Seeing as I am late to this party, I'm going to do days 1 to 13 a bit more rapid-fire than was likely the intention but hey ho.
Sept 1st: Imagine the front sleeve of a hard cover novel. Give us your "About the Author" so we can get to know one another, and for fun tell us what your imaginary novel would be about.
"Born in Portsmouth in the mid-90s, Rachel was a bit of a suck-up for most of her school career - well she had to do something to compensate for the distinct lack of pets in her childhood. For GCSE she took a second humanities subject instead of an arts subject as she is no way visually creative, good acting, especially musical (though she did play violin for 6 years as child) nor sufficiently geeky to take a computer course. For A level, she made the mistake of taking both maths and physics in her first year which went...well it went, anyway. Outside of education, Rachel likes to read - well duh, she's author (apparently) - pine for a pet kitten, fangirl over characters from 'Bloodline' & the 'Vikings' and basically have no life."
I'm currently part to mid-way through writing maaaaaaaaaaany stories. One is about a girl at court in the C16, one is about vikings in Ireland in the C10, one is set in a fictional dystopian world in the future-past, one is set in Orkney partly in the Neolithic, partly in the C12 and one is about a band and is set in the present day. OH and one is one I started writing when I was 13 and is well...bad...
Sept 2nd: Write about what makes you happy, from the little joys to the huge game-changers.
Lot's of things make me happy. They everyday little things that make me happy are all those 'uplifting' stories you see sometimes in the news. Things like, "10 year old boy with Autism tells his mother he loves her for the first time" or "75 year old lady marries her partner of 30 years after the legalisation of same-sex marriage" or "Family reunited with pet after house fire". Any positive story about ordinary life makes me happy, at least temporarily.
On a more personal level, my friends being happy (especially if they're clearly very happy or excited) makes me happy. Learning makes me happy. Reading makes me happy. Listening to podcasts and singing badly to music makes me happy. Baking makes me happy. Nice food makes me happy. Scandinavians make me happy. Anglo-Saxons make me happy. Bloodline makes me happy. I could go on listing for a while, so I'll stop...
Sept 3rd: "When I grow up I want to be...." Feel free to answer as your 5-year-old self or as of now.
When I was 5 I wanted to be a steam train driver. I still kind of do, in my heart of hearts. The dream ended when I realised that to sell the Steam Engine Driver look, you had to wear dirty overalls and probably a flat cap.
When I was a bit older I wanted to be a receptionist in a vets (I dunno either). Then, briefly and in quick succession, a teacher, an author and a actor in musicals.
When I thought about it seriously, aged around 11, I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist and this carried on until about 18 months ago (save for a short time when I wanted to be an astrophysicist hahahahaha)
Now? Well, the dream is to be a documentary maker/presenter for the TV and radio. If that doesn't pan out (or even if it does) I'd like to work for a museum (curation/research/education) or for a university (teaching/research).
I also want to be a Dr...not a medical doctor....but I want a PhD...I don't know if it will happen...but I'm aiming for it.
I'm not really into fashion but there are definitely fashions I dislike. One being wearing leggings (which are quite often cheap and pretty much see-through) with nothing covering the bum area. It's the same as wearing thick tights and a t-shirt but one is more acceptable than the other even though both are stupid. Also, finding a well fitting pair of jeans is a nightmare. As is trying to find "fashionable" shoes that aren't dead flat or heels.
Fashion trend I like? I don't know that it's a trend exactly but I really love waistcoats.
Sept 5th: "I am passionate about ______________. "
Oh well I guess I'm passionate about quite a few things. I can certainly enter into heated debates about any number of different topics. I suppose the thing I'm most passionate about is a sense of fairness. Unfairness and hypocrisy are the two things that make me the most passionately angry.
From the interests perspective, I can't really think of too many things I'm passionate about. I get far more passionate about ideas and principals and actions than about the things that really interest me.
Though, having said that, I do really passionately fangirl over anything to do with Vikings, Celts or Anglo-Saxons or Scandinavian because alsfhakfhalksfhalskhfa
...reading Oh I'm half way through dozens of things but I guess the real answer would be 'The Last Viking 1066' by Berwick Coates
...watching Vikings series one and two again, Great British Bake off, Doctor Who, Strictly.
...trying to make a dress for Comic Con in October with mixed results
...eating the yummy yummy junk I usually eat
...tweeting the usual inanity.
...going to university in London very soon
...loving my friends and family
...discovering I'm really going to need to work hard at uni if I'm going to manage my time/budget/diet properly
...enjoying the books I'm reading at the moment and volunteering
...thinking about all the amazing experiences I'm going to have throughout my four years at university
...feeling excited, stressed, excited, under-prepared, excited, tired, excited, happy, excited a bit more, scared, back to excited
...hoping I'll get along with my flatmates and course mates and for a good year for all of my current friends.
...listening to Fall Out Boy, ABBA, Adam & Joe podcasts, Just William stories, S Club 7...Most of the contents of my iPod
...thanking anyone who bothers reading this
...starting to freak out about just how close I am to moving away from home
Sept 7th: What's on your current reading list? Or what have you read that you recommend?
I actually wrote something a couple of days ago about my favourite books:
http://buildingabookfort.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/my-favourite-books.html
Sept 8th: Music that moves you. Are you a Spotify addict or a Pandora guru? Tell us your favorite artists/stations!
Well....if I'm taking 'moves' to mean an emotional thing then most, if not all, of the Les Mis soundtrack has me sobbing every time and, as with most people I'd imagine, a song that resonates with my current situation is more likely to make me emotional. Songs that always make me happy include Imagine Dragons 'On Top of the World', ELO 'Mr Blue Sky', The Killers 'Mr Brightside', Mika 'Elle Me Dit', anything by S Club 7 or ABBA or from an upbeat musical and basically anything I can sing along to loudly and out of tune.
In a slightly different sense, something else in me is moved by anything vaguely celtic or dark sounding and anything in a language other than English.
I don't really have a favourite band or artist and I tend to listen to spoken radio (Radio 4) more than music centred radio but, generally, I like rock, country, folk and some pop.
I'd say I was definitely an extrovert. I really hate being on my own for long periods of time and get really hyper when my family come back from work after I've been home alone all day. Even when I can't really be bothered to go to volunteering or get up early to go see some friends, once I'm there, I crave and enjoy the company. That's not to say I don't get sick of being with people, because I really do. It's a bit of a bummer really that I hate being on my own but I get pretty easily irritated by annoying habits. I certainly don't suffer fools gladly (as my mum would say)...Generally, though, I'd MUCH rather be in company (not too big a group though) than on my own.
Sept 10th: List 10 things that you love about yourself! Let's kick that negative self-talk outta here!
1 - I like that I want to learn new things even though I'm out of compulsory education.
2 - I think I'm a pretty good friend(?) I dunno...
3 - I like that I care about things that I think matter...even if I can't do anything about it
4 - I like that I've got waaaaaaaaaay more confident around new people since I started volunteering
5 - I like that I had the guts (stupidity) to decide to study a subject I really want to do even if it doesn't get me directly into a job
6 - Linked to above, but I like that I'm brave enough to pick a course which involves studying in Danish in Denmark for a year which is something I really want to do but am realllly scared about
7 - I like that I have amazing brave, thoughtful and clever friends who have been through so much crap but are still here
8 - Superficial, but I like my eyes and my nose
9 - I like that I bake pretty alright cakes, as it goes
10 - I like that I like myself enough to have good self-esteem but not so much that I don't know my own flaws (of which there are many)
(I found that list sooooooo hard to do :/)
Well...my friends inspire me a lot. Lots of them have had or are having rough times but they're getting on with it, however bad things are or however bad they feel. On the one hand this makes me feel guilty about my laziness and lack of motivation for many things, but on the other it shows me that if my friends can get up everyday and do something, so can I.
In terms of inspiration for my future career and my passion for public archaeology/heritage/history, I'd say my inspirations are: Mick Aston, Mary Beard, Alice Roberts, Michael Wood, my A level Archaeology teacher, my GCSE History teacher, everyone at the museums I've volunteered at this past year and probably so many more I can't think of right now.
I can't really think of any specific traditions apart from at Christmas. When we were young, my parents would try to minimise mine and my brother's hyper-active excitement on Christmas Eve by having my brother and I exchange presents before going to bed on the 24th. We still do this to this day even though by this Christmas I'll be 19 and he'll be 26.
I'm single at present and it's okay. There are many upsides to being single and some downsides. I'm not looking for anything but if it happens, it happens.
Sept 14th: When did you start blogging and why?
I started a few months ago.....I don't really have a good reason why other than because I felt like it at the time....I suppose I kind of thought it would be a good hobby, something to do to get my random musing about things down somewhere and as a way to archive uni when I get there... but mostly it was just....'cause...Not a very good response but that's because I really don't have "a reason" for starting...
Sept 14th: When did you start blogging and why?
I started a few months ago.....I don't really have a good reason why other than because I felt like it at the time....I suppose I kind of thought it would be a good hobby, something to do to get my random musing about things down somewhere and as a way to archive uni when I get there... but mostly it was just....'cause...Not a very good response but that's because I really don't have "a reason" for starting...
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