Favourite things

I keep changing my mind about what I want to do in life after sixth form. At first I wanted to go to uni and take a 4 year teaching course to eventually teach primary school kids in the Liverpool/Manchester area but now I'm thinking that uni life isn't for me

• It's stupidly expensive
• I'd get too homesick
• I wouldn't like sharing accommodation

So now I think I'm going to carry on with my English language, religious studies and German A levels and then go on to do lots of work experience with kids/patients in hospitals/volunteer work in different places and then eventually I want to be a nursery worker and open my own nursery :-)

Katy Perry ramblings

Okay, I'll try my best to make this post a little less than my Arctic Monkeys one.

People seem to mock me when I say that Katy Perry is my idol. I just find her so inspiring, gorgeous and a great role model. She started off as a gospel singer and had a self-titled Christian album:

Her voice was so cute and young then, I think she was 17 ish when it was recorded and the songs are so different to what they are now, but still so catchy. It's cute the way she went from this:

A cute, blonde, gospel singer from California, to this:

An international popstar and icon. A lot of people say "it's just generic pop music" but people seem to think that this means it's not good music with a meaning. It's stupid. She writes all her own songs, yet gets slated for it. I like how she inspires younger people to never give up and go for their goals, just like she did. I saw her live on October 18th 2011 and whilst she was playing Thinking Of You, she had tears in her eyes and kept smiling to her fans. It was so cute.
I've recently been re-listening to her older songs such as "Simple":

And "Cup Of Coffee":

Her voice is so young and different. I love how she's not changed at all personality wise and how she doesn't follow what other pop stars do. She still designs many of her own outfits:

Her hair:

She's always in contact with her fans, even through her divorce from Russell Brand, she played shows and made appearances. One being at the Grammys where she debuted her new single "Part of Me". The lyrics are amazing and are a bit of a "fuck you" to people who doubted her, Russell Brand being one of them. She's changed lyrics to suit the state she's in (the song was written two years ago- before she married Russell)

I annoys the hell out of me when people say she's "untalented". Especially before they've seen these:

She can clearly sing, hit notes many people in the charts can't and has played guitar since she was kid. Whenever I listen to her acoustic songs, I always end up going back to her videos of her performance at Warped Tour when One Of The Boys was released and I get all emotional and stuff.
Teenage Dream was a lot different to her previous album. The theme going from fruit to sweets/candy. Her image was more outgoing. She toured the world in a year and played over 200 shows, even when she was ill and going through a divorce.
Honestly, I can't even put into words how much I love Katy Perry.

Arctic Monkeys ramblings

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys are my favourite band and have been since I was about 11 or 12. I first heard their debut "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" on Radio 1 when I was on my way to Cornwall. It was so catchy and stuck in my head for days. When I got home I went on YouTube and gave them a listen. Within a few days my favourite song was "A Certain Romance" (it still is today). The whole song is just perfect. The lyrics, vocals, riffs, chorus, guitar solos, structure.. I first heard that on an EP called "Beneath the Boardwalk", recorded live and it made me fall in love with them. My favourite lyric also comes from this song: "and just cause he's had a couple of cans, he thinks it's alright to act like a dickhead". 

To think that they wrote this song when they were just 15 is amazing. Then I bought their debut album (Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not) and listened to it on repeat for months. "The View From the Afternoon" was probably my second favourite- the video is incredible. I'd grown up listening to bands like The Offspring, No Doubt, Reel Big Fish and Sublime so starting to have a music taste on my own pretty much started with AM. A few weeks after buying their album, I started looking for the discography and listened to every song 9868758346537 times. I also had a HUGE crush on Jamie Cook.. I mean, look at him:

By the time I'd listened to everything I could find, they'd released their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare. It seemed a lot more "grown up" and Alex's voice had changed a bit. But it made me love them even more. I can't decide which song is my favourite from that, but 505 comes pretty close. Seeing this live twice was amazing. I was at the barrier for one and when the guitar kicks in near the end, the lights went off and everyone went crazy. I got a bit emotional... It was during this album release that they made their Live At The Apollo DVD and released more b-sides than their debut had. This is my favourite b-side from that time in their career:

This song is so much different to the likes of Still Take You Home and Brianstorm. I don't think they could get anything wrong. It seemed like FOREVER waiting for their third album Humbug to be released. It came out in August 2009 (I think at least..) and was completely SLATED. AM got so much hate for it, I think it's because people just can't handle when a band changes their style/sound. It's like everyone expected them to stay teenagers, singing about fights and youth- that is never going to happen is it? I thought Humbug was quite.. I don't know.. dark? The lyrics were a lot more obscure and had more meaning than previous songs. Secret Door was my favourite from this one. The b-sides were amazing (Sketchead, The Afternoon's Hat, Catapult, Joining The Dots, Fright Lined Dining Room.. etc). This is definitely my favourite b-side from Humbug:

Tickets went on sale in the Winter of the Humbug-era. I wanted to go so badly but I was away on most of the dates so couldn't go. Watching back on videos of them playing Secret Door live stills kills me a bit inside cause I know they'll probably never play that again. Anyway, the wait for Suck it and See was so long. With Matt Helders being the only one of the band on Twitter, it was horrible just sitting there and not hearing from the band for so long. And then one day, completely out of the blue, they released this: 

Honestly, I wasn't sure on it. It seemed a bit repetitive. But it was definitely a grower and was amazing and lively played live. They were still all mysterious during this though, hardly showing themselves in the video. And then came Don't Sit Down Cause I've Moved Your Chair. Radio stations played it all the time, I loved it and it made me super excited for the album. Two days after its release, my dad bought me Suck it and See and a few weeks later, it became my second favourite album. The whole new look was so good and the sound was so different. "She's Thunderstorms" or "The Hellcat Spangled Shalala" are my 2 favourites from that album. 

By the Summer, Arctic Monkeys announced a UK tour, I was online buying the tickets a week before general sale. I got two tickets, one sitting in the MEN and one standing in the Echo Arena. The weeks leading up to it were so exciting. I was finally seeing my favourite band live after waiting 4 and a half years. 2nd November was the first date. I went with my friend Lauren, we were sat right at the front, near the stage. The Vaccines came on and we had a little dance and complained about how expensive my drink was. Seeing Alex followed by Jamie, Nick and Matt walk on stage was the best feeling ever. Everyone screamed and they started with Don't Sit Down.. The lights were going crazy and everyone was singing along and dancing. It was such a nice atmosphere. 

1 week later and I was seeing them again. This time with my boyfriend Ryan. We'd skipped sixth form and got the train to Liverpool early in the morning. We went shopping and then went out for something to eat before starting to queue at the Echo Arena at around 4.30pm. After waiting (one of the first ones in the queue) for just an hour and a half, the doors opened. We squished our way through the really tall people and got our wristbands. As soon as we were in the arena, we ran towards to barrier and got in the middle, just to the left of the stage but pretty much the very middle. I stood still, clinging on the whole way through. 

When they came on, I screamed SO MUCH. They were literally about 2/3 metres away from us. I couldn't be any closer to my favourite band. My heart was pounding and I couldn't stop smiling. Alex pointed right at us and it was amazing. Someone threw a scarf at Matt that said High Green and they all looked so proud holding it high in the air. It was their last show of the UK tour and John Ashton's last show with them to the atmosphere between the band and crowd was great. 

I managed to get this video of them performing Mardy Bum:

This just shows how close we were. Here are some photos I took:

After that night, it felt like my life was complete.. not even joking. For weeks after, I had huge post-gig depression. I now know to never miss a tour they do! 

New blog!

I've always just used social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.) and decided to make an actual blog containing thoughts and random posts about my day/opinions and stuff like that. I doubt anyone will read it but it's nice to have somewhere to keep things that I can look back on and probably laugh..
So anyway, this post can be dedicated to.. me.. As self-centered as that sounds hahaha.
This is me (about 2 months ago)...

Okay you know my name/age/where I'm from blah blah blah.. I'm listening to music really loudly at the moment so it's almost impossible for me to write in complete sentences because I have the attention span of a spoon. So, I'll bullet point things about myself instead

• I was born and raised in Anfield, Liverpool but moved to north Wales when I was 11. I do miss living in a city, being able to just walk to the shop for something or meet up with people quickly was a lot easier than here. There's not much to do but it's really friendly and "clean".
• I have two rabbits called Carrots (my little sister named that one...) and Jessica, two chickens called She-rah and Zelda (I had 4 more but 3 died and 1 was a cockerel who made too much noise), a dog called Zuki and two salamanders who don't have names I don't think, which is kind of mean. 
• My favourite band ever is Arctic Monkeys.. me and Alex Turner DID MAKE EYE CONTACT when I saw them in Liverpool.. it was beautiful 
• I have a fab boyfriend called Ryan and we've been together since September 27th 2010 :-) 
• I have two best friends called Ella and Kay, they're my favourite girls ever and we've been friends for 5 years now
• I used to play violin and play hockey for north Wales as well as playing football for Merseyside girls team before I moved to Wales, I now have no talents, boo
• I say things how they are, no bullshit. Liars are the worst and people who think it's okay to give but not take. Also I hate being taken for granted/used

I think that's enough for now. I plan on actually updating this unlike some websites I'm signed up to. 

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