Arcadian Dreams

All Change!

2010-08-05T00:34:00.004+01:00

Hey guys!

I highly doubt many of you even stop by here anymore but I thought I'd make this post all the same.

I've recently left university, I'm growing up, about to graduate and I just got my first job so I figured it was a perfect time to start afresh. I've started a new blog to document this new chapter in my life that I will certainly be updating frequently and I'd love it if you came along for the journey with me.

So yeah, come on over and be sure to follow me at:

http://plustwentyone.blogspot.com!

Thank you to all of you that have stuck with me since I made this blog and Youtube channel back when I was a snotty 16-year-old; I can't believe it has been so long. I still read all of your blogs and I hope to get around to a bit more interaction now that I'm settling down.

So yeah, see you (hopefully) over at the new blog!

The wanderer.

2010-07-08T16:54:00.003+01:00

This may just be yet another gratuitous photo of myself but I feel that this one sums up exactly how I've been feeling a lot of the time lately. Don't worry I haven't turned emo ranting about sadness and depression, I'm a happy chappy.

Just a little lost, that's all.

An online purpose.

2010-07-07T16:16:00.004+01:00

I love blogging but there are way too many social networking sites out there. It's beginning to confuse me as to what I should be writing and where, which is one of the main reasons as to why this blog gets periodically abandoned. I have this Blogspot blog, a Tumblr, a Livejournal, a Vox and I'm on Twitter. I guess I'm struggling to recognise the purpose of each one and everything I have to say often gets dispersed between them meaning that my words never actually make it to this blog.

I rarely use my Livejournal anymore, in fact I keep it purely to read other friends' entries. Tumblr has a similar use to Twitter - it's community based and designed for the fast sharing of things you find interesting. However, I've quickly come to realise that the Tumblr 'community' is mostly made up of prepubescent teens complaining, starting arguments and doing almost anything they can to get attention. That's all fine, I was more than likely the same at one time but it isn't something I wish to partake in now. My Vox as far as I know only has one reader so I use that as a place to occasionally post more personal entries but I hate its restrictions when it comes to customisation.

So I suppose that leaves this blog. I know from site statistics that (though many choose not to comment) this blog gets a lot of traffic, most likely from my YT channel - so I know that people must be interested.... goodness knows why. Like many of the brilliant blogs I read on Bloglovin.com, I'm going to use this blog as more of a 'lifelog'. There isn't much difference of course but it removes the idea of structure and means I'll be posting anything and everything; photos, thoughts, things I find interesting.

Hopefully that will encourage me to post as I don't have to think about sitting down and writing a huge, witty entry every time - though I'll definitely be doing that when the mood takes me. I just like the idea of having one place in which to collect life's events. It will be like the Livejournal that I've had since I was twelve, though hopefully a lot less cringeworthy......

I would call this 'Arcadian 2.0' but to be honest, I don't think it ever really left beta.

summer's return.

2010-06-24T17:53:00.000+01:00

Summer has definitely hit English shores. As a fan of the sun I welcome this time of year yet it frustrates me just how ill equipped we are for this type of weather, even after all of these years. You would think that the country would be better prepared by now though I guess that no more than two weeks of intense heat per year makes preparation less economically viable.

I have now been back home for almost a week and though most friends are still off in their respective university cities, I've managed to find things with which to busy myself. Moving back into my bedroom took the best part of three days and even now, as I stand in the doorway, I wonder exactly how I even managed it. Eventually I was forced to unleash my ruthless side and I ended up throwing away two bin liners worth of clothes and quite a few old books. I'm a person that hates change of any description so I was sad to see them go but my bedroom hasn't really been properly organised since I was around 16 years old and was in desperate need of maturing. It's just nice to have a space of my own again.

Just as I had moved home on monday, I received a phone call from a job agency in Lincoln regarding a potential graduate management programme. Despite having moved home, I still showed interest as it is way too much of an opportunity to pass up. The recruiter emailed me to tell me that I was shortlisted but I haven't heard anything since. Fingers crossed - though I know it'll be a hassle moving back should I get it. I'm just thinking of the positive - at least it keeps life interesting right?

chapter closed.

2010-06-21T18:00:00.001+01:00

Today I moved back home forever after finishing my three years at university. I think it has only just sunk in that it really is the end of an era - no more Lincoln, no more studying, no more spending every waking hour with friends. This is it, the real world and I'm not sure that I'm ready for it just yet.

That little attic room is where I have spent the past year. It has seen three love interests, one christmas, a 21st birthday, the bitching between housemates and the stress of a dissertation. If only walls could talk. To see it bare like that after I finally managed to move everything downstairs kind of broke my heart; I hate change but it's all a part of moving on and for that I am grateful.

As much as I'd love to cling on to the carefree student lifestyle forever, I'm now itching to start working, to earn my own money and to finally get my foot on the career ladder. It is true what I said back in January, 2010 really is proving to be the year that is shaping my life more than any other before and as scary as it is, it's also very exciting.

The process of attempting to fit two bedroom's worth of clutter into my room back home is an unenviable task but I'm glad that I'll finally have my own space back - one place containing everything that I own. Don't get me wrong, as nice as it was being able to live in two separate locations, neither ever felt properly like home.

I'll always remember this scorching summer's day in June, the day that I moved out, ending my university experience for good. Sometimes it is hard to pinpoint exact times in your life in which one chapter ends and a new one begins but this is definitely one of those points. Having said that, I'm not quite ready to start the new chapter just yet.

Maybe I'll just bookmark this page for the time being.....

Welcome to third year.

2010-03-11T14:54:00.002Z

The stress of university is slowly starting to mount and the frustrating part is that I really can't find the motivation to do anything. I have a mountain of work that needs to be completed and I know that if I keep putting it off, the last few weeks of April are going to be horrific. I guess I just have to stop procrastinating, sit down and force myself to write something - I'm fine once I get going. I need some guidance on certain areas of my dissertation but I keep making excuses not to see my tutor because I really don't have anything to show her. Maybe if I manage to plow through my introduction and chapter one this week, I'll feel more comfortable going to see her. Whether this actually happens is a different story of course.

My sleep pattern has gone AWOL again but to be honest, it doesn't really bother me as I get most work done at night anyway; it would just be nice to actually function normally in the day along with the rest of the population. It's probably down to the fact that I haven't been the most sensible of third years over the past few weeks - out most nights, spending way too much money and being completely useless the next day. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's all bad as I'd hate to look back and think I wasted my time at university (I won't have much of an opportunity when I'm in full time work after all) but at the same time, I know that my education is important and I'd kick myself if I invested all of these years in this course only to fall at the final hurdle. It's not happening! I only have another few months, I can do this.

It's my 21st birthday on the 21st. I'm not sure what I'm doing for it yet (I'm not sure that I'm even that bothered) but Dad said he will take me on a clothes shopping spree - something I desperately need. In fact I've already started as I asked him if I could get one of Topman's discounted cardigans. It's one of those big, chunky knitted ones that I always refuse to pay full price for so I was pleased to see them in the end of season sale. Looking around, it seems as though the nautical look is in again for guys this year and I really, really, really want some sailor shorts so I may add those to my birthday list. I have some nautical t-shirts and sailor shoes that would go well with them; I just run the risk of looking like a walking Lacoste advert.

On that note, I think I had better stop wasting my time online and get down to writing up a CV that's due tomorrow for business of journalism. Whatever you are doing, your day will definitely be better than mine.

here comes the sun

2010-03-08T23:46:00.000Z

On Sunday, for the first time this year, the sun decided to show its face. After the usual antics of a Saturday night out, it was refreshing to wake up to a hint of summer. Unfortunately, the golden glow turned out to be a disappointing deception, seemingly designed to mask the air's bitter chill. Yet we shouldn't moan - it is only early March after all; we should be glad of anything that provides a change from the horrific rain and snow we've experienced.

This first taste of sunshine was too good to waste so I decided to take a walk down by the city common (after initially stepping out of the house in just a t-shirt and jeans). Surprisingly, there weren't many people around which is strange considering how crazy British people get at the first sign of sun. I was half expecting to find a gaggle of semi-naked girls, sunbathing amongst the paddocks yet instead I was disappointed to find the usual gathering of horse trainers and joggers.

The weather didn't last all that long; the clouds soon rolled in and have remained ever since. The air is still very cold for this time of year too and it's making the weather extremely hard to predict. Britain has one of the most diverse climates in the world and usually we can guess that it will snow in January, rain in April, warm up in June and turn cold in October yet for the past year or so, it seems as if anything goes. I guess the world really is changing ... and not for the better by the looks of things. I'm sure it's the same elsewhere.

I'm just happy that I can finally make proper use of my skylight. I had it covered throughout winter as it was so gloomy, no light ever made it through. For the last few days I haven't needed to turn the light on in my room - these little signs that the seasons are changing makes me happy. I've never liked winter and I never will. It's dark, cold and depressive and it seems as though everyone's mood reflects this. I prefer to be surrounded by happy people and summer = happy people. Usually my train journey up to university is spent in silence, the ticket collectors don't talk, commuters shiver on platforms and the people that sit next to me are almost always antisocial. Yet this weekend people were smiling, chatting and allowing others to board before them all because of a bit of sun. It floods the platforms and envelopes the carriages like some kind of magic dust, restoring my faith in humanity as it does so. Maybe this is why Australians always seem to be in good spirits?

Did I mention I love summer?

the wanderer returns (for real this time)

2010-03-06T01:32:00.004Z

Last week on Twitter I announced that I was going to set myself the challenge of updating my various websites on a regular basis and true to my word I have managed to update Dailybooth, Twitter and Tumblr daily. Admittedly it has only been just over a week but I'm rather proud of the achievement and figured why not throw my old blog into the mix?

So here it is: the new and improved 'Arcadian Dreams'. I hated the tacky old layout so I fiddled around with it slightly and I'm pleased with the minimalistic result - I think it looks clean which, in my eyes, is perfect for writing. Let me know what you think. I still have to make a decision regarding what to do with the old blog posts; a lot of them can be deleted but I'd love to keep a few of the better ones to look back on. In my head I know that I'd like a fresh start so I'll more than likely copy them on to one of my many private blogs floating around in cyberspace.

Other than that, if you're interested in reading my ramblings and viewing my endless amount of photos, just click 'follow' in the sidebar if you have a Google/Blogspot account. If not, you can always follow me via Bloglovin.com - a pretty nifty site that allows you to read posts from all of your favourite blogs whilst also providing a directory of the best ones. I'm a complete loner with zero followers on there at the moment so click to keep me company!

I know I still have quite a few followers listed on this blog but I'm pretty sure that I've lost most of them as regular readers so be sure to drop me a comment if you happen to see this. I'd love to see who is still alive and kicking in the blogosphere; I can't wait to read some new posts from you guys too, it's been so long. Here's to the first of (~~hopefully~~) many posts!