Author: Courtney Shek

Halloween 2018!

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Halloween has been one of those holidays for me that has always been hit or miss.

As you grow up, you enjoy it because you get to dress up and go asking strangers for sweets. But then you hit that middle teenage phase where the last thing you wanna do is dress up or even go out trick or treating because you realise lots of people pretend not to be home so they don’t have to deal with you.

Though the doom and gloom don’t last that long because then you’re 18, going to university and once again excited to be dressing up to go out for one night and party. Any excuse to drink for students is a good one, especially Halloween.

So now that I have reached that phase once more where I get excited to dress up and go out for Halloween, the panic of who/what to be arises.

I kind of settled on not dressing up at all at first, I thought with final year and everything I would be too busy to go out, and party so I never really thought about a costume. That, and I had already made plans to go to a drag show, so I guess I didn’t really need a costume.

But I thought it would be fun to dress up anyway, especially because I was going to be getting meet and greet which meant a photo.

While I wanted a great costume, I was also on a budget because let’s be real, student life with no job means limited money to be spending. So I couldn’t spend a lot of money. I also didn’t want to go as something that would be common because I wanted to stand out.

After searching on Amazon and looking in pop-up Halloween stores I came up empty. But I had the idea in the back of my head that I should be Ash from Pokémon.

Why? I don’t really know.

I guess because it would be easy to pull off because the costume is simple but it’s also nerdy enough that I would probably stand out. I also own some Pokémon badges because my boyfriend bought them for me for my birthday a couple of years ago and I never get to show them off so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

And so, I ordered a hat from Amazon and borrowed my brother’s jacket my mum made him as he was Ash for Halloween a few years ago and low and behold, I became the very best like no one ever was.

I actually really enjoyed dressing up as Ash. I think it was fun and also I was easily identifiable. That being said I wish I didn’t decide so last minute so I had a chance to get a jacket that fit properly and really perfect my costume. But I still had fun.

My drag show on Halloween was also amazing, I went to see Monet X Change perform and she’s so fabulous. I think I enjoyed her show a lot because of how she interacts with the audience. She was one of my favourites of season 10.

Unfortunately, my meet and greet photo doesn’t look great so I’m not gonna share it here. Though Monet did appreciate my costume which was cool. I was worried she wouldn’t know who I was lol. But all was well.

I think in the future I will try to plan Halloween better. Have plans and a good costume in mind. That way, I don’t have to be scrambling to put something together last minute.

But Halloween is over for another year which means I have about 11 months before I even have to think about dressing up again. So I have some time.

Feel free to leave costume suggestions below, maybe I can use them to give me ideas for next year!

~ Courtney x

Currently Watching: October 2018

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

2018-09-07_1847

This blog post is coming a lot later than intended, it’s something I have been meaning to do for ages but I’ve just been super busy with uni work. Which is going to be my main focus for the next few months but in between class and assignments, I like to take a break and watch some TV. So here are all the things I have been watching in October!

gilmore-girls-wallpapers-31573-3615852

We are starting off with Gilmore Girls once more. I didn’t really watch a lot of the show last month, but this month I have had it on basically non-stop. It’s such a good show for autumn, an easy watch and just one of those shows you wanna curl up in bed and watch all day. So that’s basically what I’ve been doing.

I haven’t given up on my quest of watching Vampire Diaries and then the Originals, but it has definitely been put on hold for a while. I think I was overwatching Vampire Diaries last month and so I wanted to take a bit of a break before I dived in again. I left off watching about halfway through season 4, which means I should be moving onto the Originals very soon.

logo.jpg

This month, I have also been watching a lot of Chopped. It’s really random but the only cooking competition I like to watch. Don’t even know how I got hooked on this show, I think it was on randomly on Food Network one day…so I watched and now every so often I go through periods where I watch it non-stop. And I guess October is one of those periods. I probably won’t watch it again for months now haha.

81iqe82Xh4L._RI_.jpg

The new season of Riverdale has officially started and I am not sure how to feel about it. I feel like I have to continue watching this show because I’ve watched the first two seasons and feel like I’m invested. Even though the storylines are crazy and I don’t even really like the mystery that much. I mean, this whole cult thing they’re trying to do is cute but I’m not excited about it.

I think I just need to take a break from watching teen mystery shows, Pretty Little Liars disappointed me greatly and now I feel like any other show with the same vibe will do the same. But like I said, I’ve started watching it now, so I want to see it through until the end. Plus, KJ Apa is real cute.

cw_dynasty-cast-photo.png

The new season of Dynasty has also started and unlike with Riverdale, I’m actually super excited about this show. I love it so much, and Elizabeth Gillies is bae. I’m a little mad that they killed off one of the main characters but with what happened at the end of the first season, there was no way that everyone was going to survive unscathed.

There have only been a few episodes so far, but I’m always eagerly waiting for the next one.

htgawm

The last show that I am watching this month, and actually, the one I just got caught up on yesterday is How To Get Away With Murder. I started watching this one last year on Netflix and was hooked ever since.

The beginning episodes of every season of HTGAWM always draw me in straight away. They always have the same format of showing you flashes of the night of a murder and then showing you the events that lead up to that point. And I fall into the trap of obsessing over it every time. It’s so good.

Unlike other mystery shows that I watch, this one has a proper timeline and makes more sense than most! That being said I feel like last season got a bit far-fetched. Which is saying something because it is already a crazy far-fetched show. But I suppose they have to keep pushing the bar to get people to keep watching. But I’m all for it if it means more Annalise Keating.

And so those are all the shows that I am watching this month! I imagine in the next few months the shows I watch won’t change very much now I have shows that are still airing regularly, but you never know. I gotta find something to watch when my shows go on Christmas hiatus. So, I’ll keep you posted. And if you have any suggestions for shows then let me know!

~ Courtney x

Back to Uni!

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again.

I have officially started my final year of university and I can already tell it’s going to be a busy one.

It’s only been a couple of weeks but I already feel like I am so behind on notes and extra reading, not to mention looming deadlines for assignments and starting my final year project.

It’s very intimidating.

As with the past years when starting uni, I guess it’s about taking it one day at a time. But also, working on your time management right out of the gate.

I always seem to struggle a little bit with time management during the year, mainly because when it comes to making plans and having a social life, these things always seem to happen last minute. Which means that studying sometimes takes a backseat so I can see my friends.

It’s not the end of the world to take a break from studying to see your friends but it’s making sure that you still keep up with the workload even when you slack off a little.

Again, something I am still working on but I think I’ll get the hang of it.

Sometimes it’s about sacrifice, and I can already see myself sacrificing a lot of things to make sure I do my best this year at university.

But it’s not all bad.

I get to spend time with my uni friends again which is nice after not seeing them for a year while we were out on placement. We aren’t the best at keeping in touch but I hope we do after we graduate.

I’m kept busy. Which I enjoy. Even though I complain about the work, it’s not the worst thing in the world. I like to be kept busy and have things to do instead of sitting around all day feeling useless.

I’ve started demonstrating which is something I’m enjoying because it helps me learn and also means I am helping others.

And obviously, the main thing is that I’m getting closer and closer to graduating. Which means that all the hard work will be worth it in the end to get the degree.

So while this year will be hard and stressful, I’m trying to remain optimistic about it. I know I’ll make it out the other side. It’ll just take a long time and commitment. But I’ve made it 3/4s of the way through so I’m sure I can tackle this last 1/4.

I just hope I can keep up blogging, YouTube and other hobbies in between!

~ Courtney x

Jasmine’s Birthday Surprise Weekend | 28th – 30th September 2018

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

One night at TGI’s my friends and I were having dinner and we decided to surprise our friend Jasmine for her birthday. She goes to university in England, and we haven’t been able to spend much time with her since she’s started her course. So we thought it would be great to all go over for her birthday, especially because it was around the start of the new university semester so we weren’t very busy.

However, my friends and I had only decided to do this a couple of weeks before her birthday, which meant we were going to have to work hard to pull it off. Luckily, things came together for us quite quickly, which is a miracle because we are the type of people who can’t make decisions on things to save our lives. But within a couple of days we had flights, buses/trains booked, an air bnb and Jasmine’s boyfriend’s sister on board to help us with the surprise from Jasmine’s end. We wanted to tell Chris, Jasmine’s boyfriend, but we knew he couldn’t keep a secret, so his sister was the safer bet.

In the end though, Chris kind of caught onto something, which was lucky he knew because on the day we all arrived in Chelmsford, Chris and Jasmine were in town and Megan was coming out of the train station…Our cover was almost blown! Luckily, Jasmine didn’t see her, but Chris did. If he didn’t know there was something going on he probably would have told Jasmine and again, all our planning would have gone down the drain.

But we were saved by Chris, and so we were able to get to our air bnb and set up and Jasmine ended up being surprised!

It was a super fun weekend and I was so excited to vlog it because I knew it was going to be one of those things I wanted to document and keep forever. So if you wanna see what we got up to then check out the video above!

Overall, it was a really great experience and it also showed me what my friends and I can do when we actually make decisions and get organised – that being said, I don’t see us doing anything like this again for a long, long time lol

~ Courtney x

The All Ireland Pole Dance Championships 2018

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I started pole dancing in January and since then I have always wanted to go to a pole dancing competition. It’s one of those things like cheerleading, where you wonder what a competition is like because you don’t really see it as a competitive sport.

So when the time came to get tickets for the All Ireland competition I decided it was time to find out what it was all about.

First of all, it’s a long competition. I feel like this is something that’s not talked about. Depending on the number of people performing in the categories it can go on for a long time. I was at this competition for roughly six hours. Yeah. Insane. I originally thought it was a couple of hours kind of thing. But no.

I didn’t have a problem with the competition being long, but I would have liked to know roughly because I would have planned accordingly and brought snacks or something lol.

Second, the performances are incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean I know what people normally think of pole dancing but this is next level. And as someone who is new to the pole world, I appreciate the performance even more because I know the work and strength it takes to even get to a level where you can perform a routine like that.

I applaud anyone who has the confidence to compete like that because it’s amazing. I was awed by every single person that performed, their techniques and elegance. It’s definitely something I would recommend seeing.

And finally, would I ever do it?

Probably not. I have only been doing pole for a little less than a year and I am definitely nowhere near confident enough in my skills. That, and seeing the amateur category at the competition made me feel like I knew nothing about pole.

I think it would be really fun to perform though, even just when we do dance routines and things in class it gives me confidence and makes me feel sexy. So I think it would be fun to do routines…but probably within the privacy and safety of my own pole class lol.

But I guess we see what happens, maybe in a few years I’ll keep up the hard work and be competing before you know it! 😛

Until then, I’m just content with going to class and leaving the performing/competing to the professionals 🙂

~ Courtney x

Solitaire by Alice Oseman Review

~ Courtney Shek ~ 1 Comment

I picked this book up a few years ago when I was out with friends because I read the blurb and thought “hey that sounds like me”. Nothing draws you into a book more than it being relatable to you.

This book definitely brought back memories of school. And with the writing style and the short chapters, it made for an easy read.

It was something very different to other books I normally go for, but I enjoyed it all the same. I think the characters were interesting and I was constantly wanting to know more about Michael Holden, the mysterious new guy at school.

I rolled my eyes when I saw the cover of the book though and it was all “this is not a love story“. But it’s not, I think they made that very clear when one of the characters starts this blog and all these pranks just because he thinks he’s in love with someone. It’s just a bit much, and Tori definitely does not swoon and fall into his arms and think he’s the love of her life.

So it’s not a love story.

But that doesn’t mean that love did not come out of this story. As in, Tori and Michael. I kind of called it as soon as I started reading the book because I still believed somewhere in there, there was a love story. So of course, two people who seem like outcasts find their way to each other. I didn’t want it if I’m honest. I just wanted them to be friends.

Aside from that, I did like it. It’s relatable and it’s got some mystery to it. This whole idea of a mysterious blog pulling pranks on the school… It makes me think of other dramas that I like with anonymous characters. Though I gotta say the reveal wasn’t too shocking, I also think it was kind of insane. Especially to think that doing something like that would make someone fall in love with you…but sure that happens in books like this. The person that does the damage always has some motive that sounds crazy.

I also think I was more interested in Tori’s brother and his issues than most others. I think the way it was described was well done and I just wanted to know more.

Then to end it all there was the lesson of the book. The idea that instead of waiting for change to happen you need to get out there and do something about yourself. This comes through Tori’s own realisation of the lesson as she tries to stop Solitaire’s actions. It was fine, I mean I guess it is something you learn when you are around that age, at school and everything is shit and you blame everything in the universe except yourself. Obviously, you can’t control everything in your life that is horrible but there are some things you can change and take action on.

And so, overall I think it was a good read. Something very different to what I’m used to but I liked the writing style. I felt like it was relatable, and will be relatable to a lot of young people who are in secondary school, though that might have something to do with the author being 18/19 when she wrote it. Still, that doesn’t take away from the fact it’s a good story with developed characters.

I give this book 4/5 stars. If you want to know what I’m reading next be sure to follow me on Goodreads! I gave myself the challenge of reading 12 books in 2018 and I’ve just finished book 10/12! Now there’s no time to waste, onto book 11/12.

~ Courtney x

Animal Crossing Switch Predictions

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Animal-Crossing-Switch-1017320.jpg

Now that Nintendo has FINALLY confirmed an Animal Crossing Switch game, I thought I would share some things that I hope/predict will be in the game.

1. Integration with the Mobile App

Animal-Crossing-Pocket-Camp_0.jpg

This is something that will most likely be in the game, I don’t know how it would work exactly but something tells me it will be a thing. I would love if they somehow connected the mobile campsite to a Switch campsite.

I thought the addition of the campsite in the New Leaf game was super cute, and if it was a reason to keep Harvey around in the game then I would be all for it.

I also think that because they are doing some kind of integration with Pokemon Go and Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee that they would also want that for Animal Crossing. Nintendo want to keep their mobile players as well as entice them to get a Switch, so having the mobile version and the console version work together in some way would probably be some kind of advantage to them.

2. Bigger Towns!

TownMapNL

With the Switch, I expect nothing more than a bigger town. The towns we get in the game are usually quite big but it’s nice to have more space, more space to put public work projects, more space for more villagers, just more space for everything…

I would also love if the beach area was expanded so we could have more things there, I’m not sure what things but I think it’s nice to have a bigger beach area to wander around.

Something else that would be great as well is a bigger town plaza and shopping area. Personally, I find the town plaza can be a little small for events with Isabelle standing around and Redd and his stall. So it would be cool to have maybe a bigger plaza area.

As for the shopping area, I loved the way they did it in New Leaf, and visiting the City in Animal Crossing: Let’s Go To The City was fun but there’s no harm in making it bigger…

3. Bring Constellations Back!

Meteor Shower.jpg

Something we don’t get to do in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is add constellations to the sky. While this is not something I usually did it was still a nice touch to the game and I know people miss it.

That being said I do really love the sky in Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It was one of my favourites.

4. More Holidays!

Viva Festivale (5).JPG

This is something I hope for every time there’s a new Animal Crossing game. I love special events in the game and they are always great to play alone or with friends.

I know some regions get more holidays than others but I think it would be cool if you could celebrate all holidays everywhere. Just so you can get some cool items and maybe learn a bit more about a country’s culture.

It would also be if we could make a few of our own holidays, like you can with Sims 4 Seasons, but I think that’s just me being too hopeful haha. Though I think it would be cool if you could choose what kind of celebration you had on your anniversary of becoming mayor.

5. Still the Mayor?

HNI_0005

I assume with this new game we will still be the mayor, I feel like the game will have the same basis as New Leaf but will just a lot more features. I don’t want a complete rehash of the previous game but things like being mayor would be nice to do.

I would also love if we got more tasks to do while being mayor, I think it was interesting how before you could really do anything in town you had a checklist to complete when you first start the game and I like that kind of thing.

I’m not saying Animal Crossing should be an entirely task-based game like some but every so often a request given to you because you are the mayor would be nice.

6. Happy Home Designer Interior Design

share_icon.jpg

It might be safe to assume that for the Switch game they are going to change the way you design the inside of your house, using the features of Happy Home Designer. I think this is something they actually did add to the New Leaf version of the game so why not make it a thing on the Switch? It’s a lot easier than walking around the whole of your house to move a bit of furniture.

7. Customise Your Character!

images.jpg

I would be seriously surprised if this new Animal Crossing game did not let us customise our character. What I mean by that, is being able to change the skin tone of your character and what their face looks like.

In previous Animal Crossing games, you didn’t get to decide what you’re character looked like, it was chosen based on some questions you answered in the beginning. But since the addition of Happy Home Designer, we have been able to choose what our character looks like as well as their skin tone. So I hope this is something we can do in the new game.

Especially because I have been using the same Animal Crossing character for as long as I can remember so it would be great if I could just create them in the beginning rather than having to use an online face guide.

8. More Stuff!

I guess to end this blog post, I should say we just want more stuff. More of everything.

More items, more holidays, more clothes, more fruit, more collectables…the list goes on.

One of the things I love about the Animal Crossing series is that the basic game will always be the same, and all we want is for it to be improved upon and made the best it can be.

I feel like there were more things I could have added to this list but those are all the ones that I can think of for now.

I’m excited to find out more about the game as time goes on. I am hoping for a summer game release like they did with New Leaf, I think it would be a good time to release the game just because they have a lot happening in town in terms of bugs/fish and the fireworks shows. Plus it means not having to wait almost a whole year for it to be released. The earlier it’s released in 2019 the better!

Until then, I think I will just have to be content with the other Animal Crossing games we have so far…

~ Courtney x