The end of an era

Hey guys.

This post is going to  be a bit of a sad one I feel.

This time 3 years ago, I was sitting exams, to tell whether or not I was going to be able to get into uni. Im now sat here, writing this blog, being able to say that I've now finished three of the hardest years of my life. 

When I say three of the hardest years, I genuinely mean hardest. 

I've had so many breakdowns because I didnt think I'd get work done on time, I've had screaming matches with house mates over the most silly things, and managed to break friendships in two because of these. 

But ive also had some of the best times of my life. Ive met some absolutely incredible people, who I will never ever forget, and was able to have some of the most amazing experiences which I wouldn't have gotten unless I came two uni.

I was given the chance to manage two fantastic artists,

 Katie Collins
 The most lovely person with the greatest voice. Im literally so happy I got the chance to meet this girl, she has so much potential and I honestly hope she goes so far with what she does.

Sioux Falls
I think I learnt the most working with this band than I have from my course. Along with learning a lot, they are actually lovely people once you get to know them.

Please check these two artists out, you wont regret it.

I was also given the chance to run my own record label, Elmwood Records. I keep saying this but I dont think i've had so much fun than putting on the two gigs we hosted, and the first one was such a fantastic success, that I didnt think was even possible. 

I cant thank people enough for helping me out on my three years in Cheltenham, and I will be forever grateful for all the help I have received. 

Along with all the experiences I've had during these three years, the time I spent here wouldn't be the same without the people I have met, especially within the past year.

Three of them being Anna, Ellie and Emily. 

Although these girls have kept me a tiny bit sane throughout my three years, I also probably should thank the other people that I dont really speak to any more. Only because I can learn from mistakes ive made.

When I first made this blog, I did it with the intention of writing down my antics over the three years that im here. Saying that, Its only right that this be my last post, seeing as i'm no longer in uni, so "The Crazy Life of a Uni Student" doesnt really make sense anymore.

It's been a blast writing some of these posts.

TTYL,
Kirst x

Three months of hell.

Hey. 

Im literally not sure how long its been since I last wrote a blog post, so im using this as a form of procrastination.  Right now, I have a 10'000 word essay to write, as well as the other 7 deadlines I have coming up, but in true form, ive decided i'd rather sit on my bed typing on a laptop screen about how my life is at the moment and theres only one word I can use to describe it.

Fragile. 

Fragile because I get a bit trashed last night, and im feeling the effects quite seriously. Fragile because I literally dont have a moment to myself where I shouldn't be doing anything. 

Last night was the second day of Glostoneberet; a fundraising gig that Tone Radio put on to raise money to run the radio station and quite honestly it was the strangest evening ever.

We only really watched the four acts in the barn which were Jack Cooper, Sahara Breeze, Photo Finish and Ten Tombs. 

Jack Cooper, Sahara Breeze and Ten Tombs are all made up of first year POMS (popular music) and they all smashed their sets to pieces like they always do. 

The only word I can muster up to describe Photo Finishes set is manic.

There were death walls and people diving to get merch and even beach balls. BEACH BALLS!!! 

This all happened in the pool room of the Frog and Fiddle, which isnt the biggest venue ever so it was stressful, terrifying and at the same time,  hilarious. 

They also got a member of a different band up to sing Rock Show by Blink 182 and it was a pretty sweet set up!

I've already written a blog post about the last time I saw them live, which i'll leave here [x]

Afterwards we decided to have a little flat party and i'm really not sure it was the greatest idea we've ever had. I woke us this morning in the corridor with nothing buy a blanket around me and two members of photo finish laughing at me.  The flat also had to be fumigated because of the stench of beer.

I thought I would go onto something a bit more serious now.
I have three months left of uni.
So many things have changed within the past three years and now the thing that has had the most impact on my life ever is ending.
We've all started to tell people to shut up because people keep mentioning it. Its not because we're behind on work, its because so much is going to change after May and we arent ready for it. At all. We all keep getting really emotional at really silly points, like when songs like Fall Out Boy - Thnks For The Memories came in the last time we went to props, and now none of us can listen to it without getting really sad.

I realise that the most change thats happened has been within the last year.
Right now: I have a 20 hour job, whereas last year I was skint and living of pasta most days
Im managing two acts, Sioux Falls, a fresher band who are literally the nicest guys and Katie Collins, the same young lady as last year
I dont talk to the same people as I did last year, but made a few more friends along the way.

All this being said, im pretty sure I was more happy last year. I was less stressed, I saw my family more, and I didnt have the looming threat of my last deadline.

Im pretty sure I got told in second year how much of a bitch third year was but I never anticipated it was going to be this awful.

Thats it for now,
TTYL,
Kirst x 

AmsterDAYM, that was a good trip.

Hi guys!

As most of you know, I went to Amsterdam over the weekend and honestly had the most amazing time. This trip was simply to get some downtime after a crazy first semester of third year, get to know some of the people from other courses/years and put on a gig in a venue which is probably something i'll never get to do again and i would honestly recommend it to anyone. 

DAY ONE.

What we did.

• The coach trip was one of the most long and painful journeys i've ever done. We were on a coach for about 13 hours and ive never been so bored in my entire life. We did pass through countries like France and Belgium which was pretty cool, despite Belgium being completely void of anything besides factories. At one point, we started playing hangman on the back on the flyers that Ellie had for the gig. Masz joined in for the majority because we mainly were choosing to guess rugby players, and I guessed his straight away because he'd chosen a welsh player and put some of the letter in already. (He chose Dan Lydiate)
• Due to the pathetically long trip, we arrived at the hostel at 7pm. Anna, Ellie, Emily and I decided to break from the group to go for a little explore because we were all tired from the journey and werent really feeling a heavy night. After about 5 minutes we rejoined with the other group who were going to the other hostel to get on it. Although the walk from the hostel was about half an hour, it took us roughly about an hour because 3 out of 8 of the group were steaming. It was bloody freezing but I don't think i've laughed that much in a while. Getting lost literally has never been so much fun. 
• About 5 minutes after getting to The Winston, we decided to grab some food and head back to sleep because we were all so tired and getting quite ill. We did, at this point lose an Anna because she was pretty game to get drunk. We found this cute little food place called Chipsy King who sold the best chips ever.

DAY TWO.

What we did.

• Considering I was with three of the most laziest girls ever on this trip, we managed to get out of the hostel relatively early (12pm?) to go get breakfast. We went and found the IAMsterdam sign and went into a little restaurant that was there called Cobra Cafe where I had a hot chocolate (Warme chocolademelk) with a shot of Malibu and a cheese and ham toastie. We then went and took a load of photos with the IAmsterdam sign. 
• For the next part of the day we went and looked around the shops whilst Anna went to be cultured and look around the Van Gogh Museum, which im kind of gutted I didnt go to, looking back. Heres the part I shame Emily because she managed to spend €40 on Mac lipsticks. They were quite pretty though, so at least she has a good eye for red lipsticks, and to be honest, im suprised she didnt spend much more. We also went to Urban Outfitters where I also shamefully spent some money in their sale. (sucker for an UO sale)
• GIG TIME!!! -  Today was the day that we put on the gig for the musicians that managed to get through auditions. Being a part of the ALT Music committee, I was one of the people who helped pick the line up for this gig, and honestly I think we made the right decision. Im gonna stick soundclouds/songs for the people who played at the bottom of this blog just because I can. Like any normal gig, we were all pretty hanging by the time the gig started because European shots are huge compared to the UK's. In between the time the gig was on and by the time I went home, I had some of the weirdest conversations of my life with people i was there with and lecturers. So by 2am, I did something that EVERYONE would be suprised at. I decided I was too drunk and told Anna and Ellie I was going to walk back to the hostel. Ellie and Anna didnt like this idea, so quite literally shoved me into a taxi. I was completely fine paying for this taxi myself, but Ellie obviously wasnt because she almost gave the taxi driver €50 to take me back. I got back to the hostel and spent an hour chatting to Alex and Mikey outside my hostel room before going to bed.

If you zoom in, you can see Emily, Ellie and Anna on one of the letters. 

DAY THREE.

What we did.

• Day three was the most disappointing days of the trip if im quite honest. Simply because the only thing we actually did was go to the Heineken Museum. 
• We left the hostel at 1pm because everyone was hungover as shit and feeling awful. Anna stayed in bed while Ellie, Emily and I went to find a Mcdonalds but this didnt really help. Trying to find the experience was a complete pain in the arse simply because none of us had wifi/data and all of our heads hurt. Luckily enough we managed to find some second years and followed them.
• Ive never been so sure that Emily and Ellie are insane than walking around this thing. At one point, whilst we were listening to why the hell there were horses in the place, Emily said that the missing ones had gone to the glue factory?!? We then went to claim our two free beers. I then remembered that I dont actually like Heineken, so gave my two to Ellie, as did Emily. So Ellie got day drunk. 
• They then came up with "Taccy nap then sink and skank" which swiftly became the trip motto. 
• I wish I had more stories from this day but unfortunately, after the experience I decided that drinking another night wasnt wise so we went to this strange steakhouse who charged €5 for a sprite and went home to sleep. 

DAY FOUR.

What we did.

• This was definitely our most touristy day of the trip. We actually planned to get up early so we could get the breakfast that the hostel provided, of course this didnt happen so once we had gotten out of bed and gotten ready the original 7 (Emily, Ellie, Anna, Alex, Mikey and Liam) went to find this huge library called Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam to get food and walk around. I literally could not understand anything that was there so ended up getting this seafood cob and pepsi. 
• We then went to the sex museum which was the oddest experience of my life. I can quite honestly say I have never seen so much bondage and penises and sex in my entire 22 years of being a human and im not sure my eyes have healed. Whilst I was waiting for the girls to stop taking pictures on this gigantic model of a penis, I was sat down and could not take my eyes of this video showing a couple doing the 69. Fully scarring and definitely worth the €4 we paid.
• Next up we went to find Spoils and Matt to see what they were doing for the evening, and on our way there we stopped in a condommery just to see what it was about. Emily and I ended up buying condom lollies which had a slogan on. Mine said "Je Suis Horny" on it. We ended up finding the boys and they told us they were going ice skating. I decided to skip out on ice skating as im like Bambi on ice whilst walking so doing it on ice would not have ended up well, so I grabbed a hot chocolate and sat on the side only to figure out that the only one that could skate relatively well was Ellie. 
• Taccy naps happened AGAIN, after this. However I managed to convince Emily and Ellie that eating before a heavy drinking session was a good thing, so dragged them to Wagamamas. 
• Next stop was a bar called Coco's Outback which served the strongest cocktails ever. I ended up not just being double parked but quadrouple parked. By the end I gave Lewis my last one because I wouldnt have been standing by the end of the night. After leaving, we lost half of our group and ended up getting lost because Joe gave us the wrong directions. We ended up walking down the strip of the red loght district and my god, I have never been more shocked. We walked past two windows with girls in their underwear trying the get guys attention and the only thing I could think was "What the must your parents think of your profession?" 
• By the end of the night, Ellie and I were the only ones left. We ended up walking to get chips from two guys who were so strange it hurts. They were being so stereotypical and the one guy tried to put the cone of chips we bought done my boobs. 

SPOILS 2.0

DAY FIVE.

Day five isnt even worth talking about because we were all irritable, hungry, tired and had another 12 hour coach trip so im going to finish this blog here. Overall I had a great time with the best people and couldnt have been happier to go. I am definitely planning to go again so there will probably be another post on Amsterdam at some point during this year. 

Thanks for reading,

TTYL

Kirst x

JACK COOPER

MELISSA GRACE

BEN CIPOLLA

DEMI MARRINER

TEN TOMBS - Tombs' song - Demons was pretty much the only song that was sang throughout the whole trip so i dare you not to get this stuck in your head.

Happiness can be fun, I guess.

Hi guys.

You know those days where you scroll aimlessly through the internet looking for something to do, or read because you're that bored? Well I was doing that the other day and I came across the best article that inspired me to write this. 

At this present moment, Im going through a bit of shit. My anxiety has come back in full force, Im struggling with motivation to do anything and im finding it quite hard being on my own at the moment which is strange, because i usually hate company. 

Although, i've already written something something like this I thought i'd do it again because the other one is quite old and my tastes and habits have changed quite drastically in the past two years and we long-standing readers of this awful blog will know how much I like to write a good ole list. 

I usually give myself a number that i keep to and its usually ten, im just gonna keep going until I run out of things that make me happy because why not. 

1. Cathy and my best buds, also known as my mum, Hannah, Emily, Ellie, and Jenny. 
2. Cats. 
3. Dancing around my room in my underwear
4. Putting makeup on
5. New purfume
6. Long walks around pitville park (usually quite late at night)
7. Receiving things in the post that arent bills
8. Online shopping
9. Shopping around town
10. Being paid
11. A good hug when you need it (Quite a big part of my happiness)
12. Being drunk and one of my fav songs come on
13. The smell of fresh washing
14. Banter
15. New things 
16. Food
17. Sleep
18. Having girly nights where I do my eyebrows and put a facemask on
19. Taking my bra off at the end of the day
20. Having a good cry when things arent going right. 
21. Facetiming Megan
22. Making other people smile
23. Manners (IMPORTANT)
24. Getting 11 likes on an instagram post
25. A good cup of tea
26. That weather thats cold enough to have to wear a coat but not rainy
27. Popping bubble wrap
28. Knowing that you havnt got anything to do that requires effort the next day
29. That person that always makes you happy actually making effort
30. Crawling into cold sheets
31. Going on a date that turns out well
32. Getting the window seat on a train
33. Finding a pen you love and not losing it straight away
34. Making someone cry with laughter
35. Having something to smile about. 
36. Listening to someone tell a story that makes them happy.
37. Waking up and realising you dont have to awake for a few more hours
38. Cats. (repeated and not even sorry)
39. Websites like Buzzfeed and Tumblr.
40. Disney songs
41. Getting a nice text off your family
42. Having something to look forward to (Amsterdam)
43. The smell of flavoured coffee
44. Getting your eyeliner perfect
45. Being kissed on the forehead.
46. Being right
47. Going to a till and finding out something is on sale
48. Spending time with people that love you
49. Someone trusting you with something they dont want others to know
50. Having a "confident" day

:-) 

Hope you enjoyed that little nugget.

Enjoy your new year!

TTYL,

Kirst x

Anxiety pt 2

Hi!

Guess whose back another month later. Again?

Im not sure if people will remember but over summer I uploaded a blog post about how I deal with anxiety, whether it be other peoples or my own. If you don't, im going to link it here - [x]

Well, heres another post about it because within the past few months, its got pretty bad again so rather than bottle all my crap up i'm using this blog as a diary, which was what it was started up for in the first place. 

Im not sure if I wrote it on here, but in October I got a job on Fashion Accessories in House of Fraser, working on gloves. New jobs always freak me out, I absolutely hate meeting new people! It means having to get to know new people, and actually having to find things to talk about which is always awkward. Especially because you're never sure of peoples personalities. However, Fashion Accs wasnt actually too bad as there wasnt actually that many people on there, which was nice. I ended up working there for a month, when I actually got a job with House of Fraser rather than working for an outside company. That was all well and good but it meant moving to a different department. Not just a different department, but a bigger one. 

Menswear.

This is where my anxiety flared up. Im not gonna lie. Menswear in Cheltenham was always very daunting to me. Whenever I walked past there, it just seemed very different to Cardiff's menswear which was always going to happen, but I didnt think I'd find it so hard to find people to interact with. Like, its always nice to have a work buddy. By work buddy, I mean someone you can just have a laugh with, and maybe cause a little bit of trouble with. Im pretty sure i've had that in nearly all the jobs i've had. Over summer, im pretty sure I got told off for talking to one person so much. In Cheltenham, I thought there was going to be NO WAY I would find that person and at the moment, that thought would be living up to expectation. Last Saturday, I got invited out to the menswear christmas night out, and quite frankly, I wasnt going to go. I didnt know anyone very well so I didnt see much point knowing how little i'd end up talking. So when I got home from my shift that day, I received a message asking if I was going to go. At this point, I was pretty bored and in the flat on my own so I decided to go. 

This probably was a pretty much HUGE mistake. From what I remember it was a good night. From what I remember! 

I decided to start on the Sambuca shots just to get my nerves out of the way, because I know how confident I am when Ive had a few drinks. The morning after and i've had my purse and keys stolen and my brand new Iphone 6 wouldn't turn on and was pretty smashed up. I went in to work to find out that a few things had happened the night and people knew before me. 

To make things worse, half way through my shift in work I rang my mam and quite literally broke down in the middle of the staffroom, where people from my department actually saw.

I went home after my shift and took me quite a lot of strength to come back to Cheltenham. Im not gonna lie, Im still not 100% sure I even want to be here still. It takes a lot for me not to want to be in Cheltenham, because before all of this happened I was hoping to live here after I had finished uni. Now, I shake quite often and the thought of even being in Cheltenham makes me tear up a little bit.

I dont think i'd had even cheered up the little amount I have done if it werent for Emily actually cheering me up. I genuinely think that shes being trying her hardest and I cant thank her enough. 

Overall, anxiety sucks and I dont think any of that crap would have happened if I wasnt so nervous. 

In my last blog post, I wrote some things that helps people out when they're feeling shitty(anxious) so I thought I'd write up some of my tells(what happens when I think im close to having a panic attack or feeling nervous)

• I know if im close to having a panic attack I genuinely cannot be consoled so usually I start crying, and I cant breathe. The past few times ive had them, they've been in work and I was quite literally an ugly mess. My make up had been cried off or wiped off with tissues and you could hear my chest wheezing. 
• Im also pretty grabby with myself. Im not sure if that makes any sense but I keep my sleeves over my hand, im wringing my hands or im scratching my chest. 

I know this was a bit of a personal one, and im really sorry if you didnt enjoy it very much but it was just something I needed to write. 

Heres to hoping the next post will be a bit more upbeat.

TTYL,

Kirst x

P.S I thought this picture was very important so i thought I would add it in.

I don’t think that means what you think it means

Hi!

I thought I would write a post about these past two days and what I've been up to.

Im back to my old tricks and writing when I'm hungover so apologies if sentences don't make sense or I make silly spelling errors. 

BACKGROUND INFO

A couple of months ago, this bloke followed me on twitter called "TidalPete". I had a stalk and assumed that he was just following me to get some promotion for his band, so I followed him back and thought nothing of it. A couple of weeks later, I received a DM (direct message) from this guy mentioning that he to wrote a blog and that I should check out his posts. We started talking about why he decided to start writing a blog and stuff, so I decided that he seemed decent and checked out his band.

What I have found out about this band: 

1. They are from Peterborough, which is freaking miles away.
2. Two of the members are also in a band called "Tidal Dave" and another is in another band called "One Nation"
3. They literally have their self promotion game DOWN!
4. They're pretty sick live. If you get the chance, then please go and have a watch. Pete jumps around like a whippet on acid and its brilliant to watch. They're all pretty great instrumentalists.
5. Theyre really nice guys.

BACKGROUND INFO DONE!

You may be thinking, what does this have to do about the past two days?

Well, Thursday evening my two buddies from Cardiff came down to see me, so we could travel up to Peterborough to watch them live. 

Thursday night, Jenny and Ellie managed to persuade Abbie and I to go to props. Props the night before driving two and a half hours was never a good idea, but it was a lot of fun introducing them to propaganda. As far as I know, They had a great night.

The next morning we set off on our road trip, and it was the longest drive I have ever been on which included Abbie saying "Peterborough yay" every time she saw signs, lots of singing and catching up as I havn't seen my babies for nearly three months. Once we got there, we grabbed food and pre drinks and went to get ready! I honestly think that if alcohol hadnt been involved in last night, i would have passed out. 

First up was a guy called B-Sydes

This guy was so cool and super humble. We saw him after his set and I told him how great he was, and he literally didnt stop hugging me and thanking me. 

Next, a band called Scumbus. 

Literally the most funny band ive heard. At one point, the lead singer had a sombrero on and their song definitely had a mexican tone to it. 

Photo Finish were up next.

Photo Finish were the reason we went, and they did not disappoint! They honestly have so much stage presence and they play so well live! Like i said earlier, Pete jumps around like a complete loon, and at one point, put his guitar and just went and stood in the crowd. Baring in mind, they were in the middle of their cover of All Time Low. I asked him why later that night, and his reply? "Cos I can"

One Nation played next.

Unfortunately, I didnt get to see much of these which im pretty gutted about because what I did get to see was pretty damn sick. 

The headliner, Old School Reasons were last.

These guys were literally the shit. I can 100% confirm that I am a definite fan after seeing these guys! At the end of the set, they got the crowd to do a death wall, which had me concerned about peoples lives that I didnt even know, and the lead singer crowd surfed.. 

Honestly, the best part of their set which made my whole night was two blokes got up in front of the lead guitarists microphone and started miming.. 

Im not sure whether it was because I was pretty drunk at the time but it was honestly so freaking funny. 

After the gig had finished, the venue turned into a nightclub, so we all proceeded to get insanely drunk with the bands and we dance and met lots of lovely people including the Bassist,  Luke's girlfriend and a couple of people that Photo Finish knew personally so that was pretty sweet.

Definitely must have been a good night, because woke up this morning with a penis drew on one hand and I heart PFx on the other (Cheers Peter)

Tidal Pete, Me, Jenny, Abbie, Mark from Old School Reasons

If any of you want to check any of these musicians out,

I'll leave some links below. 

B-SYDES

SCUMBUS

PHOTO FINISH

ONE NATION

OLD SCHOOL REASONS

There we go.

Thats all folks.

Hope you enjoy it.

Please go check out those bands, promise you wont be disappointed.

TTYL, 

Kirst x

Addiction in Cheltenham

Hi guys. 

I cant believe its been over a month since I last put up a blog post. Slacking a little bit, I know. I wish I could blame it on the 3rd year work load but alas, I cannot. I haven't started any of it. I want to say its because none of its due in any time soon, which is true but that doesn't even scratch the surface. 

The main reason: procrastination.

I know this is a usual excuse for people but let me just explain what ive been doing to procrastinate. 

(This is the part where I embarrass myself greatly)

Activity #1: Greys Anatomy

Greys Anatomy is a 11-season tv show originally shown on ABC and now streamed on American netflix and I am OBSESSED with it. Ive been watching it for about two months and im currently on season 7, which should be both impressive and pathetic. Why both, I hear you ask?

Impressive because within around about 60 days I have watched 126+ hour-long episodes of this programme. Its pathetic because within those two months I could have been doing something productive like starting my dissertation or researching things for the record label thing im setting up for one of my assessments. 

Here comes my reasons why you should watch this amazing tv show. 

Reason 1: If you're into "relationship goals" and watching friendships blossom into amazingness that could become an addiction at any point, then you need this tv show. 

RS1: Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang

RS2: George O' Malley and Izzy Stevens (Please note: This friendship will break you)

RS3: Mark Sloan and Callie Torres.

Reason 2: It could make you smarter. IE: I now know very long words like cardiothuracic (A doctor that specialises in hearts and chests) and craniotomy (surgical removal of piece of skull from ones brain)

Please make sure you dont do what I did and marathon nearly a season every two days. I had a dream that I needed a craniotomy the other day because I had a bleed on my brain. It was terrifying and I now wear a seatbelt everywhere I go (in a car obviously).

Activity #2: Watching things about cats.

Yes, I should be a crazy lady. I feel like in about 20 years or so, I may end up living in a tiny flat with 10 cats with names that begin with the same letter and I dont have an issue with this. I mean, its not a bad life to live. Anyhow, if you have me on facebook then you will see the amount of cat videos I share or that I'm tagged in. 

Activity #3: Tinder.

For any of you that live under a rock and dont know what this is, it is a dating app. This app is super simple and mainly frowned upon. Why? Because its usually used for hooking up with someone that lives in your area. Im not saying I use it for that reason in the slightest, but it is highly addictive and can get very distracting. Ive had this app for nearly three years on and off and Ive been on one date, which was this summer. However, since coming back to Cheltenham my addiction is out of control, which has been proven since I have matched with a 46 year old, through no fault of my own (Blame Emily) 

I hope you enjoyed this silly little blog post.

TTYL,

Kirst x