52/365

I FAILED!!!

52/365

HAPPY PANCAKE DAY!!!!! We made lots of scrummy pancakes and I made cookies too! Had a very productive day. Not much time because am doing uni work so I shall see you tomorrow!

51/365

So I went shopping today and decided that I love this top. But I resisted the urge to buy it . I did good!!!!!!

Anyway that's not what my post today is about. Today it is about one of my best friends. She is pictured below with me in Edinburgh. She text me earlier saying that she missed and that's what made me decide to dedicate this post to her. I am so stoked about going on holiday with her and our boyfriends as it means we can hangout since we don't get to much because she lives too far away from me. Also I will  be visiting her soon which I'm excited about but it's still too far away. To be honest, I don't think anybody gets me quite as much as she does. Anyway, Emzy this is for you! I miss you!!!

50/365

So was out last night and slightly hungover today. I say slightly which is actually true as I'm mainly just tired. However I have a craving to bake cookies!!! haha

We went to Korova and it was the first time I'd ever been and I had a great time. I knew so many people that were here and saw some friends I haven't seen in years.

Above I am pictured with the awesome Laura and Rachael =) They seriously are the best friends in the world!

49/365

Going out tonight and am very excited. It has been such a long time since I went out and had a drink or two with my girls. Not 100% sure on the outfit, but oh well! Shame I have to work first. Because to be honest I just want to go drink!

HAHA anyway, have a good Saturday guys!

48/365

Haha we are so cool! Night out tomorrow night with my girlies. Am well excited as we never go out on a Saturday night haha

47/365

Hello everyone.

Had a great long discussion (more like a debate) in Film today because as hypocritical as I am about the subject (I eat meat so can't really speak much about it) but the slaughter of animals for entertainment purposes is beyond me. People kept saying that the slaughter would happen anyway due to the animals being bred for eating, but yet the director's bought these animals and instead of saving them and letting them live, they then kill them. It seems pointless and a waste of a life. Then you have the added thing of, if an animal is allowed to be taken off of deathrow and used in films, can a convict in the same situation be taken and used in a film whilst getting killed. Controversial much?!?

Anyway guys, I have to go finish reading my book for English tomorrow so I shall speak more later. Thanks =)

46/365

David and I on our post valentines date! We went to see The Bow and I cried my eyes out like a little baby! It was very good though! I thoroughly recommend everyone to go and see it!

45/365

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

I have been spoilt rotten today, if I am honest with you. We are going swimming with dolphins when in Portugal and that was my valentines day present! I am so lucky! That and my Kinect 

Was watching my films for this week and I actually thought I was going to be sick. The main film is called Blood of the Beasts and it's all about the slaughtering of animals and it is very graphic and it shows literally every bit of the murder and dissection 

I got my exam results for English this morning. (I found it ironic that the Romanticism results came out on Valentines Day) and I passed. I got a 13 which is quite good, but I'm not happy enough and there is room for improvement. I am away to start writing my essay for English so I can get some people to proof read it as I want to do really well this term.

SO I am offski!

44/365

I'm wearing pink and lots of it haha! This is an unusual occurrence!

I said I would update lots but I don't have time as lots of uni work to do! So I will do a brief update yet again! This week is going to be a hard week at uni due to the films we are watching. The are short films all about the death of animals within film. Whether it being a documentary or the use of documentary footage in fiction film. After today's class I felt physically sick.  We watched Electrocution of an Elephant by Tomas Edison which he made to show how much better DC electricity was from AC and it is shocking.

43/365

I am terrible at this! Works been crazy and have been having early nights but I've been taking the pictures, just uploading them slightly later. So this is for yesterday (12/02/2012) will update properly in the next post!!!!

42/365

Not feeling like taking a photo today so have an old one!!!

My works have just changed my shifts all around! AAAAAAAAAAARGHHH!!! annoying!

I honestly can't believe Whitney Houston is dead!!! Shocking news!!!RIP!!!

41/365

40/365

HAHA! Poser picture!!!

I just got an order for 25 wrist bands!!!! I just worked it out and I have raised just over £50 for charity at the moment through my wrist bands. So I am really chuffed. Plus thy have put posters around Uni for me too so everyone will be able to see it. 

I think I've pulled a muscle playing the Kinect. The Disneyland game is amazing! I played it for 2 hours straight and then realised I was in pain so figured that I had to stop. My Daddy was laughing at me because of it. Haha!

I GOT ACCEPTED FOR A DIRECTOR'S WORKSHOP AT UNI! There was only 20 places so I am so chuffed that I am allowed to go to it. It's on the 29th of February!!! Cannot wait!!!

39/365

Went to the Bobbin today for studying! That didn't happen to be honest. We sat and drank and ate too much food instead as students do!

I got my Kinect today for the Xbox!!! I am so excited to start playing it!!! So this is a short post because I am away to play and really can't be bothered writing much more.! Enjoy!

38/365

So the story behind this photo is Sarah saying: "I need to think of something funny before I get my photo taken... Like Monkeys... In that tree over there... Having sex... And its funny!"

I said the other day that I would post the recipe for my cookies on here and I haven't done it yet so prepare for it below:
Ingredients:
9 T. butter (125 g.)
1/2 c. sugar (100 g.)
1 T. vanilla sugar or 1 tsp. extract
2 egg yolks
1 egg (50 g.)
2 c. flour (250 g.)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. Nutella or chocolate nut spread
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 tsp. butter
Preparation:

Mix cold butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, then egg and vanilla extract, if using.

Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mix Nutella and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Form a ball with 2 teaspoons of dough by rolling it between the palms of your hands.

Place about 1/2 teaspoon of Nutella in the middle, then bring the edges of the dough up and around the filling and pinch closed.

Roll the dough again between your palms until a sphere is formed, then place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes in a preheated oven. Cool and decorate as follows:

Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave on high in 15 second intervals, stirring after each 15 seconds. This should take about 3 intervals before the chocolate chips are smooth and hot.

Spoon the melted chocolate into the bottom corner of a sandwich bag. Close the bag. Cut off a very small corner of the bag and squeeze the chocolate through the hole to drizzle in an attractive pattern onto the cookies.

After the cookies have cooled, store them in an airtight tin between layers of wax paper. You may also freeze them.

SO yeah, that's the recipe for the cookies.

I watched the film Au Hasard Balthazar last night and it was really good. I constantly sympathised with the protagonist of the donkey rather than the human characters and I also did my conversation post too which went as follows:

Au Hasard Balthazar is quite distressing in places due to the different techniques that Bresson uses throughout the film. At many points the viewer is forced to sympathise with Balthazar rather than anyone else in the film mainly due to the sound effects and also the use of close up. The viewer is constantly being put behind bars and is made to sympathise with different animals and people within the film. The gaze that is received by the viewer from these others makes us feel like we are the one who are in captivity and hat it is not the animals and humans that we are viewing on the screen.

37/365

Hello peepz. 

Had work today again and am so tired which sucks but yeah. I fell asleep while reading my book which I find quite funny although it was really interesting so will have to read some more tomorrow. 

We started studying a film called Au Hasard Balthazar today which is about a donkey. Am going to watch it tomorrow so will let you know what it is like after, but it seems so interesting.

Am away to bed now!!!

36/365

So last night was my works Christmas night out... in February. It was either really early or really late. This is me with my work friends Hugo and Charlotte. We went to the Carmelite Hotel in Aberdeen. To start with the night was not that great but then the music started and the free bar (not until after 10 and I was sober all night anyway) and everyone seemed in better spirits. We had a buffet thing but to be honest all we really ate was nachos. There were 3 of us who managed to much our way through 2 tubs of nachos.

All in all last night was really good. This morning however, everyone seemed to be suffering a little bit. I was fine though. Just hammering away at bars and such. It was great fun.

More work tonight to go to however and lots of reading to do for English too. I should probably watch the film for this week too. So much work to do and little time to play makes Rachael a sad girl.

35/365

cop out of a picture because I don't have much time.

My Christmas Night out for one of my jobs is tonight at the Carmelite Hotel featured above.

Shall let you know about it tomorrow.

34/365

Looking quite 60's today I feel.

I had uni this morning where we were discussing Jane Eyre. Personally, although I loved the book, I feel as if it only gave us great details about her life when something negative was happening as when she was happy it kind of skipped through it all the way through to the very end. I don't want to give too much away, but I recommend everyone reading it. The novel merges elements of three distinct genres. It has the form of a Bildungsroman, a story about a child's maturation, focusing on the emotions and experiences that accompany growth to adulthood. The novel also contains much social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, and finally has the brooding and moody quality and Byronic character typical of Gothic fiction. It is a novel often considered ahead of its time due to its portrayal of the development of a thinking and passionate young woman who is both individualistic, desiring for a full life, while also highly moral. Jane evolves from her beginnings as a poor and plain woman without captivating charm to her mature stage as a compassionate and confident whole woman. As she matures, she comments much on the complexities of the human condition. Jane also has a deeply pious personal trust in God, but is also highly self-reliant. Although Jane suffers much, she is never portrayed as a damsel in distress who needs rescuing. For this reason, it is sometimes regarded as an important early feminist (or proto-feminist) novel. (Thanks Wiki)

Next book we are reading is Great Expectations. I'm slowly getting there although it's not as interesting to me as Jane Eyre was.

P.S the cookies were really tasty that I made, recipe shall follow tomorrow!

33/365

I got an Aberdeen Uni hoody today! Feel like part of the team now. And it's purple!!!

I feel really poroud of myself as for once I had watched the film and done all the readings for film. It doesn't happen very often but we have to discussion posts now for it so I will every week. The film we watched was called Nenette. Nénette is a 2010 French documentary film about a 40-year-old female orangutan living in the menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes, (the zoo in Paris, France). The film, directed by Nicolas Philibert presents an intimate portrait of the ape, originally from Borneo, who has spent her most of her life in captivity. In accord with the Cinéma vérité style of Philibert's earlier works, the camera rests on Nénette and her son Tübo in their glass-fronted enclosure. We hear the conversations and see the reflections of the zoo visitors in the glass as they regard Nénette, a mother of four who has survived three mates

I think I am away to go and backe some Nutella cookies and see how they taste. If they taste good I'll post the recipe on here. I may sell these in my resteraunt/ice cream parlour that I want to open. Nobody seems to be taking me seriously with it but I am. I even created the wall that I would like and have the theme all organised.

32/365

Hiding from the cold. I had a day off today and it was epic, even though I did go into uni for a study group at the Bobbin. I finished Jane Eyre and I loved every page of it. Now to start on Great Expectations.

GLEE!!! OMG!!!! It still hasn't been on in the Uk  but OMG!!!!! haha that is all on the matter, but Cory Monteith and Lea Michelle had me in tears.

Thinking about getting a Kinect for the Xbox. I reckon it would be so much fun.

I can't wait to move out on the pure fact of I want a cat.

31/365

ONE MONTH COMPLETE!!!!

Hey guys! I got my haircut today! It's pretty neat. I went for a Chinese too with my Auntie and her fiance's sister. We planned the Hen night and I am so excited. It is ridiculous.

David came back today and I was so happy to see him. He even brought an Xbox with him! I'm excited to play it.

Started back at uni today and the term is starting off well. I was planning on reading my book tonight but only just got back in and its 23:14 so doubt I'll et much done. Same as watching the film for my film class too!!!

30/365

The bf and I in Starbucks on Princes Street. I feel like crap today and properly didn't want to leave Edinburgh or David behind, but he needed to go down to Newcastle and I had to come home. Speaking of David am so proud of him. He's gotten into 3 universities. So proud.

I got on the train to come home and then at Haymarket I got prodded in the arm and was confused as my friend Sarah had just gotten onto the train and I didn't understand how we managed to do that but it meant I wasn't alone for the train journey so I am very grateful.

I start back at uni tomorrow and am pretty excited about it. A new Year and a new leaf (I have actually nearly completed reading one of the books for this term) and it's really interesting.

But anyway, au revoir for another day!

29/365

Went to the zoo today! The pandas were I'll so weren't on display so ergot our money refunded! We have decided we will go back in summer to see them instead!

Potentially going on the ghost walk tonight and I can't wait!

I this photo I'm wearing the shirt I wore when I first met the bf as it is our 2 year anniversary tomorrow!

28/365

By half 6 my friend Emma and I had started on the wine.

In Edinburgh with my friends and boyfriend. Loving it! Shall explain more hen I'm back!

27/365

Been reading Jane Eyre today and I have decided that I like the name Rochester. Haha! Rachael Rochester has a very period drama ring to it do you not think?

I am very excited about tomorrow and about going to Edinburgh. I cannot wait. It will be the bf and my 2 year anniversary while we are away so I cannot wait. Very Very excited in case you guys hadn't realised. 

My posts over the next few days may be brief as I will be doing them on iPhone rather than on the computer. Anyway ASTA LA VISTA BAAAAAYYYY BBEEEEEE!

26/365

So today I gave blood again. I'm so proud of myself for not passing out this time. I can go back again in 3 months. I also found out my blood type today. The bf came with me and he gave blood too. His new nickname is IronMan as he has too much iron in his blood.

Finally I am on holiday from my work. It's about time! I feel like all I do is work, but it'll be nice for a little break.

I got a new dress for the weekend today and also a new pair of shoes. Although I have a funny feeling that my feet may have shrunk because the shoesies are a tad too big!

25/365

I worked all day and am proud of it too!!!!

I designed a wall for my restaurant today. Am so excited and hope I can achieve my goal in the long run. Someone came up with the idea of naming the different flavours of ice creams after films. The Only one I have come up with so far is HuckleBERRY Finn. haha.

Only one shift to go until I am on holiday for a week!!! It really needs to hurry up and get her

24/365

My uni is  like  castle!!! How cool is that?

Had my last exam today. Part one went really well! I wrote on The Virgin Daughters by Jane Treacy, but the second part didn't go quite so well. I'm worried now that I will have to resit my unit whichI really do not want to do.

Not quite sure what I will be doing today but really do not want to be sat at home all day on my day off! Not now that i do not have exams to revise for or work.

Edinburgh on Saturday! WOOT WOOT! Cannot wait. So much to do and plan!!!

23/365

First exam is over and done with. I wrote about Frankenstein in the first question and in the second one I wrote about Lyrical Ballads and Songs of Innocence and Experience. Film exam tomorrow and all I really need to remember is the Directors names which are Jane Treay and Michael Verhoeven and I should be able to ramble my way through the rest, or I'm hoping I can.

Since finishing my exam I have been a very busy girl! I made tea (pictured above) I got fuel, revised a little bit and paid off some more of my holiday.

 Am planning on reading some of the core texts as soon as possible so that I can be ahead of the game.

22/365

IT WAS SNOWING THIS MORNING!!!!! I woke up and was running late and panicked because I thought the car was frozen but it turned out it was just wet snow!!!

Was pulling wallpaper this morning and then went on to my other job and got the nicest compliment ever when someone said that I made their experience even nicer than what it would of been because I sung happy birthday to their child and was super friendly too. I love my jobs.

Exam tomorrow morning =S and with the way my spelling is going in this blog (I have edited as well as I can) this is not going to go well!!!

Anyway, back to revision I go! Am re-revising Persuasion tonight! Fun Times!!!

21/365

a blurry picture for a blurry sort of day.

Work as normal was the priority of the day. I was stripping wallpaper once again first thing and then being sent on errands until 11 oclock. At 12 oclock I started my other job and it flew by so quickly.

Now I am revising for my film exam. I know what I'm going to write about in section A but no idea for B. In section A I am going to write about the purity movement in America as one of the films/documentaries we watched was called "The Virgin Daughters".

Jane Treays’s sensitive, sometimes eye-popping, documentary about the Purity Movement in the United States provides a compelling, creepy glimpse into how fatherly protectiveness towards daughters can be taken to disconcerting extremes.

Treays follows a group of young girls as they prepare for the annual Purity Ball in Colorado Springs.

All the girls have pledged not to have sex until they are married.

The daughter of the ball’s organiser, named Randy, didn’t even hold hands with her husband until their wedding day, believing it would have proved “distracting in getting to know the heart of the other person”.

The ball itself is a mixture of Hollywood fairytale, My Little Pony, and home-brewed Christianity.
At the black tie ceremony, the girls dance with their fathers before performing a ballet routine around a homemade crucifix. Which, oddly, is more moving and much less horror-movie than it sounds.
The girls’ fathers also take a pledge to lead lives of strict integrity by which their daughters can judge future men. Men who, you know without asking, will all be taken home for Daddy to approve before they ever take their prospective partners out on a date.

Cleverly, Treays manages to capture the suffocating, patriarchal hothouse in which these daughters are being raised without ever sneering at the honourable values they aspire to.

20/365

Hey everyone. Got a busy day ahead of me. Got to go to uni and pick up my exam for Tuesday (random, I know, getting the exam 3 days before we sit it), then have to go to Blockbuster to go and put DVDs back, also have to go into town and pick up my phone. Yay, I finally get my Blackberry back!!!

Just booked an appointment to go and give blood. So that's one of the things off of my bucketlist completed. This will be the second time that I will have done it and to be honest I am quite proud of myself. This time however I must remember not to look at the needle coming out of my arm as this was when I fainted last time.

Cannot wait until I go to Edinburgh as I have so much planned. Only have 6 shifts of work and 2 exams before then! Yay!

19/365

Hey everyone! I'm so excited because I have my holiday all sorted for my weekend in Edinburgh!!! Yay! Cannot wait to go down and see the PANDAS at the zoo! Been studying my butt off all day and listening to Glee as I did so. The song featured below is amazing and from the new episode which isn't going to be aired in the UK because Mad Dogs is on now or something like that. But anyway, check out Lea Michelle's version of the Usher song Without You below. I love the section where Cory Monteith's character, Finn realises how much Lea Michelle's character Rachel loves him and needs him. It's so sweet.

I bought my first bikini today for my holiday! EXCITED!!!! Also, I got my booklist for next term and my timetable for uni so I'm quite happy except for the price of one of the books. I really do think that £45 is well too much for a book I'll barely use. But yeah, a week on Monday I start my Victorianism unit at Uni and also my Creaturely Cinematics one.

PS note to self: book appointment to give blood

18/365

Hey boys and girls! Did anyone watch Glee last night? I've seen snippets and all I can say is OMG! I was in tears!!! You guys should totally check out some of the songs/videos.scenes. I am a huge Finchel fan as many people know and there was some huge moments for them last night. Can't wait until it's on over here so I can watch it properly!!!

Today has been a day of revising. I finally got my Film essay back and I got a 13. I am a little annoyed though because originally I had a 14 but it's been scribbled out. (For anyone who does not know, Aberdeen uni does their grades out of 20)

Apart from revising I did a little bit of tidying up and also worked on a new hairstyle (pictured above) I have to tie my hair up for my job and am fed up of it just normal so I did it this way for a change. It's not quite long enough to do properly but it still works.

Anywhooooo, I have t go get ready for said work. Am hoping they let me away early so that I can come home and revise or maybe watch a film or something.

17/365

Hey everyone. So today I did lots. I did an hour of zumba and wii fitness! It was lots of fun and then I moved on to revision. I did some studying on a film called Walkabout. Definitely worth a watch at some point. 
*Spoiler*
A teenage schoolgirl (Jenny Agutter) and her much younger brother (Luc Roeg) become stranded in the wilderness after their father (John Meillon) goes berserk. After driving them far into the Australian outback for a picnic, the father suddenly begins shooting at his children. When they run behind rocks for cover, he sets the car on fire and shoots himself in the head. The girl conceals what has happened from her brother. After salvaging what she can, the pair head out into the desert.
By dawn the next day, they are weak, and the boy can barely walk. Discovering a small pool with a fruiting tree, they spend the day playing, bathing, and resting. Next morning, the pool has dried up. A young Aboriginal boy (David Gulpilil) appears. Though the girl cannot communicate with him, her brother mimes their need for water, and the newcomer cheerfully shows them how to draw it from the drying bed of the oasis.
The three travel together for several days, with the Aborigine sharing food he has caught hunting. The boys learn to communicate, using words and mime. While the Aborigine goes hunting, she swims naked in a deep pool.
A change of scene shows a research team working in the desert, all the men attracted to the only woman. One of them carelessly loses a weather balloon, which is later found by the three young wanderers. In some versions of the film, one scene depicts a Caucasian woman walking past the Aboriginal boy, speaking to him, and spotting the other children. They do not see her, however. When the boy does not reply, the woman continues walking over a ridge to a plantation. There, a white man is seen roughly directing a group of Aboriginal children, who are making plaster statuettes and other things. He calls a break and enters the house, where the woman awaits him on a bed.
The older boy guides the siblings to a deserted farm. He discovers a paved road while collecting sticks in the forest, and excitedly shows the brother. Soon afterward, he hunts down a water buffalo and is wrestling it to the ground when two white hunters nearly run him over in a truck. He watches them shoot several buffalo with a rifle. He returns to the house, catching the girl dressing. He courts her with an intense, silent dance. Although he dances outside all day and into the night until he becomes exhausted, she cannot or will not understand what he is after.
In the morning, the brother wakes his sister and tells her their companion is gone. After they wash and dress in their school uniforms, the brother takes her to the Aborigine's body, hanging in a tree. Not fully comprehending death, the boy offers the body his pen-knife. Before leaving, the girl wipes ants from the dead boy's chest.
Hiking up the road, the siblings find a nearly deserted mining town, where they are met by a surly white man who tells them of a place they can stay.
Years later, a businessman arrives at the home of the now grown-up girl; while he relates office gossip, she daydreams, imagining a scene in which she, her brother, and the Aborigine are playing and swimming naked in the deep pool in the outback.

Then we went and bought a bookcase which am putting together in the photo above. I also got some new trainers!!! WOOT WOOT!!! 

PS I'm excited about Glee coming back on Thursday!

16/365

the bf and I are going on HOLIDAY!!!!!!!! Portugal got booked last night and to be honest, I cannot wait to go get some sun!!!! I even got a new dress today for holiday! I want me a tan!!!

Anyway had work at 5 this morning and one of the girls and I were stripping wallpaper. I work in a clothes shop. Really?!? Was there much need? Although it was a brilliant workout as all we had was a ladder, a stanley knife and our hands to take it down. Was quite amusing to be fair.

I went to uni today (totally didn't procrastinate for 3 hours beforehand though by shopping) and I did an hour and a halfs revision!!! I'm proud of myself and I'm planning on doing more tomorrow. My life is very boring so Iw ill stop going on about it.

One more word: PORTUGAL!!!!

15/365

no holiday booked as of yet. Think I'll need it after the stress of organising it. Working all morning, working all night. Need to revise but don't have the motivation too. Am hoping I will get to spend some time with the bf soon.

I really need a break from work and uni I think. Edinburgh and the end of the month cannot come soon enough.

14/365

Hey guys!

2 weeks up!!! wow! And I haven't failed so far!

Today's been crap to be perfectly honest. To start with my alarm didn't go off and then I felt like everyone was against me. And loads of personal stuff too!

But holiday may be booked by tonight! YAY!

That's all your getting today folks.

13/365

HAPPY FRIDAY 13th Everyone!!!

I spent today doing not much and procrastinating, because let's face it, I am the Queen of procrastination. I should of been revising for exams but instead was holiday shopping, clothes shopping and house shopping. Speaking of which I have decided exactly what I want my house to look like thanks to Ikea. There is some awesome stuff appearing on that website that I think is amazing.

Anyway, I did do a tiny ickle bit of revision today on Jane Austen's Persuasion. TBH, I can't really stand Jane Austen books, but I know that I have to study it so I will.

Anne Elliot

Anne Elliot, the protagonist of Persuasion, is, like most Austen heroines, witty, clever, and considerate. Austen referred to her in one of her letters as "a heroine who is almost too good for me." Though Austen very frankly notes that the bloom of youth has left Anne, and that she is not the prettiest of the young ladies in the novel, Anne becomes most decidedly more attractive when her better qualities are noted. Anne is proud of her appearance, and she is deeply hurt after overhearing that Captain Wentworth thinks her appearance much changed for the worst. Unlike her father, Anne also takes pride in practicality, intellect, and patience.

Anne is feminine while possessing none of what Austen clearly sees as the negative characteristics of her gender; Anne is neither catty, flighty, nor hysterical. On the contrary, she is level-headed in difficult situations and constant in her affections. Such qualities make her the desirable sister to marry; she is the first choice of Charles Musgrove, Captain Wentworth, and Mr. Elliot.
That Anne has her own mind is clear from the way she rebels against the vanity of her father and elder sister. But Anne is not one to avoid her responsibility and duty as a member of the upper class. She understands and respects the importance of making a "suitable" match, and is offended by the prospect of someone as low as Mrs. Clay entering into her family through marriage. She is conscious of the social structure in which her relations operate, and though she may seek a bit more flexibility, she by no means wishes to seriously challenge notions of class.
In the end, Anne concludes that she is right to have been persuaded by Lady Russell, even if the advice itself was misguided. The conclusion implies that what might be considered Anne's flaw, her ability to be persuaded by others, is not really a flaw at all. It is left to the reader to agree or disagree with this. But overall, she must be highly regarded; for in her respect for duty and with an independent mind, Anne balances passion and practicality.

Sir Walter Elliot

Sir Walter acts as a foil to both Captain Wentworth and to Anne Elliot. As a vain, pretentious, and stubborn baronet, he maintains personal qualities that are abhorrent to Austen's protagonists. Selfish and self-absorbed, he is unable to think past himself and his own immediate desires. Yet Sir Walter is not at all evil or ill-inclined; rather, he is comically ridiculous, a caricature of the old, titled class. Sir Walter allows Austen to poke fun at the declining aristocracy. With the rise of industry in Great Britain beginning in the late eighteenth century, old, titled families were forced to consider accepting the nouveau riche into their circle. Such industrial magnates and wealthy merchants who had made their fortunes trading with the colonies had large amounts of money, and could afford to challenge the importance of birth in social interaction. Sir Walter's strong attachment to the significance of birth appears antiquated in the new century of progress.
Sir Walter is an impractical man; his habits of lavish spending and his strong desire to maintain appearances threaten the very future of the Elliot family. This is a grave character flaw, which Anne does not easily forgive. But his vanity is perhaps the defining character of Sir Walter. With a dressing room surrounded by mirrors, a Baronetage book treasured for its description of the Elliot family, and a predilection to be seen only with attractive and socially important people, Sir Walter is the very image of conceit. Yet, Sir Walter's ridiculousness highlights the fact that his kind is no longer the preferred version of manliness. He is an effeminite man, one who would shy away from the sun for fear of a negative reaction of his complexion. In stark contrast is the gallant, brave naval officer, Captain Wentworth, a very different and more modern ideal of the British gentleman.

Captain Frederick Wentworth

Captain Wentworth is the prototype of the 'new gentleman.' Maintaining the good manners, consideration, and sensitivity of the older type, Wentworth adds the qualities of gallantry, independence, and bravery that come with being a well- respected Naval officer. He has made his own fortune through hard work and good sense, in direct contrast to Sir Walter who has only wasted the money that came to him through his title. Without land or high birth, Captain Wentworth is not the traditional match for a woman of Anne Eliot's position. But in true Austenian fashion, his fine personal qualities are enough to surmount the now divide which separates his position from that of Anne.
In the novel, Captain Wentworth develops, eventually overcoming his pride and shame at being once refused, in order to make another ardent overture to his chosen bride. This development is a sign of a promising future for their relationship. Like Admiral Croft, who allows his wife to drive the carriage alongside him and to help him steer, Captain Wentworth will defer to Anne throughout their marriage. Austen envisions this kind of equal partnership as the ideal marriage.

12/365

hello everyone!

Today I feel like I have been very productive. I went to work, then to the library and did some studying, picked up my new glasses (pictured above) and then I made some ice cream.

I decided the other day that I want to open an ice cream parlor. I don't think anyone thinks I'm being serious but I totally am. It will have an English theme and maybe the table clothes would be of collages of my favourite books. The wall will be black and look like clapper boards and so much more. I'll let you know how the ice cream turned out later though.

The glasses are back and I need to wear them. I say this every time but I really do need to be more careful with my stuff and myself.

And then there was revision. I did some revision on Frankenstein today. Here's some of what I learnt:

Victor Frankenstein

Victor Frankenstein’s life story is at the heart of Frankenstein. A young Swiss boy, he grows up in Geneva reading the works of the ancient and outdated alchemists, a background that serves him ill when he attends university at Ingolstadt. There he learns about modern science and, within a few years, masters all that his professors have to teach him. He becomes fascinated with the “secret of life,” discovers it, and brings a hideous monster to life. The monster proceeds to kill Victor’s youngest brother, best friend, and wife; he also indirectly causes the deaths of two other innocents, including Victor’s father. Though torn by remorse, shame, and guilt, Victor refuses to admit to anyone the horror of what he has created, even as he sees the ramifications of his creative act spiraling out of control.

Victor changes over the course of the novel from an innocent youth fascinated by the prospects of science into a disillusioned, guilt-ridden man determined to destroy the fruits of his arrogant scientific endeavor. Whether as a result of his desire to attain the godlike power of creating new life or his avoidance of the public arenas in which science is usually conducted, Victor is doomed by a lack of humanness. He cuts himself off from the world and eventually commits himself entirely to an animalistic obsession with revenging himself upon the monster.

At the end of the novel, having chased his creation ever northward, Victor relates his story to Robert Walton and then dies. With its multiple narrators and, hence, multiple perspectives, the novel leaves the reader with contrasting interpretations of Victor: classic mad scientist, transgressing all boundaries without concern, or brave adventurer into unknown scientific lands, not to be held responsible for the consequences of his explorations.

The Monster

The monster is Victor Frankenstein’s creation, assembled from old body parts and strange chemicals, animated by a mysterious spark. He enters life eight feet tall and enormously strong but with the mind of a newborn. Abandoned by his creator and confused, he tries to integrate himself into society, only to be shunned universally. Looking in the mirror, he realizes his physical grotesqueness, an aspect of his persona that blinds society to his initially gentle, kind nature. Seeking revenge on his creator, he kills Victor’s younger brother. After Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster’s solitude, the monster murders Victor’s best friend and then his new wife.

While Victor feels unmitigated hatred for his creation, the monster shows that he is not a purely evil being. The monster’s eloquent narration of events (as provided by Victor) reveals his remarkable sensitivity and benevolence. He assists a group of poor peasants and saves a girl from drowning, but because of his outward appearance, he is rewarded only with beatings and disgust. Torn between vengefulness and compassion, the monster ends up lonely and tormented by remorse. Even the death of his creator-turned-would-be-destroyer offers only bittersweet relief: joy because Victor has caused him so much suffering, sadness because Victor is the only person with whom he has had any sort of relationship.

Robert Walton

Walton’s letters to his sister form a frame around the main narrative, Victor Frankenstein’s tragic story. Walton captains a North Pole–bound ship that gets trapped between sheets of ice. While waiting for the ice to thaw, he and his crew pick up Victor, weak and emaciated from his long chase after the monster. Victor recovers somewhat, tells Walton the story of his life, and then dies. Walton laments the death of a man with whom he felt a strong, meaningful friendship beginning to form.

Walton functions as the conduit through which the reader hears the story of Victor and his monster. However, he also plays a role that parallels Victor’s in many ways. Like Victor, Walton is an explorer, chasing after that “country of eternal light”—unpossessed knowledge. Victor’s influence on him is paradoxical: one moment he exhorts Walton’s almost-mutinous men to stay the path courageously, regardless of danger; the next, he serves as an abject example of the dangers of heedless scientific ambition. In his ultimate decision to terminate his treacherous pursuit, Walton serves as a foil (someone whose traits or actions contrast with, and thereby highlight, those of another character) to Victor, either not obsessive enough to risk almost-certain death or not courageous enough to allow his passion to drive him.

11/365

hello boys and girls!

been working my socks off again although I really need to start revising. Have done some today but not anywhere near enough. You never know, if you are lucky you may even get another revision blog again. Maybe Frankenstein or something fun like that.However, I am the queen of Procrastination!

I have now got £40 saved up for holiday and £85 for savings. Am doing well this month and am very proud of myself. Part of the new me and my New Years resolution. 1: Save up money and keep it up for the whole year incase I decide to move out next year. 2: do a 365 for the full year. 3: take better care of my teeth and also my health. So far, so good.

So anyway, that's day 11 over and done with. Shall see you guys tomorrow!

10/269

A bit late I know but I don't have a phone which is what I've been taking photos on.

I had a wonderful day and I spent the entire day with my bf and it was amazing. We went shopping and also had lunch out.

It was nice to have a day off work just to relax but now it's back  to work and everything.

9/365

I got sent home from work early because it was dead! Yay! Meant I could sleep after my 5am start!

Glee is returning for a fourth series with my favourite characters so there is a happy Rachael here!

I have to start revising tonight and am really not looking forward to it!