Whip It Real Good

Cousin Itt always had the best hair

 

I’m going to write an entire post about my hair. Conceit and pointless? Yes. Oh well, it’s my blog muahaha. My blogging powers are sensing that it’s going to be a long one today, to make up for the lack of posts in the last few days! Sozboz.

MY HAIR:

At the moment:

Currently, my hair is just past the boob area, with some long layers and a long fringe – both of which have pretty much grown out. The most noticeable feature of my hair is that I have ombréd (NOT DIP DYED) the ends of my hair, fading from my chinny chin chin downwards, getting more and more red further down you go. I didn’t bleach my hair, so it’s a subtle red, but quite prominent at the same time if that makes sense?

*CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO ACHIEVE HAIR LIKE THIS!*

I was inspired by the massive ombré trend which was huge last year, but more importantly by these bloggers:

·         Le Happy (obviously!)

·         Another blogger who I can’t seem to find, but she had the most amazing hair :( Sad times. But all I remember is that she was asian, with blonde ombre which she dyed red with manic panic.

N.B. I had this hair way before the likes for… (kind of ironic as so many people have ombre hair anyway)

1.       Snooki (whoever she is!)

2.       And Jessie J (Even though it was just extensions)

Just like to add how much I love her outfit with the disco pants and bright red creepers. I want them. 

At the moment, I actually really like it for once, but I am very tempted to change it up. This is because I am encountering some annoying problems.

Problems:

1.       SPLIT ENDS: The first and probably most obvious problem would be that constantly dying your hair in the same area (the ends in this case, which are most fragile since they are the oldest part of your hair) leads to inevitable damage. Now, I do not have lots of split ends compared to the major of people who dye their hair, but it’s the fact that I have split ends at all which is annoying me. I had never had a single split end in my life until year 9, when I touched by first home hair dying kit. Now I look down and I see so many, it’s heartbreaking! Okay, slight exaggeration, but I don’t like it. 

2.       LONGEVITY: Having dyed hair – especially brightly unnatural coloured hair – is never going to stay in hair permanently, unless they make some sort of chemical breakthrough in hair dying technology (possible career path?). This results keeping hair washing to a minimum, otherwise the colour will be gone in a flash. Being a teenager who cares about personal hygiene, this is a problem. 

3.       KNOTTY NUISANCE: I rarely brush my hair through, resulting with the back of my hair becoming more and more matted. I’m surprised that it hasn’t started dread-locking. This is probably not helping the split end problem. 

4.       COPYCATS: It’s not that I’m getting bored with this hair, but so many lower years are in my school are dip-dying their hair.  Most aggravating is that they only do about 2 inches of a colour at the end of their hair and leave the rest hair natural, thus looking absolutely ridiculous, since there is a harsh line. Furthermore, more stupid year whatevers, dying the ends of their hair different colours means that teachers are going to notice this trend and try to eradicate it, resulting in me getting probably having to get rid of my redness as well. 

Because of these 3 reasons I am very tempted to change up my hair in either of these ways:

CHANGES:

What?	Why?	Inspiration	Verdict. Yes/No
Get a fringe	I currently love the look of a slightly long piecey fringe which skims over your eyes and splits in the middle.	Rebecca from “Painting the Roses Black” LOVE HER BLOG I am also loving Zooey Dechanel’s fringe too.	I realised that I hate having hair in my face, plus my forehead would become so ridiculously spotty if I were to do so, so that’s that idea off the list. NO!
Bob time!	They look so edgey and yummy, plus I feel that long hair makes me even shorter (if that is even possible!). You’d also save a fortune on shampoo and conditioner.	Alexa Chung Arizona Muse	I would miss my long hair at this moment in time, plus growing it out would be a bum so NO!

So I suppose my hair is going to stay the same for the moment being. This doesn’t rule out those options for the future though.

Enough about me, here are some of my more general musings about hair (Yes I am being serious).

HAIR TRENDS AT SCHOOL:

I find it really quite interesting how there are always trends in hair styles in school which come and go. Here are the most obvious ones I have notice.

The girls:

In secondary school, there is one prominent hair style: long with a far side parting and side-swept fringe. An interesting thing which I have noticed is that in the UK, the messier and more backcombed the hair is, the better, whilst on the other side of the Atlantic, the Americans much rather favour a sleek, poker straight look.

I don't own a hairbrush.

The boys:

A few years ago (and still in some schools) the Bieber look of having helmet hair was all the rage. Low and behold, just as the Biebster opted for a shorter hairstyle, this is being emulated within the classrooms of our nation.  Now it has evolved into a short back-and-sides style with a longer fringe, which I can’t say I dislike. 

Going for the chop!

POSSIBLY THE COOLEST WEBSITE ON THE INTERWEB (for hair):

This is a truly pointless website, but it’s a guilty pleasure of mine.  Here are some rather embarrassing screenshots of some of the hairstyles I tried on.

lololololololololol

www.taaz.com

HAIR PLAYLIST:

Here is a selection of hair related songs to tickle your fancy.

1.       Lady Gaga: Hair

2.       Regina Spektor: Samson

3.       Willow Smith: Whip My Hair 

Lastly for this post, I would like to condone you for reading an entire post on me over analysing filamentous biomaterial sprouting out of your head. (Sounds ridiculous thinking back!)  I hope you haven’t lost too many brain cells whilst reading this post. I’m going to leave you with one last nugget of knowledge to compensate for the absolutely superficial post.

~BONUS NUGGET OF KNOWLEDGE~

Did you know that the quills or spines of a Porcupine are actually hairs? They are modified hairs with thick plates of keratin which are embedded into the skin’s musculature.

Keep calm and have good hair,

Rebecca x

P.S. Blogspot please update your video uploader, having to post links to Youtube videos is becoming rather tedious!

P.P.S I will blog more regularly promise!

P.P.P.S More regular shorter blog posts or better, more indepth but longer and less regular posts like this one? What's you opinion? In the end you're reading it, not me.

One Week Anniversary

This post is mainly going to be reflective on the past week. It’s probably not going to be funny or entertaining in the slightest, so after this painfully funny Physics joke, featuring Albert Feleinstein, feel free to click the little x on the right hand corner of this window. :)

"Is chemistry cat any good at physics?" "Na."

One week ago today, I took the plunge and created this blog “ScatterrBrained”. I committed myself to BEDTW – Blog Every Day This Week. It has been a tremendously enjoyable experience for me, having something to regularly do and work towards. It has also been extremely insightful for me, in what sort of direction I am planning to lead this blog in.

Originally, I was not going to write this rather boring post. Instead, I had this little “Formspring”-esque quiz of some questions I had collated from my friend to answer, which was going to be utterly hilarious, but turned out to be utterly BORING, so I’ve decided to scrap that idea*.   However, as I was writing the answers, I realised a few points:

-          I am not funny in any way, shape, or form. My first two posts were satisfactory, but comedy is something that is no way my forte.

-          My life is not actually that interesting. I do the same things every day. Wake up. Rush to School. Stress about work. Procrastinate. Sleep. And then it repeats over again. I know we all like to be selfish and write about ourselves, but I don’t actually have that much I want to express on the World Wide Web.

-          Blogging every day will certainly be a challenge if I don’t want to fail my GCSEs! However, just writing whatever is on the top of my head something that I have been enjoying, along with the entire blogging experience.

After reaching this conclusion, I’ve have made a few decisions.

-          This blog is going to include probably more posts regarding music and fashion. It probably means ultimately less people will be interested in what I am writing about but for me that is what I have enjoyed blogging about most this week. An alternative would probably be starting an entire new blog solely dedicated for that purpose, something that I am seriously considering.

-          I still do want to continue blogging about life and all that shebang, but it’s going to be far less regular, just like all my posts in general.

So yes, I suppose I have fulfilled one of my New Year’s Resolutions today by writing a shorter blog post. I’m not really sure what this post was suppose to reflect/achieve, but thought I might as well get it out there to complete BEDTW.

Here are some more blog posts I am planning to do in the next week (or month…)! Even though last time I made this sort of list in my first post, I managed to only complete a tiny percentage of what I mentioned.

1.       BBC Sound of 2012 list: my opinons

2.       Fashion Trends or something like that

3.       What I want to buy

4.       Revision/Exams/Life.

5.       More fashion blogs that I have been loving

6.       Update on the New Year’s Resolutions

Damn, I love planning. 

Tally-ho pumpkins,

Rebecca x

*During writing that post, I had a sudden epiphany! I am not going to post the rest of that terrible post, but here is what I wrote…

"Ever since I was a toddler, I have loved nibbling on random objects – the side of my cot as a child used to have teeth marks along the side of it. Now, I love biting on buttons, bottle lids, head phone wires, straws, and generally anything plastic and chew-able. Oddly enough, I don’t gnaw on finger nails (gross!) and pen lids nor, do I particularly enjoy chewing gum. However, I have just realised, gnaw is my surname backwards, perhaps this is suggesting something? MINDFUCK!"

P.S. I feel like every post should have a P.S, so I've just added this one for the sake of it. :)

Likes and Loathes

This is what I have been liking and loathing in the last week. 

What I have been liking.

LIKES:

+1: New telly.

I swear all the good TV programs have all finished. But since our old telly has died, we have a new one, which is huge and a selection of glorious HD channels. They mostly replay old David Attenborough documentaries on them, but I don’t mind.

+1: Making sushi.

Yesterday, I decided to make some sushi for the sake of it. They don’t taste great, but it was fun rollin’ rollin’ rollin’.

Here are 3 songs related to rolling.

1.       Blues Brothers: Rawhide 

2.       Limp Bizkit: Rollin’ (Air Rade Vehicle)

3.       Adele: Rolling in the Deep

Speaking of Adele, did anyone see her Royal Albert Hall concert, which was broadcasted on New Year’s Day? Absolutely amazing.

+1: Windy weather.

Recently here in England, there has been extemely windy weather, which I LOVE. Don't ask me why, it's just invigorating. Obviously not to the extend of tornados and hurricanes.

+1: Middle Partings.

A side parting is so year 8.

LOATHES:

-1: Waking up early and just school in general

During the holidays, waking up at 11am had become routine. Now with school starting again, attempting to wake up 4 hours earlier certainly was a struggle. I have an alarm on phone at 7:00am, but I managed to press the snooze button a total of 10 times (unconsciously!) until it was 7.40am when I realised what the time was, and panicked. I also forgot that it would be dark in the mornings. However, this morning I was greeted with a lovely stripy sunrise (how cheesy) which put me in a slightly better mood, I suppose.

Usually after a holiday, I always very slightly look forward to the return of school, simply because I usually get bored of wasting time during the holidays. However, this time, it has been different. Immediately I have hit with a stream of CONTROLLED ASSESSMENTS, COURSEWORK, EXAMS, CONCERTS, REHEARSALS, and DEADLINES. I know I shouldn’t complain; I am a student, this is what we are expected to endure.  I am sure some people have it way worse, but for me, it’s all a bit of a headache.

-1: Accidently biting into a peppercorn.

If anyone has Chinese parents who use Sichuan peppercorns in their cooking, they will probably understand the tremendous numbing hot spiciness that comes with accidently biting into one of these tiny balls of fire.

-1: Being dehydrated.

I am so terrible when it comes to drinking water. I drink no water at all whilst at school, mostly because of my own fault of not bringing in a bottle; therefore I am always really dehydrated.

Ciao for now! See you tomorrow for the last day of BEDTW!*

Rebecca x

P.S. After reading this post and summing up all my others to date, I have even more New Year’s Resolutions to add to all the others I have in my other post, “New Year’s Resolutions”. You can never have too many of them.

1.       Stop making such long blog posts (although I think this is almost inevitably going to happen with the return of school)

2.       Substantially reduce my use of the “XD” smiley

3.       Drink more water

P.P.S. My posts have been rather lack lustre recently; I will come up with some better content soon!

*Blog Every Day This Week

Nu Mooo-sik - Kind of...

Below I have listed a few of the “new” songs which I have been enjoying this week. I say “new” in quotation marks as some of these songs are not that recent as I have not been exposing myself to the radio and other such things lately.  I’ve decided that in this New Year, as well as all my other New Year’s Resolutions, I am also going to broaden my musical horizons. A few years ago, I used to listen to far more music that I do now, and I think the turn of the New Year is a great time to start again and fill my ears with glorious tunes.

Anyway, here is my list of songs (OH YES ANOTHER LIST.) I’ve tried to include a variety of popular genres.

*SIDE NOTE: For some reason Blogger is being rather annoying, as I can't seem to embed any videos into this post. Thus, I'm going to do screen shots for video and the titles of the songs will be hyperlinks. So annoying, but sorry guys!*

·         Lana Del Ray: Blue Jeans  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6x3lRu0eHg&feature=related

o   I can tell that Lana Del Ray is going to be absolutely massive in 2012. First saw her on Jools Holland, but to be honest, I wasn’t very impressed, she seemed a bit too nervous, but after listening to the entire album, I am completely converted. Her first single, Video Games was absolutely stunning, just like the rest of her album (“Born to Die”) and her face. She describes herself as a “gangsta Nancy Sinatra”, which is an epic name.

·         Kasabian: Re-Wired
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjsrH_cnK7g&ob=av2e

 

o   This song is kind of old, and at first I didn’t like it all, as I am not really a Kasabian fan. But after XFM insisted on repeating this, a ridiculous number of times in one day, it has become rather annoyingly catchy.

·         Avicii: Levels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovdm2yX4MA&ob=av2e

o   Who doesn’t love a good house track? Think this was on an advert and I love the music video. The random dancing Chinese lady just makes it that bit more awesome.

~BONUS NUGGET OF KNOWLEDGE~

Did you Lana Del Ray’s real name is actually Elizabeth Grant? And Avicii’s real name is Tim Bergling. Under the name of Tim Berg, he released the track “Seek Bromance” in 2010. I thought Levels sounded similar to something else I had heard before!

·         Flux Pavillion and Doctor P: Superbad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj5dM3K_8dE

o   DAYYMM this is so good. That is all.

·         You me at six: Bite my tongue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1CTbE3u0PQ&ob=av2e

o   Quite ironic, I really dislike you me at six, almost as much as I dislike Oli Sykes. But I surprising find this song very annoyingly good, probably because it reminds me of early Lostprophets circa 2005, when they wrote their best music, or The Blackout.

·         Florence and the Machine: Seven Devils  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBcXe2B97TQ

o   So powerful and ultimately very chilling. Probably one of the best off her “Ceremonials” album. Makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand up.

·         StooShe: Betty Woz Gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkezLWTnyTA

o   Described as a “girl band trio with attitude”, Stooshe are 3 girls from South London who are on the BBC Sound of 2012 List, along with good old Flux Pavillion mentioned above. I first saw heard them on Mary Ann Hobbs radio show a month back, as the “game-changer” or something like that. I am no means any expert in hip, urban music or whatever you would call it, but this song is very catchy. I like how there is a story line to the song, which is said to be based on a true story. It really does reminds me of Lily Allen’s “Knock ‘Em Out” from “Alright, Still” (which is a great song!) back in  2007, with its use of  talking/rapping style to portray the story line, and of course it’s use of humour.

The last song on my list is not new in the slightest, but it’s been in my head all week… Such a guilty pleasure.

Ian Dury: Hit me with your rhythm stick  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WGVgfjnLqc&ob=av3n

This is my favourite line:

“It's nice to be a lunatic”

I agree Mr Dury.

Wow, that was actually quite fun to compile that list. Perhaps I should make it into a regular feature like “New Music Mondays”, but not are lame as that.

What songs have you been enjoying this week? 

Cool. Speak to you guys tomorrow.

Rebecca x

Always ScatterrBrainded

P.S. Reading this back, I really do need to add some new adjectives to my vocabulary, and really stop saying “really” so much! Argh!

P.P.S I should learn how to use HTML, would really make embedding stuff way easier. 

Inspirational Blogs: Fashion and Others

Probably my favourite method of procrastination is reading/looking at blogs, and here is a selection of a few of my favourites.

BLOGS BY PEOPLE I ACTUALLY KNOW

Only two of my friends in real life have active blogs. I’m not including Tumblr blogs of course, that is only re-blogging and rarely includes original content.

·   STRIPEYTOFU

o  StripeyTofu is a blog by one of my friends. It includes a wealth of hilarious memories, diary entries, and cringey stories. ;) You may notice that on the link above, the blog appears very empty. That is because all his past posts are in his StripeyTofu2011 blog, since he has been blogging well over a year now! That in itself is a fantastic achievement, not to also mention that he has over 10,000 views! Congratulations to him! I hope that I can be as persistent with my blog, but I highly doubt it.

Favourite post? 

o   My favourite post is this one called “Home Alone: Day 2”. He told me that he wanted to cook something by himself, so I told him to make pasta with a sauce of some sort, as its fool proof. Oh how wrong I was! Somehow he came up with “Coconut Marinade Salmon Cavatappi” and also filmed the process for his Youtube channel. To manage to screw up something so simple is simply hilarious!

He likes Taylor Swift.

·         JUST MY THOUGHTS

o   I am apprehensive in whether to include this blog or not, but I thought I might as well as only 2 of my friends have blogs. K expresses his own opinion on things as a whole, such as politics, philosophy and other deep things I should care about but I don’t. *Slight ammendment, K himself does not approve of my description of his blog, so here is his own "I'd describe it simply as a simplified set of euphemisms coming from the brain of a 16 year old bbc"* I must admit, I do not follow his blog every day, but I applaud him for his very well articulated posts. (See, I am nice to you K)

Favourite post? 

o   My favourite post is his one on K^ism, a set of religious beliefs of which he is the founder of. I chose this post because I told him that the ^ meant “to the power of”, if you were to type it into Microsoft Excel. He mentioned this in his post, so I am happy. 

Yay.

I have just noticed, both of my favourite posts from both blogs involve me in them, to a certain degree. Whoops! I am a pretty selfish person, I must admit.

FASHION BLOGS

Apart from those two blogs up there, I only really follow fashion blogs. I spend probably more time on these blogs than I should, but in my defence, the pictures are yummy. I realise probably most of you aren’t interested in these blogs in any means, but oh well.

1.       Le Happy

a.       Probably my favourite blog of all time. 

2.       Jean Greige

a.       Amazing outfit posts. 

3.       Little Ericaceae

a.       I don’t think she still updates, sad times. 

4.       Cats and Rocking Chairs

a.       I want her clothes.

 

I like fashion blogs. I might do another more in depth post about them, but then I might not, since I don’t really know if this post was any use to anyone/slightly interesting at all.

So yes, that is all for today, see you tomorrow for day 5 of Blog Every Day This Week!

Rebecca x

Always ScatterrBrained

P.S. If I know you, and you write a blog, please tell me about it, I’d love to read it!

New Year’s Resolutions

Get ready for a mega long post.

‘Tis the end of another year: a time for both reflection on the past year and looking forward to the next. I would say the cliché phrase that is “time flies when you’re having fun” but I can’t really think of anything that was really that fun. I mean Sichuan 2011, Taiwan 2011, 15^th Birthday at Kidzone, Sauce for the Goose, Orchestra Courses, Duke of Edinburgh expedition, London/Birmingham/Milton Keynes meet ups, Snowdonia Geography trip, various birthday parties were all fantastic experiences, but my sixth sense is telling me that 2012 is going to be the best year yet in .

Amazing Visit to Taiwan

To start off this hopefully momentous year, let’s commence with some self improvement, in the form of New Year’s Resolutions.

I WILL KEEP THEM THIS YEAR!

Every year I think to myself in my head, “oh I’ll just try harder/sleeper earlier/be nicer this year” but always manage to fail to sustain them for more than a few days. However, this year is going to be different, I AM going to keep them, by setting them in stone on the internet. Yes, it’s time for another list! Plus, if you know me personally, I give you permission to nag me about them, but not too much.

THE SERIOUS BUSINESS

1. GCSEs: get some great results

a. Year 11 inevitably means time for our GCSE examinations. I don’t just want good results. You only get one shot at them, so I want the best.

2. Manage my time more effectively.

a. As stated in my first post, I am a severe procrastinator. Ironically, I hate wasting time and being unproductive, yet I spend so much time on Facebook, Skype, and Youtube. I always complain about not having enough time to play violin, blog, do homework and other such important things, and I think it’s time to be a little more pro-active. This also includes going to sleep at a sensible time every day, and waking up at a decent time too.

3. Be a bit happier.

a. I am not afraid to admit that I am a moody person. Time to spot spending less time moaning and worrying about pernickety details - which in the end, don’t mean anything – and instead, smile a bit more and generally be a more friendly person.

4. Make 2012 the best year ever.

a. Lots of things will be happening this year, and I want to make the most of it. This links back to managing my time more effectively, so I get the most out of what is most important.

MORE LIGHT-HEARTED STUFF

1. Stop saying “init” so much.

a. I am literally disgusted in myself for letting this little devil of the word creep into my everyday vocabulary. Who do I think I am? I am not a badman, nor am I hard, probably the exact opposite!

2. Look after my plant.

a. For Christmas, my mum bought me probably the second coolest plant ever, with the first being a venus fly trap. I hope that with my love and care, my Tillandsia will grow large and flower, but I highly doubt it.

My plant is a Tillandsia, which is stuck to a super awesome snowman.

~BONUS NUGGET OF KNOWLEDGE~

Did you know that Tillandsia is a genus of epiphytes, also known as air plants? They do not have any roots, nor do they require any soil, since they absorb all the moisture and nutrients it needs through the air.

3. Become a ukulele master!

a. Well, maybe not, but to actually develop some skill when it comes to ukulele playing. My parents bought me a brand new ukulele as an upgrade from my horrible red Mahalo which only cost £15. Hopefully this new uke will stay in tune for more than one strum.

Armed with “Ukulele for Dummies”, I hope to become a ukulele god, or at least, learn a new song each month.

4. Improve my appearance.

a. Yes I am vain. This means actually waking up more than 10 minutes before I have to leave my house, so I can actually make myself look presentable.

5. Stop making duck faces and get a new Facebook profile picture.

a. I think it’s about time to stop taking such posey pictures and grow up. Also I am rather shocked that I have had my Facebook profile picture for almost 8 months. That is preposterous and must be changed.

Somehow I don't think that this is going to be my new profile picture...

6. Actually try and complete my music coursework.

a. It is starting to get rather ridiculous. I was supposed to have completed my first composition before July 2011, and be well on my way with my second composition. I haven’t even finished my first composition… Argh!

LASTLY, but probably most importantly:

Blog at regular intervals! Obviously.

Now that it is the end of the official holiday season and since the start of the Spring Term and January exams are only just lurking around the corner, most people are starting to feel rather solemn about the prospect of no more fat dinner parties with multiple delicious courses, no more boxes of Quality Street sweets, no longer being able to sleep in until *insert ridiculous hour in the afternoon* o’clock, nor being able to give the excuse of “but it’s the holidays” to parents when they nag you about doing homework. However, it’s not all doom and gloom for us Chinese homies, only 22 days until Chinese New Year! 太棒了!!!

Time for some more food!

Cheers big ears,

Rebecca x

Always ScatterrBrained

P.S. Thank you very much for all your lovely comments about this blog. I appreciate them! Congrats to Wandi for being the first person to follow this blog too. You’re awesome. The statistics are also very surprising, who knew I had readers from Germany and Bulgaria, O.o. Equally as shocking, 32% of my readers actually still use Internet Explorer. Are they stuck in the Stone Age?! If you are one of these people, try Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, and you’ll see what you are missing out on.