If you live in the England, like I do, you will understand that we are the most GEOGRAPHICALLY BORING COUNTRY TO EVER EXIST, and so when something even slightly unusual to do with the weather happens, we go crazy over it. Hence the excitement over the snow (although now it's just turned into gross grey slush or,worse, questionably yellow slush).
But how are you guys? I'm still sniffely and disgusting from my mega-cold but I'm getting better. Have any of you guys been ill over the winter? If you have, I pity you. Just remember to wear lots of layers until it gets warmer. At the moment, I'm preferring to exist in my big fluffy over sized jumper that I got for Christmas (thanks Mum), my favourite pair of jeans that have pretty much molded to my legs by now, my big chunky boots and this awesome long grey coat I got from H&M.
*cough* *sneeze* *wipes nose unattractively on sleeve* *uses whole box of kleenex* *groans about being cold* *wheezes*
Hey there. I'm sick.
But look on the bright side, I got a replacement laptop! YESSSSS! My last one kinda kicked the bucket so I'm in the process of getting all my old files and putting them on this computer. But I'm sooooo happy that I have a laptop again. I've hated not being able to blog but now, for the most part, I can get back into the swing of things.
Oh, and before I sign off, I hope you all had a great holiday season, whether you celebrate Christmas or not!
Again, I'm sorry for the irritating hiatus. I really AM trying to make do without my laptop , but its super annoying without all of the masses of files that I so heavily rely on. Aghhhhhhh
I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and an awesome new year! I love you all and am soooo grateful for all the lovely support I've had this year.
(I know no one likes these bits. The 'journey' bit. The bit where you say "its been a rollercoaster journey. I'm so grateful bla bla bla bla bla" But y'know its kinda necessary sometimes. )
I am so incredibly sorry that I haven't put up any posts this week. My laptop had a complete meltdown and I am trying really hard to get it fixed. Aggghhh! Can't trust any technology these days!
But anyway, last week I went to Clothes Show Live and HOLY BEYONCE IT WAS SO AMAZING. Words cannot describe how awesome it was. There was so much glitter, sparkly stuff and wicked dancing. I felt like it was more a Broadway musical than a clothes show.
I think I took about 200 pictures in total and a lot sucked (newsflash: taking pictures of rapidly moving people is hard), so these are the final few. I have to say, I am very happy with them! Most of the credit must go to my fab zoom lens and my seat though. We went to one of the early shows and not enough people had booked for the front row SO GUESS WHAT!! I got moved to the front! YAY!
My little feet are only beginning to thaw from the freezing gale force wind outside. HIIISSSSS to winter weather.
So I went to Ireland this weekend to see my lovely relatives and to see my little baby cousin get christened (totally adorable, I swear.) It was really nice to go out with my camera and take some shots of the gorgeous, rural scenery while I could, although I had to be honest, my hands were literally blue by the end. I think it was worth it though.
Oh, and just a tip if you are going to Ireland any time soon and you are also a veggie like me, beware of the non existent vegetarian options! It really isn't fun eating just carrots while everyone is eating a full meal... (but I did get to drink half of Ireland's supply of green tea so that's my payback)
When Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown on August 9th, I didn't know what to say. My first immediate thoughts were:
"How is Michael's family coping?" and "Did anyone else die?"
It did not occur to me that Wilson would not receive punishment for his crime. What he did was murder, wasn't it? That's illegal right? I mean, if you can go to prison for, say, robbing a shop, then you will go to prison for killing another person. That's justice isn't it? It has been for centuries and it should still be now.
Apparently not, it seems.
Wilson has not been sentenced, as the Grand Jury decided that he did not deserve it. This sparked me as not only immensely screwed up, but it also alerted me that something must be terribly wrong with the "justice" system if an officer is allowed to kill a man and be able to walk away scott free. What is Brown's family meant to take away from that? That their son was not worth anything? That he didn't matter?
This is what Darren Wilson said on the matter:
I want to make it known that I am not saying what Wilson is saying is all lies. I am saying that the events he is saying sound very strange and improbable.
So lets do a recap.
One of the notable things Wilson says is that Brown was "very large" and like "Hulk Hogan", which the interviewer responded with "you're a pretty big guy" and Wilson replied with "I'm above average".
mike brown and hulk hogan
So let me get this straight, an unarmed 18 year old man made a 28 year old, trained police officer feel scared to death?
The next thing Wilson says is that he wonders 'how would he survive this situation?' A dead kid is lying in a grave with a devastated family and you are saying that you were concerned with how you would survive?! He was a kid! I do NOT see how you, are a grown man, could possibly be that terrified of a weaponless boy while you are sitting in a police car with a gun holstered to your hip!
After that he states that it was "his duty" to give chase to a Brown while he was running away after Wilson has tried to shoot him several times(!) Eyewitness' say that when Brown stopped running, he put his hands up and said "don't shoot!". Wilson says that Brown began charging at him, at the policeman with a gun, with his hand in his pocket. And when Wilson shot him another few times, apparently Brown kept running at him.
Wait.
What?
You shot him. And he kept... running?
Is that even possible?
Did Brown turn into some of superhero while you were trying to kill him?
The next thing Wilson says is that he shoots Brown right in the head while he himself had never shot a gun before that day. Really? You got a head-shot after you shot a gun a few times? That's...very improbable... especially if your hand was shaking with fear since you was apparently "fearing for your life".
Right now there's protests all around the country. The slogan 'Black lives matter' has become a prominent phrase and Brown has become a huge martyr for the protesters.
But he is not the only one to lose his life. Others include:
John Crawford
Kimani Grey
Sean Bell
and Trayvon Martin
And y'know what the most horrific thing about all of this is? It's that in the end, it boils down to racism. People with black heritage feel scared for their families, well, because of their black heritage. ProPublica recently did an in-depth analysis and found that black kids between ages 15-19 are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by cops than white kids of the same age. That’s an insane statistic. That’s per capita, not total. If you are a black teenage boy, you have a 21x higher risk of being shot by police than a white teenage boy.
What are we meant to make of that?
Well, firstly, we need to educate people. Tell them that cops are people too and they may not always do their job like they should. We also need to take police brutality far more seriously. It SHOULD NOT be allowed that a police officer be able to kill a kid and receive no punishment. Mike Brown's murder case should be reopened and examined and then Darren Wilson's sentence should be decided from there. He must got to prison, but for how long, I can't estimate.
And next, the issue of guns. I would love for someone to enlighten me on why guns are such wonderful and amazing inventions and why people should be able to have them. Because do you know what they have done for us as a species?
Killed people and animals.
That's it.
I do not believe that police officers should have free reign to them and if they must, for the love of god, train them, and train them safely!
But I want to end this on a positive note. Mike Brown's family have said that message above.
They are such wonderful, compassionate people and the trauma the must have suffered must be immense. I am so happy that they want to keep the protests peaceful, in the way of Martin Luther King JR. They did not deserve what happened to them and they way they are handling the issue is beautiful and kind.
My thoughts are with them and their suffering.
So please, if you are truly in support of their cause, spread the word. I'm sorry if this is such along post but there is a lot to be said for this devastating time.
I love the forest green hues and rustic knits in this. I am really liking that style this season. Gives me Winter-y shivers down my freezing spine.
I think my favourite pieces would totally be the skirt and the jacket. The jacket is seriously cool and effortlessly chic and the skirt has a gorgeous french design that almost looks like art on fabric. Its beautiful really...
*ahem*
I think I might have just turned into a proper blogger for a second...
It wasn't hard for me to switch into Winter mode. I'm already there. I mean, there's been freakin' Christmas stuff in stores for weeks now, and John Lewis have already put out their famous adorable advert (which to be honest is definitely rivalled by Sainsbury's.) And my friends have rediscovered their Christmas playlists and are taunting me with that Band-Aid song.
*sigh*
But on the bright side, SNOW, FAIRY LIGHTS, HAVING HOT CHOCOLATE AND NO ONE JUDGING YOU! All wonderful perks that should get a mention. The upsides of Winter never cease to amaze. I can now expect my class to freak out when they see a single snowflake and declare it a "snow day" (with, of course, their faces smushed against the window pane). And the lovely Costa/Starbucks special Christmas drinks that I, without fail, always ask for with extra cinnamon. Mmm cinnamon...
Oh and yes, the most important one. I now have the god given right to justly say:
I forgot to mention, but my birthday was a few weeks ago and practically all my relatives decided to contribute to what's known as my 'camera fund'. Basically my camera fund is an amount of money, well... dedicated to buying my own camera.
You see, for years I've been borrowing my mums frankly, fantastic DSLR but I'm not allowed to take it to my Dad's. The problem with is that my Dad is an amazing photographer (check out his flickr, his macro shots are incredible) and I'd love for him to give me some proper lessons, so I don't just have to learn off youtube videos or articles on the Digital Photography School website.
I think you can guess what happened next...
So I got my own camera!!! I am so ridiculously happy and it's by far, one of the nicest things I own. Its a Sony HX300 Bridge Camera and it is BEAUTIFUL.
