Happy Birthday Forest!

So my Borzoi puppy Forest (Ryazan Fingal) turned 1 today! 31.4kg (69lbs) at last weigh in at 11 months. No idea how to measure the height of something that won't stand still but definitely over 30 inches tall. Hard to imagine he's gone from the sad eyed little thing with the wiggly tail below...

Smol pup!

We thought he was getting big here LOL! And so little fur. But his tail was touching the floor :D and his butt spot was basically invisible.

I has a stick! Tiny bit more fluff...

POOF! I'm fluffy now! And actually big!

Proud in the park, all curly fluff!

Can I haz biscuit? Hint: Yes he can LOL! The other day.

And now here we are, a whole year old! He's lucky to have survived really. It's surprising how small he can curl himself up, the bed was actually an Aldi find and he's lying on two pillows. Typical mind, give him a duvet and he'll destroy it in days, the pillows he's had for a while now and they're still intact, probably need a wash though... He's booked in for his big op next month. Some might reckon it's too early but one of mum's conditions of getting a male dog was that he'd have the snip ASAP. She thought that was 6 months but they've changed it to a year plus. We want to prevent any humping before it happens and we're hoping it'll dampen his hyper-focus on other dogs. Fingers crossed!

Here's to many more years!

Stef Out x

(Not so) Small Update-y Post

So just a little post between reviews to so a mini update. Work has been busy, I've been doing overtime almost every week, things have been starting to change staff-wise and routine-wise and not necessarily for the better. It sounds like things might get worse before they get better as well. I'd like to do something else but I haven't a clue what. I'm hoping to learn to drive over the summer so maybe that'll open things up a little bit more.

Things with the dog are busy as well, we ended up ordering him a crate this payday because he keeps eating the furniture while we're out, especially in the day, so it's now trying to get him used to that. I bought a new training book online last payday so we'll have to see how that goes, I just need to finish reading it first.

Photo of Forest to break things up :D

Onto the blog itself. As you may have noticed there's been a bit of a name change. With all the recent gun violence in the US 'bulletproof' felt a bit insensitive even if I did originally get it from a My Chemical Romance song. I did ask Twitter but no-one responded but it didn't matter because the new name came to me just as I was trying to go to sleep. Things are looking a bit bland at the moment because I need to make a new banner, I'm hoping to draw a little owl graphic for it when I get a chance. I haven't drawn anything since before Christmas so my drawing hand is a little rusty.

Now as for blog content as you may or may not have noticed that I've kind of abandoned my 'Song of the Week' feature. I must admit I didn't really think it through and I kind of ran out of ideas so I am going to drop it in that format. BUT I will still be doing a music feature, just not for a little while yet. I suddenly remembered the 100 Day Song Challenge, it was originally conceived on Facebook and apparently moved to it's own website here at some stage where it's up to 381 days. What I plan to do is write it out in a notebook and plot out what songs I'm going to do as far in advance as I can and then I will create the posts and then schedule them, probably for a Friday because I work all day Friday and don't go on the computer so nothing else will get in their way.

So that is my plan because I still want music to have some kind of feature on here. I will hopefully create a few wishlist posts here and there as well, not necessarily on a Wednesday though which seems to have become the norm.

Stef Out x

Mamma Mia at the Bristol Hippodrome

So last night mum and I went to see Mamma Mia at the Bristol Hippodrome. Tina, a woman at work was talking to someone about it and I overheard and she invited us along. It was tricky organising as she wanted the money for it ASAP. Luckily she was willing to wait until pay day a couple of weeks later. This was back in January or February, I can't remember now.

Originally Tina was going to give us a lift since although mum has a car she's not confident going somewhere like Bristol and she thought parking might be an issue. After a while she said she was going to have a full car and to get a lift with Jenny from work who was also going (and apparently lives near us) but when talking to her about the trip it was never brought up so we decided to get the bus since it stops right outside the Hippodrome. Eventually Jenny said she was getting the bus too and asked mum the times. Bullshit. It turned out Tina gave her a lift along with Margaret (also from work) and another woman we didn't know. A couple of other co-workers came separately (Sandra and her daughters Sherilyn and Sam and Sam's daughter).

The original plan was to meet in the pub at 7pm, mum and I got there just after (after walking down from the temporary bus stop - road works mean the bus stop right outside was unavailable) only to discover there were 2 pubs. We tried one and they weren't in there, the other it turned out was part of the Hippodrome and you can't enter without your tickets - which Tina had! Turning away from there we saw Margaret and the unknown woman, apparently they were running late and Tina was trying to find parking. Soon Sher, Sam etc turned up while Sandra parked their car. I think it was almost 20 minutes later when they finally showed and the tickets were handed out, mum and I were G13 (me) and G14 (her) which turned out to be great seats near the middle. After we had them me, mum, Jenny and Margaret nipped into the neighboring pub for a wee before we joined the queue to go in.

The layout of the Hippodrome could be a bit better, there wasn't much room between rows and the seats weren't over wide. They weren't the comfiest but they weren't the worst I've sat in either. The toilets when I went in the intermission were very awkwardly laid out too. Very narrow and the corner cubicle I was in was very small and awkward to get in. Not well-designed for the larger bodied or elderly. They could have done with more cubicles too judging by the queue - and that was with most people staying seated.

They show itself was fun. The same 2 or 3 sets gets a little boring after a while but I get that they're limited with what they can do. They did well to incorporate the scene re-arrangements into the show so that it wasn't to obtrusive. They changed some of the song orders compared to the film and added a couple in (particularly an odd scene relating to sleepwalking right after the intermission - I didn't recognise the song but Google tells me it was 'Under Attack'). There was an odd change for Bill. In the film he's Swedish Bill Anderson, on stage he's Australian Bill Austin. The guy who played Sam was very good, the one that played Harry was eerily close to Colin Firth. The guy that played Sky was a little weak in my opinion. Slightly oddly Sophie's friend Ali and Sky's friend Pepper ave done a race swap compared to the film.

Helpful links: http://www.mamma-mia.com/uk-tour/cast.php for the cast I saw and http://mrob.com/pub/music/mamma-mia.html for the basic plot and songs used and in what order.

In the intermission before going to the loo I decided to pop downstairs and check out the merchandise. The stuff was kind of pricey: posters and books £10, magnets £5, pens £3.50. I decided to buy this bag charm, it was £10 but it seemed the thing most worth the price to me. Pictured with my Charlie Bone and Last Dragon Chronicles books XD.

The show finished at about 10pm. For the last few songs after the bows, Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen and Waterloo, people were stood dancing, it was great fun and a great atmosphere. Then mum and I had to walk along to @Bristol to catch the bus home. It was about a 15 minute wait and then when we got home silly here pressed the bell a stop too early so we had further to walk home. Oops. Might be partly why my ankle hurts today. Once we got in it was about 11:30pm but as neither of us were tired mum had the mad suggestion of putting the film on XD so after all that it was about 1:40am this morning by the time we got to bed, luckily neither of us had to get up. Normally I'd be at work for 2pm (and still there now) but I had a shift change to Saturday so that's all good.

My Smear Test Experience

I've read a few posts recently on people's experiences with their smear tests as both Becky Bedbug and Oh! Leona (currently inactive) have recently linked posts from young women about how it was for them. It was actually really good timing since I had my letter in March - I'm 25 in August - and was petrified. I ended up having to re-book my appointment as nerves meant I mis-read the time and I turned up an hour late.

I finally made it last Monday and I got there early so no worries about that. But they were running slightly late so I had more time to fret. The nurse I saw, Nicola, was really nice, she showed me the equipment and talked me through everything first. The only questions she asked were whether I was on any contraception (yes, the Depo Provera injection) and had I had a period recently (sort of, I had a slimy liver lump and some very light bleeding). I was expecting all sorts of awkward questions about my sex life or lack of...

 Then I went behind the curtain to remove my leggings and underwear. When I was ready and covered with a paper sheet she came round the curtain and donned a head lamp before raising the bed and positioning my legs.

The next stage was inserting the speculum which wasn't too bad and then the worst bit, the gradual opening which was quite uncomfortable for me personally since I've never have penetrative sex. However the nurse did stop or slow down whenever I said I was uncomfortable but of course there comes a point when you've just got to grit your teeth and bear it. I was certainly glad when the speculum was open fully because by that point I was thinking it would hurt way too much to go further. I barely felt the brush due to the discomfort (general feel of pinching at the top). I was told there was blood around my cervix which may have been a mini period I was unaware of or it may have been whatever existed of my hymen breaking. Because of the blood I was told it may be considered an inadequate sample in which case I'd have to go back and have it done again.

I was told to cough to help the speculum be removed and then the bed was lowered and I was left behind the curtain to re-dress. There were panty liners if I needed them but I wear one anyway (TMI, sorry!). That was that. I needed the loo pretty much straight away and there was a little blood when I wiped and for the rest of the day I felt like my insides were going to fall out which wasn't pleasant.

I had my follow up letter yesterday and the sample was not only adequate but normal so I'm all set now until 2018.

New Years Resolutions 2015

Personal - Appearance

1. Lose a bit more weight, minimum 1 stone by moving more and eating better.
2. Get my right ear re-pierced.
3. Get my septum pierced.
4. Get both ears pierced again.
5. Start stretching bottom holes once healed.
6. Put dreadlocks in my hair once long enough - may be extended until 2016.
7. Refine my style.
8. Find a new purple hair dye - my current one isn't purple enough. Feel free to suggest, permanent colours only - less upkeep.

Personal - Other

1. Get my provisional license.
2. Learn to drive.
3. Decide a career.
4. Train for career if necessary.
5. Get a better job.
6. Help mum find a new job.
7. Write (finish!) a novel.
8. Go on a date.

Material

1. Buy new phones for mum and I.
2. Buy an external hard drive.
3. Buy a new desktop PC.
4. Buy an iPod Classic - used since they are now out of production (I hate years of bad finances).
5. Buy a Kindle.
6. Buy a laptop.
7. Upgrade the car.

Goals

1. Read at least 100 books.
2. Watch at least 100 films.
3. Finish the Gossip Girl series.
4. Read A Song of Ice and Fire.
5. Read Under the Dome.
6. Discover at least 2 new shows.
7. Discover at least 3 new bands/singers.
8. Improve my equine anatomy.
9. Improve my humans.
10. Draw a self-portrait.

Update April 2015:

A few things have been crossed off which I'm quite pleased about since we're only a few months into the year.

Update November 2015:
I've managed to cross some more things off but as we are now approaching Christmas I probably won't be able to cross off any others. The frustrating one is the weight loss one. I did manage to lose a bit but I've put it back on plus a little bit I think. *Sigh*

Christmas and Life Lately

This is going to be a long post so bear with me...

So things lately have been pretty busy. At the beginning of December I got a Christmas job at my local 99p Store, I'm still there so hopefully it's becoming permanent so I can drop the school cleaning. The hours are better, therefore equaling more money. The main downside is my boss. I just don't like him. He's been having a tough time lately in his personal life but that's no excuse for being a patronising git. Today for example I was expected to do about 7 jobs at once: put out 3 boxes of umbrellas, rearrange the batteries (didn't finish), put out filter tips (didn't even start), put up a stand for EE sim cards, move the anti-freeze, restock the deicer on the tills and serve customers in between. Phew. At least it wasn't as manic as it has been. December 22nd, 23rd and 24th I work 8am to 5pm (5:30pm for the close on the 24th) and it was so busy, especially Christmas Eve! I was absolutely knackered every day, starting to fall asleep on the sofa at 9pm. Insane. I have never done days that long in my life. The only thing that may come close is college on a late finish day when I've missed the bus but even then, over an hour each side is the bus journey which is just relaxing and reading, maybe having a light doze.

Mum's not been doing great. She's being made redundant in February when the Co-op where she works is closing down. They've been bought by Aldi but for anyone thinking she can just get a job there, wrong. They aren't planning on opening until November. Apparently if they re-open within 6 months then they have to take on the previous staff. The manager hasn't told the staff but a lot of customers are saying that they're taking over the Costcutter at the top of the hill, but then again the customers knew the shop was closing months before they told the staff. Yeah, slightly crap.

We've been having a bit of a nightmare with the Christmas decorations this year. It's always a nightmare thanks to Artex ceilings but this year more than usual. We've tried double-sided carpet tape, blu-tack (in white), the normal double sided sticky pads (must have been a bad patch), pins and wire holding tacks.

These things.

Nothing has worked and they keep falling down. There wasn't time this year but we're going to try and find some white duct tape for next year. I was going to take pictures of everything but none stayed up long enough so here's some photos from Christmas 2012:

The living room ceiling. Pretty much the same this year.

The TV in the living room, has changed for this year.

The cupboard by my desk - just visible cat treats - has changed slightly this year.

The hallway, pretty much the same this year. Excuse my reflection in my ratty old nightie.

The door phone with my owl picture. Pretty similar I think.

The cat picture, also pretty similar I think.

Our Merry Christmas sign, again pretty similar.

The reason I'm saying things are similar is because those cards stuck round things aren't necessarily in the same place each year.

Our Christmas tree this year :)

My presents this year, not shown are a bar of chocolate and some money from my aunt. The money we used for Polar Bear King, Transformers: Age of Extinction and Divergent. Polar Bear King we started watching, realised it was cheesy crap - the transformation sequence was a guy in a very bad costume - and returned it the next day. The bottom three and the book: The Shining, Two Bits and Pepper (horse film) and Gnomeo and Juliet were all from a charity shop. Harry Potter I already have but I think my copy is knackered since it didn't play properly on two different DVD players and was starting to go funny on the third when it finished. The owl hook is a set of three, two that colour, two with the foot colour as the main one. That, the two eyeliners and two of the nail varnishes were from Avon. The third one was a Glamour magazine freebie that mum decided to wrap up after accidentally duplicating the magazine.

My snowman cake that mum bought at the Co-op :D it was supposed to be for both of us but mum found the icing a bit sickly whereas I love icing! 

Scottie dog tin of shortbread from Sainsbury's! It says Scottie but I say it looks more like a Westie to me. The tin says the shortbread are Scottie shaped too but we haven't opened them yet.

Recent Outfits

Not an outfit but these were my nails before the Halloween ones. A white base from Maybelline (pictured) with a purple metallic crackle from Avon.

I wore this when we went to look at a new car. Can't remember off the top of my head where my dress is from originally but I bought it from Oxfam. It's a nice stretchy size 18. I can wear it without the jumper but mostly I prefer not to. The jumper is a men's one originally from M&S but bought from PDSA. My mum had to shorten the sleeves as they were rather long. Necklace is a cheap owl one from Amazon.

I wore this Wednesday to visit the new Portishead Sainsbury's. It's very smart and new, I got flowers for being the first female customer (not technically but I don't think the woman had the chance to give them to anyone else). There was also glasses of fizzy orange juice - potentially alcoholic - and they were giving out free bags designed by a kid at the primary school I work at which was quite nice. We did do some shopping, their hot chocolate is delicious. Bigger packets than Tesco, cheaper and Fairtrade so I think we'll switch to buying there :D Other than that it'll probably be mostly top-up shopping if we go to their petrol station. If we're in Clevedon we go to Morrisons garage so it'll all depend on where we are or where we need to be when we need petrol.

One thing that annoyed me was that I applied for a job there numerous times, even went to an interview organised by the job centre and yet I saw people there that I don't understand how they got the job. One woman's only previous work experience is as a cleaner yet she was working the tills. A man who also had his interview arranged by the job centre who - from what I've seen before - has anger issues and I'm not sure if he's worked before and possibly has issues with learning. It certainly frustrates me but I think the biggest issue is Sainsbury's online application. Last 2 jobs, most recent education, references, and then a scenario questionnaire. It isn't complete enough to get a full picture of you and your history.

Top is from PDSA (can't remember where originally), skirt is the same and trainers were from Shoe Zone.

I wore this Saturday when we went to pick up the new car :) It's a silver 2004 Ford Mondeo. It is perfect! Mum loves it, she doesn't love parking it yet XD it's rather large. Dress is from Pink Clove, shirt is from New Look via PDSA, leggings are Lidl - they're comfy but starting to wear a little thin around the seams. Trainers are Converse.

I wore this when we went to visit a family friend in Clevedon. She's been mum's best friend since they were at secondary school and she's my Godmother. We don't get to see her much because she works Mon-Sat and mum's usually working Sunday's but this Sunday mum's week off work had just started so we popped up for a chat and show her the new car. Shirt is same as yesterday, trousers are Evans via PDSA.

I wore this Tuesday (yesterday) to go shopping in Clevedon. We did a stock-up of stuff for the freezer. We're trying to have a bit more organisation and variety in what meals we have. Sorry about the quality of the photo, it was rather dark thanks to the rain outside. Top is from Evans, jeans are from an old catalogue and boots (barely visible) are from TUK.

I was back at work yesterday and I'm already kinda exhausted. Although that may be more to do with the fact that I've got a cold. Ugh. I did think it was allergies at first but I had a sore throat and a cough which don't usually go with my allergy attacks. They're usually 24-48 hours of sneezing and runny nose which comes and goes super fast.

Blogtober Day 29 - Year In Review So Far.

So far this year has been like any other with a noticeable exception. I'll do a timeline sort of thing.

January: I had been volunteering at Oxfam with mum since November and it was fine. She had been ordered by the job centre to find voluntary work, I happened to be there and got suckered into joining too. We did Saturday afternoons. The normal job centre hassles.
February: Still at Oxfam. Did a course which I hated. The tutor said some rather out of line things regarding my weight, how close I am to mum and making assumptions about my mental health.
March: Mum got her job at Co-op so we both left Oxfam. I had to do organised work experience with the job centre so I started volunteering as Sue Ryder.
April: The car failed it's MOT so we had to scrap it.
May: Nothing of note that I can remember. Interviews, job centre hassle. The usual.
June: Did a course on Business Admin. It involved an interview at the end but despite the assumption of a lot of people on the course not having previous experience lack of experience was given as one of their reasons for not hiring me. I didn't mind too much as it was zero hours contract as and when you're needed and thanks to travel I was pretty much limited to two locations.
July: Left Sue Ryder. Someone mum knows sold us a car.
August: I had my 24th birthday. The job centre started talking about threats of full-time work experience at a city farm in Bristol.which I really enjoyerd.
September: I had a taster shift at Waitrose for something called Feeding Britain's Future which I really enjoyed, seeing behind the scenes etc. My job centre adviser thought it was a proper job interview though *rollseyes*. He did get me an interview with Churchill Cleaning Services which has lead to my job at the primary school down the road. The people I work with are nice and the job itself is fine, it's just 10 hours is not enough.
October: Nothing major so far this month. I am in the process of arranging an interview for later this week and I'm currently on half term so no work. There are a couple of other things in the works which I don't want to discuss in too much detail yet.

There we have it, my year so far. Started the same as any other, voluntary work, worry that things will never change, but now I have a job and things are starting to look up a bit - finally! :D

Blogtober Day 24 - Where Do You Hope To Be In 10 Years?

1. Be in a job that I love.
2. Retrain for said job if necessary.
3. Be in a loving relationship.
4. Have moved house - possibly to one I've bought.
5. Published at least one book.
6. Made my way through at least part of my bucket list.

A short and sweet post today. Looking at the subject list I won't be back until Day 27 so I'll see you then.

Blogtober Day 20 - A Letter To Your Younger Self.

Dear 10 year old Stefanie,

You may think things are a bit rubbish at the moment, your best friend moved away, you broke up with your other best friend, you're scared about Secondary School but don't worry.

You will make good friends in the future and eventually in the years to come one of them will be your girlfriend. Yep, you're gay. Really you/we are a bit of an idiot not to have figured it out sooner what with liking unavailable guys and being friends with the weird guys - believe me they are weird, but also kinda awesome. One guy you never thought you'd be friends with because he's *gasp* disabled but you are totally compatible and even have a crush on the same actress from Home and Away - Tammin Sursok. We spend hours Googling pictures of her in a bikini rather than doing our Travel and Tourism coursework - hence why we fail XD

Tammin Sursok

School is generally a bit rubbish. You have a few issues with bullies. One of those is actually your 'friend'. She's a manipulative bitch. The other girl in the trio you're still friends with, she's alright and mum likes her. Your mum has very good instincts regarding your friends, you should listen to her. The saddest thing about the bullying is that you miss a lot of school, get behind and fail some exams meaning everything is delayed by 2 years while you pass them. You wanted to do A-Levels and then go on to do more at college and maybe even University. As it turns out you manage no A-Levels and only a year at college and you're still bitter and annoyed about it. You could have been doing so much more. *Sigh* that's the way it is sometimes.

Despite your fears about it you are never bullied for being gay although that rumour about your mum is slightly gross, weird and frustrating. It's always been the fat. You're still fat but it's not a big deal anymore. Overall what I'm trying to say is you end up feeling better about a lot of stuff. Sure life didn't turn out how you expected but it's not necessarily bad, just difficult sometimes. You aren't suicidal anymore - yeah that happened around age 14/15? The thoughts do pop up occasionally but you are stronger and you deal with it better.

Keep your chin up kid.

Sincerely,

24 year old Stefanie

Blogtober Day 18 - Favourite TV Programmes.

For this post I thought it would just be easier to compile a pictorial list of cast photos. I'm sorry for some being out of date. In NCIS Ziva has left to be replaced by Eleanor. In Criminal Minds Alex has left to be replaced by Kate (newest series). In Grey's Anatomy Mark and Lexie were killed and Teddy left obviously replaced by the latest interns. NCIS: Los Angeles is incomplete excluding Eric, Nell and Hettie. Hawaii Five-0 is missing Jerry, Lou and Catherine though Catherine is absent for series 5. Witches of East End doesn't feature Dash, Killian or Frederick. Grimm's poster is an almost complete cast, only missing Adalind but the situation with Juliette has been solved.

Obviously this is an incomplete list of what I watch but this post is rather long as it is without adding others.

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Blogtober Day 17 (Late) - Your Favourite Films.

So I did decide to have a list of 5 but to showcase my favourites properly it's turned into 7.

Labyrinth

My favourite for many years. I love the music, the characters, the story, everything. The technology for the year was amazing, I've watched the behind the scenes stuff on my DVD and everything is so meticulous!

Frozen

Yup I'm well and truly on the bandwagon. I've watched this more in the short space of time I've owned it (within days of release, a rarity for me) than I've watched other Disney films I own e.g. Aladdin despite them being so much older. Everything gets to me. I'm teary at the intro music, I'm teary at 'Let It Go', I'm teary at the finale. So many tears and I never cry! I love it's story and it's message - it's not perfect by far, there needs to be more female roles (2 named females vs at least 5 males), the anatomy needs to be more real and there wasn't enough time dedicated to the parents, their mother in particular was very flat. BUT I love that it focused on siblings rather than boyfriends, they mocked the 'marrying men you've just met' storyline, Hans' direction surprises me everytime and they feature active consent with the kiss at the end!

Harry Potter Series

I can't believe I almost forgot Harry Potter! A book and film series I've grown up with being almost the same age as the actors. I'm 24, Dan's 25, Rupert's 26 and Emma's 24. The first book was released in June 1997, 2 months before I turned 7, the first film in November 2001 when I was 11. It's such a solid part of my history. I re-read the books and re-watch the films at least once and year and my books need replacing as they're falling apart. I can imagine the earlier films needing replacing soon as well due to skipping.

Avatar

I don't care about it's similarities to Pocahontas or Dances With Wolves or whatever, almost every film in existence can be compared to another if you try hard enough. I love the design of the movie, everything is so detailed, I love the characters, they're all well-rounded and the women are bad-ass as fuck! The main thing I love is that the love story develops naturally over what appears to be several months, Neytiri hates Jake at first because he's 'fake' but she ends up saving his human life when he's in danger and that really touched me as a sign of how much she loves him. Jake is also respectful and wants to learn their ways despite his orders. I can't wait for them to hurry up with the sequels!

Final Destination Series

I love this series! The gore, the unrealistic nature of some of the deaths, it's brilliant! I also think what they did with the 5th film was genius! I like my horror gory rather than suspenseful, hence why I love this and the Saw series but couldn't even sit through 10 minutes of Paranormal Activity (that and I detest found footage films).

The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies

I was never a big middle earth fan when I was young. I never even heard of them until I was older and they announced the films, I don't remember what I thought then but I do remember I bought a film tie-in set of The Lord of the Rings trilogy which I tried reading but I could never finish the first book for some reason. I think I had some kind of mental block. Still I watched the trailers of The Fellowship of the Ring and thought it looked interesting so I watched it and the fantasy and drama of it all had me hooked! Move forward several years and they announced the Hobbit so I decided to give it a read and enjoyed it. I am now really enjoying the Hobbit films and will be sad to see it over (even if they are relying on the CGI a little bit much this time around) and I am finally reading the books and have made it to the third book - even if it is taking a while.

The X-Men Series

I'll tell you something: I have never read a comic book in my life. Before these films (and any other superhero films) I have no idea about who the characters are unless I Google or Wikipedia it. This doesn't bother me. I still love superhero films. I've seen all the X-Men ones apart from The Wolverine, the original Spiderman trilogy, the first two Dark Knight films, both Fantastic 4 films, the first Iron Man and I watch Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Arrow on TV and just started Gotham. Now I am by no means a die-hard fan, obviously there's a lot I'm missing: Thor, Captain America, Superman, the new Spiderman but that doesn't bother me, the ones I want to watch I will get around to eventually.

Blogtober Day 12 - What Are You Reading?

I am currently finally working my way through The Lord of the Rings. I had the trilogy for years and even almost finished the first book. I struggled with the second half for some reason. Then volunteering at a charity shop I saw the below 7 book set (apparently that was the way it was intended), the first book had been deemed too scruffy by my manager and had been chucked into the recycling bag, I saw it and asked if I could buy them and she let me have them for £1. Best bargain ever! I am on book 5 also known as The Return of the King part one.

Also because I am terrible for reading too many books at once I am also reading the Silver Sequence by Cliff McNish since I finally bought books 1 and 3 used off of Amazon. I am currently on book 2 - Silver City. As a side note this image is the wrong order it actually goes: The Silver Child, Silver City, Silver World.

I am also reading through the Gossip Girl books, I'm currently on book 8 Nothing Can Keep Us Together.