Merry Christmas, and happy New Year too! What a blur 2015 was, and although I'll not bore you through everything that happened in 2015, it was a year of both ups and downs, like I guess everyone's was. I really really hope 2016 is better, but even just the fact that it's the year I leave the security of university and not needing a proper job is a reason to consider 2016 as not a year I'm going to love.
So to start with, I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I did, although it was quiet. I prefer busy Christmas's with lots of people and lots of noise and food, and would probably enjoy herds of children up a height on chocolate and excitement, and pretending that santa still exists.
We had a fabulous christmas tree, but every year I think back to a VHS tape we have of my family putting up our tree when I was 3 or 4, and it's just pure joy. However, it seems when you're an adult, and putting up a tree, it's horribly spikey and the risk of introducing spiders into your spider-free house is very real. We always used to have this one CD playing in the background, and because the first track on this CD is 'For me and my gal', this song has always been synonymous with Christmas for me, despite the song not referencing Christmas at all haha.
Before Christmas, we went to the Centre for Life in Newcastle, for a day there. I've never been there since I was about 10, but actually had as good a time as the kids we went with did. There was a little craft station that was making Christmas decoration. They were very simple and literally used just wool and cardboard but it was quite a cute idea, and I love that kind of thing. Here is my 'bauble':
Totally my kind of thing. I could sit for hours making these, and although the station's supervisor being a little bit overpowering and practically doing my entire bauble for me, it was very sweet.
Life have just finished their Game On 2.0 exhibition, that I previously had no interest in attending, however since entry to the exhibition is included in your admission, we had a little look around. Wow. I never had myself down as a game person but they literally had every single console practically ever made and it was actually so good. They even had my absolute favourite childhood game of Puzzle Bobble. Admittedly on a console I've never played it on, a Neo Geo, but the game and the soundtrack and the sound effects were all the same. I must have stood playing that game for about half an hour, just immersed in those ridiculous bubbles. They had all sorts of Marios too, and the Sims and even those games you sit on a motorbike and steer. I wish I could have stayed longer.
We did go on the 'rollercoaster' too though, which I always remember as being quite scary hahaha. It's really not. Still though, in the down season it's a little kick, looking forward to opening in March haha.
Something we also did a week before, similar to the bauble making exercise was to paint a mug! Again, another cute little idea, this time held at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. I had no idea what we were going to find at this session, but never expected the entire room to be crammed with kids and their parents haha.
I sat for literally, half an hour trying to figure out what to paint on this mug. I had pinterest open, secretly spying what some of the 4 year olds had put on theirs, slightly jealous of the young mind being able to just think of something and draw it. But eventually, I went with this:
Was a little bit gutted to start with because it looked absolutely nothing like Mickey haha. But as I put some colour on it, it started to look a little bit more like him. Fortunately now, I could recognise who it is, and friends can too, but I do warn not to look at it too long, because his face somehow fades into his arm haha.
Another sad part of the new year though is the fact Costa no longer do their black forrest hot chocolates. These were unbelievably nice and unfortunately it's another 300 days until they come back haha.
Here we are in Christmas jammies. Unfortunately this was practically the only day they looked like this, as it would appear washing this top completely removes the silver print hahaha.
I did get lots of nice presents for Christmas though. I wish I wrote down what I got for Christmas each year, to see how it's changed. Considering this year I got candles. Like, 10 years ago I had absolutely no interest in candles whatsoever, but now I'm 21 it seems candles are a very important part of my life haha.
Amongst getting enough chocolate to probably kill me, most of it unfortunately has sat between bath bombs and candles, and it tastes awful :( hopefully some fresh air will help it.
I did get a polaroid camera though, but it's one of the new Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 cameras, and whilst they still take the old style polaroid paper, and print it out instantly letting it develop in light, it has extra settings like a bulb function and the ability to do some double exposures. I had a dream about double exposures last night actually hahaha…
They're not very mini. It couldn't fit in your pocket. But they do take very sharp pictures.
And then for New Year me and my family went up the coast to a small hamlet called Budle Bay, just outside of Bamburgh, and about 6 miles from Seahouses, where it would seem my mother has stayed in just about every house and apartment Seahouses has. I remember it being better when I was younger, but I feel this is just because there were 3 amusements, and now there's only 1. I like going to these entertainment venues, especially after going to IAAPA's Euro Attractions Show in Gothenburg in October. I watched a talk from a guy from HB Leisure, who run lots of these types of venues, and also the hook-a-duck type games at theme parks across the world. So it's interesting to look at what was talked about, understanding it from the inside, out.
But Seahouses also has beaches:
And I ended up treating being away as a chance to (start and) finish an assignment I had due in the following week. It was hard enough writing 4000 words for that, never mind the 6000 that are due in next month for my dissertation.
Which, by the way, has changed again! Remember I went to that Euro Attractions Show in Gothenburg because there was a 'very interesting' talk on special events being used to boost profits on slow days in theme parks? Well, I was all set on focussing on theme parks for my dissertation, however, something held me back, and I didn't know what it was. After an hour long conversation with my friend from uni, I had somehow switched my focus onto shopping centres, and told my supervisor that that was my plan. She approved it, and I had gotten as far as contacting a few centres to discuss interview opportunities, and got no further, since I technically only had 2 that said they'd give me an interview. I've since changed my topic back to theme parks after deciding to email every single theme park in the UK one night asking if they'd too, give me an interview. Luckily I actually had more response from those than I have from the shopping centres, but I am yet to tell my supervisor, since I think she'll actually burst a few blood vessels. Luckily my procrastination played to my advantage, since I had done no work for the shopping centre dissertation. Saying that, I really really need to start my questions to send to my theme parks… aw man.
Because as you can see, I am clearly taking this seriously if I have bought a book!
This is legitimately the only book I have bought for uni, and will probably remain the only book I buy. I still hold my record, as I have still, 3 years in, never checked a book out of the library. They're pretty much all useless since you practically have to blow the dust off of them like in the cartoons.
But yeah, we missed new year on the way down to the beach haha. We had 5 minutes until new year, and it took 5 minutes to walk to the beach, but because we got lost in the dark, and distracted by the northern lights, we ended up trekking through the dunes led by iPhone flashlight at midnight haha.
So to start with, I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I did, although it was quiet. I prefer busy Christmas's with lots of people and lots of noise and food, and would probably enjoy herds of children up a height on chocolate and excitement, and pretending that santa still exists.
We had a fabulous christmas tree, but every year I think back to a VHS tape we have of my family putting up our tree when I was 3 or 4, and it's just pure joy. However, it seems when you're an adult, and putting up a tree, it's horribly spikey and the risk of introducing spiders into your spider-free house is very real. We always used to have this one CD playing in the background, and because the first track on this CD is 'For me and my gal', this song has always been synonymous with Christmas for me, despite the song not referencing Christmas at all haha.
Before Christmas, we went to the Centre for Life in Newcastle, for a day there. I've never been there since I was about 10, but actually had as good a time as the kids we went with did. There was a little craft station that was making Christmas decoration. They were very simple and literally used just wool and cardboard but it was quite a cute idea, and I love that kind of thing. Here is my 'bauble':
Totally my kind of thing. I could sit for hours making these, and although the station's supervisor being a little bit overpowering and practically doing my entire bauble for me, it was very sweet.
Life have just finished their Game On 2.0 exhibition, that I previously had no interest in attending, however since entry to the exhibition is included in your admission, we had a little look around. Wow. I never had myself down as a game person but they literally had every single console practically ever made and it was actually so good. They even had my absolute favourite childhood game of Puzzle Bobble. Admittedly on a console I've never played it on, a Neo Geo, but the game and the soundtrack and the sound effects were all the same. I must have stood playing that game for about half an hour, just immersed in those ridiculous bubbles. They had all sorts of Marios too, and the Sims and even those games you sit on a motorbike and steer. I wish I could have stayed longer.
We did go on the 'rollercoaster' too though, which I always remember as being quite scary hahaha. It's really not. Still though, in the down season it's a little kick, looking forward to opening in March haha.
 |
| Puzzle Bobble, before I died haha |
Something we also did a week before, similar to the bauble making exercise was to paint a mug! Again, another cute little idea, this time held at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland. I had no idea what we were going to find at this session, but never expected the entire room to be crammed with kids and their parents haha.
I sat for literally, half an hour trying to figure out what to paint on this mug. I had pinterest open, secretly spying what some of the 4 year olds had put on theirs, slightly jealous of the young mind being able to just think of something and draw it. But eventually, I went with this:
Was a little bit gutted to start with because it looked absolutely nothing like Mickey haha. But as I put some colour on it, it started to look a little bit more like him. Fortunately now, I could recognise who it is, and friends can too, but I do warn not to look at it too long, because his face somehow fades into his arm haha.
Another sad part of the new year though is the fact Costa no longer do their black forrest hot chocolates. These were unbelievably nice and unfortunately it's another 300 days until they come back haha.
Here we are in Christmas jammies. Unfortunately this was practically the only day they looked like this, as it would appear washing this top completely removes the silver print hahaha.
I did get lots of nice presents for Christmas though. I wish I wrote down what I got for Christmas each year, to see how it's changed. Considering this year I got candles. Like, 10 years ago I had absolutely no interest in candles whatsoever, but now I'm 21 it seems candles are a very important part of my life haha.
Amongst getting enough chocolate to probably kill me, most of it unfortunately has sat between bath bombs and candles, and it tastes awful :( hopefully some fresh air will help it.
I did get a polaroid camera though, but it's one of the new Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 cameras, and whilst they still take the old style polaroid paper, and print it out instantly letting it develop in light, it has extra settings like a bulb function and the ability to do some double exposures. I had a dream about double exposures last night actually hahaha…
They're not very mini. It couldn't fit in your pocket. But they do take very sharp pictures.
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| Look what's left of my nail varnish hahaha |
 |
| The best part about Christmas |
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| Cute little penguin cake from M&S |
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| The best reason for visiting home. |
But Seahouses also has beaches:
And I ended up treating being away as a chance to (start and) finish an assignment I had due in the following week. It was hard enough writing 4000 words for that, never mind the 6000 that are due in next month for my dissertation.
Which, by the way, has changed again! Remember I went to that Euro Attractions Show in Gothenburg because there was a 'very interesting' talk on special events being used to boost profits on slow days in theme parks? Well, I was all set on focussing on theme parks for my dissertation, however, something held me back, and I didn't know what it was. After an hour long conversation with my friend from uni, I had somehow switched my focus onto shopping centres, and told my supervisor that that was my plan. She approved it, and I had gotten as far as contacting a few centres to discuss interview opportunities, and got no further, since I technically only had 2 that said they'd give me an interview. I've since changed my topic back to theme parks after deciding to email every single theme park in the UK one night asking if they'd too, give me an interview. Luckily I actually had more response from those than I have from the shopping centres, but I am yet to tell my supervisor, since I think she'll actually burst a few blood vessels. Luckily my procrastination played to my advantage, since I had done no work for the shopping centre dissertation. Saying that, I really really need to start my questions to send to my theme parks… aw man.
Because as you can see, I am clearly taking this seriously if I have bought a book!
This is legitimately the only book I have bought for uni, and will probably remain the only book I buy. I still hold my record, as I have still, 3 years in, never checked a book out of the library. They're pretty much all useless since you practically have to blow the dust off of them like in the cartoons.
But yeah, we missed new year on the way down to the beach haha. We had 5 minutes until new year, and it took 5 minutes to walk to the beach, but because we got lost in the dark, and distracted by the northern lights, we ended up trekking through the dunes led by iPhone flashlight at midnight haha.
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| Selfie with the infamous elephant top |
One thing I am enjoying at the minute, again, unexpectedly, is James Bond. I looove James Bond films at the minute. Saw Spectre at the cinema, but watched the rest of them on TV and just absolutely loving the modern ones.
Also been to see two pantomimes recently, at both ends of the spectrum. Aladdin at the Sunderland Empire was fairly terrible, although they did sing Shut Up and Dance twice…
Dick Whittington at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle was much, much better. Danny Adams is the stupidest person ever haha, but kind of makes the show, I thought. Especially since they had a trampoline. It's literally just stupid humour, and there's nothing clever about it, but they also had a scary 3D section that terrified the life out of several hundred children haha. Their screams were the exact fuel needed on Monsters Inc. and no doubt it gave a couple of them nightmares haha.
And now, if you're wondering what the last part of the title is about, it's about the changes I've made so far in 2016. Nothing too drastic, mind. I'm not into all this 'new year new me' rubbish. No, what I've done so far in 2016 is curb my social media addiction. It's an addiction. I don't know how they do it, but somehow I found myself glued to my phone most hours of the day. Wake in the morning, check my phone, spare 2 minutes? check my phone, lunchtime, check my phone, bored of the TV, check phone, before bed, check phone, can't sleep, check phone… it's just constant, and I'm sick of it. Scrolling through Facebook at other people's boring link shares and quizzes they've taken. It's just a whole load of mind numbing crap. So, I've limited my time on each platform by unfollowing and unfriending a fair few people on Facebook. I've also removed the people who retweet unrelated content on Twitter and muted those who bore me. I've also unfollowed those on Instagram who's photos I never like. I do still follow back though, and if I genuinely enjoy reading what you post about, I am more than happy to follow you / friend you! However, by doing that, I have less to read, and what I do read is more of substance / interest. It's nothing personal to those that didn't make the cut. I simply am saving myself from wasting my life in front of my phone.
I have a few pieces of paper that detailed my 'resolutions' for 2015, so I'm going to go and dig that out to see what I've managed to achieve. But not before I write these dissertation questions…
Jordanavia :)
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