Something New each Day

Hiya Guys, It was the week of the Strictly Come Dancing Semi-Final and not a voice could be heard in the household as I sat holding my breath at the 10 dances I saw. However, Sunday was a different story as you heard shrieks of pleasure and a long sad cry of sadness! Yes I am a huge SCD fan but I normally leave my comments to my Tumblr blog but I felt very passionate about this week's results - not for the right reason either. I have loved this years line up and I believed it to have been the best semi-final line up ever. My baby Jay coming back on the screen, the grace and drama of Kellie, the Northerness of Georgia, the novice and improvement of Anita and the elegance of Katie. I have never struggled so much with favourites and struggled between Jay, Kellie and Anita. Which led me to the upset of this week's result because, although I believed the bottom 2 to be correct, the decision made by 3 judges was not the one I would have done and is the cause for a huge u

Hiya Guys, I once again apologise for the lack of Music Friday, I had little time and no stand out aspect of music that I really wanted to talk about so please send me some suggestions for next week as I will be more free as I finish for the term. However, this means that I will try and do more normal posts this week and some are witty like this one and have some sort of useful advice. As we all know, it's Christmas soon which means that we are all of shopping in different places for those gifts for friends and family. This also means that you're going to be going shopping somewhere where shops are having sales and tempting you with everything from clothes to unnecessary trinkets. Don't worry, as a shopoholic I have been there (take yesterday for example where I went to wander around Oxford Road and bought £20 worth of stuff from H&M when I had gone for Xmas shopping) and I want to impart some wisdom I wish I knew. Here are a list of tips to make sure that

Hiya Guys, I am really getting into the Christmas mood this week and I decided to have a wack at one of the most Christmas like activities... ICE SKATING! I have never really gone before especially outside but due to it being cheap and the option for students getting a free drink, me and 2 friends decided to go to the National History Museum who had a Swarovski Ice Rink. It meant skating in the beautiful London air as the sun went down with the lights hung on all the trees. Everything seemed gorgeous as we sipped our free hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream. That was until we started skating! All the photos we got from the free picture booth shows me holding my friends hand and it all looks so friendly and sweet... honestly it was just because I would have fallen otherwise. I was absolutely awful compared to one of my friends who was a natural and the other who had 5 years of ice skating training, I mean I could barely let go of the barrier without someone holding me

Hiya Guys, Hopefully the title and the day sort of show you what today's Music Friday  is going to be about. As I have been listening to Christmas music since about July, I have picked up a great playlist of Christmas songs, some of which I listened to while decorating my flat which you can read about that in my last post.  There will be a mix in this playlist and, although I love the classics and originals of songs, I thought that most people already know them so I'll throw together some modern ones, some of which are original and some of which are covers. Please don't hate, just appreciate and choose which ones you blast full volume or those that cause you to curse under your breath at me. Here are songs that are originals by artists: 1. Jingle Bell Pop by IM5 Even though the name sounds very similar to Jingle Bell Rock, it is nothing like it. Written by IM5's own Will Jay, it is upbeat, poppy and the video just makes me smile whenever I watch it.

Hiya guys, I am actually sticking to Music Friday this week even though I have an essay because something extremely exciting happened yesterday. My babes Beside the Bridge (who I wrote about a few weeks ago) released their second single and video after 2 years called I Hate My Life. Naturally I wanted to write about it being the person I am. The intro of the song automatically made me think of the 1975! Now that is not a bad thing because it really gave me a vibe to start bopping my head. The whole ambiance and lighting of the video is pretty much perfect. Now I wont lie, when I heard the title of the song, I assumed it was going to be one of those tacky pop songs complaining (a bit like Hate Your Guts by McBusted which I love btw.) Luckily I was treated to a beautiful melody with lyrics that are awesome. I love the little niggly things like the stuff we hate combined with those lyrics that indirectly talk about love but not in that soppy way that most artists use.

Hiya Guys, So it's Music Friday (I really need to think of a catchier name) and this week's is another concert review and this time for Lawson. I went to see them last night at Sound Control with my mum and, even though I've seen them live 3 time this year, it felt like the first time. I will be honest and say there aren't any photos because I went to enjoy it and listen to the music. The venue was extremely small but I always prefer it that way and it was also nice and spread out. I guess that because the audience is older, there was no over excitement which meant no pushing or chance of injury. I got a nice place near the sound station near the metal barriers (which were great to stand on as I'm basically a midget) and this let me enjoy the show so much more. We were treated to 2 support acts. The first was chosen by the fans and were 3 brothers in a band called Frontiers. I really liked the whole family aspect and they had amazing voices so check the

Hiya Guys, This post should be for Friday but I cannot wait because another childhood dream has come true again. First McFly and James Bourne and Matt Willis became McBusted. NOW BUSTED IS BACK BY ITSELF. Okay to put my excitement into context, imagine a 6 year old girl rocking out to Thunderbirds are go in her living room with her little sister. Well that was me 12 years ago along with my sister who were some of the youngest busted fans. So imagine those young girls reactions when they found out that this band is coming back with all three members and touring (I did miss those eyebrows). Now, we have to turn a notch on the excitement down as the tour dates are during my exam period and I don't know if I will be able to go BUT to say that this is a huge nostalgic step is an understatement.  For everyone who complained that the McBusted stuff wasn't right for McFly and that McFly needs to come back alone (which I sort of agree because I am a huge McFly fan a

Hiya guys, Looks like I might actually be managing to stick to doing 'Music Friday' and this week is something I have been wanting to do for a while! (I also have a new twitter dedicated to this blog so follow @mymadworld96 as well as my personal @Full_Time_Nerd). About a year ago, I was doing my usual 'let's spend 5 hours on Youtube' and I stumbled upon a Swedish band called Beside the Bridge who did a cover of 5 Seconds of Summer's English Love Affair . Fast forward 12 months later and they have become one of my favourite band's and, although I wanted to keep them my little secret, I decided that they are too talented to not show to the world (and my small number of readers). Funny thing is that I am watching them as I write this. Beside the Bridge is a Rock Band (Listen to Weigh You Down) from Balsta, Sweden and consists of Charlie Karlgren, Joel Chew, Ludvig Algovik, Niklas Wistrand and Rasmus Blomquist. They are friends before band mat

Hiya Guys, So, this weekend I ventured into the wider area of London and went to Shoreditch with some of my friends. My travels started with a trip underground, a walk to a cereal cafe, a trip to a Jewish bakery and then an adventure to find a wall. Sounds interesting? Well I'll give you a short insight into my day! The Cereal Killer Cafe in Shoreditch is extremely tiny and if you didn't know about it and what it looked like, you would've missed it. It is located on the amazing and famous Brick Lane along with hundreds of weird and wonderful shops as well as beautiful smelling food (especially during Sunday Market Day). The cafe is extremely hipster and when you walk in, the first thing that you see is the lines and lines of cereal boxes on the furthest wall filled with things from typical weetabix to cinnabons. As we walked to downstairs, it felt like we were stepping into the 1960s with video tapes and old boyband posters scattered. None of it worked together

Hiya guys, So, I knew it was going to happen. I missed my deadline for my first music Thursday but I have a valid reason and it all sort of comes together. I have a huge assignment due in but it's finished, luckily doing it today means I can review 5 Second of Summer's new album Sounds Good Feels Good which came out this morning. Here is my guide to each song as I hear it! 1. Money Now I wasnt too keen on this song when I first heard it but I gave it a few chances and it is growing on me. The chorus is catchy but what I love most is the authenticity and how Feldman recorded your conversations and kept it within the track. I think it's a great way to start the album, with something upbeat and carries on with SLSP and the whole upbeat way to start. 2. She's Kinda Hot You do not know how excited I was for this song bc obviously it was the first one to be properly released. I hate how people think it's the second SLSP because, if you listen to it care

Hiya Guys, It is the end of the week entitled 'Fresher's Week' and, from tomorrow, I will be attending lectures and basically working my arse off to do well in my History Course. Although I may have not had the 'crazy' fresher's week that most people have, it was pretty crazy for me because, for the last 18 years, I have been living the life of a hermit. As I have told anyone who will listen, I have been out more times this week than I have in my entire life (I have been 18 for a little less than a year).  Being in London, I have discovered that there are so many place to go on a night out BUT they are all pretty far away and can be expensive if you total together the costs of transport, entrance fee's and the price of the drinks themselves. Therefore I chose to pretty much stay in the Student Union bar except for one night (where I ventured 20 minutes out). So I mean this won't be the most interesting post about fresher's, but I learnt

Hiya Guys, I've been writing and re-writing different posts on university and after writing things seriously, I've decided to be less serious and write how I have managed to avoid failing at preparing for university. Here is my guide on how to pack, it isn't amazing but I haven't gone mad yet: 1. Make lists, almost like an inventory of things to pack Now I do think that this is partly because I like to procrastinate and I love the look and feeling of actually writing things. I am on list number 5 at the moment and it really helps in terms of figuring out what needs to be packed and when you need to pack things up, you can make sure that you don't forget anything. Make sure that you have one listing what you've packed as things go in the suitcase and, to avoid wasting time, put in things that you definitely know need to be packed the day before (this can be thing like hairdryer and hair straighteners). 2. Don't pack too much but don't pac

Hiya Guys The last post I wrote was about how to cope with results day stress and I can honestly say that I didn't follow any of my own advice haha! However I have now got my results and can look forward, but obviously I am going to share it with all of you! Unlike many others, I didn't get up at the crack of dawn to see my results (although I could've because I didn't sleep a wink). But when the clock struck 8:30 I woke my mum and sister up and dragged the Ipad up to check my results on my college's intranet. Lone behold, I maybe didn't do as well as I had hoped. I had been expected to get 3 As but I came out with 3 Bs. Although I wouldn't say that I was hugely disappointed, because many of my exams were so hard, it did mean that I couldn't go to Newcastle University as I'd hoped. Luckily I had Queen Mary's University in London as a back up to study Modern and Contemporary History and I am now a student there. Hey-ho, I love QMU

Hiya Guys, I know that within the next few weeks, a lot of you lovely people will be getting exam results for either your GCSE's or A levels and I am in the same boat as all of you guys. I know that I am so stressed out by the day looming (13th Aug - unlucky?) and my mum is giving me tips to try and calm me down, so I thought I'd try and pass down something to you. Whether you choose to take them or do what I do and stress anyway is up to you! :) 1. What's done is done So as blunt as it sounds, there is no point dwelling on anything to do with exams. What you got represents what you were back then and as long as you can say that you tried your best then stressing now will do no difference. You did them then and there is nothing you can do now to change it so you might as well accept what happened. 2. Exams do not define you as a person I know that adults everywhere will make a huge deal of these results and telling you that your life counts on it. Well it doesn&#

Hiya Guys, I know it's been a while but I really haven't had anything to write about because I spent the last few weeks on Youtube doing nothing (I know we've all done it). But this week I had the pleasure of leaving dreary Manchester and going to London for 4 nights! It was a week of beautiful weather and there are some things I think you should all do if you ever visit London and my experiences.  I stayed at a Premier Inn and all I can say is that, for the price, it is an absolutely amazing place t stay that doesn't break your bank. There are loads of locations to choose from and you can choose somewhere that fits in with your itinerary. Also, there is no point taking the car around and if you are staying for 4+ nights. The best thing to do is to buy an Oyster Card and top up everyday because it is cheap and the use of the under and overground is the best way to experience London. Once you're in London, you need to decide what to do in yo

Hiya Guys, This post is quite a fun one for me because I get to review Louise's (AKA SprinkleofGlitter) book Life With a Sprinkle of Glitter. I say this is fun because Louise was one of the main reasons I bucked up the courage to actually start blogging constantly. It took me a while because I never had the time to actually pick up my pre-order from Waterstones but better late than never. Louise's book is the first book by a Youtuber that I have actually bought because I feel that, unlike other books, it is particularly relevant to me in a time of my life where things are changing and I think it's perfect if you need advice from someone you can trust (I mean I love my parents but some things like boys aren't a topic I like to discuss with them). I'm going to focus on the parts of the book which were particularly important and useful to me because the book is full of so many amazing chapters for different people and it would be impossible to tal

Hiya Guys, I am a Youtube addict and that means I'm guilty to be addicted to Youtubers in general. One of my favourite vloggers Dan Howell did a video where he said a bunch of things he would want to say to his past self. So here is mine: Dear Sonal from the past, You think that you're having an amazing time as a child and just enjoy it because it won't last! But here are a few things that might make things slightly better, maybe not straight away but in the long run it will: 1. Stop trusting people so quickly.  It's easy to think that everyone you meet is great at keeping secrets but you shouldn't share them with so many people. You may think that they'll keep it, but many won't. They'll encourage you to share then ridicule you. You'll lose more friends than you gain and you don't want someone you don't even talk to knowing your deepest secrets. 2. Best friends aren't real.  You probably think I'm being stupi

Hiya Guys, I've only been off school for a week and I already feel the boredom soaring to new heights. This year, the free time has definitely been hard for me because I have had so much of it. So as I know that the Summer holidays are coming up, so to help you not be as bored as I am, I'm going to put up a few ideas that can range from costing a small fee to being completely free (excluding very cheap basics that can be picked up). I don't want to alienate people from these ideas so I'll try to keep them as accessible as possible because having fun doesn't mean spending loads. This is the only option that may be expensive. UK theme park Thorpe Park have an event called Island Beats this Summer where artists perform concerts on different days. There are two options with this: one concert at 1pm in the afternoon with artists and the price of this is included in the park ticket. The second option is paying a bit extra for an evening concert (these include bi

Hiya Guys, Contrary to the title and my love of Disney, this blog post isn't all about High School Musical (but one day maybe). Today I had my last exam and that officially signals the end of my college life and, even though I am excited for a new start, I thought I'd reminisce on my time and also give some of you lovely people advice if you are starting college. I never really expected to enjoy college as much as I did because High School was life changing and really brought me out of my shell. However, college really defined who I was as a person and who I want to be in the future. It also helped me grow as a person by giving me my first taste of independence and I met people I hope will stay in my life forever. I'm not saying that college is the route for everyone because there are so many different options like finding a job or doing an apprenticeship. But, for me, college was something I'd always wanted and knew that it would give me skills to combat the