Blogging & Stress

Biology exam is finally over! This means I can blog again without risking complete failure! Yay!
Sorry it's been so long, everything that doesn't involve my biology revision has become neglected in the last week and a half, I'm sorry and I'll make it up to you soon hopefully by making some cool posts! Or at least long rambly ones that are vaguely interesting... :P
On a side note, biology went pretty well, and I've finished my extended project background research so I can finally get on to making my Roman pot! Good day all in all!

On to the next thing, stress. I get stressed pretty easily. For the last week or so I have been slowly going crazy because of worrying about not being able to fit in the amount of revision I had to do in the quickly shortening amount of time I had. It got to the point where I stayed up until 11/12 pm just to finish a page or section I was on. Never a good idea. Doing this for a week has messed up my body clock so I can't sleep before 11 (if I'm lucky) yet I'm still tired. It's really catching up with me now, I can barely keep my eyes open and I almost fell asleep in Latin today! Not good!
Even though my exam is over and I don't have any revision now, I'm still under stress because of my other work. I still have a piece of English coursework to do which I have no clue as to which question I'm going to do for it. I still have a lot of work left over from before Christmas and have various application forms for things in the summer to send off with close deadlines so I'm feeling quite overworked if I'm being completely honest!! Luckily the teachers haven't really set definite deadlines for the work so I don't have to rush to do it, I can take my time and make sure I do it well which is always good.
I'm taking today off working because I need to have a bit of a break and to be honest, trying to work when being this tired doesn't work anyway because I can't properly focus on what I'm doing which is annoying because I know I should be working...but I need to give myself a break to recuperate my scattered mind sometimes! I swear, by the time the summer exams are over, if I haven't had a mental breakdown then it will be a miracle, I've been close in the last week and it's really not good!

Anyway, on to better things! I found and restarted my old Pokémon fire red game!! Technically it was my brother's, but he gave it to me :D I've only got 8 hours of save time on it and I already have a gym badge and over 10 Pokémon saved on my pokedex! (Ones I actually own)
I feel like such a nerd, I'm currently addicted to Pokémon, my Sonic jump game on my phone (one of the 12 days of Christmas free gifts - so good!) and my new stylophone app on my phone that I downloaded today! If you haven't heard of them, go and YouTube stylophone, they're the coolest little instrument ever! The app gives you tunes that you can play like Final Countdown, Hey Jude by The Beatles and Star wars theme tune & imperial march! :') I also figured out how to play the tune for the Pokémon centre and the Mario theme tune! It's unreal how happy this made me! I wanted to buy an actual stylophone but they cost £15 and mum told me that there's an app, and at 69p, I wasn't going to refuse! I'M SO HAPPY!
Over the last week, I've also found the delights of Alex Day (Nerimon) and his weird and awesome songs and videos. He's so funny! Bit of a weirdo like the rest of the YouTubers, but let's face it, I'm talking to a bunch of random people through a blog, right?! :P He's definitely in my group of favourite YouTubers now though (Danisnotonfire, AmazingPhil, Charlieissocoollike, KickthePJ, Crabstickz, Vlogbrothers, CassJayTuck and ItsWayPastMyBedTime...I really have no life...)

So yeah! I'll blog again tomorrow and hopefully it'll be a bit more interesting than this!
Jess xx

2,000!

Also just a quick note, I've reached 2,000 views on my blog!!
Thank you to the people who actually read my blog frequently, this couldn't have happened without you! I'm so happy and this is like an amazing Christmas present from you guys!
Hopefully this will continue to be awesome in the future and hopefully you guys will continue to enjoy reading all of my little rambles, rants and thoughts!
This is also incidentally my 100th post which is awesome, I can't believe that it's come around so quickly!!
Much love, Jess xxx

Inspiration

I've been wondering recently, What actually inspires me to blog?
I've thought about it, and the simple answer is everything!
Every day, I see new things that inspire me and give me new idea about what I want to blog about. Sometimes the ideas can't wait and I have to write the post there and then! (What my phone blogging is for!) Other days, I have absolutely no inspiration at all and I end up doing a rubbishy blog about my day! Boooooooring! :P (I never have anything exciting in my life that I can blog about!)
A few of the main things that inspire me when I'm out and about though are:

People

If people actually stopped and looked around at the others surrounding them, they'd be surprised at how different everyone is. I urge you, on a day that you aren't busy, to go to a coffee shop and just sit in the corner. Watch the people that come in and see what they do, just look around and see how different everybody acts. Chances are that the only thing they all share in common is that they all share the same love of that particular coffee shop. Even then, they're all going to like different drinks! 

I like imagining what they're doing there, what they're like, where they're going, things like that! Makes a boring day so much more interesting. 

Nature

It's so pretty, isn't it? I always find that sitting outside, alone, surrounded by nature is where I get my inspiration. It's so peaceful and calm, it really gives you a perfect opportunity to have a think about everything and anything. I love it when the only sounds you can hear are purely natural, instead of the usual noisy pollution from cars and people. If you just stop concentrating on your busy life and look around, you realise that the world is really beautiful and needs a little more attention from people! 

And of course, if you're a photography enthusiast, you can always snap a few pictures when you're out! Always a bonus!

Books

I love love love to read. I don't have the opportunity to read as much as I'd like to anymore because of my AS levels, but I try and read whenever I have the chance. I nearly always carry around my kindle or a book that I don't have to read as a prescribed text so I have something completely different instead of what I have to analyse syllable by syllable. 

I love how reading can transport you to a completely different country, time, or even world, and introduce you to new people and places that you've never been to before. It takes you away from reality and puts you somewhere new, discovering new stories and connecting you with new emotions every time! And every time you open an already read book, it's like you're welcoming back an old friend, or old memories.

Reading inspires me as I can write about the book, or what it makes me think about! Reading actually inspired me to start a blog in the first place! (I will probably end up making a whole post on reading some time in the near future...look out for that!)

Daydreaming

This picture just about sums me up; especially the Iron man one ;D how cool would it be to be an Avenger?!

^ This just proves this point, daydreaming and going off on tangents brings on random thoughts and inspirations. Sometimes, the thoughts are good enough to expand and blog about! Obviously daydreaming when you're meant to be working is bad, so be like the guy on the right! But if you're not doing anything that requires concentration (travelling by public transport, again, in a coffee shop) or just lying in bed one night, just let your mind wander, it might lead to something good! 

Just think, JK Rowling came up with Harry Potter on a journey one day, think about where that's got her!

Music

(I just found this picture on google, and I LOVE it, so pretty and cute!)

Music. Need I say more? 

There are so many genres, so many styles. There is something for everyone! 

Music is amazing for inspiration. Some songs lyrics are so touching and moving, you can't help but think about what they mean. Others just capture you, or relate to your mood or emotion. It can change your bad mood in to a good one! There's even songs for different types of weather! It can be applied to practically all life situations and if you don't listen to music a lot, I highly recommend you do, some of my blogs have been inspired by music, as my usual readers would know! (Lots of jazz in Starbucks is apparently good for blogging!) 

It basically just gets you to think, which leads to blogging (for me, anyway!)

Friends

True friends are always there for you no matter what. They are there in every day life and if they aren't, when you see them, you make memories which is even more special! Funny moments happen with friends - blog material! Embarrassing moments - blog material! Everyday life - blog material! 

You get my drift...

Either way, friends play a big part in your life even though you may not realise it, memories are mainly based around what other people have said and done. Friends make you happy because you know you aren't alone, and when you feel alone they're there with tissues, chocolate and hugs to make you feel better. Always value your friends and tell them how much you care! (If you're reading this and I know you in real life, I LOVE YOU) Value your friendships because chances are that they won't last forever, but you can be sure as hell to try and make them last as long as possible! I know that I'm still close with some of my friends from my old school and I haven't seen them in about a month! But don't take them for granted! Friends are fantastic! 

Other blogs!

I'm doing Hamlet in English Lit at the moment...sorry, I couldn't resist...I love being a nerd sometimes! *giggles to myself*

Reading other blogs give me ideas for types of posts to do, what sort of things to write about and how to style my posts. It's been really handy for my writing style as well! My favourite and most looked at blogs are definitely: 

http://smilingismyfavourite.blogspot.co.uk/ (Kate, my only friend on blogger!), http://www.thecollegeprepster.com/ (Carly does some fantastic posts and her blog is quite old now, about 3/4 years I think!) and one of my new favourites that I found this morning: 

http://www.classygirlswearpearls.com/ (Sarah has THE most amazing fashion sense, I spend about an hour just looking through her pictures and her outfits, I wish I had the money to be able to afford the clothes she wears! That's exactly the style I love!)

So there you go! My main inspirations for blogging! If you blog, I hope this has helped you to think of ways YOU can get inspiration next time you're out; as you can see, you don't have to be anywhere in particular and sometimes, an idea just hits you completely out of the blue! 

If you don't blog, then welcome to my mind and why aren't you blogging yet?! Seriously, it's one of the best things I've done, it's fun and interesting and I looove it! 

Anyway, sorry this post has been so long, and if you read through all of my rambles then I salute you! 

Jess xx
P.S. Sorry about the pictures not working yesterday! They should be running fine now, and if anything is a bit out of place, sorry because the writing kept moving when I was changing the pictures around!