'If'

This is one of my favourite poems...

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
 
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!     

- Rudyard Kipling 

Laura.

Song: It's My Life by Bon Jovi

Also, a shoutout to my friend Tom who wanted to be mentioned in one of my blog posts :') (What a loser) Just kidding, he's lovely.

The Human Heart

"Sometimes I think the human heart is just a simple shelf. There is only so much you can pile onto it before something falls off an edge and you are left to pick up the pieces."
- Jodi Picoult

Laura.

Song: Titanium (Cover) by Christina Grimmie

Things.

So I got my AS results last week, I was quite pleased with them. It's crazy though because one of the exams I thought went badly was my best grade and the one I thought went best was my lowest grade. I guess it just shows you can't judge what you'll get. I'm glad I'll be able to drop to three subjects now though because four was pretty hard going, in my opinion. I will be resiting a couple of modules in January to get my grades up a little bit but other than that it's all good.

Next thing, driving. This is most definitely something that does not come naturally to me. But my driving lessons so far have gone okay and although it isn't coming to be automatically it's not as bad as I thought it would be initally. Need to get learning the theory soon, fun times.

Hope you're all having lovely summers.

Laura.

Song: The Show Must Go On by Queen

Late night ramblings.

Even though it's kind of late right now I felt like writing a new blog post, so here I am.
There's several things bothering me at the moment, the first being results day. I promised myself I wouldn't stress about results day this year but now it's less than a week away I'm nervous already. I still find it so weird that a whole years worth of work is judged in such a short space of time. I don't think it shows understanding at all - just your memory basically. Also my exam timetable was horrific, looking back now I'm not quite sure how I survived. The night before my History exam I was drinking coffee with two teaspoons of coffee in and extra sugar to make sure I finished going through my notes - purely because over half of my exams were over in a period of four days and I still stick by going over stuff last minute.
The next thing; University. I'm only ever in two mindsets when thinking about it - I'm either mega positive taking the "I can do it" approach or have the pessimistic point of view, "I'm never going to make it" at the moment I'm the latter one but it changes continuously.

Forever worrying about everything.

Also, I've been loving watching the Olympics. I'm one of the least sporty people ever but I've definitely been drawn into it. I thought the Opening Ceremony was amazing - ah just so good. I'm looking forward so seeing the Closing one.

Anyway that's enough from me.

Laura.

Song: This Kiss (Cover) by Alex Day & Carrie Fletcher

Quotes | Some favourites

Some of my favourite quotes:

"I'm trying to live my life with a Sharpie marker approach. You can't erase the strokes you've made but each step is much bolder and more deliberate."

"The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things but vice versa - the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant." - Doctor Who

"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely." - Roald Dahl

"Just remember that sometimes, the way you think about someone isn't the way they actually are." - John Green

"Be brave and fearless to know that even if you make a bad decision, you're making it for a good reason." - Adele

"We have come so far and gone nowhere. We have lived so long and hardly at all" - Charles Bukowski

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." - Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird)

Laura.

Song: Alex Goot's most recent cover (Link 'here')

Videos From Places | Brighton

The other day, after a lot of planning, I went to Brighton with some of my friends. Despite the rainy start, it turned out to be a great day with some lovely people. I could ramble on but I put together a video of the day so I'll leave you with that instead - I think it sums it up pretty well.

Laura.

Song: Kings of the World by Purple Melon