Lifescouts: Snake-holding badge

This is a fun story. My Mother and Father are the same age, and the year they both turned fifty my Aunty wanted to throw them a memorable Birthday party. She knew of a nice man who kept multiple varieties of reptiles, arachnids, and other assorted creepy crawlies, and toured them around schools and parties. Although as he told us the average age of those he caters for is about 7; this was the first 50th Birthday party he'd been to.

My Mother and a giant millipede!

 We kept it a secret from the parents to ensure maximum impact. I believe it worked. We started at the many-legged end of the spectrum with a giant millipede which felt like garden hose, moved onto 8-legged wherein I left the room... and also had fun with a gecko who enjoys jumping onto things, such as glass (which she slides down) and bodies, so that you can play Pass-The-Gecko.

Little Sister and the gecko

Our final visitor was one with no legs at all, a Boa Constrictor. Quite safe to hold, as long as you don't let them round your neck...

A most entertaining day, which hopefully went a little way towards curing Mum of her fear of surprises, as she did enjoy everything. Throwing excellent parties is clearly a family trait, based on the numerous evidence of my childhood years; I do hope it continues down the line to me.

But with that, I claim the Snake-holding Badge.



Yours, Arachnophobic,
Abby

Housing advice

Apologies for my lack of updates! Apparently, semesters in Japan do not organise themselves...

So here is something relatively light, but topical, I feel, to a great many students at this time of year.

When buying a house! What I think it's important to consider, from my first year's experience of choosing somewhere to live, and not doing it very well:

1. Decide if you prefer bills included - so you don't have to feel guilty switching on a light or cooking your dinner, and don't feel a tiny urge to ask guests to pay for having showers - or bills not included, which is slightly more stressful, but will usually be substantially cheaper in the long run.
2. Tumble-drier/airing cupboard - or ANYWHERE to dry clothes, so that there are not constant loads of washing heaped on every radiator and airer available, and you still end up lugging loads of laundry up to your boyfriend's house in an attempt to commandeer his house's tumble-drier
3. Kitchen table - I have no idea how we didn't notice this one when we looked round houses last year, but we didn't. Lesson learned. Kitchen table necessary.
4. Shower which runs off gas, not electricity. Especially if bills are not included, or this one gets pricey.
5. A thermostat away from all other electrical devices. Apparently, this is a thing.
6. Not too much greenery in the back garden - there will be no light in your house, and I mean ever, and it will be freezing cold in July.
7. Selflessness. Yes, you know what you want from a room, of course you want the most convenient storage space, ooh look, that one has the double bed. But it's important to remember that you're about to sign away (at least) a year of your life to living with others, and it wouldn't be the best idea to open hostilities this early. Keep in mind that you can make your room individual without the help of acres of space, and that if you have a tiny room, or the worst shelf, or an infestation of wolves, you can use this to take advantage of your housemates later on.
8. Cleaning rota. This year I've learnt it's important to be honest early on. Where you are on the scale of how clean you want to keep the house, or if noise is going to bother you after (or before) a certain time, how often you're going to have friends round. It helps if everyone's on the same page.

I've genuinely loved moments of living in my first ever 'house' house away from Home, and most of those were due to some particularly delicious house-mates. I have learnt a great deal though, and I'm thankful to have the opportunity of practising how to live in a house with people for a year, before having to go out into the world and living somewhere super long-term.

Good luck to all embarking on New House expeditions.

Yours, homely,

Abby

Lifescouts: Zoo Badge

The furthest away zoo I have been to is Tokyo Zoo. I went with a best friend and our exchange partners, and  it led to interesting discussions about the difference between English zoo animals and Japanese zoo animals. Exactly why the Japanese exchange was arranged, I would imagine...

The zoo I visited most recently was Edinburgh Zoo, in late August. It was very cool. The zoo boasts the only koalas in the UK, and the only Giant Pandas in Europe. I learnt that these pandas are in fact only on loan to Edinburgh Zoo for ten years, in the hopes that they will be able to coax them into making lots of adorable panda babies. This is problematic because Potential Panda Mummies can only become pregnant on a couple of days in the year. Therefore, a little routine is worked out for the pair in April, when they are put into what the keepers fondly refer to as the 'Love tunnel' and try to make a baby. Last April, the only issue was that Yang Guang, the male panda, was unsure of where everything was supposed to go... The keeper assured us quite cheerfully however that they weren't expecting miracles on the first try (life lessons, kids) and that they would set up the tunnel of Love for the pair again in April 2013. So, crossed fingers in a couple of months.

My little sister, Tian Tian the female panda, and I

Now that I'm thinking about it, I have visited quite a number of zoos. I remember going to Bristol zoo with my cousins. My exact age I can't recall, but I do remember that I was the exact height of a flamingo.

And of course, Skansen, the world's largest open air museum, located in Stockholm, Sweden. Not precisely a zoo, but with a large section reserved for Nordic animals. There I saw Grey Owls and Lynx being fed, as well as reindeer, wolves, bison... and the hibernating bear's enclosure.

I think I like zoos very much. When they're ethically sound and built for conservation rather than entertainment, it's an exciting, family-friendly form of education about our planet. Knowledge, I am always for. Thank you, Alex, for causing me to relive all these pleasant memories.

And so I claim the Zoo badge.



Yours, zoologically,
Abby

Role Model

I've never had what anyone would call role models, discounting people I actually know, until very recently. It's hard to recall what directed my moral compass when I was a child, but I expect a lot of it came from parents and teachers. I do remember one stage in Primary School where I asked myself what a Princess would do, before doing anything. As I was growing up I would take advice to the letter from the book I was reading at the time, but it was always unlikely that those paper protagonists would stick around on my shoulder for any substantial length of time.

I'm not sure if this is different for me as it is for others or not. I remember often feeling terribly ignorant at the end of Primary School/beginning of Secondary school because I knew the names of virtually no actors or musical artists, and from my observation I concluded that these were the figures my peers were looking up to. In year 7 we had to write a letter to a famous person, anyone we liked, as long as they were English. I chose Stephen Fry, because he narrated the audio books of the Harry Potter series.

This is the first quantifiable moment I can think of, which indicated I would be a nerdfighter in future life.

In a nutshell, nerdfighters are a community of people who follow the vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green, on Youtube, who share and celebrate their nerdiness together, and use the power of it to decrease World-Suck. As it appears I am almost constantly blogging about Youtubers these days, I'm certain it will come as no surprise to readers that it is there that I found the first individuals I would label as my role models.

The Green bros. have created a conversation between themselves across the internet, whose videos are thought-provoking and intelligent. They've created other channels to explore the ways Youtube can be used as an educational tool, and show that young people are still inquisitive, and eager, and creative. John Green is an award-winning novelist, and I have not yet met a reader of his books who have said they haven't cried whilst reading them at least once.

John and Hank are more relatable for me than any celebrity because the connection generated is genuine. There is no costume and make-up department, no producer, no higher power pulling the strings above their videos, manufacturing the response. Even when their audience was comparatively tiny back in 2007, they made their videos to the highest possible standard, on subjects they were passionate about. In 2013, with over 900,000 subscribers, their subject matter interests me, and their advice is relevant to me.

It was these brothers, who I met last night.

John's latest work The Fault in Our Stars is on tour in the UK, celebrating the release of it on our little island. Yesterday around 900 people gathered in Cadogan Hall, London, on just one of the days of the tour. I've never experienced anything like what happened to me there. Finding myself in a whole hall full of like-minded individuals, meeting in person others who also drink in every well-articulated word of the vlogbrothers, and attempting to sing along with Hank's fast-paced tunes about quarks and deep-sea angler fish, was electrifying and unbelievable.

The evening included a book-signing by both brothers, and though we had to wait about an hour and a half for our turn, it could not have been more worth it. John said they wouldn't be offended if we left early and skipped the 2 seconds of awkward conversation we would get with them, but I wouldn't have passed up that 2 seconds for the world. Though they won't remember, it seemed important to tell them in person how much I appreciate what they do, and how much I hope they continue doing it. Plus, I now own things covered in their sharpie squiggles.

Though I've tried, meeting role models in person is indescribable. I'm glad that the Pixar film The Incredibles was wrong on that count. For me, February 3rd will be known as Annual Vlogbrothers Day, so that I can recall the night I met two of the most influential figures of my life at this point, and so that I Don't Forget To Be Awesome.

Yours, star-struck,
Abby

The Lull

These are thoughts born of three thousand words. Specifically, three thousand words I wrote in the form of an essay critiquing the performance which created the first real spark I've experienced of what I would like to be 'when I grow up'. Some of the sentences in the essay were better than that.

I had a long time to complete the essay, and I spent a long time completing the essay. The stages of research, of library trips, of referencing, of painstakingly removing the excess of approximately fifty words, reminded me or proved to me that I made the right decision in putting three more years of my life in the hands of education. Whether my future turns out to be practical or theoretical, I feel I am gaining a solid foundation of both here.

As I have done before, writing these thoughts before I know the grade I received for the collection of my three thousand little words seems preferable to after. Unbiased and unclouded, I want to remember how I am feeling now, at the completion of The Longest Thing I Have Ever Written, and uninfluenced by the judgement of another.

I go to Japan to study abroad for 4 months in a matter of weeks. With Mr 3,000 out of the way, my schedule is free from work until I venture to libraries on a different continent. It is not free from two plays, one musical, frisbee tournaments, a job and work experience. Yet I have encountered a pleasing lull in university life, felt especially on a sunny Saturday afternoon with nothing in particular to do. I've had time to reflect on how ridiculous the last year and a half has been. Partying, writing, shopping, cooking, reading, socialising, travelling. How terrible it is that the activities which are to most a matter of course at university have the ability to drag you down.

Of the people I know well, I can't think of a single one who hasn't struggled at some point along the way. I remember the talk we went to in our Freshers Week; amusing, innuendo-ridden, and concluding with the overall message that this won't be easy, and no-one will plain-sail through the ocean of books, relationships and Life that stretches out. The most fitting adjective so far, to describe the situation of being almost exactly half-way through a degree, is 'overwhelming'. At times it feels this whole process is to show me just how much I will never know. The points I could have explored further in that essay, if only I'd had the time and space!

Everyone feels their head slipping under the tirade at some point, and it doesn't even matter if it's not to do with an assignment specifically. The human interaction you're forced into, the cooking you must learn to do, the time you must find to learn words and train and practice, all of this is the experience of being at university, and it's not shameful to have a hard time dealing with any of it. There are so many clichés I could type, but I am loathe to do so. Just try to break out of the isolation you feel, because there is someone else who understands how you feel, and if they don't, they want to keep you company while you feel it. This is new to us all, and we all have moments when we struggle with the onslaught.

Personally, I've been dwelling on the plays I will never have the funds to see, the books time to read, or the places the ability to travel to. A needlessly sad enterprise, as it happens, and I think what I'm learning currently is that the most important factor in my life are indeed those choices we make. As much as I would have liked to, I cannot study ALL the subjects at university, so how much does it mean that Drama and English stole the top spot? As much as I would like to, I cannot learn ALL the things, so think how much emphasis it puts on the knowledge I have gained, and will gain. I have the ability here to decide exactly what the most important things are, and learn about them. Even if that's only my opinion, how incredible. That's why I've just bought a book about the Natural History Museum.

So continue, fast-paced, poorly funded, terrifying degree. All that you're bringing with you I can face, because I choose to.

Yours, head-on,
Abby