Wish Upon a... Debit Card...

Yo!
So I was at sleep over yesterday, at my friend Bebhinn's house! Twas epic! We went to the park, bought sweets on the way back, played consequences, and nommed on loads of junk whilst watching Transporter 2 and commenting on how hot the chick was! Loool!! Anywayz, today I'm here with yet another guilty confession >->... I FORGOT TO POST AGAIN YESTERDAY!!!!... yeah, I'm failing... whatever! You can have three posts again today!!! That way I get to do the post I want to do on Saturday!! ^-^

Day 5 - 10 items from your wishlist.

Okay, so here's the thing, I'll try to dredge up a decent amount, but I don't actually have that many items on my wish list ^-^ but here goes!!

1~ Angelic Pretty's Fruit's Parlor JSK in mint. Oooor any of the other colours apart from black and pink, but mint would be perfect!! 

2~ Gothic and Lolita wigs' Choco-mint split (that they discontinued T.T)!

So yeah, basically that's my wish list. They're the only two lolita items that I want! ^-^''' Yet they're both basically unattainable T.T...

Day 6 - 10 things you can't live without in lolita.

This is very similar to "10 things you love in lolita", but meh!

1~ My two petticoats! everything would look so deflated if I had only one! >-<

2~ Inspiration! Were would we be without it? I doubt loli would exist without a little inspiration (at least).

3~ My laptop. Basically that just explains it's self!

4~Hair and head bows! Omg, I think I'd be lost without them!!! They just works so perfectly and looks so awesome! ^-^

5~ My family's sewing machine. I make a lot of my stuff, so I''d be done for without it! So useful, and I love sewing soooooo mwuch! XD

6~ Charity shop. I get a lot of my stuff in there's occasional treasure troves as well! ^-^

7~ Good lace >-< omg, the fashion wouldn't be the same without it!

8~ Echo-anechan! Thank you for getting me back into this fashion darling dear!!

9~ Mascara! I don't wear eye liner that much anymore, but if I'm going out I always put on mascara! Not like, in big clumps or anything, just enough that it makes me eyes slightly darker looking, because I have quite light brown eye lashes! ^-^

10~ Bravery, confidence and ingenuity. I certainly wouldn't have even considered or been able to don the frills without them! I have my friends to thank for giving me the confidence to be myself, <3 you guys....

Day 7 - 10 people that inspire your lolita style.

Do they have to all be real people? 'Cause otherwise Imma find this quite hard >->

1~ Miss Lumpy

2~ Echo-anechan, for inspiring me to get off m lazy ass and be a lolita! XD

3~ Pastel-Ai, despite the fact it's not lolita she's into, she got me into liking decora, and the sweeter side of loli! Soooo yush!!

4~ Ciel Phantomhive from the anime and manga Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler). Though, because I prefer the artwork in the manga (for it's gorgeous detail), I'll be more specific and just say... MANGA CIEL FTW!!
His dark, gothic, decorative Victorian clothic really hits the spot when it comes to kodona (or Ouji-sama style!), and Yana-sama's beautiful artwork is just... wow... ^-^ and you gotta love his pink dress from Druitt's ball! XDDD

5~ Sakura Kinomoto from the anime and manga Cardcaptor Sakura... or should I say Tomoyo? Seeing as she's the one who actually designs all of Sakura's outfits in the series *ponders*. Well, whatever. You guys know who I mean! ^-^

6~ Elizabeth Middleford from Kuroshitsuji. If you haven't read the latest chapters of the manga you won't understand what I'm talking about, but if you have, then I certainly hope you agree!
Lizzie is always getting bashed for being pathetic and useless when (I dun wanna say to muuuuch and spoil it!!) in actuality she's a very strong, brave and beautiful girl.
And I think she's a good lolita role model because despite her wishes to always appear cute she conquers her fears of repulsing Ciel and defends herself and proves that she's a very strong, determined and it would appear lonely young woman!!! She's not afraid of doing what she has to, but she still goes about it in a dignified and adorable manner!
I'd like to see those Lizzie haters call her week and pathetic now!! After chapter 57 she's anything but!!!

Well, that's that! I couldn't think of any other people/characters to add, so lets stick with this!
Now I'm DAYUM tired and ready to pass out >-< lets see if I can sleep through the loft people tomorrow morning *facepalm*.
Night ya'll!!!


x x x x
Chiru
x x x x

Consequences

Consequences is apparently an old game, perhaps like a Victorian parlor game. In any case it's hilarious (especially with my group of darling, perverted, and foul mouthed friends!), and perfect for playing with 3 or more bored people or at a sleep over!

For those who don't know, here are the rules!

1) Have all the players (preferably more than 4) sit in a circle, and provide them each with a sheet of paper and pen/pencil.

2) On your sheet of paper, write the name of a guy or a girl (which it's going to be is usually decided as a whole before anyone writes anything). When I played with my friends Last night we decided we didn't care, and there were often cases of Django met Django, or Connor met Connor! Lolz!
Once you've written the name, fold your paper over so the name is hidden and write "met". Then hand it to the person on your left. It's funnier when you use the names of people you know, and also easier to go clockwise around the circle when passing them on.

3) The person you handed it to writes a girls name (or guys) after "met", as do you and all the other players.
You then fold it over so the name is hidden and write "at" before passing it along again.

4) All the players then write a location of their choice after "at" it could be anywhere; the supermarket, a porn shop, prison... the moon. Whatever!
All players then write "she said", or "he said" depending on whether they put a girls name or a guys name first at the top. You should try and keep the order the same on every sheet. Mostly to avoid confusion ^-^
Fold over and pass along!

5) All players then write a short sentence for the person to say, yesterday I quoted Ke$ha songs ("beat so fat gonna make me cum... cum... cum"), spouted hippy shit and douchebagy nonsense! XD
Depending on whether you put "she said" or "he said" first, you then write the other option. (I.E If you put "she said" you then write "he said"), then fold it over and pass it along.

6) All players then write another sentence for the other person to say!
Theeeeen you write "the consequences", or because no one can spell that "and then" or "the outcome", before folding it over and passing it to your left.

7) All players then write a (hopefully) humorous consequence for the -usually horny- couple. They then pass it once more to the person on their left, and wait for everyone to finish writing before opening the one they received from the player on their right and reading it allowed!!

XD Probably an excellent game to play when hyper, stoned or drunk!
Have fun!!! ^-^

x x x x
Chiru
x x x x

Different is Dangerous

Today's subject is probably the most serious I've ever discussed on this blog, so please bare with me, for this is a subject that you should probably be interested in if you are reading this blog...
It's probably going to get very grim as well.

In our society everybody is assigned a stereo type, and then discriminated against if they don't fall under the same banner as the majority.
If you're clever you're a geek. If you like Star Wars or Lord of the Ring's you're a nerd.
You're gay, a bitch, slutty, fat, emo, goth, whore, bisexual, princess, sad, bookworm, freak, retarded, weird, creepy, anorexic, virgin, rude, stoner, player, skank, hippy, pikey, social outcast, loner, loser... you... different... dead.

We can't choose our personalities, they come to us, and for that we're the subject of prejudice. The shyest girl ever will be labeled a bitch because she doesn't like talking to people. A girl who goes through lots of boyfriends for perfectly plausible reasons will be called a whore, a slut, and a skank because she's just awkward. The cleverest guy you know will get ignored and bullied because he's good with computers. And we will all be told we're wrong, critisised, ignored, beaten up, bullied and left for dead because we are original, free thinking people. There's no escaping it.

Of course none of us are free from creating stereo types, I'm sure not all chav's are the kind that will beat you up at the drop of a hat, yet because a lot of them would, aspersions are cast on them as a collective.

What's most sad about the condition of our society is that things get taken too far.
In 2007 in Lancashire, Sophie Lancaster and her longterm boyfriend Robert Maltby were walking home through their local park just after midnight when they came across a group of 15 to 17 year olds who were obviously drunk, and still drinking.
According to police reports they struck up conversation with the boys and were peacefully talking when one of the boys said 'hey, lets bang him' and proceeded to beat Maltby to a pulp. He was floored and then continually kicked for no reason what so ever whilst Lancaster begged for them to stop.
She then ran forward to defend her boyfriend, and this resulted in them kicking her to the ground and stamping on her head continuously.

The "lads" then walked off bragging about having "just beaten up a couple of moshers". The attack was witnessed by a 14 year old girl who called the police to report the incident. her distressed phone call was played as evidence in the court hearing, and was met with sniggers from one of the defendants and his mother.
When Sophie and Robert were found by the paramedics they were so badly injured the paramedics couldn't tell if they were male or female. Both in comas they were taken to hospital and put instantly on life support.
Sophie remained in a coma for 13 days. She never woke up.
Robert on the other hand did survive, but explained later that he wished she'd just "legged it". 

The two boys accused of the murder were 15 and 16, and had been taking drugs and binge drinking from a young age, all were, what we here in Britain would call chavs.
And the reason that this couple were so severely beaten? Simply because they were goths.

I have friends online who have been bullied for years for liking anime, World of Warcraft or being bi. There are countless cosplayers on youtube who have mentioned being beaten up and ignored whilst in high school for enjoying reading, cosplaying and video games.

It's gotten to such a stage that I wonder to myself 'am I brave enough to wear lolita?'.... 'am I brave enough to take public transport whilst cosplaying?' Yes, I am... But I will do neither of these things alone, and even when I go out on my own and I'm just wearing jeans and a t-shirt I get odd glances and can't help feeling different for wearing black skinnies and converse instead of track suit bottoms and ugly trainers. I'm constantly thinking of how to take someone down, which pressure point to hit, where I should punch to do the most damage. These thoughts shouldn't have to roll through my head every five seconds when I go out to buy milk.

Prejudice, I'm sure has been with us since the human race began, we are never without it, and in it's most obvious forms, sexism, racism and the discrimination against gays, bisexuals and transgender people, it is fought against. But not nearly enough.
Yet even those that stand up for these people are now in danger, even if they're just told to shut up, or to stop defending the "fag" as these people are often called it is still discrimination.

It's sick that no one is allowed an opinion.

 My friend and me were talking yesterday about the girls in her school.The majority are black, and yes, white people have wronged black people for hundreds upon hundreds of years, but they seem to feel that this gives them an excuse to be incredibly racist towards white people. Making comments that nobody would allow if they were reversed, but even the teachers in her school take their side and nothing is done.
A debate was had in her history class about stereotypes, and one girl started explaining how much she hated Polish people. Simply because of a stereotype that apparently they are all rude. Unfounded and unfair comments like these thrive in the 21st century.... and we say we're above these things. If so, WHY do so many of us continue in this way?!


Lolita is a fashion that sticks out from the crowd, it is obvious, and something that is easy to make fun of. It will easily get those that wear it into sticky situations, but that is why those that wear it are so excellent and brave. Along with those that openly express themselves whether it be with their sexuality, their love of books, anime, manga, cosplaying, gaming, fashion. their musical tastes or their religion.
Fighting for what you believe in is the first step. And you should never, EVER stop being yourself because of other people. That includes your parents, friends or partners.
I'm lucky to have avoided these kinds of prejudices', it certainly helps that I'm home educated. And that a lot of my friends have known me for a very, very long time. And that most of them are, or have been into the same things as me. Yet others I know are not so lucky.
Obviously none of those uneducated idiots that bully and ridicule will be reading this, but this wasn't written for them. This was written to raise awareness that our world is NOT as mature as it claims to be, and should be. And for that, those of us who are different are paying the price... often with our lives...


x x x x
Chiru
x x x x

Lolita Love and Hate!

Ooooh how badly I failed at remembering to post yesterday!! Ikr! I'm forgetting already! Not a great start, but to pay you back, I'm combing the next three! And posting them today!!! There's also one post that I'd like to do on a specific day, so I need to speed things up a little ^-^''' 

Anywayz! Let's get to it! XD

Day 2 – 10 things you love in lolita.

1~ Poof! I cannot stress enough how important poof is in this fashion! Oh. My. God! And it is truly the mark of an ita, and a rather large shame to see a coord with no poof-full petti!

2~ Stripes (especially blackXwhite!). 'Nough said. 

3~ Floral prints. I can't get enough of floral prints on JSKs for a country loli look in summer and spring time! I'm not talking about big, garish pink, blue, yellow and green tulips, I'm talking about tiny detailed dusty pink or brown roses on an off white background. Or little bouquets of wild flowers on black! Gorgeous!!

4~ Giant head eating bows, the are ridiculously fun and look really quirky as well! ^-^

5~ Sailor collars; just totally adorable <3

6~ Bustles! Damn I love 'em! I wore a bustle for my dark Alice (in Wonderland) cosplay, and I had this amazing sense of power, I think lots of folds and layers of ruffled material just have that effect! XD It was awesome!! And stripey black and white bustles are even better!! XD

7~ Mini top hats! Yet again, just totally adorable! But they look sophisticated at the same time, such a great little accessory. and I love how sturdy mine always feels on my head as well! ^-^

8~ Split wigs. Now this is more of a OTT sweet and decora/fairy-kei thing but I totally love them!! One day I WILL own one! I had my eyes on the choco-mint split that Gothic and Lolita wigs used to make, but they discontinued it T.T *dies* 

They're just such a cool idea, and I love the way it creates another layer to the outfit, and yet another thing you can coordinate things with!! XD

9~ OTT jewelery. This is something more often seen in decora, but I adore this style of jewlery! Glittery strawberry rings and ice cream necklaces, cookie hair clips and unicorn broaches!!! All in pastel colours with copious amounts of glitter sprinkled on top! Soooo epic!!

10~ Prints that and are made up of sweets, card suits, chess pieces or cakes!!! I kinda dislike the ones that have perfume bottles, cats, rabbits or bears. They're just annoying and kinda prissy, but anything with either a card, chess, confectionery, or dark themes (vines, roses, gothic windows etc) I luuurrrv!

Day 3 – 10 things you hate in lolita.

Let's change that to '10 things that annoy you in lolita'. Because how can you love a fashion in which there are many things you hate? Whaaaat is the point? O.o 

I don't know if I can think of 10, but lets see shall we?

1~ When I move my head and my headbow falls in front of my eyes! Omg suuuuch a pain in the ass >.< 

2~ Being scared of knocking stuff over with my petticoat induced poof. Rather ironic that we enjoy looking around antique shops, and drinking out of fine china when we're so prone to killing the surrounding objects with our skirts! Lol!

3~ Stereotypes. I hate these in any part of life really, but they just drive me nuts! "If you are a lolita you have to eat only things made of pure sugar and call everyone 'sir' and 'ma'am' and 'Miss'. And you must only let sweet things out of your lips and never be rude about anyone. And your opinions must be kept private and you must be overly nice and prissy and sugary sweet all day long!".... YUCK!!! No way, stereotypes are terrible. Just be yourself! If the clothes start dictating who you are supposed to be it's time to take a step back and a time out. You wear the clothes, not the other way around!

4~ In the neighbourhood where I live lolita is unheard of, and I'm kind of scared about wearing it out in public alone. London is supposed to be an accepting city, but there've been people stabbed in my area and I for one don't want to join them. How ever storybook like and macabre that may be. 

No, sorry... I like life. And that's far to similar to what happened in a small English village some years ago where Sohpia Lancaster was beaten and kicked to death for being a goth after trying to deffend her boyfriend from also being beaten to death by a group of binge drinking, ignorant chavs.

5~ the cost. That speaks for itself.

6~ This ongoing brand vs, offbrand war! Face it guys, some offbrand IS as good us brand. Just without the hefty price tag!  

7~ Lolita snobs, and bitchy gossipy comunities. Ugh, seriously guys? Why?

8~ Companies like Milanoo! All they do is scam, scam, scam!!!

Well, I couldn't think of 10, but there's 8 for ya! 

Day 4 – 10 different kinds of food you like.

 1~ Lemon cake!

2~ Leak and salmon pie (that my dad makes).

3~ Home made bannana , honey and yohgurt lassies!

4~ Fruit pastles!

5~ Pasta bake

6~ Co-operative own brand giant milk chocolate chip cookies! NOM NOM NOM!!

7~ Egg and cress sandwiches!

8~ Fish finger, butter and chedder cheese sandwiches!

9~ Linda McCartney vegetarian sausages, gala apple, humous, chedder and baguette sandwiches!! (yeah, I eat a lot of sandwiches!! XD)

10~ Victoria sponge cake! Omg yeeeeees!!!

Well there you have it! I've ended up staying up past midnight, so really I'm posting this on Monday, but what the hey, I'll just post again tomorrow (if I can >.<).

Hope you found this interesting!!!

Byez!!! 

30 Day Lolita Challenge!

Yo my magical pixie friends which sprinkle rainbow sparkle dust everywhere!

And now, I'm not on acid! I just like greeting you in fun ways! Looool!!

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the title, I have decided to jump on the pink bandwagon and partake in the 30 day lolita challenge! That originated from this here lovely blog!

Bellow you will find the full list of questions or little challenges, and I'm going to do the first one today! Though, be warned, I may not post them every day (because my memory is rather shit!) so I'll just post them whenever I remember (which WILL be quite frequently!). I may also skip ones I can't think of answers for, or don't like the sound of!

Day 1 – 10 things about your lolita bubble.

Day 2 – 10 things you love in lolita.

Day 3 – 10 things you hate in lolita.

Day 4 – 10 different kinds of food you like.

Day 5 – 10 items from your wishlist.

Day 6 – 10 things you can’t live without in lolita.

Day 7 – 10 people who inspire your lolita style.

Day 8 – 10 songs that inspire you for lolita.

Day 9 – 10 things you will never do in lolita.

Day 10 – What’s in your bag?

Day 11 – One day in your lolita life in pictures.

Day 12 – A picture of yourself before lolita came in to your life.

Day 13 – A picture of your favorite sweets.

Day 14 – A picture of your dream item.

Day 15 – A picture of your last lolita purchase.

Day 16 – Your outfit for the day.

Day 17 – What do you want more then anything right now?

Day 18 – A picture of your favorite lolita style.

Day 19 – What’s in your make-up bag?

Day 20 – A picture of a lolita friend.

Day 21 – Your favorite fictional lolita.

Day 22 – A picture of your room.

Day 23 – A picture of your handwriting.

Day 24 – A picture of you from a meet.

Day 25 – Your favorite lolita themed artwork.

Day 26 – Your Facebook profile picture.

Day 27 – One song that fits your favorite lolita style.

Day 28 – A picture of the perfect lolita location.

Day 29 – A picture of a lolita you would love to meet for real.

Day 30 – A photo of yourself taken today and 3 good things that’s happened over the last 30 days.

So onto the first one!!

Day 1 ~ 10 things about your lolita bubble!

1~ I'm somewhat erratic, I don't wear lolita very often, and even then it's only casual loli >~<

2~ I find it hard to call myself a lolita, even though I love the fashion and plainly enjoy lolita lifestyle worthy activities and things such as baking, sewing, playing piano, tea and sweets! Lol! I don't feel like an official loli yet! ^-^

3~ The kind of loli that happily wiles away her days being a total nerd, either for anime and manga, games or things like Lord of The Rings.

4~ It frustrates me when people (mostly lolita's themselves) stereotype other lolitas and say that they must hate most anime, and anything like physical activity is a big no-no! All I have to say to them is... FUCK YOU!

5~ My wardrobe is busting full of clothing, though hardly any of it is lolita!

6~ Proud to be able to make my own lolita clothing! Recently I've made a headbow (though it was for a cosplay it could be used for loli!), and a skirt!

7~ Misconceptions piss me the fuck off!

8~ Not the most ladylike person on earth, but that doesn't stop me enjoying frills and lace <3333

9~ I share a room so I have to keep my love for stuff like loli rather contained, I do have a couple of G&LB posters though, and my cute hairbows and hats are all on display around my wardrobe and my pink candy themed mirror!

10~ I believe that no lolitas should put themselves into a sub category. We're already cut off from society enough, so why segregate ourselves anymore? 

I am personally quite happy to mix gothic and classic, classic and sweet and decora! Don't feel like you have to pick and choose, just go with what feels cool and looks awesome by your standards!

So there you have it! 10 things about my lolita bubble! Tomorrow comes "10 things that you love in lolita". I look forward to it!

x x x x

Chiru

x x x x

London MCM EXPO May 2011: Con report part 2

I know this is a little late, but I've been focusing on catching up with other stuff instead for the past couple of days. DA and youtube updates really go crazy when you're offline for 3 days o.o'''
Anywayz! (WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY!!! Again... >->'''').

Sunday was brilliant, just like the rest of the con!
Deme had been planning to just go home, as she couldn't afford to pay for a ticket so she wouldn't be kicked out, but I gave her 10 quid, and she got ready (almost cosplaying as her alter ego... Princess Bob! Lol!). It took me little to no time to get dressed on Sunday morning because my Renge cosplay is so beautifully simple! I loved it, most comfortable costume of the convention! ^-^
We went part of the way with my dad as he needed to run some errands in Brick Lane, so we got the overground train the Shadwell, and then the DLR to Beckton. It was a really bright, sunny, and pleasantly warm journey. There were also more cosplayers on the train that day! ^-^

Once we got to the con we immediately went to queue and to our complete and rather ecstatic surprise the queue was about 15 people long!! Epicness! So we only had to queue for about 10 minutes! After that we went to take a proper look around the vendors hall. And finding that also pleasantly empty we pootled around looking at stuff and mooching around the artists alley and the many far emptier than on Saturday stalls.
Dana had a mild fit over all the World of Warcraft merch and then was over the moon when she saw a... I think it was a blood elf... or night elf cosplayer. Admittedly this girls outfit was incredible!

*Fangasm* Omgaaaawd!!! <3333333 They were wonderful *watering chibi eyes*

 Tis Her Royal Highness Princess Bob!

Once we were done with the vendors hall we headed outside and on the way came across Coral, Phoebe, Suzanne, Naomi and Georgia! We followed them outside and a Soul Eater photo shoot ensued.  Me and Coral along with a couple of others took pictures as we weren't cosplaying from SE, but Phoebe was cosplaying Maka wonderfully again so she joined in!

 Tamaki antics! 

Soul: Naomi, Kid: Georgia, Maka: Phoebe and I'm afraid I don't know Black*Star's name :/

Love this photo soo so soo much!! ^-^

 Yaoiiiiii!~<3

 Excuse Tamaki's jacket in the top right >.<''''

After a few more photographs I went down the steps to go and keep Dana and Suzanne company ^-^
Dana wanted to go off and do a bit of mooching on her own, so I hung out with Suzanne for a while and chatted about anime, games, friends and lots of other stuff. Some f it pretty heavy, then we went inside and had a chance to do some more shopping, which was nice, as the vendors hall still wasn't too busy. I bought volume 5 of Kuroshitsuji, volume 2 of March Story and a black gingham hairbow! 

Then we met up with Coral, Phoebe and Naomi and did a bit more shopping, or in my case just looking. They played some video games, whilst I filmed and then we all headed out of the vendors hall as it was closing time. I found Dana again and we said our goodbyes, departing for the train.
Lol! In the end me and Kiryuu got ZILCHO Ouran stuff done, but that just gives us an excuse to meet up again! ^-^ 

I had a wonderful EXPO, and I just hope that October will be as good... if not better! Thank you all so much! <3333333333

Illterate Britain

Hey guys!
Sorry for the large area of non update-dom >-<'''' life just kinda got to me, exams, conventions, birthdays, family things, loft conversion announcements, wedding plans etc etc. Not my wedding, duh! One of my dad's best friends! One of my honorary uncles is getting married to one of his girlfriends from before I was born, in August. And he only proposed to her about a month ago O.o crazy ne, but very romantic (*coughdramaticcough*). Admittedly these are all good things so when I say life got to me, I mean in a totally positive and good way!

Anywayz, today I wanted to talk about a more serious subject. I was reading the newspaper the other day and a recent look into the literacy levels of average Londoner's and British people revealed horrifying facts.
It's no secret that a lot of people have to deal with dyslexia, and other (I'm loathe to call them 'problems') disabilities that prevent them from reading as easily as others of their age, but what about those who's eyesight, and brain can interpret words perfectly well?

Recent reports have revealed that a staggering amount of 11 year olds in Britain start secondary school without the necessary reading skills to get themselves anywhere in life. Around 1 in 5 children leave primary school almost completely illiterate. My friend Maddy explained to me the other day that she was never taught what a comma was in primary school, and it was something she had to learn in secondary school.
This is disgusting. The title of the Metro article that I read was "Help! My Students can't read basic English Words". The article was written by a GCSE English teacher... It doesn't bear thinking about how basic those words were.

As someone who has been reading since they were 4 and a half, and loving every minute of it I just cannot understand how someone could let themselves become illiterate to that degree.
I still remember the first book I read on my own, and I remember being ridiculously proud of myself for reading the words "extremely large mansion" in 'A Series of Unfortunate Events: Bad Beginning' when I was 5.

I also read that when asked to "describe a country landscape" in a GCSE English paper, 80% of the students described a country western type scene. Cowboys, and dusty ghost towns with cactus trees on the horizon.
It would appear that today's youth (to risk sounding like an old crone) lack the social and life experiences to know what the vegiatble swede is, or to understand that when a question asks you to describe a country landscape, it means and English one. And guess where the government got all these statistics? From schools.

Now I'm not opposed to schools, but I am blatantly biased against them. I believe that they crush creativity, imagination, free thinking and instead instill the ability to accept and receive orders or whatever leaves the teachers mouth a the one and only infallible truth (hopefully I won't get too many flames for this point of view). I have plenty of friends that go to school, and whilst they are all amazing, clever and opinionated people I've come to believe that that is a very rare thing indeed in those educated at school.

From my own personal experience home educated children read a lot more than those that go to school. I'm not saying this is a definite fact, just something I've observed. As we are taught to read for fun, pleasure and enjoyment whilst in school it is something that has to be forced.

Another reason that the British population is becoming steadily more illiterate is because in an age where mothers are encouraged to deposit their one year olds in day care centers and go back to work there is less time for children to be read to. It doesn't have to be a lot of reading, but half a picture book every other night can demonstrate to a child that reading is fun, and it gives them a hunger to know the end of the story.

I remember my mother reading me The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events novels. As well as picture books like 'The Giant Turnip' and 'Mr Magnolia's Boot'.
I enjoyed those afternoons spent on the couch in our flat, eating salted cashew nuts and listening to 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire'. And once I was able to read I found other books, and read my father's books, picking up any literature available. Nothing was off limits, and never will be in my house, because my entire family -grandparents included- believe that we should be allowed to read whatever we like, my Grandma and Grandpa even gave me Tammara Drew for Christmas when I was 10.

I started reading veraciously when we moved out of our flat and into the house we still live in now. I progressed from Harry Potter and Twilight, Vampire Academy and Eragon, to The Spook's Apprentice, Skulduggery Pleasant, Sweep ( or The Wicca Series as it used to be called), The Colour of Magic and Mort. To Frankenstein, Stardust, The Graveyard Book, Wuthering Heights, Of Mice and Men, Pygmalion. Doctor Jakyll and Mister Hyde, The Lord of The Ring's and The Hobbit. Recently I've read ridiculous amounts of manga, graphic novels such as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, blog articles and fanfiction. Admittedly I never finished Lord of The Rings but it's something I will do one day. All these things mature my opinions, give me more of a perspective on life, different ideals, make me question my beliefs in religion, justice and my own confidence and personality.
These great works of literature were written for people to laugh at, to cry at, to be angry with and to enjoy... so why don't more of us do these things?

There are a few people close to me who hate books, and will only read light novels and by that I mean EXTREMELY light. This is rather sad really. A friend of mine was very quick to call 'Oliver Twist' shit the other week. A comment to which I reacted to far less than I should have for fear of making her angry. She's never even read it, let alone seen a film or staged production of it.

If you read you lengthen your horizons and mature emotionally. Of course this does have it's downsides. Any teenage crushes are instantly dis-guarded as silly and pointless because I have already experience true love through the eyes of others a thousand times over. But we gain more from J.R.R Tolkein, John Steinbeck, Cate Tiernan and Joseph Delaney than we lose.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that by reading we gain life experiences, maturity, morals, and eloquent tongue, a clever brain and a depth in our personality and soul that without books we'd never have... It will never do you harm to read a book!

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Chiru
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