Prom 2015

Hey guys,

This is quite a long post so I'll try and be as brief as possible.

The season of Prom is amongst us! And although my teachers insist on calling the event  a "leavers do" -which it no doubt is- the youth of our year are determined not to undermine the special event and  have persisted in calling the event our Prom.

Now, there are three main events every person will have experienced in their lifetime (well, I hope): A birthday, a wedding and a Prom. Three causes to splurge out on expensive items of clothing that we will undoubtabley only wear once, if we're luck twice, in our lifetime. So why do we do this? Surely it doesn't make any sense.

As you may or may not know, teens all over London have, or are yet to experience the phenomenon that is their Year 11 Prom.

On Friday 19th of June 2015, St Saviours and St Olaves (my now-previous secondary school) hosted a "Leaving party" -otherwise known as Prom- for the girls of Year 11.
To be completely honest, Prom is nowhere near what I had imagined. After years of watching those stereotypical teen movies of girls obsessing over the "perfect Prom night" and viewing other Prom pictures on the internet I was expecting extraordinary lights and fireworks. The whole package.
In my mind, Prom had to be the epitome of entertainment and social activity.

I seemed to be soo focused on the night of Prom itself I had hardly thought about the role I had to play in achieving my expectations. One of those being that I actually had to put effort into looking for the perfect dress, shoes and accessories.

The process of getting ready for Prom was 99% harder than I thought it was going to be.
I spent two weeks prior to the event rummaging through the interweb (my new favourite word) for a dress. This search led me to an Elie Saab trail dress. The image was stunning and thus my obsession with Chiffon was born.

I was determined to have a chiffon prom dress.

What I find hardest to believe about my whole prom dress search was the fact that I absolutely hate ordering clothes online -especially if I need the item quickly. One of the most evident reasons for this is the item may not come on time, leaving you with nothing or even worse, the items arrive on time but you have to send them back because you realise that it's too busty or isn't in the correct size.
There are just too many things that can go wrong when ordering online. This meant that if I found a dress online, I would have to only search for stores that had local shops. An example of this would be ordering a dress from River Island instead of Asos.

Mayas communal Garden

As I was obsessed with that Elie Saab dress, and it was clearly out of my price range, I became fixated with the idea that I had to have a replica dress custom made for me.

That fixation was short lived as I had left it too late for any seamstress to be able to make a decent looking replica dress (a week before prom). At this stage I began to panic internally.
What if I couldn't find a decent dress in time?

Do I decide not go to Prom?
That's when my mum stepped in and saved the day. Said we would go dress shopping that Thursday (a week before prom). One thing we should all know about my mum is that she is a huge fan of old fashioned shops that have been there for a while such as BHS and Debenhams -so unsurprisingly she took me there first. Soon after arriving at Debenhams, we got onto the escalators headed straight for the 4th floor. Having arrived at the 4th floor, we got off the escalators and began our search for my dress. The crazy thing is that fell in love with the first dress I saw but I said nothing to my mum because I felt that she might have thought it was over the top and expensive.
Roughly ten minutes into rejecting any suggestions she had for my dress, she became restless and told me to "go and pick anything up to try on".  This was the most ideal time to at least try on the dress I had seen, even if I couldn't get it, at least I could get it out of my mind.
To be brief, I tried on the dress and both my mother and I loved how it looked on me and purchased it.

A link to my Dress is below:

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_008010340034_-1

That same day, we entered a shop called Dune. Here I found a sales assistant who was my age (16). I have forgotten her name but she was a super sweet person and easy to converse with. We began bonding over how difficult our Physics GCSE exams were going to be and how ill-prepared we were for Prom. Whilst I was being social, my mum was browsing the shoes, browsing for something that had the potential to match my newly-purchased dress. A few seconds into my conversation with the nameless sales assistant, my mum came back with a pair of platforms.

http://www.dunelondon.com/daviner-metallic-detail-platform-court-shoe-0094508750001616/

The Crew

At first I was a little sceptical. I'm not one to wear shiny pieces of any item of clothing or accessories, but the sales assistant did her job unsurprisingly well and before we knew it, we were purchasing a matching clutch.

http://www.dunelondon.com/bex-lurex-hard-case-clutch-bag-0007500670008642/

It was sorted. We bought all of my prom equipment complete with accessories in one day. I'd say that was pretty impressive.

Now that my dress had been sorted out, it was time to sort out one of my closest friends Maya. She usually doesn't wear dresses nor does she go shopping that often. This meant that it was up to me and a select few others (including Mayas Grandpa) to find her something to wear on prom night.

Considering the fact that I had recently found my dress at Debenhams, it was a no-brainer to demand that we visit there first.

Entering the department, I knew roughly what I was looking for (although it is harder to locate items that you found online in store). The night before we went shopping, I  spent roughly half an hour figuring out what style of dress would suit Maya the most.

Judging by my own feelings backed up by the help of my "unofficial fashion consultant" Kayleigh, we decided that Maya should stay away from any lightly/brightly coloured dresses as she is quite pale and therefore her skin would pop with a dress of a darker tone.

We, the select few who accompanied her dress shopping, decided that we would each individually select one dress for Maya to try on, then go from there. In the end, we decided on a dress.

http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_61252+267788_-1

With Lilly :)

My sisters played a huge part in getting me presentable for Prom. If it wasn't for them I can't even begin to imagine how un-presentable and outrageous  I would have looked had I arrived without their help.

A few strangers who photo-bombed us then took a photo with us

Prom was programmed to last from 5.30pm to 8.30pm. This meant that we would only have three hours to party and socialise -outrageous! I know! Most people were upset with this so they planned an after-party which probably went on to midnight.
Not my kind of party.
 I didn't want my Prom dress getting messed up or destroyed amongst wild groups of party-goers.

Selfie at the London eye

Moving on, being the fun-addicts that we are, my friends and I had booked a Limo to pick us up from  the school entrance at approximately 8.45pm to ensure that we had enough time to say what could be our last goodbyes to some people as we are all going to separate sixth forms and take last minute photos with teaches and our favourite members of staff (but secretly we also wanted everyone to see our grand exit into the limo... but that's just our little secret).

With fellow Teen blogger and close friend +Neri SeesRed at prom.

The limo driver dropped us off at the back corner of the London eye to allow us to take some photos with the scenery, which was a nice surprise considering that when we were attempting to book the Limo, the woman on the phone told us that we could either go for a Limo cruise or have the Limo drop us off at a particular location. We were told that we could not have both, which was quite disappointing, so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised we were when the driver informed us that we were taking a pit stop to take photos.

With my close friend Hannah

Knowing my luck, it wouldn't have been a night out with my mates if something didn't go wrong.

Unfortunately, I was the lucky one who was forced by nature to take one for the team. At the end of the night, when the hour was up and the Limo driver had returned us back to school -It happened.

After being escorted -rather elegantly if I do say so myself- out of the Limo, my friends and I were walking away when I every-so-smartly decided to look back and wave goodbye to the driver.

In the millisecond I took to turn around to wave farewell (as I was wearing a rather tall pair of heals) I lost my balance and plummeted to the ground faster than you could say "ouch".

With my close friends Maya and Kayleigh

When I had gotten back up I discovered that I had snagged the front of my dress, along with a heel-sized hole in the bottom back of the dress and to top it all off, there was a small cut on my knee which I hadn't discovered until I saw the blood seeping through the chiffon of my dress. Yaay. The dress is now completely ruined and remains untouched in my closet. It  a rather unfortunate ending to such a great night.

With my friend Janice

To conclude, Prom wasn't exactly the typical "Best night of my life" but I honestly think that it was one of the best days of June 2015 and if I had to redo the whole night again, the one thing I would change in falling over and ruining my dress.

Have you had a Prom? If so did you enjoy it and or injure yourself?
P.s. For anyone who is yet to have a prom or find a dress, I would strongly suggest they check out Debenhams. The dresses there are decently priced and stunning.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

I think prom is just about enjoying yourself.

-Victoria Justice

Sunshine in the darkness

Hey guys,

I -like most other sixteen year old students in the world- have been hit with the overwhelming fact that we are currently taking our GCSEs. The exams in which we have been made to believe our futures depend on. "If you get bad GCSEs you won't be able to go to a good sixth form . If you can't go to a good sixth form, you can't go to a good collage. And if you can't go to a good collage, you cannot get a good job". etc etc. In this time of immense stress and procrastination, as cheesy as this may sound, nothing makes me feel better than being able to share how I feel with all of you. And for those of you who are going through exams, whether you are an A level student, GCSE student or if you are currently experiencing any form of stress and anxiety in your life, I just want to give you some inspirational quotes that hopefully act like a little ray of sunshine in this dark, straining time.

Here a few tips and tricks to help you revise more efficiently:

1. Leave home. This is probably the best advice I can give you. By this, I don't mean pack your bags and leave (lets not do anything too crazy) but going to the library, the park or even to your friends houses to revise. This can sometimes boost productivity because you are not at home, so you feel less lazy and there are less distractions therefore you should find yourself getting more work done.
2. Listen to classical music or instrumentals. I would personally recommend classical music as you will be letting the information sink instead of being tempted to sing along to the track 
3. Find out the way you work best, and stick to it!
4. If timetables do not work for you (you can't stick to them) do not worry. Just look at your exam timetable and see which exam comes up first and revise the subjects in that order. Don't worry about a time limit, or switching between subjects. This way, you are getting work done, even if you are not sticking to an allocated time for the subject.
5. Have fun with it! There are thousands of creative ways in which you can revise. So why limit yourself to the same-old typical open-book technique? You could plaster cute revision notes all around your house (I'm sure your parents and siblings won't mind, after all, you are taking exams!), make giant revision cards and cover your wall with them, cover your ceiling with reminders and photos related to the topic you are studying, revise with a friend and have a consequence for getting an answer wrong etc etc. 

Another way to help yourself is by doing things that help you to relax, and not to become too caught up in the stress and anxiety. A few suggestions of things you can do to help reduce stress are:

1. As mentioned in my previous post, listen to music! Cheerful, uplifting music or just music that tends to explain exactly how you are feeling is a great source of happiness and stress relief
2. Try some yoga. It won't hurt to try
3. Do some exercise! Teachers go on and on about this, so it MUST be true. Exercising helps reduce an individuals' stress levels as it produces endorphins in  an individual (I'm not sure how that relates, but I just thought you should know :)).
4. Watch your favourite tv shows and movies. Although this may be interpreted as a form of procrastination, who feels like revising when they are too stressed out to think? No-one!
5. Go for a walk. This is not the same as exercising! Going for a walk will just act as a way in which you can reflect on life and perhaps you will be able to absorb the peace and tranquillity emitted by mother nature.

So for anyone stressing about their exams, or staging all nighters to cram all of the information in. Don't! Follow some of these tips:

1. Do not cram. The information you "learn" will only stay within your short term memory and by the time you actually sit down for the exam, more than half of the crammed information will have left your brain.
2. You need to get as much sleep as possible, so you don't feel exhausted throughout the day and fail to learn anything as a result
3. There is more to life than exams, regardless of what you get, you can always turn your life around. It's never the end
4. Eat! One thing that is proven (I have no clue whether it's proven or not) to reduce stress levels before and after an exam is FOOD. Just pull up a seat next to me and we can eat our troubles out, one spoonful of ice-cream at a time
5. Hang out with your friends. This could be a revision group or just a quick casual hang-out with a couple of close friends. You shouldn't kill yourself trying to revise, so why not have a little fun doing it?
6. Google says (and of course "everything Google says is right") that you should take breaks in between revising. I agree 100%. During this time, you can do whatever you want! provided it's within your allocated 'break' time.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret of mine:

If you just try your best, you'll have no regrets

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

If you want to be happy, be.

-Leo Tolstoy

Strained. Stressed. Sad

Hey guys,

As most of you should know, that is if you live in London, I have been on Easter break for just over a week now. 

According to our teachers and parents, this is the time for us to "really make a difference with our education and revise as hard as we can" -but "it is also very important that we rest". 

This is  a lie. 

I don't mean to rant on and on about how annoyed and stressed out I am because the truth is -I'm not the only one feeling like this. Half of you currently reading this are most likely sharing my frustration. 

I've been at home a week. 

A whole week. 

In this 'week' I have achieved nothing in my life. 

Nothing.

Now this isn't just me being "lazy" or "procrastinating" I think I have a problem. 

At first I thought I was just being the same old me -forgetting to do things or feeling too tired to leave my house and do something productive, even too lazy to pick up my laptop and post for you guys- but it's dawned on me that what I have is something more. 

I'm not sure if there is even some sort of scientific explanation for it, but my  brain is going into full out panic explosion mode and I don't know how to handle it. I have major school related stress; I can't sleep at night (literally. Almost every night this week I have been laying awake in bed, feeling sleepy but not able to fall asleep. Does that mean I have insomnia??); I don't eat as much as I used to -all i ate yesterday were two slices of toast and a bowl of oats; I also can't focus long enough to get any revision work done.

I was actually considering abandoning my blog until the end of exams -when hopefully I'll feel free and happy again- but today I was speaking to my mum and it dawned on me that the best way to deal with what I am feeling is just to share and get over it with you guys.

Sorry for going off like that, but if you are anyone experiencing the same things, one thing that is helping me is just talking to my mum -or if you don't want to do that (talk to your mum ahah not mine) then you could just look at inspirational quotes. As sad as it sounds, they always gets me fired up.

Now that I think about it...

This post went from 1 to 100 in like two sentences -sorry about that.

Does anyone else get that feeling that they have like a million things to do, but end up thinking too much they end up doing nothing?

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

There's a lot of stress out there, and to handle it, you just need to believe in yourself; always go back to the person that you know you are, and don't let anybody tell you any different, because everyone's special and everyone's awesome.

-McKayla Maroney

A little spark of Joy

Hey guys,

After days of failed attempts, I have finally got my laptop to stop malfunctioning and work in a somewhat 'normal' way.

Let me start off by saying "Hello" I  have missed talking to you all for a week. What you've missed out on:

• A two day mock examination for Maths, Science and English on Monday and Tuesday
• My third failed dentist braces-removal appointment (my advice to anyone who also wears braces will be to follow exactly what your orthodontist says). The longer you misbehave, the longer you have to wear your braces
• Linking to the above point. I was planning to have my braces off for my 16th birthday (which happens to be on the 12th of this month) but now I'm just going to have to deal with it
• Lectures from teachers about how close we all are to our GCSEs and finishing secondary school for good
• Being forced to think about "what I want to be in the future". I mean, yes. I know what kind of job I want -almost anything that involves travelling the world and meeting new people. Maybe even going back to live in Abu Dhabi or Dubai (if I'm lucky)

Moving on, today has been quite eventful for me. Starting off, I just realised that -in my futile efforts to find comfort whilst laying in bed writing this post- I have ripped my t-shirt in three places. The struggles.

Secondly today, I had an interview with my first option for a Sixth Form to attend this year.
Have you ever had that feeling of confidence when you hear the idea of something and think to yourself "I'm going to go in there and be 100% confident and perfect"? Yeah, so have I. 
I realised just how mentally unprepared I was. Interviews, regardless of how "scary" or even "casual" they are described to be, are always nerve-racking. The feeling that someone else has complete control over whether you achieve what it was you were applying for is one of the scariest experiences ever. I could literally feel myself shaking was I walked through the doors.

Then I took a seat.
And the woman interview was soo kind and warm.
I left that room with my mum; a large smile plastered on my face.

As hard, or even potentially cliché this may sound- if you just let loose and be yourself; show your personality as well as your skill set/qualifications, regardless of whether you get the place or not, you can leave the building with a smile on your face and a little spring in your step. Oh, and if you too are attending any interviews (where you too have to take a parent) as much as you want to take charge -as it is YOUR interview- my advice will be that you to also allow your parent to chime in as well (if you feel nervous). I can 100% say that having my mum by my side today was very beneficial to my interview. 

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

I sometimes find that in interviews you learn more about yourself than the person learned about you.

William Shatner

Top 10 Revision Tips/ 5 Tips On Overcoming procrastination

Hey guys,

If you are sitting any exams soon, or you're anything like me (you're a master procrastinator)
 I hope this post comes in very handy for you. Bur bare in mind that I may be able to give you tips on how to revise, but if you're too busy procrastinating, there's no use.

With that said, it seams only fitting that I start off with:

My top five tips on how to overcome procrastination.

1. Create a Revision timetable 
2. Tell a parent that you've got the exam coming up and fill them in on your timetable. This way, if they see you moping around or doing something else instead of revision, they can steer you back onto the right path.
3. Break a long task down into miniature, more manageable tasks to trick your brain into thinking that it's doing less, when really, you're doing exactly the same amount of work, just at a quicker, more efficient pace.
4. Focus on one task at a time. Don't freak yourself out by reminding yourself about the mounds of work you have to complete in soo little time. Just start, and by the time you know it, you'll be almost finished doing most of the things on your list.
5. Change your environment. If you're in a noisy room at home, leave the house and head over to the library, or (if you don't want to do that) just head over to your room and close the door behind you.

My top ten tips on how to help you revise.

1. Understand your learning style (figure out the way you find easier to memorise things). This could be through acting it out, linking it to a thought or image, making mind maps, listening to music etc etc
2. Once you've completed the first stage, put it into practice. As simple as this sounds, don't lock yourself away in your room, glued to your books for hours on end if the only method of revision that has a positive affect on you is acting the words out or turning the words you need to know into popular songs.
3. Prioritise what you need to revise. By this I mean, don't do what I do. I tend to focus on the subjects that I find the easiest because they are easier to revise and I don't have to put any effort into it. This is wrong because I'm only going over what I'm good at instead of learning something new. The trick to start with what you find the most difficult and focus on those subject, that was even if you fun out of revision time, you know that you have  rough idea of how to do everything (if that makes sense)
4. Make mind-maps and little notes around your bedroom and on your ceiling. This way, the first and last thing you will see every day is your revision notes
5. HELP EACH OTHER OUT. This is just my opinion (based on personal experience), but testing your friends by asking them questions based on the subject you're revising, helps you out just as much as it helps them. This is because by drilling the answers into their head, without realising it, you're also drilling it into yours, as you repeat the answer over and over again.
6. I find, writing out my revision notes using a range of different coloured pens helpful because staring at blue/black ink makes me feel very bored, causing me to get distracted easily. You could be the same.
7. Practice on past papers. The best thing to do is print out a bunch of past papers and practice on them. This way, not only are you testing yourself, but you'll have to mark the work after, allowing you to look at and understand the mark scheme, so you know roughly what to do when you're taking your real exam.
8. Take short breaks. This should keep you focused and should hopefully prevent you from procrastinating
9. Don't keep your phone with you when revising, it'll only tempt you and prevent you from focusing
10. Something I failed to do this year was revise in advance. Yes, yes, I know the sound of revising during summer or Christmas doesn't sound all that appealing, but trust me, the time you spent sitting down watching the television could have been used to write revision cards, that way, while everyone is panicking at the last minute, you're already a step ahead

Remember, walking into an exam thinking that you're going to fail puts blocks in your mind. What you should really do is try and think positive, try listing to some music on your way to school on the day of the exam, making sure that you have had enough sleep and that you have eaten breakfast, so you're not sat in the exam thinking about food.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday

-Don Marquis

Hit by a tonne of bricks...

Hey guys

I'll truly be baffled if anyone is awake at this time to read this post, actually... just because it's midnight here in London doesn't mean that it's not morning somewhere else. 

Last week was rough. 

If you're someone like me, who likes to procrastinate and/or create a false hope that there is enough time to do multiple tasks in a short amount of time, then GCSEs will/has probably also hit you like a tonne of bricks.

Some of the reasons why I've been M.I.A recently is because I've been staying behind at school a lot more to: finish off some of my incomplete work, do homework, revise or participate in my after school clubs such as Netball and art club. So I've been coming home absolutely knackered, which forces me into an involuntary nap, causing me too sleep from somewhere around 6pm through to somewhere between 9:30 and 10pm. I hope you see the problem with this. I sleep straight through my Blogging deadline (for those of you who didn't know, I've been aiming to post every day at 8pm) which is why I have come to the conclusion that, until my GCSEs are over (sometime next year, I think in July) or I'm on some sort of holiday, I can't post every single day

*Cue the worldwide tears* 

It's actually quite weird. When I first created this blog, I was soo scared to share even the tiniest snippet of information about my life because I didn't really want anyone I didn't know involved with my personal life, and now I always say "I'm going to blog once or twice a week" but I always end up posting more because I have soo many things I want to share with you.

I think we should end this week on something slightly interesting. Maybe two days of reviews? Sound good?

Okay. Tomorrow is a review on 'Beauty Uk Posh pout moisturising twist-up tinted lip balm'. What shades match me and what shade makes me look like I have some sort severe lip condition.

Then on Friday, I think I might do another BlueBird tea review. Maybe on saturday I'll post about the perverted man I always see on my bus in the morning. The key word here is 'maybe'.

You see, I'm doing it again, I've already started already making plans to post every day when I literally just announced that I have to stop.

I'll try and get all of my posts up at 8pm whenever I post, whether I'm awake or not.

Oh! I'm pretty sure I mentioned this a few posts ago, but if you want to know when I'm posting or what I'm about to post about, you can follow me on twitter @TrustInJess

feel free to tweet or dm me about anything at any time.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.

Jules Renard

Art, School and my shattered confidence...

Hey guys,

So this weeks posts (or lack of posts) haven't exactly gone as planned. I usually post something new every day at 8pm, but I think my school schedule has become way too hectic for that any more. I know you're probably thinking "well, you could always schedule the post, you don't always have to type it up on the day" and you're probably right. But if the past is any indication, like oil and water, scheduling and I just don't go together. Just when I thought I had mastered the art of it, a post I had scheduled failed to post and I had to manually post it (when I realised) an hour later (I was really annoyed). Yesterday, I got home really late, like around 8pm so there was no way I could post. I was also really exhausted and almost fainted. Today was practically the same, I stayed behind to finish off my Geograpghy controlled assessment and by the time I got home, I was soo knackered I fell asleep. 

If you want to know when I post, you can sign up for the e-mail alerts or you could just go and follow me on twitter @TrustInJess you'll know it's me because my profile picture is exactly the same as my Google + account.

Enough about that, yesterday I volunteered to stay behind at school to help the art department because it was opening evening. If you don't know what this is, opening evening is when primary school kids )in year six) go on tours around our school with their parents whilst students (such as myself) do some 'work'. In the art room, there were three tables, one in front of the other, and there was three of us, so it only made sense that we sat there. I don't even know why, but I chose to sit at the middle desk. Big mistake.

One of my friends, called Zoe, who is amazing at painting sat in front of me. She usually works on a canvas with oil paint to create amazing portraits in the style of realism (I'll ask her if I can post a few photos of her work) and my other friend, called Kayleigh, works really well with photography and string. She'll take portrait photos of people then stitch into the photos with a needle and thread. And then you have me. I don't really know what I'm good at. Lord knows how I've been getting good marks in art. I'd say I'm good with charcoal. I would like to think I've mastered the art of creating portraits using spray paint and charcoal, but in the style of Alison Lambert and also interpreting the art of decollage.

So, remember what I said. Kayleigh is really good at photography and Zoe is really good at painting. We had to get some of our previous works out onto the our tables, so the passing parents and children could see the standard of work we've been doing. To boost compliments, I put one of Zoe's paintings on my desk before any of the parents arrived. When the tours came 'round to the art room, I had a mixture of my works on the table and Zoe's' painting. My work was greeted with a few good comments by the odd parent or child, but every single parent and child complimented me on her painting, asking me if I had done it and whatnot so I just played along. The massive blow to my confidence in my work is the fact that I only had a few "omg, that looks cool" whereas her painting (on my desk) was welcomed by gasps of amazement and "mum! look at that one, it's sooo realistic and awesome". Sat quitly in front of me, Zoe had a small smile on her face (she could hear every compliment about her work), I just responded saying "Omg hahha I hate you" (before you get too shocked, we have a thing where if we say "I hate you" it basically means that your work is amazing and I wish it was mine). Then the art teacher came around and asked if I could finish my painting and that's when I came clean that it wasn't mine. He picked up the painting and set it back onto Zoes table and that's when all the compliments aimed at my tabled ceased to exist.
Behind me, as you know, sat Kayleigh. She too has amazing work, so the parents and children were complimenting her work and asking her how she did what she did and whatnot, whilst I sat there, almost compliment-less listening to them getting praise.
Now that I think about it, it's quite funny. It's not like I think my work is bad, Sir did say that if I finish everything, I could be looking at an A*, but it's so weird how just a little compliment (or lack of) could make you feel better or worse about something.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters.

Audrey Hepburn

Procrastination

Hey guys,

I'm soo done. I'm done with the stress

I've literally just started the tough part of it and I'm winging. What scares me the most is knowing that the stress only gets worse as you go along. It's literally the eighth day back at school and I'm already being swarmed with a tonne of homework, which, accompanied by my really bad procrastination is a huge recipe for disaster.

 If, like me, you have a really bad procrastination problem and you need to get over it, try looking at an article by Harpers Bazaar about 'How to stop procrastination'. It's literally the only reason why I'm getting this up on time

http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/beauty/fitness-wellbeing/how-to-stop-procrastinating?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=digitalspy

I'm literally watching a rerun of movies instead of starting up on my homework, right now I think I've passed the stage in which I need tips and I've entered the stage in which I need a miracle.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” 

― Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

School, boots, whatever...

Hey guys,

I feel slightly empty inside, I've got nothing to rant about. Literally, it's like a void that has to  be filled. If you usually read my blog, you'd know that if I'm not giving my opinion on something, sharing a story or sharing news -I'm ranting.

Actually, I do have something to rant about. I don't know what has possessed modern-day teachers, but I think they've all lost the plot. Seriously, I currently have to juggle my GCSE French writing assessment and GCSE Geography exam. Okay, typing it out, it doesn't sound that stressful but trust me, it is. Geography is soo long, I've almost completed my current low control tasks, I've just got one more thing to do on Friday, then we start our High control portion of the CA next week. Whilst all of that is going on, I've got to start memorising French. I actually think that teachers get together in some secret underground bunker somewhere and brainstorm new ways to stress students out.
Oh! and I've actually come to the realisation that I 100% hate London buses. Especially those new ones that they've recently introduce. Seriously, the design wasn't well thought out! Who in their right minds would design a double decker bus without windows? The gross thing is, I'm not even exaggerating when I say that if one person coughs, I'm pretty confident that the whole bus could catch whatever flu they had. To be honest, he new buses aren't a picnic in the park either. There are windows and yet it smells just as bad as the new buses, which is something that I'm struggling to come to grips with.

Moving on... Today, I want to introduce you guys, to one of the best shoes I own: My Vagabond Grace-cut Boots. The picture below obviously wasn't taken by me (haha the quality is too good) I found it on Google, but my phone is on the verge of dying so I can't take a photo of my pair right now (but I will post a few photos in a new post about my favourite shoes soon). I bought them a few months ago from Office (I'm pretty sure you can buy it from any office high-street/online store) for £80. I recommend them to everyone, they're comfortable, I'd like to think they're stylish and totally worth it -trust me. My average outfit consists of a black skater-skirt, a shear crop-top (probably both purchased from H&M) and either my boots, or a pair of white converses (high or low). I don't really know where I'm going with this...

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. -Walter Bagehot

Back to school: Update

Hey guys,

I think you've surpassed the point in which you are shocked by my late posts. Sorry. I always seem to have some kind of excuse as to why I was late, but I'm not even going to come up with one today, let's just get right to the point of the post.

Actually, before I do that, let's just take a moment to appreciate just how cool my mum is. I kept on dropping (very unsubtle) hints that I wanted to get The Sims 4 -and on sunday, she actually went out to buy it for me. I didn't even know until she walked through the door, holding a Game bag. 

Oh, and the best bit is, not only did she buy me the game, but she bought the Premium content disk and the sims 4 guide book, which is one of the reasons I haven't been focussed. I'll probably give my review on it sometime this month.

Now let's get to the main part. School.

So far I've got mixed emotions. Being the in Year 11 (aka the head of the school) is quite fun. All year elevens have priority at lunch, which means that we always get to go in first (unless we're really late). A thing that annoys me though, is that some of our teachers (especially physics/chemistry) haven't been in, so we keep on having supply teachers which is really annoying because they have no clue what they are doing, and they can't even help us when we're stuck, so we have to help ourselves.

The one thing that I'm shocked about is the year 10s. In our school, there is a designated bathroom for all year 10 and 11 students. When we were in year 10 and we walked into a bathroom full of year 11s, we were soo intimidated, but the current year 10s just act like our equals. Not cool. I think we might actually be the softest y11s to this date.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

Rodney Dangerfield

Back to school...

Hey guys,

First of all, I want to apologise for the delay in this post, I was supposed to schedule it for 8pm (the new time I've decided to post) but I've been busy trying to catch up with my summer hw (I should have done it during summer, but the procrastination hit me hard) and now I'm pulling an all nighter to catch up, so I'm going to have to cut this post short. Don't worry, I'll give you an update of the week this Sunday at 8:00pm.

I know I said this week was 'Review week' but today is going to be slightly different. As you can probably tell from the title, I'm back to the dreadful routine of waking up at 7am in the morning and coming home around 4pm in the afternoon. That's right, I went back to school.

Tip: Get to school early.

Most people want to be "cool" and not be one of the first people there, but you should ignore that. I'm talking from experience. Today I got to school on time, but I was the second to last one to arrive in my class so I'm not sitting with my friends, I'm sitting at the front with another girl. So I have to talk across the table when I want to have a conversation with them *sigh*. That's why I'm advising you. If you get there early, you have enough time to socialise, choose where you want to sit etc etc..

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

Albert Einstein

To all you Newbies

Hey guys,

For all of you Newbies starting secondary school, or as the Americans like to call it (I think) high school, good luck. It's probably going to be the first year of hell because you're all going to be the youngest students there, which means that you don't really have a say in anything. But don't worry, I've got some cool survival tips for starting out -trust me, if I learnt anything from watching the Nickelodeon show 'Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide' it's how to give good advice.

1. Okay, the very first thing you have to think about is first impressions. This is very crucial because until proven otherwise, people are going to judge you based on their first impression of you. This could be positive "you're that kid that pulled a prank on mr ____ on the first day! Dude you're awesome" or negative "dude, that's that kid that wet herself". So be careful

2. Don't allow yourself to get pushed around. By this I don't mean be a bully or anything, I just mean that you shouldn't let people think that they can call you names or bully you. Stand your ground and squash that behavior before it turns into anything you can't undo. Like having an embarrassing nickname e.g. "Sir Farts a lot" Idk, you understand the point I'm trying to make.

3.The very last thing you want to do is blend into the crowd. Be yourself and you'll be able to maintain it, don't try and change who you are just to fit in with the crowd. True friends will accept you for who you really are. After all, you don't really stay friends with the people you first make friends with when you're new, unless you're like me and you meet someone who is too cool to let go of (I'm talking about you K. Cherad :p).

4. As cliche as this sounds...Always be yourself. Seriously, if you don't it wont end well for you. For example, if you want people to think f you as that fashionable, designer brand wearing person, people are going to hold you to that standard and if that's not who you really are, you're going to end up slipping up and you won't be able to maintain it. If you're really a 'plain-Jane' type of person, just embrace it. Your personality should cover everything else.

5.Have fun! Now's the time to let loose. Year 7&8 should be the funnest years of your secondary lives. Year seven in the year that you can get  away with everything because you are "New and naive" whilst year 8 is when you have the tiniest bit of authority because you are no longer at the bottom of the school. Year 9 is when the teachers start to get a little stricter because "your GCSEs start next year" and, well, we all know that there's no time to play around when you reach years 10 and 11. If you're still messing around at that stage, I wish you luck. Now I'm blabbing, my point is...Remember to have as much fun as you can, whilst you can.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

"Good company makes life worth living"-Jess Quaynor

Farewell

Hey guys,

I just realized that there are soo many stories that I haven't told you about. Most of them regarding school, for example about 70% of the staff in my school are leaving/have left. The worst part is that it's all the fun, entertaining ones that teach some of my favorite subjects that are leaving, which means that next year (this September) we will be going back to a nightmare.

Okay, here are the list of subjects that might be a nightmare for me this year (due to the loss of the fun teachers):

Art
Art
Form
Ict
Science
PE
English
DT

Actually, fun story: I was sitting on the seats at the top back of a double decker bus with two of my friends (Maya and Kim-anh) when our ex science teacher (he is one of the teachers listed above left the school) walked up the stairs. What's funny is, when he saw us, he tried to walk back down the stairs but we spotted him and .Don't judge me, but yes, we did. We took a selfie with him. To be honest, I don't even know why, I guess it's just to have some sort of a memory of him. I've decided that if i see any more teachers, I will take a photo with them.
Speaking of teachers, I saw one of the PE teachers that work in my school when I was out skateboarding with Maya. I think that was three weeks ago.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

“Celebrate who you are in your deepest heart. Love yourself and the world will love you.” 
― Amy Leigh Mercree

Arts Evening

Hey guys,

I just found this post that I'd typed up and I was supposed to post it on the second to last Friday of school. Whoops?

A few Fridays ago was 'Arts Evening' in my school. I usually don't go, or even acknowledge it, but this year was different. My art teacher suggested that we went, but I told her that I would only attend if she payed for my ticket, so she payed for the tickets of some on my friends (Zoe, Kayleigh, Neriah, Maya and cheyene) and I. School normally finishes around 3:30pm but the event didn't start until 6:00pm, so being the lazy people we are, Zoe and I decided to stay in school until 6pm whilst the rest of them went home. The one problem with our plan was the fact that we didn't have any food left on us, so I asked Kayleigh to bring some snacks back from her house when she came back.

An hour later, we were soo hungry and Kayleigh wasn't coming for the next two hours, so Zoe and I decided to go downstairs and help out with the setting up of everything in the hopes of scoring some free food. That didn't work out well. They charged us money for everything, even if you were a part of the show. That failed, so we decided to actually help out by standing at the entrance and letting students pass in and out of school. Then we started joking around with some students, telling them that "the price of entry is food". Most of them just laughed or gave us weird looks, but then we had a lucky break with a student from year nine, she gave us a chocolate bar. Then there was this sixth former who was leaving and we told her that we'd only let her back in if she bought us something from the corner shop (we said it in a joking way, we were laughing whilst talking) she said okay and left. Ten minutes later, we thought that she lied to us and left to go home, but then she came back in, holding a giant pack of Haribos. We said thank you and waited for her to leave before we just stared at each other frozen in shock with "that just happened" expressions on our faces.

Altogether, we were gifted: a jumbo packet of Haribo, Twix bars, sweets, Pringles and a few chocolates. Oh, and some teachers bought us cakes and whatnot.

The moral of the story is always bring snacks when you're staying after school. I'm kidding, although that's some really good advice, I think the true moral of the story is to share and be kind. Just because we you might not know someone, doesn't mean that you can't help them out.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food"
-George Bernard Shaw

First impressions

Hey guys,

There is nothing more awkward than talking about the first impressions you had of people especially if it's to a teacher and the people are right there looking at you. I made a comment in my English class that was somewhere along the lines of ''uhh my first impressions of you guys was scary' which we all brushed off with a 'yeah' and some smiles. Then my nosy English teacher overheard and asked me to elaborate. So I went on to say my first opinions of everyone sitting on my table:

'you were waay too loud'
'i thought you were a snob'
'you were scary' etc etc.

Then the teacher smiled and walked away, leaving me to the table of people I had just talked about. FML. You know that one moment every human has had in their life where they literally want to die of embarrassment? Yep, that was how I felt.

It's all fun and games until a teacher gets involved. I hate it when they do that. Especially in my school, the teachers are really nosy. Lets just say that I am talking about my love for cheesy foods. One of my teachers will 'overhear' and chime in with pointless comments such as 'ooh my husband cooks a great pizza' or 'my sister loves cheese too' causing my friends and I to make awkward eye conversations or attempt to be social with the teacher.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

Rodney Dangerfield

Worst day of my life

Hey guys,

Heads up: I am usually not as bad as this post may make me out to be 

It's official. last Friday was the worst day of my life and I'm not even being melodramatic. It started off in the morning. I was helping my friend revise for her GCSE French speaking exam (which I was also supposed to have that day, but i'll talk about that later). I didn't even know it at the time, but apparently I was rocking my chair on only two of its four legs so my teacher because she's such a nice, caring person thought that it would be funny to violently slam my chair back down onto all four legs. When she did, I was thrown off my chair and landed ass first on the ground, my head only a centimeter away from smashing into the corner of the table. I don't know whether I was more angry or embarrassed, but i was battling whether or not to express my anger by giving her a choice of colorful words. I didn't. I just got back up and said I was fine, although in my head, i handled the scenario a lot differently (similar to the lunch scene in mean girls).

That was strike one. 

The next strike occurred in period 3 and 4. Double French.

Basically everyone was supposed to be taking a GCSE French oral exam, but about 60% of the students in my class claimed that they were not ready to take the exam, so miss said that they could take it after half term. Our teacher wan't in the class so we had a supply teacher. Those who were doing the exam revised, the others just read books. I was one of the people revising (briefly), but halfway through the lesson, I thought, you know- because everyone else was doing their own thing, that it would be okay to play cards with three of my friends. It turns out that I was wrong. Out of nowhere this Spanish teacher walks in ten minutes before the lesson ends and goes 'what are you doing? put those away! shouldn't you be revising?' I replied saying 'we did revise, but we aren't doing the exam today'. I though that was it, but nooo. This woman (I am trying my best to say this calmly and color free) decided to blow this whole thing out of proportion and she went to tell my french teacher that we had been messing around and playing cards for the whole lesson. What the hell?! After I told that we revised. Later on, my french teacher bursts into my class, where I'm hanging out with my friends, all red faced and angry, yelling 'Jessica! In my office now!' As if she owns her own office. She shares with five other language teachers. Anyway, when I got into the office, she continues shouting, then said that I, along with the students I played cards with, had to come back to school during the holiday, to take the exam. How annoying. I had already made plans to go and watch Bad neighbors.

Strike three wasn't that bad. I received a detention in English because I forgot to bring my English book into school (for the first time since September). Does that make any sense to you? A student forgets their book for the first time in about eight months, and they get a detention for it.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

Winston Churchill

Much ado about life

Hey guys,

I am starting to feel the pressure of my GCSEs now. In four days I have my first science GCSE exam, it's biology. Wish me luck. The most annoying thing is that all of my other teachers couldn't care less. They still give us heaps of homework and when we say "aww, but we have GCSE exams next week, we need to use all of our time to to revise" they just look over at us and say "so.. it's not my problem" and continue distributing the homework. It's times like this that make me realize that there is no such thing as a favorite teacher. At the end of the day, they all end up annoying you in some way.

I just spent the last two days running around my house looking for my biology revision notes, and it turns out that i had it right next to me the whole time. what is wrong with me? the hours of revision I just missed out on is unbelievable. I think I need to go M.I.A until July.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

Yeah, I know I'm ugly... I said to a bartender, 'Make me a zombie.' He said 'God beat me to it.'

Rodney Dangerfield

Personal space

Hey guys,

If there is one thing you that learn in school, it's that there is no such thing as personal space. Teachers (and) students just fail to understand that when someone moves away from you when your body is mere inches away from theirs. For example, there is this computer science teacher of mine and he gets soo up close and personal. Before you say anything, it's not in a pervy way, it's just when you ask him how to code something and he stands above where you are sitting and is breathing heavily on our backs. It doesn't help that his breath always smells like a cruel combination of onion, tuna and eggs.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

A girl phoned me the other day and said... 'Come on over, there's nobody home.' I went over. Nobody was home.

Rodney Dangerfield

Teachers

Hey guys,

School has only been open for four days and so many interesting things have happened. First off, our computer science teacher quit. At first, all of the other teachers tried to cover up for him and say that he quit because of "Family Issues"- that was an obvious lie. The truth is (this was confirmed today) that he couldn't handle the stress of teaching us and that he wasn't feeling well. I'm not really shocked though, the students at this school can sometimes make it really hard to teach. I probably would have quit too, but not this close to our GCSE exams. That was really selfish of him- Just my opinion.

Anyway, I've got another quote and picture for you all,

Hmm...HMM..

It's not the teaching, it's the learning.

Sly Stone

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_teacher4.html#XOQmc2JSlXSOITEE.99

It's not the teaching, it's the learning.

Sly Stone

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_teacher4.html#XOQmc2JSlXSOITEE.99

It's not the teaching, it's the learning.

Sly Stone

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_teacher4.html#XOQmc2JSlXSOITEE.99

It's not the teaching, it's the learning.

Sly Stone

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_teacher4.html#XOQmc2JSlXSOITEE.99

Its not the teaching, It's the learning -Sly Stone

I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.

Lily Tomlin

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_teacher.html#ifmxsCiJEC0YuwwW.99

Students who just want to LEARN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2dfeVgulAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-TUzEp9lXs