Saturday 25 January 2014

Blogging Failure!

Let's be honest, people..

I think I'm going to bail on my "one post a week" aim due to the fact that I am struggling to find the time to think of a good post along with writing it up, adding photos as well as filming/editing a video each week without including school and homework.

I have my Prelim exams starting this week so I'm currently super busy studying and I just feel that in order to make this blog worthwhile, I should just post when I have an idea or feel like updating you, rather than making a crappy, boring post every week?
Quality over quantity, as they say!

I don't intend to take months at a time between posts but maybe every couple of weeks rather than every week..
I still hope to upload to YouTube every Tuesday though.

See ya at some point!


~ Emma xx

Tuesday 21 January 2014

This or That Beauty Tag!!

Hey guys! Todays post is going to be a fairly simple "This or That" tag, found here.
Please leave your answers below if you feel like it! :)

Makeup:
blush or bronzer - Blush
lip gloss or lipstick - Lipstick
eye liner or mascara - Mascara
foundation or concealer - Concealer
neutral or colour eye shadow - Neutral
pressed or loose eye shadows - Pressed
brushes or sponges -Brushes

Nails:
OPI or china glaze - OPI
 Long or short - Mid-length
Acrylic or natural - Natural
Brights or darks - Brights
Flower or no flower - I have no idea what this means, please enlighten me!

Body:
perfume or body splash - Either
lotion or body butter - Lotion
body wash or soap - Body wash
lush or other bath company - Lush

Fashion:
jeans or sweat pants - Sweatpants
long sleeve of short - Short
dresses or skirts - Dresses
stripes or plaid - Stripes
flip flops or sandals - Sandals
scarves or hats - Hats
studs or dangly earrings - Studs
necklaces or bracelets - Bracelets
heels or flats - Flats
cowboy boots or riding boots - COMBATS
jacket or hoodie - Hoodie
forever 21 or charlotte russe - Forever 21
abercombie or Hollister - Hollister
saks 5th or nordstrom - /

Hair:
curly or straight - Curly
bun or ponytail - Ponytail
bobby pins or butterfly clips - Bobby pins
hair spray or gel - Spray
long or short - Loooooooooooooong
light or dark - weeeeelllllll
side sweep bangs or full bangs - Side fringe
up or down - Down!!

Random:
Rain or shine - Rain
Summer or winter - Both!
Fall or spring - Autumn
Chocolate or vanilla - Vanilla
East coast or west coast - Yeah, I live in Scotland and have never left Europe.....

 
****

Sorry this weeks post was a fairly boring one! I've been super busy and barely had time to do anything so when I had spare time I made editing this weeks video my priority. Speaking of which, this weeks video can be found here: http://youtu.be/x7IZmYXYHtM

 
~Emma x

                                                            

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Study, Study, Study!

Hi everyone!

School's been back for over a week now and Christmas officially feels over for another year!
We got our timetable this week for "prelims" (a mock exam which you use to see how well you are doing, predict the grade you will get in the final exam and also for any appeals in case you fail due to extreme reasons or can't sit the exam) and I have realised just how much work I really need to do!

I have found myself becoming very stressed out the past couple of weeks and I do believe that school has a part to play in that. I got that wound up I ended up rather unwell, and so today (Monday) I have had to give myself a "time out" from school and lie in bed. I was awake the whole night - no exaggeration. I have had no sleep and been awake for almost 24 hours. Not good. So I am exhausted. Currently, I'm laying in bed with a homemade hot cinnamon-chocolate (basically just a hot chocolate but with a spoonful of cinnamon too!) uploading a video and writing this post!

However, as grand as that may seem, I am going to do some school work as my "time out" is from the school building and environment, not my education!

I am so unorganised when it comes to studying! I can tell you that my prelims start the week after next and that I think I have on February 6th, but ask me what subject, room and time, I do not have a CLUE! If I can't even organise that, who knows how I organise my studying!

Truth is, I don't really study. I don't feel that looking over notes or rewriting them in different formats (bullet points, mind maps, flashcards etc.) help me - although they probably do. I feel that I get taught something in class, or write up notes I missed if I'm absent, and I just have to hope I remember it. There's nothing that feels right. You'd think after three years of exams I'd have found something.

nope

But it doesn't matter. It's honestly not worth the stress.

If you're like me, and you are worried about exams, studying and how this affects your future, I beg you; please don't panic. Whilst right now it may feel like these exams determine your future, I promise you, in the long run, it doesn't matter. So, a couple of employers may say "hmm you don't really have as high a qualification as this other candidate", if you show capability to do the job - or whatever it is - they will higher you. Chances are, like myself, your school will be a major factor as to why you are feeling this way. My school prides itself upon having one of the highest percentages of pupils going to university straight from school, and so they practically take the two senior years (5th and 6th) and try to force them into uni.

I for one, do not know what I am going to do come August, when summer is over and I don't have a career in mind. All I know is uni and college are not for me. Because of this, my own guidance teacher (you know? the teacher that you are meant to tell all your problems to, the teacher that is trained to deal with pupils respectfully and help them with basic problems such as deciding a career path all the way up to having learning/medical difficulties) basically said I am going to sit on the couch living off benefits in front of my whole class once. And be it as a joke or completely not meant that way, it wasn't something I appreciated. Just like the time I told her I wanted to do musical theatre and she brushed it off as a stupid idea by saying "my niece tried to do that and failed so if she can't do it then what's the point in you trying?"
 
Sorry, I'm going off track.
 
If we want to be honest with ourselves, just how good are current exams at determining our intelligence? Take higher English for example. There are two papers to sit:
Critical Essays
Close Reading
For me, in the critical essays paper, I need to answer a question on a poem I have studied and a question on a play. To pass, I need to have a good structure (introduction, organised paragraphs and a conclusion) have detailed analysis and most importantly: QUOTES
I'm sorry, but I need to memorise a bunch of quotes and analyse what they mean in an organised way to get an English qualification?
It's all a memory test.
Close Reading isn't much better
Read two passages, answer questions about imagery and word choices and describe how that makes you know what the writer thinks about a specific subject.
The only time I need to know how to do that is if I
A) want to become a journalist/author with decent writing ability
or B) an English teacher
 
I guess the point I am trying to make is that, while qualifications are important, they don't determine 99% of your life. Who you marry or become friends with isn't affected due to you passing your exams. and exams don't test your intelligence. They test your ability to memorise things and write it down in a certain amount of time when you are under pressure. So don't worry about them. Work hard and study if you want, but in 5-10 years time, will your qualifications mean anything?
Without including the fact you'll have life and job experience, if you look at me, the exams I sat in 2012 have already been abolished - nobody sits "standard grades" anymore.
 
Sorry for the long winded post. I think I've gone delusional/lost my mind from the lack of sleep!
 
See you next week!
~Emma xx
 
Ps. New video! Friend Challenge featuring http://rebeccasramblingrants.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Saturday 11 January 2014

Cosy Weekends and Dreadful Weekdays!

Hey Guys!
 
I'm going to apologise now for the lack of enthusiasm this post will contain and how short it will be. I'm currently feeling a little poopy. I sat down to write this post and the migraine train stopped off at station: ME.
 
yay.
 
I did plan a nice little update on my cosy weekend, consisting of me, laying in bed with Netflix - The only exception to this was Saturday night which consisted of me, laying on my friends couch with DVDs.. and far too much food for me to even think about (aka I feel like throwing up) haha.
We had an awesome night! I got her to watch Supernatural (Jensen Ackles eeeeeek!) and she got me nicely into The Vampire Diaries.
 
We watched two episodes and I am now sitting typing this post with only one other tab open; you guessed it, Netflix! and it is sitting waiting for me to press play on episode 6 :)
 
School has started back this week which, so far, has involved me skipping a class (Don't do this guys, education c'est trés imporante), heckling a senior member of staff in the corridor about me dropping a class (as in the one I skipped), being told "no", continuing to skip it and then going to my other classes and realising I reaaalllly need to revise for them since I have "pre-exams" coming up in like, literally two weeks!!!!

I hope you all are having fun at school or college or wherever you are and are feeling well! I'm off to lie in bed, watching vampire diaries and having an early night. Hopefully this little migraine of mine will disappear in the morning! I struggle to get up for school the best of days without being ill also!
 
See ya next week!
~Emma x

Ps. Mini Vlog & Haul from moi can be seen here :)  http://youtu.be/Lp64jOYi09s