Moonwalking Away From Responsibilities

Dear reader,

I think self-control is one of the most impressive and admirable qualities you can find in someone; I have so much respect for people who stand up and force themselves to get stuff done, be it homework or otherwise. Or for people who know when it's time to let stuff go, when it's time to say "enough", time to start again, avoid distractions and just get to it.

I am not one of these people. I am distracted and excited by anything and everything aside from what I should be doing: there is a bag of art supplies by my feet burning a hole in my creativity; I sat for much of this afternoon either with a guitar in my hand or looking at one online; I continue to think of ideas for a bloody novel, and I spend far more time than healthy just staring off into space.

And, let's not forget, I'm sitting writing this instead of preparing for the oh-so-important examinations of mine taking place next month. I am Queen of Procrastination, bow before my ridiculous talent of avoiding responsibilities.

It gets worse when I'm stressed, I think. I can't explain it scientifically, but in basic terminology I think it's just a way for my brain to look away and tell me to chill the hell out. And who am I to disobey? That lump of biologically-wired mush kinda decides my every move.

It's improving though, in some aspects of my life. I can make myself get up at ungodly hours of the early morning, for whatever reason, but I can also stay up to ungodly hours of the early morning, for whatever reason. Although, in saying that, it's most likely because I put off finishing some kind of essay due the next morning, which isn't as impressive as it is mind-blowingly stupid.

And y'know what doesn't help with this? Study leave. A terrific idea, sure, but with a fridge at seven seconds walking distance, and an unlimited supply of music to hand, it seems that rather than getting into a deep trance of concentration I'm left either taunted by leftovers or resisting the urge to get up and dance my troubles away.

But there's nothing that can change this habit apart from the very lump of mush that's created it in the first place, even though all that lump of mush wants to do is jump up and flail around after it thought putting a certain Mr Jackson album on shuffle would be a good idea.

Sadly, at the end of the day, I actually can't blame it on the boogie.

Liv.

Cue the January Blues

Dear reader,

Hi again, hope you're all doin' alright. Prelims have been going on these past two weeks which means late nights, paper everywhere and several cups of tea an hour. Then I start studying.

It's snowing up here, pretty heavily at times, which is exciting because we haven't really had anything this winter. But on the other hand it's actually proving to be very confusing because my body is now assuming that because it's snowing Christmas is on the way and I should get really excited but NO, it's OVER. 

January's such an odd month. I don't know if it's just me, but it kind of feels like nobody really knows what to do with themselves around this time of year. There's no mad rush to get presents sorted or plan office night's out, there aren't any cheesy Chrimbo films to indulge in or New Year's Eve parties to attend, and if you're like me you've already finished the chocolate you got for Christmas. It's shit. 

And to make things worse, we've all probably made promises to ourselves to break habits or start new ones for the fabulous entry into 2k15. This is also shit, because they rarely last more than a week - two at most. "I'm gonna go for a run every morning this year!" "I'm cutting out carbs. For good. Apart from potatoes, and bread... and maybe pasta" Aye right mate. 

If I've created a slightly cynical and depressing atmosphere so far, I'm heading in the right direction. Because here comes the volta (I know it's not poetry but look at me revising for English, eh, eh?) - we must fight to defeat the January Blues: we must not let them get the better of us. My New-January's-Resolution is to stop making resolutions and start accepting that I am not a character in The Incredibles. 

So here's how it's gunna go down: you're going to wake up each morning and find things to do. Keep busy, make plans to look forward to. If you're going to set goals, fantastic but don't make them too out-of-reach. Meet up with friends, go to the cinema, get on your bike, walk the dog, I don't care, just find ways to be happy, and find ways to make other people happy too; we're all suffering this month. 

I didn't have a specific topic in mind tonight, but it would seem that just typing has brought out something of a pep-talk. Ah well, I hope it helped and inspired you all.

Leave a comment to let me know how you plan on tackling your January Blues, I'll always reply. 

And good luck!

Liv. 

The Real Reason We Watch Twilight

Dear reader,

So I've recently become a fan of Stephen King's work, having read Misery, The Shining, Carrie and a collection of his short stories. And can I just say, they are phenomenal pieces of writing: the man is a genius. Slightly psychotic, I might add, but they say that a genius is just a mad-man with an audience, and to come up with stories like that I don't see how you couldn't be genius. I'm babbling, it's not important. The point is, read The Shining before you watch the film. Seriously, you'd be doing yourself a favour. I practically cried in frustration when I saw how they butchered the plot-line and characters in the film. Real shame.

And this got me thinking: how many of us can actually, truly, honestly say that the films made of books come even vaguely close to the beauty of  the original novel? NONE. For the simple reason being that it was written as a book, not for the screen. You miss out on the way our favourite character is first described, the way the scene is set with the author's beautiful wording, the way suspense is created with cliffhangers and dramatic dot-dot-dots. You miss the girl's thoughts and feelings when she finally gets the kiss, the hero's adrenaline and panic as he goes forth to battle the dragon. There's an entire world in words, and it's almost impossible to recreate that with actors and a soundtrack.

Damn son

So, in a way, you could argue that it's unfair of me to take a stab at the directors and producers of these films, because of course it's not going to compare to the original book. How do you squeeze four hundred odd words into an hour and a half, what do you cut out, what do you keep? I tell you, I wouldn't like to be on that committee. And there are the few exceptions, look at how successful the Harry Potter films became, despite Radcliffe's hair in the fourth one (WHAT where they thinking?!). And I don't know what you guys thought of the screen editions of The Hunger Games but I really don't think they could have done it much better.

Then there's Twilight, where the only reasons we watch it are for our eleven year old self and Taylor Lautner's torso.

Comment away and hit the follow button for more, hope to see you all back soon!

Keep reading,

Liv.