Great ways to spend a lazy day

Sunday morning snoozing

I’ve had the best weekend.  On Friday night I went on a pizza-and-cinema date with my partner and our friends, then on Saturday we all went out for some drinks… which turned into a lot of drinks after a drinking game was suggested! We turned up to our friend’s house party drunk, and I tried my best to “act sober” so as not to embarrass myself; my plan was slightly ruined by the fact that I turned up in a giant rainbow sombrero. (Sorry Ali… so, so sorry.)

On Sunday, nursing slight hangovers, my partner and I had a long-overdue lazy day, which was very well-received after both of us had worked a lot of overtime during the week.  We had bacon and avocado sandwiches on seeded bread for brunch, and snuggled on the sofa watching movies on Netflix.

I usually like to keep myself busy, because I feel as if I should be accountable for every hour I spend… that said, I can get burnt out really quickly, especially if I’ve been working extra hours at my office job, so sometimes a lazy day is just what I need.  It’s also nice when I’ve had a few busy weekends in a row – I like to indulge in all the little pleasures I haven’t had time for.  So here are some of my favourite ways to spend a lazy day!

via indivisualjournal.tumblr.com

Duvet day.  That is, an entire day in bed, usually with a laptop, a book, some good TV/films, and yummy snacks to hand.  The occasional bathroom trip will be required, as well as a jaunt to the kitchen to bring some foods back to bed with you.  Don’t be afraid to fall asleep!

Indulgent brunch.  During my working week I have a boring breakfast every morning – either porridge or weetabix – so when I’m having a lazy day I like to experiment with different breakfasts/brunches – fruit and yoghurt, unusual toasted sandwich fillings, pancakes, french toast, full english, etc.  BBC Good Food have a delicious selection of brunch recipes here!

Netflix marathon.  There are so many good TV shows and films there.  I’m currently making my way through The Office US!  If you don’t have a Netflix subscription, DVD boxsets are a good alternative.

Read.  Catch up on your reading; snuggle up on the sofa and get lost in a weighty tome.  My Sunday reading book is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

Tend to the garden.  Nothing makes me feel more alive and peaceful than being surrounded by things I’ve grown myself.

via mmfloves.tumblr.com

Bubble bath!  Choose an indulgent bath foam, light some candles, put some nice music on in the background, and have a good soak. (or, if you want a more visceral/playful experience, try some Gellibaff, which turns your bath water into a pink soapy jelly!)

Get creative.  Do you draw, paint, write, collage, play an instrument, sing, dance, etc?  Spend some of your free time with your craft.

A countryside walk. Not strictly the laziest of lazy day activities, but it feels so good to get out in the open and admire the beautiful countryside scenery at a leisurely pace.  Walk 4 Life is a resource that allows you to search for walking routes in your local area by length, difficulty, and landmarks (seaside, village, etc).

via libertyshouts.wordpress.com

Catch up on correspondence, whether it’s writing letters, reaching Inbox Zero, or phoning old friends (who phones anyone anymore? It feels good to do once in a while!).  It feels great to touch base with people you haven’t made time for recently.

Chill out with a pet.  Don’t have one? Offer to petsit!  Cats and dogs make the best snuggle companions.

Adventure Time Monopoly! Want!

Play a board game. When was the last time you did that?  My favourites are Cluedo, Pictionary, and Forbidden Island.  On a future lazy weekend, Daf and I are hoping to finally play Arkham Horror: A Call of Cthulhu, which usually lasts about 3 hours!

What I’ve Been Reading, April ’13

by Allie Brosh

As you know, I’m an avid google reader fan (and of course was devastated to hear the news that it’s being closed down – if anyone has any recommendations for alternatives, hit me up!) and every lunchtime I digest many articles via my reader feed.  So, without any further ado, here are my favourite things I’ve been reading over the last month or so!   Bit of a mixed bag, so there should be something here to cater to most tastes

Hyperbole and a Half is back, with a poignant and insightful tale of the author’s struggle with depression.

Did you hear about broadcaster Stuart Hall, who sexually assaulted a number of young girls?  A leading barrister has labelled his actions ”low-level misdemeanors” and thinks we should reduce the age of consent to 13 to stop so many do-gooders from “fetishising victimhood”.   Heaven forbid a formerly respected man might have actually raped and assaulted children(!) The F Word analyses everything that’s wrong with this statement beautifully.

A Doctor Who fan does the impossible and maps the TARDIS interior! Amazing! 

The problem with Dove’s latest “real beauty” campaign.

Canadian zinester/author Maranda Elizabeth writes about jealousy, and recently finding themselves the target of other people’s jealousy.

Feminist theology blog ‘Women in Theology’ on the portrayal of mental illness and self-forgiveness in ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.

Loved this – ‘Bad Reputation’ on mermaid mythology and the Disney adaptation of ‘The Little Mermaid’.

Not clever but still funny – Buzzfeed on the 26 most annoying things about working in an office.  I can particularly relate to #6!

Zombie Industries sells female mannequin shooting target called “the ex”: read Feministing’s take on it here.

My twitter friend @nice_reminder linked me to this informative comic on Dr Andrew Wakefield’s fallacious MMR/autism claims, and why we should be suspicious of his motives.

Is this the worst case of mansplaining ever?!  Yuck!

This is perfect. A cartoon about rape culture.

Did you see Loki’s new hairdo in the Thor: The Dark World trailer? The Mary Sue documents tumblr’s reaction; I love Ginger Haze’s the best!

Awesome blog on why Ched Evans was not the victim of a miscarriage of justice, as his defenders are trying to claim (defenders who are also overwhelmingly victim-blaming, ugghhh).

I only recently discovered Gala Darling’s lovely blog, and this blog on alternative date night ideas is one of my favourites! An oldie, but a goodie.

Back in Steubenville, rape culture is still winning as football coach’s contract is renewed: http://bit.ly/15Hf3Dd

Soc Images on how we can engage men in the efforts to end sexual assault.

The Mary Sue are writing a detailed synopsis and review of every Doctor Who episode in this series, and their analysis of gender politics is usually spot on.  Check out the latest review, ‘The Crimson Horror’  (as an aside, my friend Tracey has started using the phrase ‘The Crimson Horror’ as a euphemism for a period, ha).

(Props to Gala Darling for this feature format.)

Upcoming gigs, & a few of my favourite things.

Exploring the abandoned bunkers at Pembrey Country Park..

GIG NEWS – I’m performing this Friday (April 19th) at The Masons Arms in Llanelli, 7.30pm onwards.  Details about the event, including location, can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/320683288034616/

I’m really nervous, but also quite excited.  It’s going to be fun.  I’m also performing at the Uplands Tavern Open Mic on Monday (April 22nd), 9pm onwards. Details here: https://www.facebook.com/TheUplandsTavern

Would be great to see some of you guys there!  I’m trying to get over my nerves and remember that this is what I want to do, and that my life will begin outside of my comfort zone… it’s still scary though.  The more people there to woop for me, the more relaxed I’ll feel

Anyway.  Here are some other things I’ve been getting up to recently!

Writing

Check out my last blog post if you haven’t already – on owning your ideas, and sharing your voice.  I didn’t think much of the blog at the time as it didn’t have a neat conclusion, but it was my most popular blog this year, and a lot of people really identified with what I wrote.  I do recommend you read the comments (for once!), as some of my friends had some interesting things to say on the topic.

I’ve also submitted something for my friend Kat’s Stephen King fanzine, and am starting up a new project subtitled ‘Feminist Perspectives on Harry Potter’ with my best friend Kirsty! More details about the HP zine to follow.

Reading

Finally read Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Walter this month, and really enjoyed it.  I do recommend it as a good basic overview of raunch culture and the social construction of gender roles.  I’ve currently got 2 books on the go - Woman Hating by Andrea Dworkin, and House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski, both of which are fast becoming favourites of mine!

I’m constantly buying cheap Kindle books at the moment – I used to be a bit ‘meh’ about kindles, but I’ve since been totally converted!  Recent Kindle reads include Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Carrie by Stephen King, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

I’ve also been reading lots of zines, and making my way through the pile of zines amassed at Sheffield Zine Fest!  Check my most recent zine reviews here.  I’m currently reading the latest issue of Doris (pictured above).

Watching

My partner has a Netflix US subscription, so I’m currently drowning in endless TV shows!  At the moment I’m rewatching all of Doctor Who from the 9th Doctor onwards (Eccleston is my favourite), and occasional episodes of Adventure Time.  Other TV shows on my ‘to-watch’ list include BSG, Arrested Development, The Office US, and Parks and Recreation.  I should probably watch Angel at some point too – despite being a die-hard Buffy fan, I’ve never actually watched any episodes of Angel! Shame on me.

Wearing

I often think I should take more photos of my outfits, but the only full-length mirror in my house is in an awkwardly small bright room so photos always turn out really badly.  Here are some of the few pictures I do have of my recent outfits:

Listening:

I’ve joined a Rock of Ages-style function band (currently in rehearsals), so have been listening to the movie OST this week.  I actually think Tom Cruise’s voice is alright; the same can’t be said for Russell Brand or Alec Baldwin though, ha.  I’ve also downloaded Tegan and Sara‘s back catalogue (instead of listening to them on Spotify all the time as I used to) – current 3 favourite albums are Heartthrob, Sainthood, and If It Was You.

Day Zero Project (Part 2): Review

part two of two.  Read part one here.

Start Date: 21st February 2010

End Date: 18 November 2012

Tasks completed: 53/101
Tasks failed: 48/101

Love

050. Celebrate our anniversary every year – completed.

051. Watch less than 4 hours of TV together each day – completed.

052. Do 4 fun activities together that we haven’t done for ages – failed.

053. Refuse to allow my jealousy affect our relationship – completed.

So the relationship in question ended before the 1001 days did, which is something I never would have predicted when I started the challenge!  It ended before I got a chance to complete #052, but I completed the other tasks.  Looking back on #053, I realise I have a lot of disparate thoughts on jealousy that I want to focus on in its own blog post – this will be published soon.

Appearances

Self portrait, sans makeup (in case you were wondering about the weird angle of this photo, I wanted to show someone both my lip ring and ear stretcher!)

054. Wear makeup once a week – failed, 11.04.10.  When my mental health was at its worst, I didn’t put any effort into my appearance, especially when it came to wearing makeup – I went for weeks at a time without so much as a slick of eyeliner.  I wasn’t sure how to feel about this – on the one hand, I felt better about myself when I wore makeup, felt less self-conscious of my plainness, and more “normal”, which lifted my mood.  On the other hand, makeup is an effort, and an unnecessary one at that… as long as I’m clean and neat, I don’t really need makeup, and generally I’d rather have that extra 5 minutes in the morning to read, or sleep.  It’s also a bit problematic from a feminist perspective – we’re often fighting a losing battle insofar as if we don’t wear enough makeup we aren’t considered “pretty” or even “presentable”, yet if we wear too much makeup we’re called “sluts” or are said to be “trying too hard”.  Many would argue that it is a tool of the patriarchy used to oppress women and remind them that their primary duty is to look good in order to please men, and the fact that men don’t waste their precious time and money on something so unnecessary just goes to show how important it really is… [DISCLAIMER: despite this, I would never shame/judge women for wearing make-up because I think that is totally anti-feminist!] Well, after plenty of umm-ing and ahh-ing about why I would want to wear makeup, I decided to set myself the goal of wearing makeup at least once a week, every week, to see if it would make me feel a little better about myself.  I also figured there was something to be said for the creative process of applying makeup, experimenting with colours and styles, etc.  Anyway, I failed this challenge within the first 3 months.  I just couldn’t be arsed most mornings, to be honest.  I don’t feel bad about failing this one though.  (As an aside, since then I’ve gone through phases of wearing lots of makeup, and hardly bothering at all.  At the moment I’m wearing quite a lot of it, but my enthusiasm for it comes and goes).

055. Get my engagement ring re-plated – completed, 15.01.11.

056. Make sure my roots don’t get any longer than 2 inches – completed.  I didn’t prioritise taking care of myself when I started this challenge – taking care of my dyed hair and making sure it was well-maintained seemed like a realistic habit to keep on top of.

057. Don’t straighten my hair any more than once a week  - failed, 17.03.11.   This was a bit of a silly goal.  My hair looks much better when straightened, even if straightening does damage my hair over time.  I try not to do it too often, but I think once a week is a little too infrequently!

058. Keep my hair re-dyed and looking tidy – completed.  See #056.

Adventures with hair dye.

059. Buy some new pretty underwear – completed, 26.08.10.  It may seem like a silly goal to set myself, but I always feel good and sexy when I’m wearing pretty underwear.  When I started this challenge, I didn’t prioritise things like this because I was so skint, so it felt good to buy myself something nice.

060. Get rid of all old unflattering clothes and donate to charity shop – completed, 13.04.10.  I now do this regularly; I go through all my clothes every few months and donate things that no longer fit, or are worn out (even things like old – clean! – underwear, because although charity shops can’t resell anything tatty, they can make a little money by sending them off for recycling).

Food & Drink

061. Bake a cake – completed, 28.10.10.

062. Try to eat at least three portions of fruit and veg every day – failed, July 2010.  I try my best to be healthy, but I can never consistently stick to these healthy habits!

063. Drink at least a pint of water a day – completed.

064. Take lunches to class, not snacks – failed, 13.03.10.

065. Try lobster – completed, 17.12.11.  Bit disappointed by it, if I’m honest.

066. Cut down my tea drinking to three cups a day – failed, July 2010.  Ha. A noble challenge, but I have to admit that tea is one of my few vices!  I have managed to replace my breakfast tea with other, less caustic teas, like peppermint and camomile.

Politics

067. Vote whenever I can – completed.  I voted at the General Election in 2010, Election and Referendum in 2011, and the Local Election in 2012!  Success!

068. Continue going to Feministy events with the Women’s Network – completed, 2011.  Check out the Women’s Network tag to read my previous entries on the topic.

069. Read 10 books on feminism – completed, 2011.  This seemed like a fair challenge, though I actually completed it far quicker than expected!  I think I definitely could’ve stretched to 20.

070. Attend Million Women Rise – completed, 03.03.12.  Blogged.

071. Attend another Reclaim the Night – failed.  Bit disappointed that I didn’t get round to attending another RTN, though I am planning to attend this year.

Entertainment

Amanda Palmer at The Cathedral, Manchester, Oct 2012 (image by Eleanor Dee)

072. Go to at least one gig a year – failed, 2011.  Couldn’t afford to go to many gigs during my skint uni years, plus most of the musicians I like don’t tour the UK much.

073. See The Vagina Monologues again – completed, 21.02.10.  The Women’s Network put on a production of the show, and it was amazing!

074. See Amanda Palmer live again – completed, October 2012.  I saw Amanda Palmer on her ‘Who Killed Amanda Palmer?’ tour in 2008, and it was by far the best gig of my entire life; I knew I had to see her again soon!  I remember leaving that gig feeling so inspired and invigorated.  I eventually saw her again in October at The Cathedral in Manchester, and it was sooooo good.  I had every intention of blogging about it at the time, but never got round to it, what with my autumn being so damn busy.  In brief: I was incredibly disappointed by her latest album, but she was incredible live, as she always is.  I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Amanda Palmer; I used to adore her music, and she was one of my few heroes.  But over the years I feel she’s become a bit lazy with her musical output (what the hell was ‘Do You Swear To Tell The Truth…’ about?), and she’s said and done various things that have irritated me – notably, the ableist Evelyn Evelyn furore, the KKK ‘joke’, how she keeps referring to her relentless self-promotion and narcissism as “doing art”, and her general inability to apologise for her problematic behaviour, to the point where I had to unfollow her on Twitter.  Plus, I’ve only really liked a handful of songs since WKAP.  Big shame.

075. Go ice skating again – completed, 27.09.10.  I adore ice skating, I need to do it more often (not that I’m much good at it, not having had much practice)!

076. Fly a kite – failed.  I’ve never actually done this, I figured it would be a fun thing to do sometime.  Oh well.

077. Read 10 classic books I haven’t read yet – completed, March 2011.

078. Watch 20 films from IMDBs’ top 250 films that I haven’t seen yet – completed, 26.05.11.  Blogged.

079. Go to an opera or ballet – completed, 27.10.10.  Blogged.

080. Go to one stand-up comedy show a year – failed, 2010.  Didn’t make an effort with this, and so didn’t see any comedians in the first year.  I did see some comedians live after that though – Josie Long, Dylan Moran, and some female comedians at Ladyfest Nottingham.

Health/Self-improvement

081. Identify 100 things that make me happy – completed, 05.06.11.  See pic above.

082. Make a list of 50 things I like about myself – completed, 26.05.11.  Too personal to share – suffice it to say that the exercise did make me feel good.

083. Brush teeth twice a day - failed, August 2010.  I can do once a day, but sometimes I forget to do it twice!

084. Wash face every day – failed, July 2010.

085. Take a self-defence class – failed.  I did attend the first Women’s Network self-defence class, but kept missing the subsequent classes.  I am disappointed with this; I’ve always wanted to learn some self-defence but have been too nervous to go to a class alone.  Will have to keep this one in mind for 2013!

086. Try yoga – failed.  I do feel bad about this, as I’ve been dying to try yoga for years and years.  It’s one of my resolutions for 2013, so here’s hoping that I’ll take a class soon!

087. Try to find a church to attend – failed.  I wanted to join a church when I started this challenge.  I was struggling with finding faith, working out what I believed.  It sort of became less and less of a priority as time went on though… I’m still not sure what I believe… hm.

088. Run a mile without stopping to walk – failed.  I tried Couch to 5k for about 3 weeks, but had to stop because I caught a cold and then the weather got really bad (excuses excuses)!  Again, Couch to 5k is one of my resolutions, so I’ll definitely give this another go later on this year, when the weather improves and I have no excuses!

089. Eat less bad fats – failed.  I wanted to set myself a health goal related to diet, but this was waaay too vague to be achievable.  I have a fairly healthy diet anyway, so I couldn’t really accurately track if I was eating less bad fats or not… I know my diet is pretty much the same now as it was back then, so I’d say I probably failed this challenge.  No big deal though.

090. Read a book on self-esteem – failed.  As my mental health improved, I didn’t see this as much of a priority, plus I’d had counselling and therapy classes which focused extensively on rebuilding self-esteem, so reading a book about it didn’t seem so important.

091. Read a book on perfectionism - completed, 31.12.10.  I read ‘Status Anxiety’ by Alain de Botton, which dealt with a lot of my worries surrounding success and failure, all-or-nothing thinking, and my place in the social hierarchy – I highly recommend it!  I hear a lot of snark about Alain de Botton online from my academic friends, but I’ve always really enjoyed his work?  I think it’s clear, well-written, and thoughtful, but maybe I’m not intelligent enough for “proper” philosophy, ha.

Technology

092. Watch less than three hours of TV every day - failed, 16.10.10.  I very rarely watch 3 hours of TV in one day, but it does occasionally happen, especially when I’m feeling ill and just want to veg out in the living room.  I think it’s ok to do so every once in a while.

093. Delete all out-of-date internet accounts – completed.

094. Go without the internet for a week  - completed, 07.09.11.  Blogged.

095. Go without Facebook for 2 weeks – completed, 14.09.11.  Blogged.

096.  ‘Unplug’ for one whole weekend – no phone, no internet, no TV, no computer - completed, 04.07.10.  When I went away with my ex-partner to record some music in Leeds, we stayed at his new student flat, which had none of the aforementioned things set up yet.  We spent the whole weekend watching films, going for walks, reading, writing, and having long, thoughtful conversations.  It was great.  I should do this more often.

097. Go a day a month without laptop or TV – failed, March 2010.  I really should try to do this more often, but so much of my work is based on my laptop!

098. Update my blog at least once a fortnight – failed, 05.05.10.  I’m getting better at this though.

099. List all my CDs and zines on my website – completed, 30.10.10.  Check it out here (needs updating though, wah).

Miscellaneous

100. Write in my journal at least once a fortnight – failed, 06.05.10.  Couldn’t manage this when life was super busy (especially exam time).  I still write in my journal though, and have finally managed to get back into a routine where I write at least once a week!

101. Buy a pair of new glasses – completed.

Bit of a moody posey pic from last year, ha. I think I was aiming for “sultry”.

Day Zero Project: Review

Part one of two.

For the last 2.75 years, I have been taking part in something called the Day Zero Project, where I set myself 101 challenges to complete in 1001 days. This project came to a close in November 2012, and I completed 53 of the 101 challenges – could’ve been better, but then again I think that my values have changed since I first wrote that list, and some of the challenges were hopelessly overreaching (particularly the “travel” section)!  Here is an assessment of the first half of the list.

Start Date: 21st February 2010
End Date: 18 November 2012

Tasks completed: 53/101
Tasks failed: 48/101

001. Create the list and post it online – completed.

002. Mention every finished goal in my blog  - completed.  The bigger challenges were given their own blog posts (e.g. 365 Ways To Change the World), whereas most were mentioned in passing in various blog posts.

University

003. Get a first in one essay – completed, 08.03.11.  When I started the Day Zero Project, I had only ever had 2:1s in my essays – thankfully by the time I reached my third year, I managed to get quite a few firsts, which I was chuffed about.

004. Do necessary reading & preparation for all future seminars – failed, 25.02.10.  Not much to say here – I suffered a lot with my depression during my second and third years, and doing seminar reading was often a struggle.  A noble task to set myself, but ultimately overreaching.

005. Graduate with a BA (Hons) in Theology – completed, 13.07.11.  Hurrah!

Job/Career

006. Make an appointment with the Centre for Career Development – completed, 13.03.10.  The Centre for Career Development is an office on UoN campus where students can discuss their career options with career advisors.  I went there twice, and found both visits incredibly depressing.  When I first attended, I was thinking of going into journalism (how predictable!), and wanted some advice on what I could do while I was still at university that would pad out my CV and stand me in better stead for finding paid writing work after graduation.  The advisor was kindly, but told me in no uncertain terms that journalism was a very competitive industry with a large number of applicants for only small amount of jobs, and that I would need to do a lot of unpaid internships before I would even be considered for an entry-level job in the industry.  How depressing.  Not only would I struggle with money if I wasn’t getting paid to work, but how could I compete with the ‘Impact‘ editors and the Comment Is Free writers when I had barely any work published?  I gave up on that dream, reluctantly at first, but now the more I think about it, the more I realise that I’m just not good enough or passionate enough to really succeed in journalism.  At my second visit to the Centre, I was now considering working in the third sector.  This was just as unrealistic, she told me – most humanities graduates are interested in this field, and it’s become so competitive that you need an MA to be considered for any work in the third sector.  Again, how could I compete with the MA students with experience as rep officers and exec officers, or who’d volunteered extensively at charities and refuges in the past (something I couldn’t afford to do – when I’m not at university, I have to do paid work, or I have no money)?  Subsequent visits to career centres and job agencies in Wales have been just as fruitless.  I’m currently trying to work out what I want to do with my life, but at least after a year of full-time work, money isn’t so much of a barrier anymore.

007. Write a better CV – completed, 01.04.10.

008. Get a decent job (not a career yet) – completed, 02.11.11.  I currently work in NHS admin, and I’m pretty content there at the moment.

Travel [failed]

009. Visit a Scandinavian country

010. Visit America

011. Visit Stonehenge

012. Visit Disneyland Paris

013. Visit Canada

014. Go camping

015. Buy postcards from each place visited

Ok, so this whole section was a complete pile of fail.  With retrospect, choosing 4 different countries to visit in only 2.75 years was hugely overambitious, especially considering how broke I was throughout my degree.  I am disappointed that I didn’t go camping though.  Maybe this year!

Altruism

016. Leave an inspirational note in a book for someone else to find – completed, 02.12.10.  Blogged.

017. Get involved in a Women’s Network campaign – failed.  The Women’s Network ended up not running any campaigns during my time there, which is such a shame.

018. Do ten tasks from 365 Ways to Change the World - completed, 24.06.12.  Blogged.

019. Do the London Moonwalk – failed.

020. Do a Race for Life – failed.  I feel guilty about not doing these fundraisers.  I hope to do them at some point in the near future though.

021. Give blood at least twice a year – failed.  I struggled with lethargy so much at uni that I didn’t want to give blood in case it made me feel worse.  That’s kind of a shitty excuse though.  I’ll make an effort to donate blood in the next month or so.

022. Buy a Big Issue – failed.  I feel guilty about this one too; I should probably make an effort to buy more than one every 3 years.

023. Give 50p to charity for every goal I don’t achieve at the end of the 1001 Days - completed.  My total was £24; I donated the money to the Swansea Women’s Centre, a local women’s charity/refuge.

Learning

024. Go to five different museums/galleries – failed.  I visited The National Gallery in London a few times on my numerous visits to London, and I visited the Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, but nowhere else.  I don’t make enough time for museums and galleries.

025. Learn how to use Photoshop properly - completed, 01.09.10.  I’m so pleased that I completed this challenge, because my Photoshop skills have been so useful in creating posters/publicity for both the Women’s Network and the Swansea Feminist Network.  

026. Learn how to speak basic French – failed.  I took a part-time French class in September, but ended up getting a job soon after that meant I was unable to attend the classes anymore.  This has been an ambition of mine since I was about 12, and I intend to complete it eventually!

027. Read the entire Bible – failed.  TL; DR.  What a shit theologian I was.

028. Learn enough about feminism to discuss it confidently with my mum – failed.  This was my poor attempt at making a difficult challenge (be more knowledgeable about feminism) more achievable by framing it as a concrete goal.  I don’t think I’ll ever be confident enough about anything to discuss it with my mum, a lovely lady but notoriously argumentative and contrary!

Communication

029. Keep in touch with grandparents when at university – completed.

030. Write to 5 zinesters whose zines inspire me – completed.

031. Make an effort in society socials in the future – completed.  So as you probably know, I struggled to make friends at university.  For a while, I thought it was because I hadn’t tried hard enough, or because I wasn’t interesting/fun/exciting enough to be worth spending time with.  So I set myself this challenge, and hoped that things would improve.  I tried really hard for the rest of my degree to attend socials, even though I always had to go alone.  This was documented extensively in HIMH #10, so I won’t relay the story here – in short, it was difficult, and I didn’t end up making any friends, apart from at the Women’s Network (but at least I can say I tried).    Having spoken to some graduates since, I realised that I had actually made a remarkable effort to overcome my shyness/anxiety by attending these socials alone – I was told that most people didn’t bother with socials after the first month or so, and tended to stay in a clique with their housemates or course friends.  So I try to feel quite proud of myself for the effort I made, even if it didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.

032. Keep in regular contact with current friends – failed.  Not much to say here.  Some friendships I desperately tried to maintain but the other party didn’t seem interested (or perhaps was too busy?), and some fell away quite naturally.

Creativity

033. Make an item of clothing – failed.  When I first started the Day Zero Project, I wanted to learn how to knit and sew and alter clothes, and be more self-sufficient.  This became less and less of a priority/goal in my life as time went on, and I’m ok with that.  Maybe when I’m older I’ll want to give it a go again.

034. Learn how to knit – failed.  See above.

035. Grow flowers in my garden – completed, 21.03.10.  Blogged.  Alas, I am not green-fingered, and they died soon after.  At least I tried.  I’m not as much of an earth mother as I’d like to be; if society collapses and we’re forced to live off the land again, I’m fucked.

036. Make 2 zines a year – completed.  Check out the ‘zines’ tag on my blog to find out details of all the zines published in the last 2.75 years!

037. Make and send a secret to PostSecret – completed, 04.06.11.  And it was published on the main PostSecret website a few weeks later!  :)

038. Make an altered book – failed.  Despite my best intentions, I just didn’t make time for this.

Music

039. Practice bass at least 4 times a week – failed, 21.03.10.  I was always too scared to practice when there were other people in the house in case they heard me  I’m over this now, thankfully!

040. Practice piano at least 4 times a week – failed, 25.03.10.  See above.

041. Sing whenever the house is empty – failed, winter 2010.  See above.

042. Write at least ten new (decent) songs – failed.  Not sure if I should be disappointed with this or not.  Ten songs in 2.75 years isn’t ridiculously over-reaching, but then again, I have tens and tens of songs written since I released my EP, so why should I worry about adding to that pile when I’m happy with what I’ve got?

043. Record a new EP or album once a year – failed.  Waaaaay too ambitious – I’ve actually only ended up recording 1 EP ever!

044. Play a gig  - completed, 07.12.10.  Blogged.

Organising

045. Make a university scrapbook – completed.  I love collecting ephemera, and uni provided a wealth of it for scrapbooking!

046. Print off all my online journals and file them - completed, 10.06.11.  Because I would hate to lose them in the ether of the interwebs, even if they are mostly just angsty LJ entries.

047. Buy an external hard drive to store all my music on – completed, 27.09.10.

048. Start my “ideal home” scrapbook – completed, 16.08.10.  I got this idea from a novel.  If I ever see photos of rooms or things for the house that I like, I cut them out and keep them in a scrapbook so I won’t be short on inspiration when I come to moving into my own place!

049. Organise diaries/notebooks and put them away in a box – completed, 10.06.11.

My diaries, before they were boxed up.

Part 2 to follow soon!

Cosmo: Fostering Sexual Anxiety since 1967

Cosmo: November 2012

Loath as I am to sound so much like a Vagenda article, I wanted to blog about this.

A colleague donated a recent-ish copy of Cosmopolitan to me the other day, as it was deemed too racy to be left in the waiting room.  I used to read a lot of these magazines in my late teens, before I discovered zines, mainly because I wanted something fluffy and easily digestible that wasn’t as intellectually demanding as the broadsheets.  Once I found zines a few years ago, I immediately lost interest in the vacuous content the glossies offered me, instead spending my time and money on publications about feminism, healthy body image, queer visibility, and female solidarity.  It’s no exaggeration to say that my self-esteem immediately improved when I stopped reading glossies, and was no longer spending so much of my leisure time staring at unattainable examples of female beauty, and reading about how I could make myself more attractive to men.  Of course not all women who read Cosmo and the like are doomed to chronic low self-esteem and poor body image, but I think it’s fair to say that they play their part in our unhealthy self-perception.

I read Cosmo the other day, interested in what £3.50 bought you (especially when you consider that most UK zines cost less than £2 for a decent amount of text), and interested in what had become of the magazine I used to read.  Aside from the unhealthy messages about sex and the female body that it threw at its readers, the whole experience of reading the magazine was just deeply unsatisfying.  At least I knew I was right to stop my subscription all those years ago.

So, why was Cosmo such a frustrating waste of time?

1. Furtive approach to sex and relationships

The main article in this issue that caught my attention was “50 annoying things men and women do in bed”.  A male and a female writer share 25 things each that the opposite gender should never do during sex.  The things that men shouldn’t do troubled me, because it struck me that so many could be achieved by just asking your partner for them.  For example, writer Rosie Mullender suggests “if we look a bit bored… you guessed it, we’re a bit bored. try working on some different moves” – why not ask your partner to do something different if you don’t like it, rather than wait for them to notice that you’re not enjoying yourself, and get annoyed when they don’t?   I’m a big believer in openness, honesty, and frankness when it comes to sex.  People in healthy relationships don’t ever pressure their partner into doing something they don’t want to do, nor do they use emotional manipulation or guilt-tripping into getting their way.  If you don’t like a certain position or sex act, you are perfectly entitled to say “actually I don’t like this, can we try this instead?”.  And don’t let Cosmo lead you to think otherwise.  Furthermore, some of the things men do that Mullender mentions are quite hurtful – e.g. “laughing at our come face”, “grumbling that we take ages to come”, and “comparing us to your ex”!  Pro-tip: if your partner does any of these things, s/he is an arsehole.

Writer Martin Daubney’s tips for women are even more frustrating: don’t use “scary sex toys” during sex because they “threaten our fragile egos”, don’t wear pyjamas, don’t give “single-speed manual relief” – “You know how you shake hairspray into life? Well, this is NOT how to treat a penis”, don’t stop until the man comes, even if you’ve already come, and don’t “ration” the blow jobs.  Nice.  He also hates women “leaving used condoms lying around” – um, I think you’ll find that’s your mess to tidy up?!  Even as someone who considers herself to be very sexually confident, I felt really uncomfortable reading Daubney’s dos and don’ts, and caught myself worrying that I was guilty of some of the things mentioned! “oh god, will I kill his boner if I wear too much perfume? Do I make too much noise? He says not to “ration” blow jobs, but also that I shouldn’t give too many because he “doesn’t want to spend all night on the practice lap” – the fuck?!”  (I managed to rationalise my way through these anxieties, you’ll be pleased to know)  This is not healthy advice for women who may have some anxiety and self-esteem issues surrounding sex!  As one writer put it, ”the advice that would put Cosmopolitan magazine out of business: WHY DON’T YOU JUST ASK HIM?” (via.)

2. Men are from Mars, women are from Venus

They have a section titled “Manthropology”, a page dedicated to “[studying] men in their natural habitat” that offers fascinating insights into the male psyche, including Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick’s favourite party trick.  *sigh* Ok, so I know that Cosmo is a self-styled women’s magazine that caters to women, but there’s an awful lot of polarizing gender (e.g. the “confessions” page is divided by gender), heteronormativity, invisibility of queer and genderqueer people, and focus on “what men really think of love, sex and YOU”, like it’s some big fucking mystery because of course they think TOTALLY DIFFERENTLY from women, and we daren’t actually ask them outright what they like.  Which brings me to my next point…

3. External validation

There’s definitely too much focus on what others (mostly men) will think of what you say, do or wear, rather than how good they may make you feel.  The “men vs fashion” page, where 3 ordinary blokes trash female celebrities’ fashion choices, is pretty ridiculous – I don’t really give a shit if Nick from Cardiff thinks Hayden Panettiere looks like “a budget Barbie doll”.  And as for ”never be tagged in the same look twice”… I’m pretty sure no one pays that much attention to what you were wearing in your tagged photos?  Quite frankly, all this speculation about what men like is not only unhealthy, it’s also really fucking boring.  I don’t care what made Kevin Jonas realise he wanted to propose to his fiancée, or how warehouse operator Denis met his girlfriend Fiona.

4. Lack of actual content

At least a third of the pages in the magazine are either adverts, or “Cosmo Promotions”, i.e. pages that look like features/articles, but are actually extended adverts for a particular product.  On top of that, a further third or more is made up of pages that look like this:

Which I’m sure is nice if you’re into fashion (and I’m not denigrating you if that’s the case!), but in terms of actual written content/stuff to read, it’s very thin on the ground, considering the price.  Furthermore, I think what made me skim over Cosmo’s fashion pages in particular was how stupidly expensive many of the garments featured were.  £550 for a studded bracelet?  Are you serious, Cosmo?  We’re barely out of the recession, dontcha know!

5. Inability to google “BDSM”

Special mention must be made to the ridiculous 50-Shades inspired piece on how to introduce some BDSM in the bedroom, subtitled “‘the hottest bad girl tips we’ve ever printed”.  The tips are so ridiculous and unsexy, I had to read it through my fingers because it made me cringe so much – my favourite suggestion was to get your partner to “wrap your wrists and ankles in toilet paper for lighter restraint”.  Because nothing says “erotic” like being wrapped in toilet paper like some sort of weird sexy mummy.

Credit where credit’s due, here are some vaguely positive things I found in this issue:

1. A lovely article briefly profiling 40 kick-ass women under 40, including campaigners, journalists, CEOs and scientists – but why only women under 40?

2. A little paragraph on this issue’s “Alpha female” Julianne Hough with some “go-get-’em tips” – it’s all pretty banal advice like “have faith [in yourself]“, but I suppose it’s nice that they’re focusing on something other than her looks.

3. A short article on one-night-stands, which listed ways to keep yourself safe physically (make sure you use contraception) and emotionally (don’t sleep around as an attempt to affirm your attractiveness).

4. This photo:

Conclusion: yawn.  If I want some mindless drivel to flick through on my lunch break, I’ll stick to Buzzfeed, thanks.

2012: My Year In Review

Five Best Things About 2012

1. Did a zine reading, tabled, and hung out with lots of cool feminists at the club night REVOLT in Coventry.

2. Met some of my lovely zinester friends at Little Zine Party and Girls Get Busy Zinefest this summer!

3. Felt much happier and loved myself more than ever – partly thanks to taking part in positive projects including The Happiness Manifesto and 365 Ways to Change the World, and surrounding myself with good friends and lovers.

4. Played another successful solo gig (though I need to play more!)

5. Did more crafty projects and mostly managed to keep busy and productive.  I made lots of handmade gifts for Christmas this year, and will be blogging about them soon!

My friends Caitlin, Kirsty and I dressed up as each other for halloween. It was awesome.

Five New Experiences of 2012:

1. Bought a new car for myself (pic)

2. Ran a workshop at UK Feminista Summer School – one of my proudest moments of 2012! (blog)

3. Recorded guest vocals/keys/bass on a friend’s EP (blog)

4. Tried vlogging

5. Went veggie for a week (blog)

Zinesters at Little Zine Party in Birmingham

Review of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2012:

1. Finish my epic university-themed zine – completed!  I’m really happy with how it turned out, and I’d have to say that it’s my favourite zine I’ve created so far.  (If you’re interested in buying a copy, details can be found here)

2. Attend Million Women Rise – completed!  Read about my experiences of the protest march here.

3. Either do a Moonwalk or a Race for Life – failed.  I’ve wanted to do these for years, but keep forgetting to actually register. Oh well.  There’s always next year.

4. Complete at least 50 Day Zero Project tasks in total – completed!  My review of the Day Zero Project will be published before the end of the month, so keep your eyes open for that.

5. Join a band – completed!  Admittedly I’m not in any of these bands any more, but at least I had the experience of joining a few bands and playing with other musicians.  It was great for my self-esteem, and encouraged me to put more effort into my bass playing.

My friends and I at Million Women Rise in March

Five New Year’s Resolutions for 2013:

1. Play at least 3 more gigs

2. Try yoga – this was one of the uncompleted tasks from my Day Zero Project that I wish I’d made more of an effort to complete.

3. Read at least 2 books per month

4. Save money for a deposit on a flat/house

5. Get a tattoo!

I saw this quote on Twitter and thought I’d share it with you.  Happy New Year everyone – may 2013 be your best year yet!

The Happiness Manifesto

“Most of us are not as happy as we might be.  We tend to obsess about the things that make us miserable: doing jobs we don’t enjoy, travelling nose-to-bumper or crushed inside a bus to get to work, the strains of family life, never quite having enough money to afford what we want.” – Michael Norton

A collective based in Slough developed a ten-point happiness manifesto which people were encouraged to follow for at least two months to raise happiness levels.  As part of my Day Zero Project, I pledged to do ten challenges from Michael Norton’s book 365 Days To Change The World, and one of those challenges was The Happiness Manifesto (that’s right, a project within a project within a project! *Inception face*).  I’ve been following The Happiness Manifesto for the past eight weeks; this blog post details my experiences.  I found it to be very rewarding, and definitely felt much happier after a week or two!

1. Exercise for half an hour, three times a week.

with my baby cousin and Toby

I walk my dog Toby every night, so all I needed to do was make sure that he got a slightly longer walk every now and again!  I managed to complete this task every week, other than during the first week when I had an infected wisdom tooth and spent about 10 days moping on the sofa, watching Buffy and sucking ice cubes.  Exercise always makes me feel much happier and healthier, especially when exercising outdoors.

2. Count your blessings – at the end of the day, reflect on five things you’re grateful for.
Here’s where I have to make a confession – I have terrible sleep hygiene.  I struggle to sleep in silence and darkness, unless I’m very tired or unwell.  I don’t know why, but something about the stillness of night makes my mind race and keeps me awake.  When I watch something mindless like BBC3 at night instead, I find I can drift off to sleep much easier.  I used to play with my iPhone in bed too, reading my Twitter feed or looking at web comics, but I’ve managed to stop doing this now (mostly).  Shameful!  Back to the point – initially, I tried to reflect on my blessings in bed at night, but due to my nightly routine I found myself struggling to get this done.  I would start reflecting and my mind would drift before I’d reached the third blessing, until eventually I fell asleep.  After trying for about a week, I realised that that method wasn’t going to work for me, so instead I decided that I would write down my blessings each night in my journal.  But after a few nights, I realised that listing things that I was “grateful for” at the end of each day was too specific, as I was always listing the same things – family, friends, good health, etc.  Instead, I began to list 5 good things that happened each day – e.g. a nice conversation, a serendipitous moment, or something I saw that made me happy.  This method worked much better, and allowed me to come to a positive conclusion about every day.  Sometimes I struggled to find five “good things” to list for each day, and I ended up reflecting on the bad things that didn’t happen, e.g. “I didn’t have any difficult customers to deal with today”.  I don’t think there’s nothing wrong with that approach though, as it still allowed me to remain positive and reflect on the ways that my day could’ve been so much worse.  I remember having a particularly bad day at work last month where a clinician lost her temper with me over a mistake I made – I spent most of my lunch hour in the toilets crying because I was so upset about the way she spoke to me.  I would’ve usually gone home and moped about all evening feeling sorry for myself; instead, I forced myself to sit down and think of the good things that had happened that day that were overshadowed by the negative event in my mind.  I went to bed feeling a bit sad about how the day had turned out, but otherwise I felt okay.  This particular challenge was definitely among the most rewarding, and kept me feeling positive during some difficult weeks.  I highly recommend giving it a go!

3. Pass an hour in uninterrupted conversation with your partner or closest friend each week.
This was much more difficult than I expected it to be.  I no longer have a partner, and I can’t say that I have a single best friend that I see regularly, so my other go-to people for meaningful conversations are my Mum, and my good friends from Swansea that I maybe see every other week, depending on how busy we all are with our full-time jobs.  There were a few weeks where I didn’t have any meaningful conversations that lasted near an hour.  I can’t say that I felt hugely inspired by this challenge, as it was quite difficult to seek out opportunities for long meaningful conversations when they didn’t arise naturally, although the few long conversations I did have were wonderful.

4. Plant something – then keep it alive.
I planted a load of vegetables in my little veggie patch in the garden:

It’s looking a bit sparse at the moment, but the plants are getting there slowly!  I’ve always found that growing things and keeping them alive makes me feel positive and hopeful; I like being connected to the earth and the seasons in that way.

5. Cut your TV viewing in half - more if you can.
I’m still adjusting to working almost-full-time – that’s right, six months later – as you can probably tell by the inactivity of this blog recently.  A consequence of this is that I now watch A LOT of bad TV – I’m so knackered when I get home from work that I slump on the couch and end up watching whatever my mum is watching, which usually consists of Corrie, Emmerdale, and crime drama like Whitechapel or Silent Witness.  I also used to spend my rare days off working my way through the Buffy box set, and managed to complete 6 seasons within 3 months!  I’ve been thinking for a long time that I needed to cut down on my TV viewing – the more TV I watch, the less actual stuff I do, and it’s very easy to waste the 4 hours I have to myself in the evening vegetating in front of the box.  I gradually cut down over the course of this challenge, and would estimate that my TV viewing has been reduced from 20 hours a week to somewhere around 5.  Instead, I try to read books and zines, write, make art, learn new songs, and visit friends.

6. Smile or say hello to a stranger – at least once each day.
Every day when I’m in work, I have to greet patients, which involves smiling at them and being friendly and polite.  But I have to be honest and admit that when I’m out and about, I’m very nervous about smiling to strangers.  I worry that they will approach me and ask “do I know you?” or similar, and that I will feel awkward and wish I hadn’t approached them.  I also worry about coming across as flirtatious, and that may offend people, or worse, lead them on.  I’m disappointed that I allowed my anxieties get in the way of completing this challenge, as I think people should definitely smile and say hello to each other more often.  Perhaps on the weekends I’ll try this every now and again, and see how it goes.

7. Make contact with a friend or relation you have not seen in a while, and arrange to meet up.
I chickened out of this.   I have mixed feelings about this particular challenge – as nice as it would be to potentially rekindle lost friendships, I can’t help but feel that people lose contact with other people deliberately.  We move on, and grow out of people.  I also worry about imposing myself on others – surely if they wanted to keep in touch with me, then they would have?  Or am I giving people too much credit here?  Perhaps some are too busy, or too thoughtless, to keep in touch with everyone.  I’m not sure.  Oh well.

8. Have a good laugh – at least once a day.
I’m pleased to say that this has never been a problem for me!  My parents are both very funny, witty people, and we’re always joking around and having a laugh together (my brother inhereted that natural, confident funniness from my parents, and I sometimes regret that I’m not as much of a comedian as the other family members… though I do have my moments!  I can sometimes make people laugh if I feel comfortable enough around them).

9. Give yourself a daily treat.
I suppose this would be a good thing to do if you were the kind of person who routinely overworked and denied yourself little pleasures.  I usually give in to my temptations though (not necessarily food-related temptations, things like letting myself have an early night instead of working late at night to meet deadlines), so didn’t really feel much of a benefit from doing this.  My daily treats tended to be either foods or early nights, though sometimes they were allowing myself to forget my responsibilities for a while, e.g. allowing myself to spend a few hours faffing about online, or buying something nice.

10. Do an extra good turn for someone each day.
What a nice idea!  I found this very difficult too – as much as I tried,  a good turn every single day is pretty difficult.  I also wasn’t sure what counted as a “good turn” - does it mean going out of your way for someone?  Doing them a favour?  Or just being nice?  I suppose it’s up to the individual to interpret that one.  Most of my “good turns” were very small things, such as swapping my shift with someone, helping out more around the house, or paying for a round of drinks for my friends.  This challenge encouraged me to think of more ways to be considerate to others, and was very rewarding, though difficult to carry out on a day-to-day basis.

—

Ten small things to make you happy:

1. Go outside – for at least a few minutes a day
2. Drink lots of green tea
3.  Eat fruit and vegetables
4. Avoid processed foods
5. Live in a clean and tidy space
6. Stop comparing yourself negatively to others
7. Get a good night’s sleep most nights
8.  Make lists
9. Listen to happy, upbeat music
10. Read a book.

The Sunshine Award

My lovely zinester friend Hannah (author of Not Lonely zine and book blog What Hannah Read) has given me my very first blogger award: the Sunshine Award. Thanks Hannah!  The award is meant to recognise positive, creative and inspiring bloggers: what a nice idea. As part of the award there are 10 questions to post, so here are my answers:

Favourite colour:

Blue.

I miss having hair this colour.

Favourite animal:

Well, if this isn’t an excellent excuse to post a cute picture of Toby, then I don’t know what is!

"This is my seat now."

I am a dog person.  I never liked dogs until I had one of my own.

Favourite non alcoholic drink:

Diet Pepsi with ice (yes, I controversially think that Pepsi is better than coke!)

Facebook or twitter:

Twitter, without a shadow of a doubt!   Hannah wrote a great list of reasons why Twitter is better than Facebook on her blog last week.  Hannah’s list explains exactly why I dislike Facebook; I would only add one thing – that Facebook has a big bragging culture that, as someone who has envious and socially anxious tendencies, really bothers me.  I’m not saying that people don’t brag on Twitter, but I think the format of Facebook is more geared around bragging about one’s busy social life, and it’s a more socially acceptable way of doing so.  You have the ability to check yourself and friends in to a place when you’re out, you can upload photos and tag your friends in them (and more importantly, get yourself tagged in other people’s photos), join events, and cultivate a long list of “friends” – all these, when done correctly, can make you look very popular.  Not to mention the fact that people think it’s okay to openly brag in status updates about how busy and wonderful their life is!  Logging in to Facebook is usually a stressful experience for me, so I try not to visit too often.

Getting or giving presents:

I love giving presents when I’m buying for someone I care about, and when I have lots of ideas on what to buy them and what they’ll like.  But I feel as if Christmas has ruined the experience of buying presents – last year I left a lot of my gifts to the last minute, and so had to rush around town on the last weekend looking for nice gifts, and eventually finding something half-decent and going “fuck it, that’ll do”.  (by the way, does anyone enjoy buying gifts for male relatives?! It has to be the worst thing about Christmas shopping!)  So, without sounding too selfish, I’d say that I probably prefer getting presents.  I’m a romantic person, so a kind gesture like a surprise gift is a guaranteed way to make my day!

Favourite flower:

Bluebells.  I know a lot of people think of them as a weed – my grandmother used to spend hours pulling the bluebells up from our garden when they sprouted in the spring – but I think they’re gorgeous.  I love seeing something so dainty and fragile push its way and start blossoming through the thick garden grass every year.

Favourite pattern:

Vertical stripes.

Passion:

Music.  Closely followed by feminism, then by zines.

Favourite number:

6.  I have no idea why, but it’s always been my favourite number.  I like its shape, maybe that’s it.

The blog I want to pass the award on to is:

Maranda Elizabeth – a wonderful blog written by a self-described writer, zinester, daydreamer and genderqueerdo.  They write about zines, mental health, self-care, gender, creativity, and adventuring.  I’m always excited to read what Maranda has written when I see their blog pop up in my google reader.

My First Vlogging Experience!

I’ve done my first vlog! It was lots of fun.  This video was originally 20 minutes long, so the editing is a bit clumsy in places where I tried to massively cut down the running time.

It was a weird experience,  to watch myself talking – I’ve always thought of myself as someone with a strange and overly-expressive face, but watching myself back, that’s definitely not the case.  :/

I babble about my current creative projects, editing compzines, writing Spill the Zines, and trying to write Here. In My Head. #10.  I feel I should point out that I filmed this vlog a week ago, and since then I feel a lot better about the Pandora Press situation having spoken to the SFN girls about it.  I originally talked about lots of other things too, but had to cut them out to keep the video short (no one enjoys watching long rambly videos, and it’s already long and rambly enough ).  Let me know what you think of it, and I’ll try to make another one in the future!

I also did a zine review vlog for Spill the Zines, which has had lots of positive feedback already.  Take a look and let me know what you think of it: