Hurrah for sun!

 It looks as though Summer has come early again this year (If I'm right in saying that the same thing happened last year? I feel like it did anyway) and I am absolutely loving basking in the sun as much as physically possible, or at least as much as my work hours allow.

I've gotten back into the swing of work, my body has almost acclimatized (wrong word, I am aware) to the frantic and massively stressful conditions that come part-in-parcel with working in a hotel, and to the crazy long hours with minimal (if any) breaks. Yesterday they put my overt willingness to work (slash my desperation for money) to good use by putting me on the breakfast-dinner shift, otherwise known as the "student shift". Waking up before 7am was a bit of a shock to the system, especially after a 12am finish the night before, but it wasn't as bad as I remember back in the Christmas break. The breakfast shift was 8am-1pm, which allowed for a few hours of sunbathing before returning for the evening 6pm-1am stint. 

Despite the obvious downsides, there are a lot of perks that come with the job. The hotel I work for is part of the Exclusive Hotels chain and has a Michellin star, which of course means that the food is uh-may-zing. I definitely take advantage of any leftover meals (by this I do not mean scraps of food leftover by guests, I'm not that disgusting) and yesterday my sweet tooth was left more than satisfied by a leftover plum tart pudding. The petit-fours are a personal favourite, too, and luckily for me the guests never seem to manage them (not surprising really, after three or four courses plus coffee and wine). 

If I didn't constantly have my somewhat blinkered work goggles on, I would consider the Manor quintessentially grand and beautiful, charming and, altogether, the perfect English countryside retreat (I am seriously running the risk of sounding like some sort of brochure but nevermind!). Located in the quaint village of Castle Combe - otherwise known as the village where Stardust was filmed, and labelled the "prettiest village in England" - as I drive down the hill towards the centre of the village, it is truely like I'm stepping back in time, or perhaps transporting myself a few hundred miles into a rural French village. 

There is also the sociable side of work. Getting to know other employees from different backgrounds, and who've come from all over the World to work at the hotel, is really interesting and takes away some of the pain of polishing plates for hours on end! 

And, of course, money forms a large part of my motives to work! Hoping that I'll be paid soon, seeing as my current account is now into negative figures (I didn't have enough in there for my phone bill so they've charged me an extra £10...sob). 

Tonight I have an exciting evening of.... nothing, planned. I seriously hate not having my term times correspond with my friends' :( Bro is having friends over, I shall be banished to my room. Joy...

Tattoo temptation

I've been wanting a tattoo for quite a while, so I think it's only right that I do something about it and finally bite the bullet. I've therefore spent the last day doodling potential designs, and thinking about the bodily location for such designs. Last night I actually dreamt I had three wrist tattoos...I can't remember exactly what they were like, but I tried my very best to delve into my memory bank and recreate the designs via paper and pen.

[01] Tatt doodles

So here was the result, surrounded by other designs that took my fancy. The ones that made their appearance in my dream include the row of little card suits, the one underneath (which I don't particularly like, but nonetheless it looked good last night) and the swirly/dotty sun design above. 


Then there is the infinity sign. I've always been partial to the odd infinity sign. This partiality might even stem back as far as those fun-filled maths lessons back in sixth form. 


I've also liked the idea of having a 'King of Clubs' type design for quite a while... mainly because my name begins with a K and because I like the clover design. However, to sound deep and philosophical I have googled the meaning of the 'King of Clubs' and Wikipedia came up trumps with this little description:

"The King of clubs has the meaning of good character and loyalty and the realization of ideals. The card is said to be one who has great power, but one who is not aware of this, and is outwardly cheerful but inwardly reserved."


So the dilemma continues, and as ever, my indecisiveness is winning.

[02] Tattoo designs found on Google

[03] Heart peace design; source

[04] Infinity/heart wrist tattoos; source

Massive urge to splurge...

Uh-oh.

Today I discovered Yayer. If I had any money, today would also be the day in which I spend it all. I think I'm in love with about 90% of the clothes on this site, it all looks so lovely and cool and eclectic and I want it all in my wardrobe. Please.

Here are some of the beauties that are top on my lust-list:

[01] Checkmate Cardigan

[02] Garden Party Blazer

[03] Art School Drape Shirt

[04] Leopard Love Oversized Shirt

[05] Over Dyed Bead Crop

Gonna have to hope for a hella lotta shifts at work over Easter...my wardrobe will have to wait until then. 

Loving the idea of dressing for summer - pics on Tumblr of girls in shorts and crop tops is making me want sun, pronto. Summer is the season for casual dressing, which suits me and my ever-lacking ability to dress up. Definitely going to whack some tie-dye fun out and start customising vest tops - really love the bead detailing on the last image. Hurrrrry, summer!

10 Reasons

Anyone who has been graced with my presence (joke obv) in the last week or so will know that I have become exponentially closer to quitting uni...or closer to the mind-set of quitting, at least.
This term, or maybe this whole year in general, has resulted in my huge lack of motivation that has seen me spend far too much time doing everything but working. I know I'm not the only one feeling like this, which really gets me thinking - why the actual hell are we choosing to get into £25k+ dept for a course that we are getting no enjoyment out of?
I don't mean to seem like a massive emo but it's literally got to the point where I cannot stand it any more. Uni is supposed to be the time of my life, and although I enjoy the social side of my existence here, it's not enough. So that brings me to my fun-filled top 10 reasons why my course is pointless and hence my reasoning behind wanting to quit. Please enjoy without feeling the need to slit your wrists.

1. I currently have 9 hours of lectures/seminars a week, the majority of which are completely pointless and subsequently are spent with me asking myself why I bothered to turn up in the first place. 
2. I do not learn anything worthwhile. Ever. Everything I have taught myself in the last year and a half of being here has been courtesy of books and internet - not the teaching. So why exactly am I paying to teach myself? 
3. Doing a writing course is pointless in itself. My writing style hasn't exactly changed, I am writing at the same quality as I was in 6th form. In my opinion, 6th form was more difficult than uni, the workload was more extensive and the teaching so much better - all without having to pay £3000+ a year for it!
4. We are constantly told that it doesn't matter what we do in uni, it's what we do outside that really counts. To sum it up, what my lecturers are telling me is that I could've just applied for internships and work experience after 6th form, without going to uni, as this is what employers look for above all else. Great.
5. Along with this, we are constantly told that print journalism is dying a slow, painful death thanks to the not-so-fantastic world of online journalism and blogging. Therefore the jobs in the industry we were hoping to go into are disappearing - fast. 
6. I know it's all a part of adult life, but the idea of having to work your way upwards in your future job annoys me. I wouldn't be so worried if it didn't ring true for this field more than any other. Obviously I'm aware that I won't be writing for a mainstream consumer magazine straight after uni, but to think that thousands of other students will be looking for similar jobs after graduating (from better universities, might I add) is pretty disheartening. 
7. I don't particularly feel passionately about the fashion industry. I enjoy it - I buy into it (though not so much now I'm on a strict charity shop budget) - but I can't exactly see myself working in it. This was admittedly a misjudgement on my part. Should've just stuck to a bloody normal course afterall.
8. I no longer enjoy writing, full stop. Bad, bad sign. 
9. We always get told different ways of writing/pitching etc by different lecturers. They contradict one another to the point where I'm so confused that I just go ahead and do my own thing anyway.
10. The course in general could be described as disorganised, 'bitty' and...well, just a bit of a mess really. Our assignments often don't match up to what we've been 'taught' (at least for one of the units anyway). If there was a better structure then perhaps I'd know where I was for once.

I'm not sure what is keeping me here at the moment. Maybe the fact that I've paid for two years already and only have a year until I finish should be incentive enough. I just hope that next year is a bit better than this year has been; choosing my final year options last week was a push in the right direction for my waning motivation and positivity, but now I seem to have returned back to my previous depressive mind-set...oh, the joys o' uni.

Catching a bargain

Broke the Sunday tradition of doing sweet F.A. by leaving the house before 11am to venture out to University of Southampton's campus for Judy's Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair, the UK's leading vintage fair hailing a shopping extravaganza to 23 cities across the country.

The fair wasn't as big as I imagined and from the images I'd previously seen, but even so there was a good atmosphere, everyone bonded by their love of all things vintage. Stalls featured everything from vintage fashion, to fashion magazines from the 20's and beyond, to unique upcycled jewellery bearing Polly Pocket toys as charms.

I successfully restricted myself by only purchasing a sweet little floral-print bag, Rayban style sunglasses and a kitsch scissor necklace; however, if it wasn't for pesky rent money worries I could've (and would've) bought a whole lot more.

[01] Judy's Vintage Fair

[02] Collection of purchases (Steph's and mine)

[03] Scissor necklace, £3

[04] Necklaces

[05] Playing about with the Olympus...Steph's headscarf

Hometown Glory

The past week has seen me hop-skipping back and forth between home and Southampton, twice! - quite a record, especially considering I hadn't gone home since the Christmas break previously.

As every student will agree, home comforts are literally the best thing. Thanks to my mum's knack of over-stocking at Christmas, there were still chocolates lying about at every glance...these I took full advantage of whilst I could (I hardly ever have tasty snacks to hand in Soton). Tea and biscuits and delicious home-cooked meals and puddings and plentiful stocks of every type of food imaginable; my stomach had not seen such action since Christmas. And, of course, it was lovely to see my family again, and being in a warm, cosy house was definitely a novelty.

I decided to dye my hair 'naturally' with lemon juice whilst I was at home. After researching into how to naturally bleach your hair, wikihow and ehow managed to convince me that lemon juice was the way forward.  It basically involved me juicing a lemon into a jug, dipping my hair into the jug and combing it through the lengths of my hair, then sitting outside in the sun for half an hour...by which time, my hair was as dry as straw. I washed it out, as advised, followed by a lot of deep conditioner. I haven't noticed a grand difference, but apparently it works gradually anyway...which I don't really understand, but I guess I'll have to wait and see.

My camera had a disastrous tumble the other week (I swear it wasn't my fault, it was the bad spirits lurking in my room that did it), which meant that the lens broke. I thought I was gonna have to fork out a couple of hundred on a new one, but luckily my brother found one for around £60 on ebay, and it arrived whilst I was home. I put it to good use and took a load of pictures...312, in fact.

[01] Close-up portrait

[02] Maria, vintage photoshoot for uni

[03] Grand piano <3

[04] Silverware (testing out the zoooom & focus)

[05] Photoshoot location...lovely countryside

I was impressed with the lens, it's so much better than my old one so perhaps that'll give me the incentive to use my camera more. As much as I love it, it gets neglected rather a lot.

In other news, I would please please like to own the following!:

[06] Batman tights, needs no explanation

[07] Baby pet fawn!

[08] Charlotte Olympia fruit shoes! Love!

[09] These nails.

Unfortunately I think only two of the four items are somewhat achieveable for me to own. My budget doesn't extend enough to cater for £870.01 (why the extra penny?) shoes, and nor does my conscience cater for illegal pet fawns.

Review: American Psycho

[01] Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman

Never underestimate the power of a classic - American Psycho is no exception.

Christian Bale plays maniacal character Patrick Bateman in the thriller, released in 2000 and based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis.

A 27-year-old satirist driven to murderous extremes through excessive OCD - though more fittingly schizophrenic - tendencies, Bateman is the epitome of Psycho. He plays the role so convincingly that you might need to question his level of sanity in his off-screen life.

Narrated by Patrick, the film’s internal monologue demonstrates how deranged the leading character is, despite his apparent normality to the other characters in the film - a star-studded cast that includes Justin Theroux, Reese Witherspoon and Jared Leto. Yet the other characters seem to be obliterated into non-existence - some, literally - by Bale, given the fact that his performance is so exceedingly brilliant.

The film does not encourage any form of emotional attachment to the main character, and neither towards any of his victims - an unusual feature for such a successful film, giving it an undeniable edge. Such techniques make the extremities of Bateman’s actions seem somehow justifiable, and his character almost comical. Narratives like “There is a moment of sheer panic when I realize that Paul's apartment overlooks the park... and is obviously more expensive than mine” make American Psycho possibly the most quotable film of its genre, transforming Bale into a comedic genius.

Ignoring the many brutal murder scenes - of which involved a wide variety of torture devices, from the chainsaw to the simple axe - the most disturbing scene of the movie would definitely be of the crude threesome that involves Bateman, in all of his unadulterated greasiness, and two prostitutes - who are later, of course, subject to such aforementioned killing devices.

Despite this, the likeability factor of the killer is still viable - or at least to me and my somewhat odd partialites, it is. American Psycho undoubtedly fulfills the ‘films-that-can-be-watched-and-enjoyed-over-and-over’ criteria, combining undertones of comedy, thriller, crime and drama in a cinematic experience that easily allows for its place in my personal ‘Top 10 Greatest Films’ list.

Not one to miss.