Friday, 30 August 2013

Back to College

Hello,

Well as the title suggests I'm back to college. Today we were at the Hunterian Museum. Details will be posted on my official College blog which is now up and running. I fixed the spelling mistake in Quintessential Go me! Being back at college is fun yet stressful. Moneys have to be paid and time used up but it's all worth it...Well it will be one day... just kidding I love it. It's good to be back.

I joined the gym! Yes I actually am taking an interest in my health. I have been going almost everyday so far and I have been making an effort to actually eat healthy.....er. I have really enjoyed going it really gives me a boost when I go I think "Yes I'm actually losing weight". Whether that's true or not because I don't actually keep a record of my weight exactly. At the moment I'm around thirteen stone but I could stand to lose some weight. I'm about a UK size 16 and my aim is to drop a dress size. Today is my Purge day. The one day a week I get to forget all the healthy stuff and eat what I want and laze about if I want as I have heard that your body gets used to the change in lifestyle and adapts and you end up not losing as much but if you have a day where you can do what you like it resets your system thinking it's still unhealthy and you lose the weight.

Admittedly this does sound like its a load of bogus but it's my way and I'll stick to it. I also take two days off the gym a week as I just don't have the time on those days. Wednesdays and Fridays are my two full college days and I work straight after college till seven so all I can think about after work is getting my dinner, college homework or blog updates and then sleep. This is the first week of my new healthier lifestyle and so far I don't see much difference but I'm sure I'll get there.

It's my Gran's birthday tomorrow and I have got her something very special. I have went halves with my Dad on it as it was quite expensive but it was my idea. I'm going to visit my Gran tomorrow so I'll be able to tell her in person. I've been sitting on what it is for months so I have been tempted to tell her so many times.

My friend 'spazzyhawk' is away to college just outside Edinburgh. He's doing Animal Care so I hope he's having a great time.

The New Doctor has now been announced Woo Wee Ooo.

Have to admit I was disappointed because I had heard rumors that Andrew Scott was one of the favorites in the betting and I had hoped they were true. Peter Capaldi though..... I don't know how I feel about him being the Doctor. For one he's older than all the previous doctors of the new series. Secondly he has in fact been in the series before and though I could look the other way when they did it with Martha as it was explained as her cousin I feel weird about the whole thing. Finally the only things I've seen Peter Capaldi in was Spartacus which isn't exactly family friendly and Torchwood where he played John Frobisher which is set in the same universe as Doctor Who and John Frobisher is quite a spineless character and both of those don't fit with my image of the Doctor. I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what he's like.

Sherlock is back on our screens soon. I can't wait! I've been ogling pictures of BC all summer and watching almost everything he's ever been in. If you ever get the chance I would highly recommend Hawking, Amazing Grace and of course the fabulous Parade's End (Even if he does go blonde).

Played some more of Final Fantasy X. Got unstuck. I'm now right near the end. I've got to entering Sin and going through that map that only shows you where you've already been.

In college we are doing a series of small projects in order to build up portfolios for applying to universities and art schools but I've barely even thought of where I would want to go. Ideally if I could stay at home and still go to art school or university it would be brilliant but it might not go that way and then I'd have to start researching accommodation and part time jobs. In saying that moving away might be fun. Meeting new friends, flat sharing and the like.

I still have alot to think about.

Bobbi Jean
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Thursday, 1 August 2013

Summer's almost over

Hi

So summer ends at the end of August. Have I have done alot since I last posted?...Not really. I did to the Glasgow Comic Con and got burnt shoulders from walking about Glasgow. While I was there I bought my first comic books. Which I have yet to read. Mostly Avengers though I did buy some Scooby doo although for 50p a comic it did seem like a good deal. In saying that I spent most of my wages over that weekend.

I also spent about four days in total gaining research for my print project for when I go back to college. I still havent posted on my "college blog" but I think I'll start it when I get back to college. It'll be easier to update regularly if I set deadlines for the college week and update it in that way. I got my timetable for college which I kind of like it but one of the days I have to go in at 2.15 to 6.15 which means later getting home. It also means less money as I usually work Thursday from 5 till 6. The lady I go to is not amused. She hated it when I told her.

I saw the educational psychologist last week who said I may have dyspraxia. She's going to send the report to my college and I'll hear from there. Dyspraxia is confusing. I don't really know how to explain exactly what it is but I known some symptoms are: Being easily distracted, Being uncoordinated, Forgetfulness leading to the misplacing of things, the inability to judge distances properly.
Those arent the only symptoms. There is a whole host of others but not everyone with dyspraxia has them and not everyone with those symptoms is dyspraxic. One of my Mum's friend's son has dyspraxia so my Mum has been joking that it must be the way we were raised as we pretty much grew up in the same house.

Mum's lodger, John, who has lived with us for years, went to England for two weeks so Mum and I have been keeping house. Needless to say while our washing has been kept up with and we have done well with cooking meals we have a surplus of food nearly out of date, piles of ironing and we no longer have any clean dishes. It's my fault. Mum works from 8.30am till midnight every night so I should have done it however I got distracted. I got Netflix so I've been watching The Vampire Diaries right the way through for the first time. I'm such a Delena shipper. Ian Somerhalder is so.. Hot. And the chemistry between Elena is Damon is sizzling.

I found my old PS2 meaning I've been playing Final Fantasy X over again.  I got to the battle with Seymour just before the Zanarkand Ruins and got stuck so I restarted the gameon another save slot and am currently trying to level up in the Kilika Woods after gaining the second Aeon, Ifrit, so I can get round the Sphere Grid before moving on as I realised when I was trying the Seymour battle that I couldn't level up properly with the robot things because I kept dying. So I thought I'd try to get Yuna some actual melee skills because she can't hold her own in the battles. I have to admit I don't have much experiance with the Expert Sphere Grid so I'm still using the Basic. I have played Final Fantasy X2 but as I didn't complete the Final Fantasy X on my own I thought I should probably do that first. I heard that it's being restored for Playstation 3 but I don't have one nor an Xbox 360 so I'm gonna stay true to the PS2 version till it blackout and dies.

I know to most who wouldn't have played the game that the last paragraph will seem like gibberish but I used to watch my step/foster sister play it all the timeand I got really in to it. Video/computer games are my guilty pleasure. FFX, FFX2, Star Ocean, Bloody Roar 4, Ragnarok, Tibia, Ragnarok 2, WoW. These are my secret stash of goodies. I haven't played some of them in a while especially WoW because that one's expensive and I only took the free trial but I can't help but return to them every so often.

Most of my Holidays has been working. Holidays always me work for me because I happen to live with my boss. My Mum won't take no for an answer when she wants me to cover and it's very hard to argue when she says 'but all you'll be doing is sitting watching TV' and of course everyone wants to go on holidays at the same time. Some people say holidays should be banned. Mine kind of are. I still get holiday pay but Mum and I never go on holiday and now that she's a boss she hasn't got the time too. She did suggest we go to Amsterdam for the weekend but then we'd both have to get a passport.

Speaking of passports. With the Scottish Independance refrendum coming up sometime in the future I told someone the other day that they would need to get a passport to go to England if the Yes vote won and he said no because we'd still be a part of the UK.....Don't think he really gets what independance means.

Personally I am against independance. I don't think we have the money to sustain ourselves independantly however sometime that really gets on my nerves is the 'young people' argument. So called due to the fact that its the first thing young people say when they believe we should go independant and try to counter the no money argument. This is the 'but the North Sea Oil'. Here's the problem: This is not a sustainable source of income. Sooner or later the oil will run out and we no longer have the heavy industry of yester year to support us. True we do have the service industry, the whisky, Irn Bru and electricity but is it enough? I don't know, I'm not an economist, but I would like to hear these arguments rather than just 'oil' out of the mouths of young people.

Anyway it's late and I have to wake up early tomorrow for work.
Night
Bobbi Jean
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Saturday, 8 June 2013

High on Life

I haven't updated in a while but I've been out enjoying the sunshine. Every day I'm trying to avoid going home because I think it's such a waste to be stuck inside during the summer.

I took my dog to the park the other week and I took my camera with me. Big Mistake. My dog is terrified of cameras. The park is basically one steep hill and I took her to the top and took out my camera and she ran right down the bottom and refused to come back up. I had thought she would just hide behind my like she usually does but no. Right down the bottom and when I went to follow her I slipped and fell flat on my face.

I have gotten some new clients to go to so I have been busier with work. The new clients are really nice. I really love my job. I get to meet so many different people.

College stopped two weeks ago but I just got my summer project or should I say projects yesterday, my first project for a print project inspired by the shop Anthropologie. There are two options for that project. Either an interior based where the project is based towards a cushion design or a fashion project based towards a dress.

I think I'll probably do the interior based project as I want to keep my options open rather than limiting myself to fashion. Plus I really enjoyed my interior project from the end of my first year at college.

The second project set to us is an embroidery project based on the medical/science exhibits at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. ( I keep calling it the Hungarian Museum)

I have a plan. My plan is to use my one free day a week to go to the Hunterian Museum and try drawing some stuff  then I can test out ideas before I get back to college. I am also going to research boot fairs and craft fairs to go to over the summer to get interesting drawing source for the Anthropologie project. Our keyword is Nomad so I reckon that might be the best place to get started.

Anyway for my second year of my HND the lecturers have suggested that we all keep a blog. Now as I already have this blog I asked them if I should just use this one. However they said I should keep a separate one just for projects and work and stuff like that so I have started another blog where as I go through my second year at college I will upload my projects as I have been meaning to on this.

Life is going great and I have a whole host of things lined up to do. Next week I'm going to my old school to play in the band for the school show, July I'm going, hopefully, to comic con, August I'm going back to see Rocky Horror with my friends 'thisiscarole' and 'spazzyhawk' (if their still up for it, if not I've got to find someone else to go with cos it was fantastic the last time), then I had got something planned for my Gran's birthday for September however it's been pushed back to November but I cant say too much about that (don't want it leaking back to Gran) so the next few months are going to be good.


Bobbi Jean Shields
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Thursday, 23 May 2013

We're all going on a Summer Holiday

Hiya

College is winding down. I only have two weeks left.

I finished making my dress and I finished my work for my CAD class.

I have really enjoyed college this year and since I got accepted into second year I am looking forward to next year now. I have been looking up evening classes but I don't know if I'll be able to go to them.

I have a new client to go to so more of my free time has been eaten up by work and just today my mum who is also my boss asked me to taken on another client.

I am hopefully going to comic con this year!! My best friend asked if I wanted to so I said I'll go if she goes to Rocky Horror with me as it's back in Glasgow in August. I'm looking forward to going and I think I'm going to go as Sherlock from the BBC series.

Doctor Who is finished for this series. I have to say I am quite disappointed by the series finale. There was such a build up during the episode and it was so anticlimatic. However, in saying that, I do like that River Song is back. I hope they don't split the next season of Doctor Who the way they did this season.

BBC's Sherlock is back on British screens in September. The dates for the new episodes are:
15 Sep. 2013
22 Sep. 2013
29 Sep. 2013

And! Sherlock's suicide is apparently explained unlike in the original Arthur Conan Doyle novels where Sherlock Holmes just reappears without explaination. I can't wait! I've been YouTube Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and watching and re-watching Sherlock till my eyes bleed. I know it's a little early to be fangirling but the BBC just seem to have a knack for getting me hooked on their programs.

I still havent read all of the original ACD short stories I have read a Scandal in Belgravia and the one about the ginger's but I havent quite gotten to Moriarty nor have I read anything about Mycroft yet but I seem to have went off books for the time being. I might get back into them as the summer starts.

Sayonara

Bobbi Jean
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Tuesday, 30 April 2013

Free Days

Today I had a completely free day. I had arranged to go out to the cinema with my friends but they got busy. So we're going to see Ironman 3 on Saturday instead. We are restricted to the 2d version because one of my friends can't watch 3d without hurting his eyes.

I thought I would make the most of the sun today and went to put on my summer clothes. I was hoping for a dress but all my dresses are too formal to wear so I went shopping. I think I spent over £100. I'm definitely going to start hiding my bank card from myself. After going shopping and spending an extortionate amount of money on clothes I went home and practised the piano.

Yes I actually practised! Unfortunately I discovered that:
1. My piano is severely out of tune and
2. My keys are really stiff so I can't play anything without the keys staying pressed.
Then I had to stop and look for some WD40 to fix it but I couldn't find any.

I also took my dog out to the park. It was really nice and warm for Scotland. Recently all I have heard from other Scottish people is that Scotland doesn't get good summers. Rubbish! Utter Rubbish. The problem is that the people have raised their expectations.

With all the holiday's people go on I can see how it can easily happen but for me a good summer is one where I can go at least a week straight without needing a raincoat or jumper.

I went to St Andrew's University a few years ago for a project called the Sutton Trust. It's basically a taster course for university life but while I was there I met some really interesting people.

One of those people was from England and when we got there it was sunny. The next day we all visited the beach. I had a kagul (a very thin raincoat) in my bag. It was very warm and sunny but this is Scotland so it's best to best prepared. Anyway one of the guys from England came out to the beach in shorts and a tshirt. No surprise that when it rained he got soaked! I asked him if he had a raincoat and he said that because it was St Andrews and it was on a beach he didn't think he'd need one.

Probably because I'm from Scotland I never go to stay anywhere without my kagul. Even if I think it's going to be sunny because living here I try to always be prepared for the prospect of rain.

In saying that I sometimes go overboard. I still wear a heavy raincoat to college right through till May just in case of heavy showers. Then I switch to my kagul.

I have been looking up new skills to learn since my college has been winding down. I'm now looking towards friendship bracelets. I think incorporating this skill into my textile sample's for college could be interesting. I think that it'll wait until next year as we are entering the stage in one of our classes that we're actually making the dress we have designed and in our other class we are printing so it isn't very 3d.

I have a big to do list for myself now. Things I'm promising myself I'm going to do soon. I bought a load of tshirts which I have a design to go on one using iron on paper. The others I'm planning to Tye Dye or to use as my 'print Tshirts'. I'm envisioning having a tshirt which I can wear to print class and not work about getting dye on it because the whole thing will have smears of paint and dye. A bit like when you used to wear an old shirt in primary school when you were doing something messy.

I have knitted bags that I have to put a lining in. I have pockets of jackets to repair and I have a pair of jeans that I have cut into sorts to customise.

Little projects that I haven't thought about over the college year. I have revisited my watching of anime though. I am thinking about trying to draw anime and working on drawing to upload to my deviant art account. The drawings I've currently got on there are not really that good. I posted them years ago. Time for fresh stuff to go up.

Bobbi Jean
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Saturday, 27 April 2013

Sunny days, Busy Nights

So... I handed in my coursework for two of my classes this week. Phew! Glad thats over.
One was my Professional Design Practice Class where I and a team of four other people had to design a neckpiece.We started a blog about our project together which you can check out:
lelegancenoire.blogspot.co.uk

The other class was my Graded Unit which I had to do a presentation for. I still have to hand in an evaluation of that project which goes in on Monday. So needless to say I have been busy for the passed few weeks.

This week I'm going to see Iron Man with my friends 'spazzyhawk' and 'thisiscarole'. I'm looking forward to it alot.

This week I managed to find a little spare time and we went on a picnic.

Well... We didn't count on the weather. It started out a really nice sunny day. I turned up to the park at ten to eleven because I underestimated two things:

Firstly how much time I would be spending in the shop and also how long it would take to get there.

Our agreed time to meet was 12.30. I went into the wee cafe in the park but they said I couldn't wait in there without buying anything and I didn't have any cash on me (They didn't take card). Anyway I went outside and I started raining on and off till my friends got there so I was freezing and wet and we all decided to go back to 'thisiscarole's house due to the rain.

Funny thing. The weather. It didn't rain at all from the moment we went back to her house.

Most of our food went uneaten and it was a bit of a job carrying it all but I  really want to do that again It was really fun and I can't wait for next week's movie night.

I started putting together the pattern for my dress at college. I'm so excited to be bringing it to life. It's an a-line with embroidered panels. Although I found it was hard finding fashion source for a-line dresses. They all seem to be either too simple or they're brought in at the waist.

My weekly shot of Doctor Who and Glee is approaching.
dunabunk signing out for the week
Over and out!
Bobbi Jean
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Monday, 8 April 2013

Happenings This Week


Okay the most exciting news I have  this week is that mum got a new car. I'm so excited I wish I could drive just to get  a wee shot of it but even if I had had passed my driving  test its unlikely that I would be driving it.  I'm not on the insurance. If I was on the insurance  then I could but there's no point when I pass my  test I'll try to get my own car so getting put on the insurance is pointless for the moment but it is different. 

 Our old car was a Peugeot 106. No power steering. No central locking. No radio. This car has all those things and more. It's a yellow Peugeot 107 and it's great. I won't get to spend much time in it tho. Mum spends all her time working so she needs it. Shame!


I keep thinking about cars and flats and all those things that most independent adults have. Not that I'm anywhere near ready to have all those things myself but I find  myself looking up these things in my spare time. I don't have the  money to actually get any of these things but I can dream. Truth be told I don't reckon I'll move out until after I leave the  education system which might be years and years from now. 

The bad thing about having your mum as your boss is that you get very little time off during your holidays I have two weeks off of college and I swear I haven't had a full day off since I was at college. I find myself being booked in for shifts without even being consulted. Today I was told that I'm working tomorrow morning. Told, not asked.   Don't get me wrong when the paycheck comes in I like it but it interrupts  my plans for the day.

Recently I have started to get back into watching Anime. I used to watch it as a kid and I've just recently started watching Fruit's Basket. I'm really getting into it. I  love Yumi's character and Ayame is really funny. He's so vain.  I have also use my Holiday from college to level up my character  on Ragnarok Online. I love to play it in my spare time but with  college my free time has been few and far between.  My best friends 'thisiscarole' and 'spazzyhawk' both play it and we often have skype conversations while playing. I tried drawing my high archer character using my older laptop.
  
My older laptop is the one I use for college as my newer one doesnt have Microsoft Office. I refuse to throw away my old one despite that fact it has barely any memory and I have a much faster one and its mainly due to the screen. My screen on older laptop flips and can be used as a graphics tablet which for someone doing design is a godsend. I did try making do with my old graphics tablet but I think its broken as it constantly clicks whether I want it to or not. On photoshop this is very bad as I can't stop it from drawing


I did one of those grown up things  that normal people do the night before last. I went to the pub with my best friend for the first time. I know it seems pretty pathetic. Most people my age (18) are out clubbing  and stuff already but I've never been like that. In fact I went to my first club at Christmas and I have never felt more out of place in my life. I disliked it so much I couldn't stop crying and I just wanted to go home. The pub was  nice. There was karaoke and I got up and sang. My friend was too much of a wimp!! lol  
 
Usually there would be three of us but I didn't think that it was 'thisiscarole's scene she doesn't like pubs and things. I tried convincing her to go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show in February but she didn't like the idea. It's back in august by popular demand and I'm not taking no for an answer this time. In February I ended up going with my Gran so if my Gran can sit through it and  enjoy it so can she. I won't force her but I will try my  hardest to convince her. My friend 'spazzyhawk' has already agreed. He's going away for college at the end of august so we won't see him much during the term. Generally we don't do much during college times anyway.

I was out with 'thisiscarole'  and 'spazzyhawk'. We met up in town and then got something at Mc Donald's and then went to Braehead shopping centre. There is a sort of mini funfair out the back so we went on the  dodgems and Twister and that thing that take you in the air in a circle. On that last one I accidentally  smashed the screen of my phone. It flew out my  pocket. I didn't even notice till we went to get the bus home. Luckily I asked 'thisiscarole' to phone my  phone cos I could find it in my bag and the lady that ran the ride answered. The bus hadn't left yet so I was really lucky. It still works but the screen is cracked so I need to get my mum to ring the insurance.  When we usually go out we normally go bowling then back to 'thisiscarole's house so this was a refreshing change even if I am kicking myself about my phone. I got a case for my phone  so that once I've got a replacement I won't break it.
Bobbi Jean
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