One of Those Weeks | Moments When You Need
Your Family and Friends
Hello! How are you? I have had a stressful past two weeks. This week on Monday, my 150ml bottle of Ribena (the very sweet juice drink) leaked into my bag, onto my college diary, English Language books, my revision notes inside my English folder, pencil case and somehow, onto my memory stick which was in a pocket high up in the bag. There was a pool of juice in the bag and no matter what, I could not dry it and had to carry my heavy books in my arms, in the rainy weather. When home, I got the hairdryer and sat for twenty minutes drying all my books, notes and pencils whilst my pencil case and bag were in the washing machine. So, from what you have read already, not a good start to the
week that has just gone. But last week was even more stressful.
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| Just a few of my Birthday things |
I am telling you this because I have been rushing and rushing, stressing and panicking about my mid-term assessments for my A-Levels at college for days and days, and things just got a whole lot more stressful. So this is the reason why I just want to share that sometimes in life we all have those days, or in this case week that seem unbearable. However, my family and friends helped my through and I think there are times when we just need to stop for a moment in our hectic lives and spend time with family and friends. So here's my experience...
This week so far has just been too hectic and confusing for me and last week was even more. Last week, the trains I take to college were delayed, the buses were late and may I say ,there was an accident involving trains and the wire lines setting fire! As you can guess by my tone it has been a stressful week and hey, I've another few weeks left of term. My assessment for English Language was terrible. I struggled to find something to compare for my assessment and write about, and ran out of time despite having 50 minutes to do it... not a good start to the week.
Wednesday the 25th I had a Sociology theory assessment to complete, which I felt terrible about. I revised and revised and revised for hours on end, at home, on the train to and from college and even at work on the weekends, but when it came to the assessment and having to state what a certain theorist said, I just couldn't remember a thing :( I would end up writing something, then stopped because I was sat lost on what I was trying to sum up. When I finally got home due to trains being delayed for an hour, I had a Sociology essay to write up which I had to analyse the effectiveness of some research a sociologist had performed, and talk about all aspects of sociological research. After an hour and a half, I was welcomed to my break from all the work by my printer saying it had run out of ink, which then became apparent that we had no black ink at all... just great.
Thursday the 26th (yes I've more to say about this mind boggling week) I had to finish printing out my Sociology work. Now may I add, this work was set and based on the previous lessons work, which I missed because I had to attend a production of 'Rebecca' at the Oxford Playhouse, in Oxford Thursday the 19th. Hoping for the best, I chucked it into a folder and set off for the train station (which to add, had more line fires and delays). Later that day, I attempted my drama assessment on drama theory work based on the performance 'Rebecca'. Lacking confidence to find 'good' things to write about, I struggled through. My teacher even noticed this and asked me what was wrong. In the end when my brain finally started working again, I had just 15 minutes from the 45 minutes that we had been given.
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My Birthday Balloons (which now are slowly
deflating :/ ) |
However, as bad and as horrible as last week my be perceived to of been, Tuesday helped me get through this jam-packed week without tearing my hair out with stress. It was my birthday Tuesday, 24th November. I turned 18, and alongside 18 comes the sense of adulthood, well which most people perceive. But not my relatives. I woke up to the sound of cello-tape and the voices of my sister and her fiance outside my door. From what I cold make out, they were stressed over the fact that whatever they were cello-taping to the door, just would not stay there. Opening the door, it was a birthday banner, fuscia pink in colour with a metallic effect to it, on which were words that said "Happy 18th Birthday" ;) Then after getting ready for college, I just had time to open a few presents. Firstly, I recieved some socks from parents, because my mother always ends up wearing MY socks, so thought she'd keep mine and replace them with new ones haha. My little brother gave me a birthday card, which has the image of a pug with its big eyes and a ecstatic expression spread across it's face, which I read the words "Happy Birthday" Oh how pugs can cheer one up. Along with this, he gave me a 30cm tall Christmas tree! :) Funny thing was, I was saying the other day to my family how I just always wanted a small Christmas tree in my room, to give it a festive feel.
After setting off for the train station, I hopped onto the London Paddington and started my work. During this time, I did not once look at my phone due to there being no signal on the train. But, when I got off the train, I was shocked with surprised to see all the birthday wishes I received from friends and family, the texts, posts and calls wishing me a happy birthday. Walking into my lessons, I recieved "Happy Birthday" from individuals. This made me think, sometimes in life we need to stop, slow down and realise how lucky we are and the little things in life that make things worth while.
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Bouquet of Flowers, including Lilies that
have now blossomed. |
After a half day at college, finishing at 1.30pm (yes what luck for my birthday ahha) I set off for the train, shortly arriving home 40 mins later. Later on that day, I received yet more wishes from people, followed by visits from family and friends, and presents concisting large Birthday cards, a large bouquet of flowers with their vibrant colours and delicate patterns, a Pandora bag containing a small elegant ring, with a bow merged into the ring on top and diamonds set into the top of the bow. I also received a massive Thorntons chocolate champagne bottle. Brownie points there for impressing me and for making me feel very special and happy to know so many good people which my birthday has revealed to me. Other gifts included a large '18th Birthday' card and a Thorntons chocolate plaque with "Happy 18th Caris", that had ten or eleven stars drawn on to it with icing, given to me from my sister and her fiance. A massive Happy 18th Birthday balloon that matched my birthday banner from my sister in law and a Thorntons plaque with "18 today Caris" written on it in white icing alongside an absolutely gigantic birthday card from both my brother and sister in law, that included a little prank of theirs... A bit of background information for you, these two are your classical pranksters. They love to have a laugh. Last year they decided to cello-tape and I mean really, full on cello-tape seventeen one pound coins to my birthday card; with the hope that I would comically struggle to remove them. It worked and they were in fits of laughter. So this year, they decided to prank me in the sense of making something irritating, which in this case, involved putting the contents of a whole packet of 'Happy 18th Birthday' confetti into the card. The aim was that when I open it up, they would all scatter onto the floor and make a mess everywhere. When it came to opening the card, I realised their intentions to create a prank, when I noticed a small metallic number '18' in the form of birthday confetti, fall silently to the floor followed by a dozen more as I struggled to carefully open the card and prevent more confetti from littering the floor. What prankster they were and I have to say, it has made my week 😃 . To finish the day off, I received a small, pink champagne glass with the number '18' written completely in pink glitter, with a small drink in it, and a delicious white chocolate birthday cake with sparklers on top of it in the form on the number '18'. On Friday the 27th I had a surprise Birthday meal at a lovely Indian restaurant; a great way to forget the stressful week I had had previously.
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Chocolate Champagne
Bottle |
So as you can see, I had had a stressful and tiring week, but have realised that in life we need to stop and take a step back from our lives, take in all the little things and those individuals that make everything function. I am so very grateful for all the wishes and gifts and time and effort put into making my 18th a special day. I am not one who asks for attention and focus on me, so when I received all this kindness and attention paid to making my birthday a good one, I was not used to being the centre of attention.
I am 18 now, and this last year it feels like I have progressed into the person I am because of those around me, the support I have received and the kindness, and at times, difficulties I have faced, which have made me the more confident, and happy person I am today. And that includes those following me on my blog. It has been a bit over a year since starting my blog posts and all the enjoyment I gain from blogging my heart out has been worth while. And I want to add, I ask us all, that if we are struggling or just having a bad week, day, month whatever length of time it may last, we focus on the small little things that make our days worthwhile. I used to always and only focus on the negative, but as I've got older, I feel like this is no longer an aspect of my personality as much as it was.
Thankyou for spending the time to read my long post, I apologise for the length of it, but once I start typing I just can't stop.
Yours Truly,
Caris
