Apologies, cyber denizens, but this blog has taken a backseat these past two weeks! It's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things with some early days and late nights and prioritising my activities is becoming a must!
Last week, I started back at university for my second year on an English and Creative Writing course. We were told during our first year (practically a taster year for different subjects) that it didn't count towards our degree, and that our highest credits during out second and third years would give us our ratio, therefore I'm more determined this year to do all my required reading (which is a hell of a lot of reading!) and complete all of my assignments in good time!
I also plan on making the most of the opportunities that being a part of the university community throws my way, and intend to take part in the student magazine and even possibly join the student radio team. My department were also advertising for novice copywriters, so that may also be something that I'd like to try, with the possibility of being paid.
Apart from that, there's this blog, which I plan on upkeeping, and hopefully, when I feel that my writing is of a good enough quality, I'll start throwing reviews and the like at music websites and build up a little portfolio! I also plan on getting back into writing regularly, as is par for the (uni) course.
I'd also like to try my hand at customising denim jackets. I know, I know, I've mentioned the whole clothes thing in previous posts, but it feels rather large scale, and the denim customising is something that I can do easily on my own without having to rely on anyone else yet, and also without the expense of printing. I've found a lot of nice materials so Hobbycraft, here I come!
Anyway, my gift for the day/week/month! The Maccabees at this year's Reading Festival, I've been listening to them a lot all week :)
So, in the midst of Britain's yearly heatwave, I spent the day indoors flitting about and sorting my student finance application (finally finished!) and printed some tab to learn on bass, 'R U Mine' by Arctic Monkeys next for me, I think. Also trying to teach myself guitar on my old acoustic that I first bought in age 11, saved all my pocket money for that! I quickly remembered what it was about attempting to teach myself that made me give up last time - struggling to hold down the chords. For someone with long, bendy fingers, you'd think that I'd have a much easier time achieving this than I actually am! However, I have a better concept of how to play the instrument this time around, after teaching myself bass; when I tried about 8 years ago, my brain genuinely couldn't comprehend strumming and timing!
Anyway, whilst filling in my student finance I was quickly reminded that I could really do with finding a job. Even if I only earned enough to have a bit of spending money as well as give my folks some board, it would be better than getting in more debt. Money left untouched is money that can be repaid quicker, after all. It was whilst browsing through some of my favourite blogs that I was struck by an idea. I was on LLYMLRS BigCartel, JWLRY, when I realised that she was, essentially, purchasing, bundling and re-selling rings in order to make a profit. After seeing all of the reconstructed and customised clothes at vintage store, COW in Birmingham last week, I realised that this was something that I and two of my friends whom take an interest in fashion could easily do ourselves, buying cheaply from places such as eBay and in sales and even raiding our own wardrobes for unwanted clothes which we could bleach, shred, stud and patch in order to make something one-off and unique. 'Vintage' has been really embraced in the past few years, especially so within the youth market who have a lot of disposable income, so this is something we could really capitalise on! Customising to order is another idea that I also had, for example taking a denim item and buying patches specifically and halving price costs between us and the seller. Retailing the actual denim higher than what we paid for it could still result in profit, as would purchasing the customising materials such as studs and the like in bulk.
The three of us have pretty different styles of dress - I prefer dark colours, plaid and tartan, prints and loose fitting tops, whilst my (girl) best friend is far more feminine and prefers dresses, skirts and bright colours, whilst my (male) best friend prefers retro shirts, painfully skinny jeans and gaudy prints. Between the three of us, I really think we could come up with something that could appeal to a lot of people! Hopefully, the financial and business side of this can work out as efficiently as what I think the creative aspect will :)
In other news, the Japanese Voyeurs B-Side and Rarities CD that I ordered last week arrived today. It's a limited edition of 250 (mine was numbered 231) and I knew it was something that I had to own, as they were set to be my new favourite band (after the demise of Alexisonfire D':) before they too, decided to split a few months ago. The disc has some really good songs on it and was a snatch at £7 including postage, and I'll probably do a review on it in the next few days!
If you've never heard of Japanese Voyeurs, I'll leave you with a taster below, enjoy :)
