Gender Roles

Hey people! Hope you've all been good (as in been well..not in the way that makes me sound like a creepy confused santa asking if children have been good this year ha you probably didn't come to that conclusion but ah well moving on..)

So I recently watched a video on gender roles (by ricky dillon go check him out on YouTube) and I found it really interesting to hear about his personal experiences. So it made me wanna talk about it today with you guys (and girls). So the definition of gender roles are roles that are made by society that only girls can do and only guys can do..to put it into simple terms anyway. However if you think about it logically, in this day and age do we really need more rules to follow by society, haven't we already got enough?! Fortunately, this wall does seem to be breaking down as girls do things guys are only meant to do like go paintballing for example and guys are doing things that girls are meant to do like paint there nails and I'm loving it. As if we get enough people ignoring these old-fashioned and outdated rules, the barrier between girls and guys roles will slowly start to break down until everyone is just free to do whatever they want.

However as with any rules set by society, there are always going to be people still following these rules and making fun of people who disregard these rules. This is something which I find utterly disgusting, the fact that a guy would be made fun of if he likes what is considered feminine TV shows or likes what is considered by society a more girly sport like gymnastics. I say why does it really matter, if you're one of those people who takes the piss out of people like that then just ask yourself what are you getting out of this? Maybe a couple of laughs in class but is it really that worth it, in a few years high school will be over and you'll be the one not probably matured and maybe struggling for a job while he/she's happy and doing well in whatever sport/activity you made fun of for them doing. Just let people do what they love! Be more accepting and notice that rules can be changed or even broken down, which in this case these gender roles need to be crushed because who are we to disagree, form your own opinion before you speak. And if before you read this you didn't understand gender roles hopefully you will a bit more now and get that you need to grow up and get with the trends that we don't need roles to follow, we should be free to just be our own person.

Side not from my ranting which I seem to be doing a lot lately.. I need like a theme tune or something (read this with whatever tune you imagine it to have) time for more ranting sessions with sophie. I went shopping to spend my birthday vouchers in topshop and miss selfridge although I found nothing there which meant I could use my £30 vouchers all in topshop. They recently have just put out there new autumn range which I absolutely love! Ever since I spotted a youtuber I like (shoutout to ingrid nilsen) wearing dungarees but with jeans at the bottom rather than shorts I fell in love. However she was American so I got into the mood of oh they'll never have them in the UK, bet it will just be an American thing but no I saw them almost straight away in topshop I was so happy. They had my size (size 6) so I was even more happy as they always have fewer of the smaller sizes, then I also got black dungarees with the normal shorts and I persuaded my mum to get flowery dungarees so then we wouldn't be match but it would still make my mum happy. 

Right just a quick note I might post next Saturday if I can but it depends as I will be down at Bristol with family as my brother is taking his resists and I'd rather not post on my iPad as the format may change and I'm used to a computer. So it may be next Sunday instead so just a warning to cover my back haha, I'll still talk soon though!

Sophie 

♥♥

Macro Photography

Hey guys! (Just accept the fact I call everyone guys, it's just a thing now)

So for some of you lot, it will have been your GCSE results day last Thursday which brings back so many memories for me, I remember the feeling of dread like it was just last week (it's funny because it actually was but with my a levels instead..wow I'm so funny). Just please notice the sarcasm anyway moving on hope you're happy with your results, if you did well congrats you deserve it! However if you didn't do well then sucks to be you, you're a piece of shit.
Joking ok what I meant to say (without my probably annoying sense of humour) was *one sec let me get my diving gear on I'm going deep for a minute* results don't define you as a person, you can shape your own future! Grades on a piece of paper can seem like it's the worst thing in the world if you don't get what you want but often you can resit certain exams like I had to do with maths. I failed the first time getting a D and I found out that I was only 4 marks off which motivated me even more which led me to passing and getting a C in year 11 which honestly I couldn't quite believe it. If you're one of those people that just don't seem to click with maths then you'll understand how happy it is seeing you've finally passed and passed well as in some cases D is techincally a pass it just isn't considered a good pass by like anyone.

I've wanted to try out macro lenses for some time now and especially as I'm gonna be inclduding macro photos on my photography a level next year. However they are super expensive (like £400) so we don't have that much money to just splash out on especially if I wasn't that into it so we (my dad) came across something called a macro extension tube set which instead of replacing a normal lense, one of the three lenses are screwed on before the normal lense. This 3 piece set consists of lenses going from 13mm, 21mm to 31mm which allows you to convert any lens into a macro lens at a fraction of the cost while maintaining it's orginal optical quality (credit to the back of the box for writing that ha). Now in my own words I would honestly say it's very good, harder to get used to than I thought as it's essentially zooming in so close that you have to be dead still so that it doesn't blur. For some pictures I would advise using a tripod (which I didn't think of until too late). I would highly recommend you giving this a go as it's just under £20 on amazon so is reasonably cheap.

Here are a few of my favourite pictures I took recently using my macro lenses:

As you can see there's a few bee pictures as they are the only insect that didn't fly away when I put my camera lens extremely close to them. Bear with me here (I feel like Tilly off Miranda) as I'm only just starting to get the hang of the lenses and holding my breath so I don't shake.

Also I finished OITNB (if you don't know what that stands for then just leave..joke just google it, binge watch the whole 3 series then come back to me with your opinion). It was so good and I can't wait for new episodes but once upon a time is airing in september on UK netflix, maybe airing earlier for the USA I'm not too sure, but you guys always seem to get things quicker ugh I'm jealous you lucky things. So I've started watching more films now and espeically rewatching Disney films and making sure I've seen all of them for example I only recently watched Hercules which was good but I wouldn't rate it right up there with other Disney classics..I have high standards you know;)

Ok so until next time aka next week, byeee!
Sophie
♥♥

A Level Results

Hey guys! Hope you're all doing well:)

So as you can see by the title that the dreaded day arrived last Thursday where for my school in particular we could pick up our results from between 9:30-10:30. I decided to just bite the bullet and arrive as closest to the starting time as possible, as it turned out I was so early that none of my friends were there yet..so maybe it is better to be later. I was super nervous so that when I was asked to find my name to sign that I'd collected my results one of my teachers had to embarrassingly show me where my name was but I mean what do you expect and even when I found it I was shaking so much my handwriting looked like a 5 year's old (no offense to them that is just the truth #sorrynotsorry..again yet another phrase I started to use ironically and then it ended up being part of my everyday grammar which is great). Bit of a hint but ever since I found out about my grades I've been singing ABC, 123, that's how easy love can be or ABC it's as easy as 123, as simple as do re mi (but so not true sorry Jackson 5).

So to get to the main point, I got an A in Art and Design-Photo as my results sheet says (but we just call it Photography as that's what it is) a B in English Language and a C in Psychology. So of course I was super happy but I didn't wanna brag or act too happy as some of my friends didn't get the results they'd hoped for but in my head I was jumping up and down of course. When I got back home to tell my parents the news, first of all it was the funniest thing telling my mum as you should've seen the look on her face as she rushed from outside to hear what I got (basically just covered with anxiety if that's a possible look). I then found out with some help from my brother that I was only 2 UMS marks off a B in psychology which did make me feel better as I was hoping for a B as I did work so hard for both exams. Just in case you didn't know 2 UMS marks is the equivalent to 1 real mark in an exam..why me why now?! (bringing it back to an old Saturday's tune). As these were the grades I got in my AS it means next year for my A2 I have time to bring up my grade to a B as long as I continue to work my butt of like I did last year. 

So yes I may be one of the lucky ones that did well in my results and in no way am I bragging about it as I make sure I'm as modest as I can be. As bragging about things I did well in is just not the type of person I am. However I wanted to give you guys that hoped to do better and didn't get the results you wanted some advice:

• Don't beat yourself up about the grades you got as in the end what is that actually going to achieve?! Yep nothing is it..it's just one of those unfortunate things where either you thought the exam went well yet you didn't get the grade you expected or you realise actually I could/should've put more work into my subjects

• Evaluate (I know it's the worst time to use exam jargon here but just stick with me) what went wrong, was it you not putting in enough effort or just getting an unlucky really hard exam? 

• Look at all the options you have for example if the exam was one of the things that brought down your grade you can always resit to bring up your overall grade! 

• Lastly if you realise that actually you aren't cut out for a-levels which isn't a bad thing at all it just means you're better suited in another area of focus which is less strenuous and full on as going from gcse to a-levels is one of the toughest jumps right up there just before the move from a-levels to Uni. How about college or starting an apprenticeship..just anything that works better for you and don't look back just go for it! (Oh & good luck if you do that change)

So to summarise, please try not to panic as that is the worst thing to do! Although if you did well then congrats!! You should go out and celebrate which I totally did..watching Netflix and eating mini colin the caterpillars is the same thing right?! No but I'm sure some of you know it's awkward when you're one of the only ones who is happy about your results out of your friends so yeah celebrating at home is the best thing for people like us right now.

Totally unrelated side note but I'm getting new glasses next Friday once the new prescription is in, which takes a week as I'm shortsighted, have the slightest of squints and get double vision sometimes so I have a strong prescription..so I'm practically blind without my glasses (maybe a bit too far but you know what I mean). It did take me quite a while to find some glasses to choose between though as I'm a bit picky but I went to Specsavers if any of you are curious or need some new glasses then go there as they always do the best deals!

Anyway talk more next week!

Sophie 

♥♥

Society's Expectations of Teenagers

Hey people!
I'm back (and I still have guess who's back singing in my head) so you know just the usual; nothing new.

I've been staying at one of my friend's house for a few days so it feels good to be back home. Home sweet home as the old saying goes because now I'm 17 I'm basically old af (as fuck for all the non-inner fangirls out there).

 *This is the pivotal moment where I got so sidetracked and ended up ranting about society's expectations of kids/teens compared to adults and I thought why stop myself, I'm clearly just a bit passionate so erm enjoy my ranting...*

It doesn't feel like it at the moment but I know when I go back to school all the responsibilities will just be rolling in.. wait no that sounds too cool more like falling out a birds ass onto me so I have to deal with it which is greaatt (yes I know how to spell this is just how I express my sarcasm). Although I'm sure lots of you will relate as it feels as though as soon as you get past the age of about 16 (or younger depending) you get treated differently as it's like oh yeah now you're older you should be so mature and immediately start acting like an adult. It's like no I'll act like an adult when I am one..but that's another thing that annoys me how it's like there's a weird barrier between teens & adults and often we're treated that as soon as we lean more towards being adults we're automatically expected to grow up just like that (clicks fingers). Suddenly we find ourselves having this expectation from society of having to grow up 10x faster than is capable really and we aren't properly prepared/warned about it.

I feel like the pressure starts when you move towards being a teenager very subtly but when you are officially a teenager which lets be honest every parent dreads; the pressure just builds up. Whereas once you're passed the transition of kid to teen and teen to an adult the pressure/responsibility from society around us does seem to vastly reduce. Yes of course middle aged adults for example still have to struggle with making sure they earn enough money to pay the bills and for basic necessities for everyday life. There just isn't as much emphasis on adults whereas in the media especially, teens are constantly being talked about often in bad ways more than good. Some people (mainly older people lets be honest) say that 'the teenage years were the best years of their life' but I strongly disagree as I think every year that goes by with a new generation of kids and teens becoming adults it's getting harder for teens to say that as the pressure/responsibility from society seems to just keep on doubling. Especially with the horrors of what's happening in other areas of the world today. As you can guarantee there is always something drastic that happens in the news affecting teens like us for example the recent Tory (conservative) government cutting back on university funds that for a lot of people are the only way they can afford to actually go which is beyond ridiculous. I 100% stick with my word about how the Tories leading us is a major mistake that the people who voted for them will soon find out, it's just a real shame that the people who had sense who voted for other parties such as the Labour or the Greens have to be dragged into this. So we have to pay the consequences because there's lots of naive people out there in the world or even just scared to vote for a party other than the recent government we've stuck with for five years which ok yes I get is a daunting thing. All I ask is that people do their research because people sometimes forget how much it will impact themselves personally by having a certain government & their future generations to come.

You may think I've sidetracked a lot (yeah I kinda have) but talking about the government does relate as again that adds to the responsibilities more younger people face now but in this instance I think it is good how they lowered the voting age for example in Scotland because I think it's good we try to get a grasp and understand more about politics in general as it impacts us more than a lot of people know. No way do I class myself as an expert about all this as I only recently got into educating myself about the current parties in the government before the huge election took place. I just wanted to get my opinion across and hopefully I managed to do that.

Also just putting it out there.. but I met Marcus Butler on Tuesday for his signing for his new book 'Hello Life'. I'm hoping you'll recognise his name but if you don't just google him (he's a youtuber ok). I got 3 selfies with him which I'm still struggling to accept that they're real; you can check out my instagram 'justsoph_x' if you're interested in seeing my pictures (self-promo game strong haha). Seriously though I would highly recommend his new book which is full of healthy eating and lifestyle tips (which I dunno about you but I definitely need to start eating better & exercising more) & along with his informative advice he manages to throw in some stuff that will make you laugh too which I love.

I apologise about my ranting as I can get quite carried away oops but now I just wanna leave you with this super cute picture of my cat Smudge I took about a week ago:

Hope you're enjoying & making the most of your summer holidays like I try to do although it can be very hard to resist netflix all day I get that;)
Talk soon ofc!
Sophie
♥♥

Advice On Nights Out

Hey everyone!
Ok so this title is gonna make me sound like such a party whore or something which I mean I wish I was (jks I really don't films in bed sounds good to me). I just wanted to talk to you about what happened when I was at a party last Tuesday (yes see I do have a social life).

My friends and I were just having fun at this party which includes taking lots of selfies, yes some drinking and lots of dancing/laughing (yes they go together like you should have seen some of the guys trying to slut drop I mean I'm scarred for life). Anyway to get to the main point, one of our friends couldn't find her bag and then another of our friends couldn't find hers either until the point that we were informed of 6 missing bags. Personally I only knew 3 people that had lost theirs but we searched the whole place and came back empty handed. I was really lucky as I checked earlier on in the night and found my bag hidden under several coats so I kept it there but it was on the same pile as my friends who had theirs stolen. Yes you might be thinking should we really have just left all our bags there but in response to your imaginary questioning nobody is allowed in without a wristband as there are bouncers and nobody saw any suspicious people if they somehow managed to get in. So the thing that was worst about the stealing was that it was most likely someone we knew as the event was organised by sixthformers for upper & lower sixthformers. After talking to upper sixth they said how shocking it was as they've been going for ages and nothing like this has ever happened before.

Before I rant on too much, here's some hopefully useful tips when on nights out:

1.  Decide straight away where you're gonna keep your bag, depending on your preferences.. yes if you have a small bag with straps you could dance with that; it just isn't ideal so check for lockers for you and your friends
2. Unfortunately as I learned you can't trust anybody so keep your bag to yourself or with friends you can 100% trust
3. In the unfortunate case it does get stolen, inform someone straight away for example we got them to check their CCTV to see if they could find out who it was (but ofc they forgot the password) and then later the police was rang as valuable items were in my friends bags which sucks

Unfortunately none of the bags have been found because the idiot who took it will have run off but I got my friend to cancel her card so hopefully the little fucker wont be able to spend any of it (I tried to refrain my language but I mean why..the person who did it has 100% bad intentions and morals there's no excuse for it). Not in our time where yes people are still poor but nothing compared to back then when stealing was a necessity for keeping someone alive (shout-out to Les Misérables).

Moving on from that crap that happened, back to my usual obsession of nature photography. I was inside pretty much all day watching Netflix because lazy pyjama days watching Netflix is the best thing. Going off topic again but just started watching Orange Is The New Black as it was recommended to me via a friend and at first I was unsure as it's a bit different to what I normally watch as it's an 18 (shush I'm usually good with ratings but I thought meh why not give it a go). It's so good, the best thing about it is the characters & the erm chemistry I'll call it between the characters. Some of the people are so sassy I love it, just like me omg yasss (yeahh I'll stop now).

I feel like it's hard to judge photography sometimes as different people like different stuff and sometimes I love to focus on things that aren't normally of interest to add a different perspective to the picture; just another random thought. While I was out there, so was my cat Smudge and I caught her trying to hide from me, she is such a cute ninja (not quite there yet but in her head I imagine she's like mwuahah no one can see me it's just so adorable she does it all the time with her tail blatantly on show).

 

I was under a table to take the the first picture as no time to move as the second after this she ran away..I mean dedication right and yeah I totally planned that bee flying out...pretty happy with it though ha

Just got back from Go Ape with family as we thought we may as well go out for a pub meal while we were there. We went to the Go Ape in Rivington (thanks to my research I picked the best out of 3 options haha) Go Ape is like an outdoor adventure style place if you don't know but as soon as I saw that the zip-wire goes partially across a huge reservoir, that kinda sold it for me as apart from that they weren't all that different. I felt so anxious at the start (you know how I can be ha) as it feels as if you have to remember lots as basically you're in control of your own safety (yes there's instructors watching in case) but essentially yeah we were on our own which was scary at first but it was surprisingly quick to get used to attaching/detaching yourself from the ropes. The second time I went on the tarzan swing into the net I screamed so much as there was a surprising drop then I full on face planted the middle of the net bouncing right back. By the sound of laughter/look on my mum and brother's face it was hilarious..oh god that would have made an awful yet funny GIF.

Moving on so this blog isn't ridiculously long, I took several pictures of the beautiful red sunset over Calderdale (totally looked at the pub's handout to find out where the hell I was..) and then used Photoshop (a really old version..as if I'd have enough money for the most recent version) to create a panorama from it, thought you might wanna see:

Anyway as you can tell it's super late (well normal time for me as recently my sleeping pattern has been fucked up to put it bluntly)..so yes it's Sunday now as by the time I was writing this it was nearly midnight anyway so I thought I may as well post it on a better more convenient time today. Hope you're having a good summer, even if you're a Brit like me where for us our summer just seizes to exist really..but for everyone else especially for America I'm sure they'll be relaxing in the sun; just a bit jealous like can you send us some sun over;)
Yeah so byee talk more next week!
Sophie 
♥♥