And I've just thought of another new year's resolution:
Don't rely so much on my phone.
As to how I'm going to manage this, I have little clue. However, for starters I'm going to buy an alarm clock. I've used my phone for the purpose for years now. I do have a wind up alarm clock but it's a bit unreliable; it has to be wound up to the full and even then I've known it to not go off a couple of times. I'll get a proper digital / battery powered one from somewhere, and start with that. Then I'll keep my phone in a different room at night; perhaps even turn it off.
Photo by Chris Scott
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Sunday, 30 December 2012
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:
Go to the dentist.
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.
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.
Open a savings account.
(Kept: yes)
Alas, I proceeded to spend all the money I got. Oh well.
Renew my passport.
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.
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!
Friday, 14 December 2012
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'.
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'.
Sunday, 2 December 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Yet more projects
It's been too long since I had an update that was worthwhile posting, so here we go again.
Basically, due to the restructure happening at The Paid Job, the hours have dried up significantly. As a result, money is very tight. I've usually well and truly started my Christmas shopping by this point but I've been entirely unable to. Therefore the driving lessons idea has gone up the swanny for now. They'll have to wait until the new year. Oh well.
I've also applied for a full time position with my paid job, in the hope that I can raise some money.
On top of this, I've finally started a couple of post grad applications for creative writing courses, and have also applied to the JET programme to go and teach English in Japan for a year. Fingers crossed, then.
Basically, due to the restructure happening at The Paid Job, the hours have dried up significantly. As a result, money is very tight. I've usually well and truly started my Christmas shopping by this point but I've been entirely unable to. Therefore the driving lessons idea has gone up the swanny for now. They'll have to wait until the new year. Oh well.
I've also applied for a full time position with my paid job, in the hope that I can raise some money.
On top of this, I've finally started a couple of post grad applications for creative writing courses, and have also applied to the JET programme to go and teach English in Japan for a year. Fingers crossed, then.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Best Laid Plans
I know it's early yet, but this time last year I had a lot of plans for the year coming - two weddings, Folk Festival, Tom Petty (:D) and some other stuff. Now at this time, I currently have little if anything on the agenda.
I have, however, kept one new year's resolution, which was to finally replace my licence and sort driving lessons. Said lessons have yet to actually be booked - that will have to wait till next month - but I finally feel I'm making some headway on this front. I'm just hoping I don't make an arse of it.
But yeah - next year I have no plans.
I have, however, kept one new year's resolution, which was to finally replace my licence and sort driving lessons. Said lessons have yet to actually be booked - that will have to wait till next month - but I finally feel I'm making some headway on this front. I'm just hoping I don't make an arse of it.
But yeah - next year I have no plans.
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Cancer is Cruel
So a mere couple of weeks after going back to Glasgow, following my summer holidays, I'm back in Shetland again. Not entirely by choice, and certainly not in good circumstances.
My lovely granddad, Peter - well, not biologically but certainly in every other way for as long as I remember - had been suffering from hip pains when I left. On Tuesday, less than a week after I'd left, he was in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, having been diagnosed with lung cancer which had spread to his bones. The doctors hoped they could treat it, but it was clear from the outset that this would only be to slow it rather than cure it. However, on Saturday morning my mam phoned me at work to tell me he'd taken a bad turn in the night and passed away. He was 61.
As you can imagine, my heart is utterly broken. He'd been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember, having married my granny when I was a toddler and the two of them being together until her death in 2001, and even after his eventual remarriage last year. And now I've started this entry yet still don't feel I can say everything I want to.
I've been in Shetland since Friday and the funeral was Saturday, and tomorrow I'll be back to Glasgow and trying to adjust to the fact that I'll never see him again.
My lovely granddad, Peter - well, not biologically but certainly in every other way for as long as I remember - had been suffering from hip pains when I left. On Tuesday, less than a week after I'd left, he was in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, having been diagnosed with lung cancer which had spread to his bones. The doctors hoped they could treat it, but it was clear from the outset that this would only be to slow it rather than cure it. However, on Saturday morning my mam phoned me at work to tell me he'd taken a bad turn in the night and passed away. He was 61.
As you can imagine, my heart is utterly broken. He'd been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember, having married my granny when I was a toddler and the two of them being together until her death in 2001, and even after his eventual remarriage last year. And now I've started this entry yet still don't feel I can say everything I want to.
I've been in Shetland since Friday and the funeral was Saturday, and tomorrow I'll be back to Glasgow and trying to adjust to the fact that I'll never see him again.
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