Practically Alice

I've been thinking a lot recently about jumping; the leap of faith, the leap into the unknown, 'not all those who wander are lost', all that stuff. Tomorrow I begin second year and quite frankly I'm quite scared about it. The workload is daunting, the fact that it counts for so much is daunting, and the whole 'need to sort work experience out right now this exact second' thing is daunting. That's not to say I'm not excited, because I really am. I can't wait to get back into the routine of lectures and learning and seeing the people on my course again (they're SUPER lovely people). This year is a big'un because all my grades go towards my degree, I'm hopefully getting a job and it just feels like an important  year. The people I mingle with, the people I'm living with, the people I meet and have met are all so impressionable and I feel like I'm shaping myself into who I want to be, finally. (Not to be all deep or anything.) A w...

I've now moved into my second year house. House . What makes it even more bizarre for such an occurrence to, well, occur is that this house has nearly the same address as the house I was born into. Not only this but it resembles it to some extent with the high ceilings and three floors. I have, wonderfully, bargained the attic room. I get the morning sun (which, as Jack pointed out, is great because I hopefully won't miss morning stuff as the sun will wake me up) and a lovely little view of some aspens and the church. I feel rather settled here but it's still new; these people are my friends whom I saw a lot of last year but now they get to see me in all my morning and nightly glory. (I apologise, you poor people) We have so far embarked on a marvel lous adventure, watching all of the Marvel films ever (that's a lie) and we're going to see Guardians  tomorrow (that's a truth). I feel like the fact I'm living with film and media students means I will be clu...

July and August have allowed for muchos reflection due to a) lots of time on my own and b) lots and nothing has simultaneously happened. Two particular and very recent events have made me realise how, well, adult  I am. One occasion being totally and completely happy (yay, happiness!) and has just generally given me a grand old boost. Without going into it too much this even has given me a lot to smile about (I think I scare people I walk past in the street with my smiling antics... but that's nothing new) and I hope it will continue to have an impact on my life in some way or another. The other event is somewhat sad; it has made me realise that I'm the certain person who now knows adult people as friends and sometimes crappy, awful, sad things happen to them. (I'm so coherent and not vague, aren't I?) This person had a role in my primary school years and he was just a joy, a complete joy. I guess sometimes you have a shock like that to ground you a little bit and a...

As well as the release of the new Potter short story on Pottermore, Thursday 26 June 2014 marked the 17th anniversary of the publication of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . These books have imprinted on a generation of people and I myself, though not entirely or soulfully, include myself in that. Though I didn't read the series until about 2009/2010, Harry Potter has indeed had a profound impact on my life and will continue to do so for years to come; it's only on reflection that I realise the extent of which it has influenced my childhood. I certainly remember my friends talking about the books, even at year 1/2 their parents had read them to them so they knew what was going on. I also distinctly remember wanting to read them; I bought the first book at my school book fair back in 2003/4 (I think) and the first Harry Potter book I picked up was at my Grandmother's house in - it was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and, though it was...

My blog has hit over 4,000 views. In the two years that I've been writing here I never actually reckoned anyone would read it. I don't actually know what people think when they read these really odd words from my head but *waves*. It's nice to see you here. If you ever actually want to say hey then I have a twitter on which you can contact me:  http://www.twitter.com/paperbookmarks This summer seems to be all about the big numbers; I'm tackling the legend that is Ulysses  by James Joyce. Well, I say I am tackling, I haven't actually started it yet but these are my feelings about it: [ x ] I've heard it's rather a challenge but hey ho, I'm going to try. Among the sea of Ulysses I will be dabbling in many a-book over summer; page after page tumbling into my head. I'm hoping to get back into the mode of devouring books - it's been a while. Since finishing university for the year I've been wiped and am currently in a bit ...

Today has been an odd mixture of things. A gluten free, homemade cake my my wonderful flatmates; a selection of cookery books (see a food theme here? Says a lot about me), and the most beautiful bracelet from Phil, a bottle of bubbly for later, a bottle of wine for now (well, I say now - it's empty now ). I feel happy and elated and sad. I don't want this academic year to end because it suddenly means that when I see these people next I'll be second year and then I'll be doing my dissertation proposal and then I'll be a third year and then BAM. Done. Kaboom. I hate endings. I race through books and then get sad when they're finished... but at least with them I can imagine the afterwards. For me, in real life, I have  an afterwards (hopefully... ha) with which I will have to cope and deal with and live. I will only have some control over that. This year I've (ish) come to terms with (kind of) (not much though) my back condition and how it's never go...

A year ago I sat my A level English Literature exam whereby I had to write an essay on a Shakespeare play. The play that was chosen by my teachers was Antony and Cleopatra , one of Shakespeare's more (I feel) under-appreciated tragedy's. When my friend Nicky and I decided we'd go to the Globe when I visited her, we saw  Anton and Cleo  was showing and I got very, very excited. The thing about reading a play at A level, or GCSE, or at any level of education for that matter - even if you just simply read it for pleasure - is that to some extent you don't end up getting a visual sense of the characters. When one reads the lines of Cleopatra, one doesn't exactly picture how she delivers them, only how she could. One of the main reasons I was so excited to see this production was that Nicky and I had previously had the pleasure of seeing Eve Best as the Duchess of Malfi in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi  (Old Vic, 2012) and she had a certain way in which I c...