Decisions

(deep breath...)

So, I've decided I'm just going to stop worrying. About pretty much everything. It doesn't help me or anybody around me and very rarely does it help the actual situation at hand. I'm just going to roll with the good times and even roll with the bad times and change what is within my power to change, and anything that is out of my control - I will leave for fate to decide. I'm blessed to have incredibly supportive, caring and generous friends who I don't actually think I could be without, and I am lucky to have good things in my life (both material and not), and those are the kinds of things I need to hold onto, not angst and woe.

So, onto my promised update of Great Escape Festival! (even if it is a little late!)

I'm not going to do a full on, in-depth cover of the festival as to be honest 1. it happened over a week ago and 2. you probably all won't care as it's old news now, but know that I had a fantastic time and I've definitely caught the festival bug (if such a thing exists!) I got to see some fantastic bands and I got the best of both worlds - the festival atmosphere of great music, good friends both old and new and (expensive!) drinking, whilst avoiding the horrors of camping (call me a Prince but camping is something that really does not appeal to me. If I wanted to wallow around in my own sweat and piss for three days, I could do that in my own home). My highlights were Niki & The Dove, Grimes, Lianne Le Havas (watch out for this lady!), Nordic Giants, Vondelpark and Jonquil, I'll be sure to upload some photos (myself and George took hundreds, no exaggeration, so I need to filter through them all!) and share them all with you when I'm not feeling tired and tipsy from too much cava consumption with Veronika.

So the past two weeks in general have been absolutely awful. I've lost sleep, cried, had panic attacks and seriously considered dropping everything and fleeing the city over money, Uni work and Topshop (which I may have to unfortunately quit). Fortunately thanks to the aforementioned help of friends both near and far and my ever faithful mum, I'm nearly back on track and determined to face this week with a fresh face.

On Saturday night I headed up into the forest near my house with Matt, we lit a small bonfire and burnt some personal memorabilia belonging to him and his ex-girlfriend. I hope he feels better from it all now. I managed to snap a couple of photos I'm pleased with:

Then today Veronika, a good friend who I met whilst living in halls, contacted me to ask if I wanted to take a walk as she as recently broken up with her ex-boyfriend (I should be paid for my therapy services!) so once again, we headed up into the forest near my house and up onto the hills, where we jumped the fence and sat on this mount which was covered in reeds and wild flowers, it was so pretty. We sat and talked and drank cheap, sparkling wine and put the world to rights for nearly an hour, before running down the hill screaming, being homophobically abused, getting more wine and ordered a Papa John's whilst smoking far too many cigarettes. The soundtrack to our pizza consumption was this album, with this song being mine and Veronika's favourite:

And to leave you, here are the photos I took of Veronika whilst we were up on the hills, with a sneaky one she took of me. The next post will be photos of Great Escape Festival, where the subject will then be laid to rest!

What did you get up to this weekend?

Sweet Things

So it's 10.02pm, I'm a little giddy from the two red bull's that I've consumed and I'm sat staring at my laptop over a presentation that is due tomorrow, and - you guessed it - I haven't even started. I've gone as far as opening Microsoft Word and Powerpoint, but nothing has been entering into their blank white domains. The subject I've been asked to present on (relational art and aesthetics) means nothing to me - I don't like it, I don't properly understand it and how I'm meant to put together a half an hour presentation on something I don't even have adequate knowledge on is beyond me.

So I'll update you all with what's been happening in my life to make the pain of Uni work go away!

As you saw a couple of posts down, I had a lovely photoshoot last week with my new friend Loni (apologies for the broken link in my last post!). The photos that she took of me came back only a couple of days afterwards and I'm extremely pleased with the results. Here are my favourites:

A very talented photographer I'm sure you'll agree!

Apart from doing arty farty things on the beach and pulling my hair out over money and Uni work, I've also been working what seemingly feels like all the hours of the day in Topshop. I am yet to find a balance between Uni and Topshop, for it seems if I do too much of one, the other suffers, and this for all parties involved, is not a good thing. However, work are currently hosting a competition called "Fashion Role Models" where ten employees of Topshop and ten employees of Topman, who are deemed: 1. fashionably dressed and reflecting the store's latest trends 2. to have "outstanding" customer service, have their photo taken and put on the wall downstairs in the corridor by the Manager's office. These ten "entrants" are then whittled down to three, and the winner receives a £50 gift voucher, along with something else which I've forgotten right now. As a broke art student, I am downright determined to win this contest! I had my photo taken on Monday by the VM so I am now in the running to potentially win, so I'm going all out for the next two weeks to ensure that that £50 giftcard is mine! The Store Manager has also been handing out pre-loaded gift cards for good customer service that she has seen or heard about, and I was lucky enough to be presented with one on Saturday!

This week spells (apart from the looming presentation which I have to give in 25 hours) more overtime, dissertation proposal reading and GREAT ESCAPE FESTIVAL! Which I am extremely excited for as this is my first ever festival, and I have been lucky enough to obtain a delegate pass so I can report on it for the Uni's student newspaper! I will also upload a review of the festival on here so keep your eyes peeled. Are you going to the festival too? Let me know if so!

Just Say 'Yes'

So to set the scene for today...

A few weeks ago I was contacted via my Tumblr by someone to ask if I would be interested in participating in a photoshoot to help with a photography project this person was working on. At first I was a little alarmed because the message was sent anonymously, but the culprit soon unmasked herself and turned out to be my now very latest friend Loni, who also writes poetry and posts photography and such on her Tumblr too (as I'm sure you'll see if you'd be so kind as to click the link) and once we got discussing ideas and so forth I was very excited as I haven't posed for photos that are going further than the internet for a good two years.
So after her having to re-schedule twice and me being an hour late, I met Loni at Brighton station and we headed to the beach, amongst other locations, where she patiently and professionally directed me and took what I'm sure will be some fantastic photographs. I also bought along my DSLR, and managed to persuade Loni inbetween breaks of snapping me, to take photographs of her (which was an opportunity that I rinsed and did near enough all day). Here is the cream of the crop!

The basic idea of her project/exhibition is to look at how ordinary people carry beauty, and she is photographing 100 people who could have the potential to be models but aren't - so I'm very very flattered! I'm also very excited to see the outcome once the rolls are developed.
So Loni, I wish you every bit of luck with your exhibition!

Last week in pictures...

Or, the times I remembered to bring/use my camera.

1

1. This was taken on Monday morning. The light that was coming through my room looked peculiar in a beautiful way, and I loved the effect it was having on my (thin shitty) curtains, so I decided to snap a shot.

2. Just the clothes I wore to bed that night, but taken from my windowsill r.e. the aforementioned lighting that I spoke of.

3. Lasagne the stray cat has now been officially BANNED from our house after he MAIMED MY FACE on the Tuesday night. I was picking him up to let him out of my door, which is normally something he is fine with to the point where he mostly purrs, but on this night he decided to stick his claws right into my lower eyelid, quite literally 1cm or so away from my eyeball. If he'd got the tiniest bit higher I would have been blinded so I'm grateful! It's left a tiny mark but I'm still pretty pissed off about it. If it was on my arms or my chest for example I wouldn't care because you can cover those areas up, but your face - that's something people have to see everyday! Not cool man.

4, 5, 6. Last Tuesday as we all know was Shrove Tuesday e.g. Pancake Day! I hope you all had fun eating lots of pancakes! What toppings are your favourite? My housemate Matt made myself and him a stack of them with bacon and lots of maple syrup, and my goodness they were so good! I wanted chocolate spread on my next round by then remembered we only had nutella, which also belonged to my other housemate who was back home in London. Fate is keeping me and chocolate apart!

7. This is a polaroid picture of Matt and myself taken at the Vice Issue Launch Party at Brighton's Green Door Store on Friday night by my coursemate/future housemate Lulu. I love it!

How have you all been? This week spells madness and mayhem for me - I'm heading to my first houseviewing in an hour! I know I can't afford the deposit but it's something to start us off with at least and I'm going to see if I can negotiate the cost of the deposit and such. It'll be nice to meet Matt's friends/my future housemate's Matt and Ellie too. After that I'm going food shopping then will desperately be cranking out my presentation - which is only about 10% done, due Wednesday and my lecturer isn't replying to my e-mails about the content of it! Shit shit shit.
On Tuesday I am gracing London for the day with a University organised trip to Shoreditch, which I'm very excited for. It'll be nice to get out of Brighton for the day and I'm with one of my close coursemate's Rhys, who, through him being constantly stoned, makes everything funny. We have open return tickets to the capital so I'm excited to see what the day will hold for me. Wednesday is Uni all day, and we have another houseviewing on Thursday (the other two got cancelled!), working Friday and Saturday but I am also heading to Jack Beats Saturday night with Matt and some of his friends from home, so that should be good. As I have (attempted to) shown with this post, I'll try and illustrate as much of my week as I can via the medium of photography!

Right now I must finish getting ready and have a quick snack before heading to the viewing. What do you have planned for the final week of February?

P.S. If you haven't already heard of him, check out 'Baths'. I've been listening to his music for months but only very recently have I gotten back into it and I've had the 'Cerulean' album on repeat for a day solid now. Check this out below whilst you enjoy your Monday afternoon, you won't regret it!

and these are my favourites from the pick of photos i took of emma. it was freezing cold, raining and incredibly windy, so i'm beyond grateful for her co-operation and treating her to a pizza hut next week as a thank you (pizza hut because i'm a fucking classy gent). enjoy and COMMENT: