From Pinterest
I’ve been feeling up and down today, but this quote seemed to fit perfectly
From Pinterest
Get on with it girl!
I love blogging, I really, really do and if I could stop bumbling along and work out how to upload a video to Youtube without it taking 6 hours I’d do that too. Recently I’ve been really shitty with uploading. So I’ve decided this is it, I’m almost on summer break and I need to get my butt in gear with this blogging thing. I’m nearly at 200 followers, one day I might even reach 2000, now THAT would be cool.
So I’ve making myself sit down and go through any I need to upload over the next few weeks, plan any I need to plan and possibly think about that Youtube thing…possibly. Although that said I don’t really know what I’d want to do with a Youtube channel so maybe I’ll leave that for a while because you guys seem pretty happy with just reading through (thanks)!
What have I got coming up? Ok this is where you decide you still want to follow me and recommend me to friends/ share my link (pretty pleeeeeeeeeeease!). The next few months are either going to be really busy or dead slow, always one extreme. I have Prague coming up, Athens, some band related stuff that I can’t announce yet (that’s driving me mad), hopefully I’ll be working, writing some stuff, back in the studio, booking more shows and hamster related antics.
So this my pledge to you my amazing readers I’m going to try and get on with this and focus! After all, it’s all going to be crazy with 3rd year next year!
This is determination Chloe! She will be coming back!
Seeing the Vamps with Sums
It’s not every night you go to a show feeling super old! Tonight my sister finally got to see The Vamps, her christmas present from me. The show was full of screaming teens and pre teens with a very strange mix of music. I don’t mind the Vamps, they seem nice enough and all play their instruments quite well so it was nice to see that instead of the synchronized dance robots that my sister normally watches.
As usual Summer was her absolutely crazy self, although she refused to be a ‘screamer’ and actually laughed at the girls who did. Danced to all the covers the band did and shocked me by knowing the lyrics to My Chems ‘Teenagers’ (another cover I really didn’t expect).
I love taking my sister to shows, admittedly I like the rock shows much more, it’s great to be able to treat her and just see her fall in love with live music the same way I did (our Mum has been taking us to concerts since we were about 5 years old).
All in all, I may be wincing right now from my back but I really enjoyed spending time with my crazy sister. So I’m off to bed and hoping the hamsters won’t keep me up too much.
Why don’t I study music?
This picture belongs to Kingston University
Today and tonight I got to perform with the boys songwriting class. I’m exhausted but also super proud and happy. The boys are incredible at what they do and although I don’t want to make their heads any bigger, the fours of them are all really impressive musicians. I’d been a bit reserved about doing the performance this week because of deadlines and being exhausted but I’m so pleased I did. I got to see a different side to what they do, as well as being able to watch Ali mix a live show and appreciate how tricky it is.
I love the buzz of performing and the pride that comes with finishing a song and tonight, like the other times I’ve performed I got asked why don’t you study music? There were times today that I wondered that myself. It’s not that I think you won’t get a job or that it’s not a good idea, I think it’s great to do something you’re passionate about and to hell with anyone else! I think I just done it at school, got disheartened with it at college and decided I needed music as a release, not a source of stress.
I love music and I definitely couldn’t live without it but I also love literature. I love the challenge and the interpretation, it’s kind of like why I love music. I can just let go and it’s like another part of me. I need music to be that I think, I can work hard but let got at the same time, I don’t know. So why don’t I study it, because I think I need it for myself too much.
Book Review: Where Love Lies – Julie Cohen
To the outside world Felicity has the perfect life, a job as a children’s author and illustrator, a lovely home in a small village and a doting husband most women would dream of. Underneath all of this though, Felicity is struggling. After the loss of her mother something hasn’t felt right but one day she catches a scent she hasn’t smelt in years…could it be her mother? Following her senses has never been more risky as it all comes down to following her head or her heart.
The novel revolves around love, loss and questioning yourself. As Felicity struggles with what she knows is right and what she feels it leads us as a reader to question our own lives. It is also very important to recognise that Felicity is on her own, the mother she adored has gone, she’s never known her father and feels suffocated by the expectations that life in a small village have put on her. After the whole village seems to know that her and husband Quinn have even considered having a baby (something which she hasn’t even decided on yet) her feelings of not belonging come to the surface again.
The fact that Cohen has also used multiple POV’s makes this go further than the chick lit title that some have given it (you are WRONG this novel goes further than that!) seeing both Quinn and Felicity’s side opens up a whole new set of questions and feelings towards the characters. I fell in love with both of the characters and it spurred me to read constantly, Cohen has an incredible knack of making you know something isn’t quite right but giving you no clue as to the real answer!
After reading Dear Thing, I was hooked by Cohen’s talent and eagerly waited for Where Love Lies, as I suspected Cohen didn’t disappoint. The novel focuses on the fine lines of love that we sometimes forget, the hazy days of a first love and the realities of settling down. While Felicities’ feelings are confusing and at times hard to understand you live through them with her and are just as desperate as she is to work out what is going on.
Although I can’t spoil it for you, the ending of this novel is absolutely spectacular and so well researched. To top it all off it’s something that you would never suspect and if anything can be slightly chilling as well as an interesting perspective. There is a worry of mine that when a novel builds steadily throughout the reveal will disappoint but I can assure you Where Love Lies is completely worth the wait and the suspense.
I’m giving this novel 5 stars *****. Although initially I wondered how this would work and worried it could be just a romance Cohen has crafted something inspiring with Where Love Lies, the novel makes you think, question and follows you for a long time after you have finished. I think quirky Felicity and loveable Quinn will live in my memory for a long time, and so will the ending but you’ll find out why once you read it yourself!
That point in the year where everything is meh
I’ve been thinking about what to write tonight all day, I could write about the news, about what I’ve been up to (not a lot), make a list anything like that. I just didn’t feel inclined to write anything magnificent or thought provoking because quite frankly I’m just a bit fed up. I didn’t want to write moaning post, I still don’t want to but I’m writing abotu student life and there’s a point in the year where most of us are fed up.
I’ve been looking at the same essays for weeks and weeks, adding to the same arguments, stressing over word counts and paragraphs like all of my friends. I can’t even sit in the library at the moment without feeling incredibly stressed and irritated. I guess I’m just sick of assignments now, I want them all done and to be over so I can spend some time relaxing and not worrying about finding critical analysis of Jane Eyre or what the hell my lecturers are going to think about my essay on personal and collective drug usage in certain novels. It’s driving me slightly mad and all I really want to do is go into town and have a few very large vodka and cokes.
So I’m a little tired, a little fed up and a little deflated. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!
Back in the saddle
Three days after my fall and I decided I needed to be back around the horses. Crazy? Nah, it’s just what horse riders do. For most after any injury, big or small, one of the first questions is ‘when can I ride again?’. Although I spend a lot of yesterday waddling around and I’m pretty sure I’m paying for going out today I’m pleased I did. There is nothing like getting on a horse.
I’m not going to lie and say I was completely fine and dandy climbing on while I was still in a fair bit of pain but I needed to get back on to prove to myself. Rose was an angel again today, lots of cuddles and happy ears. For a while I was just sitting and watching while Laura (who is doing THE most amazing job with Rose) started jumping Rose, who’s coming on so much at the moment. After almost every jump Rose would be satisfied by her pat by Laura and then walk over to me for more fuss.
Then I got on. She’d been so good, I had a back protector to borrow, I can’t put it into words this driving force to get on and prove to myself. So I was back on, on a lead rope at first while I relaxed and felt comfortable again, then a walk and small trot. Then I came off the lead rope thinking oh god, this is where I might fall again if she gets excited…except she wouldn’t move. Maybe she could tell I was ok just as we were. I’m feeling better now, and proud of myself for getting back on. Hopefully back to regular lessons soon will get rid of any doubt and remind me of the last 6 months of, you know, not falling off.
Back on!!!
I have to say being around animals again has really been crushing my lows and it’s making me so excited. I don’t know its something about animals that keep me calm or are able to cheer me up when I’m feeling down 🙂
A bit of a tumble
The plan for yesterday was meeting Daniela for a Starbucks in the morning, go for a ride with Laura, come home and relax while playing with the hamsters…things ended up a little differently than I’d planned.
I loved getting back to riding and finally getting on Rose. She’s only 5 and still quite a baby but she seemed to listen and be an absolute angel. Walking and trotting I was more than happy and so was she, that was until I started to lose my balance. I managed to pull myself up the first time and try and get her to calm down but she could sense I was panicked so continued to run and I had no option than to let myself fall.
The only way I can explain the fall to someone who’s never fallen off a horse before is that it’s slow motion until you’re heading for the floor and it’s like you’re watching a go pro camera. It did hurt, I won’t lie. It’s more likely than not that because I went into shock my body seized up once I’d hit the ground and I’m pretty sure I winded myself too. After a bit of wriggling around on the floor and being in a lot of pain, I got myself up. I was in a lot of pain but didn’t want to seem like a drama queen so I managed to get up and walk to a chair while everyone at the yard was being so lovely.
Plus points were I’d stayed conscious, I could walk and move my neck. It was only because I was in a lot of pain we called 111 who sent a paramedic..then an ambulance where I got immobilized and loaded up into an ambulance….I was so embarrassed it was unreal. Laura was an absolute angel, holding my hand and not judging when I cried because they were talking about needles and thought I was going to be sick after laying down in the ambulance and feeling panicked by the bead blocks (super uncomfortable, especially when your hairband is digging in).
Laughing with embarrassment while I was being loaded in, I tried to bargain with them but they said they needed to strap me up!
I’ve gone 6 months without a fall, so of course my first one had to be done with style. After X Rays and some strong pain medication they decided I was fine just bruised and sore. They’d taken us all the way to Epsom and St Helens University hospital, luckily Laura’s house mate agreed to pick us up to get us back to pick up our stuff. Then something amazing happened, while Laura was gathering the stuff from the stable I went to the field to try and find Rose (who came to check I was ok after I fell off, being the beauty that she is), typically she was nowhere to be found. Instead two other horses came to the gate and it was like they knew, they knew I was shaken but their love and affection cheered me up so much that if I hadn’t been all achy and bruised I would have gotten on there and then.
I’m in a fair bit of pain today but I’m being well looked after and I’m on the mend, plus I have really adorable company 🙂
Book Review: If I Stay – Gayle Foreman
After a fatal car crash that leaves 17 year old Mia barely alive If I Stay lets us follow her as she questions whether to live or die, after being certain she has lost both of her parents. Mia has a choice to make. As she watches her family and friends come to terms with the disaster she has to decide will she stay? Or will she let go into the unknown…
As with many other people I because aware of this novel because of the huge film,although I haven’t seen it. I’d heard good things about the novel and the film looked brilliant. We’re guided through the novel by Mia herself as she struggles to watch the rest of the day unfold. All she can do is watch and listen. Her family, friends and boyfriend are all willing her to come back and it’s up to Mia to decide if that’s enough.
Although I like the idea, the novel didn’t particularly stand out to me. The novel is fairly short and sways between the present and past and gives us a good insight into Mia’s life before the accident. I found it hard to connect to the story, of course it made me sad but I didn’t feel a deep rooted connection to Mia or the characters around her. That said, I did feel an incredible connection in relation to how she felt about her music and the prospect of being a musician and this added to the sense of tragedy. If anything I would have loved more insight into her love of music and her hopes and dreams, although maybe this was intentional.
Forman has ventured into a question that few of us will even consider answering, if I could chose would I live or die? For many of us we would instantly say I’d live, but would we? It makes the reader consider a life without their loved ones and the choices and sacrifices that are made every day. I wouldn’t say that the novel is morbid in that respect but it deals with death in quite a straight forward way, for Mia it appears to be more of an escape. It also raises the question of life after the accident, we have no idea how Mia will be affected by her injuries if she decides to survive. Will she play Cello again? Will her dream of going to Juilliard be snatched away from her as her parents were? Is her younger brother Teddy, who she adores, still alive? As I said it is a novel full of questions and what if situations.
If anything I’d say that the book could have been longer. Although well written, there was so much crammed into the book that at times I felt rushed through. I wanted to know the smaller details, memories and possibly more about more minor characters in the novel to give them a bit more life within the novel. Also what about afterwards? If she decides to die, does she meet her family? If she lives do her dreams come true? I guess to an extent this leaves us to make up our own minds but I wish this was included in the novel.
I give this novel 3 stars ***. I liked the idea and found Mia to be a nice character but failed to interact with her as a person. I also found that I was hungry for more at the end of the novel and felt that it could have had a better ending or more to it maybe? If you’re looking for a shorter read that raises questions then If I Stay may well be for you.
Review by Chloe Metzger
Read, Write, Sleep, Repeat
It’s that time of year again. The library is my second home, books are replacing pillows and I think I could quite easily sleep cuddling my laptop. I finally finished one assignment today and I have three more to go, all in different stages. After this mornings 4.30 wake up call from the hamsters and their wheel, it’s safe to say that I’m writing this feeling more than a little sleepy.
All in all though, I’m pleased I’ve had a focused and productive day. People say that being a student is all Netflix marathons, sleeping until noon and nights out but if you actually want to do well there is so much more than that. So I got myself up, to my physio appointment, then spent 3 or 4 hours in the library trying to force myself to get things done. Add to that Dani’s company, followed by dinner with Joe and I think I’ve spent today wisely. With that in mind though I’m hitting the books again tomorrow, wish me luck!
Chloe Metzger 