
Behind these closed eyes
Hannah Louise fashion
Citron and Guavaberry
PYT
Splashes with fabulosity
Bluebirds & Bunting
Mouldy fruit

What's the best thing you've done in the past couple of weeks?

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I'ma let you finish but Ben Folds Five are one of the greatest bands of all time

I was considering doing an entire post dedicated to music that isn't so well known but is really good and well worth a listen, the focus being on the band Ben Folds Five, but then I realised that I love them too much to dedicate just a fifth of a post to them. My favourite bands are The Beatles and The Smiths, but Ben Folds Five are way up there and sometimes they're equal to The Beatles to me, which is a sweeping statement to make but that's how good they are, seriously.

I first listened to Ben Folds Five when I was about five years old and I think the song that stuck with me most at that age was Jackson Cannery, although I didn't know it was called that for years, I just called it the 'stop the bus' song because the first line of the song is 'stop the bus'. I majorly got into Ben Folds Five (opposed to just knowing a few songs) when I was about ten or eleven years old, and when I was sixteen I was lucky enough to see Ben Folds Five live as they reunited for a tour and a new album.

Ben Folds Five are by far one of the best bands of all time, Ben Folds' solo work is pretty awesome too. Ben Folds Five set out to prove you don't need a guitar for rock music and so the piano is the focus in their music, for a pianist obviously this is a selling point, but their songs are genuinely so so good. If you keep on reading, I'll give y'all a breakdown of my favourites (for which reasons) because I love all of their songs, they're one of the few groups who don't have any rubbish songs, it's really quite a strange thing.

I know Rockin' the Suburbs isn't a Ben Folds Five album, but I couldn't leave it out as it's probably one of my all-time favourite albums and it's still Ben Folds so y'know it's not a completely artist.

THE SAD SONGS:

1. Boxing
2. Brick
3. Smoke
4. Missing the War
5. Evaporated
6. Mess
7. Thank You for Breaking My Heart

THE 'I'M DOING ME SO P*SS OFF' SONGS:

1. Philosophy
2. Underground
3. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces*
4. Draw a Crowd
5. Do It Anyway

THE SING IT OUT LOUD SONGS:

1. Jackson Cannery
2. Philosophy (again, seriously amazing amazing song)
3. Where's Summer B?
4. Underground (another repeat, versatile band man)
5. Sports & Wine
6. Uncle Walter
7. Best Imitation of Myself**
8. Video
9. The Last Polka
10. One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solem Faces
11. Song for the Dumped
12. Kate
13. Battle of Who Could Care Less
14. Army
15. Erase Me
16. Michael Praytor, Five Years Later
17. The Sound of the Life of the Mind
18. Draw a Crowd
19. Do It Anyway

I could pretty easily do the same thing for Ben Folds' solo work, but I think Ben Folds Five are marginally better at least for me and I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with good music.

Who's your favourite band/artist?

*If I ever became famous this would be the song I'd sing to my high school buddies
**Fun fact, my Tumblr username came from this song - see if you can spot it

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Ten things and ten blogs #2

one.

The 1st of February can only mean one thing - it's time to change the month on my calendar - y'know it's going to be a good year when you have a Beatles calendar.

Try and spot baby Bess.

two.
It was my Dad's birthday on the 2nd February, we had a nice quiet day in and watched 'the Buddy Holly story', it's not strictly historically accurate but I enjoyed it nonetheless (I do enjoy me a bit of Buddy Holly). It was also my Mum's birthday on the 5th February, unfortunately I had parent's evening on the same day but we managed to make it home with enough time to eat a meal and have some cake, and watch this show called 'the Tomorrow people' which is a show from from the 70s - full of bad acting and terrible special effects, but it was pretty funny because of that.

three.
My piano teacher passed an analogy onto me during my lesson, to put it into context I was finding it difficult to play triplet semiquaver chords in the tempo I had to play it in (bloody Oscar Peterson, he's brilliant, but he sure didn't think about incompetent grade 8 students when writing 'Hallelujah Time') so she said 'it's like running a race where both of your shoes are tied together, so you have to cut the laces [so cut out some of the notes in the chords], you've ruined a perfectly nice set of laces but at least then you can finish the race' which I thought was a good analogy for toxic relationships and is quite a relevant theme in my life at the moment, you may feel worse in the short term for cutting people off but at least then you can continue on with your life and move on, etcetera etcetera* (a bit cringe, but I enjoyed it nonetheless).
Whilst on the topic of my piano lessons, my grade 8 piano exam date has been confirmed - 18th March, so I have just about a month, which is crazy because ever since I started playing the piano at age 4 I always wanted to complete grade 8 and here I am potentially doing that, absolutely bizarre.

four.
I finished reading Howl's Moving Castle (which you can see a review of here) and it was so so good, now I really want to rewatch the film as it's one of my all-time faves.

five.
I think I've made it clear to you all that Harry Potter has a special place in my heart, but in case I hadn't made it clear enough, I did a Harry Potter tag on my YouTube channel (yes, you may not care about my favourite Harry Potter books and films, but there's an entire montage of creepy tweets I sent to Tom Felton in 2013 and a badly photoshopped picture of me with Tom Felton, so y'know y'all gotta check that out)

six.

Call me crazy if you wish (most people do) but I never played Pokemon as a child. I used to like the show but I was a Digimon girl at heart, but my parents gifted me Pokemon White for DS because I wanted it for Christmas and didn't get it for me so they gave it to me on their birthdays (me and my brother usually get one present on other people's birthday to avoid negative feelings) and I have been obsessed. I know I'm sort of a noob but I'm honestly loving it, my Oshawott evolved into a Dewott and I found it very emotional - I'm sure you'll understand.

seven.

Hank Green uploaded a video talking about the common fear of being forgotten which I think, especially if you're stuck in a permanent state of existential crisis and constantly wondering why we exist and what the point is if we're all going to be forgotten anyway like me, is a pretty good video to watch. It may be things you know already but it's nice to have a reminder, plus from Hank Green - it's sort of a double whammy y'know.

eight.
Y'know how I said in my last 'ten things and ten blogs' post that binge watching generation 1 of Skins in the space of a week was bad.. try binge watching generation 2, series 4, in the space of a couple of days - generation 2 is my favourite generation as well. I then went on to binge watch the whole of generation 3 in the space of a few days, my heart is so broken right now it may as well be non-existent.

nine.
Kanye West's video for Only One is one of the cutest things I have watched in a long time, I already liked the song (not just because it's Paul McCartney and Kanye West a.k.a modern deities) but the song's actually really sweet, I think North is one of the most adorable babies I've ever seen in my life, and that's probably one of the most generic things I've ever said in my life but I'm 'totes hipster' the rest of the time so it's okay.

ten.

I literally started cry laughing at this short clip of Wallace and Gromit. I haven't the faintest idea why I found it so funny, but I was in hysterics (so I recommend you watch it too, y'know if you want something to brighten up your day)

blogs.
Little Fickle (in particular this post)
 Magpie Jasmine
Keep dreaming
Sailboat
Porcelainbeautyx
Stephanie's look
Aspiring London
Robowecop
Ellalogy
The beauty ideal

What's been the best thing you've done in the past couple of weeks?

*For reference, check out Sweet and Tender Hooligan by The Smiths

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Ten things and ten blogs #1

After seeing a few of these types of posts floating around the bloggersphere, I thought I'd try my hand at it to add a bit more lifestyle and general rambling into fashion, beauty and an existential crisis. I'm thinking of doing these bi-monthly, because I don't do enough in a week to talk about but over the space of a month I've usually done a fair bit so bi-monthly is the way forward dudes.

one.
I learned that some people will never change and will never see the need to change, and with toxic people like that, it's most beneficial just to cut them off.

two.
Plato may be one of the world's most famous philosophers, but The Republic is one of the most hellish books a person could ever study for A level.

three.
I'll never be able to let go of my adoration for My Chemical Romance, and after having a long listen to them on Spotify, I realised that I'll never be over the fact that they've broken up (The Black Parade still hits a nerve in me, right from the intro, the emo inside never dies)

four.
My mock exams went a lot better than I initially thought they would, especially Philosophy - what can I say? Artificial intelligence and the state as an oppressor is just my thing.

five.
I went to see Alt-J at the O2 in Greenwich and it was ahmayzing. The opening acts were Gengahr and Wolf Alice, and they were both top notch too - I've been looking forward to this for so long now, and now I have nothing to look forward too, boo.

Ah a crappy iPhone photo, now that's a real throwback right?

six.
Binge watching the first generation of skins in under a week was not a good idea, you think you're over these characters and storylines after watching it several times but rewatching is like pouring salt on open wounds.

seven.
I found out I have roughly six more weeks until my grade 8 piano exam, which is emotional because that means I'll never see my piano teacher again who I've had for nearly ten years (crazy!) She's a quirky lady and I will miss her, she's like family.

eight.
My birthday was in November as you may have seen if you saw my Birthday haul post but one of my presents from my friend only just came because she ordered it from Japan, and it's one of the best presents I've ever received - I absolutely love Studio Ghibli and My Neighbour Totoro so receiving this book was really lovely!

Try to spot the Doctor Who badges (forever fangirlin', even in blog photos)

nine.
Life can get dark, really dark, and other people may misunderstand and belittle your feelings, but your feelings are valid - try not to forget that.

ten.
Whilst I've realised recently that some people who claim to be your friends are actually massive arse wipes, I do have some pretty cool friends. On Friday, I went to see a friend with one of my other friends and we had a massive catch up and it was just generally really lovely, and on 31st January, it was my friend's birthday and we were doing a treasure hunt around London, this company sent the clues via text message but unfortunately we didn't finish it - it was cold, and we wanted pizza from pizza hut so y'know, but overall it was a top notch day.

blogs.
Throw me something beautiful
Qworterlifecrisis
Kayla Hadlington
Sweet electric
All that shimmers
Milk bubble tea
Merry musing
Yingcbeauty
Deaddsouls
Francesca beauty

What's been the best thing you've done over the past couple of weeks?

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