Woah,
what a week end! Not a weekend, but a whole four days of fun time!
Sitting here on a sunday evening, totally exhausted, with a
stress-related headache and irritated, bloodshot eyes is totally
worth all the fun I've had the past few days!
It
started on tuursday, when I went to see The Fault In Our Stars with
my best friend Ari. I've been a nerdfighter for a few years now, and
was super excited to see the movie after reading the book all that
time ago and following the progression of the movie through John's
updates and videos. I really enjoyed it. After over an hour of not
crying, I thought I was home free, but eventually towards the end I
found myself dripping tears on to my shirt along with what seemed to
be the entirety of the theatre. I've never been in a movie screening
before where most of the audience is audibly crying, and it was a
surreal but pretty cool experience; I'm glad that the movie has moved
so many people.
 |
| Ari and myself in the 'Okay? Okay' TFIOS shirts I made for us! |
On
friday I embarked upon an adventure with my sister, as she had bought
me train tickets for my birthday so that I could visit Manchester. I
have been several times when I was younger, but I enjoyed my recent
visit much more. Seeing a big city and all of its different
communities of people, the appreciation of art and culture and the
variety of shops that cater to alternative and vintage lifestyles was
awesome to me. I hope that one day I'll be able to live in a place
like that, but even though I'm living in a small and relatively
unvaried city for the moment, it gives me hope that there are places
out there with more to offer.
I
love to travel to new places, and decided that it'd be a great
opportunity to grab my camera and do some snapping, since I've
neglected my passion for photography for way too long now. I posted
my photos to my newly created instagram account, as I finally gave in
and signed up, hoping that it would relieve some of the pressure I
put on myself when taking photographs for my Deviantart account – I
thought the random snapping would allow me to take photos in a more
casual way.
I
bought some cool stuff from Manchester, including a pair of adorable
TUK kitty shoes I've wanted for many years now but have always been
unable to find in my size. Super happy Gina go!
Another
great place that my sister was excited to show me was Affleck's. It's
basically 5 floors of varied, weird and wonderful shops, including
alternative clothing stores, American confectionery stores, vintage
and retro stores, and even a whole store dedicated solely to Totoro
items. Needless to say, I could have spent much longer in there than
I did...
After
the adventure that was friday, saturday was a bit of a rest day for
me. My roller derby training was on but I was exhausted from waking
up at 5:30 the previous morning and walking around all day, and my
anaemia was rearing it's ugly head, so I took a rain check. Instead I
spent the day in the sunshine, where I went to the Cathedral grounds
and had a picnic with my mum, went to a tea shop for a gigantic and
delicious gotta-eat-it-all-because-it's-so-good slice of fudge cake,
gardening, and writing a letter to my Australian pen-pal!
Today
(sunday) was a big day for a couple of reasons. My hair dresser
recently asked me if I would be a hair model for her as the salon
were looking to shoot some new photographs for their website. I
cautiously and half-heartedly agreed, not knowing anything about the
process or what happens at a photo shoot or, let's face it, how to
model. It wasn't just a case of expecting the unexpected however as I
suffer from social anxiety and the thought of being in front of a
large camera lens and having people scrutinise me is a thought I find
less than comforting to say the very least. The fact that I actually
managed to do this is a huge milestone and accomplishment for me, and
something I'm proud of. If I'd been asked to do this a few years ago
I don't think I'd have been able to go through with it, so just
overcoming that hurdle makes me feel great. The process itself was
quite unexpected. After finding out I was one of three models for
three different hair stylists, I had my hair washed and cut, and then
found out that the photo shoot would be taking place at the city's
university. After we got there, I had someone apply my make-up. It
was a really odd experience. I sat very awkwardly on a chair and felt
cold liquid being liberally applied to my face and wondering whether
it was foundation or something else entirely, and trying to keep my
eyes open as the make-up artist painstakingly applied mascara and
copious amounts of eye shadow. I had no idea what look they were
going for until the photo shoot itself when I got to peak at the
photographs that had been taken. I then proceeded to sit on a stool
in front of all the light boxes, trying my best to follow the
photographer's direction and hoping I didn't look too awkward, or
that my posture didn't look too sloppy, but I soon realised that
everyone was very nice and was told that I did a really good job.
Modelling
was an incredibly surreal experience. It was quite enjoyable at
times, but it certainly isn't me, and I definitely would not want to
do it for a living! I will always be the tall, awkward girl who would
rather be behind the camera than in front of it, but I'm glad to have
had the opportunity and the experience of stepping way out of my
comfort zone, because that's what makes life exciting.
 |
| I took a couple of quick snaps before I washed off the make up. It was very weird seeing myself with such heavy blush; something I never usually wear. |
So,
it's been a great week, wherein a got to see great friends and a
great movie, travel, take photographs, eat cake, enjoy the sunshine,
and try something completely foreign to me. I hope I'll have more fun
stuff to report soon, but until then, I think I'll just lie down for
a little while...
