Am I a Boring Person?

I know that this may seem random but due to the fact that I have finished all of my work, thoughts like these often drift into my head.

Currently the dulcet sounds of drunk students heading down to the SU are drifting through my open window and I wonder; am I boring?

I am not your typical university student, I don’t really drink, I don’t like to take risks and to be honest I don’t like people… I don’t know whether this is a bad thing or not. I always knew that I was different, but I don’t know if this difference is restricting me or not. Should I be more impulsive or should I stay the same?

Uni life has definitely made me more aware of my ‘abnormality’.

I can’t stand clubs. Surprisingly, the reality of being in a cramped dark space surrounded by hundreds of sweaty drunk strangers grinding up against you isn’t actually that appealing. Not only is it highly unhygienic, but also it is quite expensive when you think about it.

I’d much rather spend my evenings in a pub with friends that I can actually talk to, rather than having to scream above the pounding bass in a nightclub.

If I’m going to be totally honest with you I’d actually prefer to stay at home, with either a cup of tea or some Pimm’s and play Cards Against Humanity…

I don’t really like alcohol.

WOAH WOAH WOAH HOLD THE FUDGING PHONE!!

Shock horror that a 19 year old doesn’t like the taste of alcohol… What a freak right?!

If I am going to have a drink then it will probably either be Archers and Lemonade, Pimm’s (if it’s sunny) or a Rosé spritzer. I don’t see the appeal in drinking so much that you can’t remember anything.

I’ve only been tipsy once at university, that was in the first two weeks and for some reason I wanted it to look like I was a fun person. A bottle of wine, some cherry Sourz and five shots of raspberry vodka later I was dancing like no one was watching. It wasn’t fun though, because at the end of the night I just got sad and cried.

I've never touched a cigarette and I cant stand the smell of them at all, I also have no interest in trying any drugs... I think there might be a problem with me because I doubt that this examples the lifestyle of your average student.

To add to my rejection of student stereotypes I have not yet had a one night stand… actually I’ve not even kissed a guy at uni… oh fudge I haven’t even been on a date in nearly a year.

I fail at life.

Actually, I don’t. If I don’t like anyone in that way then why should I do anything?

I’ve had A LOT of trouble with self-depreciation recently, and I know that it’s stupid and against the whole ‘you’re a strong independent woman, you don’t need a man’ mumbo jumbo, but truthfully I’m quite lonely. I don’t feel like anyone finds me desirable at all, and although I try and work through it sometimes it is tough. I have a few bad experiences jumping around in my brain and I find it seriously difficult to trust anyone.

I get told time and time again that I will meet someone if I go to clubs and bars more often, but why would I want to be with someone who I met somewhere I hate?

In the end though, I’m not going to change myself just so I can break out of singleton prison.

If I could describe my ideal day to you it would contain some of the following features:

-       Going for a walk on my own in the sun.

-       Watching my favourite TV shows, either alone or with my flatmates.

-       Playing Cards Against Humanity.

-       Watching YouTube videos.

-       Going on a day trip with my friends.

-       Going to the cinema.

-       Read a book.

-       Writing blogs.

Nowhere in that list does it say ‘get so fudging drunk that you fall into a ditch and die’ or ‘meet the man of my dreams in a unisex club toilet’…

It just isn’t me.

I’ve had people tell me that I am boring before, and I have believed them. To some extent I still do, but just because I am boring in the opinion of many does not mean I am boring to everyone.

My First Year at Winchester - Flatmate Edition

I’ve uploaded a blog outlining how I found the academics of this year, so I think it would only be fair if I decided to do a personal one.

It is scary how quickly this year has gone, I can remember having a great time shopping in Asda with my friend Lily, hoarding stuff for our uni rooms, as if it were last week. As soon as I got that accommodation confirmation I started buying so much … well crap really. I also managed to gather quite a lot of cheap food, food that I decided never to eat again (Iceland for the win).

In another age I don’t think that I could have dealt with the influx of strangers, however luckily Facebook existed in 2013. I managed to find a large percentage of my flatmates on the social media site, we started talking straight away and a miracle happened… I didn’t hate any of them.

I felt that I was at a disadvantage socially when it came to moving into uni halls. Most of my flatmates had already settled by the time I got there and during the car journey from London I was very anxious because of this. I don’t deal well with new people and so the prospect of seven, that I would have to live with for the next 40 weeks, frightened me. I had an action plan in place and was feeling slightly more confident because of this. I’d quietly unpack and say goodbye to Mum and Dad, then I’d knock on each person’s door to introduce myself (I bought a box of celebrations too because who can turn down the offer of chocolate?). In theory it sounded like a good plan…

As soon as I walked through the flat door I almost had a heart attack. Everyone was crowded in the corridor and I automatically went into panic mode; head down, mumbled “hi” and ran into my room with my boxes.  My plan had been thwarted straight away…

I couldn’t have known at that point, in my state of utter terror, that those girls happened to be some of the loveliest people that I would ever have the pleasure to know. They shared my love for Disney, Doctor Who and drugs – Nope only joking about the last one, I am far too boring for that sort of thing (unless you count Benedict Cumberbatch as a drug…because I seriously want some of that) After a few weeks I knew that I would be comfortable, and the rest is well…history.

Oh, I almost forgot about the boy!!

A couple of months after we had settled, one of the exchange students moved out, leaving an empty room that would soon be filled by … A BOY (ew).

After living with seven other girls for almost three months, the idea of having a boy in the flat was slightly unsettling, however it turned out that this one wasn’t too bad. I have two brothers and so I’m used to being around them, and it turned out that I missed it. He was the addition to the flat that I never knew we needed, and I’m glad it happened because I can’t imagine what would have happened without him. He is both frustrating and hilarious at the same time, has an ego the size of a double decker bus and by writing all of these compliments I am probably fueling it further.  

Next year I am going to be moving into a house with a few of these crazy people and I am so excited to see what it has in store for us.

My First Year at Winchester - All Work and No Play :)

I must admit that this blog’s title is slightly deceptive, because when I do work it is in fact play :)

I never thought that I would enjoy my first year at University so much; it has been all that I dreamt it would be and more. I’m not going to lie, it was extremely difficult, but looking back I wouldn’t wish it any other way. I think I have come very far and I can’t wait to see what next year has to offer.

From a critical perspective there is a lot that I need to improve on. For example in semester one, my blog posts were not up to scratch. Although I enjoyed the political side of philosophy and I contributed well in my seminars, somehow that did not reflect as well in my blogs. By semester two I think that I did improve, by not just copying out lecture notes and actually rewording them so I understood more clearly.  Next year when it comes to philosophy, I think that I have to write more in depth blog posts, hopefully this will be easier as I can now link back to year one work.

This year I have seen that to be a successful journalist, you need to know your equipment. Winchester has an excellent media loan counter that allows students to borrow everything from cameras to lighting equipment. The best thing about this is that it is all for free!

I spent my first semester getting trained on as much equipment as possible, and then during semester two I decided to take out certain things and play with them. I now feel that I understand the basics of all the available cameras, meaning that I have a wide choice to choose from when it comes to taking them out.

Our knowledge of the equipment was tested regularly throughout the year, especially in Radio News and TV Production.

In Radio we had the opportunity to create various bulletins in small groups, this prepared us for our final assignment, which was to create a ten minute news programme that contained both news stories and short packages.

 For this I was in charge of coming up with a package and a story, each with their own audio cuts. With my news story I decided to use data from 100 surveys that I had sent out which asked whether 18-25 year old's were likely to vote in the 2015 General Election. When the results came back, I found out that although most 18-25 year old's do want to vote, a large percentage feel that they do not know enough about how politics works. I felt that this story would benefit from an interview with someone who knew about the issue. Firstly I contacted Steve Brine, the local MP, and although he was very busy and could not make the interview, he suggested that I speak to a politics teacher or lecturer. William Sheward, the head of Politics and Global Studies at the University agreed to take part and although I was very nervous, the audio cut was fantastic.

Our package was on the decrease of CD sales in the UK. Initially I planned to talk to someone at HMV about this however they pulled out at the last minute. Due to the deadline being close, I pulled up a list of all of the music shops in Winchester and managed to get an interview with the manager of CY Music that day. This was the first time that I had properly panicked but I’m glad that I quickly had the initiative to find a speedy back up plan.

I utilised my editing skills during this assignment and I am very proud if the finished product.

For our TV News Production module we were asked to shadow a WINOL journalist and then create a profile on them. Elly MacDonald and I spent the day with Raveena Ghattaura, Sports Reporter at WINOL. We recorded the interview and several sequence shots, then we edited it all together in Final Cut Pro. Overall I am happy with the final product, however I think there are some things that we can improve on. Due to the fact that Elly is a bit taller than Raveena, it does look like the camera is not at eye level, but its really because Raveena is looking up. It was also a very sunny day and we had a little bit of trouble with the picture looking overexposed.

To see the finished profile click the link below;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwGgNF-UgHA

Also for our TV News module, we had to create a 99 second news bulletin in our seminar groups. It tested our organisational skills, ability to work to strict deadlines and confidence when working as part of a team. I think as a group we met all of these criteria as we completed this task within the space of an afternoon. I think as a group we did well with this, however there is quite a lot that I would probably change. I think the sound is quite metallic and ‘tinny’ in my opinion and there’s something about the framing that bugs me (although that could just be me). Considering we used a DSLR, I also don’t think the picture quality is fantastic. Overall it was fairly good but next time I think we should spend more time with the set up of the camera.

To view the completed 99 second news bulletin, click the link below.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP6rfaAjzi8

My confidence levels have definitely grown throughout the year. At first I was very nervous to call up people in order to get interviews, sticking to emails instead, but now I’m fine with it. One of my most challenging calls was with the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, I had to get a lot of information from them and it almost felt like I was pestering them too much. In the end I made sure I thanked them a lot for their help and in turn they said not to worry about contacting them again. I think as long as you are polite people are likely to cooperate more, and as a journalist there are going to be times where it feels like you’re being annoying but hey, might as well get used to it now.

Although I am looking forward to next year, I am also very anxious. This year has been very focussed on news and broadcast but I am not very comfortable in front of the camera (I literally feel like crying every single time). I want to make sure that I am happy next year with my role on WINOL, and I think the best way for this to happen will be to start off in features. My favourite thing to do is covering events, entertainment and writing film reviews… I can see myself pestering celebrities on the red carpet at film premieres, clutching my press pass as I struggle through the crowds at the MCM Expo and sitting back as I watch the latest blockbusters. That is what I want to go into however I know it is not realistic to think that way. 

Although I don’t feel as excited by news, In semester two next year I want to do something to do with politics. The 2015 General Election is going to be an exciting time for WINOL, and I have no doubt that we are going to cover it well (surpassing the standards of other universities by far).

We are going to have an excellent team next year and I’m sure that WINOL is going to carry on growing, picking up more awards in the process.

Body image and why the media is not solely to blame.

If you follow me on Twitter (@SharkySPN) then you will find that last night I had a bit of a boob rant. 

I was happily scrolling through an interesting read on the interweb and I came across something that made me extremely angry. Someone had posted two candid pictures of a relatively attractive woman, one with her wearing a low cut top and the other with her wearing a bikini. Underneath the images they had written a comment that read; 'flat chested girls is stupid too wear this.' 

... 

Ummm what the fudge!? 

For one, that is awful grammar. Secondly, 'flat chested girls'? 

I'm not going to be mean and upload these pictures but honestly she was about a cup size B. How in hell is that ׳flat chested'? 

I'm going to get nice and personal with you guys and share that I'm a 34B and I don't think that I'm flat chested at all. Yeah it would be nice to have a bit more but it's not the end of the world. 

I think that it's horrible to call someone 'flat chested', It's arrogant and is probably classed as bullying.

Having smaller breasts than others is not a bad thing (not had a complaint so far). 

They're likely to stay perky for longer and  you can wear pretty much anything without having to worry about squeezing your melons in. Laying on your front isn't exactly comfortable but at least it doesn't suffocate you. You can exercise without risk of knocking yourself out (meaning you are less likely to get fat) and back ache isn't normally a worry. 

Boobs are there for when you have a baby and you can breast feed, DD or AA either way they're going to fill up with milk and do the same job

We often blame the media for lowering our self confidence, but it is people like this who ruin my faith in humanity. I have never felt that I'm at all superior to other people, so therefore I have no right to judge anyone else's appearance. If you do, then you are a motherfudging twat. 

Sorry about that, but it really pissed me off. 

 

Dieting - Friend or Foe.

Over the years I have tried every diet known to man, some extremely unpleasant and others that actually made me put on more weight.

Well known diets such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig offer sensible healthy plans that help you lose weight, but they’re expensive. Also what happens once you finish the plan? Do you go cold turkey, because that will probably end with you bathing in a pool of pudding.

During one of my efforts to diet, I was told to restrict my calorie intake to 1,100 a day. In practise I found out that it wasn’t difficult to do this, but just look at the figures. The recommended healthy daily intake for a woman my age is about 2,200 calories, so I was consuming only half of this. The classification of starvation is consuming less than 900 calories a day. Look how close that is! By following this diet I was virtually starving myself, it wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t ever going to work.

Some studies have also shown that crash dieting causes an increase in premature mortality.

Dieting has also been proven to do the opposite than it says on the tin. Dieting can slow down your metabolism by up to 20%. This is your body’s natural response to starvation; it begins to use the small amount of food that you are consuming more efficiently. This means that it is preserving any fat restores in your body, making it more difficult to shift. Because of this increase in efficiency your body won’t need as many calories to function, meaning that once you stop dieting the weight will start piling on.

Don’t even get me started on miracle pills. Raspberry Ketone, Colon Cleanse, Acai Berry...not only do they sound awful but they are massive scams.

Instead of temporarily changing what you eat just so you can look good in that swimsuit, look towards adjusting your lifestyle on a permanent basis.

Don’t worry about paying stupid amounts for a gym membership, walk to work every day rather than taking the car. Buy semi-skimmed or 1% milk rather than whole milk and swap that glass of wine for some water. It all adds up and isn’t even that difficult.

The only way that you are going to lose/keep off the pounds is to build a healthy relationship with food. Don’t completely cut things out, because soon enough you will break and go on a binge. If you are not happy then no amount of dieting or exercise is going to fix your problems.

While I’m writing this I am munching on a piece of Easter Egg, It’s not a horrific amount and yes it may contain more calories than a grape but I don’t want a grape...I want chocolate and to be honest, it's really that simple.