30 Things I Did In June

July 8, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

This month was definitely a busy one. That’s why I thought that I would finally be able to post one of these and say I didn’t struggle to get 30 things but even when a lot of things go down in a month, I still seem to struggle. I got to about 20 and then I was stumped.
That being said I think this might be the end of these type of blog posts. Which is kind of sad because I wanted to keep doing them to see it through to the end of the year. But at the same time, I want to do a bit of redesign on the blog. Every so often I get these bursts of inspiration for things like writing and it makes me want to drop everything and start fresh.
But instead of deleting yet another blog, I have decided to just change this one. I have now had this blog for about 3 years and I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment so I want to keep it going, but change up the style. Hopefully this means that I will post more often but I have no idea. Let’s just see where it goes.
Anyway, for the last time, here are 30 things I did in June:

Played a lot of Sims 4 with the new Parenthood game pack. It’s just so great. I haven’t been this excited about a game pack since Dine Out was released last year.
Got annoyed at the bugs that came with the new Sims game pack. With every new addition of course things aren’t going to run perfectly but still, experiencing bugs aren’t great.
Enjoyed seeing the return of Nashville. It was on a super long hiatus and I almost forgot about it. But it’s back and it’s fabulous.
Got sucked into playing Stardew Valley after my brother bought it for me as a birthday present. I resisted for a while because I didn’t think it would be my thing, it is heavily based on Harvest Moon and the one Harvest Moon game I played, I didn’t like. But I have been really enjoying Stardew Valley.
Played through my first year in Stardew Valley. Kind of sad that during winter we can’t actually plant any crops. Makes for a very long month.
Attended my third hackathon. We threw together a team last minute and powered through from 4 p.m to 4 a.m. Definitely a challenge but I had a lot of fun. We didn’t win but we did come close, another team just had a better idea.
Went to England to visit my friend Jasmine at university. I flew on a plane by myself for the first time and I survived so I think that’s pretty great. It was also great to see Jasmine again.
Had Stardew Valley withdrawals when in England. I missed the farm life.
When in England, at the amusements the ticket prize people were super nice and one of them gave us a free wonder woman bobble head haha. It was worth 2000 tickets but we got it for free.
Died in the heat in England. So much warmer than I’m used to and trying to sleep was next to impossible. How people wear jeans in that weather I will never know.
Crashed a 7 year old’s birthday party with Jasmine. She was invited by her boyfriend’s family but we literally knew no one else there haha. Still had fun though.
Played Overcooked with Jasmine and her boyfriend’s family. I really liked the game and decided to buy it when I came home from England. It’s definitely not as fun to play by yourself but it is twice the challenge haha. Definitely something to play with friends and family.
Celebrated my 20th birthday. I made last minute plans when coming back from England so basically no one was available because they are all working. Such is the struggle when all your friends are growing up but I still had a good time.
Went to the ballet for the first time with one of my best friends. She had to review it for a magazine and got a plus one and who was I to turn down such an offer? It was interesting and I enjoyed it as my first ballet.
Went to Dublin with my boyfriend for the weekend as a birthday surprise. He’s so cute. I love him.
Celebrated pride in Dublin. It was my first time ever going to a pride parade and I loved every second of it.
Got rejected entry from a bar in Dublin as you had to be 21. It was kind of a bummer because it wasn’t something I was expecting but we found somewhere else to go.
I was sad that another year went by that I was not able to attend Vidcon LA. I will one day though.
Freaked at the PLL finale. 7 years of my life and it’s over. It’s just kind of hard to believe. I mean the finale lacked in some areas for sure but I am content enough with the finale to let the show go. Hopefully the show I find to replace it is just as good.
Made a lot of Pretty Little Liars videos coming up to the end of the show. I had to get my thoughts out there into the world and with so little episodes left there was so much to say.
Loved the crowning of America’s Next Drag Super Star on RuPaul’s Drag Race. This season they did the finale differently and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it but when I saw Sasha lip sync I knew she was the clear winner.
Binge-watched Orange is the New Black in 2 days. Guys, this season was kind of crazy and I found it hard to believe everything that happened in the riot only lasted a few days. Also hate how they ended on a cliffhanger. I just need to know what happens now.
They finally announced the release of Dr. Kawashima’s Devilish Brain Training: Can You Stay Focused? In Europe. I have been waiting for this game basically since I found out there was one. I have the other two Brain Training games so naturally I was excited for this one. So I got to preordering and I can’t wait to get it.
Started an Instagram for Sims 4 gameplay. I’m not really sure why but I had all these pretty screenshots from a Sims wedding and thought, yes Sims needs Instagram haha. I don’t post anything different than what I post on my Sims Tumblr but I thought why not? Just something a little extra to do.
Turned my Snapchat map off. There’s something not right about knowing the exact location of someone all the time. Although I did see a meme about it trying to be the next Gossip Girl spotted map and I totally agree.
Showed my family my Echo at my birthday and now they all want one. I honestly didn’t think they would be that interested but apparently I was wrong.
Unsuccesfully tried to make plans with people now that I was off for Summer break. Everyone is working and then there’s just me…
Celebrated my 4th year being mayor of my Animal Crossing: New Leaf town. Can’t believe the game is 4 years old now. I can remember how exciting it was to get a new Animal Crossing game. I’m patiently waiting for them to announce the game for the Switch. At least I hope they will make one.
Slept a lot. Basically just enjoyed not having to stress over uni work for once haha.
Became obsessed with the song One Last Time by Ariana Grande after the One Love Manchester concert. I never properly listened to the song until then and I really love it.

Overall I had a really great month. I kept myself busy and got to rest after another crazy year at university.

Now that this is my last list, I can’t promise monthly updates on the blog. But I will try to post more often. I also want to stop posting so much about TV Shows. I didn’t mean to get so into posting about TV Shows here but that became a really big thing for a while. So did YouTuber book reviews which I liked because it meant I was reading. These days, not so much. So I need to get back onto that.

So yeah, here’s to looking forward to a (hopefully) new redesigned blog!

~ Courtney x

20 Things I Did In May

June 9, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Another month where I tried to get 31 things and failed. It was hard this month because most of my time was spent stressing over deadlines. But it’s fine. I’m not mad. I still accomplished a lot. At least I think so. Whether all things were productive or not is another story. Anyway, as always, please enjoy 20 things I did in May:

Went out with a friend for drinks for the first time in ages. Sometimes it’s just nice to get together and gossip.
Got sick. I feel like I get sick a lot, I think it has to do with stress weakening my immune system…
Pulled an almost all nighter finishing off a project before the deadline. Sometimes you just need to do that last minute refactoring.
Had some issues with my tablet. It kept restarting itself so I left it for a week and it reset to factory settings. Not sure what that’s about.
Finally set up my Amazon Echo and kind of fell in love with the speaker. The Amazon Dot is great for most Alexa functions but if you want a music player the Echo is where it’s at.
Made several videos talking about PLL because with the final 10 episodes, of course, I have a lot to say.
Spent so much time revising for exams. Tis that time of year.
Stressed a lot about the exams. They all went well but that didn’t stop me from freaking out jus ta bit.
I didn’t cope well with the random heat wave we had when I was trying to study for my exams. As a computing student I need to see my laptop screen so sitting outside wasn’t an option, so I just tried not to melt in my flat…
Played Sims for the first time in a month and it felt great. I kind of abandoned it for Another Brick In The Mall…
Started to get back into writing again. I go through phases where all I do is write and then I don’t do it for months. Uni usually keeps me busy and I usually forget about it. But when I’m in the zone I love it. I used to write all the time when I was younger, fictional work and blog posts. It was great.
Watched a season of Project Runway: Junior and a season of Project Runway: All Stars. While I like the spin-offs no one can replace Hiedi Klum and Tim Gunn as hosts for the show.
Was surprised when one of the best queens from season 9 was sent home from RuPaul’s Drag Race after a terrible lip sync. If you don’t know the words you’re going home, we all know the rules.
I bought a capture card to try my hand at recording console games. Specifically Sims for the PS2. I have never completed a single Sims game for PS2 but I have about 5 of them so I want to do it. It’ll make me feel accomplished. So watch out for my Sims channel this summer.
Got excited for a new Sims 4 game pack being released this month – Sims have just been doing some great things lately and I’m excited for more.
Started playing Magikarp Jump and fell in love. It’s a really simple game but I love how it’s designed. Just so cute. If I could have made that my game for uni I think I would have had so much fun.
Went out for drinks with some people on my course. I was hesitant at first just because I am not the best at socialising with new people but it actually turned into a really good night. I definitely think since coming to uni I have become more confident.
Left it too late to make plans to go see Latrice Royale whenever she was in town. I always want to see the queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race when I’m in town but it usually never works out. The only queen I have been able to see and meet is Bianca Del Rio. Which I have to say was one of the best experiences of my life. So I hope to meet plenty more drag queens in the future. It’s a magical experience.
Tried to go to a cool bar twice but the first time I went, it was dead and the second time it was packed and so I didn’t end up staying long both times. It was kind of disappointing because the place sounds so great. Too bad I haven’t really been able to experience the awesomeness.
Started posting on my Sims YouTube channel again after finishing exams. I am motivated to get back into making videos, I always do when I have a lot more free time.

There you have it. My month in a nutshell. It’s so weird to see it written out like this because honestly half the time I don’t remember what I do in a month so looking back at this is kind of interesting. I try to write the post as the month passes so I don’t forget things.

But now that another uni year has finished I am back to having a lot more free time. Well, only for a little while because I start my work placement in a couple of months. It’ll be interesting though as someone who has never worked before, I think jumping into work like this is definitely going to be a change. But I’m up for the challenge and I am sure that I will adapt to it over time.

In the mean time I’m just going to enjoy the freedom I have left haha.

As always, feel free to come back to see what I get up to next month!

~ Courtney x

15 Things I did in April

May 5, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Well…This month I really struggled to get 30 things. Mainly because I really didn’t do much over April. It was a lot of me sitting in my room coding or watching something or sleeping or playing Another Brick in the Mall. I mean I try to update these posts as the month goes along so I can keep track of things I did but definitely not a lot of things going on. But yeah, I’m proud I was able to get at least half a list of things I did in April, so without rambling anymore, here is a list of things I did in April:

Watched 13 Reasons Why. I normally don’t jump on things as soon as they are released and while everyone is talking about them but I wanted to watch this because I read the book it was based on. It broke my heart. It was really good and had a great message but I only recommend if you are in a strong state of mind because it is a really heavy show.
Bought the Sims 4 Bowling Stuff pack and didn’t use it. I bought it to check out over Easter but got sucked into playing Another Brick in the Mall instead…
Bought and started to play Another Brick in the Mall. I decided to buy it after watching Conflict Nerd’s Let’s Play on it and I’m obsessed. I could let it run and watch the little people running around all day.
Was off for Easter for 3 weeks and it was wonderful to catch up on all the sleep.
Went on a road trip with my friends to the coast for the day. Was successful as we did not get lost but at the same time it wasn’t a very nice day but at least the rain stayed away.
Prepared to say goodbye to Pretty Little Liars as the second half of the final season premiered. I have dedicated a lot of time to this show and I will be sad to see it end. At the same time, I am dying to find out who A.D is.
Bought a new colouring book and fell in love. I found it very relaxing. Until I coloured a tiny bit outside the lines…
Went to the amusements with my family and won a lot of tickets. Too bad I couldn’t find any prizes that I wanted. But I have the tickets for another day.
Regretted not getting tickets for Vidcon Europe. It looked like a blast…maybe next year!
Spent a lot of time staring at code trying to get my uni assignment finished. You think it would be easy to make your own mobile application but it’s really not haha. I don’t know how people do it for a living.
Watched Girl Boss on Netflix. Not my favourite thing. Took a while to get into because the main character was not my favourite. Felt like the story was missing a lot.
Was a little bit disappointed by the Snatch Game on this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. It felt shorter or maybe the characters weren’t as strong as previous years which is sad. But there’s always next season!
Started watching Gossip Girl yet again. It’s become one of those shows I stick on TV when I don’t know what to watch. It’s something fun and good to tune into when you want some scandal in your life haha
Attended a hackathon with my boyfriend. It was my second hackathon and we actually ended up joining up with a team sitting next to us with a similar idea. It all turned out for the best though because we came second!
I won an Amazon Echo at the hackathon in the raffle. It was totally unexpected. I usually never win things like that.

And there you go. That was my April. Even though I didn’t have as many things as I usually do on the list I do think this month I was the most busy. I had a project deadline looming so I spent a lot of time coding but I also made time to see my friends while they were home from uni and on top of all that I attended a hackathon. Not too shabby if I do say so myself haha.

May brings us into exam season so I can’t imagine I will be up to anything exciting there other than you know, revising haha. But I guess we see what happens. I do have to take study breaks after all….

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading, and as always, I will see you next month to share my adventures in May!

~ Courtney x

31 Things I Did In March

April 5, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Another exciting month of things. It’s crazy how fast time passes. I feel like this month had a lot going on. 🙂

Made pancakes from scratch for the first time in my life. It went okay. Made them a few more times after that and am slowly getting better. I’ll be a domestic goddess in no time lol.
Updated my dream suite on Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the first time in forever. When I updated my game for the amiibo update my dream address got removed. Had to create a new one and I wanted my town to look great. Come visit!
Became obsessed with the Hillywood Show’s parody of Suicide Squad. I love all their parodies they are so amazing. I discovered them through their Twilight parodies. I definitely recommend you check them out.
Caught a Pikachu with a party hat on Pokemon Go. I love when they have themed Pikachus. They’re really cute.
Cried at the Vampire Diaries finale. Hard. The show ending was something I was just not prepared for. It was everything I wanted it to be and more. I am still really sad that it’s over but I am also really glad the ending was good. If the ending wasn’t good then I feel like the last 8 years would have been wasted.
Got tickets to see Steps in November with my sisters. I used to love them when I was younger. Who didn’t love them?
Had a week off from uni and spent a majority of it playing Sims and Animal Crossing. My two true loves. It was great.
Talked to an old Animal Crossing friend for the first time in a long time. We’ve known each other about 3 years. So weird. But also really great.
Caught up with my friend to talk about her ENGAGEMENT. I still feel too young for such a thing to happen but yes, that’s happening. I am so happy for my friend, the wedding won’t be for a few years yet there’s still no time like the present to get excited!
Was surprised by my boyfriend as he came over to surprise me. It was just something simple as showing up at my house because I hadn’t seen him in a while. It was a great surprise. We cuddled and watched TV and it was wonderful.
Rewatched my KCon videos for the 100th time. Sometimes I get sad or bored and I like to remember that time. It was such a fun time with one of my best friends. I hope we can go again.
Cried at Nashville because they know how to pull at the heart strings. Rayna passing away was so emotional but the way the show has been handling it has been great. Though part of me will always wish it hadn’t happened.
Got excited that McDonald’s Monopoly is back again. I have never won anything super fantastic from it but I still have fun. Plus, who doesn’t love an excuse to go to McDonald’s more than normal lol?
Made chocolate Rice Krispie buns on a whim with my boyfriend. My flatmates were appreciative of the treats. 😛
Started watching Project Runway, I like it. I love fashion things and I know RuPaul’s Drag Race was partly inspired by this show so I decided to give it a go. They only have two seasons on Netflix and I’ve watched them already so looking for something else to watch now.
Was outraged when Mondo didn’t win Season 8 of Project Runway. Can you believe they chose Gretchen?
Started to struggle with Korean. It’s a busy semester, I have a lot of uni work to be doing so I don’t focus on Korean as much because I am not being graded on it. Definitely a step up from level 1. Don’t know how well I will hold up as weeks go on but I am remaining hopeful.
Went to see Beauty and the Beast. It was a really great movie, I enjoyed it. Although I felt like Emma Watson was lacking something as Belle.
Studied a lot of one test. It was not the most fun thing in the world but I feel it took up a majority of my time this month, so there was that.
Spent St Patrick’s Day sober, spent time playing Animal Crossing and Sims instead – the story of my life haha. Still a really great day though.
Spent the afternoon with The Sim Supply and Conflict Nerd at their impromptu Belfast Meetup. They are really nice guys. And they are the first YouTubers I have ever met so that’s cool.
Finished my first ever essay for uni. As a computing student we don’t tend to write essays, we write code. So to say it was a challenge was something else.
Filmed a video to go along with my essay. It was a group thing and I have never filmed something with other people in the room so it was kind of awkward but I made it through and we made a complete video so, that’s an accomplishment.
Went shopping and actually got some cute dresses for work placement. You can never have too many dresses.
Enjoyed the little bit of sunny weather we had and went to play mini golf with my boyfriend. He likes to say he won but I think I did. We don’t tend to keep score so who really knows…
Freaked out about who the returning drag queen would be on RuPaul’s Drag Race. My heart will always hope for Shangela to come back. But I did love Cynthia, so it’s good to see her again!
Built my own house on the Sims 4 because why not? I feel like everyone tries to make their own house at least one time playing the game.
Watched iJustine compete on Chopped. I discovered Chopped when flicking through channels one day, I got really into it even though cooking competitions aren’t really my thing haha. But when I found out Justine was going to be on it I was super excited. It’s sad she didn’t make it past the appetiser round but I believe she will go one to cook some great things.
Decided to cancel my Glossybox subscription because I wasn’t really using the products. It had been a great treat over the past year but sometimes you can have too many beauty products and it seems like a waste. Especially when you aren’t using them.
Had a weird time adjusting to the clocks going forward. I was just playing my DS, looked at the clock on my wall that said 2, but my phone said 3, I was super confused for a minute lol.
Rewatched all of DaveDays old music videos about his Miley Cyrus cardboard cut out. These were some of the first videos I ever watched on YouTube and I loved them a lot. And DaveDays even got to meet Miley Cyrus because of the videos. So great.

There we have it. 31 Things I did in March. In case you haven’t noticed, sometimes I do have random little things in these lists so I actually get 31 things. I try to always keep note of the big things, but I know big eventful things don’t always happen. And if they did, they wouldn’t be a big event would they?

Anyway, that’s it for another month. We still have 9 months to go. So crazy.

But on the bright side, only a month or two left of university and then summer break, and then my venture into the real working world. Ooh. Scary yet exciting times ahead! I’m excited to share the journey with you.

~ Courtney x

My Current TV Shows

March 7, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Today I thought I would talk you through my current TV shows. I felt the need to do this because I feel like I am posting about a lot of TV shows lately and sometimes it is hard to keep track haha. So if you were ever interested to know what shows I am following and currently watching then this is the blog post for you. Although, if you follow me on social media right now you probably think the only show I watch is How To Get Away With Murder…but that is only the tip of the ice burg with the shows I watch.
So yeah, these are all the shows I am currently watching that are still on air. I am also going to put them in the order I started watching them because that might help me remember them all. I swear I don’t think I watch that much TV until someone asks me what I watch or I am talking about the shows to someone else…

The Vampire Diaries (2009 – 2017)

This was one of the first TV shows I really got into and started following. I think Glee was the first. But Vampire Diaries came up behind it. At first, I didn’t want to watch it because I thought that it was going to be similar to Twilight. You know, a vampire falls in love with a human, there’s a bit of a love triangle, they have werewolves…But no. Completely different.
I’ll admit when I first started to watch it I couldn’t get past the similarities because I was hardcore Twilight fangirl at the time but as the show progressed I realised it was so much more than I originally thought.
I got into this show around the time it was halfway through season 2. My friend would not stop talking about it and so one night I caved and finally decided to watch it. From then I was hooked. I fell in love with the Katherine – Elena’s doppelganger – and everything about the show and the characters.
And now, I am dreading the end of this series. I was sad to find that season 8 was going to be its last season. I was hoping for more. I wanted the show to go on forever. But I guess all good things must come to an end. All I hope is that everything works out because from the last episode that I saw, things were not going well. I hope we get the ending we deserve.

Pretty Little Liars (2010 – 2017)

I started this show on a whim. Didn’t really know much about it. Started watching it after I had finished watching Gossip Girl because I love my high school drama shows.
I quickly realised this show was more than just about high school drama haha. But I fell in love. I’m not quite sure what it was about the show that made me fall in love but once I was hooked I was all in. I needed to know who A was.
And when we found out that Alison was alive – that was a big shock to me. The show just kept stepping up its game so how can you not love it? I even got so into the show I started making YouTube videos about it, talking about my own theories on who A might be and sharing my thoughts on the show.
When the show was put on Netflix, it wasn’t long before my entire school year at the time was talking about it, which made it very hard to avoid spoilers if you didn’t keep up with the show. Luckily, I always did. It was always interesting coming into school to hear about people’s theories on who A was.
It was safe to say we were all disappointed in the last A reveal but it’s now at the point where we are 10 episodes left from the show ending and so, we might as well stick it out and see who the real big bad A is. I haven’t read the books, but I do know who was revealed to be A in them. But something tells me the TV show is not going to end the same as the books so, who is A? I have no idea. But I’m dying to find out.

Nashville (2012 – 2017)

I started this show after Glee ended and my friend suggested it to me. They said it was similar to Glee because they also had original songs. Definitely not like Glee but I do like the songs haha.
Honestly, it took me a while to get into this show. I only really stuck around for Juliette in seasons one and two but then season three hit and that’s when I really fell in love. I think I started watching this show during season 2. I seem to always find good shows when they are in their second season haha.
But what I didn’t expect from this show was just how quickly I actually fell in love with it and how attached I would become to the characters. I have been through quite a few emotional ups and downs with this show but none can compare to the latest episode with Rayna. I made a video on my feelings on that one.
I just was not expecting her to go that way or that the actress wanted to leave the show. But I will forever be glad that the show got picked up for season 5 after it was cancelled. I don’t know how I would have coped knowing it had ended on a cliffhanger.

Orange is the New Black (2013 – )

This show might be the reason why I decided to start up a Netflix subscription. I started it on a whim during the summer 2 years ago and since then I have been hooked.
Basically, when season 3 was released everyone online wouldn’t stop talking about it so I finally wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And now I know, it’s a really good show.
Like everyone I have my issues with Piper but everyone else on the show is great. As it is a Netflix Original, the show is highly binge-watch worthy but also it is agony waiting every year for a new season once you finish the current one.
I am still not over how they ended the latest season and so, I need the next one ASAP.

RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009 – )

I never intended to actually get into this show, it just kind of happened haha. I was at a sleepover one night with my friends and one of them put it on for something to play as background noise and suddenly we were all paying more attention to it than anything else.
This was definitely the show I didn’t realise I needed into my life until it came into it. It is fabulous. I have made blog posts talking about it before. I have met Bianca Del Rio, winner of season 6.
This show is amazing. I can’t say enough good things about it. Meeting Bianca was a dream come true, and finding out that drag queens come to the UK on a regular basis is also a dream come true. I mean forget meeting other celebrities, drag queens are who you really wanna meet.
Also, the last All Stars season was definitely something that’s not to be missed. And season 9 is right around the corner. This is one of those shows I can see going on forever and I need it to, because I’m not sure I am going to find something equally as fabulous to replace it with.

Suits (2011 – )

This was a recommendation from my boyfriend. I wasn’t really sure if I would be into it but it turns out lawyers are something that I can be into.
I’m not really sure what it was about the show that got me into it, I think it was mainly just the whole thing of Mike being adorable and also how they were managing to get away with Mike being a fraud for so long.
Part of me does wonder how long this show can go on though. It’s one of those things where it’s based on something and then once that thing is gone, what direction can the show go in?
That being said, the season 6 finale was everything I needed it to be. I am so excited for season 7. But please can we let Louis find love? That’s my main concern right now.

How To Get Away With Murder (2014 – )

My newest love. I have probably talked about this show enough for you to know how I feel about it and how I got into it. So I’ll just not say anything more.
If anything I just wanted to know how they would progress after season 1 because they got away with the murder. But hey, they pulled it off and we are now gearing up for season 4. Am I prepared? Definitely not.

And those are all my current TV shows. To be honest I did think I had more shows than that, but I guess not haha. I guess in my head I was also counting shows I rewatch and ones that I tune into from time to time. But these are the ones that I watch every week without fail and can’t wait for new episodes of.
I know some of them are ending really soon which is why I need to work on finding some more shows. Or maybe I need to take a break from TV shows and do something else. Maybe read more or something. TV has just become a really easy thing to turn to at the end of the day. Even though I did make a New Years’ Resolution to read more this year.
But no matter what I always have time for a little TV, especially if it’s for one of my favourite shows.
Anyway, I think that’s everything that I had to say. Well, I could probably talk more about these shows if you wanted but I feel this blog post is getting a bit long so I will leave it here. Let me know what your favourite TV shows are below, and if you have any suggestions for shows I might like that would also be great. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some more TV to watch.
~ Courtney x

28 Things I Did in February

March 1, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

This month I feel like I did nothing, most of the things that are on this list probably happened within two weeks. But what can I say, sometimes it’s just a dull month….But still, here are some things I did in February!

Started back at uni after being off for a month and a half. It’s always an adjustment.
Became obsessed with the song Fall Back by A.Leean. AKA KPop singer Ailee. I am so excited about her US debut. I met her at KCon New York and she is such a queen.
Built a fabulous vampire mansion on the Sims 4. It took a solid 3 hours I’m pretty sure, but it was worth it.
Started back at my Korean classes. Coming back for level two was not as hard as I thought it would have been. That being said, I am still very far off from being fluent.
Went to see Fifty Shades Darker. It was good, better than the first one but I still had my issues. Although I can’t tell if that’s just me being annoyed it wasn’t exactly like the books or not.
Celebrated my one year anniversary with my boyfriend. He was super cute and planned everything perfectly. I couldn’t ask for a better person to have entered my life. He’s pretty great.
Had a really chill Valentine’s Day – after the greatness of our anniversary, me and my boyfriend decided to spend Valentine’s Day at home with pizza and Netflix. It was a great night in.
Celebrated a friend’s 20th birthday. This is only the beginning, all my friends are turning 20 this year…it’s gonna be weird. When did we all get so old?
Went to see Bianca Del Rio on her last night of her comedy tour Not Today Satan. I laughed a lot, my face hurt from smiling. She’s my queen. One of the best drag queens from Drag Race and so nice in person. When I met her last year I died. And when I found out she was coming back of course I had to go.
Made friends with two guys during a pub quiz. My friend and I were there just for some drinks, didn’t know there was a pub quiz on. The guys next to us needed help and so we quickly became friends. We promised to go back and help them again haha.
Freaked out over How to Get Away With Murder some more. What even was that season finale?
Fell ill for the first time in a long time. It was the proper kind of bed-ridden illness and not just a cold. I slept a lot and couldn’t even fully rest because I knew I had to recover for a test I had in uni the next week, it wasn’t very pleasant.
Won some new boots in an ebay auction. They were pretty and I justified buying them because as a girl, I actually do not own that many pairs of shoes.
Bought new notebooks and pens to make notes for uni. Super exciting stuff.
Successfully bought one new dress for work placement. I know I need a few more but it’s a start.
Went to see the Lego Batman movie. I normally don’t do superhero movies, but that one was pretty great.
Cried over an episode of Nashville. This is what happens when you get attached to fictional characters. It’s not good. But at the same time it is. But no one prepares you for the feelings.
Started watching Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23. It’s a shame there’s only two seasons of the show.
Caved and bought the YouTubers Life game. I have seen several YouTubers play it before and thought it would be my kind of game so took the plunge and bought it. So far, it has been very addicting so worth the money.
Started watching Zalfie play Sims and Deligracy’s Barbie Let’s Play. Both of their Let’s Plays made me want to play Sims a lot.
Played Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City for the first time in months. It is always good to go back to an old game.
Got really into playing Suduko on Brain Training for my DS. I have had the game since like 2008? I always replay the Suduko levels to get faster each time. It’s been my go-to thing when I can’t sleep.
Had my nails done by a beautician for the second time ever in my life. It was an anniversary present from my boyfriend, my nails were pretty for weeks but it took forever to try and take the nail polish off.
Logged into my old Moshi Monster account I made in 2009. I never understood why that blew up to be a big thing. I liked the puzzles you could play in it though. Can’t believe I still had an email with the login details in it.
Spilt water on my laptop like an idiot. I blame the fact I was ill at the time. Hoping it can be fixed although at this point it doesn’t look good.
Thought Vampire Diaries was on hiatus but it’s not…so I need to catch up on that before the series finale!
Ran out of gas in the flat on pancake day and therefore could not make pancakes. The struggles of not checking your gas meter on a regular basis and having a gas stove.
Created a new Neopets account (I’ve lost count of how many I’ve had) with the intention of keeping this one forever (I say that every time) but it lasted all of two minutes because the website wasn’t loading lol.

I’m not going to lie I did struggle to get 28. I felt like this month went by so quickly and I literally did nothing. Yet when the month started I thought I would have lots to write about because I knew I had plans going into the month.

I suppose this month was more exciting than last month. Although March will probably be a bit boring too. Most of my time now consists of going to class or seeing my boyfriend or doing uni work. That’s not very exciting to report every month haha. Hopefully I make an effort ot do more things. Shake it up a bit.

Lately I have been really wanting to go out more or do something. So hopefully that happens. I guess I will see you next month for 31 things I did in March. Looking forward to it already. 😛

~ Courtney x

31 Things I Did in January

February 6, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Last night, while trying to sleep I had this idea of making a monthly blog post letting you know about things I did within the last month. It’s kind of inspired by Tyler Oakley’s YouTube video “100 things we did in [insert year here]”. I thought it would be something to help keep me blogging throughout the year and also something cute to look back on and remember.
I was going to try and think of one thing I did for each day of the month but that’s not always possible. So basically, I’m just going to list 30/31/28 things I did in the month, depending on how many days there are in that month.
So without further ado, here are 31 things I did in January:

Celebrated the new year with my boyfriend and his friends. I finally had someone to kiss on New Year’s. 😛
Shared a montage video of my 2016 on YouTube. It was a really fun year for me. I also made a blog post about it.
Made four New Years’ Resolutions hoping that I would stick to them. So far, so good!
Shared my winter makeup look in a YouTube video. I hardly do makeup tutorial type things but when I do, it’s usually at the start of the year haha.
Played Pokemon Moon for about an hour and decided I didn’t like it. The storyline is too different from other Pokemon games and I’m not a fan.
Started watching How To Get Away With Murder and fell in love.
Made two videos talking about How To Get Away With Murder and fangirling/freaking out about it.
Started posting YouTube videos on my Sims channel again after a long hiatus.
Went shopping in the new year’s sales hoping to find clothes for work placement but was unsuccessful.
Went to see Marvel Live: Superheros Assemble.
Revised C++ and was surprised to find I didn’t forget how to code over Christmas break. You never know, it could happen.
Suffered in the cold for a week because the boiler in my house broke and it needed to be replaced. It was not pleasant.
Cleared out my pyjama drawer and found out just how many pairs of pyjamas I own. (It’s a lot)
Stayed in a beautiful apartment for two days with my boyfriend for his birthday.
Took a day trip to Dublin.
Played lots and lots of Sims. They gave us toddlers and vampires in the same week. I had lots of free time to explore.
Watched my TV shows return and reacted to them on Twitter. I love my TV shows and I love using Twitter to share my thoughts. Someone on Twitter can always relate.
Started to work on my Android group project again and encountered some problems with Git. When you have to merge your branch into master and have a load of conflicts – it’s not great.
Filmed a YouTube video in the middle of my kitchen/living room in my uni flat and it felt super awkward while doing so. One of my flatmates could have walked in at any minute. It would have been awful.
Had a lazy day where all I did was read Buzzfeed articles. It was a very productive day.
Attended a gaming event with my friend where we quickly realised that we did not belong. The event was clearly for established game developers, which we are not.
Tried to fix my sleeping pattern multiple times and failed.
Started rewatching Pretty Little Liars and remembering all the things that I had forgotten over the years. How did we not know CeCe was A, season 4 practically shows you she’s part of it lol.
Caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen in three months. It was nice. Uni has made me realise how hard is to keep in contact with people when you don’t see each other at school everyday.
Started a Gossip Girl inspired Sims story thing on my Sims 4 blog. I created the characters of Gossip Girl on the Sims 4 a while ago and so decided to start some Sims gameplay as the Blair Waldorf sim, she was my favourite character on the show.
Reread the first Pretty Little Liars book with the intention of reading the whole series. I bought the first book on my Kindle a couple of years ago and read it, didn’t think about getting the rest of the books until now because with the TV show ending I need some more PLL in my life.
Listened to one of my best friends tell the story of her first date with a guy through voice notes on Whatsapp. I loved it.
Came back to my uni house after being away for a month and a half. It felt weird to be back there but also kind of nice at the same time.
Reminisced about the time my boyfriend and I were at the same club one time and he saw me but I didn’t see him. We weren’t together at this stage, we were just friends. He jokes that I saw him and ignored him but I swear I didn’t.
Started to get back into using Instagram. It kind of became my least used social media for a while because I used to never be good at keeping up with my timeline but now I check it almost every day.
Bought a scrapbook with the intention of properly scrapbooking. I was going to start one a few years ago but never did but now I am determined to do it.

And that was 31 things I did in January! Honestly, more difficult than I thought. I got to about 15 and was struggling haha. But there we go. I hope you found this interesting. And you realise that when I say my life is all about Sims/TV shows you know I’m not kidding lol. Although it’s only the start of the year, I’m sure I’ll have more exciting things going on as the months go by. Then at the end of the year I can look back at all of these and compare them. Some months are just going to be more eventful than others and that’s okay.

Anyway, like I said I hope you found this somewhat interesting. And also I hope that you come back to see what other things I get up to during the year. Or if you prefer to find out what I’m getting up to in real time you can always follow me on Twitter. Although I warn you there will probably be TV show spoilers there.

See you next month for my 28 things I did in February blog post. 😛

~ Courtney x

How To Get Away With Murder

February 1, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

The newest TV show in my life.
I know I have already made 2 videos in January talking about this show but is it really an official love if I don’t also make a blog post about it?
I didn’t really know what to expect when I first started to watch it, although from the first five minutes I was hooked. And I don’t remember the last time it took five minutes for me to be hooked on a show. Normally it takes an episode or two but this was from the get-go. I needed to know why/how these 5 students committed murder and I needed to know now.
Luckily for me, the first two seasons are on Netflix which meant I got to binge-watch and learn about everything that happened.
And just when you thought things were going to calm down after season one, season two gets even crazier. The way they lay out the show is amazing. They show you just enough of that “one night” to make you want to know what happened. And it’s just so good.
I have to admit, I did find the whole Rebecca/Sam murder thing way more interesting than the Hapstall murders. But I think it’s because Rebecca and Sam had more to do with the main characters. That being said though, that Hapstall case escalated quickly.
And don’t even get me started on finding out about what happened to Wes’s mother and finding out about Frank killing Annalise’s baby and also killing Lilia which started this whole thing.
Like what the hell Frank?!
Technically everything that happened is his fault. But at the same time I don’t want to see him be punished? Like I don’t know guys. It’s weird.
I actually really like Frank as a character, he started off as being so mysterious and the one to just “take care” of problems but we’ve also seen him break down and go off the grid. It’s so crazy.
Not to mention he recently just confessed to Wes’s murder which he didn’t actually do so now you can’t help but be like “wtf Frank?!”. I know he’s doing it to make things right with Annalise and everyone else but at the same time I don’t want him to go down for this because it’s not his fault.
Gosh this show.
Plus, the fact they decided that Wes was going to be the next to die – OF ALL PEOPLE. Like why him? Why not someone else? I had this spoiled for me when I was doing a Google search of the show and I was not pleased. I just kept waiting to see how it had happened and I’m just not okay.
I have also been so used to not having to wait to see what happens that waiting is killing me inside slightly. I need to know who killed Wes and how. In my latest video talking about the show I went through the main characters and I don’t think there’s any of them that could have done this.
Which makes me think about if it was someone outside of the main cast, but who?! I really don’t know.

Not to mention they had those flashbacks of Wes with all the characters in the last episode and none of us were prepared for that. Like that’s not okay to play with our emotions like that.
And also Annalise is in jail, which everyone on the internet can’t believe because she is literally the only person on the show to not have committed murder so it’s like – what? Haha. Although Annalise is strong so I believe she will make it through prison.
I also believe that it is Bonnie’s time to step up and be a lawyer. I know she’s not that confident but if Annalise believes in her then so do I. She can do this.
But I guess we don’t really know what happens until we see what they do about Frank admitting to the murder…
Gah!
I’m just so excited for the new episode. I need all the answers.
I’m sure people online have lots of good theories so I might see what there is out there. I just need to know what happens. And I also hope that the rest of the cast stay alive because I am not about shows who think it’s cool to kill off the main cast members. That sounds weird to say but there are a lot of shows that do that.
Anyway, I think that’s all I have to say on the show right now. I’ll probably have loads more thoughts as we continue through this season so expect more tweets/YouTube videos/blog posts – whatever way I can use to get my thoughts out about this show. I just have to share.
I hope you enjoyed reading, if you have any theories or suggestions for who might have killed Wes/how let me know, it would be great to know what you think and hopefully I’m back with a new blog post soon. 😛
~ Courtney x

My 2016

January 3, 2017July 3, 2018 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I know a lot of people would say that 2016 was a terrible year, and for a lot of reasons it was. But for me? 2016 has been a pretty amazing year. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the negative of things but I think going into 2017 we should focus on the positive. And so that’s what I’m going to do.
In this recap of my 2016 I am only going to focus on the positive. This year has been an amazing year for me and I want to share all of the good things that have happened with you today.
Just like last year, I am going to talk about things in chronological order since that makes the most sense. It’s hard to think back to the start of the year but luckily for me, I like to document things. Whether that’s online, or writing a journal, I always have the memories somewhere.
One of the first big things that happened in 2016 for me was meeting Bianca Del Rio. She is the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 6 and one of my favourite drag queens. The night I got to meet her was definitely an unforgettable one. Mainly because I was asked to come on stage and lip sync for my life in front of her. Talk about pressure. And of course, plenty of my friends were there and recorded the whole thing, so I think I’m going to be remembering that for a long, long time.

A quick look back on my Twitter, and the rest of January consisted of me playing Sims, and not having very much sleep. Something I think I need to work on this year. Sleep is precious, make sure to get enough of it.
In February I started dating my boyfriend. We’ve been together almost a year now which is crazy to think about. I don’t want to say too much about it but we’ve had a good relationship over the past year, and I’m hoping 2017 will be a good year for us too. I never thought love would be in the cards for me last year. As my first long-term relationship it was an adjustment but I think I’ve adjusted quite well.
Then in March, I began house hunting with my two friends. We were looking for somewhere to live during our second year at university and that was an experience. Student houses are not the most glamorous of accommodation but they are something.
During this time I was also starting Mandarin classes for the first time. Definitely not an easy language to learn. Let’s just say I didn’t make it far in those classes. However later in the year, I ended up enrolling in a Korean class and I find that language much easier to learn. So I think I’m going to be sticking with Korean for now.
April was spent watching a lot of TV shows, I watched Suits, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Nashville. I also got addicted to Neko Atsume which is an app about cats. I thought it was really adorable and so I posted lots of photos about it on Twitter. I still play the game to this day so there’s no regrets.

In May I was starting summer holidays after finishing my first year at university. It felt good to be done with university for a while. I felt like I had a much needed break. This is when I started to make more YouTube videos again and decided to make my second YouTube channel.
I think that it was a good idea to start another channel just for Sims content. I just find that my Sims content doesn’t fit into the rest of the channel which are all videos of me. Plus it means I don’t feel bad for posting so many Sims videos. It also helped to keep me productive over the summer months because it meant I always had something to do.
In June I celebrated my 19th birthday by going ice skating with my friends. I also put together party bags which I think went down really well. I swear that young adults appreciate party bags more than little kids haha. At least my friends loved them. Who knew all you needed was mini water pistols and party poppers to have fun? That and sugar, sugar is a must.
Also in June, I left the country for the first time to go to New York. Talk about a holiday to remember. I went with my best friend Jasmine for KCon and it was the most amazing experience. I won’t talk too much about it now since all I did when I got back from New York was talk about the fact I went to New York.
I just had such an amazing time and to be able to share that experience with one of my close friends was even better. I am also so glad that I was with Jasmine when she went to see her KPop idols in person. I hope that in the future there will be more opportunities for her to be able to meet them. Seeing KPop idols perform in person is an incredible experience. And if you get the chance to experience it, I definitely recommend it.
And of course I would love to go back to New York one day. It’s an amazing city and I wish I had gotten to see more of it when I was away. But I guess it just gives me an excuse to go back.

When I came back from New York I threw myself back into playing Sims. I had went a whole 4 days in New York without it and I was missing it dearly haha. I also began to play a lot of Pokemon Go. I was obsessed with Pokemon Go for a long time when it first came out. I had spent so long waiting for it to be released in the UK that when it finally came out I couldn’t get enough of it. I even played in when I went to Rome in September.
Rome was another amazing experience that I got to have in 2016. I went from never having left the country to going on two holidays in a year. That’s a big deal. Again, I won’t say much about my trip to Rome since I already made a blog post talking about it. But I had a great time there. And I think it was the perfect way to end the summer before I headed back to uni. Everyone says that when you are young you should travel and I think 2016 was just the beginning for me.

After Rome came the hard work of starting university again. Second year so far has been so much more work than first year. So it was a big adjustment for me. That and moving into my student house was a lot to take in for the first month or so. But soon enough I settled into a new routine. There are still flaws in this routine but I know things will work out in the end.
Obviously moving out wasn’t the smoothest of transitions. We went without wifi in our student house for a month and it was a whole new world having to pay for food and bills on your own. But I think it went pretty well. We also had a roommate situation but luckily we were able to deal with that as soon as possible and everything worked out for the best.
On top of starting university I was also looking for a job for my placement year. I was completely new to the process of applying for jobs and going to interviews so it was a learn as you go type of thing but everything worked out well in the end. I got offered a job in the middle of December and I start in July which is wonderful. Something less to think about for now.
And to end the year I was able to spend lots of time with friends and family over Christmas which was really great. Ever since going to university I don’t get to see all my friends as much as I used to and so I think that it was good that I got to see them when they came home for the holidays.
I was always worried about keeping in touch with friends after we left secondary school. It’s a lot harder when you don’t see each other everyday but when you do get to hang out again it’s really fun. And I hope that I can continue to keep in touch with my friends no matter where we go and what we do in life. It’s definitely something that takes work but when you have really good friends, it’s worth it.
I am now currently enjoying my time off from university and preparing for another crazy year ahead. I have no idea what exactly 2017 holds for me, but if it’s anything like 2016, then I welcome it with open arms. If you had told me this time last year that this was how my year was going to turn out I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s been so amazing. And I’m glad that I got to share it with such amazing people.
So do I have any expectations for 2017? Not really. I’m not expecting this year to be like the last one, maybe it’ll be better, maybe it’ll be worse. Who knows? I just know that I am going to continue doing my best and see where it takes me. I’m definitely going into this year with a positive attitude, and I hope everyone else does too.
I hope you all had a good 2016, despite all of the bad things that happened. And I hope 2017 is a great year for you. I feel like the whole world is hoping 2017 is a great year. So let’s see if we can make it one.
~ Courtney x

Busy Busy Bee – That’s Me

December 1, 2016 ~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I know it’s been forever since I have written here but I have just been so busy.
I am halfway through my second year of university and everything seems to be going by in a blur. Second year is a whole different ball game compared to first year. I feel like they were taking it easy on us last year to allow us to adjust to being in a new learning environment and now this year, they’ve decided you’ve adjusted enough to throw you into the deep end.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing but it definitely has been keeping me on my toes.
So yes, I have been struggling a little bit but that’s okay. I wouldn’t say I’m drowning – not yet anyway. But I’m trying to remain hopeful haha.
Anyway, my main point of this blog post was to fill you in on where I have been the past few months. Since I’ve started university I haven’t really been able to blog, make a YouTube video or even really update social media as much as I used to. I mean I have been trying to write this blog post for over a month so I think that’s an indicator of how busy I’ve been.
It started off with moving.
This year I decided it would be best to live closer to the university, it’s a lot handier because it means not having to travel everyday, it’s cheaper and it’s a lot easier to make it to last minute group meetings. So living away from home has been an adjustment.
I actually don’t have that many complaints about living away from home. Mainly because it’s not a permanent move and I go home every weekend haha. But I actually enjoy it. It’s nice to have a place you can go away from home. While yes, I do live with roommates, we have different routines and so often I am sitting by myself in the living room. Which I realise sounds a bit sad but I like to be on my own so it’s fine haha.
I like having a quiet place of my own to go to. And it’s also nice to live with different people. I mean at first I was worried I was going to end up getting sick of seeing my roommates but honestly it’s pretty great. I did have a situation a couple of months ago where my former roommate had decided to move out, which caused a bit of a hassle, but now everything is settled again.
I know everyone has a different experience with living with friends etc. when they go to uni so I wasn’t sure what to expect with my situation. I currently live with a friend I made at uni who is in my course and a guy I used to go to secondary school with. Which seems like a weird combination but it works. We all get along well and there’s not really any conflict about anything which is pretty positive.
Aside from the moving another big thing for me right now is job hunting. My degree requires me to take a year of placement work and so I have been applying and interviewing a lot recently. Two things that are new to me.
I have to admit it is something I was worried about because I haven’t had any previous work experience so I thought it would mean no one would want to hire me. But I have heard back from some places I have applied to which makes me hopeful.
I was also worried about interviewing because I don’t think it’s something I have ever been good at. I don’t consider myself a master at selling myself to people. Even when I make YouTube videos I don’t do it to appeal to anyone other than myself really haha. So it was something new.
Each interview experience I have had has been different and I have learnt something new during each one so I’m glad I have been able to put myself out there. I think it helps to build confidence to do job interviews and it also does help you learn more. But I still always get nervous before I have to go to one. Sometimes you’re just worried you’ll say the wrong thing haha.
But again it’s been a pretty positive thing. Even if I don’t get the job at least I have the interview experience, so it’s not really a bad situation.
And of course the main thing this year that has been keeping me busy is university itself. In this one semester I think I have done more work than I did in my entire first year. Which I think is crazy. Although it makes sense, last year I was completely new to coding and so we had to take everything slow.
This year, I am currently working on an android game project and there’s nothing slow about it haha. It’s definitely a learning curve. But I am up for the challenge. Even though I’m coding something completely different than I’m used to I find it interesting. I also think it’s cool that we get to make our own game. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be the most amazing quality I’ll still be proud of it.
We are currently still in the early stages so we don’t have much done right now but I’m excited to see what we achieve. Another positive thing is that I have a really good team for this project which is great. We all get along well and are determined to do well in the project which means there’s not much conflict.
On the other side of that you can also end up in teams which aren’t so great. Which I have also experienced this year. It’s tough to work on something when you know the other people on your team aren’t interested. So it’s been a struggle but I am working through it. Slowly but surely.
Aside from group projects, there has been a lot of other work too. This year I am learning C++ which has some things that are similar to Java but also some things very different. I picked it up pretty easily which has been great. I’m so glad I enjoy coding haha. Otherwise I don’t think I would have made it through my first year.
On the social side of things, it’s been lacking recently. But I know it’s because I am still adjusting to my new work load. But I also know my friends have been busy too. It’s just a hard time of year to be seeing people. At least I will get to see them over the holidays.
I really can’t wait for it to be Christmas haha. It’ll be really great to spend some time relaxing and not having to think about uni work for a bit. I know it’s not stressful all the time but it would be nice to feel as though everything wasn’t going by so fast. I mean I can’t believe it’s almost 2017.
This year in general has just been so crazy. And if you had told me that when I left secondary school things would be this way now I wouldn’t have believed you haha. It’s definitely been a good year. But I’m getting ahead of myself, we still have a month of this year left so let’s make the most of it.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and I hope to be posting a blog post again very soon. I can’t make any promises but we’ll see how it goes haha.
~ Courtney x