Seize the day

Blog posts on here seem to have been distinctly noticeable by their absence in recent months. This is a trend which started back in 2014 when university studies took over, rather than just living the student 'high life' that many seem to view it as. Settling down into a full-time office job seems to have just placed further strain on blogging, which I didn't want it to do but after spending 7 hours in front of a computer screen, the last thing I want to do when I get home is start writing posts (on a computer!)

I don't want to give up blogging (even though it may appear otherwise) and I've recently treated myself to a tablet so I hope that I will be able to starting writing on my commute to and from work, which will be good.

As a general update, I've been really busy of late doing lots of Girlguiding related things. If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll know I volunteer as a Brownie Leader*. This is something I have been doing for six years, although I have been involved with the organisation as a young member since the age of seven. There are so many things you can do before the age of 26, and now university is over and I've reached the ripe old age of 22 (I didn't blog about my birthday for the first time in ages, whoops!) I thought I would take a shot at doing some of the activities available to The Senior Section before my time has come and gone. 

So, I've registered to do my Queen's Guide Award and the Gold Duke of Edinburgh award. The Queen's Guide Award is estimated to take approximately 3 years (it must new completed in 3 years or it doesn't count!) and although the DofE doesn't have a timeframe as such, it has to be completed before the applicant's 25 birthday. 

In theory, there is quite a lot of overlap between the two projects so this should make it a bit easier, but it's still no walk in the park! I am aiming to write a blog post each time I complete something, so when I find a way of collating them altogether (I don't want to start a whole new blog if I can help it - I can hardly keep on top of this one!) I'll add a link for anyone who is interested to be able to follow my progress. 

On top of this, I have been working on the 'Going Away With...' scheme which is the qualification needed to take young members on a residential. There are section specific modules which are only valid to take a specic age group away, so I am currently working to run a weekend 'holiday' the Brownies away this summer. 

So as you can see, I've become a bit of a busy bee lately  but I have no doubt in my mind that it will all be worth it in the end, and I would hate to regret not doing these things when it's too late!

*I now help run a Rainbow group as well, but I haven't had enough time to become familiar with the programme so I feel like I'm cheating a bit to say I'm a Rainbow Leader yet!

New academic year

Once again the blog writing is slacking a little. I apologise, but seem to be struggling to be able to write anything at all which would be worth reading lately. This is especially true of my university modules. I am back at university now and living in a house with some of my coursemates (far nicer experience than last year, I can tell you!).
I am currently studying 'Modernism', 'Short Story' and 'Language studies'. Language studies seems fairly easy for me to grasp, as it's the part I most enjoy (although we have a massive research project coming up soon, which could prove me wrong!). I can't seem to grasp the concepts of Modernism, however, as there is so much going on and (as with a lot of literature) there seems to be a lot of unecessary reading into things. I only took the module as my lecturer thought I would enjoy it, although I can't blame her for me not enjoying it really, she was just trying to help me make a decision on my modules and thought it would appeal. She was wrong. Never mind. I am trying my hardest though, as there are no other modules which jump out at me and I am determined to pass all of my modules first time! As for the Short Story module...well...that brings me back to the statement at the top of this post. Let's just say that the imagination I was blessed with as a child has since escaped me. We had a short story writer come to visit us today, Vanessa Gebbie. I had read some of her work and think that she has fantastic talent (especially in comparison with many of the authors I have read recently!). It was really useful to have a published writer come in to speak to us and tutor us for 2 hours as it did provide lots of inspiration and methods of getting creative juices flowing! Unfortunately, as is sod's law, my excitable little head which was flourising with ideas as I left the seminar, seemed to crash as soon as I sat down to actually write my 2500 word short story. The dreadful thing is that 2500 words is nothing really, and it should be extremely easy to fill up the word count. Our lecturer keeps telling us that we have to be careful not to use up the word count without finishing the story, but at this rate that is not going to happen. My key problem is that my ideas are either too vast or more suited to flash fiction and I am finding it impossible to think of an idea which isn't too cliché, too boring or written like a child.

There is no point dwelling on it, so I am heading home this weekend for Chris's 20th birthday.  We are going to MCM Expo during the day, and going back to his for a meal with his family afterwards. Expo was a bit of a last minute decision this year so we aren't dressing up; we weren't going to go but Chris realised that one of his friends who he hadn't seen for a while will be going, and I found out that Sopio cards will have a booth and I quite want to get a deck of cards :) [Sopio is a card game made by a youtuber I watch, and his friend]. On the Sunday I am going to be seeing my parents. It seems like it's been forever even though I have only been back at university for roughly a month! I am very much looking forward to it (even more so as I am getting a lift back from them on the Monday instead of having to get a train! Hurray for school half terms, that's what I say!)

I'll try to keep more on top of the blog from now on. Hopefully if I keep it going, I'll get some form of creativity back!

xx

A day in the life…

Written on 18.04.2011 (although don’t know when it will get uploaded lol as I’m not sure when I will have internet access. Using software called ‘live writer’ which apparently will let me publish it as soon as I have wifi :) so will have to see!)




6 am: Just woken up. Going to Preston to see the people I mentioned in my birthday post and to do some work while I’m up there. Train leaves Euston at 8am so will have to be there on time. Booked the tickets last minute so they were pricey – only standard class but even with my student railcard discount, it still cost £114 for two tickets.
8.15 am: Well thankfully the train didn’t leave at 8 (I am apparently incapable of reading!). Still yet to leave the house, in fact we are still packing.  My mum still doesn’t grasp the concept that is you are travelling somewhere by train you have to carry everything you take. She’ll regret it later.
9.05 am: Finally left home! On a train to Liverpool Street :)
9.30 am: Used my trusty tube map app to work out how to get to Euston from Liverpool Street – it is an absolute Godsend, as helped me out of so many situations where I’ve been lost, lol!
9.35 am: Mum has decided we are only partially using the directions suggested by the app and we are now going to Euston Square and walking.
9.38 am: Apparently she didn’t realise we had to walk a bit. It’s not far but with the amount we are carrying, it’s her loss
9.39 am: She’s regretting the amount we bought with us…not gonna say I told ya’ so…
10.00 am: At Euston, and in plenty of time too!
10.02 am: They make you pay for the toilet! 30p. I know it’s not much, but it’s frustrating
10.03 am: Just had a man ask me to help him find 30 ‘cents’ amongst his handful of change, “ I don’t understand the coins you see” I love the American accent! :D
10.04 am: Eww you’d think that if you had to pay for the toilets they’d actually be clean. They are vile!
10.20 am: On the train to Preston now. It’s so busy, the ‘train manager’ reckons it’s because a lot of people came down  for the marathon at the weekend.
10.30 am: Well they certainly don’t hang around, we are leaving dead on departure time
10.35 am: Was going to upload this blog but they charge £4 an hour for the internet. What a flpping cheek!
11.39 am: Ugh!!! Just opened my bottle of sparkling water. It seemed like such a smooth train journey but apparently not…it fizzed up and sprayed everybody within a two seat radius. I am currently sitting, covered in water, in the middle of a packed train. I am the definition of embarrassed :|
12.39 am: Train just pulled into the station and apparently the first thing I am doing is getting straight to work. Fun. But it’s all for a good cause, hopefully help me get a good grade.

Will probably do a blog post on my journey home on Wednesday xx

My 18th!

Last night was the big day. My 18th Birthday party :) The cake arrived at my house at around 11, it was beautiful! The only thing I was worried about was getting it to the hall without damaging it, but we managed and it looked lovely:

I was really glad that my friends from Preston could come, it took them 7 hours but they made it, and I think they enjoyed it. Although I think they may have felt a bit awkward not knowing people; I loved having them there though. I got chance to meet Louise, my friend's girlfriend, and she seemed lovely-hopefully we will keep in contact a bit.

I had such a mixture of people there but it was great because everyone seemed to get on well with each other. My "childminder" from when I was little [she looked after me from when I was 10 weeks old until I went to secondary school, so she calls herself Mummy Rebecca lol!] and her family came for an hour or so with the idea that they could take lots of photos and put an album together for me, which was nice. I think they got some good pictures, hopefully they got a nice one of me and Chris :)
That's another thing, he met all my friends and family last night - apart from my aunt because she was working - and everyone seemed to really like him which is great- I can't think of anything worse than a family not liking you boyfriend! Even my Grandparents seemed to like him so that's really good, although as my mum and dad have said many-a-time, "What's not to like?!" haha.




I have had lots of really nice presents from various people, so once I have caught up with all of the half term homework which I haven't had time to do, I will write out loads of Thankyou's for everyone who came :)


I'm really glad it all went well, though with the amount of organisation needed I don't think I'm gonna try and pull off something like that again for a while! x