I'm gonna pop some tags

As you can tell with the title I WENT THRIFT SHOPPING TODAY! I haven't gone in so long I was itching for some thrifting. I had an idea for things that I wanted, I'm a sucker for prints and textures. And I wanted to be inspired in the way I dressed. Some inspiration that I thought about when I was thrifting was Cher from Clueless, Enid from Ghost World, Frida Kahlo, Penny Lane from Almost Famous and Jessa from Girls.  all of which I am obsessed with and which I could real life body swap. I bought quite a bit of new stuff (some of which I adore to death) and I guess I'll list the reasons why I love thrifting so much

1. I can go completely crazy. Releasing me into a thrift store is like a kid in a candy store. I go completely insane and I pile my clothes into a trolley of which I try EVERYTHING on and then eliminate. I guess with thrifting I love it because everything is soooo cheap. And as a byproduct of that I have more license to try on things that I would never even consider getting full price! Like today, I got a nana cardigan with this interesting texture as well as a plaid child's vest! 
2. There is so much range. The thrift store that I frequent isn't one of those hipster stores where the store is actually selling the clothes at almost what would be retail price, it's a huge warehouse of donated and old clothes. It is simply massive. Therefore it's like a needle in a haystack you have to really be open to getting anything, and although there is A LOT  to get through, once I find something I love about something I will get it, and give it a good home. 
3. DIY. Okay I haven't done this this visit, but usually when I go thrifting I look at things that I could use to DIY. Thrifting is good that way, because you could create something amazing, or if all goes wrong you can safely tuck it away without it ever leaving a hole in your wallet. Previously I've fashioned numerous shirt dresses from old men's shirts- of which one as an earthy Aztec print ahhh one of my better DIYs. I've always been attracted to DIY when I was about 12 I heard that tights with ladders were 'in' and so I ripped up some tights and wore them with pride. Sadly I just looked like I needed new tights more that being super savvy high end fashion model.
4. Guilt-free. As thrift shopping gets more commonplace (and currently is considered 'cool' instead of embarrassing) it's a great alternative to regular chain stores as well as really discovering what you like. It's cheap, it's fun, and really it's quite satisfying. You're giving old clothes a new home, and paying not much for it either. Wooooooooo!

I think I've expressed thoroughly why I love thrifting and may or may not show my haul later. Anyway talking about Thrift stores, isn't this the greatest cover of 'Thrift Shop' ever???

Speed blog one

06/03/2013

Just arrived at the library 

Wondering if today is going to be a productive day

My Thoughts on: Friends

Friends
1994-2004
David Crane, Marta Kauffman

These summer holidays I decided to finish all 10 seasons of Friends, the famous sitcom to rule them all. It obviously was a moderately sad and depressing goal considering I was sitting around in my dark room with food curled up in blankets while the rest of society was frolicking in the sun. But seriously I love this show. It captures the human experience and nothing seems to come close to capturing the beauty of the day-to-day.

It captures the joy and the sorrow, the love and the heartbreak in 6 distinct and individual characters that grow with you when you watch it. It always doesn't seem like you're watching characters on a screen. I think that is what makes 'Friends' so special; how genuine the characters are. Each of the 'Friends' seem to have their flaws and their strengths. Ross has his divorces yet has an deep and ever enduring love. Phoebe has a stubbornness but also a deep sense of care. Monica has her compulsive cleaning but a strong work ethic etc. etc. You can't help but laugh in their moments of happiness, feeling genuine love - such as the moment where Chandler and Monica got married, the time where Ross was telling people of the beautiful way he would have proposed to Rachel, but also the genuine sorrow and pangs of sympathy. A particular example of this was Ross's kindhearted willingness to go to the high school prom with Rachel when her date didn't show up, yet after getting ready, Rachel and Monica are exiting the house in glee as said date, arrived. Ross's indirect rejection from kindness is brutal to watch and plays a large emotional role, without needing gags of complexities.

The gang has a great sense of energy and chemistry, although there is only a strong stable main cast of six, they never get tiresome to watch. The script is always hilarious and zany and the acting is almost as if the actors are the characters themselves. It has an extremely great sense of consistency as it celebrates the necessity and the beauty that friends can do to enrich one's life. As Time magazine articulately put it 'the well-hidden secret of this show was that it called itself Friends, and was really about family'

The friend's gang slowly develops habit and tics that we begin to realize and become comfortable with as we watch. Monica's loud 'I KNOW!!!' is characteristic as well as Chandler's strange enunciation is picked up by the gang where they produce constant jests towards it. This further develops to a sense of continuation as well as deepening our relationship with these characters. After 10 season admittedly I got extremely emotional as I watch the perfect ending to the perfect sitcom. It came to the realization that people have to move on, but that's not necessarily bad. It's inevitable but it's poignantly beautiful; starting a new chapter in their lives, a new adventure. As I watched this I realized how much I had to apply this to my own life, and to celebrate and embrace the change rather than to shy away.

You and I

So university life isn't as amazing as I had idealized  It's only been my second day and I'm so tired all I seem to dream about in class in when I will get home. I imagined (as I do with most things) that university life would be like in the movies or like in Undeclared (created by Judd Apatow) where I expected to gain extreme best friends in a new school with a new and improved 'me'. It isn't. It's the most tiring and physically strenuous change that I have ever experienced. I wake up extremely fatigued and by the end of the day feel like collapsing. After a 7 hour block of lectures and labs with a quick 1 hour break in between life isn't very pleasant. Also, I'm in a extremely competitive course of study, which creates a very nerve wracking atmosphere. Everyone seems like they're sizing each other up to everyone else, or making swift comparisons  It's just tiring. It's exhausting. The pressure is great. In a bad way. Half the time I don't want to talk to anyone. The other half just wants to have otherworldly conversations with like minded people and have serendipitous moments with the people which I am assumed to spend the rest of my life around. Which I haven't done at all.

Today was made suddenly better when I got home (far too early with no study done). I got the book that I ordered from the mail 'You and I' which has the photographs by Ryan McGinley. It is an amazing book and encapsulates the irrational, spontaneous spirit of the young, and the young especially when immersed in adventure and life. It's exactly the pick me up I required, and yes, it again creates unrealistic expectations of being young and free, (because one can not spend their entire life on a road trip) but it gives me a little vacation to rest my mind. It allows me to be absorbed in a world where time is endless and the rules are trying to not get caught. To visit beautiful places, to run around naked, to play with fire.

I guess I need to free myself from the mundane. I need to experience and overcome this hardship, because there will be a time where I will have this freedom. I need to remember to make the most of every moment in time, because it will be gone in a second and one day this might be the stuff I wish for.