Back to Blogging

As you may have noticed I've recently transferred some of the pieces from my old blog www.jodielovesjodieloathes.wordpress.com onto this one.

This is for two reasons:

1) I've just handed my freakin' dissertation in and I have free time for once which means blogging is back on the agenda!

2) I'm a control freak and want to have everything in one place = here.

In the time that I've been away from blogging I havn't stopped writing and have had some fashion related pieces published on The Surrey Scholar which you can check out clicking here

Generation Undecided: A Rant

My fellow twenty-somethings and late teens, some of you may be aware of the label 'generation undecided' some of you may not. I first came across the phrase when reading a girly mag last year (can't remember which but knowing me, probably Company/Cosmopolitan/Glamour), so the article pretty much branded all of us born circa 1990 part of generation undecided.

Insinuating that we were part of a generation with a plethora of freedom and choice, so much so that we refrained from making decisions, whether they be life changing or everyday decisions, and suggesting that when we did finally come to a decision we spent hours upon hours pouring over whether we had made the right decision or not.

I don't know about you but I see the fact that we do have so much choice when it comes to pretty much everything quite refreshing and exciting.

Lets take the humble Kit Kat as an example, as Wikipedia describes

Each bar consists of fingers composed of three layers of wafer, covered in an outer layer of chocolate. Each finger can be snapped from the bar separately. Bars typically have 2 or 4 fingers.

Only now days buying a Kit Kat isn't so simple, we don't just have the option of a two finger bar or a four finger bar, we have the almighty Kit Kat Chunky, Kit Kat Dark, Kit Kat Orange, Kit Kat Mint, Kit Kat Double Choc, Kit Kat Caramel, Kit Kat White and of course the yummy Kit Kat Peanut Butter

(and if you think we are spoilt for choice check out the Kit Kat Wikipedia page, in Japan there are over 50 variations!)

So as you can see, the Kit Kat is a wonderful metaphoric example for the extensive choice we have available to us, choice that perhaps wasnt available to our parents and the generations before them.

My main issue with the phrase 'generation undecided' is that it connotes negativity, the suggestion that we don't know what we want, and we never will...

Personally I believe that most of us know exactly what we want, we are just too afraid to admit it. A prime example being career choices.

What do you want to be when you grow up? The question is posed to us pretty much as soon as we learn to babble, with parents in hysterical delight when their toddlers announce that they want to be a "fire man", "brum brum driver" or "pop star". The same question asked over and over up until we leave education and reality hits home!

My career ambitions aged 5-12 can probably be summed up through the medium of song, this one song in particular

As you can see below I had the supermodel poses down to a tee from an early age,

Like all 'girly girls' I longed to be a pop star, actress or a Disney princess although the chances of the latter were significantly reduced (besides the fact that Disney princesses are fictitious) when my good friend Rosie decided we would play a game of hairdressers with 'real life scissors' which resulted in my long flowing blonde locks being transformed into a choppy mess that could only be saved by a bowl cut style courtesy of the nearest hair salon. As you can tell I am still very bitter about the situation as was my mum who, at the time decided to keep my treasured hair in a plastic bag (weird).

But the point is that with age, we change our minds, and if you're anything like me, I change my mind over and over again. But this does not mean that I am 'undecided' because most of the time I know exactly what I want to pursue.

Right now, I am planning on becoming the friendly version of Miranda Priestly a la The Devil wears Prada, a magazine editor, watch your back Anna Wintour!

Ambitious I know, and I truly think that is the reason why when most people ask us what career path we have chosen, we lie, or pretend that we are unsure (I know that I do all the time) because being modest and 'undecided' is much more approachable than being a go-getter. Deep down most of us do know what we want, we just aren't sure how were going to get it and don't want to be seen as a failure if it never happens, so keeping quiet is the safe option.

Sometimes its okay to be undecided, sometimes it results in us getting the best of both worlds because we can't choose between the two. When shopping my motto is usually, if in doubt, buy both, that way you can't go wrong!

I resent the label 'generation undecided' because  most of the time we have already decided what we want before the decision confronts us, I think a more appropriate label is 'generation spoilt for choice'.

Rant over,

Facebook Displays of Affection: A Rant

Please note: I loathe public displays of affection in their entirety however sloppy lovey-dovey ness drowning my newsfeed really grinds my gears hence the omission of 'public' and the replacement of 'Facebook'.

I have a boyfriend, believe it or not, and I do love him...I think (Josh if you're reading this the 'I think' is for effect only). Despite this, I have yet to feel the need to make my declaration of love so public. Many of us would like to rub our relationship in other people's faces, our exes, the girls that got their first kisses years before us. There are, however,discreet ways of doing so, I feel the simple 'in a relationship' status gives a pretty clear indication.

Look at me, I'm kissing someone, we just had a lovely day out, he paid for dinner, somebody cares about me and they want to see me naked, look at this absolutely hilarious snap of us together, we happen to be in bed, oh and he's topless, we probably just had sex, bet you didn't have sex last night like me...PISS OFF.

I spend a lot of time with my boyfriend and yes, there are a variety of pictures of us as a couple but not one of them features us in bed together. But I strongly recall seeing a shed load of "bedtime" pictures on my news feed lately....

Facebook is fast becoming a tool for employers to seek out the perfect employee, a fuzzy iPhone picture of you and your significant other doing something outrageously unfunny in bed is not appropriate in the slightest. Nor are pictures of you snogging each others faces off..bleurgh.

Sorry ladies, but I have to admit that it seems to be primarily females who are suspect. Admittedly it is ashamedly amusing to see couples arguing over Facebook and airing their dirty laundry, it's like a live feed of Jeremy Kyle (un-necessary seeing as there seem to be repeats on tv hourly every day).

We all love to have a bitch about other people's relationships but don't make yours the hot topic by posting a status asking if anybody would like to buy the present you bought your boyfriend for Christmas off of you as he no longer deserves it (yes, true story). Even worse, don't then follow-up that status two days later with a slushy 'love ya babe had the best Xmas ever together forever babe...babe babe babe'. At least let singletons bask in the glory of knowing that relationships can be pretty crap sometimes.

And finally, the worst offenders, couples who insist on having full-blown conversations via wall posts. Last time I checked, most of our generation owned mobile phones, and I would hope that most couples had each other phone numbers.

 So why does anyone feel the need to post a private conversation for all to see..and critique. I've been in a relationship for five years (a long time, I know, everybody's told me, and it's scary) yet there's has only been two possibly three instances that I have spoken to my boyfriend over Facebook and all of those have been because either of our phone batteries have died. That is the only acceptable excuse *

(*I would just like to state that I probably have been found guilty of some of the above early on in my relationship however I WAS FOURTEEN therefore I didn't know any better)

Guys and girls, being in love is great and I'm really glad that people are in happy loving relationships but have a heart for all the singletons out there, and those like me who squirm at the sight of lovey-dovey ness. A relationship is between two people (usually...) so keep it private!

Rant over.

Wireless Festival Review 2012

Let's get one thing straight, I am not a festival sort of girl. Some of the more 'hardcore' festival goers will probably claim that Wireless is not a festival at all, however with my hatred of mud, camping and portaloos Wireless is the closest I am going to get to experiencing a festival.

After attending in 2011 and absolutely loving it I decided to bite the bullet and pay the 50 something pounds for a 2012 ticket. Compared to most other festivals Wireless is inexpensive, day tickets without camping for some of the bigger festivals such as V are triple the price!

The line up over all three days was pretty damn good if I may say so myself but we decided upon Saturday 7th July.

The weather forecast was atrocious (torrential rain and possible thunderstorms) but luckily there were only two major downpours. We all bought rain ponchos for a bargain price of £3, a steal considering a burger was £6 and a pint of magners £4.50!

They were the size of tents which meant we didn't look particularly attractive but did mean that I could bust out some hilarious dance moves and stay dry at the same time.

In general everything apart from the rain macs was overpriced so I would definitely advise taking in your own food ect. (£30 for a jug of cocktail, are you mad?)

It was a difficult choice over who to go and see as there were 4 stages in total and some of our favourites clashed but we decided upon Clement Marfo and The Frontline, Professor Green, Wiz Khalifa, Josh Osho, Mikill Pane, Example, Nicki Minaj and Drake. All of them exceeded expectations. I have seen artists in the past who sound dire live but everyone we saw were amazing, so much energy.

(Its probably just me but I always expect famous artists to be massive in real life? They were all so tiny.)

I managed to only need a wee once throughout the whole day (you really needed to know that right?) and was pleasantly surprised to see that as well as horrible portaloos there were portable cubicles which had Andrex toilet paper (living the life of luxury) and mirrors (constantly had crowds of girls around them).

We managed to wiggle our way slowly to the front of the main stage for a few of the acts but unfortunately the crowds were not very friendly and generally consisted of partially naked pretentious 16 year old girls and boisterous weed smoking fools.

This meant that although you got a great view you couldn't stand for more than a minute without some idiot barging into you or inhaling someones second hand drug smoke (Security bag searched everyone but not very thoroughly so it is no wonder that some managed to bring drugs in).

I am not very patient and don't enjoy having strange teenage boys rubbing up against me so we left the crowds after a while and found a spacious area nearer the back.

The litter was so disgusting, I have never seen so many bottles, kebabs, cups ect in one place, there probably wasn't a square inch of ground which didn't have some sort of rubbish on it!

I also have to mention that I have never seen so many girls in the same damn pair of butt cheek exposing high waist denim shorts. (this would have been acceptable if a) the weather was remotely summery, b) they had remotely toned legs) I DON'T WANNA SEE YOUR CELLULITE GIRLLLLL! We all have it I know, but save it for a sunny day please...

Overall Wireless was magnificent, if you love live music, hate camping, can't afford £150 for a day, live in or near London and prefer chart music this is the 'festival' for you!