Sunday 18 January 2015

What's Different From High School?

My bestfriends and I on our last day of High School. All together now, aww!
I hope they don't mind I've but this up...
It's been over a year and a half now since I left High School and, to be honest, I don't really miss it. I went straight to Sixth Form so my routine didn't take a drastic change. However, there are a few little things that are different which I'm still finding fundamentally weird. They are the small insignificant things, and occasionally very strange things, that just make school not feel the same anymore which is a little sad. They've been playing on my mind recently and I thought I'd ought to share a few of them here and clear some head-space. I hope you don't mind.

Copycats: I was pretty much considered the class genius so whenever someone didn't complete their homework on time, I was the first person they went to. However, people are less lazy and more motivated to do their own work now and I am no longer flocked by people who "forgot" to do their homework. Either that or they go to someone else... 

People randomly stroking my hair: So this may not be a relatable one but yeah. Let's just clarify, it was never in a grope-y way, most definitely friendly. But seriously, I would just get people coming up to me and stroking my hair for absolutely no reason, then complimenting me on my silky hair. Pantene if you were wondering.;) Okay, it sounds a little creepy but they were nice and who doesn't want to get complimented? ... I went to a strange school...

Bus Banter: I hate to use the word banter but, in this case, it really is the only word that fits. In High School, there was a big group of my year that got the same bus home. We'd all sit at the back and everyone just had a laugh and I would find out all sorts of gossip. But it wasn't just my year group, after taking that bus for five years I got to know pretty much everyone on that bus and I could talk to anyone there. But now everyone has cars and there isn't a bus home anymore so it's a little bit lonelier. I remember the bus journey home was something I used to enjoy but now I'm walking all the way home in the rain by myself and it's just not that fun.

Knowing Everyone- It's not that my High School was small, we just all kind of got to know each other quite quickly and everyone was really nice. Yes, of course there were arguments but I think everyone would agree now that they were about really silly things and all is forgiven. Now when I walk into a room, I can guarantee that about 80% of the class don't even know my name. I'm a little fish in this huge pond, invisible to all the other fish and I'm too shy to say hi. I have made friends, but it would just be nice if everyone at least made the effort to learn my name like I have tried with them.

Okay, so that is a little insight into my brain. They really aren't things that I should let clog up my thoughts but I'm working on it. Has anyone else transferred schools and found weird differences or realised they miss the most random things? Share them in the comments below, let me know I'm not the only one!

Tasmin x

Sunday 11 January 2015

Broken Sunrise


Reflections was my Unit Two Photography topic last year. After deciding to work around mirror reflections, I found an image of a broken mirror reflecting a sunset and instantly wanted to create something similar. So, I got a hammer and broke a mirror my teacher gave me (I was allowed to), then headed out the following morning to the St Peter Port seafront at dawn to get my photo. It was extremely early and very cold. I dragged my Mum to be my assistant to make sure the mirror was steady and didn't fall over as well as keep me company on what was a very quiet Sunday morning. It was all worth it though as I am really pleased with the results.







And if you are thinking breaking mirror's is unlucky, it can't be too bad since I got an A for this project!

Tasmin x

Saturday 3 January 2015

First Playlist of the Year


Welcome to 2015, everybody! Admit it, who's already failed some of their resolutions? I'm not going to lie, mines not got off to a good start but I'm staying hopeful. I think it's a lack of motivation that's is causing me to struggle with mine and the best way for me to gain motivation is music. Cue new playlist...

You Me At Six- Fresh Start Fever: I first heard this song about this time last year and it's been stuck in my head for the whole year (I've been planning this one for awhile). At random moments, it will just pop into my head for absolutely no reason. It's just so fitting for this time of year that it was completely unavoidable in this playlist. 

McBusted- Get Over It: Whatever happened last year doesn't matter. It's time to get up, laugh it off and get over it! Plus, you have to see this music video. It's utterly ridiculous and totally brilliant. I've been listening to the McBusted album a lot recently and I am totally in love with it. It's just so fun. They've still got it and I don't think they'll be losing it any time soon! 

George Ezra- Listen to the Man: It's a new year, no-one has it all planned out yet we all get a bit stressed about it. There are so many deadlines and exams coming up that it can become over-whelming. So, listen to George Ezra tell you it's okay not to have everything figured out. Enjoy the feel good tune and relax because everything will fall into place.

Tove Lo- Habits (Stay High): I first heard this song as a remix last summer but I think I may just prefer this original. Okay, it's not quite the same pace as the rest of this playlist but I'm making an exception. Linking back to my theme of new year, our resolutions tend to be habits that we want to break and there's often a deeper meaning behind why we struggle with them, and I believe this song represents this on some level. Yeah, deep, I know.

Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars- Uptown Funk: Yes, I went there. The song that is currently stuck in everyone who has ever heard it's head. So that's everyone, right? This infectious beat is impossible not to dance to which is why I added it here. It's a brand new year, let's party a little. 

Saint Raymond- Fall At Your Feet: I don't know where you are in the world, but here in Britain the weather isn't the best. So the summer-vibes I get from this song are very much welcome and remind me that summer will come and good times are on the way. I hadn't heard of Saint Raymond before this song but I am hoping to hear more from him. Really impressed by this track.

Royal Blood- Ten Tonne Skeleton: One for you rock fans out there. Despite being a two man band, Royal Blood sure know how to create a loud and powerful beat. Wouldn't these guys be insane to see live? I just think the empowering beat would be a great motivator for whatever you're trying to achieve.

5 Seconds of Summer- Rejects: I think people forget that rock is at the very heart of 5SOS's sound, which is very much show-cased in this song. Not on their album (a major shame in my opinion), this song kind of represents how I feel about school quite often. Just knowing that someone else could quite possibly feel the same kind of keeps me going, and will hopefully keep you going too!

As always, this playlist is available in video form on YouTube (link here) for you to have a listen to if you wish. I've now got an absolute tonne of work to get done by Tuesday which I highly doubt is going to get completed but I'm going to have a crack at it. Keep with those New Years Resolutions, I believe in you!

Tasmin x

Thursday 1 January 2015

New Years Resolutions


It's no secret that I am terrible at sticking to a goal that I have set for myself- may we all forget the train wreck that was my '25 Things to do This Summer' blog series. I often set goals far too big for little old me to physically achieve. One year, my New Years Resolution was to eat an apple a day. I wanted to eat an apple everyday for an entire year. What part of my brain thought that that was humanly possible. It lasted a month before I fell ill (how ironic) and completely gave up.

However, two years ago I set myself one that was far more manageable. I decided that my New Years Resolution for 2012 was to read a book. Now, I know a lot of you out there are budding readers and would consider reading a book as an afternoon activity rather than an actual life goal- especially when you consider the fact that my book of choice was Perks of a Wallflower- but I am very much different. I really struggle with reading. I am a painfully slow paced reader and I actually qualify for extra time in exams due to my poor reading and fluency score. I find exams far too scary to actually take the extra time but it's nice to know that it's not just in my head, there is actually something a bit wrong with me. Anyone that has actually read Perks of a Wallflower will know the book is tiny, but it did take me two months to finish it (I had GCSE's to worry about too you know!). The amount of time didn't matter to me at all, the accomplishment was enough for me. I was proud. I felt like I actually achieved something with my time. It's silly, I know. Reading is such a common and easily achievable thing but I was proud that I could consider myself slightly normal on the reading scales, no matter how briefly.

When I say briefly, I mean I have not been able to fulfill another new years resolution since. I don't think I even set myself one in 2014. Guess I was just too lazy. Which is sort of the reason I've changed my mind now.

Over the past few months, I have seen a decline in my effort towards school work, this blog and, well, just life in general. It appears that laziness has crept into my life so subtly I've only just noticed. Slowly, I have lost focus on my school work and have fallen behind on coursework and I fear my grades are slowly dropping from my original targets. Whenever I realise how much work I need to catch up on, I freak out then bail on my friends when we have plans to have fun on the weekend. Then, instead of working, I find myself on the sofa watching repeats of shows that I remember watching when they first aired a few years ago and then again on a repeat only a couple of days before. It causes me stress and sadness and a lot of the time, I'm not even fully aware that I'm doing it. Surely I'm not the only one who does this, even if it's only occasionally. It's just an endless cycle that I have stupidly got myself into and I'm the only one that can break it.

So, this year I am saying no to my lazy ways. No more shall I find myself slobbed out on the sofa watching endless re-runs of crap TV when I have plenty of work that I actually enjoy doing. 2015's New Years Resolution is to put more effort into everything I do. I want to put more effort into my school work, focus on improving my grades and finally be proud of the work I do. I want to put more effort into my blog. I want to create posts that make sense and feature more of my photography as I know I am better than some of the images that I personally take and upload to this site. I can do better and I will do better. I want to be as proud of every post I create as I was when I finished Perks of a Wallflower. Finally, I want to it effort into my friendships. I want to be a better friend to all my friends; in school and out of school. I bail on all of them all the time and that is truly unfair. I am the worst friend to them and I'm surprised they've stuck around this long. I want to be a friend they want to have rather than a friend they're sort of stuck with.

Old habits die hard, and this change may not be instant, consistent or may become non-existent over the course of the year. But the only thing I can really do is my best, and isn't that really the whole point of a New Years Resolution, to make sure you do your best?

Have you set yourself a New Years Resolution this year? Let me know in the comments and we can work together to achieve them! I hope you've all had an amazing start to your year and here's to making 2015 the best one yet!

Tasmin x