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Graduate trying out life on the other side of the world.. stay tuned.

Wednesday 30 March 2011

Kate4Wills4eva. Crikey.





Now I suppose it was only a matter of time before I thought things were getting a little ridiculous concerning the upcoming and hotly anticipated royal wedding. It wasn't until I saw this that I thought things were getting a little crazy, and felt the need to rant just a tiny little bit.

When I heard the announcement of the royal engagement, I will admit, with my head held high- that I was quite excited. I have my reservations about the monarchy and this post is not the place to debate the ups and downs to having a monarchy (for the record, I sit resolutely on the fence, boring, I know, but you'll build a bridge and probably get over it.) I am still quite excited in fact- but I think things are getting a little out of hand, and to be quite frank, tacky. (I am truly my parent's daughter when it comes to things like this.)

There will be some people who will be clamoring to get their hands on the Kate & Wills fridge, the Kate & Wills gnomes and everything else that comes in between those two insane products. I'm afraid I'm not one of them. I thought it was a joke when I heard about the life size cardboard cut out.

Now, the part of me that is excited about this is excited because of the prospect of an extra day off. If my boss allows me the day off that is- and something a bit happier happening in the UK. To be quite honest, I dread checking the news everyday. The UK is pretty doom and gloomy right now, probably emphasised today by the first perpetual grey skies and rain we've had all week. The cuts and all general 'recession' related stories don't help either. Something a bit out of the ordinary that is going to make headlines for 'nice' reasons probably won't go a miss.

But take it with a pinch of salt. Please, I beg of you, do not make me cringe with the frantic buying of royal wedding merchandise, which, in two years time will be worth less than what you bought it for and being used as something to put your houseplant on to avoid water going everywhere for when you remember to water the damn thing.

The idea of street parties to celebrate does sound pretty fantastic though. There's one happening in Manchester in fact, and whilst I don't think it's directly celebrating the Royal Wedding, it looks pretty fun. Get on down there Mancunions, eat cake, drink tea and be generally merry. 

Meanwhile, if anybody as much as presents me with a royal wedding themed gnome, tell them to wear a hard hat whilst doing it because I'm more than likely to smash it over their head.

Monday 28 March 2011

Captain Sensible to the rescue.

In the past week I have realised that pretending to be a grown up is a strange thing. It's a weird mix of being a professional, a geek, and still being an immature 16 year old at heart all rolled into one.

And I've realised that it's full of difficult decisions. This is going on from my last post- I do always say yes to things, but for once, I said no to something which COULD have been something rather marvellous. It took a hell of a lot for me to say no. I was meddled with guilt that I was saying no, and constantly thinking that turning it down would be the worst thing since wearing spots and stripes together in the same outfit. (Epic fashion fail, FYI.)

But actually it was a no brainer and I think I was making a mountain out of a rather small mole hill. I had a job offer doing a not so dissimilar role to the one I do now for a lovely organisation, but it was in Peterborough.. cue the frantic emails to my parents asking their advice. In short I said why thank you for the lovely offer, but no thanks. And it wasn't too difficult to do. The words amazing achievement for me come to mind.

In the end it all comes down to self preservation doesn't it?

Going on from this, I know I always make things out to be worse than they are- somebody I know that I saw recently will agree wholeheartedly with this as I know this element of my character really pissed them off.. but I like to think of it as being incredibly prepared for all scenarios. To be fair, the words OMG fall out of my mouth far too often, most likely followed by a AS IF?! Or: WHAT THE FUCK I AM GOING TO DO?! When really all the situation calls for is a calm hand. I think us girls are more than guilty of gossiping and over worrying about things- I know I am prime suspect number one, as I'm sure are many of my lovely friends, which means that more than likely, you are too. A prime example of my worrying is my recent driving theory test- I was incredibly concerned that failing would be, like, the worst. thing. ever. I had a panic call to my friend (the lovely Jenni) the day before who effectively told me to chill the fuck out and if I failed it wouldn't be the end of the world. The fact I read an article the night before about a chap who'd failed it an impressive and absolutely hilarious 90 times probably didn't help matters...

As it happened, I passed the chuffing theory test, and lo and behold the we are all still here as the world did not end. Phew.

I doubt I will ever learn my lesson about worrying, and I'll still be known as the one who worries too much.

My family nicknamed me Captain Sensible for good reason it seems. I'll work on that one though.

Monday 21 March 2011

Why not?

It has become increasingly clear to me over the past few months that I am one of those people that find it hard to say no to people. In terms of asking me what I'm up to and if I fancy going over, to maybe going out for dinner or having one too many drinks- from the small things if somebody asks if they mind changing the TV channel to the bigger things, say, if I want to go and visit them whether it's in the UK or not..

Now, Most of these things are amazing, and a few years ago I wouldn't be surprised if I hadn't done all the things I have achieved to date- I used to say no to things which constantly left me wondering after why the hell I had ever said no to doing some of those things I got asked to do- or even not asked just a simple, 'hey, you up for it?' I think maybe this all changed when I went on the hideously stereotypical Gap-Yah to, yes, you guessed it- South America. That is the first thing I can pinpoint that I thought yeah, sure, why not? To be honest I never thought it would happen. It's pretty obvious I was seriously mistaken by that particular thought.

I think maybe I've taken this a little too far- and quite literally saying yes to everything I am asked to do- jamming everything into my diary to the point where I think the diary might burst open with appointments. This is no bad thing, and I'm not complaining about it- I have learnt that I am definitely one of those people that thrive off being busy- and perhaps it is a knee jerk reaction to my job, which, is a great job, and don't get me wrong, I secretly love it- but can get a little mundane and lonesome at times, so I'm rebelling in some way against that and filling my free time in every way I can.

I am definitely one of those people that would not be content twiddling their thumbs. Some would say I'm highly strung and high maintenance, whereas I like to think of it as highly motivated and social..

I think I'm still learning the ropes of this unbeknown thing to me called the middle ground. For example- I landed back from my (fantastic) holiday, jumped straight on a train back up to Manchester without even a caffeine stop and got home pretty exhausted. I did consider getting up and going to my volunteering role I do two days a week the next day. My friends advised me not to. I, for once, took the advise and did nothing all day (except unpack, do washing and have a driving lesson). It was kinda nice- BUT I certainly haven't learnt from it, as my housemate will vouch for me. 

Maybe I should though, just to try and lower the blood pressure a little. But I certainly won't be doing it in the next two weeks. People may have to book me about 4 weeks in advance for a coffee.

This whole thing about actually having a life is bloody hard work. But I wouldn't change it for the world.

Monday 14 March 2011

Karma's a bitch. Is it?

We've all heard that saying that karma is in fact a bitch. A few weeks ago I was chatting to my housemate about how people will always get their come uppance, and I boldly made the statement that karma must exist and sometimes peoples ill advised decisions and their actions will come back and bite them on their arse. (I couldn't bring myself to write ass.)

In short, people will always get what they deserve, right?

I'm not so sure this is true anymore. I feel it would be an insult to those who lost their lives in the recent disasters in Japan without mentioning it here. My thoughts are with all those affected by this disaster- and bring myself to question, what did those people do to deserve that? I know that nothing could have been done to avoid the horrible situation that developed, and therefore I severely doubt that anybody could ever deserve to be put through the hell we have all witnessed in the past few days on the news.

When I start to think of the bold statement I made a few weeks ago, I cringe. With the aforementioned in mind I doubt that anybody gets their so called comeuppance because sometimes things just happen that are out of your control, and it s doubtful that things happen to them because of the time they nicked a few penny sweets from their local newsagents, or because they cheated on their exams.

Going on from this, the next time I think, they got what they deserved, I'm gonna have to slap myself across the face to stop thinking that again- since when did much of our (or in fact, my) human nature become so skewed?

We even do it to ourselves much of the time- if we have a big interview coming up, and if you don't get through, you will inevitably think it serves you right for not doing enough prep, despite the fact you had stayed up every single night for the past fortnight drinking far too much caffeine in the vain hope of staying awake that little bit longer to try and absorb more 'useful' information. I doubt this is the universe and the Gods that be punishing you, but rather telling you it just isn't the right time for you.

Admittedly, this is a hard concept to accept and also incredibly optimistic and idealistic (makes a nice change doesn't it), and makes me rather a hypocrite, but hey, shit happens. I guess I'm a firm believer in the view that knock backs and the bad times alongside the good times that make you who you are, and without them you would be a pretty vacuous human being.

Going on from here, maybe I should stop walking under a karma ridden cloud and start enjoying the sunshine- after all, Spring is just round the corner- and you never know what could happen tomorrow, so we might as well enjoy the little things as well as the pretty big and amazing things in life whilst we can, right?