My guide to avoiding procrastination...

As the period of exams and essay deadlines looms quicker by the second, you may find that your hand twitches towards the hoover, or the dwindling ingredients of your cupboards...

PUT THE HOOVER AND THE CHEESE GRATER DOWN.

You do not need to start making your next culinary delight that will conveniently take hours to complete, even longer if you have to go and source all of those important ingredients!  Neither do you need to start doing the hoovering, or cleaning your 'study space'.  That's what university libraries are for.  They're already clean for you (well cleaner than your room probably) and you don't need to waste precious amounts of time dusting and polishing away just so that you have an effective place to 'do my essays properly'.  Bonus....uni libraries also have books...yes BOOKS!  This may help you study somewhat.  Just a thought.

MAKING 'REVISION TIMETABLES' OR 'STUDY PLANS'.

Ok, in theory this organisational tool is great.  Of course it's a good idea to plan when you're going to study, set yourself mini deadlines.  Just don't waste time creating the sodding table with colour codes and pretty sketches.  NOT NECESSARY.  Pen. Paper. Monday-Sunday.  What you will achieve. Done.  Also...it helps if you actually STICK to the timetable.  Otherwise you have wasted all of those vibrant colours in vain.

SOCIAL MEDIA/NETWORKING SITES.

Possibly the biggest culprit of the bunch.  It becomes VERY important all of a sudden to be up to date with ANYTHING & EVERYTHING on the sites.  This includes university memes,  and pictures of cats being grumpy.  It is also not a good idea to then share such things with others in the hopes of getting those all important notifications...another reason to check your phone after a buzz.  'Ooo it might be a really important email from my lecturer'.  Nope...someone liked your picture of a dog wearing people clothes.  I have been guilty of this in the past.  It's a good idea to deactivate your phone being linked with such sites during exams etc so you don't get all of those unnecessary updates.

DO NOT LIE TO YOURSELF.

Chronic procrastinators lie to themselves.  'Ohh I'll do it tomorrow, I'll be in a better mood then'. Or  'I really work best under pressure.'  Do it now...or seriously regret it the night before.

STUDY BREAKS.

These are fine, so long as they are just that.  A short break from study.  This does not mean you can have a break before you have even begun.  If you do need a study break, try to do something active and away from your books or computer.  A brisk walk in the fresh air will boost both energy levels and oxytocin levels (feel good hormone) meaning that you will be more positive and prepared for the task at hand.  Staying glued to your laptop or watching the tv will just strain your eyes EVEN more and actually tire you out.

MOST IMPORTANTLY...

Don't beat yourself up too much about a tiny bit of procrastination.  WE ALL DO IT.  Just accept that you do and make steps to drastically improve it. Oh and don't write blogs telling people not to procrastinate when that is in fact EXACTLY what you are doing.  Guilty.  Back to the books I go!!  

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Emerging Dancer 2013

The Queen Elizabeth Hall buzzed with an infectious clamour of excitement during Emerging Dancer 2013.  The atmosphere provided a feeling of support for all of the contenders, and a sense that it was just a chance for them to showcase their already exceptional talent. As a result, the competitors fed off this community buzz and gained an injection of poise.  A far cry from the sights and sounds I was fortunate enough to observe during the dress run.   Numerous camera shutters of the press pulsed to the rhythm of the competitors’ routines coupled with an occasional ‘Can we run that again please?’  Each light bulb on stage was to be tried and tested to ensure that it was not too overwhelming for the performers, in ensuring that they could turn effectively.  Nerves and adrenalin appeared to permeate the air, which became heavy with the weight of the silences that ensued after each presentation. 

Aside from the six finalists being passionate and talented in their art, they all had an ability to teeter on the edge of control during their sequences to the point where some spectators were left with bated breath. This unnerving quality created tension, as there were moments when if this exquisite balance had not been found, one could easily imagine they would fall flat on their faces.

However, as we learn through each piece, this is only the case with us mere mortals. The classical ballet technique and precision that the performers possess, is the work of super humans.  Alison McWhinney described her experience of ballet as the 'never ending quest for perfection.’  With such a codified form of dance that could be judged upon in terms of technique alone, it is no wonder this drive for achieving such precision exists.  It is when this standard of excellence endures across all of the artists, that it becomes apparent that something extra needs be brought to the stage, aside from flawless skill.

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Arguably, the effectiveness of emotion and characterisation were what set the competitors apart.  Feigned or not, Nancy Osbaldestone seemed to exude a strong sense of confidence, almost as if it were on steroids.  The playful elements of her solo choreographed by John Neumeier, included deliberate flirtatious eye contact and the snap of a delightfully naughty but nice fan.  Her vivacious bound off stage on its completion, suggested that she was confident with her enactment of the style.  This self-assurance was to be justified, as Darcy Bussell presented her at the end of the evening with the well-deserved Emerging Dancer prize.  The applause of the audience proceeded once more, as Osbaldestone’s face revelled in the once daunting lights of the stage. 

Good intentions...

Yesterday I went to the gym for the first time in a VERY long time.  I haven't been since last year in fact.  Yes, all of those new year promises and resolutions of getting fit finally infected me.  I think the crunch point for me yesterday was when it seemed like a totally acceptable idea to have a shot of vodka as a celebration for my flatmate's last exam...at 11am...having not eating yet due to being in a state of hibernation since I'd finished all essays a week ago.  Yes, I had turned into that kind of person.  Yikes!

So, I threw myself in the deep end as it were...quite literally actually by heading for a swim at my local leisure centre, followed by a session at the fitness room.  My first scary encounter was seeing myself in a bikini in the changing room mirrors.  Have I really let my ass get so big it just about qualifies for its own solar system?!  Yes.  It appears I have.  Sodding chocolate yule logs and pigs in blankets by the bucket load have really taken their toll...unsurprising when combined with being stuck inside writing essays and home cooking.  

Well something's got to give and I am hoping it won't be the buttons on my jeans...which by the way, I had to physically do lunges in just to make them fit by stretching them out.  

'They must have shrunk in the wash?!' I declare as my housemates look at me and roll their eyes and give a shrug sympathetically.     

So there I was pounding away on the treadmill for about 10 minutes whilst being able to feel a definite jiggle in my behind...mirrors around the gym confirmed this...a definite large jiggle had occurred.  And I start to feel sick to my stomach, perhaps it was the shot for brekkie, or perhaps it was the fact that upon measuring my heart rate it was sky-rocketing like never before.  And it dawned on me...I might actually have a heart attack on this thing!!  Better get off just for health reasons you understand.  So I opted for the bikes instead...BIG MISTAKE.  Someone had lowered and tilted the chair to such an angle that it was impossible to sit on it without just about having an internal examination!!!  So there I was trying to re-adjust said instrument of torture when one of those big armed 'professionals' came over and offered assistance... 'No no,' I shook him off 'I have done this before, I am used to the machinery in gyms'.  By this point I really am looking a sight, possible pulsing vein protruding from forehead and hair plastered to my face in a sweaty mess.  Not my best look.  So he just held in a smile and sauntered off to help another poor soul in distress with good intentions for the new year.  Bastard.

After my stressful experience I decided I would benefit from the steam room and jacuzzi the leisure centre had to offer...every cloud eh?!  Well it's true about steam rooms, you can not see a fricking thing in there and I just about sat on an Iranian man's knee...I didn't,  but it was close enough that I could feel the hairs on his inner things brushing across my skin.  GROSS!!  Safe to say I left that room immediately...relaxing?! Hell no.  

Next year, I'm picking an easier resolution!  Upon asking a very close friend what her resolution was, she said it was to make someone smile everyday for the year...well I hope I've made you smile today at reading this.  Go on brave people and nail those resolutions...and if you don't quite manage them all of the time, just remember you could be me wandering around the gym corridors in a bikini and trainers combo, towel clutched to my chest looking hopelessly for the changing rooms and the exit!!       

Hopefully I'll be feeling like this by 2014.

  

Film Review: Les Misérables

As predicted, the opening night of the eagerly anticipated Les Mis was absolutely packed to the rafters in my local cinema.

People were just about hurdling over one another to queue for last minute popcorn and refreshments before what was promised as a fairly lengthy film ahead.  2hours and 32 minutes without credits...hey at least it's no Lord of the Rings!

The movie is made up of 50 songs, this is including one that was created especially for Hugh Jackman upon his first meeting with the young Cosette, played by the oh so talented Isabelle Allen.  This may sound like a lot, but they all seem to link seamlessly into one another and help with the tempo of the movie.  I did overhear one person upon leaving the screen saying 'God! I didn't realise it was ALL going to be singing?!' followed by a smart comment from his wife, 'Well, it is a musical darling!'  So before you go lads, beware...yes, it is ALL singing, BUT there are a fair few explosions and gore(!)  Now we start to get a picture as to why it needs to be as lengthy as it is, we've got to keep the hardcore musical fans happy now don't we?!

Another reason that they should be happy is the fact that all of the music was performed totally live, what a feat!  So no need for any dodgy lip syncing and I think that most of the actors would agree it is much easier to sing with the raw emotion that is required when you are in character on set and not in a recording studio hooked up to countless cables.  This attribute of raw emotion really shines through and in my opinion gives it the goosebumps factor.  This feature can not be thought of without conjuring up the image of Anne Hathaway's scene when she has encountered her first experience as a prostitute.  'I dreamed a dream' holds so much sorrow due to the very true and believable performance that Anne brings to the film.

I did experience a minor disappointment however in viewing Anne Hathaway's section, but it had nothing to do with her ability as a performer.  A rumour was started that she would be having her hair cut off in complete silence for the movie to give dramatic emphasis.  In an interview Anne states that:

'What you see on screen was a little bit of a mixture of my real emotion and acting. We were wearing earpieces, so the song ends and I was going to have my hair cut in total silence, which was unbearble.'

I wanted this silence but it wasn't there!!  There was still music filtering through in the background.

Despite this teeny disappointment, I found I was absolutely emotionally engrossed with all of the characters, and even shed a tear or a few right there publicly in the cinema...which if you know me, is not easily done!  Having doing all of the songs in my singing lessons at school and university, I found myself mouthing along to all of the words.

My favourite performance of the whole film was actually Eddie Redmayne's take on 'Empty Chairs..', simply mesmerising, he believes every word he is saying.   

I absolutely loved it and would see it over and over again.  I highly recommend you see this, you will not regret it.  I'm giving it 5 stars!

   

Feeling festive?

I will openly admit, in recent years, I have become a bit of a scrooge when it comes to Christmas.  I love Christmas, I just don't like the build up to it.  I can not stand that we have to endure advertisements for it from about early August.  Literally kids have not even gone back to school and it's like 'Order your turkey now in time for Christmas!'  I should hope it would be bloody in time for Christmas,  Halloween hasn't even been by that point, come on!

It is at this time of year where the chill in the air only really motivates you to curl up on the sofa in front of a roaring fire and snuggle up to a loved one, be it your partner, family member, flatmate or your new fleecy reindeer hot water bottle(!)  Why is it then, that University's and institutions decide that it is also at this time of year where you will have main assessments and exams?!  Boo hiss boo.  Of course it does make sense within terms of the calendar year and all that, but I'm convinced evolutionarily, that we are meant to go into a state of hibernation.  Which by today's standards, means a mulled wine and Christmas stuffing coma.  Yummy.  

Max guarding the tree and presents! :-)

I hadn't really been feeling Christmassy at all until today.  Maybe it was the soothing classical music of carols that permeated the air in Starbucks whilst I was enjoying my cinnamon topped Chai? Or maybe it was finally caving and buying myself an advent calendar after not receiving one in the post as of yet?...not that I'm bitter or anything(!)  Or maybe it was the crude yet delightfully 'naughty but nice' display in the Ann Summers front window?  Who knew Santa could be that sexy?! Nevertheless, I'm really getting into the spirit now!  I'm so excited to go back to the Cotswolds and see all my friends from home, catch up on everybody's life stories with a glass or two of wine, as well as forcing my dog to wear his novelty reindeer antlers-cruel I know, but he looks SO cute!

I really hope you all have a good break from whatever it is you're doing and make the effort to spend some quality time with your families or loved ones. Recent events for me personally have taught me to never take them for granted...even if it's hard to thank your grandma for the thousandth time due to her short term memory loss for the lovely woollen socks she got you, which in fairness are some of my favourite gifts now! I love getting a good pair of posh socks...what the hell is happening to me?!

Love and festive cheer to all.


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Do you feel safe going out clubbing in Kingston?

Before starting university at Kingston two years ago, I spent the majority of my life in a very rural, quiet and idyllic village tucked away in the Cotswolds. I craved the hustle and bustle of a life in a city where I could just be an anonymous face in the crowd. Wander up and down streets in and around London with no one knowing my name and no one knowing anything about me. You see at 'home home', everyone knows my name, details on my family and how I like my tea. Black no sugar thanks very much(!) You physically can't avoid bumping into someone you know whether it be your GP or the milkman, or those neighbours who's floral arrangements displayed proudly in their front gardens, trump those of your parents on an annual basis. Much to their disgust. That's about as much 'drama' or friction that occurs in our village.

Unsurprisingly, my parents were quite worried that I'd decided to go to the largest, busiest and most alien city in the country. Inhabitants of Broadway, Worcestershire will tell you that living there is like being in a protective bubble. In fact, David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff has just recently purchased a property there, and I can assure you the number of his personal assistants or security guards will outnumber the local police constables by about 1 million to 1. Our police station is only open once a week, and when it is open there is often a sign on the front reading: 'Back in 20 minutes', I suspect it is not crime they are fighting at this time, but a serious operation of tackling a bacon sarnie from the local delicatessen. Om freaking nom. This is quite simply because where I live there is a very low crime rate.

On a very serious note however, the deeply saddening incident that occurred in my local and very popular nightclub 'Oceana' in the early hours of Thursday the 25^th October, involving a young man named as Jamie Sanderson being stabbed in the cloakroom area, has come as a cruel reminder to me that, the city I now live in, is not as safe as it perhaps could be. Perhaps, I am biased as this is just down to the fact that I compare it to the previous environment I was used to?! I would also like to stress, that I am not in any way suggesting that crime does not happen in rural areas, of course it does. Largely, I admit, there are a lot less security measures such as CCTV cameras in these areas, which may in turn lead to members of the area feeling more vulnerable. However, an incident at the UK's busiest nightclub equipped with some 90 CCTV cameras along with metal detectors and a 'recently installed ID capture scanning system' failed to avert the incident before it became fatal.  (Information sourced from Oceana Facebook page).  

Clearly the presence of CCTV cameras are not everything. I am not trying to point the blame towards the members of security staff at the club or their measures, as we can not be sure of all the factors to consider before a serious and extensive inquest has been carried out. Pointing the blame at anyone or anything that is not directly linked to the perpetrator(s) of this shocking crime will not bring Jamie back. My comments and feelings on the matter are not intended to offend or upset anyone who feels affected by this incident or anyone who has been through similar incidents in the past. I am deeply sorry if they do. I just feel this enormous sense of responsibility in light of what has happened to encourage a heightened sense of awareness of how we can all minimise risk to ourselves as students when we go on a night out in Kingston or indeed other areas of London.

We have the right to feel safe wherever we live and need to understand that unfortunately often things happen that are outside of our control. Please stay with your fellow students and friends on a night out and ensure that no one is ever left on their own and so are not at more risk of being more vulnerable. This is true of both men and women, and sadly I am guilty of this and will often wander off on my own to go to the loo or get myself a drink as I have done at 'home home' as I just don't think of the danger I could potentially be putting myself under. Simple precautions like making yourself aware of the whereabouts of exits and security staff, carrying a mobile phone with you and always alerting staff as soon as possible of any suspicious or violent behaviour could help us to minimise the risk of horrible incidents like these happening again.

What do you think? Do you always feel safe going out as a student in Kingston? Do you believe we should be made more aware of the potential dangers of going out clubbing in general?    

Path into the unknown...

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a dancer.  As a child, I would spend hours in my bedroom in the reflection of the windows at night creating movements to popular songs at the time.  Sometimes I would even sing and make up the songs myself and then dance along to my probably inane humming whilst trying not to wake anyone in the house up.  It felt like a secret when I was in there creating things.  I was in my own world and no one could judge or laugh at me, and I felt damn good.  That's why I have always danced.  For that feeling of release, like getting something off your chest.  I guess in the same way as when a toddler throws a tantrum and works themselves up and gets tired afterwards.  It's kind of a cleansing process, getting rid of all of the negative vibes so that you can start again.  Like the feeling you are supposed to get after crying, except I have never got that really, I always feel sick, stupid and weak afterwards.

I have never actually told anyone this, but when I'm annoyed or upset at something, I dance.

I tend to put loud music on and flail my arms about wildly in my room, getting rid of the bad energy.  It has always worked for me until quite recently, when I experienced the realisation that actually I don't think I can be a professional dancer when I grow up anymore. And it sucks.  Really bad.  I wish I didn't have this idea in my head from such a young age, why couldn't I have had a different dream? A more realistic one that wouldn't hurt so much now?  I found out the answer to this one whilst sniffling and being pathetic down the phone to my boyfriend...'Because life isn't always getting what you want, dreams don't always come true.'  WHAT?!  All these years I've been watching Disney movies and fairytales and have always thought that if you truly want something and you work bloody hard, you can get it in the end.  Turns out you can't always.  It's a very lucky few who do.  Well, that's a bit shit.  So what am I meant to do? Do I just give up altogether and choose a different path?!

Apparently not.  Here's the beauty of it, all these years I've just felt so career driven, thinking that ultimately I wouldn't ever really die happy if I didn't achieve all my goals in being the next big thing on the West End.

Me, flailing wildly and being happy.  :-)

Yeah, so what?!  This has maybe been a bit of a late realisation on my part; due to maybe being naive and stuck in this vicious, horrible, self-loathing cycle and refusing to accept that I can't always have things my way, but it turns out you can achieve happiness by being on a path surrounded by family, friends and loved ones.  Cheesy I know, but this is the information I gleaned from an amazing woman I was interviewed by recently.  Just because you might not end up making money off your passion, does NOT mean you can't still pursue it and do it in different contexts and situations.  I'm still ALWAYS going to be the girl who is first on the dance-floor in an inebriated state or not, and dancing will still make me feel good and be happy.  I guess this way I just get to eat a few more pies and not have to worry about the repercussions.  Now I am not saying give up on your dreams or aspirations, because if you did, you'd be a bloody boring person who never stuck up for anything they believed in.  No one wants that.  Where would we be if Martin Luther King stood up to give his speech and said, 'I have a dream...but it's probably not gonna work out so....'  No.  Just no.

We need dreamers in this life.  I guess I'm just saying, don't beat yourself up so bad if they don't go EXACTLY how you planned them.  At least you gave it a shot.  As the saying goes, I would rather live my life knowing I tried for something and maybe didn't get it, than never trying and never knowing.  Don't play the 'What If...?' game with yourself, and losing your mind on a trivial error when everything you could have ever REALLY wanted is maybe curling up on the sofa with a glass of wine and a good book, surrounded by the people you love.  Or, hitting smashville in that club you go to with the mates you wouldn't change for the world.  Here's to the path into the unknown, with the people you'll never forget...