New Year's Resolutions

First of all - Merry belated Christmas!

Due to weather I ended up with an unexpected stopover in Aberdeen for two days, but it was lovely. I've been home for a week now. I don't know what's in store for when I return to Glasgow on the 5th.

Anyway - that time again! New Year's Resolutions in the hope they might happen. Here we are again, with the ones I made last year:

Get a new job.

(Kept: no, but efforts made)
Same as last year, a couple of interviews but nothing yet. Hopefully 2013 will bring a change, even if it's by way of an admission to a Masters.

Learn to drive.

(Kept: nope.)

New paper licence finally acquired, but due to monetary restrictions have been unable to actually book any lessons. Hope to do so in the new year.

Open a savings account.

(Kept: yes)

Alas, I proceeded to spend all the money I got. Oh well.

Renew my passport.

(Kept: yes.)

Oh yeah :D I think, if I can pull together the money, that a little weekend abroad might be in order for next year. 

Go to the dentist.

(Kept: HAH!)
Moving on...

Live a little.

(Kept: no.)

Again, if I succeed with learning to drive and getting a new job, that might help.

Get a new hobby.

(Kept: no.)

Poi spinning fell spectacularly by the wayside. Will try again in the new year.

Go and visit Auntie Iz in her new place.

(Kept: yes.)

Visit Arran and / or Bute.

(Kept: no.)

Again, might have been easier if I'd learned to drive. Hopefully this year, since I have no concrete plans beyond the Folk Festival. 

That's three out of nine kept, poor show! Six I'm carrying into the new year with me, along with the hope of getting into one of the Masters courses I applied for. 

Have a good new year, everyone!

Instagram

I'm going to take time out from the usual blog subjects to talk about finally 'discovering' this app that seems to be all the rage.

In all honesty, Instagram was not an app I previously felt the need to get. I do have friends and acquaintances who are also signed up to it. I'm not gonna bang on that I 'didn't feel the need to follow the trend', because anyone who knows me knows what my online presence is like. I spend too much time on Facebook and Twitter, and back in the days of Myspace and (shudder) Bebo I was addicted to those too. Being owner of a smartphone - a pebble blue Samsung Galaxy SIII, no less - I finally got bored one sleepless night and decided that I would see what all the fuss was about.

For those of you who've been hiding in a cave since this app came into being, Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal summed it up perfectly in this comic, and the legends behind College Humor summed it up with this:

 


That's all it is. Just an app to take photos with, which was one of the things that put me off getting it in the first place anyway. Yes, you can add filters to enhance an image, make it look bleaker or brighter...and that's it. I won't lie, I've only really just gotten started on it in the last couple of days and I'm bored already. The first photo is just me in my Cookie Monster hat (which has been getting a lot of wear with the increasingly cold weather). This was the first photo I took, using a filter on my phone's camera:

 

Nice hat, eh? I know, I love it. You want one? You can buy it here, along with matching mittens (which I also have, although be warned - you can do bugger all wearing them. You'll at least be warm though). Then I decided I'd give it a try through Instagram. This is the orignal snap I took:




And here it is Instragrammed:




Yes, I do agree, it looks nice with that filter, although I look paler than usual. But to be honest, I couldn't tell you the filter I used on it because I genuinely can't tell half of them apart. There's at least two black and white ones, and three '70s / Polaroid looking ones, and that filter I used, as I said, was also one of three. They're not even just called 'black and white' or 'sepia'. Seems pointless. That said, I'll probably still use it just because I can. If anyone feels inclined to follow me, my username is 'wirhannah'.

Brrrr!

In recent years I have come to the conclusion that my new-found life as a city slicker has left me more susceptible to cold temperatures than ever before.

Tenement flats in Glasgow are the biggest culprits for crap insulation. I've lived in four since moving here (this one included) and every year it's been unbearably cold.

As for me, I'm still applying for jobs, still getting fed up with the market, still trying to get my finger out with regards to going back to uni. It's all a bit scary right now.