Dear Kingston Odeon...

To all the staff members at Kingston Odeon,

Today I visited your cinema with my two younger brothers (aged 3 and 5) and grandmother who is currently over from the USA visiting us. We went in to see the Minions movie as my brothers are obsessed with the little yellow trouble makers. We used the self service section to purchase our tickets but then went to buy drinks and snacks for the film. The man who served us was incredibly friendly and helpful and made us feel important. The woman checking our tickets was smiling and sweet. She pointed us towards the escaltor going down to our screen and off we went.

That was when it went wrong.

My 3 year old brother is scared of escalators and his panic over getting on it cause the older one to panic and fall, dropping his popcorn. I couldn't find the emergency stop button so dropped all my stuff, told my youngest brother to stay put and went running down after him to pick him up as my grandmother could not really help him. We reached the bottom, got off safely and hit the emergency stop. I ran back up the stairs to see another man had come along to help keep an eye on my brother and see what had happened, clearly having been called over by the girl at the ticket desk. He stayed with my brother, until I got back, gave us a new popcorn bucket and two more toys from the kids mix as both of my brothers had clearly been scared and distressed. He also topped up my own popcorn which my brother had accidentally knocked over. He pointed us towards the elevator which made my brother feel much more comfortable.

After the movie we took the lift back up to the foyer where we were stopped by the manager to ask if we'd been given our vouchers as both my brothers were dressed as minions. She then fetched vouchers to give them both free entry to another film within the next month and took a picture of them both dressed in their costumes.

Overall, we were really impressed with the help and service, especially as it was the 3 year old's first cinema trip. I hope that this reaches all the staff involved as I would really like to thank them for all the effort put into their jobs. As somebody who works in customer service, I know it's not always easy and that you can very quickly lose your enthusiasm.

You were all amazing!

Much thanks,
The sister of the two boys in minion tops (that everybody commented on!)

A Little Rant (Cause why else would I be here?)

So I haven't been to my history class in quite a few weeks. Bad, I know. I have reasons though. I mean... A good few months worth of my photography went missing so spending 5/6 weeks trying to re do all of it? Is it more acceptable? What about having issues with anxiety? Is that okay to miss some lessons for? What about some personal issues (including a death in the family)? Is it okay yet?

My history teacher doesn't think so. I've been threatened with punishment if I don't turn up to lesson tomorrow.

Now my plan for tomorrow was to not go to college. Stay at home, get photography 100% finished and revise for the English exam I have Friday. Now I have to spend an hour and a half travelling each way to college as well as an hour in lesson. So that's 4 hours out of my day tomorrow. I also have to catch up 5 weeks in one night. Which also takes out of my time for revision for Friday and redoing photography.

It might not be the best thing to do but I really think it's the best thing for me right now.


p.s. thanks for the added stress teacher. It's caused me to have more panic attacks. I hope you're happy with yourself for further fucking with my mental health! :)

Too Long to Tweet: Zayn Malik

I love All Time Low. They are my favourite band. If they broke up or one of them left, I would be devastated. I wouldn't cut or threaten to kill myself over it. This is coming from somebody who has struggled with depression and associated issues in the past.

Y'all need to calm down. He's not dead, it's not the end of the world. He's left a band. Give it until the end of the year and he'll either be back or a solo artist. Please, don't do anything drastic and definitly don't go cutting yourself/attempting suicide.

I don't care what you say about photoshop. THIS is why the media is fucked up.

NewsQuest Young Reporters Scheme: Student View in Light of the NUJ article

As an aspiring journalist and editor of my college's student magazine, when I heard about the opportunity to sign up for the young reporters scheme, I jumped at the chance. Myself and six other members of the magazine all put our names on a list which was sent to the organisers. The issue was, we had heard about the scheme at the last minute so we didn't know much about it.

In a reply email from one of the organisers, I was given the information about how young reporters works and it sounded far less interesting. It didn't really sound like something that was engaging or of much use to me, five of the other members of the magazine felt the same way. In a conversation with one of them, they said "It's not interesting because we can't write about anything controversial." which is true. The most exciting things we can write about are trees being cut down or a mildly exotic animal in the Thames. This will be of interest to some people but as teenagers we often like to rebel against the "social norms" of older generations making controversial topics, such as abortion, gay marriage and the ethics of artists selling music through sex, really interesting topics for us to write about. 

However, this wouldn't be a problem, right? Surely we could just drop out of the scheme, no biggie. Wrong. What nobody had been told about was the charge. £100 just for the college to sign up plus £20 for each student. With seven of us signed up, that was £240 when we hadn't been given proper information for the scheme before signing up, leading six of us to change our minds. As far as I'm aware, my college was in fact charged a full £240, especially as I'm still on the e-mailing list for the scheme.

That's how I heard about this. An e-mail from one of the organisers. The e-mail stated that the article written on them by NUJ was misleading and incorrect but, in my opinion, one incorrect fact in an article on the scheme does not mean that people should dislike young reporters. The article stated that it costs £120 for students to take part in the scheme and it was made to sound, in the opening of the article, as if this was the cost per student. However, further on in the article it is explained that the cost is £100 for the school/college to sign up and £20 additionally for students. Personally, I still think this cost is outrageous.

In summary, my feelings on the scheme are that it is overpriced, misleading and of little interest to students. They claim to give good experience to students but I have gained far more experience on my college's student magazine and pod cast. Now, I fully accept not all schools and college have the facilities to run a pod cast, ours is quite... all over the place and badly organised. But there is not reason that a school/college can't have a student run magazine. If students are willing to run it, you need one staff member who will oversee the running of the magazine. Students can then use their own initiative to then produce the magazine with a team of editors and the availability for all students to write their articles and get published. The school/college is then responsible to decide if this is printed or virtual meaning there is no reason for it to cost money as it can be left on the Internet rather than printed. This allows students so much more freedom in subjects they cover as well as a larger readership because we can write about abortion, gay marriage and the ethics of artists selling music through sex, not a strange duck being spotted in the Thames. 

Because as much as we don't want to write about that, others want to read about it even less.

Other things to read on this topic:

NUJ's article on the Young Reporters Scheme

Young Reporter's response to the article

I'm Writing (Another) Story?!

For those of you who are unaware, hopefully this is all of you, I previously wrote an entire story called 'Undead April' which told the story of a group of school kids in Ireland who fought their way through a zombie apocalypse. The cover of the book was made from a picture of a sunset I took in Ireland that I had then manipulated the contrast on and turned red, then added some writing to make a cover. Really creative cover. The whole thing was awful.

I'm incredibly hopeful that this is no longer up on the internet. I'm fairly sure it's gone. I think I deleted the account I put it on. I mean, at the time I thought it was great. I was all "yeah, I finished writing a story. I even wrote a dedication in the front. Aren't I awesome?" No Sophie. No you were not.

It's 7060 words in length and the dedication reads as follows:

"For my partners in crime Lily, Connor, Harry, Aisling, Jess, Ash and Aly. 

And Evan. You violent sod."

 Not exactly my most proud achievement. Dedicating a book to the friends who were the characters. Oh and my boyfriend. My absolute scum bucket of a boyfriend. I was 14 okay?

So, leaving this in the past... my goal for this year is to finish writing a book I can actually be proud of. So far, I've managed to write the first chapter and part of a prologue. Basically because I'm struggling with character development.

The story revolves around six main characters. Three girls, three guys. All of varying background. It's set in a London college this time rather than back end of nowhere Ireland. Oh, and there are no zombies. I'm done with writing about zombies.

So far, I've managed to form a strong connect with two of these characters, Jasey and Calix. Jasey is a 16 year old girl who dresses mostly in black skinny jeans, black converse and an ever growing array of band merch. Her closest friends are Stella and Holly and she plays drums, guitar and bass. Calix, on the other hand, is an 18 year old college resit who's smarter than he lets on. He has a fairly good dress sense and wears far more colour than Jasey. The other 4 central characters include a nerd, a popular singer, a smart and crazy future doctor and an egotistical womanizer named after a god of war. I think I've got enough diversity in the characters.

Anyway, not to spoil the plot as, hopefully, it'll get read at the end of the year. Buuuuut... expect some comedy and failed romance. Actually... maybe you should expect failed comedy too.

So yeah, hopefully this will be better. I shall leave you with a short extract from 'Undead April' just to embarass myself and prove my point. Like I said... I was 14.

The first zombie to appear was coming up the hill towards us. 1 smash with the fire extinguisher and it was splashed against the railings. But we had about 5 minutes to walk up the street before we reached Fallons. Finn hit a girl I recognised from the local supermarket. We started to see a few zombies dressed in school uniform. I noticed a girl in my class who had always gotten on my nerves. I slapped her with the extinguisher. She didn’t fall down but she stumbled back. I hit her again and she fell down. I bashed her head a few more times and ran on. Finn was fighting off one trying to bite him. I gave it a sharp blow to the head and we continued down the street.

One Year Single

January 30th 2014. My boyfriend and I broke up.

I'm not still sad. I have moved on. You know what? It's great! Being single is a lot easier than being in a relationship because it's a lot less effort. When we broke up, it was a Thursday. My photography coursework was due in the next day so I went in early and spent the entire day sticking photos to pieces of cardboard. I hardly talked to anyone, just kept to myself. Then it was the weekend and I just kept away from social media and my phone.

Monday rolls around and I suddenly realised. "Hey, that guy is quite cute. In fact... He's really rather hot. I see him every week, how have I not noticed how attractive he is before?" I was in a relationship. I wasn't looking around. That's why I'd failed to notice. I developed a minor crush on this guy, nothing that made me want to act on it, but a minor crush. Apparently this was the same as every other girl who knew him.

But time went on. I met another guy who was SO not my type and yet... I was strangely into him. I guess it was around May I developed a crush on him and, as I have mentioned before on my blog, we had a flirtationship over the summer. It was, at least on my end, you're attractive, make me laugh and the only other person dumb enough to be online at 4am. What can I say, I'm not a big sleeper.

What I didn't write in a previous blog post, mostly because this happened afterwards, was that I actually decided to tell this guy I like him. Not because I wanted a serious relationship with him. I merely figured "This guy is flirting, I like him. Why not? A little bit of fun never hurt anybody." but not no avail. Turns out, he's just an extremely flirty guy and he didn't like him back. But, I'm pretty good at getting over people... Though this may have taken a whole week! Then my friend text him. From my phone. Lets just say this guy and I have spoken once since. Very briefly.

But I think my most important experience from this guy is how his best friend behaves. You know when someone gives you a dirty look? He always does that to me... but in stare form. It annoys me to hell and back. I swear one day I'm gonna bring Satan's pitchfork back with me and whack him across the head with it. Take a picture, it'll last longer dumbass.

And then there's one last guy. I like him. He likes me. We're not bf/gf but we're seeing each other and flirting very openly. This is quite nice. We're taking it slow, not rushing. I feel comfortable with it so far and that's always important.

The point I'm trying to make here is that being single gives you chances to experience things you wouldn't otherwise experience and it allows you to grow, something I really feel I've done over the last year.

Here's to 2015!

Girls Who Prefer Having Guy Friends

There's been a lot of hate on the internet recently to girls who prefer spending time with guys. This pisses me right off. I am a girl. My best friend is a guy. My closest friends are also all guys bar one. One.

Now, I don't see what's wrong with this. It's a personal preference. I sit and chat with a group of girls and it tends to be about boys, make up, hair, clothes... You get the picture. I don't find this interesting. However when I sit and chat with a group of guys... For one, topics seem to vary more. It might be about sport which I mostly have no interest in. It might be about films, TV shows, music, their college subjects... I know "girls talk about this stuff too." Buuuut I tend to find girls are often more into reality shows so if I want to talk about The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, Gotham, Flash, The Walking Dead, Sherlock, Modern Family... I have to talk to my mate Ali. (Okay, so he doesn't watch TWD. My point still stands.)

Yeah, some girls like the same music as me. But often they don't. The music I like isn't exactly popular so finding someone who has an agreeable taste is hard. But guys are often less judgemental and don't say shit like "that sounds like eeemooo music." I mean seriously? It's a damned Christmas song!

Why is it that girls who only hang out with girls don't get that kinda hate? They're still picking one gender over the other. Just because I pick guys over girls I'm meant to be a misogynist? Surely that argument can be used on any girl who is straight because she'd date a guy over a girl.

Do you see my point?

Flirtationships

Google, what's a flirtationship?

1. Flirtationship (n) – A social situation that comprises more than a friendship, but less than a relationship. Although Urban Dictionary defines it as “when you regularly flirt with a friend, but do no more,” that doesn't preclude a relationship in the future, necessarily.

Ever been in one? Many people will find themselves in one of these at some point.

I just thought I'd write one about my own experience,

There's a guy. *yawn* another high school story. But shhhh! He's really nice and rather attractive... Stop yawning, just listen! Anyway, we spent a lot of time over the summer holidays (and some time before) flirting back and forth. There were conversations at ungodly hours, joking around, hinting, sexual jokes that wouldn't normally be made between friends... I think you probably get the picture.

We finally met up towards the end of the summer but only with a large group of mutual friends. This guy turned up late and came to sit next to me. At lunch he attempted to get me to sit next to him only I'd already sat next to another friend and on our way to the bus stop, we mostly just chatted to each other.

Nothing significant actually happened.

So, I say as a joke in a group chat that they should come with me to this exhibition I had to go to. It was a throwaway comment and I didn't think anybody would take it seriously. So when I get a text from this guy when I'm on my way asking what time I'm getting there. I asked why he wanted to come and he replied "I have taken a sudden interest in photography." And wr spent the next 3 days joking about it. I had already been on my way and so when he got there I was long gone. But he had turned up and I wondered, if I stayed, would it have been a date? 

Anyway, after the holidays finished and it was back to college he appearingly ceased to give a damn about me as anything other than a peer. I found all this very strange and realised he probably got bored of me. I got over it, it wasn't ever serious. Nowhere near. 

But then he took an interest again. The moral of this story is not to let people fuck you around but also not to waste time. If I had just worked up the guts to ask him on an actual date, things might be VERY different. 

He and I still talk. I hope he doesn't find this blog post. 

Patty Walters: Top 10... So Far!

Teenagers - My Chemical Romance

Wrecking Ball - Miley Cyrus

This is Halloween - Nightmare Before Christmas

Can't Save Myself (As It Is)

Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus

The A Team - Ed Sheeran

For Baltimore - All Time Low

Saturday - Rebecca Black

I just can't wait to be King - The Lion King

Song About A Girl (technically Luke Cutforth... but c'mon. We all know this was mostly Patty's doing!)

Rumours and Being Called Autistic

Recently at college there have rumours within a certain group of people I know. These rumours concerned me and my love life (which doesn't actually exist, hence why these are no more than rumours.)

Firstly, there were rumours that one of my friends liked me. I knew full well that this was not the case. We share a mutual feeling of "You're a bit of a prick but we're friends nonetheless so let's just keep you in the friendzone." This was a rumour I could cope with on it's own.

The second rumour I heard was along similar lines only with a different person who I was not (at least at the time) quite as close with. I heard this once and then later on that day, I heard it again. Only the second time it was more developed and made to sound like something that had spread more widely and the other person involved was aware of. This set me off in a panic as it made me think he had confirmed some sort of truth to this, to which there was none. However, when I confronted him on the matter, he had no idea what was going on and this was the first he had heard of it.

This first person I started hearing rumours from has started being even more annoying though. On Monday, I was in a room with him when I threw some sellotape at his water bottle. Not him, his water bottle. I hot the target but he still turned round and called me autistic because "autistic people throw things." Now, I have nothing against autistic people. I do, however, find it rather offensive both to myself and people who do suffer from autism that this be said. He then went on to tell me I have anger issues to which I thought "no shit, you just called me autistic." and then he told me I must have some form of mental illness.

I'm sorry, what!?

As if he hadn't already been offensive enough, he then told me I must have a mental illness. For all he knows, I do. I really found this offensive. As somebody who may or may not suffer anxiety/a panic disorder, depression, a sleeping disorder and has previously had an eating disorder... I found this seriously offensive.

Today, I told two mutual friends about what had happened. They told me that I shouldn't take it seriously as this guy had clearly been joking. This has only further pissed me off. I have talked to this guy and explained that I am annoyed and laid out my reasons as to why.

Lesson here: Don't call people autistic or tell them they have anger issues or a mental illness. These are serious things and it may well result in upsetting/annoying a person.

Rant over.

Pepper Spray

Seeing as it's been all over Twitter, I'm guessing you all know I'm not talking about ACTUAL pepper spray...

Yes! That guy. Sam Pepper, the infamous YouTube vlogger who has finally been called out on his sexual harassment of women. His newest 3 part video series was supposedly a social experiment to highlight the serious issue of abuse towards both men and women. However, the first video was titled a "prank" and the women who were sexually harassed, in the form of having their rear ends pinched/grabbed by the vlogger, all seemed a little too uncomfortable for what Sam said on Twitter to be:

Sam PepperVerified account‏@sampepper

and just to let anyone who is confused know, ALL PEOPLE in the video gave PRIOR CONSENT to ACTING in the experiment.

This clearly seems to have come off as a lie. What I personally don't understand is why he waited so long to say anything about it. The video "Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank" was uploaded Saturday 20th September 2014 to Sam Pepper's YouTube channel though has been removed since. On Tuesday 23rd September 2014, Sam uploaded Part Two in which he had a female friend do exactly the same to guys. However, this all seemed a little rushed, especially with Part Three: The Reveal being uploaded later that same day. This is the only video in the trilogy to have remained on YouTube. The other videos were taken down for their sexual content.













Many other YouTubers have stood up and had their say on the subject.

Hank Green and TheFineBros 

Jack Howard from OMFGIt'sJackandDean

SprinkleOfGlitter

LukeIsNotSexy

However, I think the most shocking YouTuber reactions have to be from Dottie Martin (thisbedottie) and Laci Green (sex+)

Laci Green's Tumblr post: An Open Letter To Same Pepper

Laci has also posted about threatening emails she has received from Sam, warning her not to say anything.

Mental Illness and Psychosomatic Aggravation

Anxiety and depression are possibly the most common mental illnesses and I do believe you can make them worse for yourself.

Now, I was criticised for saying: If you have anxiety, that's fine. Just don't exaggerate how bad it is. You will legitimately make it worse.

I don't think this is an unfair comment. If you overplay anxiety and pretend it's affecting an aspect of your life which it isn't, it's probably going to start affecting that aspect of your life. Other examples of similar situations can be found in the TV shows House and Sherlock. Dr House gives a patient mints instead of tablets and they magically work aka the placebo effect. In Sherlock, the great detective proves Watson's limp is psychosomatic. Now let's define psychosomatic:

psychosomatic

ˌsʌɪkə(ʊ)səˈmatɪk/

adjective

1. 1.

   (of a physical illness or other condition) caused or aggravated by a mental factor such as internal conflict or stress.

   "her doctor was convinced that most of Edith's problems were psychosomatic"

   synonyms:

   (all) in the mind, psychological, irrational, stress-related, stress-induced, subjective, subconscious, unconscious "a diagnosis of psychosomatic illness should not be made lightly"

Now doesn't that sound like it might apply to mental illnesses too? "Or other condition." Because, whilst you might have a mental illness, it can be aggravated by a mental factor. In fact, one of the main issues thought to be prone to aggravation is in fact anxiety.

Let's come up with an example. I get anxious when it comes to relationships. If I stay clear of guys I like and guys who like me and anything to do with it... I'm not going to learn to deal with it. In fact, I'll probably start imagining it's worse than it realistically is. HOWEVER, if I keep working towards building up the courage to ask out a guy I like... Am I not working to overcome that one thing that makes me anxious?

Now I have been working on that and I'm not quite there yet. I've also been doing this with trampolines and I very rarely have panic attacks on them anymore. Now I'm not saying I'm going to start going to my college's trampolining club... But sure, I'll go on the one in my back garden with my brothers and not freak out. I can even do seat drops again now.

However, if you start making up situations in your mind (which lets be honest we all do sometimes) and you have anxiety... Isn't it possible you'll be having a panic or anxiety attack over nothing?

So maybe, just maybe, I have a point in saying that exaggerating a mental illness will make it worse. Now I know I've used anxiety as my main example here, but I'm sure you can apply it to depression. "School will be awful and I will get bullied." Will not help you. "Today will be better and I'm going to force a smile." Might. It's not certain. But to me, it's a risk worth taking.




I am not a health expert. 

Get it Right

I think people get me wrong when I say I'm not a feminist.

Saying I'm not a feminist, girls often confuse me for a misogynistic, homophobic, racist person (and I have actually been called this.) When in reality, I don't like some of the extremes feminism has caused and some of it's more hypocritical actions. These lead me to refuse to identify as a feminist. I'm just not one.

I do, contrary to popular belief, support equality for all... At least as far as is biologically possible. Obviously homosexual couples can't have children that belong to both of them. This is a biological inequality. Just as girls are naturally less strong than boys but more observant. Now, these gender differences don't always apply, but in most cases, this is how biology works.

So what exactly are my views?

Gay marriage is a must. In fact, lets just call it marriage, who cares who the fuck it is, lets all get stuck with one person for all eternity.

Girls in education. The kidnapping of girls just to stop them getting educated is wrong. FUCKING WRONG.

Also, who even gives a fuck anymore what your skin colour is. Black kids can be scholars and asians drop outs. Whats with the stereotypes. Yes, it's based on statistics. But from my perspective on the world, those statistics seem to be shifting.

So what encouraged me to write this after my massive break from blogging? (oops for that by the way.)

Racially motivated crimes. They're appaling.

How about Brendon Urie and all he's done for the Human Rights Campaign and gay pride yet it's got ruined somewhat by feminists saying that the directors cut was sexist because there were 2 women kissing but not 2 men. It's called girls/girls/boys and is based on man's experience of being in love with a bisexual woman. That is why.

Or how about those girls who were kidnapped from school because of a bunch of fucking pricks being afraid of women getting an education. Worse, the story seems to have dropped from the media because, apparently, we as humans in other countries don't care.

So maybe you should get it right what you say about me. 

Who To See Live: My Hitlist

All Time Low
Seen once, were amazing. Want to see again.

Panic! At The Disco
I sit on YouTube loads watching live performances. Brendon's voice is perfection.

Daughtry
My friend saw them live, apparently are good. Love their music, it's so chill. Also, Chris has a nice voice live in videos.

The Midnight Beast
Maybe not the best singers live... But they can PLAY. Also, atmosphere always looks really good.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
No idea what they're like live, just want to know what the atmosphere would be like.

Evan Taubenfeld
Acoustic. I would love to see this guy do an acoustic session. His songs are fucking brilliant.

Paramore
I have their live album. Is amazing. Want the real thing.

Patty Walters
This guy rocks.

Bring Me The Horizon
Started getting into them and would love to go to a gig because it would be fucking insane!

Ghost Town
I want a legitimate excuse to yell "DRINKS IN THE AM, FUCKS IN THE PM, TREATS ALL THE BOYS LIKE SHE DON'T NEED 'EM!" at the top of my lungs. Also, being surrounded by people doing the same... Who wouldn't want that?

Metro Station
The reformed band is so much better now. Thank fuck we got rid of Trace Cyrus.

Papa Roach
More lyrics I'd love to scream.

Rise Against
I somewhat idolise these guys but don't actually listen to them that much... Still, certainly want to see them live.

The Rubberbandits
Just for the bragging rights really.

The Vamps
So different to the rest of this list... But I would like to go to see them once. They're good live (from videos I've seen) and it's probably quite different from those previously mentioned.

Sometimes, You Have To Take The Hints

• If she refuses to hug you, she's probably not into you.
• If she refuses to wear a necklace you bought her, she's probably not into you.
• If she looks unimpressed when you buy her a necklace, she's probably not into you.
• If she ignores your texts, she's probably not into you.
• If she hangs up/rejects your calls, she's probably not into you.
• If she won't accept alcohol from you, she's probably aware you're trying to get her into bed and she's probably not into you.
• If she refuses to sit next to you, she's probably not into you.
• If she tells you who she's into, she's probably not into you.
• If she catches you staring at her breasts and slaps you, she's probably not into you.
• If she has to drag along another friend to avoid spending 10 minutes alone with you, she's probably not into you.
• If she removes you from all her social medias, she's probably not into you.
• If she tries to avoid you, she's probably not into you.
• If she doesn't buy into your bullshit sob story, she's probably not into you.
• If she says she's a lesbian, she's probably not into you.

And yet, despite doing all of the above (okay, maybe not the last one), this guy still did not take the hint that I'm not into him. On top of this, I later discovered he was talking about me behind my back to other guys. I honestly don't know why he couldn't just take the hint. This guy made me feel very uncomfortable, he was very touchy-feely and was hellbent on getting me drunk off his 70% alcohol vodka. Somehow, this guy was absolutely adamant that he would succeed in getting me to sleep with him. As if this was a one up for him like losing his virginity would raise him above all his friends.

I know, I sound very confident like "ugh, this guy was hitting on me and I wasn't into him. Like, take a hint." but he was making it blatantly obvious and EVERYONE noticed his actions and asked if we were together. Maybe it sounds harsh to say "Never in a million years." But this guy made me feel so uncomfortable.

Anyway, I shall leave with an appropriate nightcore.

Gay Rights

Gay Rights Support Cake story

It's amazing to think that this is going to court as discrimination. It's nice to see that gay rights support is really picking up. Things like this and the legalisation of gay marriage is great to see as it shows how we are growing as a society to become more accepting. However the argument that this prevents the right to religious freedom...

I'm an atheist. Or as my English teacher said, I'm a "lapsed Catholic" (he then told me I'm going to hell) so it doesn't really affect me. But lets look at the bigger picture. I have friends who are Christian, Muslim and other religions. Surely they deserve the right to their religion too?

What I don't see is why the two things need to collide. Didn't God say to love everyone equally? If so, surely that requires not discriminating against people for gender, sexual orientation, skin colour, ethnic background, class... anything! However, taking it in a different light... Doesn't loving everyone equally relate to being pansexual?

Anyway, just a short blog because writers block and ARGH! Might have a couple of blogs soon with a bit more... thought behind them. For now... Have some YouTube videos, a key staple of my blog.

#221Back

Filming to begin in 2015 for 4 new episodes. The question is:

Will they be to the same standard as series 1 and 2 or series 3?

Let's be honest here, series 3 may have been the funniest series as of yet but it was not as good as the first 2 series in it's deduction and well thought out plots. It's a crime drama, not a comedy. This has resulted in the loss of some fans because it's lost it's charm in it's plots. These are the more hard core fans and chances are, this won't be fixed. With the fangirl culture overriding nerd culture, Moffat and Gatiss are being told that it's brilliant and funny and even better than before. In reality, the people who are fans of the Sherlock books are leaving and will not watch series 4 because they feel it's gotten lost to a bunch of 12 year old girls and they're more focused on being Twitter trends than a good show.

Maybe I'm being harsh. But Mary Morstan is an assassin? Where was that in the books? I get it that with the empowerment of women we're trying to make female characters more exciting, more masculine. I like strong female characters but... this is just plain strange.

Also, we still haven't been told how Sherlock faked his death. Let's be honest, this was a MASSIVE let down for everyone. And surely most options rely on Moriarty ACTUALLY being dead. So now we're guessing how they both managed to survive.

Anyway, I love the show, just feeling a little disappointed.

Here's to a good 2016 for Sherlock!

The Worst Advice and Myths in Love, Sex and Relationships - Busted!

Just thought I'd bust a few myths and bad bits of advice so here goes:

You can get HIV from kissing
This is not true. You can only get HIV from unsafe sex. Also, please remember only barrier contraception will prevent the spread of STDs and condoms aren't 100% effective!

Popping your cherry is the same as losing your virginity
Lies! Popping your cherry refers to the breaking of the hymen and only applies to women. The hymen may break during activities other than sex including using tampons, periods in general, exercise, horse riding or might even just disintegrate gradually over time.

All guys want sex
Yes, whilst most guys want sex, some do not. This may be due to religion or high morality or even just a lack of sex drive.

The guy should supply the condom
The girl is also to blame for accidental pregnancy and STDs. Girls can bring condoms to the bedroom/party/wherever the fuck you decide to get it on. Also, the pill, implant, femidons, spray, caps, patch, coil and a few other methods.

Looks are everything
Good news to the people who hate mirrors, looks aren't everything. Pheromones are responsible for who we like. This is a smell that we don't actually know is there but we subconsciously like and know where it comes from. Okay, maybe that's not quite how it works but it's the best way I could think of describing it. Anyway, pheromones know not of looks. Sadly, they also do not know of the terms "jerk" "dickwad" "bad news" or any other things that might be personality related we wish to avoid.

Keep a condom in your wallet
Aaaand 9 months later you'll have a little baby. The wrapper actually gets damaged from this and so this is a bad idea. If you are going to keep a condom in your wallet, replace it every week and throw away the damaged condom.

Two condoms are better than one
Chances are if you're using two... you don't know how to put them on properly anyway. When used properly, condoms are highly effective. Most condom mishaps come from lack of knowledge... Welcome to the education system. Algebra is more important than safe sex.

Pulling out prevents pregnancy
Wrong! Precum is a factor and will be able to get you pregnant. It can also still spread STDs.

Sex education teaches us everything we need to know
So wrong! Schools don't teach us anywhere near enough about STDs, pregnancy, safe sex or other factors in sex ed including sexual orientation and puberty. You're best off doing loads of research yourself.

Random Rant Blog

Where you going then?

Party

It may end up being more boring than your life

which is a thin possibility

This is an actual part of a conversation I had. I find it quite offensive. Yes, I'm always saying I'm bored. Yes, I often AM bored. But there's reasons for this.

Recently I have talked a friend down from suicide. I also had to get myself out of an anxiety attack today and my friend talked me through my panic attack yesterday. One of my friends has been having some issues lately with his self esteem and I've been there to talk to whenever he needs me. Also, this person was in the room when the youth worked at college (who also runs our student union) came in and asked to talk to me in private. If you're wondering why this is, it's because I think my friend may potentially attempt suicide again. I have 2 younger brothers that I have to babysit when my parents go to work and yet I still seem to do more work than you do. I certainly have better attendance. 

Where exactly is the time for me to have fun? There isn't that much of it when you throw in chores and homework and daily life routine. I had fun this morning by playing Just Dance on the wii and the experience calmed me down quite a bit. But that was all I had time for before my brothers came in demanding food. Like seriously, I want to have fun but sometimes life comes at us.

So fuck you. Rant over.

Sex: Outside a Relationship?

So the other day a friend told me that "50% of guys know what they want and don't mind being alone." Implying that guys want sex and don't care if they're in a relationship or not. I don't think this is quite true. The percentage seems wrong and so does the fact that he left girls out of this statement. So here are the rough categories of when people want sex in and out of relationships.

Just sex, no strings attached
No relationship, no commitment. The perks of sex without the downsides that there are to a relationship. No commitment, no having to remember birthdays or anniversaries or valentines day. Also, you don't have to buy gifts or pay for dates. Just condoms.

Relationship, great. No relationship, one night stand it is.
Basically what my friend was describing. The idea that sex is more important than a relationship but obviously a relationship has it's perks. The feeling of being in a relationship and love... Plus the fact that sex is more likely as you don't have to go out and look for a partner.

Sex inside a relationship
One night stands seem pointless and sex is more meaningful in a relationship. You know the person and are more comfortable with them, that's how it's meant to be, right? Not this promiscuous nature that is encouraged by the media and practiced by so many teenagers.

No sex please
Sex isn't for everyone. It might be religion, not feeling ready, conscience, morality or something that you maybe can't place your finger on... You're just not ready for sex yet.

Relationships? Sex? Ew.
Doesn't all this stuff require a little too much emotion? And let's be honest... everybody of the gender that you go for is a bit of a douche.


Short entry but... I felt like I needed to go through this.