chapter two: february.

February was yet another 'up and down' kind of month; it was also spent a little bit all over the place, but I think that's just becoming a regular occurrence every month now, I'm getting used to it.

I was reminded how very fragile life can be, and how we can take things for granted, specifically having people in our individual worlds. I also learnt that the shortest month in the year, can flash past, but also feel like the longest month in the year - time is weird concept isn't it? 

Despite a lot of 'stuff' happening, I've surprised myself by managing to keep up to date with all my work (where possible), and looking back and seeing the week and a bit I spent in bed, I'm really not sure how that happened. 

Still, there were definitely highlights of February, which included my car passing it's MOT (because when you own a car and are an 'adult', that's a small little victory you take whilst you can haha). I spent the extra day of the year being extremely productive and also went out in the evening to see 'Aggers and Tuffers', which was a brilliant evening out, it was a much needed couple of hours full of laughter. 

I also went on a very last minute trip to Spain, and whilst it was an incredibly bittersweet couple of days, I did manage to enjoy moments. So here's a couple of photos from that trip... 

I also got to film with my friend Kieron (ItsKieron), so we did some tag / challenge videos for both our channels, and I also uploaded a blog post on here mid way through Feb (I told you, I'd attempt to post at least once a month, I'm sticking to it so far... only 10 more months to go... Haha) 

But I've embedded them below, so if you haven't had a chance to watch them (or want to watch them again) you can do: 

Bean Boozled Challenge (link)

Most Likely To... Qs (link)

Chubby Bunny Challenge (link)

til next time! 

 - evan :)

chapter one: january.

I had originally planned to put together a video for January and post that today alongside this blog post, but that's still in the process of being edited and I really don't have that many video clips from the past month, so I'm not sure that's even going to get posted?

However, here's a blog for a Sunday read...

January has been a weird month, an average month and full of ups and downs. It started productive and positive and has ended pretty much that way too, but I think it's fair to say there was a dip in the middle.
I think this is the first month in a very long time that I've managed to upload on time every day there is a blog due on Music In Time, which hopefully paves the way for the rest of the year too. I know that the same can't be said about this blog etc. but it's a starting place and I think that's what we need to focus on... :P

Music has been a huge part of the past 31 days, whether that be gigs that I've been to, the evenings spent just chilling listening to music with friends or the few songs that I've finally managed to return to and finish myself.
This last week in particular has been a good one; starting with Dad's birthday last weekend, catching up with one of the best friends for a gig on Monday, we saw Eliza and the Bear, and they were pretty incredible live! Then Wednesday I caught up with a small group of 'besties' (I hate saying that but it seemed to fit... Hah) for dinner and a quick game of articulate - we definitely know how to live!
Thursday saw me head to Camden to see another best friend play a gig with his band Risk, they did a great job considering how ill 2/3 of them were! Yesterday involved scouting about for a field to use for our next music event, and today I'm heading to see Hozier in London, which I'm pretty hyped about.

I haven't done any reading this month, well apart from a bit of Stuart Little last night... and I haven't been to the cinema or watched any particular films that have stood out, apart from Robots the other night and God Help The Girl, the latter I watched about five times in the space of one week... Although I'm enjoying Pretty Little Liars being back and watching old seasons of Hell's Kitchen... What has my life come to?

Anyways, that's it for now, expect a blog in the next 29 days, and I'll make more of an effort to do some filming every now and then in February!

Until next time!
- evan. :)

goodbye twenty fifteen.

Well, it's the end of another year, another fast year and I'm not sure how I feel about the whole ordeal really. I'm not desperate for the year to end but I'm not desperate for it to continue past 365 days, it's been an average year, starting off pretty poor but picking up around the middle.

At the start of the year, I said I wanted to do more and I think overall I've succeeded...

Rest More 
I definitely didn't do less, but I made sure that if I needed a day off, I had one, or if my brain was telling me to stay in bed for a day (or in a couple of cases, a few days) I did. I still filled my time too much, but overall I think I did alright with that resolution.

Read More
I absolutely smashed this one in comparison to the past few years, and I'm pretty sure I reached my target of 12 books, and I've definitely rekindled my love for getting lost in a book as easily as I can get lost in music.

Do More
Well, 2015 was the year the adventures started... There were many day trips out and mini adventures with friends and family, including a couple of days away with a friend to Selsey, a trip with Kieron and Lai in Edinburgh (wow what an experience that was), a weekend trip to Bath and a week holiday in Weymouth with family. (However, the exercise part of that resolution was unsuccessful...)

Create More
A difficult one to measure... Because of my creative writing course at sixth form, yes I created more and Music In Time Blog's blog posts have gone up to three blog posts a week, so in that sense, yes I've created more this year, and I attempted VEDA on my YouTube channel, however, the rest of the year round there have been little gaps where I didn't upload on MIT Blog and this little corner of the internet was abandoned many times, so that one needs a little work in 2016 I think...

Enjoy More
Accepting my brain can be a little crap at times happened this year, granted after I finished sixth form and was able to never see a certain few people ever again, but that allowed me to make the most of the good days and really live in those moments. It would be fair to say the turning point was August 12th when I went to the middle of a field on a hill and watched a meteor shower with two of my best friends, with exam results the following day... I've managed to truly enjoy trips around the UK and make memories with friends and family that will stay with me for a very long time, so yeah I reckon I did a good job of that one.

The first half of 2015 wasn't particularly great, I smashed my phone screen twice in one month, fell out with a teacher over the partial solar eclipse and a couple of other random events, it started picking up when I passed another A Level and finally left sixth form...
The second half of 2015 have been a big six months, travelling to Edinburgh, Bath, Weymouth, Selsey and many other places in the UK; full of live music and evenings of music chilling playing FIFA, or Articulate (depending on which group of friends I'm with), I also got to see Billy Elliot with my Dad this year, which was an incredible show and is now in my Top 3 musicals...

2015 has also been another year for lots of live music, and I finally got to go to Barn on the Farm Festival (and I've got my ticket for next year too, so that's something I'm hyped about), we went to Wembley to see Doctor Who: Symphonic Spectacular (which was incredible), I saw Rae Morris live (at last), Meadowlark and Amber Run (a couple of times), Little Comets, experienced the end of Edinburgh Fringe, Ryan Keen, S Club 7 (well three of them), The Wombats, Martin Luke Brown, Wheatus (yes I got to sing along to Teenage Dirtbag live!) and The 1975 again.

On the penultimate note of music, here's a quick summary of Music In Time Blog's 365 days... I have been asked to review James Bay's debut album, The Ordinary Boys latest album, Little May's debut album and Billie Marten's latest EP. I've interviewed Little Comets, Stacey Solomon, Lucy Spraggan, Michael Malarkey, Fred Abbot and Jess & The Bandits. And with the help from a very good friend, Tom, Music In Time went live, we had our first showcase as Music In Time Presents... and it went pretty well, there may even be a couple more in the pipeline for 2016...

As always, the last thing to say is a massive thank you to everyone (well all the wonderful people), that have been a part of my 2015...
Gran, Mum, Misty, Dad, Dave, Dave and everyone else in the fab family, for supporting me, encouraging me, keeping me sane and winding me up too...
Billy, Kieron and Lai, for all the incredible adventures in the past few months in particular, the evenings spent in the car listening to music, playing Articulate and consuming however many calories.
TJ for motivating and inspiring me everyday since 19th August. I couldn't have asked for a better person to be going on this venture with and working alongside you has been fun and annoying at times, but always know I'll probably only sulk for 20 seconds...
Jack for the chilled evenings playing FIFA and listening to sad music.
And anyone else that has got me through 2015 in a better state than previous years, little moments, BBQs, gig nights, parties, Thursdays at Theo or Mahlia's, Football Tuesdays, and many many other highlights of the year.

Thank you 2015. It's been pretty good (y)

september and october.

September was a really weird month, a great month don't get me wrong, but an odd one. It started with me having a cold in Edinburgh, surrounded by a group of creative and wonderful people, and it ended with another cold in Surrey, surrounded by a different group of creative and wonderful people. I think it would be fair to say September was busy, productive and full of work.

I can't say that August was any more normal, nor October and I'm not sure November or even December are going to be 'normal' either, but I guess that all comes down to the fact that normal for me used to be going to school / college every day or having it on my mind for the last 15 years of my life and now I'm out in the big, wide world.

It's fair to say thinking about the future got too much, scared the crap out of me and left me a little burned-out. However, being surrounded by those creative and wonderful people, I briefly mentioned in the intro to this blog, I've been calmed down, pulled together and I think it's fair to say I'm safely back on my feet. So thank you to those few, you know who you are!

Music played a huge part of September 2015, in more ways than one. Whenever my mind starts to wander, get me to live music and it'll find it's way back again. If there's one thing I'm going to take away from the past months, it's that when people may let you down, music never will. To be honest, I knew this already but it has now been proven and noted in my list of stuff learnt outside of school... (but that leads onto two other blog posts...)

It's not often you can say you spent a whole week scouting open mics, seeing Ryan Keen in London and then saw S Club 7 (well three of them) on a night out in town - oh yeah, I actually went out for a full night, like left when the club turned the lights up - that wouldn't have happened a couple of months ago! All the adventures and fun of September could of course catch up with me and give me a massive slap across the face, and I'm sure this cold is some kind of punishment already, however, the next couple of months I've got an event to focus on and one that I'm hoping will be the start of bigger and better things! I'm excited.

I leave September and say thank you for the things you have taught me, about music, friends, productivity and creativity. I thank you for helping me find my feet again, and focusing my mind too, don't let others distract you, and don't feel guilty for having a down day, just get back up and fight the next.

(skip forward a month)... Music also played a huge part of October and I ventured to Bath with some friends too for a weekend and November sees me go on a weeks holiday, that I'm really looking forward to, and feel like I deserve to be honest. I've got my camera all set for some photos and videos whilst I'm away, so maybe expect a little blog post about that...

I've been kept on my feet the past couple of months and I don't mean this to sound a dramatic as it does, but I currently feel like I've got something to get out of bed for. I'm working on a big project which I'm hoping will come together and be a success, because if it doesn't I'm going to have to rethink my whole Plan C in life... but I'm telling myself I'll cross that bridge when I get to it...

Being surrounded by wonderful people in the past two months and keeping the amount of people that can annoy me to a realistic minimum has really inspired, as well as helped me. So thank you to the few people that have stuck with me recently.

'til next time! 

- evan :) 

a trip to: edinburgh.

Please forgive me for abandoning this corner of the internet (yet again!) If you follow this blog's Facebook page you may have known that I attempted VEDA (video every day in august), although I didn't upload every day, I did create a video every day for 23 days... Yes, I still 'failed', however, I got ill and ended up coughing, sneezing and sleeping in bed for a couple of days, so decided to take a week and a half completely off, no blogs, no emails, no videos etc.
It worked out pretty well as my friend Kieron and I went on a trip up to Edinburgh and I was able to really enjoy a few days away with two of my best friends (cheesy but very true!). There was lots of music, long walks, late nights and laughter! 

Whilst we were there, we made the most of the last couple of days of Fringe, Sunday was spent exploring Edinburgh whilst also enjoying music and entertainment from some really talented people. Monday included a trek up to Arthur's Seat; the view from the top was beautiful and you could see 360° which is always a plus! We spent the afternoon chilling and decided on trying a deep fried mars bar between us, because we didn't fancy haggis... and we watched the ever eventful VMAs, then headed in the evening to watch the closing fireworks of Fringe etc. 
Tuesday, we headed out on a bus tour, which was a brilliant way to see the city as well as learn about the history behind everything. I knew there was a lot of history to Edinburgh, but I didn't realise quite how much. Well known people linked to Edinburgh include Rabbie Burns, Burke & Hare, investigations of Jekkyl & Hyde, Deacon Brodie, Sir Walter Scott, Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Darwin, James Young Simpson (discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform), as well as the wonderful story of Greyfriars Bobby and many more. In the evening, we headed out with Lai and Theo to support them at one of their local open mic nights, and it was really nice to hear a mix of 'open mic material', from different genres of music, spoken word, comedy etc. 
Our last day in Edinburgh, included an 'end of trip' breakfast at The Caffeine Drip, a South African cafe and bakery, which was delicious. Then headed home for about 12 hours... 

It was a really great trip overall and somewhere I really want to visit again, seen a couple of museums and places I would like to check out, like The Writers Museum, Dynamic Earth and one of their ghost tours, all of which looked/sounded really interesting. 

Aaaaaaaand as per, here's some of my favourite photos from the trip...

 

'til next time! 
- evan. 

inspiration.

.noun. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative. 

Inspiration is a funny thing. It comes in waves, all at once or not at all and it can be found in the smallest and weirdest of places. Recently, creativity has been lacking, I feel that is partly down to the majority of ideas I put into my creative writing coursework, but I think I’d be lying to myself if I said it wasn’t to do with a lack of motivation in general too.

My other blog is now getting a little bigger, content is being shared more often and maybe I got a little sucked into that repetitive structured way of those music blogs I write, as I was lacking structure in my everyday life after finishing sixth form. 

Inspiration hasn’t exactly dried up completely and the amount of random words and sentences I’ve strung together and written down in random notebooks and on scraps of paper are actually a bit ridiculous. However, I haven’t had the motivation to actually type them up and share them with anyone. I’m slowly getting there with things in general (that’s coming in a future blog…) and I feel a ‘proper’ regular return to this blog is actually on its way. I don’t want to make any promises and at the same time I don’t want to apologise for not posting, because I’d rather share something I’m proud of and okay with sharing rather than some half-arsed crap attempt at writing something that’s come from my brain and doesn’t make any sense at all and isn’t really worthwhile sharing with anyone.

The first step of that has been making sure my brain is in the right place again; second has been working my brain a little, reading more often and watching things that get me inspired creatively, (Bertie Gilbert shorts, ThisBeDottie's YouTube videos, Submarine and Where The Wild Things Are) and writing everyday. Third was drafting those poems, thoughts and random ramblings into something that actually makes sense and finally having the confidence in my own writing and believing that it was good enough to upload and share then that post.

This is the first of those and hopefully more will follow, there may be a surge of posts from me, and then they will more than likely slow to once or twice a week; and the content will be honest and hopefully have a little more substance to them than those previously. I want to use my A Levels to get somewhere, but I don’t want to go the usual way about that. Uni isn’t for me, definitely not at the minute anyway, and if I change my mind that option will –hopefully – still be there a few years down the line; but for now I’m focusing on stepping out of my comfort zone and finding a new one.  

(I’m not sure if that last point made any sense and I probably jumped back and forth from point to point in this blog, but this is me saying I’m back and I’m going to be taking one day at a time.)

march favourites.

I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather do these 'monthly favourites' blogs every other month, because doing on every four weeks doesn't seem particular useful, in that I don't want to be restricting content to favourites blogs every month, when I could come up with something else to fill the gap every month. Plus, when I wrote out my list of favourites for February, half of them were the same as the month before...

I'm not a huge fan of March, it usually sees the Easter break at school and the big signs counting down to study leave appear on walls. Can't be dealing with that and it also highlights final coursework deadlines and time going into making folders tidy (mine are pretty good this year!) and writing up revision notes ready for that exam prep. 

Anyway, enough of my moaning about education (I am thankful for it, of course, but we'll get onto that in another blog post...) here are a few of my favourite things from February and March. 

1. My Camera

The last few weeks have seen me get my big camera (Canon 700D) out a little more and boy was it worth it! Even though I still have a lot of learning to do, I'm gradually stepping away from my comfort blanket of Auto and re-learning settings etc. which I hope to continue, if you're a regular reader you'll have seen a few blogposts with some photos in them (if you're not - they're in the archive *cheeky plug*) but seriously, I'm really happy with how my photos and videos are coming out and I definitely want to pursue some projects with that little gem. 

2. Spaced (TV Series)

Sure, I wasn't a teenager in the 90s and I didn't have a clue what this TV series was when it was first on air, however, being the huge Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson, Edgar Wright and Nick Frost fan that I am, my step dad mentioned it to me, got the box set and gave it to me and honestly if I can't sleep, feel crap or just want something creative and funny to watch, this is my go to. I love all the characters, their development throughout the series, the writing, setting, filming style, gahhhhh it's all so good! If you haven't heard of it or seen it, it's weird but wonderful! 

3. Moleskine Notebooks

I'm very much a plain notebook person, it has to feel nice and it has to be good for it's purpose, but I'm not always a huge fan of having all those fancy covers, a solid plain front will do me fine. Recently, through my Creative Writing AS, I've got into writing poetry, haha. However, my Mum got me a really nice moleskin soft cover notebook and oh my life, it's now filled with creative juices, I'm surprised the pages aren't wrecked. So that's housing my poetry and random creative and thoughtful words... (I've also got two hard cover notebooks, one for each blog, which keep all my other creative fruit juices in *without apple of course*. 

4. Mum's Roast Chicken Dinner

There's something about sitting down on a Sunday and eating a roast chicken dinner cooked by Mum. From the roast potatoes to the yorkshire puddings, to parsnips and the chicken itself. It's definitely a highlight of my week.

5. The Theory of Everything (film)

I was a bit apprehensive about going to see this film, I'm not sure why but it wasn't one I was feeling too great about seeing on the big screen. Still, I got past that and went and saw it and was impressed. Impressed by Eddie Redmayne's brilliant acting and portrayal of Stephen Hawking. Impressed by the storyline and minor details paid attention to. Impressed by the way in which comedy is injected in small doses, just at the right times throughout. Impressed by the cinematography, there really are some stunning scenes. Impressed by the love story that doesn't throw up all over the other subjects covered in the film and of course, impressed by the little nods to Doctor Who. A brilliant piece of work by all involved and a film I will most probably be getting on DVD.

source

6. Chaos and the Calm - James Bay (album)

There's a bit of a back story to this being in my favourites, basically, I got asked to review it, I got positive feedback, it then got released, went to #1 in the albums chart and has now gone gold in the UK. Apart from this, it's a brilliant album that I've had on repeat, even after listening to it multiple times whilst reviewing (that means I wasn't sick of it and could still bare to listen to the CD on repeat). My iPod also decided it was a great idea to play 'Let It Go' on my home from my last night at club as a leader, oh the tears! If you haven't already heard of this guy or listened to any of his music, a link to his most successful single so far here.

7. After Aushwitz - Eva Schloss (book)

I have a weird obsession with World War II, especially within the sub-topic of the Holocaust, focusing on the concentration camps and inequality cast upon various countries. This book is basically the story of Eva Schloss (Anne Frank's step-sister) and her family before, during and after the war, I've been reading it for a while (to the point I had to restart it at one point) and I'm really getting into it now and enjoying(?! not sure that's quite the right word, but you get what I mean). It's a really good insight into not only the fear and hate she felt whilst going through this but also the system from within the camps and the social views afterwards. 

What have you been loving?

-evan.

a breath of fresh air.

This weekend I've ventured with some of my family, down to the coast. We visited the lovely town of Selsey and are staying here until tomorrow lunch (Monday). It is and I'm sure always will be a place I go to, to feel better.

The past few months especially have left me feeling incredibly deflated and lost, going to the coast and regrouping and grounding myself was much needed, I've been able to get a lot more coursework done and have ended up in a more positive mindset, which is incredibly helpful for the next couple of months ahead with deadlines and exams, that always leave me feeling crap.

Yesterday, we headed to see the lifeboat, I've always loved watching the displays and supporting them as they really are a huge help to a lot of people, and I'm sure they are one of those things that people will not miss until they're gone, which is such a shame and I'm really hoping they don't fade away like many things nowadays, because they really do save lives.

I took along my camera and got a few photos that I'm really happy with. I keep forgetting how refreshing I find just going for a walk with my camera in hand can be, whether I just chill with some music or have some company. It's something I must do more often, I just need to find some places to go and make the most of with a camera, because unfortunately near home, a lot of those places have been built on.

The sea air really has been a breath of fresh air and if anything it knocks me for six when it comes to sleeping, so that really has helped! So when it's all getting too much, remember Evan, Selsey will be waiting for you.

Where do you go to get a breath of fresh air?

- evan.

Sunday Recap #1

I've decided on a name for a new series of blogs. (That's a formal way of starting a blog and pretending you know what you're doing, when really, you just wanted to write and didn't know what about, so decided to come up with a name for those old weekly blogs I used to do...)

This week has been a weird one; there's been ups and downs and it's been flipping tiring. I got feedback on a MIT blog that I posted just over a week ago and that was positive, so that started well.
I headed to the coast with my Gran on Wednesday, which was refreshing, the sea air seems to solve anything and I managed to get a good nights sleep that night.
Then a long week of coursework and not getting far with a media essay took it's toll on me. Thursday, I spent my day feeling like I was going to pass out, throw up or just collapse in a heap at any given moment, oh the joys of anxiety.

Friday wasn't much better, I got my final school report EVER, can't say I finished on a high, but I think I'm now past caring and just want to get to the end of the course and attempt to pass it. It was also my last time leading at the church youth club that I have helped out at for just under 5 years and that was a hard one to say goodbye to. I helped out on Wednesday and Friday evenings and I loved it, but what with exams and other things happening, I couldn't quite hack it. I'm regretting it massively but short term it's definitely for the best. (I spent that evening forcing my way through a blog post for MIT, crying, eating chocolate - which I regretted massively feeling pretty ill later on, listening to sad music and crying some more).

Yesterday was long, although I went out in the evening with people and enjoyed Nuway Army, a Gary Numan tribute band, I forgot how much I loved his music and Tubeway Army's stuff, so I'm back on one of those music hypes I get on...
Today I've been tired, hated the wibbly-wobbly-rimey-wimey stuff that goes on when the clocks go forward but enjoyed breakfast out this morning and spending some time going through my poetry coursework and trying to come up with a understandable order for it all. Think I've given up with media now, really not the time eh? Hah.

Anyways, here's two songs to enjoy, and a few photos from the past week.
Some of the James Bay song lyrics punched me in the face nicely on Friday night and Bright City linked to the context of my week.

Let It Go - James Bay (link)

Colour - Bright City (link)

What have you been up to the past week?

-evan. :)

#DearMe

Dear 13-year-old Evan,

Three small things, your teeth will get better, you won't grow much and Duck will be sewn together a few more times... Onto the more meaningful things... 

In a few years, you will have changed your mind on what you want to do with your life, and that’s ok. Work experience will strengthen your passion for teaching, but your exam results and subject choices will start to put you off the idea, even though you’ve been set on it for most of your life. Choose subjects for you, don’t pick subjects you’re going to stress over and hate, because that’ll get you into a horrible rut of thinking you’re going to fail at everything, you’ll be close but you won’t quite fail.

Moving on from that point, positivity is key, not everything is going to go your way. Don’t let those things keep you down, keep going, they won’t last forever and you’ll soon learn to focus on the small things that make you happy.

Anxiety will kick in next year, learn to look after yourself, don’t get angry with yourself for not being able to do normal things some days. Spend a day in bed; just don’t spend half a week there. Go for a walk, listen to music, watch Toy Story, drink a cup of ‘funny’ tea, eat macaroni cheese (even if you can’t for much longer, make the most of it now!), do things to keep you calm.

Don’t give up on sport, you won’t realise how much it means to you until you stop. Spending five days a week doing cricket was tiring, but when you stop completely, suddenly it feels like you’ve gone into withdrawal. Find a middle ground, don’t give up on it just because you feel you’ve failed at it, it never failed you, fight your anxiety when it comes to batting, work on gaining confidence, you’ll get there eventually. Even if you get arthritic fingers from all the times you’ve dislocated and broken them, or bad knees just because your joints don’t like you, stick with it.

Friends will come and go. Your best friends now, won’t be your best friends in 5 years time and even though it might seem like they’re going to be there forever, stop taking that for granted. In a few years, everyone will move on, including you.

The next five years will see quite a few people pass away, people you regret not talking to much because they meant so much to you when you were younger, as well as people you look up to, people you care about, they’ll become stars and you won’t get the chance to say goodbye properly so just make the most of your time with them now.

You should be proud of things you achieve in the next few years, nothing will prepare you for your trip to Kenya, cherish the memories you make there. You'll go to the Olympics held in London, which  could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, soak up the atmosphere when Andy Murray wins. There will be many other experiences you should be thankful for and make the most of those (and scrapbook them when they actually happen, rather than forgetting about those smaller things that meant a lot to you). 

You’ll set up two blogs and one of them will grow more than you’d ever expect, you’ll be asked to write about musicians you’ve been listening to for years as well as getting to see so many artists and bands live and watch them grow and become well known all over. Even though there will be weeks where you won’t have the motivation to post, there will be people willing to wait for your next post. Keep at it. It could lead to what you do in the future.

From 18-year-old Evan.

What would you say to your younger self? Or even just 5 years ago?