Thanks for tuning in!

Life

Once again, over my holiday, I fell off the blogging wagon.

I am prone to falling off wagons, in great number. I have tried vaguely to diet (and fallen off the wagon). I have tried working out (fallen off). I have tried eating breakfast (a particularly bad wagon to tumble from). In general I am bad at keeping those personal promises you make to yourself.

It has recently become 2014, and like many bloggers in the big wide blogosphere I’m here to say thanks to you all for tuning back into my ramblings, and to make a resolution for the new year. A new wagon to clamber onto the back of.

This year, rather than picking something and then precariously hanging on for dear life I’ve decided to make a resolution that affects someone else. That way, I figure, I’ll have to keep it up. I’ve chosen to make sure I encourage and support Boyfriend and help him achieve his goals. He has a similar resolution for me.

 

So if I stop blogging again for any length of time, you can consider it his fault.

Birthday

Life

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me (for yesterday).

I’m now 23, which is exciting because I’ve never been that before, so I’m not really sure what to expect but I’m sure it’ll probably be the same as 22, but in a year I’ll let you know how it went.

That’s all.

Spam

Life

This? No.

Spam

Since I migrated to WordPress I’ve had a bunch of spam comments, and I have to say, I don’t mind them! Working in the “internet biz” if you like, I’ve gained a bit of insight into spammers, and I know that there is nothing special about getting spam comments (if anything it only highlights that I should really activate Akismet, which I have yet to do – such a bad blogger).

To get back to the point of this very short post, I like my little spammers. It gives me something to do when I log on, and in the absence of real comments it makes me feel a bit popular. If I start getting real comments I’m not honestly sure what I’ll do. I never really began this blog as a way of “connecting to the blogosphere” it’s just somewhere to put my thoughts so that they don’t clutter up my head.

Anyway, that all made a lot of sense, so I’ll stop trying now.

You’re welcome.

Cake or Death?

Life, Rant, Travel, Work

A post about Eddie Izzard you ask? No.

If you offered half the students in the Hyde Park area of Leeds the option of Cake or Death, they would (in my opinion unwisely, but who am I to comment) choose Death.

I know this fact, because twice a week (at a minimum) I drive through Hyde Park at about 7pm on my way home from work. And therefore twice a week (at a minimum) I nearly kill someone. I don’t mean to, I have no violence or malice in my heart – not before the incident, anyway – but despite this fact, I almost always nearly kill someone. And that is because no-one has explained to students that the rules of the road still apply even if you’re living away from home.

Yes, I know that there are millions of students who live in Hyde Park and that most of them walk and that a lot of the roads are clear a lot of the time. However, sometimes they are not clear, and it is genuinely not up to me to perfectly time when I drive through so that I don’t inconvenience someone on foot by making them pause for oooh, five extra seconds before crossing the road.

I’d be apologetic if that wasn’t such a stupid feeling to have.

Students, please. Learn that you have to look both ways before you cross the road. Please, please understand that you are in a fragile vehicle made of only flesh and blood, and I am in a scary metal box of death. Super extra please remember that there are even larger, even scarier metal boxes of death than mine, such as buses, and if I’m fed up of your antics, just imagine how the bus drivers are feeling.

How 10 people a day don’t get mown down thanks to their own sheer stupidity is beyond me. We let these people into higher education. What is happening to the world.

Have the actual Eddie Izzard video while I disappear into my own personal little middle-class rant.

Jekyll and Hyde

Fun

This week, the Musical Theatre society at my uni union are putting on Jekyll and Hyde. I have been helping with props, and I have to say, I’m really pleased with how everything has turned out. I’m going to see it tomorrow (tonight is opening night), but I thought I’d share a little about why I’m so excited.

1) Naturally I’m excited because I’m involved in it via the props. Here are some photos of what I’ve made and sourced (it’s a shame they aren’t in context).

Dressing Table
Science bits
Newspapers
Letters

2) I’m excited because I think Jekyll and Hyde is a fantastic story. When I was doing my A Levels, our English Literature topic was Gothic fiction, and I got stuck right into it. I’ve not been back to a lot of the stories since (through lack of reading time unfortunately), but I absolutely fell in love with them all, not least Jekyll and Hyde. There is something about the tone of Gothic writing which is just thrilling to read, even if the actual story is ridiculous (see: The Castle of Otranto)

3) I’m excited because a lot of people I know have been, or are involved. MT have actually been running their own blog about the show, here, which I think is a great idea, and I have to say that everything about the show is looking fantastic. I’m sending loads of leg-breaking good luck to my friends who are involved tonight, but I’ve got no doubt in my mind that it’ll be a roaring success.

And I’m not going to lie, I went a bit nail-crazy again. It’s not my favourite effort (because it’s a bit sloppy), but voila, Jekyll and Hyde nails!

Jekyll Nails

Supercalifragilisticextraoptimistic

Life

I am well known as being a very optimistic person. Sometimes that gets dampened by whatever context I am in, but if I had to describe myself in a word (for an interview perhaps) I’d say I’m an optimist.

Today on my drive home from work I had a very optimistic thought. It occupied me for the whole drive back (I have an hour commute each way to work). So what was this thought, I hear you ask…it was simply this: Everyone is good at something. You just need to find what you’re good at, and voila.

So, not exactly groundbreaking. I was thinking about one of my possible career goals – I have no idea exactly what I want to do yet, so I’m trying to get my head around a few possibilities. One of those is that I’d like to be a teacher, and in particular, a drama/English teacher. I was thinking about whether or not I really have the right background to be a drama teacher, and then something hit me. I’m really enthusiastic, and I think that’s probably one of the most important things.

When I was at school one of the main things I took from my drama lessons (and by extension my teachers) is that I am particularly good at three things in life. I’m focused, I’m committed, and I’m really enthusiastic. Those things together don’t make a good actress, not by any stretch of the imagination. What they do make, at least at school age, is a good support. I’ve carried that through my life so far, and it’s brought me to being a director and president for a university society. I have never been the star, but I’ve been there doing the things which are necessary, and I’ve known to do that because my teachers at school helped me to identify my strengths early.

Sometimes it can feel like you don’t do anything right, but you just have to look a little deeper to work out how that can be a positive. Sometimes I talk too much, and go into too much detail. Mostly, that’s annoying, and I know that. But all I need is to channel it for the right circumstance, and suddenly it’s just confidence and enthusiasm.

All I can say is, I hope that everyone has the chance to find their strength, like I have.

Pumpkin Pie

Food

One of the puddings I made last week for Halloween was pumpkin pie, and I made a lot of it. If you’re looking to use up fresh pumpkin after carving then pie is not the best way, because even one pumpkin-worth is a LOT of pumpkin. Here is how I did it:

1. Make pumpkin puree. I used a whole pan of pumpkin insides, cinnamon, nutmeg and granulated sugar. Boil it up into wonderfulness, for about 15 minutes.
Pumpkin puree ingredients
Once it has finished boiling, blend it up.
Pumpkin boiling

2. Next you’ll need some pastry. Shortcrust pastry is quite easy, so I made my own. I’d give you a recipe but I mostly guess (she said guiltily). It’s just flour, butter and water, so it’s hard to get it wrong.
Shortcrust Pastry

3. Once the pumpkin has cooled, you can make the pie filling. The recipe I use is this one, but obviously I swap out the tinned pumpkin puree for my own mix.
Ingredients
Pumpkin pie filling

4. The last step is simple. Get baking! I blind-bake my pastry for about 10 minutes on 180 degrees, then add the filling and leave for another 15 minutes, or until the centre is between bouncy and firm (and not sticky). Here is my finished product.
Pie

You’re welcome.

Remember Remember

Life, Rant

Oh hello, and welcome to another UK-Holiday-based-rant. The poem goes

Remember, Remember, the 5th of November
Gunpowder, Treason and PLOT
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

And I do not debate that it is not the best poem ever. But it contains two very fundamental points. Firstly, if we’re going to be having a festival to commemorate Guy Fawkes, it should be on the 5th of NOVEMBER. Not the 3rd to the 10th (which is what everyone around here apparently thinks it is). Just the 5th.

Secondly, we are commemorating TREASON. A plot to blow up the houses of parliament, and kill a bunch of people. The plot, of course, failed, but the result of that was just the ridiculous and brutal oppression of Catholics for years after. No matter which way you look at it, it’s just not a great thing to be commemorating. And how do we choose to commemorate this event?

Bombs.

For one week, the UK government, in memory of THAT TIME IT WAS NEARLY BLOW UP allows all adults in the country to buy pretty coloured bombs, and set them off.

WHAT?!

I may be slightly influenced here by the fact that I really don’t like fireworks, but this just seems like a bit of a skewed festival all round. If we’re going to have all the pretty lights, can’t we at least be celebrating Diwali or something? Please?

People who speak loudly on phones

Rant, Work

I recently got a new workspace, working in a co-working centre in Headingley. I really like it because it is a better headspace for me to focus on work than home. I also love how light it is, and that the desks are a good size.

Most of all, I like all the people. I’ve not met a single person who hasn’t been absolutely lovely since I’ve been here, which is miraculous really, because I spend the whole time being really antisocial with my headphones in and the radio on. There is, however, a really good reason for me being like that.

Everyone in this office is SO LOUD on the phone.

I totally appreciate that being in a shared space means that you’re going to lose out on a little bit of privacy and you’re going to have to experience the way other people work, but honestly, it’s getting a bit silly. I’m certain most companies would prefer if their private calls were not aired to the nation, and I know that humans, as a species, can change the volume at which they speak. Except apparently not around me.

It’s a problem I often find. Frequently when walking home I find myself heavily engaged in someone else’s personal drama, just because they are speaking so loudly on the phone. Maybe I just have sensitive hearing, but I’m sure my family would beg to disagree on that point. I just feel like now that we’re in the era of the smart-everything, surely phone microphones are equipped to pick up a lower volume. Surely we don’t actually have to yell?

I am lucky though, because I have good headphones which block out most if not all of the office noise while I’m here. So I’ll have to be content with seeming incredibly anti-social, but at least I’ll get some work done!