Apologies....

...For my awful lack of updates. I've been working most days, writing up my final year project & getting VERY excited to go home this weekend for a family wedding and Reading Festival.

I'm writing a lifestyle magazine with an eco edge, without lecturing. I don't want to bore you with the details, but its something I'm very passionate about and would love to launch to a wide market next summer after I graduate. I'm looking for publishers and printers who could help out, and anyone who knows of any environmentally friendly products that I could approach for advertising.

Enjoy your summer, I will!

Vanity Insanity

Plastic surgery is freely available on the NHS, according to recent reports and a Channel 4 documentary.

Last nights episode of The Hospital showed the journey of several women as they tried to get various forms of Breast surgery done through funding from their local Primary Care Trust (PCT) One particular girl who was 17 was a stereotypical blonde bimbo, expecting the NHS to fund her boob job so that she could pose in lads mags.

Now, I support freedom of choice, so if women choose to go under the knife in search of their perceived 'perfection' then by all means let them. But I resent paying taxes to fund a woman's insecurities, when the money could be spent on rebuilding the breasts of a cancer patient after a mastectomy.

When the operation is complete, the scars will last a life time. Weight gain, from pregnancy or growth can stretch the implants, Breastfeeding is impossible and once a tummy tuck procedure is performed any weight gain from pregnancy can undo thousands of pounds worth of surgery.

Why do women go through painful procedures at the cost of the NHS, Taxpayers, and sacrificing the health of people in much worse conditions, when it is so easy to get cosmetic surgery privately? Nowadays it's as easy to get a boob job on credit as it is to get double glazing.

If people really wanted a boob job as badly as they say, they'd find a way

to afford it themselves, without sacrificing the health & funds of others.

A lesson lived and learned.

Today I learned a few things.

Firstly, if you ask nicely and vow to pay them back, parents will bail you out of hardship once in a while, and I am incredibly grateful to my mum for choosing to fund my livelihood over a new dishwasher (for a fortnight).

Secondly, on a tour of the city I found out about its links with the Titanic & how many local people were affected by the huge loss of live 98 years ago and are still influenced by it, even now. With reminders of the tragedy all around the city, we thought it would be a good idea to visit the monuments which dot are dotted around and joined a tour with a group of tourists.

I've been living in the city for more or less 3 years now, and I'm never surprised by the types of tourists my newly adopted home town attracts. Today was no exception. In our group there were the typical stereotypes: the Japanese couple who were taking pictures of everything, the American who asked a lot of questions, the kids who quite clearly had no interest in the topic and would rather not be there, and of course the woman who thought she knew more than the tour guide, to the extent of talking to a complete stranger about something she clearly didn't care about.

One of the highlights of my tour was watching the annoying teachers pet scurry to the front to get up close to the tour guide & fall over a stick no bigger than a frankfurter sausage. By fall, I mean Fall. Straight to the ground, leaping a foot forward. The fastest I'd seen her move during the whole tour.

Call me cruel, but she was the most annoying person I'd met all week, and it was difficult to hold in the laughter. Luckily she continued to dry-hump the leg of the tour guide at the front of the group which gave us the perfect opportunity to let out our bottled up laughter. It felt good.

Sometimes the most tragic circumstances can bring out the best (and worst)

in people.

Vanessa Carlton speaks the truth.

You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone

...as she wisely once said. I didn't think she quite had non-drug induced hallucinations in mind, but that would have resulted in a completely different song.

Anyway...the subject of money.
To my annoyance, in my effort to start paying off my overdraft I put a large chunk of my wages into one of the accounts and lowered the limit so I wouldn't be tempted to spend as much, thinking it would be easy enough to expand it if I needed to.

Oh how I was wrong!

As it turned out my next wages were not enough to cover rent and a (rather hefty & unexpected) phone bill. In the hope of getting back some of the money I had paid into the overdraft as I had paid £600 in and only needed £300 out, I went into the bank. They declined my request outright.

Fantastic.

My second overdraft is already at its limit (I can only save so much!) so even asking for an overdraft extension there was a lost cause, but I can at least say I tried.

Just to be rejected again.

The best thing I learned from this? That bank employees are more than willing to tell you to 'go to the bank of mum & dad' when the REAL banks are meant to be in charge of lending money!
I'm not a fan of borrowing from the parents. The only time I've borrowed from them was in my first year, and it was £20 which I repaid the following week. I feel guilty for asking them for money as they provided me with everything I needed during the first 16 years of my life, and I actually hoped that by moving away and being 21, I wouldn't have to rely on them.

It seems that desperate times call for desperate measures and I'm going to have to call 'the bank of mum' for a short term loan tomorrow. I have a feeling I know what the answer will be.

Wish me luck!!

Behind closed doors.

I spent the afternoon basking in the great British sun, and made some interesting observations.

Couples were walking hand-in-hand around the parks, enjoying each others company. It seems at a first glance that everyone is happily loved up, although if you delve a bit deeper you can see what the smiles are really hiding.

It made me recall a girl I once knew who had boyfriends continuously from the age of 15 and cheated on every one of them. Just because she could get away with it. When she started to get bored of one boyfriend she would sleep with others until one caught her interest & she would make it official the day she broke up with the actual boyfriend. Then she would find new 'projects' and so the cycle continued. All the while she would gaze lovingly into the eyes of her boyfriend (of the time), playing the 'butter wouldn't melt' act leaving the boyfriend completely oblivious to her philandering ways until she no longer had use for him.

Now when I see couples wandering in their own 'perfect' little bubble, I like to remind myself that behind the smiles, the relationship may not be a bed of roses for one or both of the couple. The woman may well be sleeping with his friend, The man may want out, She may be fed up with his laziness, He may be fed up with her bossy & controlling ways.

If every couple put on a brave face, who's to know who's sleeping with who? Sometimes its good to let your imagination run wild & know that the grin you're wearing isn't hiding anything.

You've gotta love a documentary!

I've always had a soft spot for documentaries.

Nature, human interest, science, historical, the list goes on. I'm a firm believer that education (be it institutionalised or self-taught) should never be taken for granted and the moment a person loses the will to learn, life loses its spark. Luckily education is widely and freely available in this country (although some doubt its effectiveness) and there is an abundance of TV channels which feature some amazing documentaries, so literally anyone can learn without being lectured.


I happen to be quite a fan of conspiracy theories & natural disasters, even a geek, you may say.

The last few days have treated me with a shedload of documentaries on my two favourite subjects, including the Bermuda triangle, and the 2004 Tsunami. I particularly find interest in natural disasters which affect people on a massive scale, and the documentary on Channel 4 showed the Tsunami from the points of view of various nationalities, social classes and family types.

Footage showing the deaths of an elderly couple and children being swept away by the current struck a chord with me, as the thought of a parent losing a child sounds horrific and I really welled up. The parents were describing the moment they were separated from their child & the ongoing battle to find the body, eventually bursting into tears on camera. In the 4 years since the tsunami struck, the couple had a second child and formed a charity to improve the lives of the children affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka, the country they got to know so well in the search for their daughter.

The Bermuda Triangle is a subject which has always interested me, I like to explore the blurred line between fact & fiction and I like to ask questions: not everything is as it seems. A lot of theories were thrown up about time-space continuums and vortexes as well as the more common tectonic plate theories. My general opinions lie somewhere between the tectonic plates and the magnetic crusts causing ships and aeroplanes to lose use of their navigational equipment and communication. Despite my own theories, It gave a very balanced overview and offered a lot of alternative reasons as well as the ones most commonly believed, and all the theories were backed by evidence (some more reliable than others).

Documentaries provide me with an education I wouldn't receive in school on a range of topics, and rouse a wider interest to the point I often research the topics further.

I look forward to seeing what the networks pull out of their sleeves over the next few months.

A new chapter...

Today flicking through the music channels the Lady Gaga song bad romance came on.

I'm not usually a fan of the Gaga, as her name suggests, she is a bit too crazy for my liking. The only song that I have a soft spot for is the Bad Romance, and it always had a place in my heart. Well, enough time has passed, and events have eventually made me realised that no romance is better than a bad romance.

And why settle for anything less than the perfect romance?

a new month and a new start?

My new zest for life is turning me into a control freak.

I've spent the whole day in the blistering heat (trust me, this house is a sweatbox at the best of times) cleaning the house, scrubbing stains from my bedroom floor, getting rid of old clothes and generally working up a sweat trying to make this house near-habitable.

I also made a new-months resolution which is to write the proposal for my dissertation by August 20th and have the final copy (of the proposal) done by the time classes start at the end of September, as well as the magazine layout, issue plan & interviews done by then. So not too much... and find some advertisers & distributors too.

I like to jump in head first.

The third housemate arrived today (Yay!)and we finally got down to planning the holiday which we'd been talking about for months. We have a window of about 10 days in which we're all free in September, and we have two options: 1) book a holiday now for a date that is convenient for us all although we (mainly me) are low on funds until the end of the month, so to option 2) wait until as close to the date as possible in the hope that prices may have gone down, or we'll have gotten richer. Is it a risk worth taking?

We need to get out of this country. Sun, Sea, Sand and...Surf would be good. Cheap & cheerful around the med, drinks, water parks and beaches would be a bonus. under £150 each. Not too much to ask?