It must be love, love, love.

Well, I must say I've looked at this award before and thought, 'well, that looks like fun'. Luckily I didn't have to pay someone to nominate me, as Hannah at Daisies and DMs did! (And Hannah, I'd like to see your answers to my questions too! )
And, I'm pretty excited.

So, I'll copy and paste the guidelines, so hopefully the people I nominate (although I barely know anyone) will know what to do. I barely know myself to be honest.
The Liebster Award. - What to do.
- list 11 things about yourself
- answer the 11 questions the tagger has set for you
- create 11 questions for your nominees
- choose up to 11 bloggers linking them to my post and telling them about it (only nominating blogs with less than 200 followers, and no tag backs.)

 

Right, well, lets go!

Things about yourself

I always find this difficult. Not in choosing things to say, but in thinking them up.

1. I have a massive collection of nail polishes. They're like a comfort, because even when things get tight, I can always paint my nails or get a cheap new nail polish.
2. I hate text speak. HATE it. When people use it on facebook it drives me mad. Texting isn't so bad, but still, I prefer people using full words.
3. Most of the dresses in my wardrobe are black, black and white, or blue. In fact, most of my wardrobe is black and blue. However, I do have two red dresses, one yellow and one green dress.
4. I very much dislike the film 'Groundhog Day'. I don't usually hate films. Except this one.
5. Today I noticed that none of my hobbies involve sports. Although I will get into badminton and hopefully archery soon.
6. I also noticed that most of my celebrity crushes are in their thirties, or very close. I'll give you a few: James Marsden, Jared Leto, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Henry Cavill, Tom Ellis, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Garrett Hedlund (27 is good, but it is getting close to thirty). if you don't know some, look them up. Please.
7. I love quirky Jewellery. From Battenburg Earrings (which I really want) to stamp neacklace (which I have). Love it.
8. Board games. I love them. My favourite is Balderdash.
9. I would like a hamster. It's the only pet I think I could keep.
10. Being thrifty is something that I enjoy. Any excuse to make things and buy good items at bargain prices is right up my street.
11. I can do a five-strand plait. And am very proud of the fact that all of my plaits always turn out well.

Questions to Answer
These are a good set :).
1. What was the first cd (or, if you're old school like me, it might be a tape cassette or something else cool) that you remember loving?
Well, ther was a tape that was always played on long journeys, and that was Aqua's Album 'Aquarium'. It had such classics as: 'Barbie Girl', 'Doctor Jones', 'My Oh My' and 'Turn Back Time'.
2. what's your latest music purchase/download that you're loving?
To be honest I haven't bought or downloaded music in a long time. I usually only buy CDs that I really like. I think the last one was probably Michael Buble. Not in a music phase at the moment.
3. What's your signature scent?
I love fresh, fruity fragrances. So my favourite that I own is Ice Sheers (pear scented) - by Avon. However, I don't think they do it anymore. I also love DKNY be Delicious. It reminds me of Apple and Cucumber. Lovely and fresh. Another that I wear sometimes is Avon's Tahitian Holiday, which smells like coconut and holidays.
4. Have you got a passion or hobby that not many people know about?
I love to write. Stories, poems, lists, ideas, logs. anything. I just enjoy it. I'll always have a pad of paper and multiple pens around in case inspiration hits me.
5. What's the worst job you've ever had and why?
I really did not like having a paper round. It was the middle of summer.me and my sister went on a very long walk complete with newspapers. We braved letterboxes and dogs, and peoples open front doors. And it was awful. At the end our hands would always be black with ink.
6. Let's pretend last night you won the lottery. What are you going to do with the money?
I'd be sensible. Pay off my student loan, put some in a bank account, help my mum and boyfriend pay off their mortgages. Oh, and have a small shopping spree for when I move in with my boyfriend, sofas and all. And clothes. And shoes. ok maybe not so sensible there.
7. Are you a messy or a tidy person?
I am exceptionally messy. You walk into my room, and it's like a nuclear bomb has gone off in a very small space. You WILL trip over things. If you need any proof, please read my blog on how bad my handbag is - The Handbag of Hell.
8. Do you have any tattoos, or any tattoos planned?
Ahh Tattoos. I have six now. Six.
1) My phoenix, on my left shoulder blade.
2) An ivy leaf on my left wrist.
3) Flowers and bugs on my right ankle.
4) Three dots on my neck, on the spine.
5) A key on the right hand side of my torso.
6) A book with an infinity symbol on it behind my left ear.
I kind of pride myself in being able to keep most of them under wraps when I need them to be.
i think I'll always want more.
9. Marmite: love it or hate it?
I'm one of those annoying people that this doesn't work with. I like it. Don't love it, don't hate it. I have it thinly spread on a piece of buttered bread. On occasion.
10. What's your favourite disney film?
Either Hercules or Mulan. I think hercules usually comes first because of the mythology, but I love the story of Mulan. And I love the strong female characters in both. But Hercules is adorable.
11. What would your ideal house be like?
Fairly tidy, but lived in. With random little gadgets, games, films when you want them. Airy and light, with lots of brightly coloured things dotted around. Like a yellow toaster and a red lamp. And cute and bright art on the walls. But mostly it would have to be comfy, and have lots of room for delicious things like marzipan.

Well. Now that's done, I would love to nominate Ed from Empire500, Kyra at Beautyetc, if she looks at this, and Cari from Cari's Book Blog. And I really don't know anyone else. So, if you come on here and find yourself thinking, like me, 'That looks fun!' then YOU ARE NOMINATED to do it. But only if you have less than 200 followers. And tell me you're doing it so I can read your blog :D

The Questions I would like to ask are:
1. What's your favourite food?
2. What's at the top of your wishlist at the moment?
3. What's your favourite movie, and why?
4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
5. If you had lots of money, what's the first thing you would spend it on?
6. Where would you most like to go as a holiday destination?
7. Do you have any celebrity crushes? Particularly embarrassing ones?
8. If there was a film of your life, who would you want to play you?
9. What's your favourite season, and why?
10. If you had to be an animal (real or mythical), what would you be?
11. If you could choose a sense to be heightened, which one would you choose?

I hope people blog with this.
Thanks for reading, and

The Beginners Guide to Identity.

Upon doing a oddly interesting lecture and seminar on adolescent identity, I decided that Identity would be a great blog idea.

So this is what I came up with:
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Identity, like so many other concepts (Intelligence, Personality) is rather vague. What makes up a persons identity?
There's the official definition, and my definition. I'll tell you mine, its far more interesting.

Identity is anything that you think about yourself: Whether you're a student, mother, Hindu, albino, goth, posh person, yearly income less than £5000. You name it, that's what its about.

But the main things are Politics, Religion, Social Status, Orientation, Gender, Occupation and Nationality. Anything in which you can group yourself in.

To give a bit more of a clue, I'll tell you I'm British, Young Adult, Organ Donor, Criminologist, Loves Books, Clothes and Marzipan, Agnostic, Female, Tattooed, Student, Light Drinker, Dislikes Cats and Cities. Lives in a City.
... But to tell you the truth that just sounds like something you'd find on a dating site.

So yes. Identity is pretty important. It makes you, well, you.
And during adolescence is when you branch out and try out what identity suits you best.

I tried goth, bright coloured, christian, atheist, geologist, teacher and experimented in what I thought about marriage, drinking, the meaning of life, stem cell research. Everything.

It's always good to have a clear idea of what kinds of things you have to offer, what you want to do with your life and what your own thoughts are on hot topics. It's just human nature I guess.

So yes. This was your short guide to identity. Hope you enjoyed reading about what you already basically knew. :)

Beautiful Bodies or Mutilation? You decide. (WARNING: If you're squeamish, I suggest you don't read this)

So, for those of you interested in the weird and wonderful, self mutilation and odd looking things on the body, you've found the right blog for you. For those of you who liked Cat Man (in my tattoo post- Here's a Link to it :D), you'll love this new batch of modified people.

Today I welcome you to my very own interesting bodies show provided for you by searching google. (This folks, means that the pictures aren't mine)

Star Implant. Ouch.



Lizard Man

First up! The Lizard Man.



This man is, in fact, a lizard. His hobbies may include basking in the sun and eating flies.(Below, Right)

Personally, I reckon he could do with a bright green mohecan going on. And some more odd implants (like the ones on his eyebrows or the one on the left.

 



Next up is the weird and wonderful world of Scarification.
Which is actually rather nasty. It includes either cutting into the skin, cutting areas of skin out or the burning off of skin in order to make a design on the skin. This usually stands out from the skin, as doing this causes scars (hence 'Scarification'). This stands out a lot more than tattoos on darker skin tones.
Although I definitely would not recommend it. Looks bloody painful, as you can definately see here.

Going into lesser painful acts, there's a few pretty cool things you can do with normal tattoos. For example this guy (right) had a darn good idea for a shark tattoo. And you can get UV Ink with which to be tattooed with (below, left). Which is pretty cool if you're the clubbing type, or just generally like UV.

 

Then we get onto piercings. And, come on. Who hasn't ever seen a piercing.
But I'm not talking about normal piercings. I'm talking about extreme piercing. And I'm pretty sure this next guy will have you wondering whether he is the most pierced person ever. (Truth is, I don't know, but maybe).

Either way, that's a lot of piercings.

God knows how heavy that must be.

Then there's this. Another type of piercing. It's a corset piercing. And don't be fooled, cause piercings bloody hurt. And although this looks pretty, it doesn't actually last very long usually.
It's also just a little bit odd looking in my opinion. Although to be honest, this blog isn't really very 'normal' looking really is it?

And so, just for a bit of fun, I thought I'd throw this guy in here. Now please, don't do this at home, firstly because you could easily break something and secondly because it makes me feel slightly queasy.
In fact, I'm pretty sure most people would feel queasy at the sight of this stuff.

Onto my final act tonight. The female version of the Cat Man. In fact, I think they should definitely be introduced to one another. This is Cat Lady. At least, that's what I'm calling her.
I'm pretty sure she, much like the lizard man, also enjoys basking in the sun, but not eating flies.

She's definitely gone to a few lengths trying to be a cat, but I'm not so sure it measures up to the famous Cat Man. What do you think?

(There's also a woman named Jocelyn Wildenstein who tried to look like a cat. If you want to see bad plastic surgery, click this link.) 

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Please read all the relevant links before even thinking about trying out some of these. There are substantial risks involved. And I'd rather not be sued. Thanks.

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A pretty good site on all of the above that I found is This One.

The Ink-lination to Tattoo.

When I realised i hadn't blogged about tattoos yet, I was quite taken aback, its something that I'm fond of. I have four of them myself. So yes, this blog may be particularly biased, but I'll try to make it as balanced as I can.

Tattooing, according to Wikipedia (yes, I know it's an awful source of information, but it'll do) ,apparently dates back to Ötzi the Iceman (That link is to the Wikipedia page) in around the fourth to fifth millennium BC.
That's pretty far back.
It's been speculated that tattoos were used in many different ways in the past. As signs to ward off evil or bring luck, as a form of medical treatment, for aesthetic purposes of course, or as a form of identification. Wikipedia lists some very interesting uses, and there is a whole history and mine of information on this page: Wikipedia-Tattoo.

Of course, even with their growing popularity tattoos are still seen as negative by many people. This could have many reasons. Ranging to religion, links to serious organised crime gangs and the fact that some tattoos are just plain weird.

Mostly I'd like to point out that although I think tattoos (mostly) look gorgeous, and can mean many different and amazing things (although sometimes are literally only for show) , there is always going to be a health risk with them.
Although to be honest, only if you don't look after it properly. (Such as infections etc) Also, i would recommend only going to reputable tattoo artists with sterile studios. Please make sure of this, because there are severe health risks (such as HIV and other blood-transferable nasties) if you do not.

Enough with the bad things.

Now for the good, and the weird, as I'd like to show you a particularly odd person. Apparently, this guy holds the world record for 'Most Body Modifications'. I think somehow you can tell.



Meet Cat-Man. (Or, as he prefers it, Stalking Cat)

A very odd looking guy. But awesome if you're really really really into cats.  Here's a Daily Mail article on him if you're thinking just the picture is weird and/or if you're morbidly fascinated.

Yes, so, the good part.
Well, I think tattoos are beautiful, as is well known. I have a phoenix on my back, an ivy leaf on my wrist, flowers and bugs on my foot and three circles on the back of my neck. All mean a lot to me, they all are symbols that stand for things that I hold dear to me. I think that's why people should have tattoos, to show themselves on the outside. :)
Here's my phoenix just after it was done:

Before you ask, yes, it was painful, but it was well worth it. (And my foot hurt the most).



Of course, there are other forms of tattoos that are not permanent, and I would fully recommend these ones if you are particularly changeable.
These can be ones such as Temporary adhesive tattoos (the ones found in shops, which can be quite pretty, and equally child-like, but great if you're dressing up as a fairy and want butterfly transfers). Or Henna tattoos, although if you dye your hair, I'm pretty sure most hair dyes say to be careful if you've ever had a Henna tattoo. I have no idea why.
Also there are airbrush ones.

To end, yes, I did take up a stupid amount of time trying to make a witty title, only to fail horrendously. :)