Back in the Loop

For a while now I've not been wearing lolita, but today I wore it to uni. I was worried about it at first, but the second I stepped out of the house I felt really comfortable as apparently I'd forgotten that I'm out of fucks to give =P

I didn't take any outfit photos as it wasn't anything new (just a casual coord with my Sugary Carnival skirt, BTSSB biker parka, and engineer boots), but I did pick up some new ponies on the way home! I only really like the Lyra one, but oh well hehe.


I have no idea what other new ones are about that I don't have as I'm out of the pony loop too. All I know is I can't rebuy the new versions of the mane 6 as I already have them twice ^_^' although I think glitter cutiemark versions are in the works and I love glitter, sooooo I'll probably end up buying those. Wish ponies were cheaper!

Now I have to figure out if I am awake enough to try to write my psychoanalysis essay or if I should just have a nap instead. I fear I'm favouring the latter.

Frank Turner 1-12-12

Keep meaning to post more, but spend most of my time either doing work or stressing out about work I'm not doing so it just isn't happening right now, sorry!

Anywho, on Saturday I went to see Frank Turner in my hometown. Sixth time seeing him, already looking forward to the next time hehe. Photos are crappy as I only took my phone, so added some extras from xtramilerecordings.

First band was Jim Lockey & the Solemn Sun, who were actually really good.


Also Frank joined onstage with a bunch of other people all dressed in animal suits for Home/Hospitals (little video I found here).


Tempted to get a ticket to their local show in February since it'll be after my exams!

Next up was Tim Barry.


Unfortunately I missed a chunk of his set as I needed some water and the queue was huge. What I heard was good but same-y. I'd only heard one song of his before on the Try This At Home split. Elvis ended up joining in for the finale.


Wat.

And Frank was better than ever!


Really good mix of songs including some real oldies (sadly the setlist isn't up anywhere I can find).


Super happy to hear Casanova Lament live and a large amount of people singing all the words even though it was a b-side track.


Less happy about the guy who stood directly in front of me who must have been almost 7 feet tall who didn't even clap the whole time. You sir, are an asshole. Also as I discovered later, the harmonica-toting elephant who joined the stage for I Still Believe was none other than Emily Barker.

No gigs now until March (Biffy Clyro), unless I find something cool local or if anyone buys me Gaslight Anthem tickets...hehe.

And sadly missed out on International Lolita Day as plans just seemed to fall through. And missing the meet this week as it moved day and I just can't make it due to family commitments, which is a pain in the butt as I really miss lolita (it just isn't practical for every-day wear anymore) and I'd picked out an outfit already (took extra effort as it's a classic-themed meet and I had to get creative since my wardrobe is so sweet).

Tattoo Time!

For a while now I have been debating with myself over whether to get a tattoo or not. I'm a very fickle person by nature, but I figured why not? It doesn't have to be big, and it can be somewhere hidden. I already have to live with the hundreds of ugly moles all over my body, so what difference will a bit of ink make haha.

So I decided to get something small just in case it really hurt! A puzzle piece in fact. Which I like because I'd considered a puzzle piece before I was even old enough to get a tattoo, but had forgotten about it until I saw it on Simon Neil.


So yeah I guess I kinda got a band tattoo. Guessing that's what everyone will assume anyway, which is fine by me. But it means more than that. Coz life is pretty much like puzzle. You think you've got it all figured out, and got all the pieces together. But then you find out you were wrong, and it can all fall apart again! So this is a reminder to just keep trying, I guess.


BOOBIES! And yeah just after it was done. I was really surprised because everyone says that's the worst place to get a tattoo but the pain really wasn't too bad. Some bits it hurt more, but most of it was absolutely fine.


Close-up. I hadn't realised how lumpy and fatty my back was before but oh well! The tattoo isn't perfect by any means, but hey it was free (my cousin did it for me) so I'm not really that bothered. I don't think it notices unless you look really close up anyway, and since it'll usually be covered it doesn't matter xP

As for whether I'll get any more, I don't know. I had a few bits in mind (some lyrics, and the swallow from Poetry of the Deed), but while it was okay the pain made it really drag and it was only a tiny tattoo that took 5 minutes. I'm not sure I would want to put up with much more than that! Plus I'd want to get any more done properly and I really don't have money at the moment.

Twin Atlantic 6-11-12

You know I said Twin Atlantic were rubbish? Well, I all too predictably made a complete U-turn concerning them. This is mostly due to MTV Rocks playing 'Yes I Was Drunk' all the time, so I listened to them more and they really grew on me. So I went to see them again with one of my best friends from school, Katie =3

We arrived in Bristol with plenty of time, so we had a pot of tea each in Café Rouge and ate sausage rolls before entering the venue. We decided to go up to the balcony since it was pretty packed (with children...we must have brought the average age up quite a bit and we're only 21). This was a very good move as we had a great view and the bar up there was deserted!


The first band were called Dead Sara. The singer was a bit crazy, almost stumbling into the drums several times (and actually doing so on one occasion), and climbing onto an amp stack to jump down from it which made for nervous watching. But their music was pretty good, rocky with a bit of a country twist in some of the vocals.


The second act was Charlie Simpson. Yes, the eyebrow guy from Busted (*cough* who has a nice butt *coughcough*). Again, pretty good. Prefer Fightstar, but there you go! The guy on the left had what looked like an egg and a Kitkat which he shook. Egg man, we salute you!


And finally, Twin Atlantic! They played a lot of songs I didn't know (not sure how since they only have one album) and the kids in the pit went crazy with tons of circle pits and crushing each other against the barrier.


Soooo glad I went though as I had been feeling utterly exhausted all day and stressed out, but had a really great time! Wish I had taken my camera instead of relying on my crappy phone camera, but I was too lazy to hold it the whole time.

Hoping some other good bands come to Bristol again soon so we can go out again!

Catch-Up

Since it has been a while, I thought I'd do a little catch-up post! I've been rubbish at taking photos lately though so they're either awful or pinched from other people (-_-')

A few weeks ago Monika had a birthday night out. We did karaoke (I got rather drunk and carried away), and then we went to Bierkeller for some more drinking and more dancing! And I was a naughty meow (uh oh, I picked up Joyce's meow tic) and tried a cigarette for the first time orz


The birthday girl! Awesome gurololi outfit ♥


Karaoke-ers!


Sophie & I sampling WooWoos.


And a bunch of us trying to get in the shot xP

I was street-snapped in Bath earlier that day, but only got a handful of likes so I didn't win any shopping vouchers. Which is a shame, as I happened to put effort into my outfit that day!


More recently we had a Hallo-meme night where we all dressed (sort of) as memes! I was woman laughing alone with salad, but so was Antonia so we laughed together with salad xP though the photo hasn't surfaced anywhere yet!


Amy's super-duper awesome nyan-cat headdress! Seriously, this photo really doesn't do it justice.


Wearing Sophie's condescending Wonka hat! I was wearing Bodyline's Antique Clock OP but I didn't get an outfit shot.

That was a momentous night as I managed to not be hungover the next day! Although that was probably due to the fact that I left really early. My phone said the station was 7 minutes away but then someone pointed out I had it on car and it would take 20 minutes by foot, so I had to peg it. Guess how long it took? SEVEN BLOODY MINUTES ahaha I AM CAR.

On Halloween I went to a house party. The punch was awesome. The jelloshots were also awesome.


I wore too much make-up...


...and got my kigu dirty in the park D=


I look like such a deformed human in this thing, but it's so cosy!


And the pumpkin ate slugs instead of sweets. Ew.

Other than that I have been stressing out like mad over uni work. I have 2 essays and 2 presentations to do in the next couple weeks, and this is on top of the papers I have to read, exam notes, and dissertation work (which involves about a billion hours just sat in the lab with participants).

Also what are you guys thinking of the bigger photos I've been using? I'm not sure if they look too big with this theme or not (^_^')

MUSE 30-10-12

On Tuesday I went to see Muse again!

The journey was really stressful. Dad picked us up an hour late, then we got stuck trying to get out of Bath for an hour, and it ended up taking over 3 hours in total to get to Birmingham. We got to our seats just as Joy Formidable were finishing, which is a shame as I know they're really good (I saw them at Reading last year).

I was a little worried that Muse wouldn't be so good due to over-reliance on showy sets and the like, and was definitely feeling a little miffed about paying for 2 £55 tickets when we only ended up seeing one band. But I can safely say they were totally worth the money!



The set was flashy with lots of moving screens and lasers and Matt's sunglasses showed the lyric video for Madness when they played it, but none of this overshadowed their performance! I think this was the best show I've seen of them, but that's probably more because I wasn't a huge fan the first time and I couldn't see a damn thing the second (although the setlist was better that time). And while our view wasn't as good as dad's (he had VIP tickets and was right next to the stage) we still had a good view of all the glowy instruments and stuff.



They played a good mix of the new songs (which, as predicted, have really grown on me a lot) and older stuff. At one point there was a roulette to choose between New Born and Stockholm Syndrome, which landed on the latter song. A lot of disappointed people, but idgaf because I prefer that one eheheh.



The worst thing about the show was the crowd. The standing crowd looked reasonably enthusiastic with a few circle pits breaking out and an acceptable amount of jumping and arm waving, but in the seated bits PEOPLE STAYED SEATED. What the heck is wrong with you people? The people next to us seemed annoyed at people standing. It was a shame as I felt really exposed stood up and surrounded by grumpy old farts, so I couldn't jump around as much as I'd liked (but obviously I'm too short for standing tickets!). The other bad thing being how old my camera is now; I hadn't realise how good newer ones were until I saw the photos the guy in front was getting!



This was the set list. I was so glad they played Liquid State as it's my favourite off the album (controversial! lol).


And I guess sorry for not posting for almost a month, been so busy with uni work and shitty personal shit has been afoot. Please forgive me xP And now to go eat lunch and then try to write an essay in an afternoon!

Galaxy Cat!

I'm sure you have all seen these shirts floating about on the net. I've been wanting one for a while, and I thought I'd celebrate my student loan's arrival by buying one!


I got it from Ebay for £10. Although it had to be shipped from Korea it arrived in just a few days (9 days from payment to arrival)!


I had expected it to be really unflattering due to the size, but it hangs quite nicely!


The fabric is quite light but not sheer at all.


I'm actually really tempted to get the vest version in a different colour because I love it so much!

I wish I could buy more cute things with my student loan (I still haven't replaced that lilac seifuku that was too small), but I'm trying to be sensible since this is my last year and I'll need to save up money for when I'm looking for a job! Any of you guys bought anything nice with your loans?

Final Year Begins

Apologies for this having become more of a music and personal blog at the moment, but I have no room for more clothes so I haven't had any hauls to post, and there haven't been meets for a while as everyone seems really busy (and hardly anyone lives in my city anymore!).


This week was my first week back at university. I hate to admit that I have been very lazy already, avoiding doing the readings and putting off going to get my lab key as I am very reluctant to start testing again (I get so anxious when meeting people, it's horrible). However I kind of expected to be this way since I have done nothing all Summer (I should have been doing my dissertation) and little over the past year and a bit. At least I have a new tote bag for uni! My Meta one was suffering.


As such I have been exhausted all week just from having to go out for a few hours! My first lecture was on Monday morning at 9.15am, so I had to get up much earlier than I had wanted to. The bus queue was huge and was taking forever to go down, but luckily another bus pulled up and just ushered us on for free (lucky, since my bus pass didn't arrive until Tuesday).

My first subject was Foundations in Psychoanalysis. To be honest I chose this subject at random, but it seems quite interesting. We're supposed to keep a dream diary all week. I don't even dream usually, but this week I've had loads of crazy dreams and very interrupted sleep as a result. Boo!

Straight afterwards was Attitudes & Social Cognition. I'd thought it would be interesting but the lecture was slow and I'd already been in 2 hours of lecture so I couldn't concentrate very well. Turns out the essay we have to write is very open and thus looks IMPOSSIBURUUUU. Tried to get a lab key from my supervisor but apparently he doesn't have them anymore and I was too wussy to go see the person who does have them (I'll have to go on Thursday *sigh*). I walked home, so I didn't get back until quite late. I was too tired to even do anything when I got home!


Tuesday I didn't have lectures until 2, so I was lazy. I was still tired for my History of Psychology lecture though. Half of it was a talk about the library which was super boring and pointless, and we didn't get out until 4 Dx eheh.

Because my course relies largely on reading outside of lectures, my time in uni is nowhere near as much as for most of the other courses. So I've had today off. I stayed in bed until midday because I was so tired and my dreams kept waking me up again, although I was much less successful in remembering them to write down. I did download a bunch of papers I need to read...does that count as work? And I'm going to a movie screening (Megamind) on campus later just to make myself get out of the house. Otherwise I'll just go to bed now.

Tomorrow I have my last lecture of the week. Yes, I only have 4 lectures a week =3 Psychology of Pain at 11am, which will either be really interesting or really boring. Hope it doesn't give me a headache! And I think we're expected to go to a meeting late in the afternoon too, but not sure I want to hang around on campus all day. Even if there *is* free wine and food.

Hope I get used to being back at uni soon. I can't deal with feeling this tired and hungry all the time, especiallt when I need to start eating less junk and exercising more!

The 2nd Law

Sorry for all the music posts recently! But I regret nothing.

Tonight Muse' new album 'The 2nd Law' was made available to stream online here, before its release on October the 1st. I just listened to it for the first time, and it seems like a very mixed bag.


On the first listen, I'm not liking the track 'Panic Station'. Started getting into the album at 'Follow Me' because it's dancy but awesome. 'Save Me' sounds a bit Coldplay-y, but Chris Wolstenholme's vocals on 'Liquid State' are delightfully Alkaline Trio-esque (in fact, I'd argue it could easily be an Alkaline Trio song). And while the two closing songs are dubsteppy, I definitely like them. I was appalled by 'Unsustainable' at first, but it did give me a science boner and grew on me really quickly!


My main criticism is that it doesn't have many classical-style sections (or at least they were not overly evident on first listen), unlike 'The Resistance' which obviously has 'Exogenesis' as its 3-part closer (well, not really a criticism, I just like that stuff and was hoping for more!). While the orchestrated parts in this album are epic, most of it is talked or wubwub-ed over, and that's a shame. I personally think Muse should do a whole album with full orchestra, as a side-project or something. A lot of people hate their 'classical' stuff and say it isn't musically brilliant though, which I think is arse. And I love how so much Rachmaninov is incorporated into some of their songs, most notably 'Space Dementia' as it's my favourite song of theirs.

Overall I'm not blown away, but then Muse has always been one of those bands that requires time. For me, anyway. I never used to like them at all, and it took me a good few listens of The Resistance before I really got into it. So I'd say it has potential, definitely! It's just a shame that it doesn't seem to flow too well as there are many different influences evident throughout.


I know there will be a ton of people who complain that it's too different, that they're trying to hard. But if they'd put out a record exactly like their old stuff, those same people would complain that it was the same old stuff, that they'd lost their spark. Because as artists, they push themselves to GROW. That's the whole point. And it's not exactly worlds away from their old work ('Explorers' is essentially a softer version of 'Guiding Light' to my ears), so stfu guys. If you don't like it that's fine, good for you, but don't take it out on the band because they obviously like what they're doing!

I look forward to listening to this album more, and I really hope I end up loving it after spending £130 on tickets to see them next month (and haven't even thought about travel costs yet, ugh). That said, I haven't actually pre-ordered it myself, but my dad is getting the super-special-awesome boxset! So I can just steal that as soon as it arrives, eheheheh.

New Room

Today I moved back to the city to get ready for the upcoming uni year. I'm living with 3 second-year girls who are all best buddies and on the same course, so trying to muscle in on the friendship group won't be easy. But I don't want things to be as awful as last year, so I'll try!


This is the view from my window! The train station. So I hear the trains go by, but it isn't as loud as I thought it'd be. Quite relaxing really, and interesting to watch all the commuters!

My room is the smallest, but means it's the cheapest. And it certainly feels a lot bigger than last year's room (though this is helped by the high ceilings and lots of storage space).


Biiiig bookshelves! Last year I didn't have my own shelves (well there was a bookcase for me outside my room but someone had already filled it with their crappy DVDs by the time I moved in even though they had their own bookcase). I don't actually have any of my textbooks yet so it's pretty empty.


Desk, which is messy already somehow. Finally got to put up my pony calendar =3 And you can also see my Blackened Sky double-vinyl which arrived before I did (I adore it so much!).


Tiny little drawers. They look really cute but they barely fit my hairbrush and accessories in. When I go home next I'll take all the empty bags with me and bring a mirror to go on top of them.

PINKIE PIE SHELF! They're not even all on there yet. And my bed and the biiiiig built-in closet. There are two rails in there, one behind the other. The only downside is that I have to stand on my pillow to reach anything that's in there. I'm planning to replace the shower curtain with a nice purple net curtain I've had for a while but never used.

And that's my new room! So much nicer than my old one. It even has double glazing, and no noisy boiler!

OPPOSITES

Finally, the full details concerning Biffy Clyro's forthcoming album have come to light!


The double album is called Opposites, and the track listing is as follows:

The Sand At The Core Of Our Bones
1. Stingin' Belle
2. Sounds Like Balloons
3. Biblical
4. The Joke's On Us
5. Black Chandelier
6. A Girl And His Cat
7. Opposite
8. The Fog
9. Little Hospitals
10.The Thaw

The Land At The End Of Our Toes
1. Different People
2. Modern Magic Formula
3. Spanish Radio
4. Victory Over The Sun
5. Pocket
6. Trumpet Or Tap
7. Skylight
8. Accident Without Emergency
9. Woo Woo
10. Picture A Knife Fight

Click the titles to go the webpage for that disc!

The first disc has a negative, 'it's over' theme whereas the second is more positive and has 'a sense of resolution'. After reading the article in this week's Kerrang! magazine I'm probably most intrigued about the song 'Little Hospitals' as there's a verse entirely in kazoo which is...unusual, to say the least!

While it isn't out in the UK until the 28th of January, you can preorder it now from http://opposites.biffyclyro.com/. I personally just blew £50 on the limited edition boxset because I'm a bad (but very over-excited) girl!

And then of course there should be a tour next year too. Can't wait! Especially since it seems I haven't won iTunes festival tickets...