my reading list.

I want to set myself a challenge (amongst the others that come with A Levels and general life). Ever since GCSE English and Drama and A Level English Lit, I have despised reading; especially books. 

However, a couple of months back, I started reading magazines more and gradually progressed to Roald Dahl and then 'real' books - as certain people might like to call them. 

So, I've decided to read at least 12 books this year, 15 ideally, a realistic goal - right?! I've got an 'ideal' reading list, which are books I'd quite like to get through this year, after having a growing reading list for a few years. 

That doesn't  mean to say they won't be swapped about for others, but here's the list for now: 

To Finish:

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

After Auschwitz - Eva Schloss

Read & Complete:

Strong Woman - Karren Brady

Field of Shadows - Dan Waddell

Doctor Who: The Monsters Inside - Stephen Cole

Nineteen Eighty - Four - George Orwell

War Horse - Michael Morpurgo

Revolution - Russel Brand

Stig of the Dump - Clive King

Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey - Ed Sheeran & Phillip Butah

Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Notebooks - Justin Richards

The Machine Gunners - Robert Westall

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window & Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

Are there any books you want to read this year or any you'd recommend as a top read? 

- evan. :)

an end and a beginning.

In the past week I have taken my camera out on a couple of adventures, they were only small, but it gave me an opportunity to take some photos and rekindle my love of capturing moments. 

I was really happy with how a couple of them turned out and thought I could share them with you in a blog - re-learning that blogs can be chilled, short and not have much depth to them - so without further a do... 

First of all are a few photos from a New Year's Eve trip down to Brighton, it would have been rude not to have gone to the pier and taken it all in. 

Then on Friday, (2nd January), my Gran and I went for a little drive to watch the sunset, which turned out to be pretty colourful... 

How did you finish 2014 and how did you start 2015? 

- evan. :)

hello twenty fifteen.

First things first, Happy New Year and welcome to 2015!

Even though I hate the whole ‘new year, new me’ idea, I think it’s good that it fuels people with some motivation to do something for the better and if they can’t find that half way through the year, then why not have resolutions at the start of a year for the 12 months ahead.

Saying that, I haven’t really got any ‘resolutions’, I’m setting mine down as rules more than anything, because I am genuinely fed up with myself saying I’ll do something and never doing it or getting it done.

So here are my five rules that I’ve written out for myself for 2015.

1. Rest More: This is my main one for the new year. I’ve managed to completely wear myself down in 2014, resulting in a few ‘not very good’ moments. I’m not very good at doing nothing, when I can’t sleep I get up and do stuff, usually creative things not linked to the coursework that I should get done when I’m too tired/unfocused in the day. Having more down time is definitely on the list for 2015. Dedicating at least an hour a day to ‘chill’, either listen to music, read, draw, watch something etc. is the plan.

2. Read More: English Lit at GCSE and A Level really put me off reading, having to analyse books and plays made me despise written texts and I’m slowly getting back into it. I’m still not at the level of reading a book in a day which I used to be able to do, but I’m getting there, I think I’d like to read at least 12 books in 2015, that’s a reasonable target; right?

3. Do More: I know this kind of defeats ‘rest more’, but I mean live a little, as in go out a bit more, visit a new place, make an effort with meeting up with people. I’ve got a few ideas for next year, but these need to become plans, I think going to at least one different country would be a good place to start.  Attempting to play a bit more cricket/at least regular exercise is a good shout too…

4. Create More: This kind of links into rest more and do more in two ways… I feel if I want to do what I want to do for a living I should be ‘creating’ more content, which is fine, I need to organise my time to be able to do that – and it should be easier.  However, in my down time, I want to get back into drawing and it’d be nice to take more high quality photos/videos. I really want to get my creative juices flowing again.

5. Enjoy More: I want to be able to do more things that I will enjoy. Unfortunately, the majority of those things are likely to come after I’ve finished A Levels in June, but after that I hope to see a bit more of the world (even if it’s just a bit more of England). I also want to get back to enjoying creating content rather than forcing myself to make content that I don’t necessarily think much of, just because I feel I should post.

So there we have it! Hello 2015, good to see you!

goodbye twenty fourteen.

2014 has gone very fast, maybe a little too fast and just like any other year; it's had its ups and downs. However, I feel like this year has been one of the most extreme roller coasters so far.
I have failed continuity in most things this year and that irritates me. Both of my blogs have been neglected at some point this year, this one more than the other, but I did get two full A Levels in June (which is a plus for my future).

My highlights include passing my driving test, turning 18, mini road trips, my Gran beating cancer, seeing over 50 acts live and sharing moments with family and friends. Lowlights include having to say goodbye to a couple of people and just general crap going on.

There's not really much to say to 2014 and I wouldn't pay to go on that roller coaster again. However, I'm happy I've lived it once to gain some happy moments (and some of my favourite photos), so thank you to everyone that has been a part of it.

Hope you have all had a good Christmas break and go into 2015 well... Enjoy! And see you in the new year :)

2014 Pt. II (link)

autumn.

Autumn is my favourite part of the year, minus the rain. It's also my favourite time of the year to go on photo missions. Although, I've missed a few really stunning sunsets, I thought I'd share a few of my favourite moments/photos from the past month or so... (there's also a little surprise at the bottom).

That is easily my favourite autumn photo I've taken this year and it shows my favourite thing about autumn. The beautiful colours on the leaves. 

31st October: a photo mission with Petar.

You should go follow him on instagram and subscribe on YouTube. He puts a lot of time and effort into his photos and videos, and they always come out really well. 

Instagram: http://instagram.com/peca_chu (@peca_chu)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/pcule97

5th November: bonfire night.

5th November: bonfire night. 

Even though I can't stand the sound of fireworks, I always try and see some each year, this year I went and enjoyed the whole experience, so that was a plus, oh and I couldn't decide between these two photos. 

12th November: a hot drink for a cold night.

Nothing beats a hot drink on a cold night. This one has a surreal link to it, as it was the one I drank in London, whilst waiting for the go ahead to interview a band... So that's a highlight of my autumn.

18th November: blue skies and golden leaves.

I really love the clear blue skies in Autumn, because it usually means there's a crisp and cold air to the outside world, wrapping up warm with thick socks and layers is then the way to go. 

20th November: christmas lights, light up the street.

After an evening bouncing on trampolines, my sister, friend and I ventured into town to see the lights after they'd been switched on, we also watched the fireworks display (because every event in autumn and winter seems to have fireworks). This little side street looked rather 'cute'. 

I've also made a video putting words/videos/photos together about autumn....

one: autumn (link)

thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed the slightly different style of blog today, what are your favourite things about autumn?

- evan. 

an absence of control.

I had a bit of an 'all over the place' summer. I had no real clue of what I'd be doing when September came back round, whether I'd be retaking a year, finishing a subject, or not even returning to sixth form and going straight out into the big wide world.
I took on more hours at work, enjoyed blogging over on Music In Time, went away with family and friends for a couple of weeks and filled my time with fun things to take my mind off of results day and September.

When September DID come around, I went on the first day for 5 hours of waiting and meetings and timetabling etc. - it wasn't fun - but I worked out what I'd be doing and I was happy. However, I had no real structure to what I was doing, my timetable was all over the place for sixth form, I had to rearrange blog work days, make time for family and friends and keep doing a weekend of work, as well as fitting in coursework, homework and the other random work that comes with A Levels. I ended up with no 'downtime' and went a few weeks without a day off and any spare time I had I was filling with work I needed to get done.

I didn't enjoy this time with an absence of control. I wasn't well, mentally or physically and I'm still not fully there - but I'm in a much better place now.
Anyway, I think what I set out to say in this blog is that I feel I can blog over on this little corner of the internet again.
I've got back on top of my A Level work, I've cut my hours of work at the weekend, I've taken on some online stuff for a band, I'm blogging on Music In Time again and I feel in control again. Expect tags, rants, creative stuffs (probably from my Creative Writing course - which is great fun!) and a little bit of lifestyle bits and bobs.

So yeah, hi again and I still need to work out what the upload day is going to be for One Day At A Time, but please expect weekly blogs again. I'm feeling a little more determined this time!

forever drafting blogs.

So, I keep typing up lots of blogs and not posting them, I will get past this phase hopefully. It feels weird blogging and I'm seriously lacking motivation at the minute, not writing about music feels kind of uncomfortable. I feel like that's what I've zoned myself into now, I feel that's my comfort zone when it comes to blogging now, and I kind of hate that! I loved this blog, this is where it all started. I've got some many blog ideas, but I spend a day writing one out and hate it.

I did have an idea to do the '100 Things That Make Me Happy' blog tag, and I still want to, but I feel like writing about them just isn't interesting to people. I have got some more ideas over this summer, and I guess I need to just post them out and not care what people think about them, I've already learnt that if people aren't interested the just won't click on the link - and that's fine!

It's become easy to focus too much on views with blogs, Music In Time is growing (really well) and this blog is still at the start of the race. I never wanted this blog to become massive and I always wanted to keep it as a personal writing space which others read as well, it's just hard to keep it that way!

Still, in between a full schedule of sixth form, work, MIT and life, I'll be drafting (and eventually posting) some blogs from over the summer.

Mind ramble/rant thing over and back to reading the news for media, congratulations to Wills and Kate - some good news for once!