That Night When The Penny Drops

Remember when I told you to 'capture the moment'?

It happened again.

Like I said, I've been away for a few days at the 'bonding' trip. And let me tell you...

Wow.

When we got there- I have to say, I think I set my standards a little too low. I was literally expecting a mud house- but it turned out to be one of those cosy wooden lodges you see at Center-Parcs. 

One moment in particular will stick with me for a long time. All eleven of us were in a big room, sharing bunk beds. Four bunk beds, eleven of us- we were very cosy, and it was very warm: you can probably guess. 

And it started off with us all squashed on one bed watching vlogs we had made during the trip. It was emotional, to say the least. Looking around I could see we all had tears in our eyes.

It was beautiful. I'm not saying that I feed off the sadness of my friends, but seeing them like that. Like, they feel the same way I do- and that makes you realise that you mean as much to other people as they do to you. 

You're a part of their life, just like they are a part of yours. Everything you say has an influence on them.

Do you want to hear the saddest part?

It was the sudden realisation that we might never be like this again. 

Here we are, all sweet and adorable- sharing good times, inside jokes and bunk beds when suddenly. Wait! We start GCSE's next year, with hardly any classes together. We'll be apart more than we are together. 

And then what? University, careers, family. You realise that there is more to life. Friends suddenly become a part of school, a part of what will soon be the past.

That night would probably be the time we are closest to each other.

The penny dropped.

So here's where the camera kicked in. I captured the moment, and I'm going to remember it for a very long time.

Before I continue, I just wanna say thanks to you guys. You've become a part of my life- and I didn't really realise it till that night. Before I considered it normal to laugh, to love, to be a part of something. But after that night, I see that we're a part of something much bigger.

And not only that, but I had a party on Sunday. It was the kind of moment you shouldn't forget. We were all so close, and it made me think a lot about how we take a lot of things for granted- when really, it's these things which make us special.

You're all special in your individual ways, we change each other and we make each other see things in a different way. And not many people are lucky enough to witness that, or to be a part of it.

I'm a very lucky person.

I'm asking you to take a minute to put all the bad things behind you and focus on what you've got right now. Appreciate how lucky you really are, even though so much has gone wrong. Just do it.

Don't take anything for granted, because although it might be here today- who knows what is going to happen tomorrow?

Thanks to everyone who shared this experience with me,

I love you all...

Fly On, my friends

Luce xx

PS: I'm giving you a band to listen to this time. They're called Amber Run, and I love them an awful lot. They're just so... Ahh! So yeah, check 'em out...

PPS: I have nothing to say in this bit because I'm so busy trying to do stuff for the blog, and I don't want to keep adding more and more until I actually have something to give you guys. Make sense? No, me neither. Just go with it.

PPPS: Smile, it's the most beautiful thing in the world.

Bonding, French Kisses and Ty Lewis

Hey ya'll! How are you beautiful people all doing?

We're getting closer towards the end of the school year- which is great with a capital G. 

(I promise I will never ever say that ever again. Wow, I'm ashamed of myself)

So, quite a lot's happened lately- and quite a lot's going to happen.

For example, we break up very soon, it's my birthday and I'm going on holiday. 

But I shouldn't wish away the last few weeks.

My year are going away on a residential trip in the countryside. It's a sort of 'bonding' trip, because next year we start all of the exams and stress is taken up on to a whole new level. So, even though my class is so close that our periods are synced (and yes, I did just say that. But it's true, and to all you guys out there- you're lucky.) - we still feel the need to go raft building.

That will be an experience, let me tell you. Yes, I trust my friends- but when it's to do with building something and freezing cold water, you shouldn't trust them as much as you normally would. If you do, you're probably going to end up head first into said freezing cold water.

I've got my eyes on you, guys.

No, it should be good, all jokes aside. I'm excited because I love all of this stuff- rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing etc. The only thing I wouldn't like is caving, but that's not going to happen, so... yay...

I am very clumsy though, so maybe I've jinxed my luck.

(EVERYONE. CROSS YOUR FINGERS. CROSS YOUR TOES. CROSS YOUR LEGS. YOUR ARMS. YOUR EYES. WHATEVER YOU CAN CROSS, CROSS IT.)

And I know that there are a few people who aren't looking forward to it, and I just want to say to you: It'll be over soon, don't spend your time sulking about it because chances are you won't get the chance to experience something like this again. :)

Of course, this little team building trip will probably not come with free wifi, so I won't be able to update during the week. Sorry, but I hope this makes up for it.

I'll update when I can, but I have a party on Sunday too so... yeah.

I'm excited about that. It's nice to just, hang out. Plus, if it means celebrating anybody's birthday that isn't mine- I'm all for it.

Yeah, my birthday's coming up soon. And I'm not particularly fussed about it. It's just another day, why would I want to celebrate one year closer to my mid-life crisis (I was going to say my death, but this is coming from a teenager, so I don't want to jinx that too)?

I don't hate it, well I do, but... It's nice for it to be appreciated- just don't go all out on it, okay?

Plus, I'll probably celebrate the fact that I'm the same age as almost everyone I know.

Woo! Perks of a schoolgirl!

I'm not just friends with people in school, but I don't particularly want to go in to that one today, if that's alright...

And then I'm off to France for a week. Ahh. Sun. French Food. Fireflies. Also French kids (Ooh la la), and I can speak a bit of French. Last time I went I managed to keep a simple conversation going, which was better than the first time. I had no idea what was going on, and everyone kept kissing me. That was awkward.

(They like to kiss almost as much as we like our tea)

And on that note, I think I'll round it up here.

Also, if you're ANYBODY AND I DON'T KNOW YOU- the most awkward thing you can do is kiss me. Please don't.

Fly on, I've already checked and there are no planes due in the air in your area for a couple more hours, so it's all clear and you won't be smashed to smithereens.

Luce xx

PS: The song of the post is I Am A River by Foo Fighters. That might not sound much like me, but I've got a pretty wide music taste. I like pretty much anything- so don't judge me if I wear a 5SOS tee or a tee of a band you've never heard of. People can surprise you, in more ways than you'd think. 

Also, I heard on the radio this morning a mashup that this boy, Ty Lewis, did. He's actually AMAZING, he's fourteen years old and he's from the same place I am, so go and check him out. In the mashup he did Don't by Ed Sheeran, Nina by Ed Sheeran, No Diggity, I Need A Dollar (I hope I haven't left any out!) It's amazing, he's amazing and I love him so much. So yeah, check him out too...

PPS: I've had 11 buys for my short story so far- thank you if you've already bought it. If not, and you'd like to check it out, click here. It really helps me out, and I appreciate the fact that you're reading the words that I've written... so cheesy, but I like my cheddar strong, so deal with it.

The description isn't how I'd like it to be, but on one of my latest posts the description is there. Also- there happens to be a story called Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson, THAT'S NOT ME! 

PPPS: I would like to share a quote from a book that I've been reading lately, it's Paper Towns by John Green and it's absolutely amazing. (Is that a bit cliché, even for me?)

"Humans lack good mirrors. It's so hard for anyone to show us how we look, and so hard for us to show anyone how we feel."

I think that's pretty beautiful, don't you think so too? Just, take a moment to appreciate that.

We spend so much time being fake, it's actually unreal. Do you dress the way you want to? Do you talk, or walk, or do basically anything the way you want to? Are you hanging out with the people you want to? Are you following your dream?

Are you really?

The reason I do this PPPS bit is to show you that you're worth it. And you are, you're worth more than you think. But if you're going around pretending to be someone that you're not, if you're putting on a mask and creating new traits and new hobbies and a new look for yourself that you don't really want- what is the point in doing the PPPS in the first place?

You're not really the person you make yourself out to be, are you? And is that going to make you happy? Is that going to make your life worth living?

No, it won't. It'll make you sad, and depressed, and lonely- you'll forget who you are, and that's the worst thing out of this whole situation.

So I can tell you that you're worth it, and that you're beautiful and you shouldn't give up- and that's true, because you shouldn't. But a reason that you feel like this is because you aren't being yourself, you aren't who you want to be.

Only you can change that. I can tell you all of these things, but only you can decide what to do. So please, I encourage you to do it. If not for yourself, then for me. Change from the person everyone else wants you to be into the person you want to be. 

I can only do so much.

But you can change everything.

And maybe, just maybe, we can get ourselves out of this mess.

Listen up, folks. They're going to stick around...

This is insane! Everyone has been so kind to me: about the blog, and about the short story. You guys literally gave me a round of applause in English the other day- and it is so nice that you actually care about this sort of stuff. Wow, that must sound really weird: but I really enjoy doing all of this, and it's nice to see that you enjoy reading it. It's so cool, and you're all so sweet and I really can't thank you enough...

*hug*

So many different things have happened lately- that's why I haven't had the time to post, and it's why this post is going to be extra long. 

Do you ever get that feeling like you should capture every moment? It's as if some moments are so precious to forget them.

And yeah, I'm talking about friends, and family. 

You can literally feel yourself bonding with them, which is quite a freaky thought.

It's like on the Sims Freeplay game-everytime you high five, hug or talk to a friend, the friendship bar goes up. It's the small things that count, but in the bigger picture it can make you be best friends with them.

Let's just forget the part where you can literally marry someone by high fiving them twenty times. So unrealistic, bruh.

You get on with someone so well, that every time you meet you want to take a photo. It doesn't matter if you're in class, at your house, at the shops, in the cinema- all that matters is they're there, and you're lucky enough to be with them.

So, folks, lesson number one: embrace it, chase it and change it. 

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it by saying that friends are for life, and they're the only people in life that matter.

Cause you've got the people that you hate too. You've got the people that you want to stab in the back every time you see them. The people who betrayed you, who made your life a living hell. You've got them. And they matter too. 

And it happens to every one of us. 

They matter just as much as the people that clog up our camera roll. They've shaped you, and changed you to be the way you are now. You've probably changed them too. Most likely- you've made them see that not everything is about the fighting or the arguing. 

I'm not telling you to ditch your best friends and make friends with your enemies- because that's gonna make you feel unsafe and insecure. 

But maybe... Maybe try to understand them a little better?

That way, you can be prepared, and you can come up with some kick-ass comeback when they say something mean. 

On a relevant note, one of my favourite series of books has another book that came out this year that I never knew about.

(I actually really really love this series- my blog is named after it. 'Maximum Ride' by James Patterson- check it out.)

It feels as if it was literally written by a fangirl, or the author has listened to the people of Tumblr.

Everything that you want to happen, happens.

See, it's not just the people that make up your life! It's the THINGS, too. Books, Movies, Music, TV Shows, Food, Social Networks, Sleep etc. 

Hold them close- because if all else fails- they will always be there for you, no matter what. 

There's always something new and exciting to discover when you're a part of something. A new turn, a different twist. A gripping cliffhanger. 

And it's not suddenly going to leave, you can be sure of that.  

Don't you want to do that with your life? I do.

I'm young, and I'm incredibly stupid, but... I can make a difference, right here, right now. 

I can turn someone's day from horrible to beautiful, I can make them carry on, instead of giving up.

You can tell someone a few words, and it can change their life. 

Is that not crazy? It's crazy. It's completely nuts.

I want to do that to someone. I want to change their life for the better. 

I can't be a scientist, I can't do trigonometry for shit, I dance like a hippo and I draw a big blob, instead of a magnificent masterpiece. 

What else can I be useful for?

So: 

• Embrace it, change it, and chase it

• Hold your friends close, and always keep a camera nearby 

• Hold your enemies close as well, but not too close otherwise they'll burn you with the fire they can conjure up in the palms of their hands

• Find things you can be involved with, and get yourself engrossed with them (the only harm it can do is sleep deprivation, which I'm sure we're all used to anyway)

• Make a difference to somebody's life. Make a difference to your life, sure. But don't forget about everyone else. Please.

You can do whatever you want with your life. It's your life, so live it. 

Fly on, your hair won't look too bad, I promise. 

Luce xx

PS: I have a surprise coming up soon- and the playlists too, so sorry!- and I'm in the process of sorting it out now. But it's very close to my heart, so I trust that you will take it seriously. All will be revealed soon...

PPS: I think you're amazing, it doesn't matter who you are or what you're going through right now. You're amazing, and it'll get better. Please. Don't panic.

PPPS: These PS' are in a weird order tonight but here's the song that I want you to listen to: Ordinary Love by U2. I love this song, it's simple and it's beautiful and I think we should all embrace that.

xx

Chill Your Beans, Man

We have to talk.

Well, sort of.

There's been a lot, and I mean a lot going on lately. Do you ever feel like everything's going too fast? It's almost as if (and this is going to sound very cheesy, but I'm going to pretend that I don't care) you're stuck in the eye of the hurricane, and all you can do is move about- surrounded by this swirling, hurling storm of worry and problems and just general things that you need to do.

And you have to deal with all this stuff that's thrown at you, until eventually it dies down. One by one... all these problems seem to just disappear...

Yeah right.

As if that actually happens. 

I've been waiting for a while for this to happen to me, and look at where I got. I'm still in the same place as I was ages ago, I've forgotten what I was even doing in the first place.

But I'm still a hot mess. I mean, look at this font.

Cute, right?

So, I thought today we could just kick back, relax, and appreciate all the people who tend to feel this way too. And that's practically everyone, right? So, hopefully, I'm going to totally zen you out tonight.

And don't take that the wrong way. We're here to be friends, and if we're going to do that then there's no way that I'm going to be awkward about it.

*cue definition*

Cheeky Nandos:

Definition number 1-

When you're out with the lads and you're having a look in JD and you might fancy the Curry Club at 'Spoons but then your mate Callum who's an absolute ledge and the Archbishop of Banterbury says "Oi brevs let's have a cheeky Nandos instead" and you'll think "Top. Let's smash it."

Tool #1: Oi mate fancy a browse in River Island? Just seen a solid 10 bird outside
Tool #2: Na mate I'm off for a Cheeky Nandos instead

Definition number 2-

Top notch banter
you know when you go down town with the lads and you all realize you’re hank marvin’ so you say “lads let’s go Maccers” but your mate Smithy a.k.a. The Bantersaurus Rex has some mula left on his nandos gift card and he’s like “mate let’s a have a cheeky nandos on me” and you go “Smithy my son you’re an absolute ledge” so you go have an extra cheeky nandos with a side order of Top Quality Banter

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cheeky+Nandos

Can you tell that today's post isn't going to be very serious?

So... I want to make you (and me, because I am very stressed out right now) more relaxed and hopefully laugh...

Possibly not- but I hope so...

Do what this gif says!

(Turkish man yelling meow at an egg. enjoy.)

I would tell you some jokes, too. But we all know how that ended up on my last post...

I had a lot of fun doing this part of the post... but, there's also the serious side. Isn't there?

It's all nice and well laughing at some random goofball's failures at life. But it's not going to last forever, is it?

What we really need, is a nice cuppa and some relaxing music.

My ideal situation is a rainy day, and you're sat on the windowsill with a cuppa in your right hand and a book in your left. Some sort of melodic, relaxing and, knowing me, slightly depressing music. 

Just picture that. Picture that for just a minute or so.

Ahhh...

I just love rain in general. I think it's a pretty good job, when you live in England. But it's relaxing, and warm and calm and I just can't get enough of it.

One song that reminds me of this is Promise by Ben Howard.

(Actually, the whole of Every Kingdom- Ben Howard's first album- is brilliant for rainy days)

Another relaxing 'image' for me is a forest.

Kind of like a Katniss Everdeen forest- all big, and green, and the sound of water flowing and leaves rustling and insects chirping away like there's nothing else that they're alive for.

Water is a big theme here, isn't it?

Just imagine. You were in your favourite place, with nobody else- just you. Everything was just perfect- nothing horrible was going on. Every problem that went on in the real world... just... gone. The people you don't like, or the people you want to forget about- far, far away. They don't exist here.

All there is, is you and what you're surrounded by. An escape from reality. A safe haven. 

Now whether it's a beach, the library, the cinema or a park. It doesn't matter whether it's a swimming pool, or the back yard or the supermarket. It's unique and it's special to you. It's your safe place, embrace it.

Everything that ever went wrong in your life, it doesn't exist anymore. It didn't even happen in the first place. 

Happiness. Peace. Everywhere.

I don't know about you, but to me, it sounds pretty damn perfect.

You're allowed to feel safe. You're allowed to feel happy.

You're allowed to love, to laugh and to live.

And yeah, okay, sometimes things won't go exactly as you wanted them to go. But that doesn't mean that from that point onwards, everything in your life is going to go wrong. It isn't.

You can feel sad, or angry, or jealous, or hate. You can feel all the negative things, you can hate the world and everything on it.

But please don't give up- there's always a safe haven.

You just have to find it.

Fly On, and don't look down

Luce xx

PS: Relax. Close your eyes. Enjoy the peace. Listen to music. Play with your dog. Do whatever it takes to calm yourself down. You're worth it.

PPS: I have a song for you, and I'm feeling sorta edgy about this one. I don't know if you like it, and I hope you do. So it's called Mad World. There are so many different versions of it, so I won't give you a link and I won't tell you who it's originally by either, because it's probably wrong. Just Google it and pick your favourite. 

PPPS: Don't forget to compliment yourself once in a while. I know it sounds cheesy, but honestly- you deserve it. So please, don't forget that...
(Thank you)
x

A Writer's Block leads me to this...

Heeeeeeeyyyy!

Before I start typing nonsense, I just want to say two things.

First, me and my bud Tiki, who's amazing blog is here, have just made another blog which is here. It's for our Textiles lesson, where we're learning to make a kimono. So, if you want to know how to make a kimono that will fit either a two year-old or quite a big cat- check it out! 

And also, and I am SO happy about this... I've just published my first short story on Amazon for everyone to see!

The link is here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00ZB1GI22

And I'll give you the summary right here so you can decide whether or not to have a read. 

(Just bear in mind that the story took me a few months, and the summary took a few minutes so if the summary looks rubbish, the story's probably and hopefully better than you'd think. Hopefully.)

They are happy. 

They are finally free. 

They are Lost Souls. 

Christmas will never be the same again in the Kay mansion, especially for Gwen and Ace- the inseparable siblings. 

What happens when Gwen stumbles upon the Curse- putting the lives of herself and those she loves in danger? 

What has Ace been hiding after all these years? 

And who is the mysterious Aunt? 

They say that you cannot run from the past until it runs into you. But what if you go looking for it?

That sounds quite cheesy, but I'll do a recap. Basically, it's Christmas and you've got a brother and sister who live with their parent's in their Great-Great-Great Aunt's mansion. There's this weird curse. That's all you need to know.

Um, the endings quite weird and if it's quite an anticlimax- then I'm really really sorry.

Also, at some points it might seem quite demented. I'm not actually that demented, believe it or not. But it needs to be creepy, and I think I managed to do that.

(Your feedback would be greatly appreciated because I don't normally write stories- so if you do read it and want to tell me why it's so bad, then you know where the comment box is. RIGHT BELOW, SO GET TO IT!)

It costs £1 and I really hope it's worth it. 

Thank you for considering!

Should we get on with the show?

I think so...

We left off on Friday after the concert. And I gave you a pep talk on being nervous, which felt awesome, by the way. Thanks to the people came up to me or texted me saying they liked it. (You know who you are!)

I hope it didn't sound too cheesy, and if it did- tough. There's plenty more of where that came from. 

Seriously, though. I want to do stuff like that on this blog. I'm obviously going to write about my life, no matter how boring it is. But I also want to talk about other stuff, things that are important and that matter to me. So, if I feel like you need a pep talk, then I will give you a pep talk. And you just have to deal with it, I'm afraid.

And it's been two days since I posted that, so not a lot's gone on since then. I've literally been food shopping, out for a coffee and watched Netflix. It's pretty sad that my life has come to this, but to be honest, I don't really care. 

So, I thought that I'd use this wonderful opportunity of a slight writer's block to tell you a little bit more about me. And if you already know me, then I hope you learn something new.

My name's Lucy, I'm not going to tell you how old I am because... well, because. I'm basically just a normal teenager living in England. Beautiful, sunny, warm England. 

I have green eyes (I'd say I'm very lucky, because only 1% of the population has green eyes. I'm about to get a whole lot more special, in a minute.) and brown hair... very descriptive, I know.

I wear glasses (I've just googled this and it says 6 out of 10 people in the world wear glasses or contact lenses. I'm not very special in that respect, but I hate wearing them all the same.) 

They're the really dorky ones...

(I literally googled nerd glasses and this was one of the first images that came up)

And the saddest thing is, I started wearing them before they 'came into fashion' and while they were still known as nerd glasses.

Wow.

And, lucky for me, I'm also left-handed. And if you're left-handed too, you'll see that actually, it's a bigger deal than you think. Not only do we have to deal with this:

Or this:

Or even this:

(It's hard to believe, but stupidly true) D:

We also have to do everything the other way round- and we need to do it with left-handed scissors, or non-smudge pens. Everything's so much more expensive- and a lot of the time, companies don't even think about making their stuff to suit lefties too.

In my school, we have to learn Latin (I'm dropping it next year, yay!) And I found out that the Latin translation of being left handed literally means sinister. 

Also, people used to burn and drown people like me because they thought we were witches. 

So if you think being left-handed is no big deal, and that we make it out to be so much harder than what it is for righties... uh, no.

:D

(That was so much fun!!)

It's nice to be different, though. Even if it's harder, I guess it still makes me stand out from the crowd a little more. 

I have a little brother, whose name I'm not going to share with you because... well, because. My parent's are divorced, so I live in two different houses. My little brother only lives at my dad's- so I see him once every two weeks. 

I go to an all-girls school, where we have to learn Latin. The teacher hates me so much, probably because I annoy her on purpose. 

She hates cats. After every topic we have to do a topic sheet. And somehow, I always manage to find a picture of a cat to do with that topic. She always writes, in Latin, something like "Bad girl!" 

My favourite lessons are English and Music. (I hope you can tell that by now...) I guess you could say  I'm creative, because I know for certain that I'm no good at Physics. 

My favourite colour is Teal, which looks like this

TV shows I like: Pretty Little Liars, Once Upon A Time, 24, NCIS, Sherlock, Friends, Modern Family, The Office, Derek etc etc 

Films that I like: The Maze Runner, Love Actually, Hunger Games, Twilight, TFIOS, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, anything Marvel etc etc

Books that I like: The Maze Runner Trilogy, Harry Potter, Maximum Ride, Tape by Steven Camden, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Hunger Games trilogy, Twilight, The Host by Stephanie Meyer plus MANY MANY MORE (I think I might need to make another page with all the books, films and TV shows that I recommend...)

There is, of course, the endless list of music- which I'm not going to say right now. But I promise you that all that will be up soon! 

Should I give you a list of all the music concerts I've been too?

1. Girls Aloud (Twice. I regret it.)

2. Take That (Now that one, I don't regret)

3. Tom Odell (just. amazing. His support act was George Ezra, so... Yeah!)

4. John Newman (fun fact: I awkwardly patted dear ol' John on the shoulder. He walked away a couple of seconds later)

5. Lewis Watson (bae: I also saw Amber Run live too when they were his supporting act. Check 'em out!)

6. Ben Folds (the guy is literally the piano)

7. Duke Special (not very famous, but incredible live. He had no voice when I saw him live, so he called up members of the audience to sing his songs with him. I almost put my name down, but then I realised that I was just a kid and that there is this thing called being nervous- but I have to add on to this story at some point!!)

8. 5SOS (I posted about them. I better not say anything else about that in case I burst into flames)

9. I'm seeing 1D in concert in October- so... Ahh!

People I went to see in concert in my dreams:

1. Ed Sheeran

2. Coldplay

3. Kodaline 

4. Bastille

5. Ed Sheeran

6. Panic! At The Disco

7. Fall Out Boy

8. Coldplay

9. Ed Sheeran

10. The Script

11. Imagine Dragons 

12. Ed Sheeran

13. Ed Sheeran

14. Coldplay

Plus too many more. I haven't been alive long enough. 

My favourite food is anything that has pasta in it. 😍 (I also love hula hoops)

Cherry Coke is the best thing ever, I've fallen in love with it. 

My favourite animals are tortoises, elephants and cats. Luckily, I have two cats, but the whole elephant thing is kind of illegal.

I'd keep a tortoise if I could. But, that's not going to happen anytime soon...

I'm saving a few other things for later posts, because I think that they would be best to talk about as separate things, if that makes sense. 

But don't fear! You'll soon know me better than you know yourself!

I am also incredibly bad at telling jokes, dancing and playing strip poker. 

Kidding, I swear. 

See what I mean about being bad at telling jokes? 

Just forget it. And don't bring it up again. 

I know this post might seem incredibly long and boring- but:

1: I couldn't think of anything else useful, that won't make you throw up all over your screen. 

2: I wanted to do this at some point anyway- you may as well know now. Right?

Hope you're doing good. If not- well, you know where I am. 

Fly On,

Luce xx

PS: The song this time is Time by Mikky Ekko.

PPS: I'm not kidding about the playlists. They're almost done! I'll put one playlist up at a time, so that I don't run out of songs to give to you. But, then again, Spotify's great for recommending new people. 

PPPS: This is becoming a regular part- but I'm happy about that. You all deserve to know how amazing you are. So, smile. You're worth it. Please don't forget that. Yes, you.

Such A Rare Occasion... Nervous Freezes

I know it's only been a couple of days, but quite a lot's been going on and I HAVE AN IDEA!!

This is a very rare occasion for me, it doesn't happen very often- so be grateful that I'm sharing it with you!

(Haha, I'm just kidding- I don't care whether you want to hear it or not, I'm telling you anyway so stuff that!)

So today I took part in a concert-on my own. Let me rephrase this, ON MY OWN. I'm not great with stuff like this, I shake a lot and I tend to say a lot of stupid things when I get nervous. But it happens, and I don't think that we should just ignore it.

We all get nervous, right? Whether it's a big deal or not. I mean, a few weeks ago my school had exams (I know I've mentioned this before but, as Tilly would say: Bare With. Not particularly good advice, but there you go...). And whether we liked it or not, we were all nervous wrecks- and there was nothing we could have done about it.

I hate that feeling, it's like you know you shouldn't be worrying- but you do anyway. It's totally not worth it in the end, but that doesn't stop you from curling up in a shaking ball of nothingness and moaning depressingly about equations.

It's not just exams or concerts either- it can be a lot of things. But generally, you get nervous when you have to do something you haven't come across before. You get nervous because you don't know what's going to happen next.

So... can you guess what my theme of today's post is?

Nervous: A feeling or reaction resulting from anxiety or anticipation.
I'm going to do this post because we don't usually talk about this sort of thing with other people. But it's one of those things that we just have to talk about. We all get nervous, don't we? So what's the point in pretending that we don't?

It's not a mistake to be nervous, it's human nature.

Sometimes we get things right, and sometimes we don't. A lot of the time it isn't down to what we actually know that makes us get things right- but it's how we control the nerves. We know the stuff anyway- but nerves determine whether we forget them or not.

Let's go back to this concert that I performed in today. I was quite nervous, but I wasn't totally freaking out. Normally, I guess I would be, but there was another friend of mine who was scared to death- and I found that making her feel a bit better, also made me feel a bit better too.

But when I got up there, the spotlight literally made me freeze. I know that sounds so cliché, but it froze my brain. For a moment I forgot what I was doing and why I was even there in the first place. And do you know why that happened? It happened because I was nervous.

(Wow, Luce. What a way to be obvious, huh? Maybe you should title the post 'Nervous Freezes' aswell to make it even harder for people to guess!)

Then I realised what I was doing. Finally! It felt like I had stood there for two minutes doing absolutely nothing. In reality, it would have only been a couple of seconds, but it felt like so much longer.

So... I started the piece. The first note went brilliantly. But after that, it went downhill. I missed out a whole section. My nerves took over.

I'm not usually that picky- but when you miss out something- you HAVE to add it back in. You just CAN'T MISS ANYTHING OUT. So, I tried to fit it in, which didn't work. I tried, and I tried again. The piano accompaniment was probably wondering what on earth I was trying to do.

Now that was where it went wrong. Then I realised that I was making myself look like a complete idiot. I didn't usually play like this, so if I was going to perform in front of a room of people then I had to suck up everything I had inside of me and just play the goddamn piece.

From there, it got better.

And better.

And then I finished, with a bow, a round of applause and a hasty sprint off the stage.

(I probably shouldn't do that next time, now that I think about it)

My nerves took over me, that's sort of their job- isn't it? And when I realised that things weren't going to get any better unless I sucked it up, they went away.

I know that I could have demonstrated this using different examples. There are so many fairytales and better examples that a lot of people can relate to.

Imagine what George Clooney (hashtag fairytale) would have felt like at his first audition- but now look where he's at. He's one of the most well-known male actors in the career.

Ed Sheeran at his first gig. I have no idea how he managed to suck up the courage to do what he did at only 13- but he did it, and now look at him. The Ginger Jesus has made himself known.

Neil Armstrong had no idea what was going to be outside when he took his first steps on the moon. But what did he do? He did it anyway, and that's why we know his name today.

Barack Obama did not become President of the United States by luck. He sucked it up, and he just did what he had to do. Now he has a lookalike, parodies made after him and he met Tyler Oakley (he must be a goddamn good President if he met the Queen)

There are so many people who have achieved great things. We always hear about what they've managed to do, but we never hear about what they had to do to get there in the first place. Each one of them would get nervous, but they sucked it up anyway and carried on with life. It's human nature, it's simply what we do.

So we shouldn't ignore it. Why do we even ignore it?

It's not going to go away with the push of a button. But if we ignore it, it will control us. Accept the fact that we get nervous, and let yourself be nervous. Becoming afraid of it will only encourage it. If you focus on what you actually have to do, just do it. There's no point in making yourself look like an idiot, when you know you aren't.

You can achieve so much, everyone has the potential to do what they want to do.

So do it.

Fly On,
Luce xx

PS: I'm saving a lot of songs for the playlist that I was going on about on the last post. So I don't have any songs to recommend you this time.
However, do check out All The Luck In The World, Panic! At The Disco and Paradise Fears.
All amazing bands :)

PPS: Same goes as the last post, if you have any music you'd like to recommend me then pop it in the comments. If you have anything you want me to talk about, pop that in the comments too. Remember, you can be anonymous!

PPPS: You're amazing and beautiful and I think you should know that you lovely person you

Exams and Concerts- Both Cause A Need For Sleep

Hey guys!

Thanks if you're already 'tuning in', I appreciate it and it's nice to have the internet to rant to :)

Loads has been going on lately, like literally, loads...

I realise that I'm going back a bit before my first post, but I think you'll appreciate what I have to say.

Every teenager knows the stress of exams- whether you can be bothered to do them or not. My school has a week of exams before half term at around about May, and they are literally hell. First of all, you have all the revision stress that you need to control. You have no idea what you need to revise, and when you get to the exam itself you'll probably find that nothing you have revised is actually on the exam.

Then there's pressure from your family, friends, and most importantly yourself. I think that to be honest, I push myself more than my family does- because I want to do good. And I know that cooping myself up in my bedroom with nothing but school work and music WILL NOT LAST FOREVER!!

It's only going to last a week, and once it's over, it's over. Plus I'll be better off in the end (turns out, now I've finished exams and I've got some of the results- it was totally worth all the pain)

When you get to the actual exam, your mind sort of explodes into a frenzy of equations and metaphors and french words that you don't understand. On the first page, you scribble down literally EVERYTHING you remember in the hope that it's right. It becomes your bible, no kidding.

Then after the exam everyone shares what answers they got. And when you don't get the same answer as them, your life no longer means anything. The amount of time you have to wait between the exam and the results becomes more stressful than the exam itself.

But, hopefully, if you put in as much effort as you possibly can and if you try your hardest, then it'll be worth it. You can smile and get back to your normal life (my life is netflix, food and tumblr so now that I think about it, maybe I was better off doing revision... wait, what?!)

And if it couldn't get any more stressful, I had to pick a fancy dress costume for a eurovision themed party. WHICH WAS AWESOME! I think it's safe to say that I was probably the brightest person in the whole building.

I also had a birthday party which was also incredibly awesome. I had so much fun, even when a certain group of people almost ruined it for the birthday girl. That was a shame, I admit, but it's their own fault.

I went out with my class on Friday. Can I just say, to get the cheesiness out of the way, that you guys are my best friends. I honestly don't think I could ask for better friends. Before I met you guys, I had no idea what true friendship was. And this is so cheesy- but I am so glad I met each and every one of you. So thank you!

(Half of you won't even see that, but to those of you who did- thank you!!)

All of this brings me on to last night...

A really good friend of mine, who's blog is here and you should totally check it out because it is awesome, invited me and another friend to a concert. A FIVE SECONDS OF SUMMER CONCERT!  It was one of the best nights ever. My taste in music is rather varied (I'll do a post on music later on, but seen as I'm already rambling, I'm thinking it's best not to keep going just yet!), I like all sorts of stuff, but one of my favourites is 5SOS.

The whole concert was amazing, but there was one song in particular which stood out, and I'll think I'll remember it the most- Amnesia. It was completely calm compared to the rest of their set. The lights had all darkened and turned more neutral, and Luke and Calum completely took over the stage. All around the arena everyone had turned on the torch on their phones, it was such a beautiful sight. Hundreds of lights swaying to the beat of the music, completely taking over the arena. They make it sound so beautiful, when they sang you could hear the complete honesty that the boys sang with. The sight of the lights together with the song made it seem so emotional. I'm pretty sure a lot of fans were crying, I know I had a tear in my eye. The boys looked as if they were on the verge of tears too- and this is going to sound really weird, but it was beautiful seeing that they felt the same way about the song, and the lights, that the fans felt. We all sang along instead of the screaming that we had done before. It was so emotional, and just absolutely beautiful.

After the concert we went by the stage door, and after a few rounds of Pizza, we realised it was late and that we should probably go home.

Thank you to the lovely Tiki for inviting me, and giving me that experience. It was just.... ahh!

Back to school now, which is slightly depressing, but we're not there for much longer which is great. I love this half term, because no real work is actually involved. So yay!

As per usual, I have two songs this week for you.
Terrible Love- Birdy
Caught In The Middle- Kodaline (not Kodaleen!!)

I will update again this week, I'm going to have plenty of time to update because we hardly have any homework.

See you soon!

Fly on,
Luce xxx

PS: If you have anything you want me to talk about, drop it in the comments. Haha, I sound so popular there- really, I'm not. But I don't want to write about stuff you're not interested in- so let me know :)

PPS: If you have any music suggestions, pop those in the comments below too. I'll put playlists and recommendations on soon. For whatever mood you're in :)

PPPS: I don't actually have anything else I want to say, but I've never said PPPS before and it feels quite cool. INNIT.

Bai :)