The Urban Undergound App

I've been pretty busy these last few weeks, tonnes & tonnes of university deadlines. However, a girl should always treat herself for working hard. After all, we've all heard the phrase 'live hard, play hard'...right? I certainly have, so therefore I decided I'd splurge a little & try something new & cool in Liverpool. Oh, new bars of course :)

credit.

Where should my friends and I go? After all, decisions aren't our strong point. This beautiful little creation however, The Urban Underground App decided for us :D simple!

So, er, the hangover speaks for itself. I had an amazing night. Cider, cocktails...shots. Euw.

Thankyou Urban Underground...

(Follow them on twitter they're a funny bunch...)

Aims.

Its scary when you're still in university- wondering what the hell is it you should be/do/go when you're at the end of your degree. A lot of people I know want to keep living that student dream, the half slumber of going to university, freaking yourself out at the amount of work that needs to be done and enjoying the freedom of student life whilst it lasts.

Personally, my aims are not clear to me as of yet. Third year is fast approaching but then what? Job? Will it even be something to do with the subject I studied? Or will my 'graduate' job be waitressing in the local italian? British graduates all face the same issues and I for one hope not be stuck in that cycle.

After speaking to a friend, the idea of travelling is something that appeals to me more than ever. What if i travel AND get a few part time jobs during my time in these places? New people, new ideas, thoughts, different philosophies that might have never been considered if you follow the same path as every other graduate.

I think I have already figured out what I want to do. Live in a few different European cities, feel like a local, learn languages and be a free to an extent. xx

The Music Post!

So, I decided I'd write a little bit about some of my favourite music at the moment. No, I am not NME, an aspiring music journalist nor have I ever wrote anything like this before, but I can tell you, I love finding new things, getting excited, having them on repeat on my iPod- rinse and repeat. You get the idea!

As you can guess, I do not know where to start! I love a bit of really atmospheric post rock from time to time, and two bands that I've stumbled upon really stand out to me & deserve a mention here:

Exxasens

Born in 2007, Barcelona based Exxasens are a solo project of Jordi Ruiz. This music takes you on a journey, its full of adventure. Ruiz's main inspiration is spacial exploration by humans, pretty cool! Alongside the post rock aspects of the music there is a progrssive metal vibe...not just your usual lo-fi post rock! Exxasens are so different to most of the things that you'll just listen to and its well worth giving them a try.

Red Sparowes

LA Based Red Sparowes are well yep, epic. 'Their music is best described as post/experimental rock. Their sound is characteristic of soundscape-influenced experimental rock, with an otherwise uncommon extensive use of a pedal steel guitar.' (Last.fm)

I find it strange using words to describe music, you just need to listen, if its any good you'll definitely feel some sort of emotion. So, what are you waiting for, grab your headphones!

So I'll finish on one of my favourite post-rock songs. A youtube user says 'Why listen to dubstep drops when you can listen to amazing instrumental rock drops!' So bloody true :)

65daysofstatic

xx

MCR- Yummy things in the Northern Quarter.

All in all its been a productive few weeks, ish. I quit my job, have nearly been attacked by Canadian Geese, finished my second year exams and went to a few bars. Today I'm gonna share with you some yummy places to go in my favourite part of Manchester, The Northern Quarter.

But first, here is a completley unrelated (sort of) picture of some graffiti I found by the canals in Manc that I took on 'Retro Camera'...I don't have instagram as i am iPhone-less.

some lovely graffiti in Manchester by the canals.

How lovely is that graffiti?!
Anyway, Manchester is full of lovely art and as a native to Liverpool, I love exploring somewhere that is so close by! Below is some graffiti I found that is in the Northern Quarter, which is a lovely part of Manchester full of all things a little bit 'quirky', although I hate the word, it sums up the amazing tea & cake cafes, bars and shops.

One of my favourite places is TEACUP It's so lovely and the cakes are fresh, the tea is awesome & they do Mr.Scruff's own brand which you may have seen around online or if you're a fan you can buy it at his dj sets.

Thats the rainbow cake which is sponge layered with jam! Last time I went though, I had coffee and walnut cake which i recommend 100 percent!

Tasty treats:
Visit North Tea Power if you want lovely coffee.
Soup Kitchen for soup, bands & lovely surroundings.
Apotheca for cocktails- they're delicious, amaretto sour is a personal favourite.
Bakerie for BREAD. Okay, not just bread, but they do lovely boards of gorgeous antipasti.

Yummm. I could really go for some anti-pasti now, its bloody wonderful! So yes, these are just a few of my favourite
places to go. I am still new to all this blogging business so be patient :) I will try & do more posts like this because I'm a massive foodie, as well as general rants, clothes that I like (can hardly call it fashion cause it aint)
things i like to buy when I have money and or a job :)

xx

Judging other people.

Yeah we all do it unfortunately, judge others before we know them...from their shoes or their dress. We shouldn't, people should try and stop doing this because it's pointless. Lets be honest though, its horrible- especially when you judge people for the way their accent just so happens to be. My experience of all this is quite fresh. A new job. New people can be intimidating...wanting to make the right impression, trying to get to know them, because hell, you're gonna be spending a lot of fucking time with these people like it or not. Its better if you work with people you like, or just get on with. Little snipe-y comments have not exactly featured in my life since high school. Which I find bizarre, now, at the grand old age of twenty one, people trying to belittle others constantly over things like 'hiding your accent' and 'being pretentious' sadly, you clearly don't know me if you think i am pretentious.

YA SRY DIS IS ME. Seriously though, people, we need to re-evaluate ourselves, make ourselves better people & stop trying to put others down for no real reason. At the end of the day...whats the point? Life is too short to hate. Its a grown-up version of bullying really. Maybe there are lessons to be learnt or maybe I should just fuck off on the next plane to budapest with a brand new michael korrs watch and longchamp handbag that i can't afford and let them have their way :)

Etiquette of everyday life.

Something happened today that FIRSTLY got me awfully worked up and to be honest it left me a bit shocked about human behaviour....and SECONDLY, thinking about manners in general. And kind of 'expected codes' of courtesy. Being a sociology student also, this is kinda second nature to me, to think about things in this sort of way, how people generally believe they should communicate with others and also how they communicate with blatant strangers.
My question to you is how polite are you? I happen to be one of those people who try and go out of my way to be polite, let people go by me if their isn't enough room, always say 'thank you' if someone is polite to me...but what happens when someones rude? I can't even express how it makes me feel. Basically, an older lady with her husband were sitting on a train, this lady has her bag on the chair next to her...now there isn't a hell of a lot of room on said train and I have 2 big bags and I'm feeling kinda wobbly. I say 'excuse me...' wanting her to move her bag, or at least usually this will warrant some sort of reaction. MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD WILL AT LEAST RESPOND TO THE BLOODY POLITE GESTURE OF EXCUSE ME. Right? Wrong.
Now, I have the inherited trait of temper. When pushed to my limit, may I add. I'm usually quite shy I suppose but I swore in dumbfounded shock if I'm honest.

This situation got me thinking however. Have you ever done something rude without really thinking about it? We live in a little country really, and typical british manners and common decency tend to go along way here in the great britannia in which we live. Of course some people are actual arrogant and/or ignorant idiots who really don't care about anyone but themselves? But surely this is not a way to live your life. In my opinion it is healthier to be a nice person, to smile at strangers, to hold the door open for someone just for the hell of it, and why shouldn't we do things like this everyday without even thinking about it? It isn't such a big deal to be friendly to someone you've never met and will likely never meet again, but if everyone in the world acts with rudeness and distain then that will get us nowhere. What pisses me off the most is that the youths of this country are labelled constantly as deviant, with no respect for their elders, but as I have witnessed today, the elders often have very little respect either- perhaps they should remember in future, the 'older generations' and the of course the ever present negative media- who actually raised these youths with no respect....?

Being a waitress & a slave to the wage.

I've just started my second year at university and also my 3rd job. It isn't much fun trying to divide your time between a lot of different things, sometimes it can be tiring. However, I absolutely despise being bored- I drive myself practically insane with pondering, worries and generally thinking about every little thing and managing to work myself up about stuff.
So here is a little bit about how I have learned since joining the masses of students who commit themselves to part time work:

There are a few things that I can tell you about being a waitress and the number one thing to mention is that it is not fucking easy. Yes I know plenty of people have absolutely no regard or courtesy to people who work in the service industry, or waiters and waitresses, something I have noticed is people deciding that you are now their personal slave for the next hour and a half during their meal...
One of the most VITALLY IMPORTANT qualities that you should have as a person if you decided you really want to be (have to be because you simply need the dolla) - is being able to fake a huuuuge amount of friendliness. Generally, most of the people I have ever worked with have some form of split personality, smiling at everyone one minute then either screaming profanities behind the bar (first job), scowling at the chefs (certain people in second job) or becoming extreeemely passive aggressive, or as I witnessed on my first shift in this new job, slightly directly aggressive- which to be fair I have never witnessed before in all my time of being a slave to the wage. (Placebo reference there for any fans ;))
I think you also have to be quite open, be used to having the piss taken out of you a little bit (this bit is easy really if you have a sense of humour). To be honest, I have now worked in 3 totally different types of places. Fast food chain, middle class 'posh' restraunt chain, and small local bistro. They are all different and y'know in a way, good and bad. However, lets just say that I actually have nightmares about my first job now and I quit almost six months ago.
And then, the most obvious one is enjoy being busy. I hate being bored, I worked in a nursery for like a day when I was younger and it was horrible, slow, boring. But the great thing about being a waitress, especially in a big establishment is that you are constantly doing something. So, if you have ever thought about working in a restraunt/looked down on someone because that is were they work then think again, its a bloody hard job and if you don't believe me- go try it.