The Gap Year Post!

Hello anybody that reads this! It had been a while since I have updated this blog and I thought "what better than to post about my latest adventure thus far?!"

I am currently on a gap year with an organisation called Oasis, who are a company that set-up academies in schools that were under-performing. These academies are created with a Christian ethos of love and respect. As part of my year I will be on a team called "threesixty" and will be involved in the high and primary school academies, the homeless shelter for young people and the youth group on a Friday night. All of these things together are called the HUB and I am in the Shirley Park HUB in Croydon London.

So far I have already helped at one youth group in which I played a lot of pool with the young people and learned that the best way to help some of these young people who come from very different backgrounds and homes to myself is to just talk to them and build up a trust with them. In doing this however I did end up in a conversation about music with two girls who decided to paint my thumbs as we talked. After tidying up I realised that I still had a green thumb.

After a really helpful few days in central London I feel that I have learned a lot about how to work practically with young people. Especially in dealing with trouble behavior and diffusing tension. I am writing this blog just after watching Jeremy Kyle on t'telly and I could have given him a few tips! (however that may not have made such a good show.)

Today we took eight year 8s to a charity HQ called Beat Bullying to volunteer to help them out with posting a huge volume of letters. I was very proud to see young people put in so much effort to something that they had just been asked to do. It was very powerful and I don't think this will be the last time I'll see this this year!

Post uni post

Today I got my grade back for my total degree. I got a cheeky 2.1 proving that you can have an incredible time and still get a decent grade. I think that this blog is the best place for a soppy message. I honestly don't deserve the grade that I got. I had so much help from a lot of the best people I have ever met; not just academically but actually looking out for me. I really appreciated all the advice, chats and spontaneous therapeutic nights out. It has meant a lot to me and you all know who you are.

If I were to advise future university students I would openly say that I prefer the grade I received and having as much fun as I did. Sometimes it was hard to keep up and I probably should've done more reading and other times it did get a bit excessive but I wouldn't change the experience as a whole.

On a different note job hunting sucks and is a vicious reminder that adult life will not be as fun as uni. I am doing alright though. I have had a group interview and another proper one and have another on the cards for Sunday. I am really keen on everything I have applied for and excited to get started.

post 35 ish

So i have been out of the blogging game for far too long and since I am feeling a lot better than I have done for a while I thought "what better time." I completely understand that that previous statement may seem crazy as I am admist my examination period, but I really do. At least better than the last time I opened this blogging site. Not sure when it was but the draft post I had written was almost not even me. Basically since last time I have just been bobbing along and am now doing my final exams for my final year of undergraduate university. I have already done an exam on forensic psychology which went well (i hope.) I am meant to be revising for mental health right now, but don't tell anyone.

Pretty sure I have had enough caffeine to kill a hundred men over the past couple of weeks. My heart beats like a scared drummer. Like, if i breathed on you it'd probably have the same effect as full on CPR. On a serious note I have had loads. I had overcome my pretty much full blown addiction from second year but have now relapsed; hopefully I will recover once the exams are over.

I am so excited to also say that I have finally had HIM's latest album, Tears on Tape, delivered to me. It is so amazingly good! If you'd like a full review there is not a bad song but my favorite song is "Love Without Tears" because it is so beautifully written and Ville's voice is incredible.

I also had a great day a little while ago. Someone mentioned me to UEA compliments, which is a group for people who have done good deeds or nice things for other people to be mentioned publicly by anonymous individuals. It really made my day. The post itself was lovely but this didn't stop me from very nearly pooping myself when I saw my name come up in another post on my news feed. I do feel a little bit famous, in a quite geeky way. I am just glad that my mildly humorous vents on facebook make other people a little bit happier as well.

Christmas time

This year has gone pretty fast; can't believe it's Christmas time. I am a little sad that the weatherman said that there could be a white Christmas. Facebook was flooded with statuses about snow and the possibility of train delays and weather warnings but I see no evidence of my much awaited white Christmas. Ah well, if we can't have snow we can still have all the rest of it. I literally just finished wrapping my presents for my family. I panicked so badly when I only counted 4 for my family of 5; then realised I don't need to buy myself a present, then I laughede at the irony of this as I just bought myself an iPad and an xbox. Men shouldn't wrap presents; well I say men... I should not wrap things. Never mind the receiver guessing what it is, they won't be able to open it, it might be better to have had that "thought" that everyone is on about.

I am listening to Christmas songs as I talk to you. Don't get me wrong, I love fairy tale of New York... but does anyone know what that man is on about apart from calling Kirsty Maccoll a slut? well we all know how to chant along anyway. My favorite Christmas song is Last Christmas by Wham! what a CHOON. I am all about Christmas food though. Just been peeling roasted chestnuts. No idea why. I was told it would be important; I really think I was just given a job I couldn't get wrong and even if I did it would not ruin Christmas.

Anyway I hope you all have a good Christmas as well.     

Post 33

This week has been a bit busy. I am not really sure where time seems to go. I did buy an iPad mini though, which does seem to pass the time for me. In fact it doesn't pass the time it takes it and throws it out of the window. Its a bit of a blessing and a curse really; it means I don't need to use my slow and noisy laptop to do everything anymore but it also means that I have no excuse not to do work as it is always with me. I have developed a mild gambling addiction with it as well... I mean, I haven't spent my real money in this game yet but I do seem to be losing a lot of fake money; I am quite good though so I do keep winning it back. Black Jack really is a practice game though. Never take me to a casino though. No seriously please do not.

I have done a lot of work recently but its really boring me now. I made the fatal error of planning the essay TOO much. I now don't want to write it because I feel like I know it all so well there is no point. I wish the examiner could just mark my brain knowledge to see what I know. It would save paper; therefore by essay writing  am killing the world. Logic rules all.

We just got a new oven today which is good, however we do still have the old one... In our front garden. So, if anyone wants a gas oven please pop over and I am sure I can cut you a tasty deal.

Post 32

So I haven't done a post in a while. I have been terrible with everything to be honest. As it is a Sunday I thought I'd have a "lazy day" (...only kidding! Every day is a lazy day!) I thought I'd get back into this. I hit a bit of a rough patch with all this work and all that jazz; everyone seems to be going through exactly the same thing though. As I have been away from this for a while I can't really remember what I have been up to in all that time. I dd manage to get food poisoned though. It was bad. I should have listened to that little voice in my head and not trusted a takeaway with the word "lucky" in the name... May as well have called it "Hit and miss takeaway" or "take a risk curry." All jokes aside, avoid "Lucky Tandori." It was lucky I had a couple of lovely housemates to nurse me back to health.

I bought myself a new Xbox as well. I justified this by saying that I was going to buy Black Ops 2 anyway which is £40 so why not go the whole way and buy a new xbox for £220 with Black Ops and two other games with it? done deal. Well, I am very happy with it! If anyone is unsure about buying Black Ops: BUY IT! That is all.

I have got well into my music over the last little while as well. I have been rediscovering old music that I hadn't listened to for a while like Bring Me The Horizon and just "old" music like Johnny Cash who I am obsessed with. In fact even to the point that when I got drunk I went on eBay and bought myself a Cash T-shirt. Impeccable taste. Not only that but I have rekindled my love for My Chemical Romance. I had forgotten my love for them despite them being pretty emo. They have some new songs out at the moment if anyone wanted to know.

Anyway I am going to make an effort to do these more often again. I can't promise weekly anymore because I get pretty busy and demotivated but I'll give it a good shot.

week 31

So this week has gone really quickly and with little work done. I have managed to do my ethics form for my project. My topic really doesn't need much worry about ethics; in a way I wish I'd of chosen something a lot more unethical to make doing the form more worthwhile. Maybe I should have locked children in a prison and made them decide who to electric shock until death while simulating the end of the world around them. My advisor would have loved it! (I do realise sarcasm is hard to convey via computer.)

I had a good night out with a couple of my close friends in Ipswich the other night; we went to the Cricketers for a few bevys. The Cricketers is a Wetherspoons pub and they were selling Kraken Rum for really cheap so I was all over that! However I did rediscover the fact that you should not drink redbull on a night out if you are not planning on being up till 4 or later. I couldn't sleep for ages and then when I did my dreams were worse than usual. My own fault though I guess.

Yesterday I went to the wedding reception of my best mate's Mum. It was really good fun! I get really emotional when the speeches were read out, even if they weren't meant to be emotional.

I am headed back to Norwich tonight because I have loads more work to do for monday. woop! seriously though, wish me luck!