Like a dog chasing its tail...

I have been super busy the past couple of weeks. My post title describes the way I have been feeling. Its been so strange though because at no point have I became angry or anything, I've just felt wound up and frustrated at everything!! I'm normally a very patient person but even that was waning at school last week. Granted the kids were just a bit off the wall for some reason but still.

However, I have spent a day being busy, made time for lunch and accomplished quite a lot. Dare I say that I'm catching that tail? It seems like things could be about to slow down to a slightly more human pace (hopefully!).

Today is also the 1st day of Project: Do Me. I blogged about that the other day. So I am hoping that by achieving my little goals I can become happier and less stressed! Fingers crossed!

If you haven't took part in Project: Do Me, don't worry, you can still join in! Look at my link above for ideas and also head on over to Travel Babbles who is hosting the project!

Here is her fab button for the project too which will brighten up your blog and link others:

Updates...

In the middle of updating planning file etc today I have been playing with my blog a little :-)

There is of course a new post all about the unfathomable species which is men. Also, you will notice that I've had a bit of a re-vamp with the design. I think I'm gonna leave it this way for a bit and see how I feel about the new background but it is subject to change (I'm terrible at making a decision and sticking to it).

Also, I have spent some time working on a button for my blog today- I have to say I impressed myself at managing to get one all done!! This was with a little help from Oikology tutorial. Thank you!!

Anyway, feel free to display my button, I will keep checking sites I love and if you have buttons I'm sure I an find a space for you here :-)

<a border="0" href="http://takeallchances.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/8470/buttonwf.jpg "/></a>

Hope you all had a fun weekend!

Peacocking

I was out for Miss Faux Fur's sisters birthday last night and it was pretty much a non starter....

We went for food which took agggeeesssss!!!! Then went on to a bar where the 'peacocking' began.

Peacocking: defined as - Men acting in a way to gain the attention of females.

'How you doin..?'

I am sure you will all be aware of this and have either seen it in action or worse, been on the receiving end.

Bar 1:

I encountered an Italian man who did not understand the concept of no. He was trying to buy me a shot which I politely declined, then he asked again, again, again and well ..you get where this is going to. After declining it many times, he then proceeded to buy them for him, his mates and me and Miss Faux Fur. Again, I had to repeat no many many times. Was he stupid?! N.O! As we were leaving he then grabbed my hand as said, "You're gorgeous! Do you have a boyfriend? Can I have your number? I want to text you and ask you out?"

ARGGHHH!!! "Yes I have a boyfriend and no you can't have my number." As you know fine well I am single but it seemed the easiest way out.

Peacocking- Spending money, compliments and domination. No thank you! I can buy my own drinks, decide what I want to drink and I don't want someone who doesn't comprehend the word no.

Bar 2:

This was just filled me men who thought leering at you while dancing towards you was going to get them laid. 

Peacocking- dancing and 'appreciative' stares. Note to THAT type of man...learn to dance and don't look like you are going to pass out. Not attractive.

Club:

Well, this was the ultimate peacocking location. For once this club seemed to be full of men. It seemed like it was a 10:1 ratio of men to woman!Due to this, the whole element of competition meant the men had to up their game if they wanted us woman to notice them. In fact, it did make us notice them but we noticed how much of an idiot they were!! Why men think it's acceptable to grab and paw women, grind against them and quite frankly pester them is beyond me. There is nothing worse. As Miss Faux Fur said, "It was like everywhere we moved around in our circle there was some man trying to grind up against us." This unfortunately was true. I was also stopped by some man who just came out with, " You're lovely. I love you. Want to dance?" I wish I was joking but I 'm not.

Peacocking- Grinding, bumping, grabbing, feeling and shouting. Never ever grab me, grind against me or shout at me. I DON'T LIKE IT!! 

All in all we came home feeling quite worn out after all the avoidance strategies put into place. I just don't know what was us last night but I felt like I was in an episode of Jersey Shore and expected it to all kick off at some point. 

I like men to be assertive but in the way that they actually greet you with 'Hi' and just chat..call me old fashioned but I find that much nicer than being felt up.There's a difference between being confident and being an utter twat and it is quite a large line so surely it's not hard for men to not cross!

Plea to men out there: If you want to speak to me, do just that...speak. I don't need you to buy me drinks as I have my own money, I don't need you to feel me up or try and be clever. I just need you to be yourself. You might be surprised at how well I react! Put away those feathers and you will stand out more than any other guy in the place. 

Image from stockxchng 

When I grow up..

Today I was working with one of the groups in my class and a disagreement broke out. I went over to see what was the matter and was confronted with two very angry boys and one, who looked rather worried and upset, said:

“Miss.... D said that Superboys aren’t real but I reall am going to be one when I grow up!!”

With great power comes great responsibilty....

The other child then proceeded to complain that he couldn’t because superheroes aren’t real. Talk about getting your dreams crushed!! Poor kid! It took me back to when I was younger when all I ever wanted to be was an ice skater. I don’t know why because it’s not like I skated a lot. I then remember a phase when I wanted to be a tennis player but realised that, at 5’3”, I was far too short and since I could barely see over the net that it wasn’t going to happen. The same for air stewardess and model. Seriously...height is a pain when choosing a career haha!! 

Then Miss Twin chatted about being a teacher and I thought, “Hmmm, why don’t I do that too?” So I did and I absolutely love it. It’s such a special job educating children and supporting them to understand the world. In their eyes it’s all black or white and there are no grey areas. Take the ‘super hero’ talk. Yes there are no Spiderman, Superman etc but there are firemen, policemen, soldiers etc who all risk their lives and are heroes for putting their life at risk. 

That naivity is so cute and now I wouldn’t want to change my job for the world. I feel very fortunate to be able to make some people’s lives that little bit brighter. Oh and Miss Twin... she went into property haha!!

What did you want to be when you were growing up? Are you that now?

*photo from stock.xchg

Project: Do Me

This post is the brain child of KY at Travel Babbles. Basically she is going with the affirmation of ""happy girls are the prettiest girls". This is also a great belief of the fabulous Miss Audrey Hepburn who is an idol of mine (she was also my inspiration and led to me winning 1st prize at a film star fancy dress party!). Therefore the idea is that we, as woman, think about what will truly make us happy,smile and essentially beautiful. I have to post some attainable targets (I feel like I'm at work and should be laminating some target cards haha)!

So here we go:

Daily - I will spend 5 minutes sitting in silence and thinking about my day.

Weekly- I will paint my nails every week because pretty nails make me smile whenever I catch a glimse and remember they are looking pretty !

-I will stop work before 9pm on at least one occasion during the Mon-Fri wekday. 
- I will have a face mask night (probably tie in with my nails night!).

Monthly - Have a night out with all my girlfriends.

Yearly - Continue tradion of ice-skating, sale shopping and food on Christmas Eve with friends.

- Holiday with Miss GG at some point in the year :-)
- Get back to dancing, Yoga and another sport (possibly kick boxing) after getting my knee fixed!
* This is a want as Im not sure there are resources to do this but: Learn to ice skate!*

As KY states, these can be interchangable as the year goes on. I know there are some things which I am persuing which could change my life this year and of course there are all the things to come which I don't even know about :-)

If you want to do thins, you can post this pretty side bar picture to join us!

Thanks for this KY!

*Edited after some thoughts*

WIN! WIN! WIN!

I decided that I was going to have a break from the stress of job applications and all other school related stuff and have some me time. What best place to go than the ice rink to watch a hockey game! What a game it was too! Currently my team are doing pretty horrifically with financial instability, dodgy facilities and an extremely short bench to the tune of like 10 players! You thought I was being over dramatic with the whole not doing well but seriously .. it's pretty dire times. However.. in all that adversity, in all that chaos and standing skate to skate with ex-NHLer's they played bloody brilliant!! They won the game, played with so much passion and managed to rile the other team up who DO NOT like to lose hahah!! They actually resorted to trying to get our guys to fight to short bench them even more!! Proper underdog game it was. I have to say I am in awe of all players and do not think I will see a more hard fought, passionate, strong and gutsy team for a long time!! 

In the face of adversity and hard times, give it a big check and be on your way to your goal!

Proud hockey fan tonight :-)

VLOG...

I was reading some of my followed blogs last night and came across a post on Travel Babbles:Living the (hockey) life.. and discovered a VLOG. Basically it's a post in video form. After watching it and loving it I decided I would get Vlogging tonight. 

Below is my VLOG.. Hope you like it. I have to apologise for looking so tired. It's late and has been a long day!!

*Video removed....back to anonymous!*

The VLOG is about dialect and accent. There is a list of words to repeat and then a list of questions. They are below if you want to join in the fun:

Words to repeat:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Eggs, Milk, Sausage, Garbage, Hockey, holiday and film.

And the questions to answer are:

1. What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
2. What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
3. What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
4. What do you call gym shoes?
5. What do you say to address a group of people?
6. What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
7. What do you call your grandparents?
8. What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
9. What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
10. What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

As this is meant to be an anonymous blog the video will stay for a couple of days at the most then I will remove it. Enjoy it while it lasts and hope you enjoy putting a face to the blog :-)

I'm lost but I'm hopeful...

Today has been one of those days...the type where nothing goes wrong but you end it by feeling particularly wound up and frustrated. The weekend didn't set me up the best but that's a continual issue which isn't going to just vanish. Work has just been one thing after another and this year I have extra responsibilities for co-ordinating different things in school which are quite demanding. I am also in the process of applying for a teaching job abroad (boooo C.V's!!)! Soooo all in all there's a lot of stuff for teeny me to be dealing with. To just make my day sound even better....yes you will be jealous...I spent my lunch time in the PE cupboard tidying it up since no-one in my school understands what boxes and shelves are for!Told you you'd be jealous haha!!

After the special day which I had I came home to work and work and work ..... I was just about to continue with my CV and I turned a music channel on. The song which came on was a favourite of mine but one which doesn't instantly spring to mind when I need a pick me up. I found myself singing along and actually SMILING to it!! The song was by Alanis Morissette called 'Hand in My Pocket'.

I kinda like to think that the whole song is about this:

Life throws crap at you, you don' really know what to do, you struggle, you cry, you feel good, you feel bad and confused BUT everyone is the same. To quote:

"And what it all boils down to
Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet"

Does that just not sound the best life lesson ever?! It's all gonna be fine and honestly those people who look together and fine really don't get it either. To be honest I don't think we ever get it...maybe your last moment on Earth you get this blinding moment of reality and think..."Ahh so this is what it was all about?"

If you've never heard the song please take a listen- it's amazing! 

The L Word

I was out with Miss Hockey last night or a game and drinking session. When we got home (at a reasonably late hour haha) we had the usual pizza and crisps to satisfy our alcohol hunger! Conversation drifted to my love life (or lack of at the moment) and my last relationship last year.Once again we reached the conclusion that we just couldn’t fathom the whole thing out. Then I asked the question:

“Why can’t I get over it?”

It was then that she hit me with something no one has said before about the relationship:

“You’re in love with him...”

I stopped. Thought. Shook my head. No way- it was a short relationship, I didnn’t get closure and there was no way I was IN LOVE with him. Was I? She carried on and actually she was right...I just didn’t/don’t want to admit it as I feel like stupid for it. Why should I love someone who I don’t see. To be honest the whole thing just makes me feel sad and embarrassed that it didn’t work so to think it’s love that I have makes me even more tragically sad and angry. But after 10 months what else could it be? I’ve tried chatting to other people and even turned a date down and when asked again a week later thought why not but it just wasn’t what I wanted.

This post may sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself but I’m not, I’m just confused and I’ve been made to see that I love someone who isn't my Mr Right and now hopefully I can start the healing of my broken heart. I want and need to work this thing out and need to do it soon.

Any fellow broken hearts? Or any advice on how to mend and stitch up a broken heart?

1 in 3...

 This is a statistic I was reading about on my lunch break today. Apparently 1 in 3 women will not leave the house without make up on. I have to hold my hands up (rather ashamedly) to being the 1 in the 3. The article then went on to put forward a ‘for’ and an ‘against’ argument as to whether we really need make up to be confident. I will now try and recall the main points of each:

For:

-          To be polite (it was compared to mn=en walking into an office with stubble).

-          To feel ready for the day- apparently this writer felyt things without make up felt like a run through.

-          To look nice.

-          To feel good.

Against:

-          It doesn’t give us confidence instead it just masks us.

-          We shouldn’t feel the need to make ourselves look better to feel better.

My opinion when reading it was that the whole thing is a pointless argument. Who is to say that make-up doesn’t make a person more confident and that we do it for other people and not just ourselves? On the other hand I felt the whole ‘it’s polite’ a bit ridiculous. If you are happy without make-up who is to judge that that is unacceptable and offensive? I mean I am personally not offended by stubble on a man and actually quite like it!

If I was asked, and have been on many occasions, ‘Why do you feel the need to wear make-up when you go out?’ I answer: Because I want to. I feel nicer with it on, I feel more confident in talking to other people and I actually enjoy doing my make up!

When, like me, you have grown up with bad skin you are used to covering it up it’s something that sticks. Those people who say things like, “But your skin is fine!” “You’re stunning, no one notices your skin!” are always those with the most stunning and perfect complexions. I think that whatever you’re comfortable with, whatever you want to do and as long as it’s for yourself, then make-up or no make-up that’s fine by me!!

Any thoughts on make-up? Are you a make-up fan or hater?

Werewolves are real...

Before you think I have gone completely mad. The title of this blog did not come from my mouth!! I was working with a group of kids in my class and we were making notes on foxes which led to a discussion on wolves. This is when one came out with, “Werewolves are real..they live in America and Africa and come out at night.” As you can imagine, I had to work very hard not to laugh as, as you can imagine it’s not something you expect someone to believe- even if they are 8.

Full moon on the rise.....stay indoors!!!

I asked if he knew what a werewolf was and he replied that it was a wolf which came out on a full moon. I then had to explain what a werewolf is – a person who turns into a wolf- and his eyes widened. Oh no...Had I said the wrong thing? I then had to carry on and explain myths and fiction etc etc. The kid seemed quite happy after the group chat as others were also explaining the whole not real werewolf situation. After the chat he was still mumbling quite happily to himself, “ WOW! Werewolves are cool!”

To be honest I can see where some of these problems come from. There are so many different shows, stories and films etc these days which can and do influence kids. I think that this is where the lines of reality and make believe blur. How many times have you watched something and thought... ‘This may be crazy but what if, just what if this IS real?’ Now I’m not saying everyone believes this, it’s generally a curse of people like me who have an overactive imagination.

When I studied Media during my comprehensive days I watched ‘The Truman Show’. If you haven’t seen it, it is basically about a man who lives in a big brother life without knowing. All people in his life are actors, his world is a fake reality and everything is 'perfect'. He has no idea that his illusion of truth is actually the complete opposite. Even the sun is controlled. This film always has and always will freak me out. It gets me thinking- “What if my life is scripted and fake?” I catch myself panicking if I see the same two days in a row at the same place (which happened this week).

In some ways I think a lot of our lives are not as real as we think and we blur the lines constantly ourselves on a daily basis. An example of this is a conversation I had with Miss Twin about the fact that women wear heels to be taller, push up bras to enhance and make up to cover flaws and change our look. This is not exactly the huge blur of reality that poor Truman faced but I wonder if we all need some kind of lie to keep us happy and get us through our daily life?

When watching True Blood tonight, Jason Stackhouse came out with something to the effect of: 

‘Telling lies doesn’t mess a life up, if you really wanna fuck someone’s life up tell them the truth.”

Maybe this is right? Who knows... I think I can live with a few little reality blurs every now and again but please, if I am in a Truman Show... and you are watching ... tell me via the medium of blogging!

Image from: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/627739