The Year of the Viral Nomination

It seems to me that the craze of 2014 has been that of the online nomination. From necknominates (where the only real objective was to see who could down the filthiest looking pint), to the No Make Up Selfie's for Cancer awareness and most recently the ALS/MND Ice Bucket Challenge, people have been quick to get their #donation on.

Of course, doing something silly to raise money for charity is nothing new. It's the foundations on which large scale charitable organistions like Comic Relief are built upon. It doesn't make you a hero, and when the Ice Bucket Challenges first began appearing all over my social media feeds, I was skeptical and prayed no one would drag me into it.
Then I watched a video made by an actual ALS sufferer and my mind started to change.

Anthony Carbajal is 26 and had been diagnosed with ALS. His grandma had it and his mum has it. The disease quite literally deteriorates lives. His video is funny, sad and undeniably eye opening.

Yes, the Ice Bucket Challenge is absolutely ridiculous. In a world where 783 million people do not have access to clean water and 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation it is obscene that so many of us (myself included) can justify simply wasting more than we usually do. But it serves a purpose, in that very first split second when the icey water hits your body, you are paralised. It is a minuscule glimpse into what day to day life feels like when your brain tells your muscles to do something they simply can't.
This time last year, the MNDA had raised barely a fraction of the money raised since the Ice Bucket Challenge took over our lives, which is pretty impressive. It's good to bring light on illness that need money and more extensive research, because who get's to pick which one is more profitable? (After all, and without meaning to sound like an absolute cynic, the pharmaceutical industry is a multi-billion dollar one).

It's 2014, if it doesn't have a cure yet, we should be looking into it. In the same way that no man, woman, girl or boy should have to walk 6 miles to collect water that could kill them, and people should not still be dying of starvation.

Not all of us can cure fatal illness or end world hunger, I appreciate that. The greatest talent I can offer the world (besides drinking a bottle of Pinot in 30 seconds and touching my nose with my tongue) is my ability to write (and even then, without spell-check it's questionable as whether this is a 'talent'). So I write this to help try and convince those who are still skeptical, and I text to donate because some things are best left to the experts... No one would benefit from me stepping into a laboratory!

ICED55 ( plus the amount you would like to donate) to 70070 to donate to MNDA.
WATER to donate £3 to 70007 to donate to WaterAid.

Anthony Carabajal's video is here.

-xo

Same Bodies, Different Summer...

It happens every year, doesn't it?
April roles around and people are suddenly gripped with that 'shit-it's-almost-summer' panic. Everyone cashes in on it, gyms start advertising their pre-summer discounts, the lady in the red swimsuit starts prancing about in the Special K adverts and copies of NOW! Diet hit the stands. We all vow to eat a bit greener, maybe exercise a bit more...
But usually by the May bank holiday we've forgotten all about our promise because 'fuck it, August is ages away' and before we know it, we're battling Ryanair queues, minus the god-like body we promised ourselves, still happy to simply be tuning out for a week or two.

So why, WHY is that every single year magazines get a kick out of making celebrities look like complete fools for simply being normal on the beach?!

This week's Heat cover

Today is a Tuesday, which means it's Heat Magazine day and (I'll be honest) I love me a bit of Heat. It's sort of a running joke between a few of my friends that the only thing I will ever be qualified for in life is running a magazine just like it. I care too damn much about what Harper Beckham wore to playschool and I'm not ashamed of it*, BUT I can't help but feel sad that every single issue shames at least one person's body (usually a female, but by no means always).

We are in the throws of a national body image crisis. According to a report carried out by the Daily Mail, only 8% of 2000 teenage girls asked were 'happy' with their bodies, and 64% of those under 13 had already been on a diet. I know these facts only reflect the way teenage females feel, but anorexia & other eating disorders have been on the rise in males for years.
Celebrity magazines like Heat appeal to young, most female audiences. Mostly, the pages are filled with images rather than words and issue after issue they send the message that looking anything less than Kim-K-on-her-wedding-day flawless is unacceptable.

This isn't a new argument. It's nothing new that the media is full of hypocritical BS, or that body image, the way we see ourselves and the way we see each other has become a huge business that rakes in millions every year. It's an industry I'd give a kidney to be a part of, but finding a way to use it for good instead of for absolute world domination (because, let's face it, that's what the media really wants) won't be easy.

So what if Kate Moss had a fag whilst lying around on her yacht off the coast of Ibiza or if Ferne's bikini bottoms don't fit properly... have you got any idea how hard it is to find bikini bottoms that don't sag the minute you step out of the water? DO YOU? No, tabloid magazine, I don't think you do.

Treat your bodies right & love the one you've got, folks. Change it if you want to, if it'll be better for your health or just make you happier in general, but it's the only one you'll ever have. The thought of spending the rest of my life having some piece of paper tell me mine isn't good enough makes me rather glum.

Mind you, I'm the kind of girl that spends an hour in the gym just so I can eat cake for lunch... but that's me and despite the fact that none of us will probably ever be 100% sure about our bikini bodies, I'm starting to think that mine could be worse... You know... Maybe.

So, if the media could just let us all go on holiday without making us feel like beached whales, that'd be really, really nice of them.

- xo

*Ok, so I am a little bit ashamed of my Harper Beckham fixation. Sorry.

Post-Grad Drams (I mean Dreams)

A funny thing happened about a month ago...
I graduated.
I popped on my hat and gown and successfully walked across the stage without falling arse over tit to shake the Dean's hand. I took lots of photo's with my parents and friends, had a lovely meal and then dragged my parents to everyone's fave student bar and got myself so drunk I vommed in the loos of the first class Virgin carriage coming back down south the next day.
Oh yes my friends, I did it.
Success.

Of course, reality soon set back in and I realised the bar job I got myself when I first moved back home wasn't actually for me, so I handed in my notice and got myself my dream job instead...

I'm going to be a waitress at TGI Friday's.

I know, I know, it's another hospitality job and don't I already have one of those?! Shouldn't I be looking for an ACTUAL job?! Doesn't the MMU website have loads of amazing graduate jobs I can be applying for?! But, it's TGI Friday's and I am me. It's a pretty decent combination when you think about it and I have always wanted to work in one, stupid as that may sound.
When I was younger, my parents told me that back in the day if you wanted to work at TGI Friday's instead of interviewing you, they auditioned you, which naturally, struck a chord with me. I have always had a love for theatre and drama, shocking news to absolutely no one, so the idea that I may one day have to audition for a job excited me (especially since I was about 8, and had no idea what an actual interview would feel like).
I figure what could be better than working somewhere that will, hopefully, be a fun environment, in an industry I have huge soft spot for, earning money to make my dream trip come true?
I'm 21, if I start my cooperate life now, I'll never leave. I know what I'm like, and currently I want to do everything all at once. I want to have a fun job and save money and see the world but I also want my dream career and a flat in the city (Manchester or London, no where else is really in the running) and drinks in nice bars and expensive shoes. In true Hayley style, I want to run before I can walk.
I talk to people in their mid-late twenties and can't help but feel a little bit envious. They've been there, done it, and are now actual human beings with plans and life goals who appear to have their shit together... Most of them insist that they are still just as clueless as they were at 21 though, so maybe the true trick to making it through your twenties is simply to make it look like you're making it through your twenties.

My savings account is looking healthier than it has done in a while, so whilst I miss city life and find myself longing for access to 24 hours Dominos Pizza (you know, just in case) and desperate to be able to go for drinks without having to drive, I know that it'll be worth it when I'm learning to Samba in Sao Paolo and learning to surf in Costa Rica.

-xo