2017 BFF Resolutions

 I’m sure you remember my BFF, Inspired Teen! We’ve blogged together before, and I mention her in multiple bucket list posts (actually, those posts are quite far back now; it’s incredible how fast time passes). We are doing another collaboration. We decided to make friendship resolutions and post them one one person’s blog, and make normal resolutions – you know, like normal people do 😉 – and post them on the other person’s blog. The friendship resolutions are going on my blog, and the normal-people resolutions are going on Inspired Teen’s blog.

Friendship resolutions are a bit like friendship bucket list items, except that, like normal resolutions, they are made at the beginning of the year, and must be completed within the year. They are essentially fun things to do together.

Inspired Teen’s friendship resolutions (written by her):

1. Finally have that horror movie marathon – Jamila and I have been planning on having a horror movie marathon together for so long! We tried having one in November but I’m very good at falling asleep once I’ve got the TV on so after a film and a half I was already asleep. Not that much of a horror movie marathon. Now that we’ve got an entire new year to plan it, hopefully we’ll actually get it done.

2. Phone each other at least twice a week for a month – When our friendship was first starting out we used to e-mail each other maybe three pages worth of e-mail a week or something like that. We were always talking, I don’t think I’ve ever contacted anyone that much after knowing them for such little time except her. However, as the years have gone by we’ve both become busier and have had less time, we now skype message quite often but it will never be the same as having a proper catch-up, that’s why I hope this year we will manage to get into a pattern of regular catch-ups. Because I miss her!

3. Have at least four sleepovers – for the reasons just started above Jamila and I struggle to pin down dates when we’re both available to not only see each other but travel to each other as we live quite far away from each other. This year though I definitely have plans to see more of this wonderful human being, four sleepovers doesn’t feel like asking for too much!

4. Start filling a scrapbook together – Jamila, you may have realised, is a very arty person and has about five scrapbooks on the go all at once. I have never managed to get into scrapbooking as I have so little time, but I would really love to make this a joint project together. It could be photos as well as art work and maybe even a few journal entries done in an arty way, but I would really like it if Jamila and I could start working on this together this year.

5. Spend Halloween together – we have wanted to do this ever since we became friends but I have been busy on the last couple of Halloweens with drama performances, this year though, my schedule is free and if we arrange it in enough time then hopefully it will happen! And then we can have our horror movie marathon on Halloween!

6. Take photobooth photos together – for my 15th birthday I went bowling with some friends and there was a photo booth there, it was really cheap to have photobooth photos taken as well and I think they’re really cool and great to hang up in your room, I would really love it if we could take some photobooth photos this year together.

7. Go on a photography trip together – As well as being very artistic you may have noticed from Jamila’s Instagram that she is also INSANELY talented when it comes to photography, there basically isn’t a single thing that girl can’t do and yet she says I’M intelligent! She is, like, the most intelligent person I know. Anyway, one of my new year’s resolutions is to get more into photography and so I would really love it if I could go on a photography trip with her and we could take loads of great photos and then compare them at the end of the day, maybe do some editing and then perhaps even print them out for our amazing scrapbook that we’re going to have – exciting right?!

My friendship resolutions (written by me):

8. Write each other letters – I don’t mind how many letters we write to each other – whether it’s just a couple, or it becomes a regular thing we do to update each other. To  me, receiving a letter is something very special; there’s something about seeing one’s name written in ink on the envelope and knowing that inside is a tangible message that can be stored in one place and read over and over again. Writing a letter is fun because, like writing an e-mail or blog post, you are expressing your thoughts and updating someone, but something about it feels different. I’m not sure what that is. Inspired Teen has sent me some beautiful letters in the past. She actually sent me some bucket lists on the post on really nice paper, and I loved the feeling of opening the envelopes (for me) and reading the messages (to me).

9. Have a picnic together – Inspired Teen and I have never sat down together in a park and had a proper picnic-picnic. We have sat down on a bench and had chips before, and I am sure that there have been other times when we’ve been out-and-about and grabbed a bite, but we’ve never prepared food to take with us. I have this very quaint idea in my head of us packing sandwiches and biscuits into a wicker picnic basket; filling chunky flasks with tea or ginger beer, and heading off to a park. When we get there, the sun will be shining and we’ll spread out a red-and-white checkered picnic blanket and lay out our food. In real life, it will probably be more something along the lines of packing sandwiches into Tesco tupperwares; filling dodgy tea-stained flasks with… well, tea, “Jamila, where on earth is the lid for this flask” “I have no idea,” and spending ages deciding on a park. But it will STILL be awesome.

10. Play Settlers of Catan together – We have already played Settlers of Catan, but it is one of the funnest games, and I’d love to play it again. Especially since Inspired Teen seems to have all the expansion packs. Okay, that’s a massive exaggeration, but she has more than one Settlers of Catan game. I see the big boxes sitting temptingly on the game shelf near her kitcken. For those who don’t know, Settlers of Catan is a board game where you build settlements by trading resources. We played Settlers of Catan last time I went to her house… I think it was last time… and it was the first time I’d played the game in about six years. In fact, it was only the second time I played the game. I had to be taught it all over again. That must have been slightly annoying for Inspired Teen. However, the game was easier than it had felt the first time I played it. I really enjoyed it!

11. Do some creative writing together – I have a feeling this is something we’ve said we’ll do together before. Creative writing is so fun when you pick a random prompt and time yourself and just write. It’s entertaining hearing what the other person/s have written. I also feel like it could be an opportunity for both of us to finally get some embarrassing poetry out. That’ll be hilarious! We might even write one non-embarrassing poem. Fingers crossed.

12. Play Agar Hub together – Okay… I have some explaining to do. Something you may not know about me is that, in the last few months of 2016 I got really into playing this AgarIO spinoff called Agar Hub. I am not into computer games or video games AT ALL. I’m not even into board games except for the occasional Settlers of Catan game. But I have somhow managed to while away hours on Agar Hub. It is faster and better than the original AgarIO (I’ve played the original AgarIO once or twice). In the game, you are a blob, and your objective is to eat blobs that are smaller than you whilst avoiding being eaten by bigger blobs. Each blob you eat makes you bigger. It is addictive! That’s from someone who can resist the all-powerful Netflix and its formidable ‘Next episode plays in 7…6… 5…’ (Well, usually.)

13. Sit down and read together – This may sound like the most boring thing ever, possibly like a waste of our limited time together – but I think it would be really nice to make a cup of tea (well, two) and sit down on the sofa together and read. We could even read on that black straw-covered sofa in Inspired Teen’s shed. Yes, she has a sofa in her shed. I think it’s really cool. Anyway, the reason I would like to read together is because there’s something to be said for companionable silence. Once we sat for a while on our phones together and it didn’t feel awkward or unsociable; it just felt natural and it was nice not to sit alone.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you make some friendship resolutions, if you want to =) If you do, let me know what they are!

Finally, if you’re interested in reading my resolutions – and Inspired Teen’s – they can be found on her blog: lifeofaninspiredteen

Keeping my Resolutions

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to do more mixed-media art journaling, and so far I’ve done one spread:

The journal is actually made from an old magazine listing college courses. I put gesso on the pages to strengthen and prime them. Here is what one of them looks like, pre-gesso and without anything added:

And this is the cover:

I’ve put what is actually a relatively thin layer of gesso over it, avoiding the “Pathways to a bright future” message across the cover. I thought it would be quite fun to leave that there. If you look closely, you can spot the faint face of a woman beneath the white. I was surprised when I looked at this photo and saw it, because I had completely forgotten that it was there.

What I like to do with my art journals is to stick torn pieces of paper in them – most of the time, bits of newspaper or scraps that I don’t want to throw away. As I have quite a few journals, I open them up and work on all of them at the same time. This way, while one is drying I have time to continue on the others.

I then go over those pages, adding drawings, paint and whatever media I feel like using. This is the fun part. I have one journal with a page made up of old used teabags that have glued themselves in, drying onto the paper. There is another page with cumin seeds, and one more with candle wax. I will not show you all of them in this post, though, because I am saving that for a later date! I would like to do a specifically journal-related post in the near future.

This is a slightly closer view of the spread.

Featuring a one-day travel card.

The travel card has been stained by my red hair dye

I tend not to worry about my pages being messy – my art journals are a place to let myself go and I like them to have as much texture as possible! Everything must overlap or be linked in some way. When I draw a picture I try to make sure it goes on top of more than one piece of paper that I’ve stuck in.

This one is over a packet of KoolAid and a torn part of an A-Z road map.

I dripped blue candle wax over the top as a final addition; you can see it more clearly in this picture:

Since the new year I have been on a vegan diet. I thought I would be a lot hungrier than I actually am, as the last time I attempted this I was always feeling peckish. It has actually been completely fine so far, and I am not greatly missing meat or dairy. I think it is because I am preparing to go on a lemon detox, so my mind has been on that and imagining how hungry I will be when I attempt it. In comparison, I am not missing much food at the moment! I’m really glad that I’m doing this veganism thing; it is as much for the mental feeling of achievement as it is for health or animal protection.

So far, I’ve made an avocado and soya-cream smoothie; spaghetti with a sauce made from soya yoghurt, soya cream and salad leaves and potato and soya protein burgers. The burgers were delicious! Yes, a lot of soya.

I think I’ve picked up my guitar every day since New Year, which means I’ve been playing it more than I usually would. This is significant progress for me, as there was a time when I would neglect my guitar for months on end. I’d see it as an intimidating skill I needed to practice, but would do “some time in the future” and not right now. I admit it: I was scared of my guitar. Now, I look forward to playing it, and when I’m away from home I actually miss being able to pick it up! I told myself to I owed it to my future self. I think something else that helps is the fact that I’m trying to write a novel. In order to procrastinate and avoid that, I play my guitar.

I’ve got new bed sheets – black ones, of course, and decorated my bed with gem-shaped fairy lights! The poster-board is back in my room, Metallica cheering me on in my daily efforts. I also have a new lampshade that looks like a celestial cabbage floating from the ceiling.

All in all, my whole “Do it Now” idea has helped with small everyday things, like tidying up and putting stuff away, as much as it has helped with resolutions. I truly believe it is through the small things that we develop the discipline to handle larger goals. It is always better to tidy up now than to to let the mess collect.

This evening I spoke on the phone to a friend I met a few months ago. Before, I would have put off phoning her till the next day – not because I didn’t want to talk to her, but because it simply wasn’t necessary to phone her. But I didn’t put it off. I called her even though I didn’t feel obliged, and we got to catch up! It was great to speak to her again. Last year I would not have done that. I would have waited. Procrastination isn’t something you do exclusively when you don’t like the idea of something. It even works on things that you enjoy. One of the best parts of phoning my friend is that I didn’t have the guilty feeling of being the one to lose contact. And hopefully we will continue to stay in contact, haha.

Thank you for reading my post. What have you been doing this year? I ask with genuine interest and curiosity!

The Spirit Animal Blog Award

Thank you very much to Tadhg from Ask a Teen Aspie for nominating me for this award. He writes a blog helping people to understand Asperger’s syndrome; posting his poetry and discussing his experiences and opinions. Here is one of his posts that I would especially recommend: Coming Out as Autistic

So if you’re interested, check that out!

1. The rules for this award are:
2. Post the award picture on your blog
3. Write a short paragraph about yourself and what your blog means to you
4. If you could be any animal, what would you be?
5. Pick ten nominees.

 

About Myself and What My Blog Means to Me:

My name is Jamila. My main goal at the moment is to make every minute of my life count towards achieving what I want to achieve. That is, acquire as much knowledge as possible and have as much fun as possible. Complete writing a book, and get good enough at guitar to perform. I don’t see the point of us wasting time, when every minute is an opportunity, a blank space to fill with meaning! I love the Gothic, and I love music. I like reading, talking with people and art journaling. The last time I went to school was when I was eleven. I don’t believe that we need qualifications to get a job or be happy. I don’t believe in restricting one’s thinking or attitude just to “fit in.” If you have an idea, you must live it, as long as it does not harm others.

This blog is a place where I can talk about my views and express myself. One of the best parts is that people with similar interests can easily find each other’s writing on WordPress.  I can write and know that others will read. I can see people’s responses to what I have written, which is always encouraging. I like to know when people feel the same way that I do about something, and my understanding increases when people feel differently. This blog is something to nurture, grow and find satisfaction in.

If I Were A Spirit Animal, I would Be a…

I’ve always wondered what  it’s like to be a cat. Where do they wander off to when we can’t see them? How do they see humans? How do they see each other? Also, they don’t have responsibilities. So if I were an animal, I’d be a cat.

The 10 People I Nominate Are:

https://opherworld.wordpress.com/

https://gabriel360live.wordpress.com/

https://childofthetrees.wordpress.com/

https://bythemightymumford.wordpress.com/

https://reclusivedreams.wordpress.com/

https://dotedon.wordpress.com/

https://thejadezone.wordpress.com/

http://zenandpi.com/

http://justkeepbrains.com/

http://blankasmycanvas.blogspot.co.uk/

The award is non-obligatory, so if you don’t have time to do it, that’s cool. The spirit animal you choose can either be one you feel represents your characteristics, or simply an animal you’d like to be.

The Year Of No Bullshit

The concept of making resolutions at the start of the year is often proudly made fun of for being “arbitrary” and “unrealistic.” (Most probably by people who don’t manage to keep their resolutions, but let’s place that judgement aside for now.)

I love resolutions.

They are consciously-made ambitions. Not abstract, “I probably should”s. Personally, I think New Year is the best time for me to pin them down because that is when I’m likeliest to keep them. It’s easiest for me to measure my progress. I can quickly count the months and days I’ve kept to something see how long I’ve got to go. And it feels like more. It feels like more because New Year is a celebration for everyone, not just any day. It adds value and urgency to the things I want to achieve. If I just decide on a date arbitrarily, one that no-one else is going by, I’ll have less motivation because it will just feel like something I’ve made up – like it will not matter if I “give up.”

This is why I think it’s a good idea to make resolutions in January. And why not!? Just to be different? Just to rule out feelings of failure?

I believe that as individuals and as society, we should strive to be the very best we can be. Expand to our full potential. Now, to those who have heard those phrases multiple times, they may sound like empty rhetoric. But read them again. I mean, really absorb the meaning.

How can you not strive to reach your full potential? Can you really live knowing that you’re not trying to be the best you can be? I don’t mean that in a nerdy straight A’s kind of way. I don’t mean it in a money-making business way either. I mean it in an human way. As a person, don’t you want to be what you consider the ultimate version on yourself?

When I say “ultimate,” I’m talking about this you, the one with the experiences that you’ve had – but having tried your hardest. I think all of us should try our hardest to do whatever we want to do. We need ambitions, otherwise we won’t get anywhere.

I’m going to make 2016 my no-bullshit year. It’s the year I’ll turn 16, and I don’t want to grow up knowing that I wasted my time. No procrastination. I want every second to count. No putting anything I need to do off until later. It simply isn’t an option. The moment I think of something that is necessary, or something that would be bloody brilliant to do, I’m going to do it. There is absolutely no room in 2016 for time-wasting. I’m telling myself I don’t have a fucking choice but to get my act together. That is the only way I’m going to get better.

Small failures will come, but you and I can deal with those. We can learn from them and be reminded that there’s no room for letting ourselves down.

Today I get to put my first cross on my new calendar!

Here are my goals for this year:

I’m going to start drawing in my “One Sketch a Day” book that I’ve had for years but put off using – if I can find it.

I’m going to do Goodreads  challenges.

I’m going to work towards a short lemon detox diet by easing off unhealthy foods for a few days before mainly drinking lemon juice. I will explain more about that in a future post. Oh yes, and I’m also doing Veganuary! That means being vegan in January.

More guitar.

I’m going to continue writing my book – solidly.

I’m going to do more mixed-media journaling.

Most importantly, I’m going to do what I said earlier, which is to do things rather than just thinking about doing them.

I should probably also change my profile picture, because it is out of date and I have only just realised how awkward I look in it.

Yesterday evening I re-dyed my hair bright red. The colouring is permanent this time, so hopefully it will not fade away quickly. I didn’t do it on New Year’s Eve purposefully, but now that I have, I get to start the new year with a new hair colour. It’s rather symbolic. (No, I’m not a communist.)

I sincerely hope you have a fabulous year! Tell me what your goals are, and why they are your goals; I would love to hear all about them and get a feeling for all the different kinds of things that other people would like to achieve.

Or you can Tweet me your goals @Jamilajj with the hashtag #NoBullshitYear.

Do both.

In My Highly Unrealistic Fantasy

1. I live in a mansion and own a Harley Davidson.

2. My semi-permanent hair dye doesn’t run and stain towels when my hair comes into contact with water.

3. I am an award-winning author of several well-known, beautifully written bestselling novels that are sold around the world.

4. I always remember to take the croissant out of the toaster in time, thereby not setting off the smoke alarm.

5. I am in an artistically brilliant, awe-inspiring SUPER successful rock band.

6. I don’t get white lint on my black clothes.

7. I somehow miraculously master French and Spanish, and am also fluent in Italian, German, Latin, Japanese, Shorthand, Irish and some kind of Sign Language.

8. I do body-building, resulting in super-strong muscles and a killer running stamina.

9. I actually wake up relatively early…

10. I have plenty of excess time to spend on leisure activities and expanding my knowledge.

11. I manage to think up witty come-backs on the spot and not three months later.

12. I have tons of followers on WordPress (hint-hint).

13. I get round to stuff.

14. I can listen to multiple songs at the same time.

15. I don’t quake in fear at having to answer the phone.

16. I can devour books one after the other and still have time to have a life.

17. I am immune to colds.

18. I am the human manifestation of awesomeness.

19. I don’t lose guitar picks.

20. No-one needs the toilet when I’m taking a shower.

21. My pencils don’t mysteriously go missing every three seconds.

22. The Echinacea doesn’t run out by itself.

23. Andrew Eldritch is a nice person who actually cares about his fans…

24. I can sing. Actually sing. In tune. WELL.

25. Time appears to naturally slow down for me, and it takes longer for my birthday to come round each year.

26. I don’t do embarrassing things like mispronounce band members’ names.

27. Future generations worship me.

28. I don’t miss my tube stop.

29. My ESP skills improve so much that I don’t have to use up texting credit anymore.

30. I reach 30 feeling like I’ve done something with my life.

A big thank you to Diana from A Holistic Journey for giving me the idea for this with her “In My Fantasy” post! I found it on Harsh Reality, where she was a guest. Oh, and here’s part 2 for her “In My Fantasy” post. You should totally read her blog. Enjoy!

Finally, before I go: Tell me what’s in your fantasy. Response posts are also completely welcome 🙂