Tag: Random

Thursday 27th March 2025

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday when getting out of the shower I randomly got hit with nostalgia of 2012 Tumblr vibes. I have a really strong memory of sitting in my room at like 2am and starting my Tumblr blog.

It reminded me of when I used to blog a lot and just write whatever I felt like writing. Usually it was just about my day. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that time.

Now, with my blog I am either really in the mood to post or never in the mood to post and I wish I could just get back to just posting whatever, whenever.

It’s weird because I’ve started a few posts in the past and been really set on finishing them but as soon as I’ve stopped writing it for the day I never pick it up again or want to post it. I suppose it’s just another form of writer’s block but the worst kind. Like why can’t I pick up these posts again that I once felt so passionate about?

I think sometimes it’s a timing thing. For example, I started writing a post about my trip to Marrakech but I never finished it and so much time has passed since the trip so I feel like it doesn’t matter or isn’t relevant anymore. Which doesn’t make sense when this is a personal blog and I don’t have a deadline or anything.

Other times it’s that I felt really strong about something at the time and now I just don’t. Which is fine, I can’t say I still feel passionate about all the things I’ve ever posted on my blog. But still I wish I had at least finished the thought to put it out in the world.

So that kind of leaves me where I am now trying to figure out what to do. Ideally I want to be out of this slump and get back to just blogging. I’ll admit I’ll probably not recapture the magic I once had with it. But I’d like to get back to posting again.

And I mean things that aren’t just reposts of YouTube videos. I want to be making more content like this. Things where I just talk about life. And I suppose nothing has really been stopping me except me lol.

So now I think I’ll challenge myself to get back to my “roots” for blogging. Just posting random thoughts and feelings about the day and things I’m doing. But also trying to put more paragraphs in it, because as it is I am still technically micro-blogging on a regular basis on Bluesky/Twitter. But I’ve always liked having a place for my long-form thoughts.

As always I’ll not put too much pressure on myself but I think it was good for me to have this reflective chat with myself via blogging. Not sure how long this mood will last considering I’m 90% sure it’s hormonal but we’ll see.

At the very least I’d like to continue on and eventually post some of the drafts I’ve started here and not finished. No matter how much time has passed after the fact. Sometimes the thoughts are still relevant.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Not sure how helpful this was for others but I found this blog post very therapeutic to make. These are just thoughts I’ve had for a while about my blog and it feels good to share them. So maybe someone can relate.

I’m Obsessed with Mastermind

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I was writing a tweet about this and realised I wanted to talk more about it and then remembered I have a blog lol. So here we are.

I just wanted to make a quick post to say that I’ve been playing the Mastermind game for the Eras tour. Mastermind is a game created by Swift Alert that allows you to enter what you predict will be Taylor Swift’s outfits for her performance of the Eras Tour for that night.

I remember seeing people post online random screenshots from the game on Twitter when I was looking up things to do with my Eras tour dates and was wondering what this was. And so I finally did some digging and now I’m playing the game lol.

Before attending the show myself, I didn’t follow anything related to the tour. This was to avoid spoilers and also I just wasn’t interested.

However, after attending the show and getting post-concert depression I found myself online any time Taylor was performing to see what was going on. I mean fundamentally, I know the show is the same every night, minus surprise songs and the outfits but I still wanted to know. Plus, ever since Travis made a debut on stage you never know what is going to happen.

And that’s why I started playing this game. I thought it was a bit of fun and also it makes me feel really smart or something when I guess the outfits correctly.

I don’t have any strategy for it. Like I don’t analyse any stats of how often she wears something or anything like that. And when it comes to guessing surprise songs, I randomise every time because I do not have the brain power to start working out that shit lol.

But for most other outfits I make an educated guess and it works out for me.

I mostly feel proud when I guess the Lover opening outfit because it means I’m starting off well. Though after that it immediately goes downhill lol. I don’t think I’ve ever correctly guessed the Red t shirt and I never know about the Speak Now dress.

I got the Fearless outfit a few times right and thought I’d figured out a rough pattern for that, but that soon went out the window.

For Reputation, I always get my two points on the jumpsuit. I hope every time I’m wrong but so far it’s never lead me astray. I think maybe she might announce Reputation in London but couldn’t say for sure. Who even knows at this point?

The 1989 combinations, again usually randomised. Don’t know what is happening with them ever lol. Except for the few shows where she was wearing the matching combos. I have a theory she will save all green for Reputation TV but could be clowning.

I have been surprisingly good at getting the Folkmore dress which I think is cool and the same with the surprise song dress I feel like I get that a good amount.

I thought I was doing well with the Midnights outfits for a while but I think I’ve lost my touch on it lol. It was fine when Taylor was wearing the chevron for ages but I don’t know the pattern of when she switches that up anymore. Also the t shirt is hit or miss and the Karma jacket too. Though I get the Karma jacket more than the t shirt.

My average score is usually around 50 and I accept that I’ll probably never win but it’s just a bit of fun to do from time to time. Ngl I do get sad when I find out we have to wait another few days for the next quiz. And I’m not really sure what I’ll do with myself when the tour ends but I’m having fun.

Anyway, that’s all I came to say. I’ve been playing this game and there’s no one to talk about it with irl so I’m blogging about it lol. Let me know if you play and if you have a strategy besties x

I Tried to “BeReal” for a Week

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I feel like I’m writing a Buzzfeed article lol. But anyway, this is not sponsored and I was just bored last weekend so I thought I’d give BeReal a real chance.

I downloaded it once when it first came out to see what the craic was but honestly, I knew I wasn’t going to use it because all my days are very similar and also, I look trash 99% of the time and I was not interested in documenting that. But a couple of years ago, I did a ‘1 second everyday’ video and was thinking of doing another one next year. And so I thought maybe I should try out BeReal because that’s a very similar concept, except instead of a video, it’s a photo and instead of me deciding when to take the video clip, my phone will notify me to do it.

So off we went to download BeReal. Now I know the whole point of BeReal is to “be real” but from my experience people still will do the opposite. A couple of years ago when I was at comic con, there were some people who asked in Q&A sessions of the celebrities would be a part of their BeReal. And I imagine like other social media, people only want to post when they are actually doing something interesting.

So I can see why no one really talks about the app anymore. And also why no one I know in real life uses it lol. In the week I used it only one person was active. So this was disappointing. Only because there’s no point for me to go on the app everyday if no one else is uploading.

But I decided to give it a go and try my best to upload as soon as the notification went off and try to be my true authentic self. Disclaimer – I think I only ever made it on time once lol. To be fair, each time it was only a few minutes late rather than hours. It’s not that I am trying to stage anything, I just didn’t see the notification.

Though I was finding myself wondering everyday when the notification was going to go off. I didn’t know round what times of day it would go off or what I was going to be doing. Not that I was doing anything exciting. It was just interesting to see what sort of times you would be notified at.

I got a good mix of morning and evening though the morning ones were at the weekend and I was in bed lol. Other ones I was out and about or at work. Nothing crazy. I do wish my friends used it though because I would be interested to see what they would be doing. Part of the fun is seeing what everyone else is up to in the same moment you are but I didn’t have that so was definitely not getting the full experience. So this is why I’ll probably not be using BeReal long term.

I suppose I could just ask my friends to use it, but they probably won’t. They barely post on Instagram as it is and I’m supposed to convince them to do this? Highly unlikely lol.

But overall it was an amusing week with something new going on. I am still using BeReal at the minute, but the novelty is wearing off. I think I might try to use it for a year and see how it goes but after that I’ll probably delete it. If anything this app takes documenting your life a little too far, who needs a photo from every single day of their life? I know I don’t. Not everyday is that exciting lol.

Still, I’m glad I have it a go. And I applaud the developers for trying something new. I’m not sure what the next big social media thing will be or even if I want to be a part of it but I’m interested to see where it goes. But for now I’ll stick with my Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. And the occasional blog post (when I make an effort lol).

New Piercing, Who’s This?

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

After thinking about it for a while I decided to get another ear piercing! Not going to lie, one of the main things that put me off getting one is just the maintenance of it. Like cleaning it every day and everything, it’s just so tedious. But my boyfriend and I were out last weekend and I decided to just go for it because otherwise, I’d probably never do it.

So here we are with a helix piercing, I am not going to lie I already want a second one haha. I think it would be nice to have two so I am going to go back to the piercer probably this week or next to get it. I want to get them around the same time so the healing time is similar. Ideally, I would have went back the next day, but the piercer recommended that I wait a week or so for the swelling in my ear to go down.

And so far it’s been a week and things are going well. Naturally, I am a little obsessed and overprotective about it but I just don’t want it to get infected. I’ve discovered things like putting on my glasses and wearing a mask require more attention than normal to not upset the earring. That and also sleeping – I can only sleep on my left side now which is kind of annoying. I didn’t even think about that when getting the piercing but it’s mostly been fine. It’s a bit weird not to be sleeping on my right side, but I know it’s for the best as to not irritate my piercing. Still, I look forward to the day I can roll on that side again haha.

Helix piercings can take anywhere from 4 months to a year to heal so this is another reason why I wanted to get the second piercing soon, if it’s going to take a year for my ear to heal from one why go through all the effort again in a few years you know? Also, the sound of the needle going through my ear was not a pleasant one so if I could just get through that again as quickly as possible that would be great. x

In terms of other piercings or tattoos etc there’s nothing on the horizon. I think I would probably get more tattoos in the future but I don’t have ideas for them currently. I would probably not get any other piercings though just because of the maintenance, and the fact I’ve had my lobe piercings for years and never change out the earrings. I mean I don’t think the helix will be any different but the option to have nice earrings is always there lol. I also do not think I would suit a face piercing or anything like that.

I’m looking forward to my ear healing and being able to have cute hoop earrings – I’ve seen lots of pics online of people with ‘curated’ ear jewellery where it’s all matching and aesthetic. I think I’ll strive for that for about two months before I go back to forgetting I have ear piercings haha. But yeah, that’s where I’m at, 25 with five piercings (two lobe piercings on both sides, one helix – soon to be two) and three tattoos. We’ll see where I am again in a few years lol.

24 Hours in Manchester for BLACKPINK | 21st May 2019

~ Courtney Shek ~ 1 Comment

So me and my brother decided to go to Manchester last minute to go see Black Pink!

This is probably one of the most impulsive things I have ever done, I mean I’ve booked tickets to things before and had to think about travel and accommodation later but this time, we literally had to book everything and get tickets the day before lol.

It seemed to good to be true to be honest and I was worried that because we bought resale tickets that maybe we could have been scammed but luckily for us everything worked out in our favour and we got to see BLACK PINK!

The show was amazing and I am so glad we decided to go and you know if BTS in London wasn’t so expensive I feel like we would have been going to that too lol but I guess I will hold out for BTS for another time.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this vlog! I think it was the best way to kick off summer 🙂

~ Courtney x

New Phone: Samsung Galaxy S10

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

After debating with myself for like two weeks I decided to upgrade early and treat myself to a new phone! I am moving from an iPhone 6 to the new Samsung S10.

 

I did enjoy my iPhone while I had it but I will always probably be an Android person at heart. I just wanted to know what it was like to have an iPhone and now I know so I was ready to jump ship back to Android.

I’ve been using the phone for a few days now and I’m still getting used to it, the always on display, the face recognition, the things I never had with iPhone. I’ve also had to get used to a new message tone and having to install and login to all my apps again.

But so far I’m really enjoying it, I love getting new technology because it’s so pretty and shiny. Now I just have to focus on not dropping it lol

~ Courtney x

Neopets Update: 1 Month In

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I’m still visiting my neopet!

neopet.PNG
Ice Queen’s current state

I’m not gonna lie, I have no idea what I’m doing. Like most of my time is spent clicking on the map to visit places and trying to buy pretty things for my neopet but always missing out and so then I just leave the site.

I’ve been lucky a few times and have arrived at shops in time to buy some things for my pet. Mostly food to keep them fed but that’s about it.

I have also tried my hand at the battle dome a few times but…nothing has come of that. I have no idea what I’m meant to be doing there and I don’t know how to level up my pet so it’s been pretty useless and the stats are real weak.

ep.PNG

Then the website does have games you can play to earn neopoints, but I’ve been earning quite a lot just by logging on everyday and doing the dailies. Now I know from reddit that it is a lot easier to earn neopoints now, which is nice to hear because I remember struggling by all the time with like none. But at least now I don’t have to play the same 5 games everyday hoping to buy my pet some food.

Aside from that, I’m not really sure what to do. I mean sure I could sit and click through the whole map every single day like I used to but that’s not really what I want. I want to be able to do something with my pet.

Oh, and my petpet? What is that? What do they do? I have never known…

petpet

But yes, I think it’s an accomplishment that I’m still going. I suppose it’s a bit to do with habit more than anything. Though when I think about it, maybe I would be better off going back to my Nintendogs. Because at least you could interact with them and take them on walks and stuff…

Not sure if I’m ready to abandon my neopet again though, so I guess we see how it goes…maybe I will find more to do…or try balancing more than the one pet…

~ Courtney x

My Sim in the Snow

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

A random picture of my Sim in the snow – I posted this on my Sims Instagram and I really like the way it turned out so wanted to share it here.

I haven’t really been able to play Sims much recently because of uni work but I have plenty of old gameplay screenshots to share with the world.

I have this habit of wanting to document everything so why not document my Sims lives online as well as my own?

The above Sim is called Sapphire – she is the 3rd generation of my Jewel Legacy. I have had this save game for about 2 years now. My plan is to have each generation complete an aspiration and a career – so Sapphire’s career is an art critic, though I might have her open an art gallery too. I forget what her aspiration is but I’m pretty sure it’s just the painting one.

If you want to follow more of Sapphire’s journeys you can check out my Sims Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter. I tend to live-tweet when I play and then Tumblr is updated later, and Instagram gets sprinkles of posts here and there.

And while I’m shamelessly plugging everything I might also note I have a Sims YouTube channel where I post Create a Sim videos and Speed Builds. I don’t do Let’s Plays though, mainly because I get bored of them and it’s a lot of commitment.

So there you go, now you know I spend way too much time playing Sims and I spend just as much time talking about it on social media lol

Rejoining Neopets

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I’ve had Neopets accounts on and off since 2009 – and I always consider going back every few years, it’s just a simple online thing that can be a way to have fun, and it also brings back memories of my first experiences on the Internet.

So I’m back again. This time, I hope I stay longer than a few days though.

I don’t know what this will accomplish in my life to be honest, but I guess I just miss having a virtual pet. You know, I grew up with more Tamagotchis than I can count, and you bet I loved my Nintendogs the mostest.

I guess I just want to get part of my childhood back lol.

So if you want to add me on Neopets my username is coco_cutie1997 – an homage to my OG username which was coco_cutie2009 (I can’t get the account back because I deactivated it in 2010).

This is my neopet – her name is IceQueen_xo – I feel like they must be running out of usernames and stuff at this rate no? Either way, I hope me and IceQueen_xo will have some great adventures together.

neopet

And we will see if I enjoy the nostalgia and keep playing or if I will get bored and give it up once more lol.

~ Courtney x