Sometime I disagree with things just to be different but other times I actually just don't like things. The first two season of Games of Thrones is definitely the later. It's just so boring. I cant keep up with who the characters are and then I have to listen to them have the longest conversations in TV history about other characters who I don't know.
Then season three happened, I don't understand what changed but all of a sudden I began to understand what was happening. I sorted some of the characters out in my head and I'm enjoying it. I know why it is one of the most watched television show; boys like the sex. What I have now realised is that the plot and the characters are amazing.
Watch it if you can get through two seasons like I did if not, I feel your pain.
- Izzy
Life is made up from a series of doing things you don't want to do in order to live. The few and far between fun times are what we focus on. There is a concert that I don't want to go to but my friend wants to go and she bought a ticket so I feel like I have to go with her. Thinking about it the last couple of days I realise that the only reason I don't want to go is because it out of my comfort zone.
It's at a small local venue and last time we went I didn't know anyone except her. I don't like to be uncomfortable, no one really does. Tonight I bought a ticket because I have enjoyed every concert I've ever been too and so many times before the best time I've had is when I stepped out of my comfort zone.
It's the best thing you'll ever do, I get anxious so it makes it more difficult but small steps are not how I do things. I go all in or not at all. The first time I fought this anxiety about stepping out of my comfort zone was when I was fifteen and I went on a mission trip to Cambodia. I loved it in the end but at the start I spent a whole day with severe anxiety and panic attacks, I cried and I felt sick and I asked to go home but I didn't and it was one of the best things I have ever done.
My advice: give it a go! Figure out if you need small steps or you need to go all out, Then do something that challenges you.
- Izzy
This year I have been faced with some really tough decisions. I'm in my final year of school and I'm being asked make some serious decision that will affect my whole life. I also have had to make some big decisions about a service mission trip my class is taking at the end of the year; do i go or not? I decided not and for the last two days I have been trying to justify to myself why, making up stupid excuses like I don't want to fly Malaysia airlines. The truth is I shouldn't have to make up excuses, it should be enough for me just to not want to do something.
Outside influence will always effect a decisions making process but my advice is go with your gut, if you don't want to do something; don't. You don't need to make up excuses or wrack your brains for a reason not to. You are important and if you're not happy change something. Don't let the little things make you sweat, just breath because if you keep breathing no matter what decision you make in the end you'll be alive and you will be able to find happiness.
Last night, well actually it was early this morning I finished watching the season two finale of Arrow. I'm a little behind, I know. It aired months ago but when I got to episode seventeen I stopped watching. I found I couldn't get myself through a whole episode anymore, I thought it was getting boring but I was wrong. In the hiatus from March to September of every television show ever, I was desperate so I sat and I watched the rest of the episode and again I was hooked.
The last three episodes of season two were the most exciting of the whole series. Everyone slips into roles that feel so natural to the characters. Oliver is following his no killing morals, Felicity is being a badass and Sara is back with the assassins.
The few really big secret reveals keep it upbeat and you sitting on the edge of your seat wondering who is going to do what with the information. There is fear for all the characters after watching some of the main characters die.
Oliver finally comes up with a plan to beat Slade, a plan that is actually good and of course has a few twists along the way to make sure the viewers think they know what's happening but they don't. This is really exciting television and a well executed show that has good characters and interesting, edge of your seat plots, something rarely seen in todays obsession with sappy romances.
- Izzy
I haven't been doing this for long but I have never had someone comment on a post. Now I sound like a complainy bitch but I'm just wondering if anyone actually reads this.
This is an idea that I have had for a really long time. When I was about 13 I tried playing a song I didn't know from a set of chords I found on the internet. I had never heard this song and had no idea how it went, so I made something up. When I went and listened to the artist version later I realised how different it my version was. It intrigued me that the same chords and lyrics could be interpreted so differently.
I had this idea that I could do the exact same thing but video it, first time playing it with all the mistakes and awkward scrolling and pitchy singing because I don't know what chords I'm playing next; and with the stumbling of words.
I then asked myself who would want to watch that? The answer is I would, and if I do, someone else, somewhere does too.
- Izzy
After school today I was driving to the shops when I saw a young looking man walking in the rain on the side of the road. He was wearing what looked to be a local schools leavers jacket. The road I was driving on is a quiet street with mainly bush either side. I wondered where he was going? Why was he walking in the rain?
My first thought was to stop and ask if he needed a lift. My next thought after that was, no what if he steals something from me? How sad is that? He looked like a nice young man who had to walk home but my first instinct was to not help and I don't know what that says about me but I am scared. I'm always terrified that something bad is going to happen. I have thought about these fears, I always think about these fears; that anxiety. I wonder a lot what a life would be like without it, just being able to trust people and do anything.
Yesterday I posted about procrastination, the whole post was meant to be sarcastic and humorous but today I don't think its quite as funny. Procrastination and just not doing assignments is ruining me. I have an assignment, a whole assignment, to do before midnight tonight. I am failing that class and because of some inability to do school work it doesn't look like I'm improving those grades.
I want to post something interesting everyday. Something that is actually worth reading but not today. Today, right now, I am going to finish this damn assignment.
This year I have taken procrastination to a new level, I don't just avoid doing homework and assignments anymore I don't even do them at all. I have started to procrastinate so much that I am just not doing them.
so today I am going to present you with the steps of procrastination and some points to avoid procrastinating, even though they NEVER work!
The Steps Of Procrastination
The internet: this includes social media (mainly tumblr) however it has progressed mainly into finding a television series with more than one season and trying to watch every episode the last night I have left to do an assignment.
Food: everyone does this but food is a great way to procrastinate because it takes so long to cook and if it doesn't its not really filling.
Cleaning unnecessarily: this is the point in the procrastination that you know you are getting desperate. No one has posted anything new on Instagram for 2 hours and you've eaten enough food to feed an african family for a week but you still just can't do your assignment, so you start cleaning you room and doing the dishes.
Exercise: you have no other options now, the house is spotless and you couldn't stand to watch another movie. so you decide to go for a run because "OMG I ate all that food"even though you haven't done exercise since last time you were procrastinating you decide now is the time to be really fit.
The last straw: it's 12 am - 1am and you have given up on everything so you start you're assignment but you cant finish it because the last step of procrastination sets in; sleep.
My Very Un-useful Pointless Tips On Avoiding Procrastination
Turn the internet of at the modem, it wont harm you. Oh, you need the internet for your assignment? Do it on your parents computer, the funnest thing you'll find on there is paint, and also they can check the history really easily.
Eat a good healthy meal of lunch or dinner before you even try to start. Put some snacks on your desk and a bottle of water.
Either go outside to do your assignment or confine yourself to a tidy space just not your own room, if you're in your own room you'll get distracted.
Now is not the time to exercise, you haven't been on a run in a month doing it now is not necessary but if you really need to go constrict yourself to doing half your assignment before you go for a run as a break.
You will now get a fantastic sleep because your assignment will already be done!
NOTE: this can all be avoided by not being a lazy shit and actually doing your assignment before the night before but well, thats never going to happen.
P.S. Just a few thoughts from what is happening in the world at the moment. I will be honest and tell you I don't watch the news and some decisions may have changed but the day I wrote this it felt rather accurate and it was nice to put how I felt on paper.
Something that has always interested me is making videos, and then I found youtube. I've been watching youtubers for a few years now but it took me too long to realise the connection: that I could be making videos. The biggest problem I've had is that I didn't know what I wanted to make videos about. I could play music or maybe I could talk about books or I could go into beauty videos? I settled on not confining myself but I do plan to upload whenever I can.
My newest video:
I know it's not the best but I just want to keep working on it and improve my skills and if people watch in the mean time that's great!
This was interesting as a reader of the Divergent series becuause it really gives an insight into who Four is as a person rather than what Tris thinks of him. He is much stonger in character than I had first imaginied him. The stories that Roth has written, especially the ones before he transferred into dauntless really give readers a better idea of Four.
The best parts of these shorts stories are when Four is interacting with his friends. This is when he is the most interesting as a character. The way Zeke and Four a really best friends gives a new light on him becuase you see him with all his guard down.
This book was a bit of a dissapointment for me because although Roth gave us insight into Four as a character I wanted to see more of him, I wanted more moments that werent things I had already guessed or that he had actually mentioned to Tris in Divergent. Having said that if you are a fan of the divergent series this is a must read!
Popular by Maya Van Wagenen is a fantastic book. It's an easy read that is so enjoyable that it will keep you flipping pages for hours. I finished this book in one night it was so good. I'm not a big fan of autobiographies or true stories however the premise of this book is so interesting I just had to buy it.
Maya is a brave girl! I admire her so much for what she did stepping out of her comfort zone like that. What I liked most about this book is how she wrote about other peoples reactions, it was very interesting to see what people thought of her when she went out of her way to talk to them.
Another thing that I love about this book is that it ends with a very true conclusion about popularity; that no one is actually popular and that no one feels popular. I appreciated this because for a while during reading it I couldn't help but think that Maya was the problem and that it was her fault that she was unpopular. She almost seemed judgemental however towards the end she notes that the biggest part of popularity is talking to other people and putting herself in 'their space'.
I would recommend this to anyone of any age. It might be marketed toward a teenage audience but anyone would enjoy the funny well written characters and have a good laugh at the uncomfortable situation that Maya puts herself in.
Note: This isn't my school, it's off google images.
High school is something we've all done or are going to have to do. It can be daunting but it's also the place you will meet some of your best friends and create memories you'll never forget. In roughly ten weeks I will be finished with school forever. Is scary and exciting but mostly exciting. I have devised this list because of knowledge I have accumulated over the past 5 years not all of it is good advice but I thought I'd share it anyway. • Teachers are people too, they don't know everything, give them some slack. If you see them outside of school remember they hate you more than you hate them.
• Be someone completely different from yourself, personally I suggest Lady Gaga or Beyonce because they are very rich: note that this only works if you don't want to make friends.
• Talking of friends my next tip is make friends, I suggest someone clever and someone dumb that way you can copy homework and get a good laugh out of everyday.
• Don't complain, just don't! People already hate you but if you complain now they hate you more.
• Study but dot freak out about study, it's not worth it, failing a test isn't the end of the world. Trust me, we've all been there and if you haven't I hate you, and so does everyone else.
• Try your absolute best at everything whether you like it or not, something you thought you hated may be your new favourite thing. This also applies to people sometimes someone you hate will end up being your best friend.
• You don't want to be there, and neither does anyone else, the teachers all have things they would rather be doing. It does well to remember you are not alone in your feelings.
• Breathe, breathe because nothing you do in the meantime will stop the future coming and it better to have failed at something than to have not done anything at all. - Izzy
I am 17 years old. I grew up in Perth, Western Australia. My name is Isobel but everyone calls me Izzy and one day I am going to die. I know you didn't think that was how the sentence would end but I have a reason because there is always a reason. Im 17, and my life seems to be made up of multiple facts but I want to be more than that, more than small pieces of information that have nothing to do with who I am. Now that is a loaded question. Trying to answer who you are is painful and useless. No one has an answer and you just have to accept that. It perplxes me that I am so complicated, that I have so many feeling about so many different things yet I struggle to put them down on paper. It is odd because I will never know exactly who I am. Does the music I listen to define me? Do my values and morals define me? Is this all some cosmic joke and I am not meant to be defined or to know who I am? I am going to die some day and it would be nice to know that it meant something, that I had an impact. That someones life was better because I was in it. The scariest part about this is that I am the only one who can make my life something. I am the only one who can define who I am, to myself and to others. That is a hell of a lot of responsiblility for anyone. Yet it is given to everyone. I want to be remember for my passion for music, my undying love for my friends, my love of my parents, my talent at netball, my sarcastic, witty sense of humour. I just want to be remembered. I am going to die one day and I dont know if I can handle the responsibility of choosing how I am percieved during the time I have. I am going to die one day; and that scares me.
Today I took the train into the city with my best friend Cory. We never have a plan when we do this, we always just go and look around.It's nice to be that comfortable the we don't actually have to be doing anything when we spend time together. She took me to a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream food truck. This was the first time I have ever had the famous ice-cream, I ordered something with yummy caramel, my favourite. Then we sat in a nice shady spot and ate it. It was just icecream to me but I understand the obsession with cookie dough (what she ordered) that is pertty yummy.
We went over to Hyde Park, it's a 20 minute walk from the city centre; one thats totally worth it! It's so pretty. Cory absolutely loves it there she says its one of her favourite places in the world. I like it too but not nearly as much as she does. Above are some super random photos of us there and me pretending I can model. It wasn't super cold today just a bit chilly so I got away with wearing a short skirt. The leather jacket helped though!
I lost the photos but after that when we were walking back to the train station and we walked past this ice rink thing. The cool part was that some of the Perth ice hockey team was playing on it. I didnt even know we had an ice hockey team, I thought people just didnt play here because it's way too hot for ice but apparently I was wrong. Cory and I had a bit of a perve at the hot guys before heading back on the train that we happened to be perfectly on time for.
- Izzy
Today I have had a productive day, this morning I went to buy a book and left Big W with 4 and this afternoon I have been helping my father lay decking boards; its way better than a workout! So I went to Big W this morning to purchase the book Four A Divergent Collection by Veronica Roth and ended up leaving with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Popular by Maya Van Wagenen and The Maze Runner by James Dashner.
Four A Divergent Collection
I was actually looking forward to reading Four A Divergent Collection, I'm one of those people that 'hang out' to read a new book like this but I have been on holidays and I dont know the day let alone the date so I missed it and only realised it was already out today. The Divergent series was one of the best I've read, I was disappointed with Allegiant and not just because of the godawful ending! I'm really hoping this clears some things up.
Fangirl
I cant wait to read this book, all I have heard is good things although this scares me a little because now my expectations are super high. I absolutely love the cover of this it actually part of the reason I bought it; a bit shallow, I know.
Popular
I heard about this from watching one of poland bananasBOOK's videos on youtube. I thought it sounded amazing. What an idea, it's so clever! When I see people who are around my age doing amazing things like writing books about social experiments I feel so under accomplished. I cant wait to read this.
The Maze Runner
The real reason I got this book was because the movie is coming out and I really want to see it. I mean it has Dylan O'Brien in it, how could I pass up an opportunity to look at his face for an hour or so. I've heard mixed reviews about it so I'm going in with an open mind and hoping for some insight before the movie comes out. I am totally a book before movie girl.
Once I finish all the books I'm currently reading, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and Gameboard Of The Gods by Richelle Mead; and I actually get a chance to read these books I will be posting full reviews on them. - Izzy
There is no other way to put this but my life is boring. I don't do exciting things everyday, in fact I would rather just stay in bed until 3pm, get up, have breakfast and watch a movie than actually do anything. A lot of people would call this lazy and I suppose in some ways it is but I feel like everyone needs those days; the days you do nothing.
Today is one of those days for me. I want to write on here at least once everyday and I am going too, it's just that sometimes it's really difficult to come up with something interesting to write because nothing interesting is happening in my life or I'm not doing anything. This is when I remind myself that I should not write because others will read it, I should write because I enjoy it and it just a super cool bonus if other people enjoy it too.
This morning I finished watching the last episode of Orange Is The New Black so I went and took a long shower to process it. I do this whenever I finish any book, movie or TV series I invest myself in. I was planning on writing this after my shower but I have been trying to write this all morning because I have so many thoughts, and feeling about OITNB that I can't quite seem to effectively write about them yet.
Firstly this is great. I watched it all in three days. When I first started watching I thought it was going to be a boring documentary type about Piper, who I quite frankly found rather boring at first, I saw her as nothing more that the confused lesbian that felt sorry for herself about everything. What drew me into watching the rest of the episodes was the complexity of the other characters and I found myself doing something I rarely do; longing to know more about their lives, their back stories and why they were in prison. Piper eventually joins this league when she starts actually participating in prison life rather than focusing on her life outside of prison. These character are some of the most well represented in television, they have real problems but they are not their problems or defined by the fact they are in prison; they have lives, personalities, stories. This is what makes this one of the greatest series I have seen in a long time.
The second thing that makes this one of the greatest series I have seen is the questions it forces you to ask yourself. Questions like, are all prisoners really bad people? It raises questions about racism and authority and relationships. The segregated bathrooms is something that I struggled to understand, I don't know why this is a thing. I'm not American so i don't think I quite fully grasp how racism is taken in America but in Australia I cant imagine that happening. The things is it probably does I wouldn't know I've never actually taken the time to think about it.
The authority in the series are mainly men. This is not a problem just a real representation of society. The problem is that the three main male character who are in an authority position have too many problems. Two of them (Bennett and Healy) seem nice enough and wanting to help. The other is just a horrible person. Now here is where my problem comes in, I feel sorry for the position that Bennet got himself into. I shouldn't feel sorry for him because he did the wrong thing but I do. These three men are not great example of an overall population of men. One is a drug dealer rapist, one is the nice guy that just 'accidentally' got a inmate pregnant and the other has serious anger issues and is weirdly lonely. Now I'm not saying that men cant have feelings and problems I'm saying they need someone at least one person that is reasonably normal in this show to counteract it because the audience is now getting a wrong stereotype about prison guards; that they are all sad low lives, that have mental health issues.
Overall this show is great. Watch it! I haven't met a person yet who doesn't like at least one of the story lines in it.
I used to hate breakfast, like most teenagers. I found out the reason I didn't like breakfast was that toast and carbs are too heavy to start off my day. So here's my favourite brekky, and it's super easy and good for you!
Berries and Yoghurt
The ingredients are super easy:
Greek yoghurt,
Frozen or fresh berries
Chia seeds
Sunflower seeds
Honey
I put mine in a super pretty bowl because the prettier it is the more you want to eat it!
I love frozen berries, they're a cheaper alternative to fresh berries but they still taste great an are super healthy. They have heaps of antioxidants. I have mixed berries and extra blueberries because they're my favourite.
I also add in some chia seeds and sunflower seeds. Not only do they give it a good texture but they have a load of vitamin E in them too.
I use honey as a natural sweetener because the berries can be sour especially mixed with greek yoghurt. Honey it so much better for you than sugar!
Today my mother and I set out to go and see How To Train Your Dragon 2. The first thing that went wrong was when we didn't get there on time. The second, it was sold out. So being the negative person I am I gave up. It obviously wasn't meant to happen today.
My Mummy-poo
We ended up in a coffee shop eating. Nachos and coffee, so much for that healthy lifestyle.
I suppose that no one is actually reading this or ever going to read this. It seems almost pointless starting to post but if Cassandra Clare had never bothered to write in case no one was reading we would never have a perfectly, troubled character like Jace Wayland/Herondale/Morgenstern/Lightwood; or if Anne Frank hadn't kept record of her time in The Annex, high school students would have one less thing to complain about and the world would be short of one rare piece of amazingly thoughtful and truthful literature.
Thats enough about writing. I have clearly established my point that I believe no one will read this and that I am not writing for others. This is for me, much like most things I do in my life.
Im going to introduce myself, hi, I'm Izzy Moroney. I'm 17, from Perth Western Australia.
