I have discovered a previously untapped skill of mine!

Apparently, I can bake a mean chocolate cake!

It is a favourite question/remark about how I work in a sweet shop and that I must find it hard not to just eat sweets all day. Actually, if I worked in a cake shop, I'd have no resistance. Cake is my biggest weakness.

Anyway, my mum charged me with the task of making some cake and I think you'll find I nailed it.

Look at this beauty:

I almost didn't want to cut into it...

Chocolate cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream filling, covered in chocolate buttercream. I followed Lorraine Pascal's recipe, which is rather extravagant but definitely well worth it.

Om nom nom nom nom...

And it is delicious, if I may say so.

Reckon I could enter the Great British Bake Off next year? I only need to be able to bake a victoria sponge right?

I just came across a thing on the New Yorker website which I thought might be fun to do.

If you were trapped on a desert island and could only bring one book, one movie and one record, what would they be?

Book:

I could obviously go for Harry Potter but I'm going to assume that you can only take one book, and I'm not sure I could choose which one to take...

And I'm not going to go for anything "useful", you know, that could be used as kindling or whatever

So I could now say The Fault in Our Stars by John Green because it is probably the best book I've read in a while.

Maybe A Game of Thrones? Because there are a lot of characters and there would be lots of scope for fanfic to keep me amused ;)

Movie:

Hmmm... difficult. Again, I could go for Harry Potter but same problem, which one do I choose?

The Perks of Being a Wallflower? But that feels like a cop out as it's the most recent film I've seen and loved...

I think I need a film that is funny with some emotional side to it. I haven't seen Pitch Perfect but I have high hopes and could be the film I would take.

If it has to be one I've seen, I think... the Avengers. Yep, that is a film I could watch again and again. Lots of pretty men and very funny to boot!

Record:

After a small amount of thought, this is probably the easiest of the three. Teenage Dream by Darren Criss. The version with his own arrangement. Because I never get tired of listening to that song.

So what would be your three choices?

Confession: I have coasted through my life up to this point.

I am under no illusion that I have had to work very hard to get what I have in life. I coasted through school, doing just enough to get where I wanted/needed to go. My family are (on the outside looking in anyway) well-off, I don't want for anything. I have my own car, that I can afford to run. I've traveled quite extensively. I have an iPhone and a Macbook. I have savings.

I have means to do things. Nothing is stopping me...

So why can't I coast through this next stage of life??

I am at the proverbial fork in the road. I could do anything. But I feel like I can't.

It's like there are some roadworks that need to be done before I can move forwards, but what roadworks are needed?

Friends, family, Joe Bloggs on the streets offer me advice frequently on what I could or should do next and I appreciate that it's all just to try and help me. But I still honestly don't know what to do.

Should I go back to university? Do the PGCE thing and become a teacher? Or look into doing a Masters, possibly even abroad?

Should I bite the bullet and go and live abroad for a bit and do whatever? Just for the hell of it. And because I keep saying I want to and I will.

Maybe I should just move out and break out on my own either way.

All I know is that if I don't do something definitive soon, I'll get stuck in a rut that I can't escape.

I should just admit that getting a fucking 2:2 in my degree has affected my confidence in a way that didn't seem obvious (to me, at least) at the time. I feel like people will just dismiss me on face value when I apply for a grad-level job.

I know I'm better than a 2:2 degree. I bloody know it. But how the hell do I show that to someone who only sees the paper version of me?



Real Life sucks. I want a reboot.

I applied for a job in a pharmacy back in... July? Maybe August. Something like that, and got an interview. When the interview finished, I asked how long I should expect to wait for an answer. They said two weeks.

I got a reply yesterday. It was a no. No shit, Sherlock. At least two months have passed since the interview. I had guessed I hadn't got the job, but thanks for the confirmation.

Seriously, this can not be considered acceptable or professional. Can it?

Urgh.

Cast: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, (dir.) Stephen Chbosky

Certificate: 12A (PG-13)

Rating: 10/10

Overall: Loved it. The central three characters/actors were amazing, especially Logan Lerman who should get awards for this role. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I loved, I felt infinite.
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