HANDWRITING CHALLENGE, part one :)

So as I touched on yesterday, I'm doing a 15-day handwriting challenge that I ripped from Tumblr...for those of you unfamiliar to howevermany-day challenges, they basically keep the blogger entertained for a month whilst also boring readers to tears. The concept's pretty simple. I expect you'll understand.
So! Here is the challenge:

Day 1- What do you think of your handwriting?
Day 2- Handwrite your tumblr name alongside your real name, take a pic
Day 3- Handwrite your favorite quote
Day 4- Handwrite your bestfriends name
Day 5- Do you prefer printing or handwriting? Whats your opinion between the two
Day 6- Handwrite your favorite song/ song quote
Day 7- Handwrite whatever you want with a blue/red pen
Day 8- Handwrite your worst pet peeve
Day 9- Handwrite something that always catches your attention
Day 10- Handwrite all the websistes you’re updated with.
Day 11- Handwrite your name using your left/right hand, opposite of what you normally use.
Day 12- Try writing about how your handwriting can define you or not
Day 13- Handwrite your tumblr crushes
Day 14- Handwrite “Hello”
Day 15- Handwrite whatever you want and use different colored pens filling up the whole piece of paper.

Okay? So here's day one:

So there we go. The beginning of a beautiful fortnight's adventure!

Things that might interest you about the coming few months.

1) I'm (probably) going to take part in a 30 day handwriting challenge. The kind of crap you see on Tumblr all the time but I don't want to clog up my dashboard plus I'm not nearly regular enough on this blog.

2) I'm going on a diet. I know this is going to sound silly given my OMG GUYS blant (blog-rant!) of a few days ago but I am in control of my body and I have put on a few pounds over the vacays...so you might hear a few details of that.

So that's a little preview of a few things that will be upcoming. Meanwhile, today I worked, because it was Bank Holiday Monday which means time-and-a-half and a day's holiday backatcha.

This is what I always think about when I hear Bank Holiday. Because he's Mr Banks. And he works in a bank.

And I'm so bored of my job! I know I've only been in it for 9 months, and I only do it once a week, but the endless monotony of selling stuff is just a killer. So is the awkward interaction with staff. So is being so darn nice to people all the time. Because I like a challenge as much as the next person, and this is just boring.
Not to say that I'm not going to stick at it. They were good enough to give an inexperienced 16 year old a job, they pay me still, they give me nice hours...yeah, I'm lucky. Just bored and lucky.

There was another thing that I was thinking about today...internet privacy. It started in Jilabi's whilst we were googling my Dad. He's a technophobe, hasn't got a Facebook account, only uses the internet for work purposes; but a quick google revealed the existence of my Dad - name, age, name of his wife - on the electoral roll. I can't help but think it's just a small, slightly more underhand step from there to identity fraud. And I'm not really comfortable with that!

Growing up as part of the internet generation, I've wantonly scattered myself across the web - I have a Facebook, a Myspace, a Twitter, a Bebo, a Hi5, a Piczo, a Stardoll, a Tumblr, a DailyBooth, an Elfwood account, and countless other accounts on websites like Amazon, eBay, Paypal, et cetera et cetera et cetera. And that's not even taking into account this blog. A potential employer would just have to tap my name into the almighty Google machine to find me ranting about internet privacy...and periods, and being bored, and all sorts of things. Which means really I should censor myself.

But I don't want to! So...future employer...look away! Stop being nosy please :) I promise I won't defraud you, I'll be on time every day and I'll leave no more than 3 minutes before the end of the working day. Hire me.

That's subliminal messaging for you. I am very punctual.

Wow, I've completely lost track. Oh yeah, it unnerves me to have such a shocking amount of information about myself on the web, but at the same time I like it. When I die, my blog lives on until Google deactivates it. There will be little traces left behind. Millions and billions of people from the past are forgotten snap-diddly, lost in time and confined to a little gravestone in a cemetery and maybe a scribbled line in a census book or something but I'll have my credit card number, pictures of Hitler in bunny ears and a too-long blant to remember me by too :)

And with that bizarre image burned into your mind, I leave you.

Emma xxx

On change and lizards.

Maybe sometimes, we got it wrong, but it's alright,
The more things seem to change, the more they stay the same
Ooh, don't you hesitate.

So it's that time of the year again. As far as change goes, this time of year feels more significant than the actual turn of the year...the seasons change (not that we've had much of a summer this year!) and it's a new year of college, and each year brings new challenges and whatnot. 

So the year in review...what was I? Fresh off the back of 12 A*s and eleven weeks of holiday, in September 2009 I still didn't have a clue. I mean, I knew I could do what I'd already done but I genuinely, genuinely believed I couldn't go any further.

This year I've turned into something new. True, I appear to have lost my old photographic memory (and good lord I miss it) but I've gained so much more! 

I've lost the "I don't have to do it so I won't" mentality. I've learned that talking to people isn't so hard. I've discovered that, at heart, I'm a redhead. I've worked out where my loyalties lie. I've learnt how to work for a living, and that the money is bloody useful. I've learnt that adult fiction is actually better than YA trash, even with the minimal effort that has to be pu tin to read it. I've learnt you can't fake love for something. I've learnt to listen to my own emotions. I've learnt how to keep my head in a crisis and that travelling is an enormous thrill. I've learnt I'm not infallible; my big glaring B in Critical Thinking has seen to that.

So whilst I don't want to count my lizards before they've hatched, I think I've changed for the better this year.

Just a theory.

Emma x

A nice poem,

my father always said, "early to bed and
early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy
and wise."

it was lights out at 8 p.m. in our house
and we were up at dawn to the smell of
coffee, frying bacon and scrambled
eggs.

my father followed this general routine
for a lifetime and died young, broke,
and, I think, not too
wise.

taking note, I rejected his advice and it
became, for me, late to bed and late
to rise.

now, I'm not saying that I've conquered
the world but I've avoided
numberless early traffic jams, bypassed some
common pitfalls
and have met some strange, wonderful
people

one of whom
was
myself—someone my father
never
knew.

by Charles Bukowski

I like it, because I like sleeping in late, rejecting the examples of my forefathers and bacon :)

I would really like to live in Paris.

Except in August when there's no Parisiens and it must be boiling, I suck at hot weather.
Ohh don't tempt me!

ANYWAY, it's Friday! I've now seen three episodes of Come Dine With Me in a row, a pitiful juxtaposition to my curly-fries-and-cheese masterpiece. Heart attack on a plate? One for me please, waiter!

I'm going to post later about other things (they're kind of boring and serious so if you prefer me to ramble about cereal and libraries...eh, just shut your eyes and imagine. You know me well enough by now.) And for the moment I'm going to do that thing I've done since time immemorial and Fill in the Blanks! 

For some reason, I REALLY like that picture. It reminds me of those Penguin book cover redesigns that I keep seeing.

These are pretty, if not what I really meant when I googled "penguin books" for a picture.

1. The most adventurous thing I've ever done is: And this is where I get outed! I'm sorry guys, but I'm basically boring. When I think about it...probably knock and run on the Spanish kids in our hotel in Rome. It's juvenile but angry Spanish people, oh my God. Hilarious. Y'see how exciting my life is? That's hardly adventurous, but nevermind. The memory of my friend and I standing in an empty bath, hearts hammering, giggling silently as our teachers came into our friends' room after curfew is enough to keep me going till I get some real kicks.

2. If I were a pair of shoes I would be: I'm going to get a little artistic on this. Worn out trainers, really comfy and battered, the kind you go to when you just want to walk without interference from your feet, but with unicorn stickers on the side and laces made out of spaghetti. Because I can be a little bit weird, but I'm still easygoing.

3. My preferred mode of digital communication is: Facebooking and texting. The latter if it's urgent but Facebook just for convenience - you can lose your phone but most people check Facebook once a day or so, even if they aren't that into it. Plus you can get a message out to more than one person at once more easily.

4. I feel happiest when: Book, music, bed. Nuff said.

5. A little dream I have for my life is: I'm never going to let go of my first job choice. When I grow up, I want to be a writer. Still. After all this time.

6. The one modern convenience I could NOT do without is: I'd say laptop, but actually I need my phone for SO MANY THINGS and there's no substitute for being able to contact people anywhere, any time. Plus notes and alarm clock (Christ, I'd never wake up) and calendar...but I couldn't live without my laptop either. And imagine having no dishwasher, washing machine...argh, thank God for technology.


7. Music, movies, TV or books: if I could only choose one to enjoy I would pick: The old loyalty to the written word still wins out. I think expending a little time and effort into reading a book immerses you more than TV or a movie ever can. And even though I love my music, so much, I could live without it. Life without books would kill me well and truly!

Blanks deblanked, how was your week?

And I guess I'll see you later this eventide.

Emma xxx

A little link that turned into a long and kind of uplifting rant.

This post by Galadarling had me pumping the air with my fist going "YEAH BABY! THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!"

Well I didn't, because a) my family would think I'm weird and b) when you make loud noises my dog thinks you're a predator and starts leaping around trying to bite you.

But I agree so badly! I'm sick to death of thinking about what I eat all the time; and I have a healthy attitude to food. Or so I'm told. I wouldn't like to think about what's going through the mind of the rest of you.

Eating disorders are so damaging; it would just be nice to have a healthy, happy attitude as a whole. Don'tcha think?

Here's a fact: I'm 9st10lbs. I have no idea if I'm fat or thin, if I'm healthy or unhealthy, but that's me and I'm not taking it back.

Let me clarify: I didn't post that figure to boast or evoke pity. I'm not joking, I seriously have no idea if that's a good or bad figure for me. Some days I lie in bed feeling my belly thinking "God, I could be pregnant," and some mornings I look in the mirror in my bra and think "hey...that's not so bad." Bottom line? It doesn't matter! I'm happy, and I genuinely believe that's what people see. Not my oddly misshapen nose, on the bad side, or even good things like my boobs or my hair.

It's no coincidence that soon after I realised I wasn't hideously disfigured (and I spent a while thinking that!) people started referring to me in words I never would have used to describe myself. Confident. Bubbly.

I mean BUBBLY, wtf? I've been called bubbly three times over the summer holidays and I cannot begin to tell you how weird that is for me. Because I genuinely saw myself as socially inept, and now I'm starting to think...hey, maybe that can change.

{for credit and more photos from this guy, follow the link! read the post! you know you want to}

Gala's post isn't really anything new. Girls are always going to worry about their weight, and how they look, and how ugly they are. But it reminded me how important it is to enjoy what you eat. So fuck it, I'm gonna go grab a Mars Bar now.

Seriously, am I about to hit a very late growth spurt? Because I am STARVIN' MARVIN.

Emma xo.

PS. Seriously, did I just psychobabble myself into a mars bar??

Remember my long, long rant about Ground Zero? This is basically what I was trying to say:

MOVING ON to my usual terrible choices in the media, I am currently catching up on The Deep, which is a BBC drama set a bazillion miles below the Arctic ice.
It's tense, but bloody hell, it's cheesy.