Wednesday 28 March 2012

Sorry guys, it's been awhile...

I'm finally on holiday though, and my brains just been catching up to my over-filled life.
Last weekend we had Northern Lights competition with the OTC. No we didn't win, but it is, after all, the taking part that counts. Tayforth hosted, and Glasgow and Strathclyde won it overall. I am happy to say that we did win the rugby, and the hockey, the tug of war got a close second, the dancing got third, as did the band. One of our pipers won a solo prize. I can't remember all the results, but a good effort was put in by all. Unfortunately, the combination of partying all night and the clocks going forward meant there were some very tired, and hungover bodies at the sport relief mile on Sunday morning. Thankfully, it seems the time at the gym seems to have helped quite a bit with my speed. Not that it's any good for a comparison if everybody is at different degrees of sober, hungover, or still-semi-drunkenness. I guess I'll find out at camp... Oh dear.
Yeah. Camp next week. We head off on Friday afternoon, and I'm desperately hoping I can get that morning rather than on Monday. I currently have little money to my name, and I need to get myself a little visit to the surplus store before I head. If not I'll be dipping into savings and putting it back after pay arrives. Fun times...
Anyway, it means I'll finally get to do some green stuff. I've been doing band stuff so long, it gets boring after a while.
I don't have much other news. Running tomorrow has changed times because there's no lectures to work around. I might head to the gym after, purely because I have time, and I always feel better after a gym sesh. Otherwise, I'll finish packing, and maybe drag my stuff down to the place we train at, so I don't have to on Friday. Then it's anyone's guess what comes up on Friday morning. Im sure I'll have news after spring camp, you just need to wait. It's 10 days away, and there may not be much Internet, if at all. Speak later :)

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Wednesday 21 March 2012

Ramblings: what would you do with £1000?

I would save it, likely. I'm that kind of person. How I manage to save, I don't know, because I'm penniless, but somehow I manage. I like saving. I dislike spending, especially overspending. I hate going out of budget, and more than anything, I hate spending the money that I have already saved. Like, I probably have enough to get the tattoo I want right now, but I won't let myself get it until I have at least twice that, so that once I pay I will still have a few hundred in my savings.
So I know I would save, but what if I had to spend it? Let's say I was content with the money in my savings and got to buy what I wanted, as long as I spent all the money - what would I buy?

Well first of all would probably be my tattoo. That would be something I've wanted for a long time, and I could tick it off my list of things to do before I turn 21.

I need a new pair of drumsticks and a new pair of trainers or running shoes, so that's another couple of hundred spent.

There's a gorgeous glass octopus hair stick on etsy that I'm really tempted by. I'd need to get a custom made though, because it's much too long for my hair. I'd no doubt buy some more forks and the like while I'm at it.

Then I'd get materials for making a dress or two. If I have money left over I might make one for a good friend too.

Well that's what I would buy. What about you?


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Thursday 15 March 2012

Ramblings: living with allergies

Yes, I have allergies. Not the most common, nor all that bad, as far as allergies can go, but I still have them, and they still affect my life.
I think allergies seem to be becoming more common. People can be allergic to all sorts of things, to various degrees. I think is something exists, then more than likely, someone in the world has an allergy or sensitivity to it.
The common ones I've heard of are things like nuts, pollen (hay-fever), bee-stings, cats, and dust. I know people who have small irritations, blistering rashes, right down to anaphylaxis.
Personally, I have a few. I have an allergy to pine nuts. Just to confuse things, they're actually seeds, not nuts, so a proportion of those with nut allergies can eat them, but I appear to be the other way around, being able to eat nuts without trouble. Thankfully, they're pretty easy for me to avoid. Generally, if food is bought from somewhere, pine nuts are included in the description of the dish, and with my own cooking, I don't buy them. I just have to avoid pesto, and things with pesto in them.
Secondly, I have a nickel allergy. It's probably one of the more common allergies out there. At the start, I wondered why I would get itchy ears, or weeping bumps at the bottom of my abdomen. It was only when I began to develop blisters from cheap jewellery that it clicked. It was earrings irritating my ears, belt buckles and buttons on jeans on my stomach, coins in my pocket leaving rashes on my hips. You know how in some Hollywood movies or TV shows about vampires (because there's been loads the last couple of years) a silver chain will kind of stick to the skin and leave blistering, weepy welts? That's what my skin was like after accidentally falling asleep with a new necklace on. It was painful and weepy for days, and stuck to the collar of my shirt at the band competition at the weekend. I've been wearing the same pair of sterling silver hoops almost constantly for a year and a half. All my regular-wear jewellery is hallmarked sterling silver. (as a side note: if anyone knows where I can buy a pair of 16g plain titanium studs (ie. no stones), drop me a comment - my hoops are starting to wear out, but I can't find what I want)
Then we have my sensitivity to rapeseed pollen. It bothered me for years, but last year the replaced the field beside my parents house with an experimental GM crop, and my symptoms practically disappeared. Sure, I was all weepy-eyed and snot nosed as soon as I was around the normal stuff again, but that bit of peace was nice. Plus, not being in the country anymore looks like it may just make a vast, vast difference.

Then there's the one thing that makes the biggest difference to my life, because it's practically impossible to avoid: PERFUME! All the other things just take a little bit of preparation, or awareness, to avoid a reaction. Just like anything else, with allergies, preparation,and avoidance are key. I can't prepare or avoid perfume, because I never know when I'm going to be exposed to it. I can never know if the person who is walking behind me is about to top up her perfume. I can never be prepared for the girl that sits next to me in the tiny, cramped lecture hall when she comes in with a cloud of scent surrounding her, and staying well after she leaves. I can't even enter some of the shops I would like to visit. But the thing is, it's not just a case of me moaning about someone spraying a little too much, or about the nasty mixture of different smells in the changing rooms. I have both contact, and airborne allergies. I get rashes if the spray lands on me, I get hives from some, bruise-like marks from some of the strong eau-de-parfums. My breathing gets progressively more uncomfortable, my nose screams, my eyes weep, within minutes I have a thudding migraine. And its not just perfumes. Body spray, deodorants, air fresheners. Even various fragranced cosmetics/body products give me the contact allergy if I use them/get them on me.
What's even harder is that it is not all which do that. It must just be a few common fragrances, because there are two perfumes I have so far not reacted to, along with various cosmetics. But with the lack of specificity on the ingredients label, I can never figure it out.
It's does make me wonder though, how some people with really bad allergies, or even just much more of them, manage. What about people with really severe nut allergies who are affected merely by someone else having touched a surface earlier? I don't think about mine all the time, because a lot of things have become habitual, but that doesn't make things any easier when you can't avoid it.

Anyway, rambling over, though rather conclusion-less. No matter. Speak again soon.


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Tuesday 13 March 2012

So, Update on my life

So, not much has been going on the last couple of days.
So regardless of the post a few days ago, I did end up going to the party, because I reached the conclusion that I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it, or stop me from going. And let's just say, I'm very glad I did. It was great fun, so much so that I barely, if ever, actually even noticed the people that were pissing me off last week. Everyone made a real effort, and it was fun trying to guess what everyone was dressed up as. I had fun and joined in all the silly, fun games there were going. It was after grabbing food though, and finishing a drinking game that I found myself surrounded by people rushing to throw up, whether by choice, to stop them feeling so bad later, or simply as a by-product of attempting to drink too much in a short period of time (ie. the main drinking game of the night).
Either way, tactics meant I didn't drink the full amount that a lot of the others did, and indeed, drank very little afterwards. That may have been through looking after those that were being sick and providing big jugs of water, but I rarely thought about it until people began to either drift off home, or get ready to head into town. At which point I was feeling exceptionally sober and exhausted from looking after people and had myself a double vodka and lemonade shortly before the bar closed. I had maybe two more drinks throughout the night - one in each place we were in, and even had a decent meal at the casino (which I wasn't even betting in). I ended up being one of the last ones standing, along with a couple of other guys who had been at a ball and joined us, in ball gowns and suits, in town. I wandered back with them as the sun started to come up. I got back to my flat at 6am, after an exceptionally good night.
I got up at 9am the next day... Very tired, but no hangover. Maybe due to having food and plenty of water at the casino, and again before I went to sleep. But then I have yet to have a proper hangover. Usually I just end up tired from lack of sleep, but I rarely show many other signs. Maybe I'm just lucky.

We got some sun after the clean-up the next day. I went to lie in the sun and read a book (Shopping for God - can't remember the author, but I borrowed it from the religion section in the library. I'm pretty secure in my religion, but it's very interesting, either way). I'm still as pale as ever, because, used to burning with the tiniest hint of sun, I slathered a little suncream on in the morning. I don't tan; I just like the warmth of the sun, especially when you don't expect it in March. Either way, I feel I've topped up a little oft vitamin D now, and I'm happier since. I even brought out my colourful eye make-up almost in celebration.
My dad is coming up tomorrow, and coming down to band-practice, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm also hoping that it won't be too dark for my 6pm run today. I'll look forward to it much more if there's some light in the sky, now that I'm feeling summery.
Anyway, long post over. See you again soon!


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Location:Aberdeen University Kings Campus, Aberdeen,United Kingdom

Saturday 10 March 2012

Ramblings: I used to be the shy girl

It's a funny thing, the difference between university and high school. In high school you have a reputation, even when you just arrive, because you're moving in with all those kids who grew up with you. The way people know you is magnified and added to. So if you were quiet and reserved in primary, that's how people generally perceive you in high school. Over time, some perceptions may change - you may be known to be great banter outside of school, but still seen as the quiet academic in school. I was always seen as the quiet girl, except with my close group of friends. I knew most people in my year, but they were outside of my comfort zone, and I never had a night out with them until prom, so they never knew the loud, boisterous side of me when I wasn't in school. In fact, there was only a very small group of people who knew that side of me. To everyone else, I was shy, rarely spoke to people I didn't already know, found it difficult to phone someone, and hated large groups with a passion. I was a picture of innocence in a lot of matters to most people.
So what happened? How did I become the girl who never misses a night out, who is doing everything she can possibly fit into the calendar, with lots of different people, who openly flirts with guys in the nightclubs, and still surprises people who have known me for months, or even years.
The reality is that I was always that girl. I was never the innocent, quiet girl everyone expected me to be. Not really. Sure, at times, I thought I was, and certainly acted like it, but the person everyone else saw was not the same as what was inside. My two best friends could tell you that years ago. My other friends began to realise that the closer they got, and some stuck, while others clashed or drifted away.
How did my true character come out? Well in high school, it was at prom, over a bottle of champagne, when no-one cared what anyone did, because few of us would ever see each other again. But the main difference was coming to university. No-body knew anyone. There were no reputations, preconceived notions, or categories to fall into, because no-one knew you. Or if they did, you rarely saw them. For a change I had no pressure to be anything other than me. I could flirt with guys if I wanted, dance the night away, drink far too much, whatever. No one cared, because as far as they were concerned, that's just who you were, and there were plenty other people doing exactly the same thing.
Even now, when I head back to my hometown, or just visit family, that quiet, shy side appears again, but Aberdeen has become my haven for just being me.


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Thursday 8 March 2012

The ABC game

It's a fun game to get to know me better. Why not link to your own if you do one, or do one in the comments?

A- age: I'm 1st year at uni, and legally an adult - you're not getting anything else out of me.

B- bed size: single

C- least favorite chore: hanging clothes up after coming out of the wash/dryer

D- dogs name: no dogs - if I did though, it would probably be Jasper or Honey, gender depending

E- Essential item to start the day: a glass of fruit juice at breakfast

F- Favorite color: blue

G- gold or silver: silver

H- height: 5' 6"

I- instruments I play: drums, violin, clarinet, among others

J- Job title: full -time Student

K- kids: none

L- living arrangements: single bedroom and en-suite, with small shared kitchen and other living space

M- earliest memory: I'm not good with childhood memories

N- nicknames: I'll not give the obvious one here, because too many people regularly call me by it, and I prefer to stay anonymous. I do, however, like the nickname Sisi.

O- overnight hospital stay other than birth: none

P- pet peeve: people who think they can order people around. Fair enough if you're in a higher position of authority, but ordering around the new kids thinking you know more than they do merely because you've been there longer - sorry, but real life doesn't always work like that, especially when a new kid knows way more than you.

Q- quote from a movie or tv: "The most dangerous secrets a person can bury is those we keep from ourselves." -Emily Thorne, Revenge

R- right or left handed: I write with my right, but can do most things with both.

S- siblings: two

T- time you wake up: 7.30am

U- underwear: my business, not yours. I am a 30D, possibly soon to be 28 band size.

V- vegetable you dislike: beans. And overcooked greens. I'm fine with most things though.

W- workout style: 30min on treadmill, varying speed and angle every 3 minutes, 10 min or more on cross-trainer, 10 min on bicycle, then 2 or 3 sets of 12 on each of the weights machines in my programme. Finish with stretches.

X- xrays you've had: none

Y- yesterdays best moment: seeing my mum for coffee when she was in town :)

Z-zoo favorite: the tigers or the wolves



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Screw this.

Well then, if people are just going to be nasty, whats the point on going to this party at the weekend? Who cares? I hadn't even got my fancy-dress outfit figured out anyway, and it means I get a weekend at home AT LAST!! Yay for pampering and me-time! Plus, I won't need to wash my hair today just for it to sit right at the weekend. I can spend as many hours pounding out miles and lifting weights as I like until the gym closes. I can use up all the hot water at my flat afterwards for a change instead of my usual quick changing-room shower on the way to something else. I can play my clarinet for the first time in ages. I can catch up on the weeks of my favourite TV programmes that I haven't seen yet. I can play silly games on my iPhone with my other friends all across the country. I can give my place the spring clean it's been needing for ages, share a bottle with flatmates before they head out, do some meditation, and get a good, long nights sleep.
No. Just because I'm not going with all of you to that silly party, just for the sake of a few free drinks and "various unknown surprises" does not mean I will be sad and bored. I don't need that to be happy. I can do what I like, and I do what I do for me.

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Location:Aberdeen University Kings Campus, Aberdeen, UK

Wednesday 7 March 2012

An attempt to cheer up from a bad mood swing.

I'm a little sad again today. I seem to have a case of tiny niggling doubts in the back of my mind. It's funny though - it's not the whole guy thing that's annoying me. I still feel it doesn't matter - its the little things which go along with it that are picking away at me. Little things like the awkwardness of arriving to find your friend sitting at the same table as him, and not being able to decide if it would be less awkward for everyone for me to sit down, or go talk to my friend behind the bar instead.
Otherwise the little niggling things are totally unrelated. There are just rather too many of them to ignore them all, as much as my head is desperately trying. I don't know what's up with me. I'm having a serious case of mood swings this last month.
Anyway, I wrote a poem when I was feeling happier yesterday, so here it is, in an attempt to cheer me up and make me realise that past events don't matter anymore.

SPRING
A gentle breeze blows
Tickling awake the drooping snowdrops,
And shaking the last remnants of winter from the trees.
There is birdsong,
For the first time in months,
Waking up the city
As the silvery light of the sun
Shines through the last of the frost on the windows.
Somewhere, a hungry crow caws
While a flock of gulls fight
Over a half-eaten bacon roll
Down below.
Crocuses struggle their way open
In the space that the light touches,
Pushing their way against the last tug
Of the cold remainder of winter.
On the trees,
the first blossoms have sprung forth.
The world is being reborn from the cold of winter,
And it's time for me to join it,
To shake off the cobwebs of seasons passed,
And face the world anew.



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Tuesday 6 March 2012

Ramblings: finding clothes to fit

So I was sitting reading a few threads in the off-topic part of the LHC forum (that's haircare, by the way, not the Large Hadron Collider). It seems a lot of women these days are finding it exceptionally difficult to find clothes to fit - me included.

First off, let me explain my problems. I'm what someone else aptly once described as "thin and curvy". In fact there's a brilliant blog on it if I can find the link again. Basically, I'm 5'6", with a 26" waist and a flat stomach. But I'm also a D-cup, and measure almost 40" around my hips, which puts me firmly into curvy pear territory. I have "dancers legs" full of muscle, narrow, sloping, muscly and low-set shoulders, and defined arms from all the press-ups and circuits for army training. My thighs touch and wear holes in my jeans. I am perfectly happy with my body - which is a rare enough thing in itself today.
The problem lies in that manufacturers just don't make clothes for people like me. Or indeed, the majority of people out there.
In my case, trousers and jeans gape at the waist, cut into my hips bones, and are tight around my thighs. Skirts gape at the waist and cut into my hips. T-shirts which fit my bust hang baggily below. Those which fit my waist stretch at my bust and shift up away from my hipbones as the day goes on. I end up with a crop-top, which is not really great attire for cold Aberdeen. As for dresses, with the exception of some old-style vintage dresses, I pretty much always need to take it in around the waist. And I always, always (no exceptions, except strapless ones) need to take in the straps about 2 inches. My sewing skills have saved me a lot of headaches, and a lot of money.
Then there's my army gear. Made to fit guys, there's no chance it's going to fit me in the first place, and to be honest, it's probably not bad, all things considered. The problem is in the stable belt. The top of my trousers and my belt both hit my waist, but the belt is wide enough that the bottom buckle catches my hip bones, and sometimes leaves a big bruise there. But the top buckle can be fastened to the smallest hole, and still leave a gap at my waist. And they're meant to be on the same hole. If I shift my trousers down a little, they at least sit reasonably on the same hole, and no one notices, but I still get a sore hipbone under the buckle.

Now the thing is, if I'm a pear, and the majority of women out there are also pears, then I know I'm most definitely not the only the only one with these problems. In fact, judging by the threads over at the LHC, everyone from tomboyish-rectangle, to triangle, to apple, to the often coveted hourglass figure are having issues with clothing. One has to wonder why there aren't more speciality shops out there. Indeed, those that do exist would probably make a bundle if they were better known/shipped worldwide.
People are too wide an array of size ratios to fit into any one size. Most people I know, are a different street size in the top than the bottom. And even then they don't fit.

Then there's bra sizes. The only places that carries my band size in store are Bravissimo, and, occasionally, Marks and Spencer's. Which brings me onto another thread I saw on the LHC about bra fitting. The point that it has thousands of replies says something in itself really. Most people, even after being measured, are still wearing a bra that is too big in the band and too small in the cup. Its a common source of neck and back pain amongst bustier ladies, because they can't get the support they need from the wrong size. And apart from anything else, with the difficulty of finding a wide range of sizes in store, it's no wonder people are wearing the wrong sizes. I certainly prefer to try on in a store, without the hassle of buying online and sending back the ones that don't fit etc. especially if my bra size is changing.
But really there is little option for those girls who are, say, a 26C. Because, where I live, bravissimo only carries D cup and upwards, and Marks and Spencer's barely, if ever carry anything below a 30 band. Pretty much every other store I know only carries 32 bands and up in store. Now if you can't try on in store, and fitting services are spewing out strange, unfitting numbers, how can you ever even attempt to find the right size online? Part of the big problem is the whole "add 4 to your under bust measurement and round up" thing. Really? That would give me 33.5, so 34... A 34 band would fall down on me and put all the pressure and weight on my shoulders. It would be hello to a sore neck within the week. Believe me. Once upon a time I wore a 32 band and it was so uncomfortable. I don't even want to think of the sort of hassle the 24H girls (because, yes they do exist) would have gone through to find their right size. Thankfully, moving online, there are plenty of places that do stock wide ranges of bra sizes, even if their sizing guidelines do often accommodate the "add 4" system. The point is that they are out there.
I wish I could say the same for normal clothes. I guess I'll just have to carry on altering, and putting up with it.

Rambling over for now. Why not let me know what issues you have with clothes and fitting?

Speak again soon,
Tigereye

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Location:High St,Aberdeen,United Kingdom

Sunday 4 March 2012

Doing things my way

So payday arrived, with about £100 less than expected, but that's ok, because that just means the weekend before the cut-off date wasn't logged in time, so I'll get it next month.
Anyway, I've repaid part of my savings back in. Hopefully if I keep a close eye on my spending, I'll have enough left at the end to get me back up to speed with my savings targets.
Anyway, the weekend has been hectic, and I'm shattered. Thank goodness Aberdeen is the last stop for the bus because I just slept through the whole journey. As soon as I'm done here, I'm gonna hit the sack, I think.
I've been contemplating my planned tattoo (see my list of 21 things to do before I'm 21), and wonder if I should try it out in henna first... I have BAQ henna sitting around for my hair anyway, but I've never done henna-tattooing before, so this'll be interesting to attempt. If all goes well, it'll last long enough for me to decide if there's anything I want to add/take away/change etc.
Also, I think I've reached a truce with myself with regards to my guy troubles. My brain has firmly decided that if they don't care, and act like I'm worthless, then I am not going to care either. Because I know I'm not worthless. I have good friends, self-esteem and my wounded ego to thank for that. So I can get back to living my own life to the full. Funny thing. The past couple of weeks, when my brain has decided something like this, my heart won't follow, but just now my brain and heart has reached a truce, and it seems I can get on and do things my own way, and for myself.

Goodnight all (or good day, depending on where and when you are), and speak again soon :)


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Location:King Street,Aberdeen