Tuesday 25 December 2012

Merry Christmas

The 25th of December ... possibly the most exciting day of the year.
 
In the US alone, more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent, every year. It is this day that is proclaimed by Facebook as the "least popular" day for breakups, however, it is found that lots of couples break up two weeks before Christmas. In fact this period is the second most common time of the year for couples to split. So it seems like a happy time, right?

 
I have some more facts for you, sales of mistletoe increase by 45% at Christmas time... so lots of smooching going on, however, next time you go to kiss that special someone under the green twig, think about this. The word mistletoe comes from the Anglo-Saxon word misteltan, which means “little dung twig” because the plant spreads though bird droppings - lovely, the bird poo plant! Sounds romantic, right?
 
Christmas stockings allegedly evolved from three sisters who were too poor to afford a marriage dowry and were, therefore, doomed to a life of prostitution. They were saved, however, when the wealthy Bishop Saint Nicholas of Smyrna (the precursor to Santa Claus) crept down their chimney and generously filled their stockings with gold coins - Hmm Sounds very festive, right?
 
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are 2,106 million children under age 18 in the world. If there are on average 2.5 children per household, Santa would have to make 842 million stops on Christmas Eve, traveling 221 million miles. To reach all 842 million stops, Santa would need to travel between houses in 2/10,000 second, which means he would need to accelerate 12.19 million miles (20.5 billion meters) per second on each stop. The force of this acceleration would reduce Santa to “chunky salsa.” - Sounds viable, right?
 
Some people want to escape from Christmas, but this Christmas fact shows us that Christmas is almost inescapable as carols have even been sung up in space. The first song to be sung in space was Jingle Bells. Two astronauts back in 1965 reported seeing a UFO. They then claimed that the UFO had one main command module and eight smaller modules in front and that the pilot was wearing a red suit. The mischievous pair then went on to sing Jingle Bells to NASA - inescapable?! Sounds like a thrill, right?

I am by no means a scrooge, in fact, I love Christmas! These are just some of the shocking facts I found while scouring through the internet on the laptop I received for Christmas... Despite this, I do believe that this festive holiday has been destroyed in a lot of ways, and in some cases, has lost its true meaning. It has become an over commercialised event, all retailers have jumped on the media bandwagon!
"Christmas is the season of giving" true... but how many times have you been undermined by retailers by this phrase... engraining it into your head that you have to spend your life savings in order to make someone happy. Happiness certainly does not come from materialistic things, such as (as much as I love it) Apple products or any of the other popular items that we on the wish list this Christmas season, or any other Christmas season for that matter.

For me, Christmas means, spending time with your family, seeing relatives you didn't know existed, and seeing people that your busy schedule doesn't allow for you to see. Its a time to take a break (as much as CCEA exams would tell you otherwise!) from your life and focus on the things that our vitally important - showing love, spending time with people who are important to you, showing caring thought.
So as this Christmas Day draws to a close, reflect on how you have spent your day, and how you want to spend your next few days, and perhaps your next Christmas!

So have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year!
Best Wishes
Vicky
xx

At World's End

Sign predicting the end of the worldI can safely post this blog, knowing that our world did not end on 21st December 2012, as it is now 28 minutes into the 22nd December.
 Well, initially when I was writing this blog, these numbers were correct, however I got distracted, and 3 days later, I have gotten round to posting it ... so just play along :P


Whether you believed in the Mayan prophecy or not, interpreted it in a different way to the rest of the globe or ignored it, we can all picture what would happen if our world did end. I the world ended on the 21st of December 2012, what legacy would you have left? What way would you have left it with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, the people that you interact with every day? Did you get round to doing that thing you always waned to do? Did you live your life to the fullest potential?


Ok so false alarm, the world didn't end n the 21st,  however Maybe those mischievous Mayan's did us a favour. Maybe, just maybe, they prepared us for the inevitability that we are not immortal... however this can be a good thing! In our lives we are certain of nothing, except for the fact that one day, death will occur. Although death is a topic we like to brush off and not talk about, is it not a good thing that we know that one day we will leave this earth, and go to the place that you believe occurs after death?

Anyways, not getting too deep, I want to leave you with the challenge. Live everyday of your life as if you are at World's end, like every tomorrow is the 21st of December 2012... Make right your wrongs.... Make friends with your enemies .... Laugh until you cry.... Love so much it hurts ... and just live life to its fullest potential, because we aren't cats, we don't get 9 chances, we don't even get a practice run at life.... This life we are living is our one shot and we need to make the most of it! So Live, Laugh and Love

Lots of Love
Vicky
xx

Sunday 18 November 2012

Foundations to life



Whilst at the cinema today ... watching Breaking Dawn Part 2 (which was Fabbbb!).... I saw an advert for a movie called The Impossible. 
The Impossible Poster


It is released in January 2013, and is (as described by IMBD) "An account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time."
From my understanding of the advert, it is a recreation of the 2004 South Pacific tsunami, based on a true story. 
When it comes out, it will definitely be a tear jerker of a movie, as I was nearly crying just by watching the advertisement!

 The trailer can be watched via the link above. 
The first 30 seconds of the trailer would disillusion you into thinking that this is either a Thomas Cooke commericial or a cute family movie, however it is far from both these portrayals.
Despite the saddening nature of the film itself, I think it has a very positive portrayal on human race. There is a quote that comes up which is very true...
"Nothing is more powerful than the human spirit"
In the situation, you see each person, helping out others, The son of the family was helping others to find their family, and the father saying "Ill look in all the hospitals and I'll look in all the shelters... I will find them, I promise you". 


hope, inspire, motivate, quotes, pictures, thoughts, inspiration, motivation This is a film of hope. We may be constantly bombarded of images in the media of a workd that lacks hope and love, something which is part of the foundations of the Human Beings ... What are we without hope.. "without hope we have nothing"






Without love, we as humans are just empty vessels."To live without love is merely existing, its a robots life" . As the human beings, we need to love and be loved. 


Therefore this film highlighted to me, the two things which are paramount to our Human of Being. When considering this, the famous love verse from the Bible crept into my head, and I thought I would share it.


"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or 
rude.

Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong,

 but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things." 



On a lighter note, this week I discovered the term "Omnishambles" which has been shortlisted for the Oxford English Dictionary, and is defined as a "situation which is shambolic from every angle". Its a comical word, and my aim is to try and use it in a sentence sometime in the next week! Try it for yourself!

Love
Vicky xx

Friday 9 November 2012

Take back the night ...

My blogging activity has been poor recently due to the mountain of work that is currently building up in my diary. This week has been a busy one, with admissions tests and mock exams, so on Friday nights I like to relax and read some emails... 
With being a part of the "Stop the Violence" campaign network, I regularly get informed of other great charities who support our cause. Tonight, ironically, the organisation I am looking at is called Take Back the Night - Website can be found 

A woman walks alone down a dark, deserted street. With every shadow she sees and every sound she hears, her pounding heart flutters and leaps in her chest. She hurries her pace as she sees her destination draw closer. She is almost there. She reaches the front door, goes inside, collects herself, and moves on. The lock she secures helps her to forget, at least for tonight, the gripping fear that momentarily consumed her.

Take Back the Night Foundation seek to end sexual assualt, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence. It aims to create safe environments and respectful relationships. As highlighted on of my previous posts I reiterated the silence that is violence against women ... WAGGGS Stop the Violence campaign along with other organisations such as Take Back the Night aim to turn this silence into a shout! 

Personally, the aim of creating respectful relationships is one that I believe will be a large task. The stigma of relationships, teenage especially, is that you let the male be in control and the female is inferior, and relies on the male ... she has the status of "in a relationship" therefore has lost all independence ... NO this isn't how it should be! 
Girls, remember L'oreal says "you're worth it!" ... You are worth so much more than to be abused in a relationship (both emotionally, mentally and physically) and you definitely don't deserve any of it! 
Embedded image permalink
Found this the other day, possibly no relevance to this post at all,
but quite cute .... Trust Physics to cheer you up!
Listening to Boyce Avenue on Youtube  ... They do a reallly good cover for Apologise by One Republic, 

As always, feel free to comment, drop me a text/ facebook message or follow me on twitter! @vkinkaid11

Love 
Vicky xx

Thursday 25 October 2012

I am Malala

An education... something that is taken for granted in our society, but something so precious people risk their lives for.

Malala Yousafzai. A 14 year old girl who risked her life for an education. She is now lying in hospital, fighting for her life after being shot in the head by the Taliban simply because she wanted to go to school ... She wanted to go to school, the institution that most of us loathe!
Malala took her stand for the 32 million girls around the world who are denied daily their right to go to a classroom and learn. 

In honour of Malala's advocacy, the 10th of November is Malala day - a day promoting the education of girls! SO help raise awareness on the 10th of November using social media and #IamMalala and get it trending like we got #DayOfTheGirl trending!

To find out more on the Malala campaign visit http://educationenvoy.org/ 
By following the link there's a video that highlights the campaign and the reasons for education to be a human right! 

CHILD + TEACHER = HOPE ∞


Love 
Vicky xx

Sunday 14 October 2012

The Day of the Girl

I know I know, I'm 3 days late in posting this ... Sorry!
Anyway, so as you all know (hopefully) that last Thursday (11th!) was the 'Day of the Girl'
The first international day that has been recognised by the United Nations, that has been dedicated to the "Girl Child'.
The hoped impact of the day was to impact 4 million girls to move themselves form poverty to opportunity! 
Plan's Advert for the Day of the Girl "Winning the war on poverty starts with educating girls" 

I can say that the campaign hit twitter hard, with #DayOfTheGirl trending!! Success! And I managed to annoy all my twitter followers all day with my constant posts highlighting the gender inequalities between boys and girls and retweeting as many day of the girl tweets as possible. I even took the opportunity to highlight certain statistics gathered by the "Girlguiding UK Girls attitude Survey' whose results were officially released last Monday!

#dayofthegirl trending on twitter!
Desmond Tutu described the day as  “A day to celebrate the fact that it is girls who will change the world.”
All day, different organisations such as "Plan UK - Because I am a girl campaign", "The Girl Effect" and "WAGGGS Stop the violence campaign" were rallying for publicity. I saw articles on ending child marriage, stopping sexual abuse against women and many many more. It was fab to see girls all around the world being represented and their needs/rights exploited for the world to take notice!

But why should the day of the girl be only restricted to one day a year? Whilst trying to promote this in school, some chauvinistic males in my year stated to me that it was "nice that girls got one day a year out of the kitchen" or "the other 364 days are for males". By the creation of this day have we contradicted everything we stand for? Have we implicitly implied that it is the only day where girls' voices should be heard? Hmm its a tricky thought. Although I do believe it is required, I possibly think a change of name is required as it really doesn't do this excellent opportunity for girls any justice! Perhaps a day of recognition or something along those lines would be a better title ... something to campaign for?! Well I think there are more important issues in the world!

I'll give you some of the shocking statistics that I encountered on Thursday, to show you that this day is a globally important issue!
  • 60million girls are sexually assaulted at or on their way to school every year
  • 6 out of 10 women experience violence in their lifetime
  • "Keeping girls in school is one of the most powerful tools to .
  • Each year 10 million girls under 18 are married. Today is, help 
Also, some major landmarks were "pinkified" on Thursday to show the world that girl's education is a priority ...
Photo: The London Eye looked spectacular at sunset all lit up ink.
Pinkified London eye!
Niagara Falls!

The Pyramids!


Here are some links to some videos that really reiterate the need for the day that is devoted to girls!


Love 
Vicky x
 "A girl's potential is explosive-the sky isn't even the limit" 

Friday 5 October 2012

Nights In...

After a long and busy week (one that was actually shorter than most due to a cheeky exceptional closure!) I have decided to spend my Friday night in, watching movies and eating chinese ... then heading to bed early with a novel - incense burning and green tea brewing. 

These are the calming and peaceful times of rest that I think everyone needs once in a while!




Not going into anything too deep right now, I was just thinking about how blessed I am to have great friends, and the fun times that this new school year has brought. I thought that tonight, I would include some pictures as memories of all the excitement I have experienced in the past month ... Enjoy!


David leaving for Cambridge :'(
Out with the girls
Our Science Team!
All Wrapped up in Guides! 



Rachel giving her phone a bath
 in the dog bowl!
Ice Skating with the Ski trip
girlies! (and Guys)


School Photo Day!











My First ever "Snog" frozen
 yoghurt!

Breaktime treats in the common room!



Love 
Vicky x

PS Remember, this Thursday (11th) is the Day of The Girl!!

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Broken world, Broken Laptop, Broken keys...

To begin, I will explain my choice of title. 
Broken laptop, refers to my laptop that is currently taking a mental breakdown in my time of great need for it. Really, it wont switch on and has died due to over use ... I'm very sad about this! :( This will explain why I haven't blogged in a while. Right now I am blogging off my sisters laptop, which is nothing like my own *Weep*

Moving swiftly on, broken keys refers to my car keys which my sister managed to smash, meaning I couldn't get into my car ... smart design!! (obviously invented by a man!) 
My Smashed Keys
Broken world is a simple observation. This weekend I was in London at a Advocate! meeting. Advocate is a youth panel of 14 girls who "discuss and engage people with the issues that girls care about."
Whilst there, we got a brilliant talk promoting the "World Association of GirlGuides and Girl Scouts" (WAGGGS) campaign on "Stop the Violence". It was highlighted to us the inequality that still exists between men and women, and how this was partly due to the media. I have devoted a post to this campaign before and intend to devote a few more because it is a great cause to support.
What I wanted to highlight from the talk that we got, is the fact that we are constantly bombarded by the media on our position in society. We were shown a series of music videos and had to identify the male and female roles in each video. It was shocking the messages that we are subconsciously receiving every time we listen to our favourite artist or watch their music video.
An example is Akon's "Smack that" where Akon, is this powerful man with his expensive car and bad boy status, and is walking into clubs with scantly dressed women dancing provocatively on top of the bar. Or Rhianna and Eminem's "Love the way you lie" where an abusive relationship is shown and the female saying "I love the way you lie" or "I like the way it hurts". It also shows the male role being dominant again, pushing the girl and hitting her, forcing her to do the things she doesn't want to do, or starting a fight because she is talking to another man. A line in the song threatens that if she tries to leave he'll "tie her to the bed and set this house on fire". We also looked at a classic hit by Britney Spears "hit me baby one more time", she wants to be hit?! WHAT?! I sang along to this in childhood! If you remember the music video for this, you will see Britney in her school uniform yet its all very revealing... an example of early sexualisation of girls. 
Although you may have always thought these things to be innocent, its funny how our subconcious works. We are constantly being sent these subtle messages, hidden behind the "norm" for the media, yet when you actually analyse it, it is shocking what we are being fed!

Personally, I fully give my support to this campaign! Its a great one, that addresses issues locally, nationally and globally and is something that needs changed.

A video on the "Stop the Violence" campaign : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAKtiEFjcnA

One last reminder.... Thursday 11th October, which is tomorrow week!, is the international "day of the Girl". This day gives the opportunity to raise public awareness of the differrent types of discrimination and abuse that many girls suffer from. So make great use of your day to advocate for girls rights! Get planning and let me know how it goes!

Love 
Vicky x

Saturday 15 September 2012

We are powerful ...

I thought in this post I'd share with you all one of my favourite quotations, by Marianne Williamson...
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."

I refer to this quotation when I talk about religion. On my blog, I do not advocate a specific religion, but what I will say is I think that it is very important. As the human of being, we are powerful .... and this terrifies us! Therefore we all need a belief in an unearthly source of power, perhaps an extraterrestrial force  that controls our decisions, and has some hand over what we do in our life. Its the way we are programmed! People like to say that they like to be in control, but really, when it comes down to it, we all like to have someone above us, who - we believe - will guide us and protect us. 
Ok so, that rant was not really the purpose of this post, however if you do disagree with me or want to talk/debate with me about the topic of religion feel free!

"It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us" ~ I interpret this to mean that we are quite obviously scared of the dark parts of life, however what scares us more are the clear and obvious "light" things in our lives. It shows us that we have the capacity to be beacons of light for one another, however this can be scary as we all possess the insecurities that would prevent us from fulfilling our capacity, but here we should take Shakespeare's advice: "be not afraid of greatness" and embrace your light and let it shine!

Again this line ties into what was previous said ... "Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people wont feel insecure around you.... 
We are all meant to shine"
I feel that this gives me the opportunity to let my light shine, on something I feel passionate about. I entitled this blog post "We are powerful" because we are! and we have the potential to enforce change.
If you have been reading my past blog posts, you will know that I am a strong advocate of women's rights and it is something I feel strongly about. 
"Because I am a girl"  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrCNKX0rFRg&feature=player_embedded

11th October 2012 is the first ever UN recognised day of the girl and it is Plan's chance to show the UN that girls MUST be a priority. But to get the UN to listen, they need your power! Support the cause!
This is a link that will bring you to a facebook page, where you can click to "raise your hand!"
http://www.facebook.com/becauseiamagirl.au?sk=app_318685631559881

And finally "As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others"

Love 
Vicky x


Raise your hand for education for girls

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Dear 16 year old me ...

Today, again on facebook, I came across this video.
It's entitled "Dear 16 year old me". Now the title of the video may be misleading, but this video targets a sensitive issue in a very emotional and heartfelt way.


Watch this... 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4jgUcxMezM
Its made by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund.
 If you want more information on the fund check out the website   http://dcmf.ca/
"Melanoma is a young person's disease"

Watching this short video really brought a tear to my eye, something as simple as sunbathing - when you're young and careless - can impact you greatly later in life.
This video actually provoked me to go and book a doctor's appointment! If you're anything like me, you may have been sunburned many times in your childhood. I don't do it on purpose... I simply have the complexion of a ginger (no offence intended) despite my brunette hair!
The girls in India can vouch for me here, that every day I applied factor 50 to my skin, yet still I got some sunburn.

Melanoma is a rising concern in our healthcare, and it is blamed mostly on the sunbed craze and the desire to be tanned like our idols from California, however our skin here in the UK and especially Northern Ireland is not adapted for intense UV rays, as we mostly get rain!

So watch this video and really think about it! What would you tell your younger self? 
The one line I loved from this video is "Spend as much time with your friends and family as possible" 
If you do want more information, check out the link to the David Cornfield website, it have some information on David's story, looking for moles and the impact of melanoma. Oh and remember to share the video on facebook and twitter!

On a lighter note, a friend of mine told me looked pregnant today! How nice ...
Love
Vicky x

Sunday 9 September 2012

No Man is an Island

You may or may not know that tomorrow is tomorrow is Suicide awareness day, so I want to devote this post to the topic of suicide. 
Today, whilst mindlessly scrolling down through my facebook, past all the random nonsense and babble, I came across a post which one of my friends had shared, and now I want to share 
it ...

"Thinking of suicide ?
You’re sitting in your room ~ door locked ~ with a pen in your hand and a blank piece of paper in front of you. Your hand is shaking, and the tears begin again - for the third time in the past hour. ‘To my family’ you write at the top of the page, but decide it’s a bad way to begin your lett

er ~ your suicide letter. You try again, start over ~ again and again, but you don’t know where to begin. No one understands you; no one knows what you’re going through, you’re alone or at least that’s what you think. Nobody would care if you’re alive or not, you mean nothing to nobody.

It’s night, and you slip into bed. ’Goodbye’ you whisper into the darkness. And with that, you take your last breathe and end it all.

Nobody cares, right? Well you thought wrong. It’s a Tuesday the following morning, and when it’s 7:21, your mother comes and knocks on your door. She doesn’t know you can’t hear her, she doesn’t know you’re gone. She knocks a few more times, calling your name to open up. When there is no reply from your side of the door, she opens it and screams. She collapses on the ground while your dad rushes to your room. Your siblings have already left for school. Your very weak mother collects all the energy she’s got which is close to nothing to walk over to your bed. She leans over your dead body, crying, squeezing your hand, screaming. Your dad is trying to stay strong, but the tears escape his eyes; calling 911 with his left hand while his other one is on your mother’s back. Your mother blames herself. All those times she had said ‘no’ to you, all those times she had screamed at you, and sent you to your room over something stupid. Your father will blame himself for not being there for you when you asked for help, for being away from home at work for long. Nobody cares, right?

8:34. There’s a knock on your classroom door it’s the school principle. She looks more worried than ever. She calls the teacher to the side; all the students worried: what’s going on? The principle then later announces about your suicide. The popular girl that always called you fat and ugly is now blaming herself. The kid that would always copy your homework but treat you like crap ~ he’s blaming himself. The boy that sits behind you ~ the one that always threw things at you during class ~ he’s blaming himself too. The teacher is blaming herself - for all those times she’d scream at you for forgetting your homework, or not listening in class. People are crying, screaming, shocked, in regret of what they did. They’ll all be devastated - even the kids you’ve never talked to before. Still nobody cares about you, right?

Your siblings get home. Your mother has to tell them that you’re gone; forever. Your little sister ~ no matter how many times she’s screamed at you, told you she hated you and stole your stuff ~ always loved you, and saw you as her hero; her role model. She now starts to blame herself; why didn’t I do what she told me to do when she told me to? Why did I take her stuff even when she asked me not to? This is all my fault. Your brother gets home ~ the boy that never cries. He’s now in his room; mad at himself ~ he caused your death. All those times he’d played pranks on you. He’s punching holes in his wall, turning over things; he doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that you’re gone. Forever. Nobody cares about you, right? Right?

It has been over a month. The door to your room has been closed all this time. Everything is different now. Your brother has to be sent to anger management classes, your little sister cries everyday still waiting for you to come back. Everyday she waits for you to come back home. The popular girls have now turned anorexic. They don’t know how to deal with the pain that they’re feeling. Your father has depression; your mother hasn’t slept for nights it’s all her fault. She’s been crying and screaming every night wishing for you to come back. The boy who would always bother you dropped out of school. The boy that copied your homework now cuts. But nobody cares about you, aren’t I right?

Your mother finally decides to go clean out your room. But she can’t do it. She’s locked herself in your room for two days to try to clean up your clothes, your things. But she can’t she can’t say goodbye to you, not yet, not now. Never.

It’s your funeral. It’s a big one ~ everybody comes. No one knows what to say. The beautiful girl with the big smile is gone; you’re somewhere else. No one knows what to say, they’re all still shocked. Everyone cries, everyone misses you. They all wish you’d come back but you don’t, and you won’t.

Still think nobody cares about you? Think again. Even if people don’t show it, they care about you, they love you. If you kill yourself today or any other day you won’t know just how much you meant to people. If you kill yourself today, it stops your pain, but it pains all the ones who know you for the rest of their life. Suicide is the easy way out - but it’s the wrong choice. Life is beautiful. Yes, it does have its ups and downs everyone has their bad days. Sometimes people go through tough times in their lives like you’re probably going through now but bad times come and go. You might not see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there. No matter how hard life gets, never give up on yourself, or on your life.

Take a minute now, and think. If you killed yourself ~ how would the people that love you feel/go through? Can’t think of anything? Well I’ll tell you: tears, tears, and more tears. Devastation. Guilt. Pain. Broken. Regret. Miserable.

If after reading this you still feel suicidal, there are people that can help you. I’m here for you whenever you need me, and I’ll be more than happy to listen to you and try to help you feel better. There are teachers, parents, grandparents, neighbors, adults, councilors ~ they’re all there for you whenever you need them.

I hope this changed someone's life. anyones. pass it on!♥"




Reading this brought a tear to my eye. I hope that no one reading this has been in the place where they have considered suicide, but if you have or even are please think about the consequences! You are loved by so many people, and even when the outlook on life is so bleak, and you are so down that you dont think you can go on, please just think of a happy time, a happy person ... think of all the people who love you! 
I chose the title of this blog to be the saying "No man is an island" because I think it is so relevant here! Human beings do not thrive when isolated from others ... so when you are feeling low, don't cut yourself off from friends and family, they are all there to support you, and hold you up ... Look to them as your own little support system... they are the safety mat catches you when you fall off the balance beam that is life. 
Everyone remember, tell each person you love them as much as possible and show them that you love them and are there for them, because even the strongest person can be insecure. And even the happiest people can feel down, because the funny thing about a smile is that it can hide so many emotions ... its easier to smile and say 'I'm fine' than to cry and explain whats going on.

So remember "No man is an Island", tell your loved ones how much they mean to you!
Everything is going to be ok!

Love 
Vicky x

Thursday 6 September 2012

Quick post...

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, being back to school has filled my schedule,  along with fitting in my afternoon naps... which are a necessity!

Anyway, due to lack of time this post is gonna be a short one ... But its something we should never forget ....

"Smile! Life's too short to be anything but happy!" 

Remember these words, and anytime you feel down, just think of all the good things in your life and the fact that there's always more good to come 

Love 
Vicky x

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Rules rule us?!

Today, the infamous day .... Back to school! 
Really its a day we love to hate, most say that they hate school, but the thrill of getting back into your "horrid" uniform, seeing everyone again and getting updated on the gossip of the summer is undeniable. Anyway, whether you agree with my previous statement or not is unimportant. This post is devoted to rules, and what better place to find rules?! In school!

This morning, as I sat in form class, listening to the school rules being rhymed off by our form teacher, as the rest of the class rolls their eyes at what they think to be stupidity, I had a thought... We love rules! 
Now, before you stop reading, and think I have gone insane, just think about it ... we love being told what to do, given direction. I have come up with 2 suggestions why we like this authority...

1. Its the human of being to love to complain! We all do it.. ask any of my friends and they will assure you that I'm a pro when it comes to complaining. However when it comes to an authoritive figure, we enjoy the fact that we can complain about them to each other, its a somewhat bonding exercise ... Have you ever noticed that it is easy to make friends with someone by having a mutual "hatred" of one person ... complaining about something like the rules they have forced upon you, or the decisions they have made for you.

2. We love being given direction ... face it, without rules and boundaries in our lives, we would be unstable. We wouldn't know how far we could push authority, and this "not knowing" terrifies us! We love to know where our limits and boundaries lie because the fear of the unknown in our lives has mentally degrading side effects. Take for example, if the school suddenly eradicated all rules on uniform ... at the start we would all be wary, not knowing whether we would get in trouble or not for breaking the "Non existent" rules. Then it would only take one 'rebellious' student to start loosing their top button or not wearing their tie, and then the whole school would spiral into a start of madness where people end up coming to school  wearing nothing .... Ok so it probably would not go to those extreme lengths. However after a while we would be bored with having no rules, and get agitated by the fact that we can do what we want as far as uniform is concerned. This is where the protests for rules to be reinforced may come (ok well not exactly protests) but people may start speaking out. Making me consider that we all have this 'rebellious'  streak inside us. We possibly may like rules because they are boundaries that are set in stone, and we enjoy pushing them... it adds a little excitement to our lives! 

So whether you agree with me or not, rules are a part of our lives and are more than likely here to stay! 
Therefore... have fun pushing the boundaries (Don't tell teachers I said that)
Love 
Vicky x

Sunday 2 September 2012

Lightening Up

I called this post "Lightening up" because I got some feedback from dear friends that some of my posts were too heavy... so here is a random light post about my recent family holiday to Scotland!

So last week I was on holidays, and we were in this cute seaside village, it was just absolutely adorable!  We visited a shop, right beside the harbour, and all the little trinkets it sold were themed around the seaside. I bought this little postcard, and I framed it today and now it sits proudly on my desk. On the postcard it says "the world is your oyster", which is absolutely true! I decided to buy it to always remind me of this motto especially when I am having a rough day.
My lovely framed postcard sitting proudly on  my desk 
After our shopping excursion, we decided to go to the seafood restaurant that overlooked the harbor for dinner. The meal was delicious! All the seafood was freshly caught, and it was food that really made you smile! And feel healthy!My sister and I both love crab so we decided to order a starter of crab. however we didn't actually look at how it was cooked, or even read anything about it, so when it arrived we were shocked to discover that it was soft shell crab! Slightly off putting when you can eat the whole crab, shell and everything! 
Our deep fried crab!
Another one of the days we decided to embrace the Scottish way of life and attended the Highland games! This was definitely an experience! I was comparing it to the olympics, but it was more of a combination of school sports day and the 12th of July. Overall I really enjoyed myself, however I have still not warmed to men in kilts, or as my little cousin calls them "Man Skirts"
Caber throwing at the Highland games
We also visited the place where Bram Stokers Dracula was set and had fun running through the castle, pretending we were in the actual movie!

Love Family Holidays!
Well tonight marks the end of my summer as I return to school tomorrow, and I have to say ... Its been a good one! 
Hope you have all had a great summer too 
Love 
Vicky x 

Saturday 1 September 2012

The importance of .... emoticons?!

Random observation alert!! Consider the use of emoticons in our society...
Those little faces we send to lighten the mood of a text, convey ultimate sadness or anger ... those semi colons with the bracket ( ;) ) that signifies a flirty tone to the message or the colon and the p ( :P) that puts across a joking nature to the message. It has become  ingrained in our minds that these are the persons reactions, and the absence of them would really disturb us! How strange!


Think about when you are sending a text, I'm sure that you have thought to yourself "I'll put a tongue face in so he knows I'm joking" or "I'll use a smiley face here to lighten the mood". 
Now consider when it is the other way round, and you get a text/tweet/facebook message that has no smiley face ... You would instinctively ask the person "What's wrong". Or say someone actually used correct punctuation and put a full stop at the end of their message, we would automatically assume that the person is peeved at us "I'm fine." for example. 
These are things we all do instinctively, but actually, when sitting back and considering what we are doing - it all seems very strange and abstract! ... but again I would like to emphasize that this is the Human of Being ... we are a weird, wonderful yet terribly complex race and I think we really don't even know it!
Just a random thought, but something that now you think about, you may become as baffled by it as I! 

Anyway, on a slightly less analytic note, this is a brilliant video about texting called "Textually active", and although it doesn't completely relate to this post, I thought I would share it as you can probably relate it to yourself" Its by a guy called Adande Swoozie and he is got some amazing and hilarious videos on his youtube channel!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6s3d2wdXVg&feature=g-wl
And you can follow him on twitter, guaranteed to light up your twitter newsfeed!

@sWooZ1e


Love 
Vicky ;) x

Friday 31 August 2012

Giant steps...

Well this post maybe a little late for the occasion but i have had some technical difficulties with my laptop, but anyways .. I would like to dedicate this blog post to the late Neil Armstrong, who died last week at the age of 82.

Picture the scene,21st July 1969 Images streamed across the televisions of the first man to ever set foot on the moon ... Neil Armstrong, with the famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

This man changed our society, this kind of exploration was unheard of, and was of course a major leap for mankind. Whilst on the moon, for a total time of 21 hours, Armstrong described what he saw "Powdered charcoal surface"... dispelling the myth that the moon was made of cheese or other wacky suggestions proposed around that time!

Ever since this event, Armstrong was a hero, the man young children aspired to be... come on, everyone wanted to be an astronaut at some point during their childhood! Armstrong achieved what was viewed to be the impossible ... and his legacy lives on. To use the astrological terminology, he gave us the inspiration to "Reach for the stars", demonstrating that not even the sky is a limit! 

RIP Neil Armstrong (1930 - 2012) ... thank you for all your small steps <3


We must reach for the stars!
Vicky x

Saturday 25 August 2012

Noble Prize?!

Alfred Nobel
Today I want to devote this blog post to an inspirational person ... That person is Alfred Nobel, the founder of Nobel Prizes.

Ok so everyone has heard of Nobel Prizes- "the most prestigious award attainable in human achievement". However, what most people do not know, is how it came to be ... This is where Alfred Nobel steps in.


Alfred Nobel, born in Stockholm in 1833, studied chemical engineering which led him to become fascinated with nitro-glycerine, an extremely volatile and explosive liquid. Nobel went on to study the area of explosives in more detail, before starting to develop nitro-glycerine (Of course this being very risky work!) until he eventually succeeded in producing dynamite ... which brought Nobel great wealth and fortune. Unfortunately, it began to be used by countries around the world as weapons of mass destruction.


Nobel greatly disliked the idea that dynamite was being used in such a cruel way despite the fact that it had made it a very wealthy man! So, in an inspirational attempted to right his 'wrong' he left $9 million in his will to establish the Nobel prize, for those who had "conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" 


To most this may seem incredibly paradoxical, but it is extemely inspirational in my opinion. To me, I believe it shows how something amazing and incredible can come from something that is used in weapons of mass destruction.


So a little analogy of this story is the  Lotus flower. The Lotus flower grows out of the mud and blossoms above the muddy water surface ... 



Like this, we can rise above the suffering and evils in life to become something truly great and inspiring 

Love 
Vicky
x