NaBloPoMo Day 26: "He Gets Better"

"Don't worry, he gets better" is a phrase I seem to hear a lot recently in relation to dickhead characters. It's starting to feel like a pattern that we can't just hate characters anymore. Why must they all redeem themselves or have some transformation. Would it make for bad TV to just have characters who are not nice people? Now I'm not talking about the villains, for the most part they are still pretty well hated, (though there can be a lot of "oh we can excuse all their wrongdoings due to their tragic past". No- history doesn't excuse actions just explains them) I just mean average characters who are generally rude or obnoxious or plain old unlikeable. The most recent culprits of this trend for me have been Don Keefer and Reece Lancing from The Newsroom, Alex Karev from Grey's Anatomy and Peter Prentice in The Mindy Project. They all begin as horrible and often sexist people but loose the traits along the way. I absolutely LOVE Don and Peter (I've only just started Greys and still hate Alex, I'm just going off what I've heard for him) I wouldn't want them to be any other way. I'm just frustrated and fed up that there are no characters on tv who remain the way their characters began. It's unrealistic given how many assholes there are in life who just stay that way forever and this continued redemption seems like a flaw in otherwise fantasticly written tv.

NaBloPoMo Day 25: Minty Mocha Cupcakes

I've come to love two new things this year, both of which made a hard year a lot easier. The first being my wonderful new friend- the fabulous Anna! Second we both developed an addiction to Minty Mochas from a coffee shop at uni. Since I'm going to be away for Anna's birthday I saw her today to give her her gift- a cupcake of my own invention: The Minty Mocha. I just used a recipe from a book to make the chocolate coffee cake, but after thee days of experimentation I finally created the perfect choc-mint icing. I used Lindt's dark mint intense chocolate to make a ganache with added melted butter and then added icing sugar until I reached a thicker consistency, added a small splash of peppermint essence and allowed it to cool to become spreadable. I'm pretty happy with the final product I think it's as close as I could get to a version of our fave drink. Happy Birthday Lovely! 

NaBloPoMo Day 23: List of Lists

Masterlist of everything to do before departure

To pack

Clothes to be washed

People to see

Christmas presents to buy

My Christmas list

Books to take on trip

Books to buy for trip

Toilettries to buy

Italian words I need to learn

Ingredients to buy for baking

Things that still need to be booked

NaBloPoMo Day 21: Sharing Books

A while ago on tumblr there was a post going around that was along the lines of "Sharing a book with someone is one of the most personal things you can do, it's like say 'here is a little piece of my soul that I think you'd enjoy' " aside from the obvious Tom Riddle's Diary joke to be made of this, I think about it all the time.

We are made up of everything we read, see and do. When reading, whether I liked, loved or loathed a book I think it has become a part of me. I find that there are a multitude of reasons I could like a book: being sucked into the story so I can't bear not knowing what happens next, falling in love with characters so that I don't care what I'm reading about I just want to know everything they do and think, finding sentences scattered through a book which are perfectly phrased and play around my head for days, Or sometimes just that a book is written so beautifully I want to cry at the way language can be expressed. Whatever the reason for a book resonating with me I feel it is both a reflection of the person I am, and a development in the person I become.

Reccomending people books is one of my greatest pleasures. I love thinking about the worlds I have experienced and how they could also effect the people I know. Often as I read I can see my friends in characters, I can imagine how they too will adore an authors turn of phrase. I absolutely love when talking to a friend after reading the same book we realise we'd picked out the exact same sentences as our favourites. I love when I happen across a book which relates perfectly to the current situation. I just finished reading the latest Bridget Jones and ever since I've been urging all my girlfriends to read it because despite a 30 year age gap I know they'll all see parts of themselves in her.

I'm lucky to have like-minded friends on this. One of my favourite memories is in year 9 we were supposed to be watching the movie of Animal Farm, but instead Sunny, Heddy, Greta and I were hiding at the back of the classroom reading. I had just discovered The Mortal Instruments Series, and quickly spread it. We were sitting in a line- Greta and I both reading the third book, Sunny reading the second and Hedwig reading the first. Last Christmas both Sunny and Greta indiviudally came up with the idea of buying a book for each person in our group. When going on a two week trip to Singapore with Greta we carefully coordinated to have nine different books between us. Most importantly sharing books lead me to one of my best friends. If it hadn't been for me casually offering to lend Missy the first Princess Diaries book who knows if we'd ever have become friends like we did.

Books are some of the greatest things in this world and I'm so happy to have people to share them with.

NabBloPoMo Day 20: I Love The Hairdressers

I got my haircut today! The shortest I've had it in years, so it's more manageable on my trip. It was my first haircut all year and it reminded me that going to the hairdressers is one of my all time favourite activities. Often people don't like the experience because of the sitting in front of a mirror for hours, but I think it's one of the most relaxing things ever. Upon arriving you get to sit in a comfy seat and are offered tea or coffee. It's one of the few times I get to read trashy magazines because I never buy them for myself, and reading them while getting pampered makes it quite possible to pretend briefly that I am one of the celebrities or royalty I am reading about. The absolute best part of course is the head massage disguised as a hair wash, not only that but at my hairdressers whilst having your hair washed you sit in a massage chair! I even like the mirror, this however is not an indication of my vanity but a different flaw of mine all together- a need to control. Being able to observe the hairdresser as they go means I know exactly what they are doing at all times and there is no chance of any surprises at the end.

Basically it's the greatest thing ever. I love my new do, I love the hairdresser and all in all it's put me in a great mood!

 My hair as I ate a waffle last week

My hair tonight

NaBloPoMo Day 19: Things that give me butterflies

Making phone calls

Thinking about when I give Greta the first hug in a year

Logging on to see my uni results of the semester

The last 10 minutes of the last episode of The Newsroom

Asking lecturers questions (especially cute astro ones)

Opening the cover of a brand new book

Thinking about the future

Boarding a plane

Waiting at the arrival gates of the airport

Watching other people eat my baked goods

Plugging in the lights on the Christmas Tree



PS. Thanks for the prompt Tish

NaBloPoMo Day 18: One Week and Four Days

One week and four days until I leave. Which means one week and five days until I get to hug Greta. The snow has already started falling in Norway which is a pretty good sign for a White Christmas for us. I spent today organising what I need to organise.

NaBloPoMo Day 17: One Seventh of the Way to Being a Doctor!

This has been the quickest year of my life. As of 6:30pm today I am officially done with my first year of university and I thought that deserves some acknowledgement! In reflection it has been a damn good year.

University was not what I expected at all and even though some things were harder than expected I have loved it. I've learnt so much cool stuff this year, about how humans arose from the first prokaryotic life forms, the way stars form, live and die, the horrors of the Algerian war, the wonder that is Carbon and its compounds, and I've come to appreciate even more the diversity of life in our world. It's been a great year spent at The University of Melbourne, I love the campus it really is the closest I'll ever get to Hogwarts, I've found where makes the best coffee and the best minty mochas, I'm quite proud of how thoroughly I've taken advantage of the free BBQ's.

Things were hard though. I'm sure it's no secret to anyone how hard I found making friends but really it was more than that. It wasn't just not having friends, it was not having a group, not having any familiar faces, the huge numbers of people, not having teachers who knew or cared about me that I felt I could go to. It was the complete culture shock coming from Preshil where we had 40 people in the year level and knew everyone in the school. Preshil prepared us for a lot of things, but the one thing we weren't prepared for was the sheer number of people in the world. But gradually it got easier. I made some really great friends which definitely helped things, I got over my bizarre shyness which developed at the start of the year and got better at talking to people in my tutes, so that soon familiar faces were popping up everywhere, I had people to say hi to around campus, people to smile at or sit with in lectures and people to have fun with in tutes.

After last year I really needed a time to destress and that was this year. I know I didn't try as hard as I could have, but I needed that. It's not like I didn't work, just for the first time in my life I let 'just getting by' be an option rather than needing to be the best. I'll only be disappointed if this results in me not getting into the subjects I need. Because after a whole year of being sidetracked and excited by so many facets of science. I'm right back where I started; being super excited and enthralled with Medicine. And one year of being average was enough for me, I'm excited to try super hard again next year and to shine bright like a diamond.*

Apart from actual uni, it has been a pretty fab year. Nights out with new and old friends including lots of dancing and often resulting in laughter at maccas. A lot of great tv, or as I prefer to call it 'appreciation of my favourite art medium'. Lots of working and saving money, because the best part of my year is still to come. Given I'll be bringing in the new year in Milan, I think it's safe to say this year has some more great things in store.

* this is just a joke. According to Anna it's my catchphrase.

NaBloPoMo Day 16: The Newsroom

I decided that I wouldn't start watching any new tv shows until after my last exam, this has turned out not to be the huge productivity boost I hoped though, because instead I've just been rewatching The Newsroom. Since it's been my main activity while I've been sick this weekend, I figured why not blog about why it is such a great show that everyone should watch.

If you haven't heard about it, the basic premise is a news company gets in a new Executive Producer and starts creating a news program like no other. Each episode revolves a particular news event from the 2010 BP Oil Spill through to the 2012 US Election.

I refer to this show as 'my daily dose of idealism' it's not entirely realistic, but the characters are all such good people, trying to make a difference. As someone who hopes to change the world I love seeing a show of characters who feel the same. It's fast and witty and intelligent. You learn about the US economy and government, while having your heart broken and falling in love with every character. And of course there are some good old classic Aaron Sorkin inspiring speeches.

I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to spoil it,  I just want everyone ever to watch it.

Ps. These screencaps are not mine, credit to thenewsroomcaps.tumblr.com

NaBloPoMo Day 15: Future Plans

In my mind I always have a million and one ideas of things I'm going to do in the future. These are all complete deviations from my likely actual future which I am properly on the path to - becoming a doctor and hopefully joining doctors without borders- but I like to think they are still all possible.

There's the life where I move to Paris and live alone in a little apartment. I work in Shakespeare and Company, and perfect my french, and read as many books as possible.

There's the other french life where I study at Le Cordon Bleu, become a pastry chef and put on 20 kilos.

There's the more recent decision of moving to LA or Hong Kong or Paris or Orlando and work at Disneyland for a year playing the part of Cinderella.

The life where I move to Oxford to study at the university and ride bikes everywhere.

There's the life where Tess, Henry and I move in together and start a famous cover band in our kitchen.

Or the future where I become a Conservation Biologist and work with Greta to save the sharks.

The plan of starting a party planning company specializing in particularly elaborately themed and catered events.

Even if none of these happen, my actual future is looking pretty good at the moment, taking me to Italy and Norway, Beach trips with friends, studying at Melbourne University and if all goes to plan to New York in not too long.

NaBloPoMo Day 14: Dogs

I'm feeling really unwell today, so this post is one to cheer me up and anyone else who needs it. I've started saving funny pictures of dogs that I see on the internet onto my desktop for occasions like these, I hope these few help improve your day a little.

xox

NaBloPoMo Day 13: Dressing up as my hero

It's clearly no secret that I love Marie Curie, and so when a party with the theme Historical Figures came up, I jumped at the chance to dress up as her. I didn't care that a lot of people struggled to guess who I was, or that people gave me rather confused looks on the street, I was just psyched to be my hero for the night. I also took the opportunity to give my friends a history lesson on Marie Curie's life of course.

Ps, Sorry this is late I got home after 12 last night so had already missed it

NaBloPoMo Day 12: Smooooooooothie

Rasperry, Mint and Coconut Smoothie

-Frozen raspberies
-Desicated coconut
-Tonnes of fresh mint
-Chia Seeds
-Honey
-Milk

NaBloPoMo Day 11: Melbourne in the Rain

 We've been having unseasonably cold weather at the moment and though I am really looking forward to this summer, I like Melbourne the best when it's like this.

 I think the city is at it's most beautiful in the rain, and I love the wintery colours of the city. I love rainy train rides and the warmth of the heaters outside in Degraves. I love waffles and spicy lunches.

NaBloPoMo Day 10: 2 Weeks 6 Days

Sometimes things just sort themselves out.

As you know 2 days ago I was exhausted, frustrated and stressed from booking (or rather not booking) my Italian accommodation. But two days can change a lot of things, I now have even more than I bargained for!

Along with hostel rooms being booked for Greta and I for Verona and Venice, thanks to gorgeous Greta and her wonderful host family I also have a place to stay with them in Florence. Not only that, for the weekend we are going to take a trip to The Country House and visit Pisa! My Accomodation for when I am being grown up and independent by myself in Rome is done! Greta is on the job of booking trains our together, and I just have to book my trains to and from Rome.

Italy here we come!

NaBloPoMo Day 9: My Dog

This year is my first year of uni (in fact I'm only 2 exams until being done with it) and overall i loved it, however I did find it quite hard to make friends. Coming from a very small high school of amazing, accepting and friendly people the sheer number of people overwhelmed me. Though I wasn't completely alone - I had some old friends there already, I made a few really great friends and with time I got better at chatting with people around- it was possible for me to go days without speaking to anyone but the person who sold me my coffee.

What this resulted in was a newfound appreciation and love of my dog Tobey. To have someone recognise you and be happy to see you is such a simple joy and he showed that every day. This year was also the first time in a long time that he was allowed back on the couch so we shared many hugs which I missed after hugs with my friends being a more than daily occurrence last year. As an extrovert not having people to chat to drives me crazy, i need interaction, conversation and the ability to express myself out loud, and so tobey became this for me too, a creature who listened to my casual chatter throughout the day. The fact that dogs actually feel emotions akin to human love and happiness is the greatest thing I learnt all year.

Basically he is the greatest and deserves some more appreciation. 

 Ps. Sorry this post was late once again I was busy all night playing this stupid game

NaBloPoMo Day 8: Three Weeks and One Day

Three weeks and One day until I board a plane for Italy! Crazy to think how soon it is now, given that way back in January saying goodbye to Greta and knowing I wouldn't see her for a year does not seem all that long ago at all. I leave the day after the end of NaBloPoMo so I'm sure this will be one of many updates. After much umm-ing and ahh-ing and waiting and deliberating tonight I decided it had been long enough and I was going to sit down and get everything booked in- trains, accommodation, everything! You don't need to tell me that I'm cutting it a bit close with only 3 weeks to go. However after 3 hours of research, I'd only found 2 of the 5 places I need to stay, and concluded that there is literally no where for me to stay in Florence. I'm not asking for a lot, all I want is an all female dorm that is actually in the city of Florence and doesn't have bedbugs. Apparently that's all too much though. I've decided to put myself to bed now and hopefully my next update will be one of much more productivity. I'm going to spend the rest of the night reading Alain De Botton's 'The Art of Travel' and remember that with all the difficulties of travel come all the wonders which are why I love it so much.

NaBloPoMo Day 6: Happy Birthday Marie Curie

 "Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves."

It's no secret that I love Marie Curie. She's such an important and influential woman in the history of Science. As today is her birthday it feels only fitting that we celebrate her, so here is why she is so rad.

"I believe that Science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician; he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales."

Marie Curie despite graduating top of her class was not allowed to attend university in Poland due to being a woman. Instead she took classes at 'The Floating University" an underground college which allowed women to study. She worked and eventually saved to be able to move to Paris to attend La Sorbonne, where she got her masters in physics and then a degree in maths, despite being so poor she lived only on bread, butter and tea. In her research she discovered radiation which then changed the atomic physics theory, and then with her husband discovered the elements Radium and Polonium. In 1903 Marie was the first woman to ever win a Nobel Prize for her physics discoveries and the same year was the first woman to obtain a docterate in physics in Europe. After her husband's tragic death, she became the first ever female proffessor at La Sorbonne, taking over her husbands position. In 1913 she was awarded a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, it was the first and only time a person has ever won two prizes in separate scientific categories. During this time, she and her husband also raised two daughters, one of whom- Irene Curie- went on to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry herself. As Marie Curie was the one to discover radiation, no one had yet discovered the dangers of it, and though her discoveries then went on to save many lives of cancer patients, it was tragically the cause of her own death, since the danger wasn't known it is said that she used to carry a test tube of radium around with her in her pocket. She died in 1934 of aplastic anemia which is caused by extended exposure to radiation.

"I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries."

NaBloPoMo Day 4: What Time Is It?

SUMMERTIME!
I'm sitting in bed eating an icy pole right now, because Melbourne FINALLY caught up with the rest of Australia today and gave us a little bit of summer. The wonderful warmth as well as Louise's blog post earlier in the week has gotten me thinking a lot about summer, the oppressive heat is hard to forget and so I have some very clear memories of summers. For some reason one particular memory keeps popping into my head recently and though it has no particular relevance to anything I've decided to share it with you.

The summer of 2008 we had a mega heat wave. At least 4 days over 45 degrees. I dont know what I had been doing to stay alive for the first few days but on the fourth day Greta and Tess came over. Greta and I had already survived many summers like this together, but this was still early days of Tess and I's friendship. We'd been friends about a year but weren't very close yet, and i definitely had not been that sweaty in front of her before. The three of us sat on my couch trying to stay as far from each other's body heat as possible. We had the blinds closed in a feeble attempt at heat prevention, and we spent the whole afternoon sitting as still as possible, eating frozen grapes and watching Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. I dont think we even spoke. Heat waves like that generally end in a thunder storm and at some point in the afternoon the cool change we were so desperate for did finally arrive. We ran outside and were sprawled on the small patch of grass in my front yard, giddy with relief. Although rather than the storm we were dreaming of, the cool weather we were reveling in was closer to 30 degrees. The decision was made that at night we would go with our parents to the cinema, a classic hot day hideout. We saw a late showing of Benjamin Button, and the air conditioning broke 20 minutes into the 3 hour film. We were exhausted and delirious, and the end of the film brought Tess, Greta and I to tears, this was short lived however, as the credits rolled and it announced 'Based on a Short Story'. I don't think I've ever laughed harder in my life, we felt like we'd just experienced the longest thing of our entire lives and it made us crazed. The three of us sat laughing and laughing all the way through the credits.

I don't know if time has made me dramatic and nostalgic but in my mind that day was one of the turning points in our friendship, it felt like we'd survived something life threatening together and like fighting a mountain troll was something that you couldn't share without becoming friends.

NloPoMo Day 3: One Direction- Coming Out of the Closet

Ok I realise this title sounds like One Direction are coming out of the closet but that is not what I intended I just wrote it and decided it was too funny to change, actually I am coming out of the One Direction Closet. Now many people who know me will say it's not like it was a secret that I'm a fan but really what I'm saying is I'm done with being ashamed. Leading up to 1D's concert last week I found myself avoiding questions, being vague and smudging details about where I was going that tuesday night because I knew the judgement that would follow the truth, however I've had enough of that! I like One Direction, So what? Their music makes me happy and they're all so hot, what's wrong with enjoying that? I don't care if it's not your taste I just think we need to stop shaming people for what makes them happy. I think the main issue people seem to have with One Direction is the craziness of their fans. Yes they can be insane but shouldn't passion and enthusiasm be celebrated? They are dramatic, energetic, imaginative and excitable. I understand that masses of screaming girls can be annoying, but if they're not bothering you then let them have their loves. It's in the nature of many teenage girls to be obsessive -I know I for one can't claim that my love of Zac Efron back in the day was totally casual- and I'm sick of young girls being shamed for liking something for which they are the target audience.* At the concert we felt super old, but actually I am still in my teens, and even if for the most part I want to be treated as an adult, sometimes I want to take advantage of still being a teenage girl while I can. Ultimately my point is please can we stop the judgement. Love of a boyband does not mean we are unintelligent, shallow or don't have valuable things to say, it does not in fact define anything about us at all except that we love 1D. So can we please stop it from being yet another excuse for not taking girls seriously.

*Nobody should be shamed for liking 1D or anything else, whether they are the the target audience or not I was just talking about the largest portion of the fanbase, just love what you love and dont let anyone make you feel bad for that.