Sunday, 26 October 2014

Monty the Great and a Very Crap Holiday

I have some amazing news! I got another dog! His name is Monty and he's a retired greyhound (wow such a surprise). He's only 2 and he was disqualified from racing because he turned and looked at another dog (which is a pretty stupid reason) and I will try to keep you updated on how he settles in and what he gets up to.

I was on holiday for a few days, but it got cut short due to reasons I shall not disclose. It was a pretty good holiday, by the sea, in a caravan. I ate way too much food, but it's okay because food is great. I'd been there before so it was nothing new, but it was nice to get away for a few days. I done so much washing up though, and getting fresh water, getting rid of the dirty water. At least I didn't have to empty the toilet one, eww. That's why I have caravans, it's all too much hassle.

I am currently reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, though I have yet to get really into it because my sister is ill and she's been distracting me from the novel. I finished the iron trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. It was amazing, I will try to write one of my review/ramble thingys about it, if I find the time (and by that I mean; if I can be bothered to write it).

The Originals is back on TV and I am extremely happy about that, just waiting for the vampire diaries to come back now! I've been watching this new show called the strain and it's really creepy but I can't stop watching it. I'll be so terrified but unable to take my eyes off the screen. It's a good show though, my whole family watch it, except my dad forbids us from calling them vampires and insists that we call them 'the infected' because my dad hates fantasies.

I don't have too much else to say, it's been a long week, I have too much washing to do and I am very tired. Monty has settled in really well, however, he is tall enough to reach the counter tops and so you have to use one hand to make your food and the other to keep him at a safe distance. All in all, he's a very lovely boy and I'm glad we got him.

So, I guess I will make another update post next week, I'm asking it a regular thing (if I can) to make an update post every Sunday. And I will try to post other, more interesting stuff, throughout the rest of the week. Let's hope that I can find interesting things to write about, and that I post it.

Stay in school. Don't do drugs. Have a lovely week. Don't forget to smile.

Claire :)

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

The Maze Runner Ramble


The maze runner is one of my favourite book series's of ALL TIME! I remember that I started reading it because I had lent my friends two of my books (TID incase you're wondering) and she was like "since you've lent me two of your books, would you like to borrow one of mine?" And thus she lent me TMR and I read it. Obviously.

From the first chapter I was hooked. Who can resist a book about a bunch of (gay) guys stuck in a maze with no apparent way out? Not me. So I was struggling with trying to read it and get my work done (I was still at hell *ahem* I mean sixth form at the time) but I read it within a week I think and then had to wait to borrow the second one.



My favourite character became Newt at some point during the first book (with Minho following in a close second) and thankfully it didn't take me too long to catch on to the slang in the book, such as shank and greenie. I really love the slang, I think it's great and I constantly call my sister a shank and she doesn't understand what it means. But I do miss Chuck and Alby, and I always will. I cried so much when they both died, I was like a water fountain, only less pretty.

The second book, the scorch trials, was also amazing (probably my favourite book in the series) mostly due to Minho's amazing levels of sass. I would like to point out that I called out on Brenda and Jorge when we first met them in the book, I knew they had something to do with WICKED, it was too good to be true (although they do end up helping the gladers).

I think it was when I read the scorch trials that I really started shipping lots of the characters (mostly thominho and minewt and newmas) as that happens with most things I read. I think I shipped so many characters together in this series because they all have such great bonds with each other already. I love the bromance. After I had read TST I finally got my own copies of the books in order to read the rest, plus I really wanted my own copies because of how much I love the series.



The death cure was almost the death of me. Newt. I need not say more. I cried for hours, threw the book across the room, yelled, screamed. I was heartbroken. However, it was a happy (ish) ending. Not how I imagined it would end when I first started the series. We had the return of Gally too so that was fun. Teresa died. It was a rubbish death, one minute she was there, the next she was gone. I think she could have had a better send off. You know, sadder. I didn't cry. I wish I had, I wish it had of pulled at my heart strings like the other deaths did.

The maze runner movie. Okay this was amazing. First of all, Thomas Brodie-Sangster was Newt. So I was freaking out whenever I saw him. Secondly, can I mention that I saw an early screening of TMR. I saw it like three days before it 'officially' came out in cinemas in the UK thanks to my friends step dad wining a competition. I know that some top the things weren't in the right order and a few things were added and changed, but that always happens. I would be shocked if it didn't. But I think overall, it was really good.

The effects were amazing, the maze changing was so cool and the actors all done an amazing job (obviously) and portrayed the characters so well. It was simply perfect and I am hoping to see it again (at the cinema) with some friends because I could watch it 50 times in a row and still not be bored (not just because if Thomas Brodie-Sangster) it as just that good.

I haven't read the kill order yet, but I will very soon. I know that James Dashner is writing a prequel to the maze runner and I am looking forward to it very much, he is an incredibly talented writer. I am also looking forward to see the scorch trials at the cinema too, well done to the amazing Wes Ball, the maze runner was spectacular god knows how amazing TST will be. If you have read TMR or seen it, I suggest you do at least one (or both because both are amazing) because you will not regret it.

Claire :)

Thursday, 28 August 2014

Interviews, Amazing Books, the Essay of Greyhounds and Malec

Hey there, I swear lately all my blog posts have just been updates. I'm sorry. But I enjoy sharing all my news and whatnot with you. First of all, I have a job interview on Sunday, at Burger King. Wow. My dream job haha! No,but seriously, it's a job so I'm happy I have an interview. Although, it's a group interview (which I think is weird but hey) and one of my amazing friends work at BK and she said that her interview included roleplay and presentations. I HATED doing presentations at school, it was just awful. But I'm going to try my best and see how it goes.

I got four new books today. I ordered them last week because I'd borrowed the first two from my friend Lish and I really loved them (bit of an understatement as I am obsessed with them haha) so I ordered them with the money I got from my grandparents.



The Maze Runner series by James Dashner. If you have not read any of these books then you really need to. My friend borrowed a couple of my books last year and she said "Hey, since I borrowed a couple of your books, are there any of mine you want to read?" And so I borrowed The Maze Runner from her, and I loved it. Then, of course, I borrowed The Scorch Trials from her. Once I finally had some of my own money, I decided to get the whole series for myself. So now I have all four of the books (The Death Cure and The Kill Order being the other two books in the series) and I cannot wait to finish reading the series.

I just want to spend a bit of time talking about the Retired Greyhound Trust in this blog post, just because it's something that's really important to me. As you may (or may not) know, I volunteer at my local RGT. RGT is the place where all the greyhound who were raced and trained to race go after they can no longer race as well as they used to (or just never make the cut in the first place like out Ellie) and they go there until someone comes along and adopts them. Unfortunately, as greyhounds are no longer puppies when they arrive at the kennels, they don't get adopted particularly quickly and some of them are there for months on end. There are always lots of dogs at the kennels and those dogs rely on the volunteers and whatnot to look after them. All the supplies are pretty much reliant upon donations and wether the dogs get walked or not depends on volunteers. There are some days when these dogs cannot go out for a walk at all because there is no one to take them.
A big part of the reason I volunteer is to see how happy these dogs are when they get to go out for a walk. When I go to get one out of their kennel, they jump up at me and give me lots of kisses because they're so happy to be able to go out for a walk. Every Wednesday (all day) and Thursday morning I go up there and help walk the dogs and groom them afterwards. I get quite attached to some of them and it's always lovely when they finally find a home and no longer have to live in kennels. Because these dogs have raced for many years and some of them were probably treated badly, like my Maya who flinches every time there is some kind of smacking noise and is scared of pretty much everything. And so to see them finally find a home and a family who loves them just makes me so happy and I know that I wouldn't trade my two girls for anything.
The greyhounds that end up at the kennels are the lucky ones. I've heard that sometimes the greyhounds are killed after they can no longer race. A lot of them are hit when they're being raced and the racing isn't always safe either, there are lots of greyhounds out there missing a leg. And some of the trainer cut off the greyhounds ears so they can't be traced if they have abused the greyhound. And it just really gets to me that some people can be so cruel and I know that other dogs get abused too, but I'm just talking specifically about greyhounds because they mean a lot to me.

Sorry for the massive essay on greyhounds haha! Anyway, I shall now shut up before I start taking about greyhounds and change the subject to The Mortal Instruments. Mostly, just the characters, or more, two specific characters. And some things that Cassandra Clare has revealed will happen with them. Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood. They are going to get married! I'm so excited! And, they're going to adopt a child/children. I just wanted to share my excitement with you and squeal like the fangirl I am! I cannot wait to read about it, I hope they adopt a little warlock. It would be so cute. The child would cause so much mischief and Alec would be chasing it all around the place, trying to stop them from breaking anything or accidentally summoning a demon (Magnus would say it was just one time and wasn't bound to happen again but Alec would just glare at him) and the child would steal Alec's jumpers and use them as blankets and spill Magnus' eyeliner everywhere. Magnus would just shrug and say that the child is "too cute to be told off" and so Alec would roll his eyes and cuddle with them.
You need to stop me when I do this to myself. I'm sorry. It would be so cute I just need it to happen already. I constantly fangirl over Malec, they're just so perfect.



That's all for this post. I hope you all have a wonderful day and I will post again soon (I hope) and I'll try to make it about one thing and not twelve. Stay in school. Don't do drugs. Love you!

Claire :)

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Updates and New Books

Hey there, today I'm just giving you all a few updates and whatnot. First of all, on Tuesday it was my mum and dads 25th wedding anniversary and I spent all day tidying the house, making drinks and food, and just being a good host overall. I worked really hard all day and ended up being given £30 from my grandparents. So overall, it was a success. I do know that I'll probably end up spending all the money on books (even though I shouldn't because I have too many that I still have to read) just have to decide what books to buy.

About a week ago (less than a week I think) I won two books from goodreads first reads and they said to allow 4-6 weeks for them to arrive, but they arrived today.


They are both beautiful hardbacks which makes me really happy. The Relic Guild is a fantasy novel and the back says "In his long years in the Labyrinth, Samuel had witnessed many strange and terrible things, and nothing was ever as it seemed..." I'm really looking forward to reading it. The Fair Fight is set in Victorian times and the characters seem to vary from very poor people, to incredibly rich ones and it has a few 5 star ratings on goodreads already. I shall read both these books as soon as I can and review them on here and on goodreads.

Link to Thr Relic Guild: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22041733-the-relic-guild
Link to The Fair Fight: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22430677-the-fair-fight

I will be posting a lot more about books on here as I'm really getting into reading again and loving the idea of reviewing book, especially since I got the books from goodreads. But I will still post about other stuff too.

Claire :)

Sunday, 3 August 2014

The Hypothetical Situation Tag

1. If you could live anywhere on earth, where would you live? 
Either in London (which is only like 3 hours from where I live now) or maybe Australia. 

2. Would you be willing to reduce your lifespan by 10 years to become rich and famous? 

If it means I get to meet Michael Clifford then I'm all for it.

3. If you won $1,000,000 on the lottery, what would you do? 

Help out my parents so we don't lose our house, go to lots of concerts, go on holiday, probably give some to charity and maybe get my own place.

4. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would you eat? 

Spaghetti bolognese. 

5. Would you rather be deaf or blind? 

Blind because I don't know what I'd do without music and you have audio books now so I'd be okay.

6. If you were in X-Men, what would your mutation be?

If be a shapeshifter like Mystique because then you could just make yourself look like whoever you want. 

7. If you were really a robot, would you want to know? 
Yes because I might be able to do some really cool things.

8. If an inexplicable phenomenon occurs and it gives you the "right of alternate history". You get the chance to rewrite a moment in your past. What would you change? 
I would not do maths at sixth form.

9. If you could have complete knowledge of any 5 things, what would you want to know? 
What happens after we die would be a pretty good thing to know, I'd probably want to know another language (probably Japanese so I don't have to find the English dubbed and subbed anime), how to hack computers might be interesting, I'd want to know what the government is hiding from us (we all know they're hiding stuff from us), and how to make the perfect brownies.

10. If you could be famous for anything of your choice, what would it be?
For fangirling because I am pro at that. 

11. If you could send 10 words to your 14 year old self, what would those words be? 
Don't give up just yet kiddo, things will get better.

12. If you were to go to a (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Disney, Doctor Who, Merlin, Big Bang Theory, Regular Costume Party)  themed dress up party, who would you go as? 

Harry Potter - Bellatrix
Hunger Games - Effy
Disney - Elsa
Doctor Who - a darlek
Merlin - Morgana
Big Bang Theory - Howard
Regular Costume Party - L Lawliet 

13. Would you rather forget who you were or who everyone else was?
Forget who everyone else was because that way only the people who actually care about me will reintroduce themselves so I won't have to remember the people I don't like.

14. If you had to travel 100 years into the past or the future, which way would you go? 
Future, flying cars and hover boards please. 

15. If after dying you can choose to become any living thing other than a human, what would you pick? 
A dog because they're normally really loved by their family.


So that was a tag I stole from Lish, but she stole it from other people too. I hope you liked it, have a lovely day. Stay in school. Don't do drugs.

Claire :)

The most Amazing Fictional Characters You will Ever Come Across

I know I've done something like this before, but this is an updated and better version. So, in no particular order, here are some of my favourite fictional characters!



1. L Lawliet from Death Note. How can you not love him? He is adorable, smart and weird. He eats tonnes of sweets and cake and he is an incredible detective. I love everything about him, from his messy black hair to his weird habits. And I will forever hate Light for what he done.



2. Newt from The Maze Runner. I am currently obsessed with him and I can't stop myself. He is so wonderful and I'm really annoyed that the internet spoiled something for me, so now I know his fate in the third book (I am reading the second one) and I'm not happy. He's just a bloody great character.



3. Alec Lightwood from the Mortal Instruments. Alex will always be in this list, he's just amazing. I especially love him in CoHF because he's so sassy! Tbh who wouldn't want a gorgeous, sexy shadowhunter? And I ship him and Magnus so much it hurts.



4. Jem Carstairs from the Infernal Devices. Jem has made me cry on more occasions that one. He is the perfect gentleman and he's so wonderful with his silver hair and he's a shadowhunter too. (I may have an obsession with shadowhunters) Jem really put me through some serious emotional pain, but I still love him so much.



5. Augustus Waters from the Fault in Our Stars. He is perfect. Who doesn't want their own Augustus? (Minus the bad thing that happens) I love Augustus and what happened to him broke my heart. I remember reading the book and by the end I was just a blubbering mess. I didn't cry at the film though, just the book. (I read the book before I saw the film and I do love the film)



6. Will Grayson from Will Grayson, Will Grayson. This is the depressed, gay Will Grayson. I love him because he's so blunt in the way he feels and I can relate to the depression he feels. I also have a bit of a thing for the weirder and more depressed characters for some reason, which is part of the reason I like him so much.




7. Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. I swear it's not just because of Jennifer Lawrence. I seriously love Katniss' character because she's quite badass and it's awesome. I hate it when female characters are weak and depend on a male character. So I really love Katniss and I mean Jennifer Lawrence is obviously part of the reason I love her so much too.



8. Elijah Mikaelson from the Vampire Diaries and The Originals. I just love the fact that he can be a total gentleman one minute and then a badass vampire the next. Plus he's an original so he can't really be killed which just adds to how amazing his character is tbh.



9. Kate Freelander from Sanctuary. Kate is so badass and that's why I love her. She started off working for the bad guys but then ended up joining Magnus and the rest of the team. She's really awesome and I ship her with Henry so much.



10.  Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. She is perfect and I love her. She is the mother of dragons and she's got amazing hair. Her brother was an asshole and I'm so glad he's dead. She's gone through so much pain but she's come out fighting, freeing salves and raising her three dragons.

Claire :)

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

A whole lot of fandom shit and gay ships

I'm back! I stole this from Lish. Sorry Lish, I couldn't resist. You will all think I'm incredibly weird after reading this.

A:
Your current OTP.
I have so many OTPs but right now I'm obsessing a lot over Malec (TMI) and LightxL (Death Note).

B:
A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind.
Probably Klaus and Caroline because I used to ship her with Tyler but then people online were like "klaroline" and I was like oooh!

C:
A pairing you wish you shipped, but just can't.
I don't have one, if I want to ship something then I will ship it.

D:
What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom?
Idk reading fanfic? Getting tumblr?

E:
Have you added anything stupid/cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what?
Idk probably not, I just admire other peoples stuff.

F:
What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it?
I have no idea possibly Harry Potter.

G:
What was your first fandom?
I can't remember, it might have been Harry Potter or...omg yes I was in the Buffy Fandom! I used to watch videos on YouTube of Buffy and Spike!

H:
Do you prefer real-life TV shows or animated TV shows?
Both I guess. I'm really getting into Anime lately.

I:
Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?
Nope.

J:
Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr.
Sherlock probably, but that was also down to my friends ahaha!

K:
How do you feel about the other people in your current fandom(s).
We're like a big happy family who writes and reads gay fanfic!

L:
Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request, what do you ask for?
Light, L and sweets.

M:
A person who got you into a fandom and what fandom they pulled you in to.
Omg Lish! She has dragged me into so many fandoms! Such as the mortal instruments, divergent, hunger games, maze runner and so many more. She helped ruin my life. Thanks Lish.

N:
Your favorite fandom (for the people; not the thing you fangirl over).
Sherlock omg the Sherlock fandom is great!

O:
Choose a song at random, what ship does it remind you of?
Girl all the bad guys want reminds me of Kate an Henry from Sanctuary tbh. (It's also mine and Elli's song).

P:
Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).
L and Light frickle frackle. Done.

Q:
A ship you’ve abandoned and why.
I haven't really ever abandoned a ship tbh.

R:
A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships.
Idk Newt and Minho from maze runner maybe? Is that weird? Do other people ship them? I'll look on tumblr later aha!

S:
What's a headcanon you have?
Johnlock obvs.

T:
What are your favorite male/male ships or female/female ships?
Omg Johnlock, L and Light, Malec, Newt and Minho, and so many others.

U:
What are your favorite male/female ships?
Delena (TVD), Hazel and Augustus, Clace (TMI), Sizzy (TMI), Kate and Henry(Sanctuary (even though I'm pretty sure she ended up with that Garis guy idc I ship her with Hank)), and several more aha.

V:
Do you have any 3-way ships? If so, what?
I don't think so..

W:
5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms.
L from Death Note, Sherlock, Alec from TMI, Ron, and Newt from Maze Runner.

X:
3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms.
Malec, LxLight and Katniss an Peeta (just cause I haven't mentioned them yet aha).

Y:
A fandom you’re in but have no ships from.
I don't think there are any, I have a shipping problem.

Z:
What's a ship that you want to ship publicly, but everyone on tumblr hates it so you keep your mouth shut about it?
I don't really have one. Most of the time the people I ship are quite a popular ship that other people ship. (So much ship).

So that's the end of the fandom tag. I hope you enjoyed it. Stay in school. Don't do drugs (unless you like them).

Claire :)