Music

Hello there fellow friends of the interweb! I've been spending a decent amount of my time recently, on my phone or on YouTube listening to music and it made  me realize how much I appreciate the work artists do and how music plays quite a fundamental part of my life. (Would I like some crackers with that cheese I hear you ask? Yes please!)

I chose drama as a GCSE, so I think that gives me the right to call myself a performer (and I've performed so that's good enough right?) So, as you may (or may not) expect, music choice tends to be quite important on certain occasions.

Let me give you an example (that's defiantly not based on real life experiences) that demonstrates how getting the music right is key:

An Example Of How Getting The Music Right Is Key

Let me set the scene, two 14 year olds are sat in a small music practice room. One is a tall, floppy haired blonde boy with a guitar and the other is a short, muddy red headed girl with a bottle of water and song lyrics.

They are a duo without a name (at the time, all hail Lolli/Olliby, we can't decide! Suggestions?) and their performance was drawing near. With only 2 weeks left, they knew now was the time to seriously put work into practicing (well, Libby knew this, Olli was just sort of going with it as usual.)

The boy sat down and sorted out his strap (HAHAHAHA) whilst the girl sat opposite him, laughing to herself and preparing for the impending embarrassment that was no doubt soon to follow (as it did most practice sessions.)

Boy: Am I playing it from-

Girl: Yep, just do it from there it'll be fine!

Boy: Right...Okay...*Starts to play the song*

Girl: *Starts singing* No...No this isn't right...Can you move the thingy up a notch?

Boy: What like this? *Moves the thingy up a notch and does some fancy guitarist thing*

Girl: Yeah, that's cool. Back from that bit then.

Boy: Uh huh *Plays*

Girl: *Midway through singing* Mngahhjaja *Looks at lyrics* shsmfjiwmmsm *Laughs*

Boy: *Stops playing abruptly* What?

Girl: You made me laugh! It's fine, it's fine. Go back from the start of that bit.

Boy: Okaaaay *Plays*

Girl: *Midway through singing* Uggghhh! This is not going to work and we've only got 2 weeks left until the performance! Do we do another song? What songs do you know? What songs can you PLAY I mean?

Boy: *Thinks* Well, I can-

Girl: Great, do that.

Long story short the boy plays the other song and first time round it goes perfectly and they perform it and everyone loves it and they ride off into the musical sunset and live musically happily together forever (until Libby gets tonsillitis and Olli breaks a guitar string.)

Moral of that story is, although the girl could sing the song and the boy could play the song, it wasn't the right one, and as soon as they changed the song; they felt more confident in what they were doing and gave a kick ass performance.

My love for music is the main reason for doing a 'song of the post'. I decided that instead of making one post where I list all of my favourite songs (which realistically for me would be a stupid thing to do because I'd be here for hours.) I would instead pick a song that I adore or maybe a song that's relevant to the post and link it to you guys so you can get a taste of the sort of music I like to sing or listen to!

That's all for today my fellow friends of the interweb! I shall leave you with the aforementioned song of the post: Make You Feel My Love by Adele (her version of it anyways)

Happy Half Term to all and anyone who's got a week off!

-L

P.s This is the song we performed.

Give Me Grief.

Last year in May my Grandfather passed away. Regretfully, I didn't deal with it well and therefore am still dealing with the repercussions of that, but that's a different blog post (If I ever decide that I want to talk about it at all.)  

I remember stumbling across this video (A little too late may I add) and totally understanding everything Louise had to say. One of the things that struck a chord with me more than anything is her honesty and bravery.

Not everybody would be able to post a video about this, not many people would want to share a moment of 'weakness' with millions of people. But she did. I can say from personal experience that talking about death is a very difficult thing to do. I'd much rather ignore it and pretend it didn't happen but that's not the case.

Not talking about things doesn't help, if anything it prolongs the pain you're in and manifests itself into something more than just grief. Whatever emotion you're feeling: anxiety, sadness, happiness, stress, confusion etc- talk about it. I'm saying this now because I understand what it's like to not talk about it and I can't help but feel that getting it off of my chest at the beginning would mean I'd be in a better place now and after all, nobody's going to judge you for feeling what you feel.

My friends (more or less) have been great after I've explained to them what I'm going through. The hardest part of it is working through it and the initial action of understanding within yourself that you have this issue to face.

The most important thing to know, is that having a mental illness or feeling any extreme version of emotion doesn't make you any less of a human. It doesn't make you weak. It doesn't mean you've been defeated. Yes, it's a challenge, but it's a challenge that can be overcome. It's a challenge that will make you strong. It's a challenge that will give you determination.

That's all for now Fellow friends of the interweb, the video is below at the bottom of this  paragraph thing but if that doesn't work click Here to watch it.

The song of this post is: You Raise Me Up by Westlife mainly because all of my friends cry when listening to it so I thought it fitting.

-L

The Hairdressers.

Yesterday I went to the hairdressers. My dad booked me in around a month ago and yesterday morning I was SO excited; however, whilst at the hairdressers, I managed to come up with (basically) this entire blog post, so I'll shut my mouth (odd thing to say considering my mouth's not open) and get to the point!

This is a photo of the interior of my hairdressers (courtesy of Google.) It's very trendy isn't it? Very clean, white and shiny, which is fabulous however I'm an idiot and I currently have a concussion so I ended up sliding from one place to another instead of walking. 

Now, whilst at the hairdressers I realized that I'm probably the one type of customer they hate the most: The 'I'm too passive to tell you anything that isn't positive, so I'll continue to communicate in overly happy uh huh's and smiles' customer. So, what with being aforementioned customer, I decided I should share with you a list of things that happen a lot when I go to the hairdressers:

A List Of Things That Happen When I Go To The Hairdressers:

1. When being asked if I want a drink, I will always answer 'No, thank you *smile.*' The same answer will follow 'Do you want a magazine to look at?' No, I do not- however thank you kindly for asking me.
2. 'Is this your natural parting?' If you mean 'Is this where your hair is when you roll out of bed in the morning?' Then yes, yes it is.
3. Ending everything with 'Okay' or 'Good'. Usually used like this: 'She'll be with you in a minute, okay?' No. It's not okay. (Seriously, even if it wasn't okay I don't think I'd be able to tell you, so it's fine that she'll be with me in a minute.)
4. The hair wash. Now, this is a total dilemma- So much so, I'm going to include a list within a list:

The Hair Wash: A List Within A List:

1. The awkward neck angle, it's fabulous to begin with but then it HURTS. I'm talking about chronic neck pain. Not only that but what am I meant to be looking at? Why can't they have built in TV screens attached to the ceiling? Or abstract works of art? Write a poem on the ceiling! Anything that means I'm not counting the number of lights in the ceiling.
2. 'Is this temperature okay for you?' Usually it's fine but I cannot imagine myself telling the lovely person 'No. It's painfully hot.' Obviously, I'd HAVE to if I was verging on tears but otherwise I think I'd keep my mouth shut.
3. When the water decides to run along the side of your ear and down your neck. This means that I have to conceal my laughter. IT TICKLES. 
4. Having Flynn Rider (Aka, Eugene Fitzherbert) give you a head massage. Now, having my head massaged is an intimate experience- nobody other than me is allowed to fondle my hair follicles. So having someone who looks like my favourite Disney prince:

Crossed with Petesjams (Youtuber):

Was extremely distracting. Although, I did enjoy the head massage (does wonders for concussions!)

At the end of my trip to the hairdressers I was VERY pleased with the outcome and no doubt, I did enjoy my time there; the staff were friendly and attentive, the hair cleaning products (didn't want to limit it to shampoo) all smell lovely and they definitely gave me what I wanted, which is what we want from a hairdressers really isn't it!?

That's all for now my fellow friends of the interweb! I shall leave you with todays songs of the post: I See The Light (Tangled Cover) By Petesjams and Carriehopefletcher and Hellfire from The Hunchback of Notre Dam (I thought I'd treat you to two songs today! Note the Disney theme.)

Till then penguin- L

Awkward

Nice to see you to see you nice it is!

My fellow friends of the interweb; I have been on a 10 day hiatus. Mainly because I couldn't think of anything to post!  School's back so I may be posting less frequently, however! I am here today with a post that you will (hopefully) relate to. So, without further ado-on with the show!

I'm a very socially inept person, if you watch 'Miranda' (a British sitcom) you will be familiar with the person that is, Miranda Hart. Now, bless the beautiful soul she is, she's painfully awkward in any sort of occasion- and I, am equally as tragic.

Libby's Tragic Story of Tragiosity:

I decide to go to the toilet. (This is a strange thing for me to do because I don't particularly like public toilets and the whole kerfuffle that goes along with it, however this time I was desperate.) Long story short,  I farted, (loudly, as in mass vibration) then giggled and proceeded to blame it on the person in the cubicle next to me. The other girls in the toilet were clearly confused so just agreed that the atrocious noise came from my innocent friend.

I'm often a victim to embarrassing moments, but I do believe you must embrace it! Do tell me if you have suffered from self inflicted mass embarrassment! Another example is:

One day, I was sat watching tv with my pap and he was channel surfing, and came upon a show about The Black Eyed Peas. Now I'm not a super fan or anything, however- I was just tapping my foot as a music video was played and, although I didn't particularly want to, (however my pap was tapping his foot so I thought he must be enjoying it) we ended up watching it. A few days later, my mum tells me that it turns out my pap didn't want to watch it he just thought I wanted to, both of us just didn't want to tell the other that we didn't want to watch it. #typicalBrit

That's all for now my fellow friends of the interweb! I'll leave you with the song of the post: Keep Your Head Up by Ben Howard

Until then hen- L

Shelf No.1- Part 2

So, as you may have guessed by the title this is the second part of my bottom shelf tour! I'm going to get right into it because I have nothing else to say and this post is going to be preeeeeetty long anyway!

So, as you can see, this is where the bottom shelf morphed into notebooks and fiction (totally of it's own accord, the books literally flew and perched themselves on this shelf.) Next to the Children's British History Encyclopedia mentioned last time are three notebooks and an English to French/French to English Dicionary, there's not really much I can say about the notebooks other than they're pretty so I don't like writing in them (defeats the purpose really, doesn't it?) As far as the dictionary goes, as I mentioned in my 'Me?' page I am far from bilingual and need all the help I can get (However, I don't use it nor do I see myself using it at any point in the near future.) 

After that we come to Jacky Daydream and My Secret Diary both biographies by Jacqueline Wilson. I read these when I was around 8-10 years old and loved them, mainly because I was a huge fan of Jacqueline's writing. I've kept them mainly in case I ever feel the urge to delve into my childhood (which I do on a regular basis, in the means of watching Disney films.) 

The next three books are Slide by Jill Hathaway, Elixir by Hilary Duff and The Blessed by Tonya Hurley.  I read both Slide and Elixir quite a while ago, but remember them for having quite interesting plots and have kept them because (although I very rarely re-read books) I may want to re-read them. The Blessed, however I have not read. (Tried, but not read.) I decided to keep it because I keep on picking it up, starting to read it and then putting it back. In other words I WILL, I repeat WILL, read it.

Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara, Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking are the last four books on this shelf. Lovely, Dark and Deep- was bought by my mum during the weekly shop at Asda and has somehow landed on my bookshelf, she's read it- I haven't and that's that. Wreck This Journal was bought for me by a friend, Elke (Pronounced, El-Kah) for my birthday, I've started to 'wreck it' but it's apparently a rather slow process. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was borrowed from someone and I apparently haven't given it back. My reason for borrowing it is: I heard great reviews of it on the interweb. I did try to read it but, again- it just didn't seem to happen for some reason. Which is sad, because this particular book had a very intriguing plot line that I'd like to learn more about. (Maybe I'll get my own copy/ borrow it from the library to give it another go.) Finally, I bought A Brief History of Time whilst shopping with my dad. *Insert possibly irrelevant yet brief information (not about the history of time, hahaha!)*

A Brief Story:

My dad is a huge space enthusiast, he owns two telescopes, has multiple apps for star gazing (and whatnot) as well as forming quite the collection of space related trivia.

*Back to whatever I was saying earlier*

Where was I...Oh right "Whilst shopping with my dad." We were in the non-fiction section of Waterstones and I came across A Brief History of Time. Now, because of my dad's passion for space and astronomy related things- I am all the more interested in the ways of the world. I decided, what a better way to understand the working's of the Earth than from the beginning. Taadaah! I bought the book and (this seems to be the theme of this blog post) started to read it, then picked up something else.

Advice of the day: Never put yourself in the situation where you're reading 3+ books at once. It doesn't work. Unless it does work for you, in which case- bravo to you, fellow friend of the interweb!

That is all for now! I shall leave you with my song of the blog post: Gold by Spandau Ballet.

Gonna hit the road spotted toad-L

Shelf No.1-Part 1

Let's commence my shelf tour my bottom shelf! However, I have a few things to say before I go into detail:

There's no particular order to the way in which I organize my shelves. I have one shelf for 'classics/old books' and one shelf for non-fiction texts, (the one I'll be sharing with you in this post) which for some unknown reason, shares it's home with a few notebooks and fictional pieces of writing (Clear evidence that I lack organization skills.)

So, without further ado- here is the first (half of the first) shelf:

To the far left is a set of 9 Longman Literature Guides, given to me by my nan a few years ago and, as far as I know, are just study guides for A-level/GCSE/first year university students. In my mini collection, I have the study guide for: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare, The Knight's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer, Sons and Lovers by D.H Lawrence, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. 

Propped up against the set of books is a drawing by my youngest brother or himself as a superhero, which I like to keep on display.

The next book is The Complete Human Body by Dr Alice Roberts (Although, multiple specialists from different fields came together during the writing of this book.)Given to me by my uncles at christmas, it is quite literally what it says on the cover. I find it to be quite useful when I'm doing some background reading on a certain way of the body. 

Next to that we have Fashion, published by DK (Dorling Kindersley) I picked this book up at The Works whilst in Evesham. I'm not particularly 'into' fashion but I do quite enjoy looking at the photo's (it helps me to decide if I would realistically enjoy to live in the Edwardian time or not.)

Moving swiftly on to my complete collection of Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne and my copy of Classic tales of Beatrix Potter.The Collection of Winnie the Pooh Stories and Poems was given to my parents by my grandparents just before I was born, as was the Classic Tales of Beatrix Potter (probably) I love both of these books, particularly because of the illustrations. The tale of Mrs Tiggy Winkle is one of my favourites (I have a thing for hedgehogs, no thanks to Martin Freeman and Tumblr.)

The next three books are: The Usborne Junior Illustrated Maths Dictonary, (embarrassingly) The Sims Medieval official game guide and Al Seckel's Incredible Visual Illusions. I bought the Maths guide quite a few years ago now in year six and have kept it merely for reference because my mathematical skills are appalling. The Sims guide is my mum's, it's on my bookcase for safe keeping and my illusions book was picked up at a charity shop and happens to be one of my favourite things to look at when bored *takes a break from writing to look through the book.*

*Back.* The final four books on this half of the shelf are: Spider-Man: Happy Birthday and Spider-Man & The Spinster Six by Stan Lee and Michael Straczynski, Grey's Anatomy by Henry Gray F.R.S, The Oxford Popular School Thesaurus and The Children's British History Encyclopedia by Nicola Barber and Andy Langley. If you read my 'Me?' page, you'll know that I enjoy Marvel film's- however, I'm totally clueless when it comes to the comics so I "borrowed" the Spider-Man book from my youngest brother. My copy of Grey's Anatomy and the History Encyclopedia were both bought for me by my nan because I'm interested in history and the possibility of becoming a Doctor!

That is it for now my fellow friends of the interweb! I shall leave you with my song of the blog post: Hooked on a feeling by Blue Swede

I'm out of here white tailed deer- L

Books, Books, Books.

I have a passion. An uncontrollable, soul devouring passion. A passion for the English language and it's creations. I love the way words can show emotion. How authors can take an idea and suddenly something so small becomes a new world of possibilities. People who didn't once exist suddenly become real, words that were once just sounds soon have a meaning and life is brought to that minuscule idea or dream or fantasy!

The best thing about it is it a/effects (still haven't got that one down) everyone! You speak it, you hear it, you write it, you read it. It doesn't matter where you come from it's there! The blind FEEL it! Now, to introduce to you my bookshelves:

Sadly, having moved house in January, I rid myself of many a book. However, I quite like the look of my little collection of books so thought I'd share it with you- my fellow friends of the internet. Now, I'm not going to go to far into it in this particular blog post; I am instead, going to (along side with my usual blog posts) write a post about each shelf individually! This way I can write my thoughts in more detail and you get the suspense of waiting for me to upload *insert evil laugh* 

That is it for now, I shall leave you with my song of the blog: Runaways by The Killers

Peace out rainbow trout- L