McFly - Memory Lane Tour. 10th May 2013

So last week me and a friend went to see McFly. Now we have been long term fans. By this I mean we have loved them since were about 10 years old. So when they announced that they were doing a Memory lane tour, of course we jumped at the chance! another surprise happened to be one of the support acts, whom we didn't know about. James Bourne from busted?!  I can now say I've seen a third of Busted YES. Although his own songs didn't go down too well, he soon whipped out the old Busted tunes and we were away, singing along to Year 3000 and so on!

Some photo's I took. I know they're awful but I didn't take my camera, only my poopy Iphone! 

Angharad and I

James Bourne?! *erhmahgerd

The 'not so impressive' Vamps who were about 12. 

alright there Danny!

The set was amazing

dont even ask! 

We had a lovely time and hopefully in 10 years time we will be going to see them again!

wait....I'VE ALMOST FINISHED MY FIRST YEAR OF UNI?!

(firstly can I just say, two blog posts in one day?! 10 blogger points to me)

Yep. You read it right! this year has completely and utterly flown by. Its mad to think that in a weeks time I will have started my summer holiday. four months of absolute BLISS.

But first I have to tackle two exams. Now we all know from my previous posts how much I just despise exams. I will try not to go off on a rant like I did last time but I'm not promising anything.

exaaaaaaaaaaaams *insert ridiculous image of me rolling around on the floor crying* Why must they exist!

on a more positive note, for our first year of uni we only need 40% overall to pass....and the first year doesn't count towards the second two. so really.....we only need to get 40% instead of 100 which is GREAT. and seen as each module is split into different assessments  I have come to the conclusion that I only need to get 28% and 30% in these two exams. Which definitely makes me feel a lot better about them!
it takes away some of the pressure.

One of the exams is split into two Halves. Part A and part B.
Part A consists of memorising four chapters of a giant textbook and summarising them. In an hour. Now to me, that is not an exam created to test my ability in Media Theory. That is an exam to test how much of a textbook I can remember.
Now if you know me you will be aware that  manage to forget things within the space of five minutes, so this seems like an impossible task for me to be able to do. And if I do manage to do it, it will be a miracle.

But hey, there's always resits?

I CANT WAIT FOR SUMMER.

The Burden of My Life. Eczema

Well hello there strangers! I will admit.....I am awful at blogging. I really am!
but here I am, writing again. I will also admit (lots of admitting going on here!) that I'm supposed to be revising right now for my two Uni exams. I'm going to write another post on this, so I shan't go off on a tangent now.

I've been meaning to write this post ever since I started this Blog way back last year but I've never really had the guts/time/inspiration to sit down and actually do it, but seen as I'm in top procrastination mode, I will do anything to not revise!

So I guess I should start at the beginning! (does everyone else sing the song when someone says that?!)

When I was born, I guess you could say I was completely fine. It was all lovely and great and Mama and Papa R and Brother L took me home and life was dandy. After a few weeks, six to be precise, I was diagnosed with Eczema. Now you guys reading this may think 'oh yeah! I've had eczema, here and there' well I had and still to this day have it everywhere. All over my body. YAY.

I suffer with severe Eczema, and let me tell you, its...to think of a better word....poopy.
Eczema runs in my family, with a few members of  Mama R's family suffering with it, so it was kind of inevitable that it would carry on making a very unwelcome appearance through generations. My brother also suffers with it so I didn't really have the best chance of avoiding it, as much as I would have liked to.

I spent my younger years being smothered and rubbed and bandaged and mittened and moisturised and bathed and scrubbed and soothed by my parents and have had countless different types of creams and ointments and tablets and whatnot. but now I've just turned 19 and yep. its still here. On one of my many regular hospital trips when i was younger (they've kind of just left me to deal with it now) I was told that 'eczema tends to disappear every 7 years'. So I anticipated my seventh birthday, filled with hope, with some idea that I was going to wake up and have normal skin. In hindsight of course now I realize that that is never going to happen, but as I approached my 14th birthday I couldn't help but hope slightly that it might just disappear overnight. I've now come to realise that nope, I'm pretty much stuck with 'funny' skin for the rest of my life! 

I guess you could say I'm used to having it, and the majority of the time it doesn't really bother me, simply because I don't know any different. I cant remember those 6 weeks I spent my life without eczema, so to me its the norm. But sometimes, as with any medical condition, it just gets me down. Having to constantly worry whether I've remembered to bring my cream with me everywhere I go and have to put it on in front of people (especially new people) I'm just not the greatest fan of having to do that. and then if I forget my cream I have to deal with having uncomfortable dry tight skin which ruins my outing anyway. It also makes me very self conscious  of course with people I know and are comfortable around its not an issue, but when it comes to new people I always feel like they are focusing on 'what's wrong with her skin' rather than me and my personality. I've encountered a fair few nasty people along the way who we'rent the most polite people but it seems as I get older and obviously people mature, its more a case of people wanting to know about it rather than laughing at it. which is a good thing.

Doctors always tell me that I will have 'triggers' things that send my skin crazy. and when I say crazy I mean CRAZY. when I get a flare up it feels like the hardest thing in the world is to not itch and scratch. which makes it worse, and I'm just stuck in this endless cycle of convincing myself it doesn't itch then itching over and over and over. But the thing is, up until now I really had no idea what my 'triggers' were. It just seemed to happen randomly if I got too hot or something. Now I'm starting to realize that stress plays a big role in my flare ups. I've had a difficult time lately (get your violins out!) which I wont go into detail about, but I've also realized my skin has been AWFUL, flaring up every other day. I wont lie, its made me feel disgusting and down and I haven't wanted to go out and enjoy life because I think people will be staring at my skin. don't get me wrong I know life could be a lot worse and I could have a much worse condition, but we all get absorbed into our own problems and sometimes don't appreciate how good we've really got it.

 but boy, is my skin a pain in the bottom!


on that note I think I better go and put some cream on ;) and start revising. oh the joys of examinations.
But if any of you reading this suffer with eczema.....I FEEL YA PAIN BRO.

The Up's and Down's of Uni Life.

So, I've been in Uni now for.....ok hang on I need to go count on my calender app. Dont move!..... 10 WEEKS! It honestly only feels like last week I was packing up my life and trundling along to Cardiff! Over the past 10 weeks, I've come across many good and not necessarily bad, but not so good things about University. (total contradiction there, but go with it)

the good things:

Uni typically brings about a new chapter of life. Although I loved living at home and going to school  and all of that, towards the end of year 13 I kind of started to feel bored with life. That sounds a bit harsh and crappy for me to say, but I just felt ready for something new! I guessed they timed going to Uni perfectly for me. having the chance to get out there and live on my own, with no one to depend on seemed exciting, and it most definitely is. Change is good.
Its odd not having my parents here 24/7 telling me what to do and when to do it. It feels good to have the freedom to say 'you know what? maybe I'll do that later' or 'hmmm tonight I'm going to have chicken for tea' Yes I'm well aware that that sounds silly, but its nice to be in control totally!
Also, living in Student accommodation is such a blast! due to the fact that everyone is around about the same ages, there's always someone about to talk to or have fun with. its just like being on one big holiday and living in a hotel almost.
another big plus side to University is the chance to make new friends. The most obvious being your new flatmates or coursemates! As a flat you sort of become a little family (I know, I need some burger with my cheese!) and like my flat has done, Adopt a few people along the way. Its so easy to get along with everyone here, there's no pathetic bitchyness about, everyone just gets on with it. Which having been friends with my previous group, you'd understand my appreciation for this greatly. Of course. I've not got round to the best part. Living where I live, your literally 15 minutes walk from a club. Which we all put to great use I can tell you now! We had more of a Freshers month rather than week and had the time of our lives. All in all the majority of the time, living here is great.

The Bad Things:
Living in halls can be a bit of a nightmare if like me, you are a light sleeper. I cant blame people for wanting to have fun, I mean it is Uni as everyone says, But sleep is a human necessity without which I turn into the Grinch. and that my friend is not pretty. I get woken most nights by shouting or laughing, and end up lying in bed for hours listening to peoples conversations  So I recommend if you are going to uni, don't forget ear plugs!
Of course the expected pang of homesickness comes about every so often. There are just some moments when you think to yourself 'you know what I just want to be home right now' especially if your feeling ill! we all need our parents sometimes or miss our siblings no matter how much we wouldn't like to admit to it.
cleanliness. this is my biggest pain in the bottom. I didn't ever realize how much I would care about how clean the place is before I came to uni. Living with 3 boys is not the easiest of things. No matter how much you clean, you can pretty much guarantee that within two hours (or a flat party  it will be a mess.


But hey, lets face it, all of the good things definitely outweigh the bad, and I'm having a spiffing time! As much as whine and moan, its one of the best decisions I've ever made :)

The Wonders Of University.

PANIC OVER!....I doubt anyone's been panicking, or even remotely bothered that I haven't posted in months, but hey, I'm back! 

So the reason I haven't posted in so long....well. to be honest I don't really have a reason! Life has just been a little manic! I'll try and update you with what's happened! (for some reason I always find myself writing these late at night, so excuse any errors!)

Since the last post, I enjoyed a loooong summer, that I felt was slowly building up to one day. The 18th of August. Results Day. I know its cliché, but I can honestly say, I have never been so nervous. those 3 little letters on that one A4 piece of paper could potentially change my life oh so drastically. it was a BIG deal. So, off we all trudged back to school to find out how well (hopefully) we did. Once I got my envelope I kind of had a bit of a moment and didn't open it. instead I found myself watching as my best friend opened her own envelope and squealed with joy as she found out her results. She'd done it! I cant really say what made me wait, but after being prompted by the head of sixth form, I did the deed, and opened it. Annnnnd saw those little letters. and stared. and slowly it sunk in. I got into University!  

Well after that summer just flew by, with preparations for uni, slowly and steadily a pile appeared in my room of all the things I would soon be packing up, along with the rest of my room in order to move out. I definitely felt ready to move on from school, but moving from home was a completely different matter. Leaving my parents, who were always there to rely on? sheeeeesh. scary stuff. For some reason, I seemed to be one of the last of my friends to leave for uni, so watching them go one by one was an odd feeling. I didn't really feel like it was going to be my turn next! 

 

Amazingly I'm sat here now, in my uni room. Having been here for 10 or so weeks, I feel settled and happy. I cant really say its what I expected because to be fair, I don't think anyone knows what to expect entirely. My flat mates are brilliant, I think I'm doing pretty well on the cooking front (no food poisoning as of yet!) and cleaning is surprisingly soothing!

I handed in my first assignment a few days ago which felt good, although, me being the worrier that I am, feel like I've done it all wrong! 

That was a rather condensed summary of what's happened in the last three months, but it gives you an idea of how much life has changed! it wasn't until my lecturer questioned us on having a Blog recently and said that it would be a good idea (I was too shy to actually tell him I had one) to start writing one. 

so here I am, back and writing, hopefully more often! I never know how to end these things! I feel like I should be hugging you all and thanking you for actually reading! *cyberhug

Croesyceiliog Leavers Ball...What I Wore.

Hello! just a little tangent, I didn't make this blog to write a new post every day, I made it just to write when I felt like. So if your thinking ive gone a bit MIA, its just that I didn't want to force myself to write something that would be a bit poopy!

so yes, back to what this post is all about. As you may have read in previous posts, I have just left 6th form, and as a tradition, much like many schools we had a leavers ball. I got into the habit of calling it a prom, but after attending, I know why they didn't call it a prom. It was much more sophisticated, and less showy, no big poofy dresses etc.

I bought my dress waaaaaaaaaaaay before the ball, amazingly, a bit of a bargain buy  from Tkmaxx. I loved the colour and fit, but the style was not the best for me, so I asked my wonderful Nan to make a few alterations to make it look nicer. The dress was a very good make, so I was a bit chuffed to find something so nice in Tkmaxx, and it was also on sale, even better! I knew the type of look I wanted to go for, for a long time before the ball (one shoulder, flowery etc) but this dress didn't have flowers along the strap, which is what I wanted. sooooo I  added hair flowers along the strap purchased in Sainsbury's of all places,that were a lighter colour than the dress to make them stand out. Nanny Jenny spent a long time sewing on little beads to give the flower petals a little sprinkle of sparkles. I recycled my Prom shoes, as when I wore them no one saw them, and I thought I may as well use them again!



All in all I can say is that this Ball was a LOT less expensive than my Prom, simply because I was a bit more aware of ways I could recycle and change things to look how I wanted them too.
 (I did have my hair done by my hairdresser simply because I cannot do anything pretty myself!)

A Very Eye Opening Birthday Party.

Hola!
so a few weeks back, one of my closest friends turned 18! yay!

and me and three other chums, along with the birthday girl attended what can only be described as a very childish birthday party. This was definitely not a bad thing, as it made me feel like a little girl again (i dont know about the others but i think they would agree) which, at the age we are all at now, is something were moving away from quicker and quicker, however much we want to stay 'children'
soon enough we will all be off to University or wherever life takes us as we have all left school, and this scares me. So, as you can imagine, we all jumped at the chance to act like 5 years olds and have a jolly good time.

Rhiannon, Me. Maria, and Jessie

Pizza Hut is thee place to be, for a childish party, so, in high spirits, we all piled into one of the cool round booths, decorated with the obligatory balloons, banners, little 18 confetti's and to our amusement, BUBBLES. Now. if you know me, you will know that bubbles excite me. A lot. I just love them, there so pretty! we also each got a little bracelet, with cute little charms on (I believe these are for children, but hey, they still fit us!) we ordered the yummiest pizzas, and got down to business. the colouring booklet. oh yes. clearly the waiter realized our child needs, and arrived carrying tubs of crayons and colouring booklets, which we thoroughly enjoyed!
After demolishing our pizza, the childishness got even more intense, as the waiters brought out a big birthday cake, with sparklers and whatnot, much to the birthday girl's embarrassment. we then dug in to ice cream and sweets until we could not eat one more bite.

BIRTHDAY CAKE!

now here's where this party got very eye opening. After leaving the best birthday party (and a lot of mess for the staff hehe) we hoped into cars and took the birthday girl for her first drink. I guess it was just odd, going from blowing bubbles and colouring in, to sitting, behaving ourselves in a bar, acting like proper adults. It pretty much went from one extreme to the other, and felt very symbolic of what we are experiencing at the moment.