Top 10 Jobs I’d Love to Have

Another list for fun, these are some of the jobs I’d love to have if I could, assuming I were qualified to do them. A lot of these are really generalised, naming areas more than specific jobs, but still. It is slightly restricted though in that they can only be jobs available in my country and time period (there are lots I would love to have from hundreds of years ago).

10. Army

This may be a bit of a weird one considering I don’t necessarily agree with the wars going on. I’m sort of in between on them, against war in support of peace but for war in consideration of the fact that it is in human nature. But I like the idea of being a warrior type person, the idea of fighting and survival and things like that. I guess this sort of fits into the time period thing I mentioned because the idea is of more interest to me historically. And okay it might also have something to do with the games I play (don’t get me wrong, I know there are lots of differences between games and real life).

9. Teacher

Specifically for primary school or younger aged kids, they’re so cute and easier to get along with, usually more respectful and excited to learn. It’s a nice idea, being able to teach little kids about the world. My experience in secondary school easily turned me against the idea of working with kids that age. I definitely think I’ll only do that for my own children.

8. Musician

Music has been a big part of my life for a long time and for a while I really thought I was going to be a musician or music producer, something in that area. A part of me still does though not as much. It would be fun though, but I know I really don’t have the skill for it.

7. Veterinarian

This is the job I thought I would have for almost my entire childhood. Animals were always my favourite thing as a kid and I knew a lot more about them than most kids. So it made sense that I would want a job where I could help them.

6. Film

Doing media studies in college (and being a lifelong fan of film) gave me the idea of working in this area. Any of the jobs in the film industry would probably be fun for me, actress, director, screenwriter, location finder… I also really wanted a job at the BBFC, which would mean I would get to see new films and games before they came out and decide on the ratings for them. Which aside from being really fun because I get to see films and play games for work, but I would get to see the inappropriate stuff that would be taken out before they were released to the public. It would have been awesome.

5. Police

Kind of like the army thing but better.  This is another kidlike thing, fighting the bad guys and all that, and it would have some pretty interesting stories, with murder cases and other creepy/disturbing stuff. Doing the crime scene photography would also be fun.

4. Dead bodies

Okay yeah, this one is really general. I guess this one kind of relates to the last one. Anything to do with death interests me, particularly with autopsies or preparing the body for burial, though even grave digging or other cemetery work seems interesting to me.

3. Doctor

This is another job I wanted for a while. I have a really big interest in medical science and medical problems and injuries and things like that, and I also watch a lot of medical programmes be it fictional ones like Scrubs or ones based on true stories like Untold Stories of the ER. Specifically, I would want to be an ER doctor because you get a wide variety of cases and get to save people’s lives.

2. Geneticist

To do with the last one I mentioned and again it’s mostly due to things I’ve read or played but lately this area of work really fascinates me. I’ve also done a lot of research in the area for different stories I’ve written and found it really interesting.

1. Author

Of course, this is the job I am certain I will have in the future. I love writing, particularly fictional stories, though I hope to start creating graphic novels as well. I’m doing a lot more writing lately after a long break (not including what I had to do for university work) and it seems to be going well. I’ve also been trying to practice drawing more.

Thus ends another list. A strange mix of jobs I know. So what jobs would you want to have?

Top 5 Childhood Shows I Still Love

So over the past year or so I started thinking more about the cartoons I used to watch as a child and actually started watching them again, curious as to whether I’d still enjoy them or if I’d see them differently than I did back then. There were some that just didn’t interest me much or that I even thought were rubbish. There were however, some that I did love just as much as I did as a child.

The restrictions to this list:

-              They have to be mainly aimed at children.

-              I can only include ones that were out pre-2004 (when I started secondary school).

-              They have to be ones I’ve watched properly within the last two years.

5. Pinky and the Brain

This is one of those shows I’m proud to say I remembered the lyrics to the theme song before looking them up. This show was brilliant when I was a kid. I still really like it though I didn’t find it quite as good as I did as a kid, which is why it’s only number 5 on the list. Still really good though, I mean how can a show about mice trying to take over the world not be good?

4. Ozzy & Drix

Time wise this one just about makes it on the list. This show might actually be one of the things that started my love of medical science. It’s also really funny. Still, as much as I love it, I don’t love it as much as the film it’s based on.

3. X-Men: Evolution

This is the show that started my love of the X-Men series and is my still my favourite of the television series’. I’ve only re-watched a few episodes of this show recently, unlike the others on this list, of which I’ve watched all the episodes, but it still gets higher on this list for being a great show. And when I was a kid I had a really big crush on Nightcrawler. There, I admitted it. And to be honest, I still kinda see why. I should go find a bag for my head now…

2. Ed, Edd n Eddy

I didn’t actually expect this one to interest me as much as it did when I was a child but it did and it’s still as funny as I remember. The best part is for whatever reason I didn’t see the last season or the movie when I was a kid, so when I started watching it a few months ago there were new things for me to see, which was even better. Also noticed a few sex jokes I’d never noticed as a kid. People always say childhood shows are full of them but you have to watch them as an adult to notice. I have noticed it in a few shows but the ones in this show, though most were very subtle, were still really obvious to me. It may be because most were pointed out to me beforehand… maybe.

1. Courage the Cowardly Dog

Loved this show as a kid, still do. I love this one for trying to be creepy despite being a kid’s show. When this is brought up, some people talk about how much it actually scared them. Most didn’t scare me as a kid though I still found them creepy and entertaining, but some episodes really did. They don’t anymore thankfully (or sadly). It also has a lot of darker themes in general, though again you don’t always notice as a kid.

So that’s my list, hope you liked it, feel free to tell me what you think or what shows are your favourite from childhood.

My 5 Most Loved and Hated School Subjects

Yep, following my current fixation on getting back to uni I’ve decided my new list post will be on the subjects I’ve loved and hated previously. Now, the title says school but this includes college as well. Getting right on with it...

Loved

5. Art

I’ve always loved art and drawing but in school it rarely seemed like a class and we never had a permanent teacher. Nevertheless, it was fun.

4. Science

There was a lot of classes that weren’t that great and I didn’t really like most of the people I was forced to sit with. One year the seating plan was so cramped in my section I had to sit with my book on my lap to have room to write and that was really uncomfortable. However, I did like the actual subject, especially biology which I always got high marks in. My favourite part was the year we had to invent out own animal to show our understanding of adaptation.

3. Psychology

I just loved learning about all the experiments and more about the way people’s minds worked. I feel it’s given me a lot of knowledge useful for future stories I’ll write.

2. History

I’ve always loved studying history, even outside of school. Classes were always fun though I wish we’d done more on ancient history. Again, I always got high marks.

1. English

Of course, it’s expected for a writer to choose this subject. My favourite parts were those that involved creative writing although the rest was great too (though I have some horrible memories from the last year in secondary school).

Hated

5. RE

I loved RE in school, learning about different religions. It wasn’t like that in college, we didn’t learn about religions but instead had to discuss various topics, a number of which hardly touched the subject of religion. For the most part I didn’t mind but I always disliked not learning about religions in a lesson called ‘religious education’.

4. PE

When I started PE in primary school I hadn’t played many sports so I wasn’t very good. Naturally, the other kids were horrible to me because of this. This in turn made me more determined not to play the sport, especially with them. I was never that interested anyway. In primary school the only thing I loved about it was the obstacle course, I miss that. It continued through to secondary school and unless it was running, hockey, dodgeball or badminton I hated it. Eventually they just let me sit at the side and read or play cards instead of join in.

3. Geography

All I have to say about this is that I never liked the way it was taught in school. That’s all.

2. Drama

I liked drama. I’m good at acting. It went well when we had to perform a play for the exam and the written coursework went well. But there was too much real life drama with the people in the class. And the rare times I actually got to share my ideas they weren’t listened to. I also would have felt better performing in front of them if they were the slightest bit encouraging. I will add though this doesn’t include a certain few members of the class who were somewhat friendly and encouraging with me.

1. Math

This used to be one of my favourite lessons and I was great at it until it got to the last couple of years at secondary school. Then we got a new teacher who decided to teach it differently and in my opinion it was shit. I got completely lost and got my first u grade ever. I tried to study at home to make up for it but by then I was really demotivated. Then the next year we had another new teacher who just wrote what page to do on the board and pretty much left for the entire class. So there was no one to teach or help or anything. At least I still did well in the final exam.

My Top 5 Creepypastas

I love creepypastas because when written well they can be amazing stories, as well as very scary. That’s the reason I got into them, I read and watch so much horror that I’m desensitised to almost everything, none of it scares me anymore, or if it does not enough. When I discovered creepypasta stories there were a few that really did. So I thought I’d do a list of my favourites. For the most part, these are the ones that scared me the most when I first read them. There are of course other ones that are really good and/or really scary that I didn’t mention here, and probably some others I really loved but can’t remember by name. Anyway, the list:

5. Ted’s Caving Page

There another version I’ve seen of this but this one is my favourite, mostly because though well written and with a good storyline, I don’t like the end of the other version that much. Anyway, this one is a bit longer than the others but I read it all in one evening. It has some slow moments but it is really interesting and builds up a lot of tension, with some parts being incredibly creepy. The best part is how believable it is, particularly with the pictures included. I have a love of caving and scary stories set in caves and though I’ve seen a couple, this one is definitely the best.

4. The Huntsville Camping Trip

Another set in one of my favourite locations for a horror story – a forest. This is another one that builds up a bit of tension and it has a number of creep moments, even if it isn’t the best written. It reminds me a little of the Blair Witch Project, which was one of my favourite films when I first read it. I’m not saying it’s exactly like it, there are a lot of differences, but that’s what it reminded me of. It’s a good story, another one that’s best read at night (aren’t all creepypastas like that?).

3. Gateway of the Mind

This one appealed to me because it included a human experiment and it has something I’ve found creepy for a while – the loss of all senses. I have to admit since first reading this I have wondered several times if such an experiment would be possible in real life, if that could actually be done to a person (physically done, not restricted because it isn’t ethical). And I found the events that happened were quite creepy, especially because the story is well written, especially the last couple of lines.

2. The Russian Sleep Experiment

Following on from the last one, more human experimentation! For the most part, it’s really well written, and I found it really creepy the first few times I read it. One of the things I love about this story is how gory it is. There aren’t enough really gory stories that still manage to be scary. If only there was more…

1. A Hands-On Approach

This one is the exception of the list because it never actually scared me, but it is my favourite creepypasta. I really just love the whole story and everything that happens and I really like the creature in it, whatever it is. I’ve read a few creepypastas with similar creatures but none were this interesting to me. I think it’s well written as well, even if it is a bit simple, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

3 Films that have Disturbed Me this Year

WARNING: This post may contain spoilers for the films mentioned if you haven’t seen them. I’ll try to mark the more obvious spoiler parts but read at your own risk.

Extra warning: if you haven’t seen these films and read all of this… there are a lot of subjects (as it says in the title) that may be found disturbing. Yes, it’s bad enough to give warnings for.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not an easy person to gross out. I’ve been obsessed with horror films and stories for years so I am highly desensitised to violence, disgusting things and the dark side of human nature. However, so far this year I have been disturbed by three films, which for some reason I watched all in the same day one after the other. And so, here they are:

3. The Human Centipede 2

Surprisingly, I wasn’t bothered at all by the first Human Centipede, with the exception of one scene. When this one was first banned before being cut a lot and then being given the highest rating, I was complaining and saying I had to see it. When I was reading about some of the worse scenes and pre-cut scenes, I thought they were cool.

Okay so, for those who don’t know, the human centipede is about some psycho guy stitching a group of people together mouth to anus to create, yep you guessed it, a human centipede. This one is a bit different from the original because it has 12 victims instead of 3 and the psycho, rather than being a mad doctor is a creepy overweight middle-aged man who lives with his mother.

[Spoilers] The parts that disturb me: First of all, masturbation scenes are only good when the guy is hot. While still entertaining, there’s still a part of me that feels wrong for watching it. The guy himself generally is just gross. But those aren’t too bad. Now the scenes of him actually doing the procedure, that’s disturbing, especially when the part where he cuts their knees. The worst part as always for me with these films is the shit, and this time was a lot worse than the first. I don’t know what made me gag more, the sounds or the visuals. The vomit that followed was not good for my stomach either. The rape scene that followed was almost as bad. So yeah, that was a very disgusting sequence for me. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, shit is one fetish I will never be into.

2. Rogue River

I didn’t actually like this film that much, but I’m glad I watched it once and the end was good. I actually don’t know why this one bothered me. So the film is about a girl who has to take a ride with this guy she meets after her car disappears… and ends up getting tortured at his house. Now, I love torture scenes, I love gory scenes, but there was something about this one I just didn’t like.

[Spoilers] Some of the actual torture scenes got to me a bit, like when boiling water was forced down her throat. I suppose the thing about some (not all) of these scenes is that they’re relatable. The way I see it anyway, everyone’s been burned at some point, it’s not hard to imagine that but worse. But the worst scene for me was when she was forced to have sex with her brother. Now, normally I don’t have a problem with incest in fiction (do I have a problem with anything in fiction?) but the way that was done… that actually was disturbing.

1. The Divide

This is a post-apocalyptic film about a group of people trapped in a basement after nuclear explosions.  This is actually a really good film and probably the most disturbing part, as often is with this type of film, and is that this is probably what would happen if this situation occurred in real life.

[Spoilers] For me the worst part again is probably the sexual element, when one of the women voluntarily becomes the sex slave of some of the men because she says that’s what would end up happening anyway, and the abuse they then give her. I also happen to find that part very stupid, I know she lost her daughter and all, but come on. The threats the men give to the other woman also bothered me. Thinking about it now, those parts are probably worse for me because I’m female too and therefore relating more with the two females in the film. Particularly the main one because I’m not that weak.

My 9 Favourite Youtubers

I can't believe I didn't post anything yesterday, especially since I just remembred this morning I already had a post ready to go for it. So I'll just post two today.

Perhaps continuing a bit from Monday’s topic, today I’m going to list my favourite youtubers. I recommend them to anyone who hasn’t seen them yet. There’s probably a few more not on this list that I quite like but this is going to be out of the ones I’m subscribed to. I have a few of those but these are the ones I really, really like… this time in alphabetical order (because that’s how the list works on youtube and because I don’t actually want to try to get them into an actual favourite order).

1. collegehumor – I forgot to add these guys to my list of websites yesterday, but their website is great too and gets videos weeks before they upload them to the youtube channel. I sound like their ads now. Anyway they have some really funny stuff. They also have a few actual series’, my favourites being ‘Jake and Amir’ and ‘Hardly Working’, which update pretty regularly too so it makes me happy.

2. Epic Meal Time – I was introduced to this one in anime society. It’s not the best in my opinion but it is pretty cool. The food they make always makes me hungry, well almost always. A lot of people seem to get disgusted by it though… that to me makes it more funny.

3. FLuffeeTalks – This guy is just made of awesome. He basically takes weird or funny news stories (that I never would of heard of otherwise) and makes them even more funny.

4. gothlyfeshow – This is the channel for an animated webseries called Goth Lyfe, I found it a few years ago and it is really funny and awesome. The only sad thing is it takes a long time for new episodes to come out. I am going to do a favourite quotes post for this show at some point.

5. ImprovEverywhere – They have some really good videos. It’s basically what it says in the name, just really random stuff in public without the public’s knowledge, it’s really funny. Their musical ones are the best.

6. makemebad35 – Another awesome person with random funny videos. Some of the older videos are some of the most hilarious I’ve seen, not that the newer ones aren’t insanely funny too.

7. Marble Hornets – Another series, this one gets pretty creepy at times and I really love the storyline. And it’s based on slender man, which makes it even better, hehe.

8. MrCreepyPasta – This guy is awesome, he does really great readings of creepypastas. Uploads pretty often too and always makes me happy when I see a new video. He’s done some of my favourite creepypastas too, which are brilliant, hopefully he does more of my favourites in the future, I’ll be even more happy…

9. ShaneDawsonTV – Another awesome guy, and his other two channels are great too (I just didn’t wanna list them here because I didn’t see the point having three things for the same youtuber…). Again, really awesome and usually really funny vids too, and new videos every day.

Youtube, for me its main functions are music, comedy and fear. Occassionally with some other bits thrown in too.

Stacey xXx

My 15 Favourite Websites

Okay so this isn’t the original post I intended for today but it was supposed to be partly a picture post and the light in my room has been out for three days, maintenance taking their sweet time to get here (it’s not a normal light bulb so I couldn’t do it myself) so I decided to instead post something I had written for later this week so I don’t miss a day.

I thought an interesting, well sort of interesting, topic would be some of my favourite websites, or ones that I go on every or almost every day, not only getting to talk about what I like about them, but giving them some promotion, though most of them are really big already so they don’t need anything like that. So in no specific order, well the ones I know are really well known will be first.

1. Google. Yeah, it’s a pretty obvious one… best place to find stuff. Most of the time anyway. My homepage. I like Google, and I love the little images and stuff it does with its name, especially when they’re interactive.

2. Facebook. Another obvious one. I have it on most of the time even when I’m not actually using it just in case anything interesting comes up. Just a good way to be able to talk to friends and keep up with group stuff. Because my phone does not have enough minutes for that. And typing is better. I just like it a lot for all the usual reasons. I don’t like when it doesn’t send my messages, how often it seems to go bad, but whatever, free service.

3. Youtube. Of course, I don’t think I really need to go into details on that. Best place to listen to music and watch certain things. I have an account on it, nothing that good at the moment. I have new ideas for better videos but I don’t have a camera that works properly now. I hope to get one soon.

4. BBC iPlayer. I don’t have any channels on my TV (except my game one) and I avoid the one in the shared area, it’s in use most of the time anyway, so I watch things on this website pretty much every day. They tend to have some pretty good films most of the time and some great comedy shows and Doctor Who.
5. Watchseries. For the same reason as the above. I can find almost any series I want to watch on here and unlike most websites of its type there’s always a couple of links that work.

6. Yahoo Answers. I actually find it quite amusing answering questions on here. I mostly just look up questions for things that interest me at the time. Get pretty good answers for most of the questions I ask too.

7. DeviantArt. There’s just some really good stuff on there and I find it really fun looking up art for things I’m interested in and occasionally have found some pretty good webcomics on there too.

8. Blogger. I almost didn’t include this site, until I remembered why I’m writing this list to begin with. I like this site.

9. Amazon. A good, cheap online shop that’s always worked pretty well for me. And generally add here my other favourite shopping websites – HMV, CEX, etx… but amazon is my most visited.

10. Wikipedia. I know they say you can’t believe everything you read on there but it does have some good information. It’s good for looking up things like TV shows, games, and any random events I happen to hear about and want more information on. It’s almost always the first place I look when I want information on it just because it’s so easy.

11. Nanowrimo. I just love nanowrimo and I love hanging around the site because I always find interesting things on there. If you don’t know nanowrimo is basically writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during September, but the site is open all year, even if it does become less active at times. They also have a summer version. Script Frenzy is also good, it’s the same thing but writing a script in April.

12. Creepypasta wiki. I love this site so much! I’m in the process of reading through every story on there. A few of the stories are really scary and it’s the only thing that really still scares me anymore. There are also some that I don’t really find scary but I like because they’re interesting and well written. Of course, there are also ones that aren’t that good or well written but that’s not a massive part of the site. They have images and stuff too, none of them have really scared me yet but they are interesting.

13. Gunnerkrigg Court. Webcomic, a really good one too. I always make sure I check it when it’s due to be updated.

14. Surlyqueen. Pretty much same as above, but this one has two webcomics, also both really good. I recommend all three webcomics to anyone interested in that kind of thing, just check them out.

15. Fanfiction.net. Yeah, I like fanfiction, and this seems to be one of the best websites for the ones I like. This is without talking about the more umm… sexual type websites for this kind of thing, because I try to keep the porn off of this blog. For now anyway.

So there it is, my 15 favourite websites. Hope you liked the list. And if you’ve read this far and feel like commenting, why not tell me your favourite websites? I’m always looking for more to do anyway.

Stacey xXx

Top 5: Things I Love and Hate about London

Well now that I’m back in London I thought I’d do a list like the one on Thursday but for my home city instead.

Love:

1. My home – Of course this had to be number one, it is where I live after all. I grew up in London and lived there in the same house my entire life until just a few months ago. I feel really comfortable and happy when I’m there and it has a lot of things I like in it (mainly my cats and my PS2 [for now]). Of course, I love my parents too. And the estate I live on always has something going on. Well, not always… not things I do anyway. My parents do a lot, my mum does coffee mornings and bingo there, both parents run computer sessions for people without the internet in their homes and my dad is the chairman of the estate and organises fun days, movie nights, quiz nights, race nights and other such things.

2. Certain areas – There’s a whole area with lots of great stuff all around each other, Oxford Street, Leister Square, Trafalgar Square, Trocadero (featuring Tokyo Toys and some other cool stores), Chinatown and then also Camden Town (really cool shops for clothes and accessories there, if you’re into that sort of stuff).

3. Historical/cultural – I mentioned this in yesterdays… there’s a lot of historical and cultural parts of London. A lot of violent history too, which is amazing (especially the bits about serial killers). Then there are some amazing museums and art galleries there.

4. Parks – There are some really nice big parks too. They look even better at night and then they’re more empty, really quiet and peaceful. It can be creepy at times but I find that fun too.

5. Travel – It isn’t too expensive and in the area I live it’s really easy to get basically anywhere else in London, anywhere I usually go anyway and other places too.


Hate:

1. Bad memories – Yeah, so I have a lot of bad memories here, sometimes I have actual flashbacks and stuff which really bother me, especially to do with school and stuff… One of the good things about not being there is that the flashbacks aren’t as bad. I’d never leave London permanently because of it though.

2. Bad people – Yeah… so not just the people from school but… and I’m sure every city has these… different types of bad people, those who will threaten/attack you on the streets (people have been killed and others have been badly attacked in the area I live, and of course many other parts of London), people who destroy public property and other people’s things, perverts that don’t stop following you and talking to you even after you make it clear you’re not interested, people just trying to get your money (don’t get me wrong, if I have it I’m always happy to give a bit to a homeless person or a charity person but as for others well… some people are just really messed up with that), and so on. (This is not to say that everyone is bad, a lot aren’t… but yeah.)

3. Big crowds – Yes, they can occur in most places but it does get really bad in London.

4. Insects – Every few months the house seems to get infested with flies… and other people I know have similar infestations of either flies or spiders or something else. (I wish we had spiders, at least they’re easier to remove… and kill the flies.)

Okay, I couldn’t think of a fifth. I’m sure I’ll come up with one later. Feel free to make suggestions.

Again the hate list was difficult for me to come up with… though my list for London was very generalised. Actually most of this list (and I think the last one) was generalised… I guess I just focus more on things I like.

And thus concludes another list. Hope you enjoyed.

Top 5: Things I Love and Hate about Liverpool

Hi again! Well I’ve been meaning for a while to start making posts other than what’s going on in my life and pieces of writing and stuff. Some of the things I’ve been wanting to do include top 5’s and other such lists and reviews of things (kinda like those food pieces) anyway… so I figured since this is my last night in Liverpool until the new year I’d start with these: the things I love and hate about Liverpool (okay most of them are probably like/dislike).

Love:

1. The anime society (and university) – Yes, my favourite part is the anime society at our student union. Of all the things that do not take place in the solitude of my room, this is the best one. The members of the society are really fun, awesome people, we get to watch anime together every week (it’s even more fun as a group) and we have other fun events too, like the games night, going to Laser Quest together, going to a restaurant for a buffet as a Christmas meal, etc. The university part is great too. After all, the only reason I came to Liverpool was because I loved LJMU so much when I went for an open day. And the course I’m on is great; it’s fun and really easy (in my opinion).

2. Nearby beach - Really, the beach is about 15 minutes away on a train and it’s really cheap. I think a return ticket was just under £5 normally but because I have a railcard I can got it for I think about £2.15. I’ve only been there once so far but it was fun. I haven’t been on the beach properly but I plan to go back. The actual beach looked really good, it looked like there was a small sort of fairground there too and that’s where we went for Laser Quest. There was a bowling alley and a lot of arcade games there too. And air hockey, which I’m great at (not meaning to brag or anything).

3. Massive shopping area – This point speaks for itself. It’s just really big with all kinds of amazing shops I love in it. That’s all I can say really. Even better, it’s a really short walk from my flat.

4. Historical/cultural – For people who are into that kind of thing, like me. I haven’t really had the chance to go see all the historical and cultural places yet, like landmarks, galleries, museums, and so on, all those sorts of things, but I know there’s a lot of them and I look forward to taking a lot. (Of course, London’s great for that too.)

5. Friendly people – I’ll be honest, outside of Liverpool you hear a lot of bad things about it (although that’s true for many cities) but almost all the people I’ve met here so far have been really friendly, be it people in uni, shop workers, strangers on the street. I was really surprised by how nice so many random people were and it’s really nice.

Bonus point: Living alone – yes, I miss my family and friends and London but living alone and taking care of myself is great.

Hate:

1. Serious lack of certain types of shops – Specifically anime and game merchandise shops… Liverpool really needs some. The best it’s got is World’s Apart, which I’m not saying isn’t great, but there really should be more too. There is a Forbidden Planet here too but it’s really small and doesn’t have that much in it from what I’ve seen. I’m sure there are other types of shops I will come to miss as well.

2. Flatmates – so alone isn’t really alone… I really wish I was on my own… I’m not saying anything against my flatmates, for various reasons I’d just prefer to be in a flat alone, I won’t get into all my reasons right now.

3. Chinatown – I was told the Chinatown in Liverpool was one of the biggest and best in the UK. I found out today I’m not the only one in my class that thinks this – it really isn’t. No offense to it, but it is actually really small, all it has is a few Asian restaurants and a few signs in Chinese. Okay, it has the big arch… and that is really great… but that’s all. Maybe we just haven’t been there at the right time. Another comparative thing – the one in Chinatown is great and has more than just restaurants, it has grocery stores, sweet shops, clothing shops, shops that sell other objects, and other things.

4. Take away shops – I’ve noticed the take away shops here all seem to be more expensive than London. Again, it’s just a comparative thing but that’s just something I’ve thought about quite a bit since coming here hehe.

5. Travel – So basically I walk everywhere. I personally think the bus prices here are really expensive, but maybe that’s just because I’m used to London and oyster cards. Also there aren’t really direct bus routes to the places I go. It’s usually easy and quick to get where I’m going anyway (of course it does get really cold and windy (Winter’s fault, not Liverpool’s). Of course when I have somewhere further to go or if I’m walking around for a long time it gets quite painful.
Okay so the hate ones weren’t that great… I guess I haven’t really been here long enough to hate anything properly hehehe.

Well that’s my list for now and feel free to say what yours are if you have any. :)

Bye bye!

My Memory Box: Part 2

Continued from the previous post, the second part focuses on gig tickets and extras.

Gig Tickets

I could go on forever about my experiences at these gigs, so I’ll just summarise it by saying that I loved all of them and each one was an amazing experience. Music is a major part of my life. I’ve also been to a lot more than just those listed.

Decaydance Fest – 22 August 2007 – Hammersmith Apollo
Forever the Sickest Kids – 10 February 2009 – 02 Academy Islington
The Rasmus – 24 February 2009 – 02 Academy Islington
An Cafe – 24 March 2009 – 02 Academy Islington
The Blackout – 29 May 2009 – HMV Forum
Aiden & Tonight Is Goodbye – 07 June 2009 – Camden Barfly
Perfect People (Lets Talk Tactics) – 28 July 2009 – Relentless Garage
Elliot Minor – 20 November 2009 – HMV Forum
Kerrang Relentless Tour 2010 – 5 February 2010 – London Roundhouse
Lostprophets – 11th February 2010 – 02 Academy Brixton
Brokencyde & Jeffree Star – 17 April 2010 – Underworld Camden
Kill Hannah – 07 May 2010 – Electric Ballroom
Twenty Twenty – 02 June 2010 – 02 Academy Islington
Young Guns – 16 July 1010 – Relentless Garage
William Control – 27 July 2010 – Borderline
Placebo – 27 September 2010 – 02 Academy Brixton
Kerrang Relentless Tour 2011 – 18 February 2011 - Roundhouse

Others

Letter from Eclipse (Tattoo & Piercing studio in Camden) – 15/01/10
I had to keep this letter. It was when I had my snakebites done. I need to get new rings for them right now. Anyway, I’d wanted snakebites for a couple of years so I was so happy when my parents finally agreed to let me get them.

Green Day Postcard
The Beatles Postcard
Pack of plectrums
These two postcards (as well as a third, but I can’t find it) and the plectrums were given to me as a gift by a man who worked in a shop near my house, which my mum and I go in all the time. (I have to admit, I had a crush on him for a couple of years before he gave me these gifts for... I can’t remember if it was for my birthday or Christmas. My response? I finally got to give him a big hug, hehe.)

Elliot Minor Postcard

Drawing of ‘Chav Reaper’

This is one of the very many joke characters a friend and I came up with. True to his name, the chav reaper is a chav-styled grim reaper who hunts chavs. My friend drew the picture so it’s even more special to me.

Autographs

I have a few autographs. My favourite is from Ash Price (Synthetic Season) which he sent to be along with a shirt I’d ordered (because I asked nicely hehe). I met him before at the Jeffree Star gig and ended up talking to him for around five minutes and I got a nice picture and hug from him aswell. This was also around the time I used to be so shy approaching musicians but he was so friendly I didn’t have any of those problems.

Glow stick

I got this at the very first Lets Talk Tactics gig a few years ago. It’s the only thing I have left from it and it’s still special to me. I still wear it on my wrist all the time (except for at the moment because the thing that connects both ends is broken and I need to get a new one).

Set List
Drum Stick
Plectrum
I got all three of these from a Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong concert. It was a really fun night and I remember that the venue played an entire Placebo album during the breaks between musicians.

Newspaper article
An article about the first gig I ever went to, so naturally I had to save it.

Dog Collar
It belonged to my dog Lady, a Pomeranian, who was put to sleep the day after Christmas due to medical problems. She was only a couple of years old so that was even more upsetting. I hadn’t had a dog before that since I was a little child and I haven’t had one since which is really sad because I love dogs.

Rabbit ball
From my rabbit Flopsy, who died about a month or so ago. She loved the ball so I decided to keep it in memory of her.

Acceptance letter from University
College ID Card
Plushie tags – (I don’t know why I had to save those... wait, I do, I just like the pictures hehe.)
Aiden Conviction sticker

Flyers

The Phobics
My Passion – London Underworld 31 October
Chinese New Year – 6th February 2010 (I love Chinese culture and Chinese food!)
My Passion Flyer and Sticker
Dan Scotty Flyer
Pestilence Paradise flyer

Well, that’s all that’s in my ‘box’ for now. Hope you had fun reading!

My Memory Box

There are a lot of things that remain important to me, even after they are no longer useful. It is because of the memories and emotions attached to them. Actually, to be fair, I do not have a memory box at the moment. It is in fact a shelf that I keep these things on. However, as I hope to go to university soon, I am also hoping that I will soon get some kind of box I can contain them in.
Anyway, I thought it might be fun to go over what I have here (I’ve put it in two parts so it this post doesn’t get too long):

Wrist bands:

Elliot Minor – Zavvi
Does anyone actually remember Zavvi? It was a chain of stores that is no longer around and it used to be Virgin Megastore. Anyway, I think this was one of the first times I saw Elliot Minor due to a number of bad experiences that had prevented me from seeing them in the past. This one I seem to remember as an in-store acoustic show and signing. It was pretty fun but the view was terrible even though I was at the front and I was squished into a corner. Ah well, it was still a good time.

Lostprophets – 02 Academy Brixton
This is my favourite of the wrist band section since it is the only one I can wear again. I got it waiting outside for the gig to start and due to the way it has been made, I can put it on and take it off without breaking it. I love it.

MCM Expo London – 28th May
I wanted to go to the MCM expo for years before I finally got to go this year. It was more amazing than I imagined.

Train Tickets

Guildford – 21 December 2009
This was from when I went with to see one of my favourite bands at the time, Lets Talk Tactics. It was an amazing night even though the snow made the trains stop so we couldn’t get home that night. We went back to the pub the show was in and the guy there let us sleep in the bedroom above it for the night! It was such an adventure for me, I felt like a real traveller (even though I do like to consider myself a real traveller).

Norwich – 10 January 2010
This was from the time I went to see one of my long distance friends for his birthday. It was a really fun weekend and I had a great time. There were some problems though, again there was a lot of snow (which was fun) and at one point I slipped. My ankle was injured and swelled up so bad you couldn’t even tell there was an ankle there! I actually spent half the weekend thinking it was broken. There was also a point where my syndrome started playing up during the party, which was not a good experience. It also made me feel like I was being a bad friend because it was my friend’s birthday and I couldn’t take part as much as I wanted to. After it settled down though I was fine and aside from those little problems the whole weekend was great.

Cinema Tickets:

The Wolfman – 15/02/10
Alice In Wonderland – 20/03/10
(There’s nothing I can say here except that I absolutely love this movie, Tim Burton, and Johnny Depp.)
Black Death – 12/06/10 – screen 13
Toy Story 3 – 31/07/10
(Amazing movie, enough said. A lot of people mentioned how they cried during the movie; I cried twice.)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – 20/06/11
(I love the PotC series, and I believe I’ve already mentioned my love of Johnny Depp?)

Other Tickets

London Philharmonic Orchestra – 12 February 2008
This was a school trip and if I’m being honest it wasn’t the best orchestra stuff I’ve ever heard, but it was okay and overall it was a nice trip.

Globe Theatre – Hamlet – 20 March 2008
My drama class was in this. It was made up of a number of schools and each group did a different part of the play. We got the scene with the play, it was fun. It was amazing being on stage in the Globe Theatre, performing in front of a hundred or so people. I just wish I’d had a bigger part!

Well, it’s already getting a bit long so I’ll continue this in the next part. Hope my reminiscing isn’t boring you yet!