One thing I say I think, but I don't - September Posts

This is a really difficult one to finish off my September Post Streak, and I am really struggling with what I should write about. One thing I say I think, but I don't - what could that even be?

What can I write about in this post? Could it be that say Disney has the best theme parks in Florida when I actually think that Universal has the best parks? Could it be that I say I hated The Amazing Spiderman 2 when I actually really liked it? What can I say? It is such a difficult thing to talk about.

I don't really say what I think unless I actually think it. What is the point in putting these pointless thoughts out there in the world?

Then it could be things that I say so I don't hurt people's feelings. I don't like her hair dyed black but I don't want to upset her. Red isn't his colour be he really likes that shirt. They want to go to Weatherspoons but I actually want to go to Nandos. What is a girl to do?

What is the point in saying what we don't actually think, why do we not just say what is on our mind. Well, in the case of The Amazing Spiderman 2, it could be due to the pressure to say that you hate a movie that you actually really loved because your friends will make fun of you otherwise. And in the case of commenting on somebody's appearance, you might not want to upset the person when they have spent time and money to look the way they do, and you might just want to let them know that they are appreciated.

But all this is irrelevant to the title of the post. I still have not said one thing that I say I think but I don't. So, without further ado, here we go....

Pineapple doesn't belong on Pizza (but it does!).


And with that comes the end of my September Posts. I hope that you have enjoyed the daily updates this month, I have definitely enjoyed writing this month. Please let me know if you are interested in this again and you never know, I may do daily uploads for another month (not October though, I need a break!).

Thank you for reading and let me know what you would like to see next on this blog!

My Best Quality - September Posts

I find it really difficult to talk about myelf, so I have hated the prompts like these where it asks me to talk about my personality because I don't really know my own personality. I just sort of exists. I am the Harry Potter in my own story; whilst I might not be very interesting to myself, I am interesting to a lot of other people.

So I am not really sure what my best quality is for myself, however other people have told me that I am very patient, which is not a bad quality to have at all being completely honest. And now that I think about it, I do have a lot more patience than many people I have encountered.

For example with an old lady in a shop, if she is taking a while to pack up her stuff, I wouldn't feel obliged to tell her to hurry up like some people would. Or in a queue in a shop that's taking longer than usual, many customers would complain whereas I don't really comment or say anything snarky to the poor cashier who has had to deal with all these grumpy customers all day.

Yes, something may be inconveniencing you, but don't take it out on anybody as it is usually out of their control. Just accept that it has happened and carry on with the rest of your day. That is something that a lot of people can learn.

Thank you for reading, apologies that this is not as long as my usual posts, as mentioned I don't really know what to write when it comes to my personality. Hope you enjoyed this post and keep a look out for the next one!

What did you learn yesterday? - September Posts

So I have changed the initial title of this post, which was "What did you learn today", purely because I really wanted to write about what happened yesterday but I was unsure if I would have time to do it and post it on the same day. If you are unaware, yesterday I travelled down to Essex to have my initial interview for the Disney CEP program, and this post was perfect for it! However, I spent so much time travelling yesterday and I was so tired when I got home, that it would have been nearly impossible for me to write something that was even a little bit creative. So I hope that you do not mind that I changed the title of the post, and switched it so that I could write about it today. Without further ado, here is what happened yesterday and what I learned from it!

1) It is nearly impossible for me to sleep on a bus 

Getting the bus to London was definitely a lot cheaper than getting the train down, the downside was that it would take 9 hours to get there rather than 3 hours. In my mind, I didn't think that this would really be a bad idea, since that meant I could just sleep on the bus and I would be bright, happy and ready for my interview the next morning. How wrong I was. 

The bus did turn out all of their lights and it was relatively easy to fall asleep, but every time the bus stopped, they turned on the bright lights (obviously so that people getting on/off wouldn't fall over or hurt themselves when travelling down the bus) which woke me up every time i went to sleep and we stopped off quite often, which meant getting off the bus to walk around, which definitely didn't help with the sleeping thing. Nevertheless, the bus journey was not bad ans I would use it again, but maybe I would stay in a hotel next time to make sure that I get a good nights sleep before the biggest interview of my life. 

2) Wetherspoons is a very good place to get ready 

Obviously I did not want to travel in my interview outfit for 9 hours, so we decided we would stop off somewhere to get changed. We arrived in London at about 6:20am, and there was a Wetherspoons a few minuets away from the bus station that was open. We walked there and got some food and a drink, and thought it would be a good place to freshen up. It was quiet, nobody bothered us while we were putting our make-up on (although it was very quiet at this time) and we took 5 minuets to get changed in the bathrooms. It was not the best situation, but if you are only in London for a few hours and you need to get changed, consider dropping into Wetherspoons. Of course, you will probably need to order something. 

3) But they also don't serve chicken nuggets at 7am 

I know what you're thinking, who actually wants to eat chicken nuggets at 7am anyway! But my thought behind this was that the breakfast items on the menu wouldn't be filling enough to get us through to tea time, so I wanted to get an actual meal. The thing is, the items that I tried to order were not available at that time. It wasn't the end of the world, I could always buy more food if I get hungry later, but it would just mean spending more money, and as a student that is the last thing I wanted to do.

4) Oxford street is a good place to go if you are in London really early 

We were planning to visit Oxford Street anyway, but there is so much down that street that it is a really good place to go if you are in London at the time when places aren't really open. By the time we were finished at Wetherspoons, which was at 8am, places were beginning to open on Oxford Street. We started off our day wandering around Primark, then going to Starbucks, Lush and the Disney Shop before going off to our interview. There is so much down that street that you could stay there for hours, which is why I found it a really good place to kill time before we needed to travel to Essex.

5)London doesn't wait for you

London is one of those cities that seems like it never stops. People are constantly on the move, trying to get from one place to another. There is always people there who want to try and push past you to get to somewhere else and it can feel rather confusing to someone who has never been there before. Going to London means that you will have to be prepared in advance and know exactly where you are going, or be prepared to find a corner to adjust your bearings since London is definitely not the place you want to stop in the middle of the street. It will end up like that scene from the Lion King. Yes, that scene. 

I committed the awful crime of my google pay app not working on the underground, so I needed to step to the side and find my card to pay to travel. I really ruined the guys day who was waiting behind me, because I slowed him down by 2 minuets. Such an inconvenience. Sounds like it shouldn't mean a lot, but every second counts to Londoners. Don't shout at them, just let them exist and try not to get in their way otherwise you will ruin their day. 

6) The most amazing people apply for Disney Jobs

I met the most amazing people at my Disney Interview. It started on the tube, when one girl recognized me from the group chat because of my hair. There was also a guy sat in front of us who was attending the interview, it was so coincidental that we were all sat in the same tube carriage. We all bonded on the journey and sat in Starbucks outside the office for a couple of hours, or group gradually growing until we were practically taking up the shop. 

There were so many lovely people there that they are going to have a really had time deciding who should go through to the final interviews!

 

7) No matter what the outcome of this interview is, I had a fantastic time!

Anyone who knows me knows that ever since I was a little girl it has been my dream to work at Disney, and I feel so privilaged to have been offered an interview. Although this interview is no guarentee that I have actually gotten the job, it is so prestigious that I am amazed that I have even made this cut! Thousands of people applied to be a part of the Disney CEP progam and only a few hundred got through to the pre-screening interviews. I may not get to the final interviews, but I have definitley learned a lot about this and I am excited to share my experiences when the time comes round to it. As weird as it sounds, part of me is hoping that I do not get the job this time around, so that I can share my experiences of not getting into the program. There are so many success stories around the internet, but I have not read or watched one thing that talks about not getting onto the program, so if all else fails, I would like to be that person who offers some comforting thoughts to those who have not passed this time around. 

Like I said, it was still a valuable experience to have, it was my first interview for a Disney Job, my first interview in London, my first time in London "on my own" (I did have a friend with me, but it was my first time without a qualified adult to supervise me in London) and I met some amazing people as I have said before. 

I would hate for this to be the last I speak about my Disney CEP application process, so I a prepared to create more content to educate more hopefuls looking for a Disney Career and to create things that I can look back on and be proud of. I will wait and see what the outcome of this interview is first as there is no point in me advising "How to be successful at the Disney CEP Pre-screening interview" if I get rejected. But I have been documenting my thoughts and feelings of the whole process which I will be posting at some point, depending on how much further I get into the process, and I will talk about the application process and interview process. 

And that is all I really have to say about what I learned yesterday. As mentioned before, it was such a valuable experience that it would not be the end of the world if I did not get through tot the final interviews this time. I hope that you enjoyed reading about my experiences, and as mentioned I will try to put out some content speaking about my experiences as soon as I can. 

One thing I wish I could do - September Posts

I don't really like dwelling on things that I can or can't do - I like to stay relatively positive. So rather than making this a post about something I wish I could do that I can't do, I would like to turn it around to be something that I can already do that I could take one step further.

I have always wanted to have something to do with designing. I was interested in sewing from a very young age and always wanted to make dresses. Then, when I was 14, I became interested in cosplay and was looking for every opportunity to come along for me to make a cosplay. Then an opportunity came along and I sewed together a dress for the first time.

Apologies for the camera quality, but if you couldn't tell, this is supposed to be Princess Anna's dress. Although I would have rather embroidered the details on I did not really have time to which resulted in me just sticking on cut out shapes instead, but I am really proud that I made this (without a pattern too!) and everyone at the party I went to loved my costume (I was invited to a Disney Party for context).

The Cosplaying did not stop there. Although I never went to a convention or anything, I absolutely loved making costumes. Here is one of Princess Zelda that I made.

(Wow, ignore the messy room) This Cosplay was my pride and joy! I have never been more proud of something before in my life! Also just a note I spent my holiday spending money on this fabric so that was real dedication. But there was the issue money.

In order to continue my hobby creating cosplays, I needed to have money to keep buying the fabrics. And it was a rather expensive, and as a school student who was not yet old enough to work, I could not continue to make these cosplays. 

But all was not lost!

In College, I chose to study A-Level Textiles as one of my subjects. It required a £40 fee at the start of the year, which included a sewing kit and helped fund the facilities, which meant UNLIMITED FABRIC! Although it was supposed to be used for work purposes, so I never actually took it to create a cosplay with. But I did design and make two fantastic dresses in my time at college. (I only have photos of one of there so here it is!) 

I had so much fun being able to design and make dresses and be grades for it at the end of the day. But it is something I have not done since my time at college. And that is one thing I wish I could do now. I want to be able to design and make things once again. It was something that brought me a lot of happiness and it was even therapeutic at times. I may not have made the best dresses in the world, but I had a damn good time making them.

That is all for today, hope you enjoyed this post. If there is something you wish you could do, please let me know in the comments, I would be very interested to know! Thank you so much for reading and check back over the next few days for the last of the September Posts saga!

The Best Restaurant in my Town - September Posts

So I have actually switched today's post and tomorrow's post around since I think I will be able to make the post that I was supposed to write today way more interesting if I write it based on wat happens tomorrow (I promise it will all make sense soon!).

Anyway, back to the title of my post - the best restaurant in my town. I am not really the type of person who really goes out to eat out at a lot of places, I usually have home cooked meals every day. However, back at home there is one restaurant that I really enjoy visiting - Uno Restaurante. It is an Italian restaurant who I believe has chains throughout the north east and I just really enjoy their menu.

Two particular favourites of mine are the hunters chicken and - of course - the parmo!

I enjoy hunters chicken anyway, but I really love it at this restaurant. It is just really nice and also comes with some nice chips, which aren't really like the traditional type of fries that your would get at any other restaurant! And anywhere I go I really enjoy their parmos! Which if you don't now what it is, it is a chicken or pork base with bechmel sauce on it and cheese on top. It sounds like diabetes on a plate and it tastes like it too. But it is really nice and is genuinely one of my favourite meals (and also one of the only reasons why I would return to my hometown!

Apologies if you were expecting something a little more exciting, but it was very difficult considering I don't really go out for meals. Plus, at the city where I am currently living I have only really been to the Nandos and the Weatherspoons here which I didn't really think would be exciting enough to talk about!

New Edited Headshots!

Today I was sent the final edited versions of my headshots that I had taken about two weeks ago, so I thought I would update you all and post them here. I couldn't be happier with how they have turned out. I paid for four edits and was sent a fifth one which was a surprise!

If it is something that interests people I can do a post about getting professional headshots taken, but for now I will leave you with this. I just thought it can be another bonus post since my September Posts update today was not necessarily the longest!

Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next post!

A Simple Pleasure - September Posts

If you didn't know already, I have a love for dogs. Any dogs at all. And getting to pet a dog just makes me really happy. Still to this day my favourite day at university was when one of my classmates brought her dog in.

I treat all dogs like my babies and I would love to adopt one! Unfortunately due to the contract I currently have at the house where I am staying, I am unable to have a dog, but I would still like one. I keep trying to tell my house mates to get their parents to come up so I can meet their dogs. (wow this is really starting to sound creepy)

When I see a dog walk past me on the street it does make me very happy, especially if they actually come up to me. Dogs just make my day so much better and I cannot wait for the day when I can finally bring a good boi home!

Sorry about the shorted post today, but I really do not know how I can make this post longer without it becoming boring or creepy so I thought I would stop while I was ahead. Thank you for reading!

Why I love Rainy Days - September Posts

Art by Donna Gibertson

As a proud citizen of the United Kingdom I have encountered many a rainy day. Some people act like this is a massive inconvenience, like a little bit of rain will ruin their entire day. However, I absolutely love rainy days for many different reasons. Especially in the autumn, which is my favourite season by the way! So here are the reasons why I love rainy days!

Using them as an excuse to stay in bed all day

Look, I am not advocating in any way that you should skip work or school just so you can lie in bed all day because there is a little bit for rain outside, but it is a nice way to stay and home and relax. There is nothing better than waking up to the sound of rain tapping away on your window, and just curling back up in your duvet avoiding your responsibilities. Not to mention that if you don't go outside on a rainy day, you will not have to deal with the side affects of going outside - no wet socks or shoes, no wet hair ect. You truly get to enjoy your day. Although if you do go outside in the rain, there is nothing better to coming inside to a nice warm house and jumping straight into a hot bubble bath!

Listening to rain drops tap your window pane

As mentioned above, I love it when you can here the rain tap your windows, either when you are falling asleep or waking up. There is just a poetic feeling about being next to a window and just listening to the rain fall. What makes it better is if you have a nice hot drink and a book to read. I always like a little bit of background noise when I am reading a book, and the noise from the rain is perfect!

Not having to water the flowers

If you are someone who is really interested in gardening and has a lot of plants and flowers, then you are really in luck when the rainy season comes around! It's a relief to know that one chore is taken care off by the weather, and you will not have to worry about your plants drying up, since there is an awful lot of rainy days during the autumn!

Rainy day baking

I absolutely love rainy day baking! There is something so nice about having a freshly baked batch of biscuits or cakes on the table still slightly warm and eating them while it is cold and rainy outside. Plus, if you have nothing planned for that day, baking really passes the time on a rainy day. It is a fun activity and I am sure your family will love you for giving them baked treats on such a miserable day!

Wearing warm knitted clothes and boots

I absolutely love autumn fashion and getting to wear woolly jumpers. There is a reason it is my favourite season after all! I associate jumping in puddles with my childhood, and there is something about stomping through a big puddle that brings that childhood joy back to me. Also, I love going outside on a freezing cold day being wrapped up warm in a woolly jumper and scarf ready to face the day ahead.

Not having to worry about your hair

It's raining so why bother doing your hair if it is just going to get wet when you go outside anyway. The rainy season is a low maintenance season for me. Time to put the straighteners away, because as soon as I step outside my hair will just go frizzy anyway! The best part about it is that everyone will be in the same situation, so nobody is going to think you look silly for having wet hair if everybody has wet hair (plus, in university nobody really cares about what your hair looks like anyway, so that's an even bigger bonus!)

Having a Movie Marathon

If you can't go outside, why not make the most of being inside and binge watch that film or TV series. Order pizza, make a hot drink, invite friends round (maybe not in that order) and watch something that you have all been meaning to watch together. Its a bonus if you were all planning to go out anyway. Rather than cancel plans, make the most of your chance to be together and stay inside.

Those are just a few reasons wh I love rainy days, do let me know what you like about rainy days, and as always, thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog post! Do check back for tomorrows post!

Three Good Thoughts - September Posts

1) You are beautiful 

Something I have spent fretting over a lot in my life is my looks. I was worried that my hair was too curly, or that I gained too much weight or that I lost too much weight, that I don't suit red lipstick or that I cannot do eye shadow. Something that I learned a little later that I would have liked to learn is that you are beautiful no matter what you look like. As long as you are happy with yourself, that is good enough for me. And if there is something that you are unhappy about, do not be afraid to change it. Tired of that blonde hair? Dye it red.

So long that you are not changing yourself to please somebody else, because you will only end up making your self feel worse about you. The best thing that I have done is not worry about how I look, and I would recommend you give it a go for a day, you will feel how much happier you are without worrying about how you look!

2) Nobody Cares

This sounds like a brutal remark, but I mean this in the best way. You have lipstick on your teeth? Nobody cares. Your winged eyeliner is uneven? Nobody cares. You woke up with a spot on your nose? Guess what? Nobody Cares.

If people like you and want to hang out with you, they really won't care about that dodgy haircut that you gave yourself the other night. They will want to hang out with you for the person you are. And when you answer to door with no makeup on and in your pajamas to the pizza man delivering you your dominoes. Guess what, he also doesn't care about what you look like. 

I've wasted so much of my life worried that people would judge me, but the best thing I have ever done is come to the realisation that people really don't care about these things!

3) Things will always get better

The amount of times I've thought I was stuck in a really bad situation, and things have always turned out right eventually, you just need to give it time. I remember being at a really low point where I thought that things would not be better,but just a couple of months later, I was the happiest I had ever been. 

That's it for today, be sure to check back for tomorrows post!

One Thing Not to Worry About - September Posts

Sorry to frighten you with that photo, I understand that it is not quite Halloween yet. However this is 13 year old Nat. This does have relevance to the title I promise. I just wanted to make things a little bit interesting!

So at the age of 13 I was always being told what I needed to do. I took my GSCE Maths Exam in Year 8 because the teachers thought that I was read for it and it would be beneficial for my future if I took that exam now then it would be one thing less to focus on when I took my other GCSE's. 

I was then pressured into picking a technology subject at year 9 so I would be able to complete another GCSE a year earlier. I took textiles, and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think there was way too much pressure being put on people in my year group to do well in this exam they would be taking (although some people may have been ready to start their GCSE's early, it didn't mean that everyone in that year groupl would be!). 

After that, there was the pressure to pick three options which would FOREVER AFFECT WHAT JOB WE WOULD BE ABLE TO DO! Seriously, so much pressure is put on teenagers to pick subjects that relate to the career oath they want to take, when it really is not that much of a big deal! As long as you do well in your English and Maths then you should be fine (even then, somebody I know has had plenty of luck in getting a decent job and he left school with 3 GCSE's so there really shouldn't be so much panic over it!)

And that brings me to the title of the post, one thing not to worry about! What you want to do in the future. So many people are told that if they do not make the "right" decisions at the age of 13/14 then you will have to work in a rubbish job and you will never be happy or get to do what you want to do. I'm not saying that picking your options isn't important, but it is not the life or death situation that your teachers will make it out to be. There were even complaints at my school because teachers manipulated people into taking a humanity subject and a language since it would get you an extra qualification, but when it actually came round to doing the exams and getting our results, nobody qualified to get this extra award. Although my school was just infamous for manipulating and lying to people, but that is another story for another time. 

Of course, at this point in my life, I was like "do I follow my dreams of becoming an actress and take GCSE Drama or do I do ICT because that is the more "Desirable" qualification". And I went with GCSE Drama. Because I was young. And if things did not work out as I wanted them too then I could always change my mind. 

People are all on their own paths, so there is no rush to decide what you want to do. Some people my age are finishing their degrees, some are buying a house, some are married and have kids. Not everyone my age goes to university, some may go to university later in life when they are 30, when they have decided that they really wanted that degree in computing. Heck, there is nothing stopping me from going back to university when I am 40 years old, if I decide that the BA in History I was thinking of getting was actually the degree I wanted and not the degree in Musical Theatre that I am doing now. 

There is always room for mistakes, so do not worry if you picked a useless GCSE because you liked that subject, or if you want to try and become an artist even if the pay is not well. Don't fret even if you decided to do A-Level Spanish and you never use that in your life ever again. There is so much pressure put on young people to decide what they want to do with their life when they are not even in their 20's. 

So one thing not to worry about - your future. Live in the moment and do not worry about what you are going to do with the rest of your life! That is all from me for today!