That Time We Talked Money and People
What The Buzz: #BlackFridayIn3Words
This week's trending topic is all about the mythical and legendary beast that is Black Friday.
As many of you will know, Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving where American retailers go mental and slash their prices for one day only. This is fantastic for some that manage to snag a deal but seems to come at a high price of others.
As an English person, I don't really understand the whole concept but I do understand that this has now made it's way across The Pond (aka The Atlantic) as we all knew it inevitably would.
After all, the UK sometimes acts like America's annoying little brother that wants to do everything his older brother does but doesn't quite hit the mark.
This guy knows what's up.
In any event, Black Friday has arrived in the British Isles and I have a slight problem with the whole premise.
Firstly, Black Friday is supposed to be the day after Thanksgiving which, despite stealing everything else from the US, we haven't inherited this one. So why do we have the day that comes after it?
This makes no sense to me.
Plus, people have actually DIED because of Black Friday. Either being tramped by the hordes of frenzied shoppers or falling asleep at the wheels of their cars after waiting in line over night for the shops to open.
Why would we want to encourage that in the UK?
The mind boggles.
Arguably the day brings a lot of money in the UK economy with people spending money they perhaps wouldn't otherwise because of the deals. But does that really warrant the chaos it causes? I distinctly remember last year doing some early Christmas shopping on Amazon and completely forgot it was Black Friday. As such Amazon pretty much crashed in the middle of my purchase and told me I was in a queue.
To go shopping online.
What?!
I go shopping online to get AWAY from the ridiculous queues.
No, no Amazon...you take your time. I'll just wait.
It seems as though my disdain was shared on Twitter.
Describing Black Friday in 3 words seemed to become very popular very quickly on Twitter. And along with myself, and the makers of South Park, there were some others that shared our sentiment for the day.
That Time I Pretended To Be A Proper Adult And Changed The Oil In The Glorious Accord
Notice there is no 'tried' in that title, dear readers.
I am an actual, certified grown up and have changed the oil in my car.
...This was no mean feat however.
The adventure started when I casually informed my Father that my oil light kept flashing on when I went round corners. The slightly horrified look he gave me should have signified that this was of more importance than I had perhaps assigned it previously.
Fatherama: So when does this big, red warning light come on? Amy: Err (sheepish) ... when I go round corners, sometimes on hills, if I brake sharply...(trails off) Fatherama: *Heavy breathing* Amy: Heh. Fatherama: And just how long has this light been coming on? Amy: About a week ... or three. Fatherama: AMY!!
Fatherama quickly informed me that if the red warning light for oil flashes on in your car you should pull into a garage sharp-ish and get that shizzle sorted as a major priority.
Which, in Amy language, meant I had another week or so to get it sorted.
In any event (and an unspecified amount of time later), I eventually stopped off at a Tesco petrol station to buy some more oil. This was not as difficult as I had feared it might be as I just grabbed a big bottle of motor oil which stated it was suitable for 'old engines'.
Perfect!
The Honda is a bit of a relic so anything which says it's suitable for OAPs is ace in my book. Last thing we want is to pour some new-fangled gunk into the abused and already suffering engine.
Once that was all paid for and the tank was full (all my money gets spent on the hungry Honda sob), I pulled into the Tesco car park and popped the bonnet on my car with little to no misadventure (might have burned my .
However, this is when the trouble started.
First, it was pitch black and I was unsure where, exactly, the oil cap was located. Then, when I spotted a big cap marked 'OIL', I started to second-guess my car mechanic skills.
Was this for the engine oil that I needed to re-fill or was this some other secret oil that I had no idea about?
My car is a pretty mischievous beast at the best of times and it would be typical that it would have multiple oil orifices just to trip me up.
I wasn't taking any chances.
So I called my Mum.
After asking me if there was a nice bloke about that could help me (! It's 2015, mother!), she advised that the oil cap I had located would be the correct one.
Thanking her for her input I, rather mistakenly in hindsight, believed that was my trial over.
It was then that I discovered my true challenge was only just beginning.
I could not, for love nor money, remove the flipping oil cap.
Oh, Honda, you test my patience!
Problem? NOPE. NOT HERE. vjnigjbgoigbnsmgn
After several attempts, and I'm sure I could hear some laughter from the minivan parked behind me, I gave up and drove home.
Thus ended day 1 of the War on Oil.
Day 2 was not much better.
In the morning I, once again, popped the bonnet and this time, I was determined to see this thing through. If not for me, then for the suffering Honda chariot.
Bonnet popped. Oil cap...off!
Huzzah! Managed to pry the bloody thing off.
Now to just pour the oil into the engine....can't open the bottle of oil.
Friday morning. 7.30am. ...sorry neighbours.
I had to break the seal of the cap using my thumb nail.
Thank God for base coat nail polish, dear readers.
Once I had wrestled the cap off the bottle, I then proceeded to pour the. Entire. Carton. In my engine.
It was only later that I realised I was supposed to use the dipstick to check the oil levels and make sure I poured the right amount in.
I felt like such a ... well ... let's avoid the obvious insult.
So yes, tried to be a real grown up and failed epically. I am no longer allowed to try and do anything to maintain, fix or otherwise improve my car with the exception of filling it up with petrol.
That Time We Listened to Some Tunes
What The Buzz: #MusicMonday
Music to me is a big deal.
It forms a large part of my day - from listening to music whilst I get dressed, singing on my commute in to work, humming at the office and then doing the reverse at the other end of the day.
I, for one, am all for having a soundtrack to a life.
So the twitter trend #MusicMonday was an obvious choice for this blogpost.
Silent Discos are ftw tbh, lol. (#relivingstudentdays)
I think music is a very powerful thing as it can make you feel a whole range of emotions in about 3 minutes, recall a memory from years ago or change the atmosphere of a room almost instantly. There are songs that can almost immediately bring me to tears and there are others that can bring a smile to my face just as quickly.
I'm also one for new music. I love hearing a song for the first time and becoming completely addicted to it. And that's not just 'current' music. My Dad used to do this weekly thing when I was at Uni which we labelled my 'music education' in which he would send me two or three songs I hadn't heard before but that were relatively old. Plus I got to go to Reading Festival this year and listened to so many new artists that I had never heard of before. The atmosphere definitely made it but the music was all incredible.
See you there, readers?
So I thought I would take this opportunity to post some of my new favourite songs that I can't help but love.
(Plus it got to like 9.45 on Monday evening and I realised I hadn't done my What The Buzz post yet. ...total professional over here, guys.)
Here we go, in no particular order (just keep Olly Murs away from this):
1. Pvris - Holy
This is a band that I didn't get the chance to see live at Reading but one of the girls I went with (hello Sophie!) said I should check them out when I got home. I didn't think too much of it at the time and ended up listening to a Reading Festival playlist on the drive home (unwilling to end the weekend!) and heard this song.
When I looked up who it was, my suspicions were confirmed: Sophie was indeed a music maestro and should be trusted from here on out with all musical recommendations.
I think part of my love for this track may come from the Disney references but it is very catchy and the lyrics are at odds with the upbeat tempo which I really like.
Definitely one for belting out in the car.
2. The Other Tribe - Skirts
I heard this way back in 2012 when I was working at Sweaty Betty and my assistant manager's boyfriend had produced (? or something...I forget what it was in the end) this song. When I first heard the song I thought it was the perfect summer tune and it takes me back to my uni days when things were easy and the only planning we did was whether we would be going out on Wednesday and Friday or save our pennies and just go super hard on Saturday.
When this song comes on I think of dancing around my tiny room with a glass of the cheapest rose wine I could find in Tesco, trying desperately to draw a straight(ish) cat eye with my liquid liner.
Ah, good times.
3. Sarah McLachlan - River
Okay, so this is a lot more mellow than the other entries so far.
But I love this song.
Seriously.
I don't know what it is. I kind of like melancholy songs anyway and the lyrics came at a really poignant time for me. Plus I have a thing for Christmas music so this is just ticking all the boxes.
The piano in this song is so elegant and the song doesn't rely on much more than the melody and the lovely tone of McLachlan's voice.
If you ever need a Christmas cry, this is the song for you.
4. Conchita Wurst - Rise Like A Phoenix
THIS. SONG.
If this comes on in the car, I almost lose my voice because I am singing with such gusto.
This feels like a James Bond theme with a sassy edge which I love. This is a song with attitude and I Love it. Capital 'L'.
For a Eurovision song entry I really think this was underrated in the charts. I was so glad when the song won because I felt that it really did deserve more recognition. (Also see The Common Linnets - Calm After The Storm. Another epic Eurovision entry from 2014.)
Seriously, if you are not singing/shouting this by the end of the last verse and if you are not slightly out of breath then you have listened to it wrong.
Try again.
5. Uh Huh Her - Dreamer
This song played on an episode of Smallville (8x15 - Infamous for those that are interested). It was a pretty sad scene in which we thought Lois and Clark were finally going to do something about all those feelings they were not-so-secretly harbouring for one another but then the writers (darn you, PTB!) let us down at the last minute.
It is one of those songs that was so perfect for the scene that it has stuck in my head ever since.
In other circumstances, I am not sure that I would have been so obsessed with it but at the time it was so wrapped up in the emotion of that particular scene and it felt so powerful.
I am a super fan of soundtracks/scores that are done well.
And so this song makes the list.
The above are just a few of the more random songs that have been stuck in my head either very recently or for quite some time. There are, obviously, hundreds of others but most of those are Disney and people tend to glaze over when I start discussing Disney.
One of these faces or a combination of all three normally.
But hopefully you have been introduced to a couple of new artists or songs and if you like them then that is fantastic. If not; no worries - everyone is different! (But you are wrong about Conchita Wurst. Seriously.)
Leave a comment with a song stuck in your head at the moment or any comments on the songs in this list.
For now, that is #MusicMonday and now, I'm off to listen to some more of my Reading Festival playlist.
That Time I Was Rubbish At Posting On Time (The First, But I Expect Not The Last)
Dear readers, I do apologise for missing the Monday What The Buzz post.
This week has been crazy.
As per my previous post, I was at Law school over the weekend which in and of itself is normally rather draining but this week was gruelling for a whole new and entirely foul reason.
So when Monday rolled around, the last thing on my mind was posting to the Blog.
And I do apologise as there were plenty of good hashtags to choose from.
But let me run through the rest of the week for comparison:
Tuesday: Off to my parents to cook dinner
Every week (read as: 'most weeks when I remember') I visit my parents and my younger sister and do some 'experimental' cooking by trying out a brand new recipe from the BBC website.
So far it has been quite successful with different menus including a home made curry with raita and onion bhajis or the sticky bbq chicken or even the most recent sausage and bacon rustic hotpot. As my younger sister is a vegetarian this can sometimes be a bit of a challenge as it requires making two separate meals. But in general I really enjoy it and it gives me an excuse to go round and visit and not feel like a free-loader.
Or not. As the case may be.
Wednesday: Out for dinner with a friend
I went out for dinner with a friend in the evening which I have been looking forward to immensely. Unfortunately, we are both very busy and also have the tendency of cancelling on one another either due to illness or just because we are super busy and life gets in the way. But she is one of the few people in my life that knows time will be made eventually and that we are both grown ups with busy lives.
It was a lovely evening and, even though one of our topics of conversation was probably a little unusual, it was great to catch up and be able to talk about things candidly.
But it meant that I was out for the whole evening and didn't get home until nearly 11.
Thursday: Mum and Dad's Wedding Anniversary
As it was my Mum and Dad's 32nd (32nd!!) wedding anniversary, my sister and I bought flowers and treated them both to a takeaway for dinner.
The whole evening was great as I love spending time with ma famille. And after dinner we played a new board game (new for us at least) - Betrayal at House on the Hill.
Ooooh, the spooks!
My family has a 'thing' about board games and card games. So we were all looking forward to trying out this new co-operative game.
Or were we...?
The game is cooperative to begin with but then somebody becomes a traitor. Ooooh. The intrigue.
It's a really good game but I think it will be more enjoyable the second time round when we already understand some of the rules as much of the evening consisted of me flicking rapidly through the rule book and getting flustered when I couldn't answer various questions about die rolls and coal chutes.
(Don't ask.)
Friday: Alex B's last day in the office (aka the last day of term)
Today was a work colleague's (a friend's) last day in the office. It was a pretty emosh day but it was hard to take anything too seriously as it was also Children in Need and we were all in fancy dress as heroes and villains.
I was dressed as Bat Girl.
"Yes, I take your personal injury claim very seriously, Mr Bloggs..."
So nothing I said was really going to come across that seriously.
After many larks in the office and pretty much getting no work done (sorry, boss!) we all headed to the pub for a few farewell drinkies. I was supposed to be out until the wee hours of the morning but, as you can see, I made it home fairly early.
And therefore had the chance to write this beautiful catch up post for you, dear readers.
And there you have it; my week in a very brief nutshell.
Insert clever pun here.
It's been busy but good (in some ways - in others not so much but let us not dwell).
So I hope you forgive me for not posting the scheduled What The Buzz post this week. This post is really just one long excuse and I really hate that but I genuinely have been super busy.
Please stay tuned for your regular scheduled programmes and I will endeavour to get my life together by next Monday.
&&Fin.
PS. I have been watching Twitch a lot recently and one streamer in particular 'IamslowLoris' has been playing Dark Souls and his commentary is actually really funny plus the chat is very friendly. If you have five minutes and like Dark Souls, I would recommend you check out his streams - 8pm on the weekdays. Peace!
That Time A Demon Tried to Crawl Out From Inside of Me
Eurgh.
I am suffering with a case of mild food poisoning, dear readers.
This is what you get for ordering an Indian takeaway from Just Eat in the middle of Leicester city centre.
It honestly feels like some evil creature is trying to escape - rather forcefully - from my poor, broken body.
This. Right Here. #perfect
I was at Law School this weekend and had to suffer through all of Sunday with my stomach making suspicious gurgling noises and sharp pains in my side. This did not make it easy to focus on my revision lectures (on a side note exams are now less than a month away - don't know how that happened!).
Instead of listening to what was, undoubtedly, fantastic exam advice from my knowledgeable and patient tutors, I was exercising all of my brain and will power to prevent any explosive incidences in the back of the classroom. My stomach actually aches from all the clenching.
I made it through 5 hours of lectures and that was no mean feat, let me tell you.
...I then had a three hour drive home.
This was somewhat harder as the gaseous build up had been so intense that my stomach was now painfully bloated. Each and every bump in the road brought me one step closer to disgracing myself.
There comes a point, dear readers, in every adult's life in which they have to admit that they are unsure whether the pressure they next feel in their nether regions is purely gas in formation or whether there may be more substance than first indicated. It becomes a personal choice as to whether the risk is taken but I was less than 50% sure that I knew the answer and did not want to risk ruining my beloved jeans and/or driver's seat.
Besides, we all know the phrase 'farts are a bit like love...if you have to force it, then it is probably shit'.
See?!
...no? Just me? Ah. Moving swiftly on then!
You may be relieved to hear that I did not have any embarrassing incidences on the journey home.
But my house mate did give me a somewhat strange look when I arrived home only to barrel past her throwing 'hi, talk later, bai' over my shoulder before holing myself up in the bathroom for the better part of 20 minutes.
That Time We Discussed Real World Change
What The Buzz: #DoItDay
So Monday afternoon rolled around once more and I found myself chewing absently on the nib of my pen, unbeknownst to me, ink smearing across my lips, and I suddenly realised that I had not looked into the trending topics of the week.
My bad, readers.
But, fortunately for us, I stumbled across the hashtag #DoItDay. This intrigued me (mainly because the others were Star Trek, Remi Garde and School of Christmas. Not that I have anything against Star Trek but I don't feel I know enough to do the fandom justice, I have no idea whether Remi Garde is a person or a delicious pastry and finally, I refuse to discuss the glorious festivity that is Christmas until the first week of December. I mean really.)
So what is #DoItDay?
Do It Day - missed a trick by not using Shia LaBeouf tbh.
My internet research informs me that this is a day organised by The Drum. I have tried to look into exactly what it is that The Drum does but the correct definition has proved frustratingly elusive. The closest thing I could come up with was 'media branding'. The Drum deals in marketing, media and advertising if their website is to be believed but it appears to have its fingers in many other pies. There are articles, an awards ceremony, various insights into the marketing industry and, what we are looking at, the Do It Day.
This is not the first day that they have organised, previously came the Plan It Day (title seems somewhat self-explanatory). The Do It Day brought together a plethora of global businesses in order to implement global change and show that changes for good can really happen in one day through the power of social media and marketing. The activities were planned on the afore-mentioned Plan It Day and the results were posted on social media all day.
One of the most successful campaigns of the day was planting 10,000 trees which was a challenge set by Dennis Publishing. The deal was, every time someone posted a picture of a tree or what a tree meant to them via email or tweet, a real tree was planted in the Heart of England forest. An incredible challenge made even more amazing when you discover that they pulled it off. Thanks to over 200 volunteers, this brief was filled and 10,000 new trees were planted on Monday 2nd November 2015. This is an incredible accomplishment and something that The Drum and the other Partnered companies should be proud of.
This hashtag is also something that personally intrigues me as part of Team Socially-M which deals with social media for businesses. Perhaps next year Team Socially-M will be involved in such a fantastic day. Watch this space I guess!
I think the Do It Day is a great project and seems to have brought lots of big brands and companies together to be the change for 24 hours. The organisation and the planning behind the challenges doesn't bear thinking about and the amount of volunteers that got involved definitely restores my faith in humanity.
And after a rather hellish Monday in the office, it's always nice to be reminded of the good in the world.
If you get a chance, check out more of the Do It Day challenges here and let me know in the comments which brief is your favourite.
