take a holiday from reality

Before Midnight

2014-12-31T23:59:00.000+00:00

Like sunlight, sunset, we appear, we disappear. We are so important to some, but we are just passing through.

The Absurdity of Words

2014-09-24T21:48:00.000+01:00

It's been over a year since I've written anything and even as I type these words I'm still not sure what it is I'm trying to say. I stopped writing because silence says what words cannot. Silence says 'I'm angry', 'I'm sad', 'I'm lost'. Silence screams when you no longer can. It is still when everything around you is shaking. Breaking. Silence is basically a giant 'FUCK YOU' to a world full of people who have everything to say about absolutely nothing. Comment is free, but what is the cost of silence? and more importantly why are so few of us willing to invest?

Clothes Hangers

2013-06-18T20:36:00.001+01:00

£4 for a sandwich. a lampshade inside a giant cardboard box. a small gift disguised as a big one. black hangers. beige hangers. remind me of what I am. a hanger. hanging on. so I don't go off the rails.

Chain Reaction

2013-05-29T10:00:00.000+01:00

Blogging and jobbing: it's not easy. Especially when the latter leaves me minus the will to live, let alone write. My brain seems to turn to dust and before I know it I am settling into the routine of a 9 to 5 and it's almost as if my degree never happened. Almost.

MiSh mAsH

2013-05-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

~~MiSh mAsH. Two words which pretty much sum up my style of writing, thinking and dressing. Just add water, a rainbow, essence of bag-lady and a sense of humour. Voilà!~~

The Price Isn't Right

2013-05-13T10:00:00.000+01:00

Yes, this is a fashion blog of sorts and yes, its title when translated is simply 'silly sausage'. This was me having fun with fashion, poking fun at fashion. my lighthearted take on an industry which often takes itself far too seriously. However, I have always had a profound interest in fashion (among a number of other things that may or may not be worth mentioning) and ironically, it's no laughing matter. For me fashion is both friend and foe, court and jester. I love to hate it and hate to love it. It is my guilty pleasure. But as I write this post I'm feeling all of the guilt and none of the pleasure. Why?

The Metamorphosis

2013-05-07T10:00:00.000+01:00

~~I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.~~

Happy Days

2013-04-30T21:51:00.001+01:00

Don't you just hate it when your seat at the opera is positioned so you can't read the surtitles? Or, when Twinings changes the recipe for its Earl Grey teabags without asking your permission? Or, when you buy the Sunday Times for the Style supplement and get home only to discover it's not there? Gosh. Life really is a not-so-jolly hockey stick.

Stress to Impress

2013-04-29T13:57:00.000+01:00

I'm on a one-way ticket to Angstville via Panic Station with nothing but fractured thoughts and broken dreams for company. I sit at my desk wishing I was anywhere but at my desk. Seconds seem like hours. My mid-morning banana could be a gun and the telephone cord a noose. A way out from this humdrum bum-numbing existence of mine.

The Bigger Picture

2013-04-15T09:30:00.000+01:00

Sometimes you spend so much time focusing on the bigger picture that you forget about the little things. Or maybe it's that you simply choose to ignore them? It's hard to be satisfied with the here and now when you've got your eyes set firmly on the horizon, miles from where you presently stand. But what happens when you spend your days viewing life with the shutter closed?

Under Construction

2013-04-12T09:00:00.000+01:00

Another day, another demolition site. I'm a master of destruction/ reconstruction. Create. destroy. recreate. This blog is evidence of that. It has been over 3 years since I started this blog and in that time it's gone from one URL to the next, one template to another. It's been with me through break-ups, make-ups and shake-ups. But now it's time I gave back to my blog and built it up like it's built me up.

Dazed and Consumed

2013-04-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

What do you do when you have nothing to do? The possibilities are endless. That in itself is a serious problem for me, myself and I. Without an end, or a checkpoint in sight how do I motivate myself to cross the starting line?

In Bloom

2013-04-01T20:39:00.000+01:00

Easter is over and as far as I can see the only thing to be resurrected is my Cadbury chocolate addiction and inability to write. As I attempt to write this piece of shit, it's clear that old writing habits die hard and this post really isn't worth salvaging. No amount of resuscitation is going to bring the words on this page back to life. Or, make them sound any good for that matter. My mind is a mess of incoherent babble once again and I don't have the patience to unscramble it all so you're going to have to bare with me and my half-hearted attempt at a blog post.

Brave New World #2

2013-03-24T11:00:00.000+00:00

~~I miss you, Colombia. You are always in my thoughts.~~

Need V Want

2013-03-23T11:00:00.000+00:00

I came across this in my Facebook newsfeed today and felt the need to share it with you. This amazing series of photographs portray Shanghai migrant workers carrying impossible loads (and they really are impossible, they're Photoshopped) on the back of their carts or bicycles. These pictures have certainly got me thinking about the age old 'need vs want' debate. According to the snapper of these pictures, Alaine Delorme the workers appear 'in the first place like a superhero able to carry around this kind of load. But, very quickly, we have the feeling that the objects he is carrying are about to swallow him up, that he is overwhelmed by them... just like the consumer is'. In a culture obsessed with mass-consumption are we consuming or being consumed?

Writing Wrongs

2013-03-22T12:15:00.000+00:00

About 18 months ago I wrote a piece for an Elle Talent writing competition (I didn't win in case you wondered) and at the time I didn't have the confidence to publish it here. On reflection I thought the piece wasn't all that good and as the subject matter was very personal to me I was scared to make it public property. Up until this point the only person to have read my confessional is Juan and that in itself was a huge step for me. Opening up to someone about the depression and self-harm that nearly ended my degree isn't an easy thing to do. But I've finally moved on from that and for the first time in my life I feel ready to talk about it. I'm not ashamed of my scars anymore. I'm putting the past to rest.

I could say a great deal more about this subject but for now I'll leave you with my competition entry and this beautiful portrait of yours truly taken by Mr. Juan Diego Rivas. A picture really does speak a thousand words.

Make it Count

2013-03-21T22:14:00.000+00:00

304.16. 52. 10. 150. 2625. 3. 7. 2. 13.43. 2.17. Numbers. Figures. Budgets. Cuts. When you're stuck in a rut it's tempting to let numbers and figures get the better of you. to tell yourself that you're a zero, not a 10.0 hero. Which is easily done in a society where success is measured in pounds and pence. When you've got no money and no job what does that make you? Worthless? I prefer the term unlucky. But unlike the mathematical constant pi you don't have to stay that way. Here's how to turn your luck around and make it count when you're on the dole...

Think Happy Thoughts

2013-03-20T09:00:00.000+00:00

What is happiness? Is it new shoes? Sequins? That Prada scarf you've been dreaming of? Eating two Toffee Crisps in a row? I could sit here all day trying to define the true meaning of happiness but I'd be wasting my time. After all, it's not half as complicated as it sounds. The meaning of happiness is meaning. Eh? Confused? Then read on...

Quotes What I Dint Wrote #8

2013-03-08T23:08:00.000+00:00

~~As International Women's Day comes to an end for another year, I'll leave you with the words of Frida...~~

~~Here's hoping that one day we will live in a world where every man, woman and child's reality is a fair and happy one.~~

Fashion Feast

2013-02-19T14:34:00.000+00:00

~~It's that time of the year again,~~
~~London Fashion Week.~~
~~Time to gorge yourself senseless~~
~~On a real fashion feast!~~

~~No more of the bland, palette cleanser~~
~~That is New York Fashion Week.~~
~~Get those fashion taste buds tingling,~~
~~You're in for a real treat.~~

~~With teddies, faux fur and the King,~~
~~Ashley Williams is on to a win.~~
~~Or, there's tulle a plenty on show~~
~~Thanks to the designs of Ryan Lo.~~

~~Whatever floats your boat~~
~~You are sure to find,~~
~~Clothes to amuse~~
~~And blow your mind.~~

Home

2013-02-19T14:00:00.000+00:00

Searching for the me in home, or 'me home' has been a lifelong task. Before coming to Colombia I was without a home. I don't mean to say that I was living on the streets in a cardboard box, getting drunk on a cocktail of mouthwash and lighter fluid. no. I had a roof. shelter. But I'd lost my head.

England has never felt like home to me, but it lost its sweetness when I was forced to return to Bristol after graduating from university last June. I was back home. The home that never was. Back where I started. Back to the no future. There is nothing worse than having to return to the bed you slept in as a child, when you're all grown-up. Or, if there is anything worse I have yet to discover it.

Yours Sincerely, Sammy

2013-02-08T18:28:00.003+00:00

I'm home alone and should probably be doing a million other things right now. Anything but this. What this is, I don't know. Perhaps an excuse to not be learning Spanish, or a means of delaying writing a certain letter that I need to have finished by tonight. What better way for me to avoid participating in life than by looking at clothes I'll never be able to afford?

Woman Seeking Work

2013-02-07T19:27:00.000+00:00

~~There really is nothing sexy about job seeking but I'll do my best to make it so.~~

I'm Only Sleeping

2013-02-06T21:28:00.000+00:00

Coco Loco

2013-02-05T14:10:00.002+00:00

~~Latin America sure is crazy! I admit that I only have first-hand experience of Colombia but if these videos are anything to go by then craziness isn't an exclusively Colombian trait.~~