School, Othello, My 17th & Fangirling Over Benedict Cumberbatch

Hey Everyone!

So yet another week has come and passed and September is nearly at it's end. It's absolutely surreal how quickly 2013 is going by. I've officially been a 5th Year for just over a month, which is quite scary when I think of it. So now to tell all you lovely people about my somewhat crazy and erratic week!

  Nothing really eventful happened for the first part of the week, just the usual school things (homework., study, sleeping and reading too many books! One can never read too many books though) I did have a free double class on Wednesday and we were allowed go on the computers *gasps* You can obviously guess what websites I went on.. Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger and checked up on emails.

I have some advice for you all, NEVER EVER go on Tumblr on a school computer. It's actually dangerous, one second it could be a GIF of a cat, the next a scary terrifying image of danisnotonfire reading phanfiction with Phil (Yes, that actually popped up on my dash) The lads sitting beside me were literally terrified. I had earlier tweeted about going on Tumblr and the dangers of it, and they asked me what Tumblr was. . .

You lucky people, you don't know what Tumblr is. I did a horrendous job of explaining my life Tumblr and made the website out to be full of crazy fangirls who reblog gifs of their fandoms, ships and OTP's. Which I suppose is true, that's the area of Tumblr I navigate most of the time. However Tumblr is a good website, you're able to connect with people with familiar interests from all over the world and reblog gifs of your favourite people. (I just edited my Tumblr theme so I won't shut up about Tumblr at the moment sorry)

Thursday was good too for a number of reasons. You can probably guess, Thursday September 26th was my 17th birthday! So therefore I can drive a car yay, joking I'll keep reading books instead. That night with my English class and some other classes we went to the local cinema to see a live stream of a production of Othello. (Play written by Shakespeare) Overall I found it to be very good, the acting was good however some scene were dragged out for too long. The production and interval included lasted well over 3 hours so it finished at around 10.15pm on a school night yay.

Before the production started, there was a  presenter talking about other productions the theatre hosts, she listed various actors and actresses including Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston! I nearly squealed when I heard Benedict Cumberbatch because he is absolutely amazing (I am a Cumbercookie yes, if you're one too, let me know in the comments!)

As you can imagine the next morning was absolutely horrendous, I barely got six hours sleep. I walked into school and my friend Tara told me that I looked exhausted! Which was true, I had such dark circles underneath my eyes you could have seen them from the other side of the school! I'd also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who very kindly gave me a thoughtful card or gift. I really appreciate it and I love you all, also to everyone who emailed me, chatted to me on Facebook and tweeted me, THANK YOU. I had a great day and weekend, thank you x

I literally just re-designed my Tumblr theme (HTML coding is horrible, ew) which you can check out here
Also, you may have noticed I haven't posted any videos on my YouTube in a while, that's mainly because of the lack of time in my life right now. Videos, even basic ones like mine, take a long time to record, edit and publish onto YouTube. I had been hoping to have posted one by the end of September but obviously that's not going to happen. I've actually been thinking of more ideas since going back to school which I hope to film once I have more time on my hands.

In the meantime, check my Twitter for updates on what I'm up to, (mainly tweets about homework, rants and fandoms, if you're into that sorta thing) Also, book update! I just finished The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (recommended by my friend Tara) and it was just excellent. I loved Cassandra Clare's writing style, the plot and character development were very good too, an excellent debut novel. I started City of Ashes, the second book in the series, Tara gave me the book as a gift for my birthday so THANK YOU.

I also went out on Saturday night with some friends, Tara, Mary, Grace from Dainty Sprinkles and Vivien to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We all arrived at 7.30pm, we left at nearly 10.30, we all had a great time.

Some photos from my week.. 

Me with my City of Ashes book, halfway through it already, definitely recommend!

Books I got for my birthday, I am such a bookworm.. 

For all you beauty bloggers, here's one of the beauty presents I received which included the following products! (I also got Taylor Swift's new perfume) 

Vivi on Saturday night :) 

Grace & Viv giggling :)

Tara and I taking an awkward selfie 

Sideways group photo!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx 

Alone, not lonely.

Hey Everyone!

So it's the end of another tiring week. I knew Fifth Year would be exhausting, but not this much. One thing I don't like about Fifth Year is that you do lots of work and time consuming activities but I can't really write about any of them as they're deemed (by me) to be too boring and lack luster. Oh well, I can live like a hermit for a couple of years, it won't kill me.

I had a few tests during the week and I was happy with my results. I had a free double German and study afterwards so I let my mind wander and wrote a poem (Not depressing or sinister I swear, it's quite optimistic believe it or not!)

Something else of interest to me was the fact that people in my year in school read/know of my blog?! I know I post links to my Twitter & Tumblr, however I didn't think people would actually read my random musings? This has made me feel slightly more cautious and conservative about what I express here (I wasn't really outspoken here to begin with) as for some reason I feel more comfortable sharing my views/life with random strangers than with my peers in education? It's a strange thing really, I feel more comfortable sharing everything with ''strangers'' however I don't feel all you lovely readers are strangers though! You are all a part of my life now, and support me by commenting, emailing and tweeting me. Even by reading this, I feel I nearly know you.

I know some people consider people who read their blogs ''their fan base'' however I consider you all my friends and people I would like to know properly some day in the future. It's easier to tell someone who won't judge you what's going on in your life rather than telling someone who knows you and may judge you for every single world you utter. I was talking to a real life friend of mine about making more YouTube videos because of being offered the partnership and everything, so hopefully in the weeks to come I will record a new video. Wahey.

So that's about it from me for this week. Next week should be more interesting as I'm going to see Othello with my English class on Thursday, September 26th, along with other things going on that day. Should I mention that this might be my last blog post as a sixteen year old?! DUN DUN DUNNNNN. Dramatic ending. Yes, it's my birthday on Thursday and I'll be seventeen! Wow, that was a quick year wasn't it? I think my blog is nearing it's six month old birthday then too! *Counting when I first starting properly blogging on a weekly basis, not my mediocre attempts!*

Playlist for this blog post:
The Strypes ~ Blue Collar Jane
The Strypes ~ Mystery Man
Kodaline ~ One Day
Kodaline ~ Brand New Day
Kodaline ~ Pray

*It was a Kodaline day for me today!

.

A photo from my ''Room Tour'' on the JOALLAP collab blog I'm part of! Find it here!

Here's a photo I saw on Carrie Shade's 'Against Suicide' page, I think it's so truthful and accurate.

So that's about it from me this week!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

My ''poem'' wahey

Alone, not lonely. 

I am alone, not lonely. 

Sitting in class, on the outskirts. 

The crowd everywhere but near me.

I sit, silent and diligent.

In my own, perfect world.

For being lonely would imply I desire company.

I am alone, on my own terms

and above all, my decision and choice.

I am not alone, with my thoughts,

dancing softly in my mind.

A constant buzzing, never leaving me in darkness.

One can never be truly alone, however some can be lonely.

Not me though.

For when I possess thoughts, a pen and paper. 

One can never be truly lonely or alone. 

UPDATE: A Bet I Had, oops.

Hey Everyone!

So this is a not so brief update on The Life Of Me. Last week my English teacher gave my class the essay title of ''The unexamined life is not worth living'' which is a title of one of my blog posts recently. I jokingly said to my friend of Maeve's Fashion that ''If I got an A1 in the essay I would post it on my blog!'' as I was expecting a B or a C as it was such a tricky and difficult title.

So, to my shock and delight, I actually got an A1 on the essay and I'm staying true to my word and posting it on my blog. (Even though I found out that practically everyone in my year knows I have a blog but oh well!)

The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living ~ Aveen Edition!

''The unexamined life is not worth living'' is a famous quote by the Greek philosopher Socreates. Socreates was a man who discovered a great wealth of knowledge and will have his actions echo in time and live on after his death. As a philosopher, Socreates was generally not hypocritical in his words, therefore he claims to have lived ''The examined life'' as he believed than living ''the unexamined life is not worth living''. However, what does he mean by an examined life and an unexamined life?

First of all, everyone has a life. Everyone has a past, present and hopefully a future. Our lives are constantly changing with every decision we make. For example, you are given homework in a certain subject. Unknowingly, you have a number of options to take, to do the homework and achieve a good result in a future exam. Another option is to not complete the homework and possibly fail an examination in the future, why? You made the decision not to do your homework, this slightly changed your life path and life experiences. 

However there is a different between living whilst making both good and bad decision, but having new and utterly surreal opportunities due to these decisions, and just merely existing in this world. In other words, being a normal human being who makes mistakes, or trying to be perfect and living without questioning. Only existing in the world is something which should never befall a person. Existing means just being on this planet doing the exact same thing daily, never questioning your thoughts and actions and never wondering about what would happen if you did something different for once. It is living in ignorance, or a lack of knowledge. Obviously when you are in school you do the same thing daily, it's what you were told to do, getting an education is the key to your future and how to leave the state of existence and actually live your life, on your terms. 

However living is different to the state of existence on this planet. Living is taking risks, obviously not ridiculous ones, and accepting that they will change and edit your life path and future in unfathomable ways. Living is like the ''Dauntless'' in the book Divergent by Veronica Roth. They do absolutely anything they want. They jump off fast moving trains and they learnt not to be fearless, but how to keep their fears under control. Nobody is perfect enough to be fearless, that would merely be existing, not facing your fears, not feeling the simultaneous rush of adrenaline rush through your body and mind. Also no fun or chaos in their life.

The Dauntless inspired the protagonist, Beatrice (later known as Tris) to join their faction. Tris was born and raised ''Abnegation'' faction, they are selfless, help others and aim to be invisible and not disturb others. They live in a state of existence and Tris' will to live overcame that. The Dauntless are happy and free, something which so many people are not. They do not live to exist, they are living, questioning, expanding their wealth of knowledge, breathing oxygen and adrenaline and excitement swirls in their veins. The Dauntless are examining exactly what the small world around them has to offer. They lived in one small dilapidated city in a dystopian fantasy world, so why can't people live and not just exist in our society?

Our world is huge. There are so many different lands, seas, cultures and nations to visit. To broaden your horizons is to live. Living life on the edge gives you opportunities you never thought were possible, until they materialised. With merely existing, those opportunities would never occur. As only existing on this planet, you would go to school, work hard, graduate college, get married and have children, end of story. You would not question anything or attempt to find your true inner self. What a lonely and depressing existence indeed. If you're living and not just existing, you would begin to question and discover your inner self by making decisions, accepting imperfections like fears and expanding your wealth of knowledge by learning life skills, about diversity and culture, not just what you learnt off by heart in a school textbook for a test. That is the difference between living your life to your utmost potential and just merely existing, never pondering or doing anything unusual or different with your life.

You are a human, along with everyone else, and you have one life. (Unless you believe in reincarnation, however I'll stick with having one life for the time being) It is up to each and every individual to live the best life possible and not just a miserable existence. Mark Twain once said, ''Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the things you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover'' This quote is very strong and effective, it makes one realise what may happen should they only exist in the world or lead an unexamined life. Such thought would not occur of you lived an examined life, as you would have fulfilled probably everything you had wanted (within reason) for you and your future.

I believe the unexamined life is not worth living. Once you realise you have only been existing you become filled with regret. Over what would have been. Everyone should aim to live an examined life and to dream impossible dreams. It is not too late for anyone my age to begin leading an examined life, to be remembered and to live on after your death is a beautiful thing. However should you be older, it may be too late as you've lived an unexamined life, and an unexamined life is not worth living.

*** So, I guess that's my essay! I hope you enjoyed it or if you're confused on any part of the essay just ask me about it, I'll be more than willing to answer any queries!

**************Hi to everyone in school who has found my blog and never told me. Awkward moment this week when I found out the majority of my peers knew about my ramblings!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

People Throw Rocks At Things That Shine..

Hey Everyone!

Hope you're all feeling amazingly wonderful, a contrast to me at the moment! Don't worry, Fifth Year is just an exhausting year so far. I barely have any free time at the moment, ironic seeing as for the past year I've been incredibly bored. I think it's better this way, so busy I can't dwell on past experiences as much, I very much live in the present and future now which I'm grateful for. So here's what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks!

I've mainly been doing school work (how interesting) and studying and homework. For the past couple of Friday's I've gone to Spleodar club after school. We speak Irish for a couple of hours and chat to other people in the school ''as Gaeilge'' it sounds like torture but it's actually so much fun and has really improved my Irish.

As you might know (Mar is eol duit!) my Irish isn't the best. I mean, I'm not fluent however, like everything, I give it my best effort, so I was little miffed and irritated in class during the week. We're studying a poem at the moment and discussing the various imagery and everything related to the poem, IN IRISH. I understand what the teacher says and one morning, the teacher asked me -in Irish- to talk about the poem in my own words, which I did to the best of capabilities. However, a person sitting across from me, in front of the teacher, decides to look at me and starts laughing and smirking at me as I was trying to explain the poem. I'm sorry, but I think you're a little old to be doing absolute rubbish like that. Others commented on what the person did, so it wasn't my imagination. To be honest, that's pretty low, and a little rich seeing as they missed the notes. Don't try make a mockery of others when you don't even know what's going on, it's irritating, hurtful and downright disrespectful. (Rant over)

Apart from that act of immaturity, everything else in my week went by fine. In Irish again (this class seems to be where all the gossip happens) We were discussing the verb, brath, to feel. My teacher begins to say it's like 'feels' or ''emotions'' My teacher said feels! I nearly freaked, and had danisnotonfire feels because of it. It was quite hilarious, in the midst of all the Irish, the teacher says ''Feels'' Highlight of the day.

Next week in school, a Holocaust survivor, Tomi Reichental is coming to talk to history students in my school. I attended his talk two years ago, I got the opportunity to meet him at the end and get a copy of his book signed too which was surreal.

Last Sunday I was also in Limerick aka the other side of the country! We were bringing my brother back to university, he's in Third year now. Wow, I remember him getting his Leaving Cert results, oops my Leaving Cert is in two years.

I haven't really been posting many photos on my blog for the past couple of weeks, as I felt I wasn't taking very many, as it turns out I've taken nearly 5 a week. How did that slip my mind?

With my cousin Owen, family banter and playing hide and seek! (I told him I was hiding in the attic, oops)

My new favourite album, definitely recommend it!

Perks of going across the country!

What can I say? I get scared easily.. especially by my own reflection!

Found another bottle with my name on it! (No more bottles have names on them anymore!)

Playlist for this blog post:

The Strypes album ''Snapshot'' it's so fresh, unique and different! 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless,

Have a brilliant week and I'll chat to you all soon!

If you want a chat, tweet me, email or leave a comment down BELOW! :) 

Aveen xx

An Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

Hey Everyone!

So it's it's the end of another week, and my first full week as a Fifth Year. Scary. This is just a brief little update to let you all know that yes, I'm still here! I've just been so busy with homework and study to post any extra posts.

You may be wondering about the title of this post, trust me I'd be asking too if I saw it randomly! My English class was assigned a 4 page essay with this title to have completed for next Tuesday. This essay is the reason why this blog post is later than usual! The essay was about living and existing on this planet, their similarities if any and of course their differences. I won't go into details about my essay however if you want to find out more about this quote, Google it and mention ''Socreates'' he was the Greek philosopher who said the quote!

Apart from that, my week was absolutely crazy! My teachers are really piling on the homework from the word go. I'm studying all higher level/honours subjects so I get more homework than other people who do ordinary/pass level subjects. However I like my teachers and my classes, so I'm more eager to learn because of that. I can even understand my Irish teacher (she practically speaks Irish for the entire class, saying barely any English) I'm really enjoying History, Business, Ag Science, English, Maths and German!

In German we were watching 90210, in German. It was the very first season and was absolutely hilarious. Being in a class with mainly lads made it quite a hilarious and awkward experience. Watching the video (yes it was a video!) was hilarious as the fashions were simply surreal (in both a good and bad way)

On Friday night I went to the Irish club in my school. We have to speak only Irish for a couple of hours and play games and whatnot. It's quite good really, I went last year too. The club also have Gaeltachts in Galway. A Gaeltacht for anyone not from Ireland is a place in Ireland (there are several Gaeltachts in the country) where you can only speak Irish, no English language allowed. I actually quite enjoy going to the Irish club, it's something different and it's hilarious to be honest! (Playing musical chairs with 30 other teenagers and a Sixth Year singing badly as the speakers weren't loud enough is definitely a highlight)

So that's about it for me this week!

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx

Something I'd Like To Clarify With Everyone..

Hey Everyone!

So I'm writing this ''bonus''  blog post to address something which has arisen in my life both on the internet and in my 'real life'. As you can probably guess, it's about this blog, The Life Of Me.

As I've previously written/typed, people I know in real life and on various social networking sites have started to find out that I, Aveen, have a blog. There's no problem with this, it's just that I'm a little shocked that people in REAL LIFE, who know me, are reading and possibly judging what I say here.
This is kind of my little corner of the internet where I express what has been happening in my life, both the previous week and in the past. (I've a post coming up soon about something I did when I was 7, it's hilarious) However, back onto what I saying earlier.

Blogging is not vanity. People believe that because I write about my life, I'm vain, self obsessed and shallow. This is not the case! I write about my life because I enjoy writing! Blogging is a way to get to know other people with similar interests and a method to improve spelling, grammar and punctuation. I don't blog to try brag and impress people with what I'm doing with my life. I blog because I enjoy it, also because I'd like to be a writer someday.

Think of it this way, blogging is my hobby. Most people play sports like football and hurling for their hobbies. (I play badminton too for mine) I'd like to ask the question, would you openly insult people for playing on a soccer or hurling team? I certainly hope you wouldn't, so why would you insult someone for having a hobby online? People who play on teams often win trophies/shields for winning competitions, however if a blogger wins or is nominated for something, they're considered to be sad, shallow, vain and to have ''no life''? Where are we all getting this assumption? Blogging and playing a sport are quite similar in ways, they're both a hobby and a way to know more people with a similar interest.

I don't see why there is such a negative stigma towards blogging, according to comments on a Daily Mail article (link is here ) Blogging supposedly takes up time away from school, well listen clearly. Blogging does take up time, especially if you're dedicated, but, so do sports and training sessions for them! In fact, they take up more time, teams may be training a couple of nights a week, blogging for me and a few others takes up a couple of hours on a Saturday and whatnot.

Also, what is so ''funny'' about blogging and being a YouTuber? People I spoke to would try stop themselves from laughing when they found out. I'm going to be honest, YouTube offered to make me a partner in YouTube recently, however, I didn't accept it. Why? Well first of all school work, and the backlash I would receive in school for being a partner in YouTube. The comments and snickering are immature and silly, and I've only uploaded three videos. Can you imagine what would occur if I was getting PAID to make the videos?

It's a vicious circle and it has to end. Being honest, at first I was a little taken aback at the backlash I was receiving from people, but it's not going to stop me from blogging and YouTube. I won't be posting on YouTube for a while, due to school work but in holidays expect something from me. People may think it's ''funny'' that a girl from their school is blogging, but it's my hobby and something I thoroughly love and I'm passionate about. You have your GAA and soccer, I have my blogging. I don't insult you for doing what you love, what gives you the right to do the same to me and fellow bloggers? Nothing.

This is something I felt I needed to address, 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless

NEVER let anyone get you down.

Remember, people only rain on your parade because their jealous of your sun and tired of their shade. 

Aveen xx

J.O.A.L.L.A.P Blog Collaboration Day #7 with Alex!

Hey Everyone!

It's Day SEVEN of our amazing J.O.A.L.L.A.P. collab! What a quick week! I hope you know us all better now and read our blog! Today's post is from Alex! (link below!)


"You can never be overdressed or overeducated."
-Oscar Wilde

Hi everyone, I'm Alex, a member of J.o.a.l.l.a.p! I am super excited to be sharing my very first post with you on the topic of "me."

Before I get into my actual post, I thought I would give you a short biography on myself. As I said earlier, my name is Alex. I am a 14 year old girl from the USA and I have a love for writing. I started my blog on August 31, 2012 and I post journal entries, posts on beauty and fashion, tags, etc.

Taylor Swift is my idol and my lucky number is 13. That's why most of my usernames consist of "amazingalex13." My social media addictions are never ending. I love Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and of course Blogger! I recently got a Vine as well, but I barely have any followers, haha.


This post is about me and my adventures on the first day of school including my hair, outfit, and makeup! I figured this would be a great post because you get to learn about my style and you get a tiny taste of my personality!


Hair
I took my shower the night before, because I knew I had to get up early and I would struggle a bit with that. I applied heat protector by Aussie on it. It's not my favorite, but it does the trick. I then used a flat iron to straighten my hair. I want my hair looking fabulous without overdoing it.

I then applied my Taylor by Taylor Swift hair mist. I got it at Ulta. It smells pretty good, although it is a bit strong, so if you do buy it and apply it, I would only use one squirt.

I also added a black headband, just to keep my hair out of my face. I hate having my hair in my face during school. It gets very distracting very easily. Hahaha.

Makeup
I got a pretty good tan for having "pale girl" problems. I did not yet buy a foundation that matched my skin tone. Although, I do have a concealer that does the trick. My skin wasn't too broken out at the time, so it covered what I needed to.

Moving on to eyes! I used the shade "Daydream" by Bareminerals and applied it all over my lid. I didn't want to overdue my eyes. I like to keep my eyes very natural. For mascara, I used the L'Oreal Double Extend Lash Fortifier and Extender Mascara in Carbon Black 505. I really like this mascara because it lengthens my eyelashes and darkens them. Sometimes it doesn't separate too well, so I have to use an eyelash comb. I still love the effect!

Cheeks! I used a random blush (sorry, I don't have the name), from Covergirl. I used the middle color for my cheeks and used the lightest color to swirl it up to my temples for a natural affect.

On my lips I used a lip balm by E.O.S in the flavor vanilla. It's from the Alice In Wonderland collection. On top of that I applied a lipgloss in the shade True Love's First Kiss by Disney. I got it when I went on vacation in June.

That's it for the makeup, as you can tell, it was pretty natural.

Outfit & Accessories
Since I kept my hair and makeup subtle, I decided to go all out on my outfit.

As you may have noticed, I am wearing glasses in this picture. I was going to school and need to see! (I'm blind as a bat!) You may have also noticed my sister in this photo. Please just ignore her, I  didn't get a chance to take a single picture of myself, so we will have to go with this.

Dress: Roxy
Cardigan: N/A (T.J Maxx, maybe)
Silver Rings: Old Navy
Watch: Roxy
Sandals: Aeropostale

I think that's about it! I kept things pretty simple. Be sure to check out the official J.o.a.l.l.a.p blog for tomorrow's post by Lemmie. This week's post will be quite more exciting than this week's post. Click here to check it out.

Thank you so much for reading! Hope to see you on our blog! For my personal blog, you can check out the link below. I also posted my email incase you have any requests, questions or if you're just looking for a chat. Thanks again!

Xoxo,

Alex

My Blog: http://allaboutamazingalex.blogspot.com/
My Email: amazingalex1313@gmail.com


Here's the order of who'll be posting (and links to their blogs!)

Monday ~ Lemmie

Tuesday ~  Jamie 

Wednesday ~ Ony

Thursday ~ Me!

Friday ~ Phoebs               

Saturday ~  Leah              

Sunday ~  Alex 

Stay Strong, Happy and Fearless!

Aveen xx