HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

….soooooo it’s January 25th! Who cares? Better late than never.

A quick catch up over the last month, seeing as I was too lazy to post before (and I’ve been seriously busy lately.)

This year Christmas wasn’t so bad. Not exactly fun-filled, but spending it alone made me realise how much I miss my family.

I actually ended up vacuuming the entire house and cleaning the bathroom on Christmas morning, while listening to the kids screaming through the walls next door. They must have got some pretty neat stuff. Either that, or their parents where inhaling helium filled balloons and singing carols. Either seems plausible.

It was also my little sisters 18th Birthday five days after Christmas; not so little anymore I guess. Wasn’t exactly sure what I should get her seeing as it was quite an important one. Never have been great with getting people what they want, and my crafting skills are lacking. I’d much rather have given her cash so she could get herself something awesome, but my pockets were kinda empty after Christmas.

Still, I had to do something…

Then an idea struck.

(Actually, it may have been the bag of flour falling from one of my overstuffed kitchen cupboards, thumping me on the head, and exploding over EVERYTHING,, but baking her a Birthday cake seemed to be the perfect plan)

And hey! Don’t even think about inserting *stunned silence* here!

Yes, my cooking is terrible, and YES, I have set the kitchen on fire more than twice in the last six months of living alone, but this cake was the best I ever made.

My Twitter profile has photographic proof. (I quote ‘the best I ever made.’ Pretty sure there are many others out there that could top it, but I was really happy with it overall.)

You may insert a smiley face here ——>       <——-

After many blueprints scrawled on paper-towels, I decided to make a two-tier cake. The base was Devils Food cake sandwiched together with thick, homemade chocolate fudge, and the top layer was chocolate chip cake sandwiched with vanilla butter-cream.

Somehow, I managed to cover the entire thing in rollout icing, which may I add, took forever to colour.

13 lettered candles, 14 white chocolate stars and 15 milk chocolate hearts later, it was complete:

http://twitpic.com/br67sr

Took 12 hours. 6 to bake, 6 to make.

Never, ever again.

Considering that I also hand-baked 20 doughnuts, 12 stained-glass cookies, 15 chocolate chip muffins and 15 lemon-kiss cookies for Christmas as presents to my grandparents, I think I can honestly say I’m glad I can’t eat sugar.

Unfortunately, the fumes have probably already damaged any of my remaining brain cells.

In any case, I wish everyone a very healthy and happy 2013!

(and if you need any doughnuts please let me know, I have tonnes of jam left.)

– roopoo xoxo

I’m going to be honest. Christmas never really was my kind of thing. Ever since I was little I can remember waking at 6am, leaping out of bed, and cartwheeling downstairs to find a shit-load of presents. The mince pies, chocolate-chip cookies and milk had magically disappeared (!)… and then the arduous process of dragging my parents downstairs began…

Unfortunately, while my mum was almost all for this insufferable nonsense at ridiculous times in the morning, my dad didnt usually touchdown on the first step at the top of the stairs until at least 11:00am. Now, I’m not trying to bitch about anyone in my family, but a little more enthusiasm could have been shown to a five year old.

Such disappointment of not having my dad with us on Christmas morning meant that while my little sister was ripping off brightly coloured paper (being three years old crunchy sounding paper was the best thing ever), I’d wander outside and sit with my faithful Labrador of that time; Pepper, and cuddle her to sleep against me waiting till everyone was up and about.

Sure, I probably seemed the miserable and ungrateful child who refused to open things and see what they got, but someone remind me what Christmas is actually about? Surely not seeing how many toys you could rack up against the next door neighbours kids?

All I wanted, was for my dad to spend some time with us on Christmas morning. But this seemed far too much to ask.

Everything else throughout the morning was always rushed. QUICK! Rip off the paper, shove toys in a box, clean up, breakfast, get washed and dressed, haul everything over to my Grandmas for lunch, haul everything back, bedtime.

By the time I reached seven years old I would rather have just skipped it altogether.

Maybe this is the reason that I no longer have any particular interest in this time of year. Or maybe it’s just because I’m close to officially being an adult, and no longer get given any presents /scowl. Anyhow, this year, at ‘seven sleeps left,’ I havent put up a single decoration yet. I’ve been dubbed the village Scrooge by my neighbours after publicly complaining how much I despise Christmas music. (The week before christmas, I can deal with it. All of December? Screw off.) And I haven’t written a single Christmas card.

Yay me. *Insert more sarcasm here*

Enough complaining though. Maybe this is how everyone experiences this time of year? Maybe one day I’ll get to experience what I consider a proper Christmas? Or maybe I should just shut-up.

Intend to shove up the tree this afternoon, and throw tinsel all over the house. If I can find any that is. Otherwise I may have to use the can of silver spray paint that I found in the shed while I cleaned it out the other day. Not sure my landlord would appreciate that though.

[I have bought presents for people. I just never see the point with cards. A complete waste of innocent trees.]

Some resolutions did wander into my mind yesterday, but got kicked out the front door pretty much instantly. This is rather unfortunate seeing as most of them would be rather useful to me. Oh well.

1. Spend less than the amount of money you earn each month. Debt at the age of 21 is not a good thing to have hanging over you.

2. Enough with the 14-day juice cleanses. If you want to lose a little weight quickly, eat less and exercise like crazy.

3. Wait for at least one full minute before you look up a fact or answer to a question/solution via Google. Try to remember it, or work it out by using your brain. This is what the olden days were like.

5. If you’re still blacking out regularly, you should stop.

6. Cut one person out of your life who you truly do not like and add one person who you truly do. Note to Self: Not on Facebook, on Earth.

7. Before you status update, Tweet, or Instagram, pause and say to yourself, “Is it entirely necessary that I share this morsel of thought with my entire social network?”and if the answer is not, “Yes, I absolutely must,” then STEP AWAY FROM THE INTERNET.

8. Start preparing now to get over the fact that Facebook is probably going to change again in six months. You’re not going to deactivate your account. You don’t know how.

9. Back up your entire online life onto an external hard drive, deleting files as you go. Especially your photos. Then wipe your original drive clean, and torch it.

10. Stop standing in front of the mirror and staring at yourself so often. At least draw some eyes and a stupid grin on it first in black marker. That way at least it doesn’t feel like you’re being so vain. Creepy faces do all the work for you.

“In Greek mythology, a Phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a Phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.”

I wanna be a Phoenix. I need to experience rebirth. Literally douse me in a flammable liquid, light a match, and toss in some feathers for good luck. This is how I intend to begin the New Year: Viewing the World with clear eyes for a fresh perspective; changing the way I think and act. (Not in flames and resembling the latest marine oil-spill.)

Admittedly, my goals for this year were pretty similar to the ones I’m noting down for 2013. Quite a few of them were scrapped within the first few months however, being totally unrealistic (or so I thought.) To be honest, the beginning of 2012 went really, really well, for the most part. Up until March at least. Until then, everything was going extremely smoothly, at a leisurely pace, and I was fairly content with the doldrums that is life.

Now though, it’s the complete opposite. Things have been left to slide too far in the other direction. Loss of control is imminent.

Think I may just begin my resolutions now. Get into the swing of them so any slip-ups are done and dusted before the big day. Man, I hate cleaning.

So lets say five.

1. Take real responsibility for my health: Only eat foods that are beneficial to my illness. Regularly take my vitamins. 100% oral and bodily hygiene are a must. No slacking with this. Exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per day. Keep a log of how much exercise I do, everything I eat and body/illness status. Trust yourself, it will help.

2. Try as hard as possible to view everything in a positive light, no matter how depressing it may seem. Even when it feels like there is nothing that can be done, there is always some light to be shed in a situation.

3. Find a hobby and stick to it. Even if I suck. Find two hobbies. Find so many that boredom is no longer a word in my dictionary.

4. No more lies. Not even tiny ones. Be totally and even brutally honest if need be, but still show empathy. People walking over me is never going to help in life – Good luck with this one kid –

5. Live for today, plan for tomorrow. Have fun while I can. Things can change in the blink of an eye.

[Note to Self: These are approximate goals for 2013. Stick to them as best as you can, and concentrate on yourself. It’s not selfish, it’s just necessary.]