Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

What can I say about this book. It is flawless. It is one of those books that you can read from cover to cover, and then go back and read it all over again, and feel like it's the first time you've read it all over again. Stephen Chbosky did an awe-inspiring job, especially considering that it is his first novel. He makes the character of Charlie into this misunderstood teenager who's had a horrible past and is trying to hide it from his friends and family, without even noticing he's hiding it in the first place. From the book you understand exactly how Charlie feels, how depressed he is, how thoughtful he is and how lost he is. You can't help but fall in love with him and his quirky and awkward ways. He is a character that almost any teenager can relate to at some point in their lives, whether through his past, his depression, his love for Sam, his confusion at high school life, or just the way he acts.

Chbosky turns Sam into this discrete idea of perfection. She is beautiful, clever and a source of care and comfort to Charlie whenever he needs it, from her giving him his first kiss, to showing him what he needs to do to become happier in himself, she's exactly what he needs, whenever he needs it. That's why Charlie falls in love with her, not just because she's pretty and funny and kind, but because she's the only person that can help Charlie to become himself.

Every book needs a loveable rogue. In Perks, that is Patrick. He never does what he's meant to, he plays by his own rules and helps Charlie to experience life in ways he never even thought possible. When Patrick goes through his dark phase, he is externalising all the emotions Charlie is keeping in and bottling up, resulting in his inevitable breakdown and hospitalisation at the end of the novel. Chbosky represents this dramatic climax of the novel incredibly well, showing it from the perspective of a confused teenager who has no idea what's happened or what's going to happen.

I really empathised with Charlie throughout the book. This book has taught me an incredible amount about friendship, about love and about life. Chbosky writes in a way that means despite what you're going through or what you have been through, you understand what Charlie is feeling and why he feels like that. No book I've ever read can compare to Perks, it's left me feeling introspective and thoughtful, drained yet full of emotion, I feel infinite. I can sum everything up in one quote.

"I'm both happy and sad, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

El Mariachi

Last Wednesday, I went out with some friends. Who doesn't love being social? Especially around this time of year. The clothes, the make up, the early Christmas presents and the cheeky meals that are 'practise for the 25th'. Being 15, it's not like we could all go out on the lash, get drunk out of our minds and wake up on Thursday with awful hangovers, only remembering vague details about which guy we went home with. We've still got three years of teen-hood before the joyous time when we're actually allowed to do it, instead of living with the philosophy that those laws are pointless and there for no reason.

Back on topic, as a group of 10 people, it seemed pointless for all of us to go home just to come back to the same town our school is in, and so around 6 of us went back to my friends house. We did the normal thing and got ready together, trying on eachother's heels, comparing outfits and taking cheeky little selfies with everyone, just like every teen does these days. All glammed up, most of my friends completely overdressed for the circumstance in 6-inch heels and low-cut tops, we headed off to the restaurant.

El Mariachi is a Mexican restaurant in Tonbridge. It is less than a 5 minute walk away  from the station and tucked away down an inconspicuous side road. Despite the subtle location and the fact we went on a weekday, the cosy little restaurant was packed solid. The light-hearted chatter between customers, accompanied by the loud music, décor and smell of barbecue all contributed brilliantly to the friendly and persuasively Mexican atmosphere of the building.

The service was brilliant, as soon as we arrived, we were given menus and asked about drinks, and the waiter/esses where willing to answer any questions we had about the large variety of different virgin cocktails they had on offer. The only issue we had was with ordering, whether it was because the staff were inexperienced, or because the music was slightly too loud to communicate properly over the top of it, we ended up with an extra drink, which wasn't really that big a problem, considering the staff were very gracious about it and ended up giving it to us for free anyway.

The food was delicious. You couldn't fault it. It was filling, rich in flavour and reasonably priced. We all had a set meal from their Christmas Menu, and so it was around £20 for a 3-course-meal, which is incredibly reasonable considering the standard of the food we were served.

The restaurant only had one option on the set dessert menu, which was a deliciously rich chocolate fudge cake. The cake was moist, the icing was thick, and most importantly, the entire thing was incredibly chocolatey. I can't complain. 

The restaurant was brilliant. The music was suitable and catchy, to the point you almost wanted to get up and dance, apart from the fact we were all too full to move! The interior decoration was intriguing. Every wall had a different floor-to-ceiling painting on it that each depicted a different Mexican theme. The service was good, the waiters particularly attractive, and orders were completed and served incredibly quickly, despite the popularity of the restaurant. The food and drink was just flawless, rich in flavour, texture and quantity. I definitely got my moneys worth that evening. I would recommend El Mariachi to anyone. It's a restaurant that is suitable to anyone and everyone, families, parties or single diners.

PayPal

I'm sure the majority of you know what PayPal is, but for those of you who don't, PayPal is a website that allows you to complete monetary transactions over the internet. It is designed for customer convenience and, in most cases, is a very helpful website.

My mum has used PayPal for a very long time, buying and selling items over eBay with no problems at all, however, the luck ran out when I started my own account. The main problem I had was that PayPal would not let me add my bank account, making any money I earned inaccessible. I had £50 sitting on the internet with no ability to use it. As you can imagine, this was highly frustrating. I had both my mum and dad attempting to help resolve this very major of problems, to no avail. I ended up spending about 2 hours entering and re-entering my bank account details to the point where I can now recite them off by heart, just to receive an error message stating that 'this bank account has previously been added to the site but could not be confirmed. Please contact us for help with this issue.' So I contacted them, and after a few hours, I received a completely useless email telling me how to confirm my bank account, which was not helpful, considering I couldn't add on in the first place.

Then there was the issue that, despite being allowed an eBay account where I can buy and sell as much as my 15-year-old heart desires, I can not have my own PayPal account until I'm 18, and I would have to send off a copy of my passport, but with the casual warning that 'if any details on my identification did not match the details on my previous account details, my account will be blocked for my own discretion and safety. Fabulous. I can't send off any ID because I need the £50 that's locked away, but I can't access the £50 until I send off some form of personal identification. And the vicious circle begins.

After almost a week of trying every option on the paypal.co.uk my mum rang up the customer services hotline. We tried to avoid this for as long as possible due to the fact that it is not a free hotline and would cost us a ridiculous amount of money. Mum was put through to a very friendly man from the Philippines, who instantly told us how to resolve the issues by sending the money to my mums existing PayPal account. Don't laugh, it's not as obvious an option as you would think. 

That is my personal experience of possessing a PayPal account, and other than this issue, the website is very good. Its navigable, user-friendly and the colour scheme is good, as well as many other compliments my ICT teacher would be proud to hear. According to my mum, the website is practical, convenient and a website she uses very regularly on both her tablet and on a laptop.It's also a must-have if you're considering selling items on eBay  but I would wait until you're 18 before opening your own, instead use a parents to avoid any complications with Terms and Conditions.

The Secret Diary of a Call Girl

"The real-life anonymous blog and book of a high-class London call girl known to the world only as "Belle de Jour" becomes this original series starring Billie Piper as Hannah, an ambitious young woman leading an exciting but dangerous double life as an expensive escort named "Belle" that not even her best friend suspects. Cherie Lunghi and Iddo Goldberg costar in this hit British-produced series." - www.sho.com/

As  odd as this sounds, my mum got me interested in this series. Yes, it is about the daily life of a high-end hooker named Belle, but it is also about a real girl called Hannah Baxter who chose to do what she loves, rather than doing what is 'socially acceptable'. It tells about how she is torn between keeping her entire life a secret, or confiding in her best friend, Ben. It demonstrates to us the sacrifices she has to make in order to do what she loves, and it shows how despite the stereotype of prostitutes only doing it to scrape some cash together to support their illegitimate children or get their next fix of drugs, some girls do it purely because they love sex, and they love the money.

Sex is unavoidable. It's in magazines, books, films and on TV. There is just no escape from it. Most of the time, sex is portrayed as a pass-time for idiots and an excuse for teens to skip school. Then there is The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. In this 3 series long show, sex is portrayed in a real-life sense. A pass-time, a release, a relaxation technique and a job that has to be done by someone. Despite the realistic tone of this drama, there is a sense of fantasy and mystery involved around Belle, and as the series' continue, you begin to get to know her, as if you are a friend, a confidante and a companion.

An interesting factor of this style drama, is the effective way Piper breaks the fourth wall with viewers, talking to us, giving us little details that would otherwise be irrelevant, but in the context, are completely necessary. The methods she uses, the casual over-the-shoulder glance into the camera in order to give us the details on her last client makes watchers feel truly involved in the drama, as if we're there on set with the likes of Billie Piper, Cherie Lunghi and Iddo Goldberg. The entire drama is completely enthralling.

This show is action-packed, exciting, sexy and just brilliant. Billie Piper is perfect for the role of Hannah and Belle, adapting between the two as if this role was made specifically for her. Piper is most well-known, i believe, for her part as Rose Tyler, the Doctor's sidekick. Since then, she has been one of my favourite actresses, adapting to any role she's given with an acting talent she could only have been born with. She is perfect for the role, she has class, beauty and a subtle humour, causing viewers to fall in love with her from the very first episode. Through out the series, Billie Piper masters the role, adding a necessary sense of maturity which is needed in the drama for obvious reasons. Billie Piper is flawless as Belle, and as Hannah. She merges the two characters, who are polar opposites of each other, into one down-to-Earth, believable girl.

Iddo Goldberg brings a gritty sense of emotion to the drama. He's the kind of guy any girl would dream of. He's gorgeous, caring, kind and hopelessly devoted to Hannah from the start. He plays the character of Ben brilliantly, demonstrating the emotional roller coaster he is forced onto when *spoiler* his love for Hannah is revealed in series one. We, as an audience, grow to love the character of Ben, and empathise with him at the best, and the worst of times. There was only one issue I had with his acting in the show, and that was on the two times he had to act as if he were drunk. These were the only moments his acting was flawed, he was unrealistic, comedic and just made a fool of himself, speaking in that hilariously stereotyped 'drunk voice' with the child-like tone and fluctuating pitch.

One of the only faults I had with the show was with actress Ashley Madekwe. Her acting was poor, her story-line unrealistic, and as a character she just didn't impress me. Madekwe played a character called Bambi in the first and second series, before falling in love with a rich client and being whisked off into the sunset on his vintage bicycle. From her very entrance, where she steals one of Belle's clients without her realising, in order to get started in the business, to her very cheesy ending, I was thoroughly disappointed. I feel her role in the drama could have been played by anyone, and it would have been an improvement if it were. This was my first experience of watching Madekwe act and i'm positive that there is a vast improvement in her other works, but this particular drama, was not her forte. She lacked emotion, physicality and the sense of class and mystery that is necessary if you want to play a persuasive and realistic escort. For a RADA student, I am scrupulously unsatisfied

I really only discovered the drama on Friday night when I was scrolling through Netflix, deciding how to pass the time. I instantly fell in love with the show and could not not put my tablet down, finally resulting in my watching all three series' in the space of one weekend. The Secret Diary of a Call Girl is brilliant. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Ta ta for now xox

Hey there world.

As you can see, this is my first blog post, I thought I might as well start with a little introduction to me and the blog. Where to start, eh? I guess hello would be a good try. Here goes...
Hi. My name is Ciara. I'm a 15 year old girl with a brilliant talent of procrastination. I guess that's why I've started this blog. That and the fact that three people have told me that I should start one, including a careers advisor, so what have I got to lose?

Why am I starting this blog? That, my dear reader, is a question that I can only guess the answer to. I've always loved reading, writing, films and television and am constantly annoying myself and my friends/family with ways the producers, directors, publishers or writers could improve any book, film or TV show I happen to be occupying myself with at the time. I figured that if I say all of this over the internet, I can get it all out of my system and no one has to feign interest over my thoughts, so its a win-win situation, really.

There is another guess as well. Lets start with the fundamental fact at the very centre. I am not one of those people with a set-in-stone career path from the age of 7. At least once a month for God-knows-how-long, I've come up with a new career path for myself, ranging from police officer to equine physiotherapist, to radio DJ, to child counselling. However, this year I've had a career choice in my mind that has not wavered or faded away like all the others. A career that involves the very things I love the most, and have done since I learnt how to read. You guessed it, I'm a bookworm. 'An avid reader' as I like to call it, sounds more sophisticated, don't you think? Anyway, back on topic. My chosen career path (at the moment) is to work in publishing. Woohoo! Living a wild life here, I know!(sense the sarcasm). Whenever I tell anyone, be it relative or friend, I get a similar response. 'Wouldn't you rather do something a little more... interesting?' I haven't done a massive amount of research, but to be honest, I'm sure publishing could be a very interesting job. I mean, think of walking past a Waterstones or a WHSmith and seeing a window solely dedicated to advertising a book that you were partly responsible for making. I think it would be a brilliant feeling, but who knows until you try?

My school's careers advisor told me that 'Publishing is a very competitive business. You need to do whatever you can to gain an advantage, whether that be writing a book, gaining work experience, even blogging, anything you can do that can be put on your CV is another step closer to achieving your goal.' So that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm being pro-active. I am taking a step towards my goal. Let's see where it takes us, shall we?

Ta ta for now xox