Well this is embarrassing ...

Do you remember a few months ago when I celebrated my first year blogoversary? Well... I was two months premature... Oops! My first year blogoversary is actually today. And before you ask, yes I'm 100% sure this time.

To celebrate it I thought I would do the 7 Links meme that I've always wanted to do. Plus there is no better time to review your own posts than on your Blogoversary, right?

My Most Beautiful Post

I think my most beautiful post is "Psych Corner: The Hazel I Can Never Be" because I feel like it's the most personal and most honest post I have ever written.

My Most Popular Post

With 5,795 pageviews, my most popular post is "Pikachu Cat" . I don't know what this says about the rest of my posts if this one is the most popular - it is just a picture of a photo-shopped kitten after all!

My Most Controversial Post

I don't really talk about that many controversial topics on Pablo's Angel but the closest I think I got was the post "Psych Corner: Who Controls Your Fate?" I lot of you guys shared your views and opinions on whether we control what happens to us in life or whether everything that happens to us is controlled by outside forces. The majority of you guys seemed to believe that we control our own fate.

My Most Helpful Post

I think the only post that can fit this is "Common Sense". In it, I basically say how people should just ignore the things that don't interest them (e.g. Justin Bieber/Twilight) instead of hating them. It's a piece of advice so it counts as being helpful.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

The success of all my meme posts continues to surprise me such as the "Scratch Off Challenge!" as to me, they are filler posts. Something for me to do when I have nothing else planned for that day. I call them successful because regardless of how many comments they get, people will be inspired to do them on their own blogs as well.

A Post I Feel Didn't Get The Attention It Deserved

I suppose the "Q is for Questions" post because I put a lot of effort into answering all the questions I was asked and I just felt that because of the sheer number of questions, a lot of people just skimmed over it without really reading any of it.

The Post That I Am Most Proud Of

I am actually really proud of the post "2011: A Year In Review" because I like how it's laid out plus it shows just how much I achieved in a single year. The good and the bad. I just like reading it over and over again and having all those memories refreshed.

100 Things: Northern Ireland Part 3

Northern Ireland is a beautiful country that I think most people overlook due to its troubled past. I therefore wanted to list 100 things that I love about my country that hopefully, will make you fall in love with it too...

#21 The Europa Hotel

This hotel seems to be the one most favoured by celebrities when they visit Northern Ireland. God only knows why because it is famed for being the most bombed hotel in the world...

#22 The Silent Valley

The Silent Valley is a reservoir found at the Mourne Mountains. It is so named because it is an extremely peaceful and tranquil peace of land that many people flock to in order to get away from it all

#23 The Emerald Isle

As Northern Ireland is a part of the island of Ireland it also falls under the lovely term of being known as The Emerald Isle. So named for it's endless green fields...

#24 Castle Ward

Castle Ward is a beautiful 18th century mansion where you can explore the walking trails and exotic gardens as well as indulge in cream teas whilst basking in the history of the place

#25 Londonderry

Despite the regular strife between the two main religions in Londonderry, it will always be my home town and therefore will always be special to me. It is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and contains two huge shopping centres, two cinemas, a library, loads of hotels, loads of restaurants/pubs/bars and is rich in local history

#26 The Four Seasons

Unlike some countries who don't experience the full four seasons, Northern Ireland does. It's lovely to be able to experience them all but Autumn has to be my favourite season of them all

#27 Portstewart

Like Portrush, Portstewart is another popular seaside town. However, it is a lot quieter than Portrush with its main attractions being the peaceful beach, the gothic convent and cliff paths overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

#28 Parades

 I'm not a huge fan of parades but boy do we hold a lot of them. Whether or not you're into parades, if you come to Northern Ireland be prepared for a lot of them. We put parades on for Halloween, St Patrick's Day and the 12th of July celebrations. Plus, I think we just do them for fun because even I don't know the reasons behind them all

#29 Triple Nationality

Due to all the political strife, those who live in Northern Ireland can either class themselves as British, Irish or Northern Irish. I've considered myself all three at some point in my life. It varies with my mood.

#30 McColgan's Bakery

This bakery is the only highlight to the shitty little town of Strabane. Seriously, avoid Strabane if you can. It's dreary beyond belief. For someone who isn't really a sweet tooth, I adore coming into this bakery just because everything is so darn cute, smells delicious and tastes divine.

This ten part series is inspired by Charlotte

To see more in this series, click here

Psych Corner: Durkheim's Suicide

There are three main theories for why suicide occurs and the first is by Durkheim. He believed that suicide occurs simply due to an imbalance in a person's social integration and moral regulation. This happens as suicidal individuals choose to engage in excessive individuation - basically choosing to be by themselves which causes their bonds with other people to weaken.

Durkheim also devised four categories for which he believed that every suicide could be categorised into. These are:

Egoistic:

This involves individuals feeling that they do not belong anywhere such as within a family, a religious group or community. This therefore leaves them feeling a mixture of negative emotions such as hopelessness, melancholy and depression due to their bonds with other people having been weakened thus leaving them with no one to support or guide them.

Altruistic: 

This involves individuals taking their own lives for the benefit of others. An example would be that in the past shamed samurai's would have taken their own lives to regain their family's honour. 

Anomic:

This involves individuals who are in a state of moral disorder as they do not know their place within society. They tend to be extremely confused and do not know which direction in which they want their life to go in. All this confusion leads them to be constantly disappointed with their life as they believe that their desires are without limits.

Fatalistic:

This involves individuals who are extremely oppressed and would rather die than continue living. This can happen if an individual is stopped from following their passions or living their life the way they want to. Another example is those in prison may take their lives as they cannot bear to be locked up and denied their pleasures or freedom any longer. 

It's all about meme...

The 11 Things Tag is quite a popular meme to do in the Blogosphere, especially since I've done it now... maybe six times lol? But who cares, I was tagged by Althea so I'm gonna do it again

The Rules:

#1 You must post these rules
#2 You must post 11 things about yourself
#3 You must answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for people you tag to answer
#4 You must tag 11 people to do this meme and tell them on their blog!

11 Things About Me:

#1 I spent all day Friday at the zoo

#2 My foreheard is covered in sunburn

#3 I watched Stargate for the first time on Saturday

#4 I'm actually pretty tired at the time of writing this

#5 I really like Nicolas Cage's accent in Con Air

#6 I'm looking forward to seeing Snow White and the Huntsman

#7 I like buying cuddly toy animals

#8 I miss Paul

#9 I'm hungry

#10 But I'm also a little bit sick too

#11 Despite being burnt I'll miss the hot weather when it goes

Althea's Questions

#1 Would you rather be a pirate or a ninja?

I like the martial arts skills involved with being a ninja but I don't think I'd be any good at the stealth element. Both are extremely cool but I say I'd go with a pirate, simply because of Captain Jack Sparrow

#2 What is your favourite song?

I have far too many!

 

#3 Have you seen any musicals?

Does Blood Brothers count? It's a play but it has songs in it? Either way it was awesome. Would love to see Phantom of the Opera LIVE though

#5 Did you notice there's no question 4?

No I didn't actually!

#6 Do you suffer from hayfever?

Thankfully not!

#7 Squeezy cheese, yay or nay?

Have never tried it so don't know if I like it or not

#8 Do you have any allergies?

Nope

#9 If there was one thing you could do for the rest of your life, what would it be?

If I could get paid to do it then it would definitely be a mixture of travel, blog and read!

#10 What is your favourite item of clothing? Describe it!
It's a little black dress which is just above knee length. It's made from super soft wool and is so unbelievably fitted it can't help but make you feel feminine. It has long sleaves down to my wrists and the top of the dress folds over your shoulders so that it exposes them and your collarbone. It's beautiful and I love it!

#11 What is your favourite number?

The number 3

My Questions:

#1 How are you currently feeling?

#2 What's the first thing you think of when I say... cheese

#3 Night or day?

#4 Do you collect anything?

#5 Have you ever been stung by a bee?

#6 What side of the bed do you sleep in?

#7 Can you drive a car?

#8 Do you have a job? What is it?

#9 State one thing you love about the country you live in

#10 Do you like answering meme's?

#11 Favourite actor/actress?

I Tag:

Leah : Fang : Stephanie : Laura : Anna : Stacey :

Ember : Sarah : Nikki : Jeremy : Charlotte

If you've been tagged already don't feel obliged to answer mine if you don't feel like it!

 

Song of the Week #19

Rihanna - Where Have You Been?

Seriously, has Rihanna ever released a song that hasn't been a hit? It's awesome!

Wishlist #21

Comfy Sacks: Large Bean Bag Lounger: $345.00

Psych Corner: Little Albert

The Little Albert experiment is both very well known and extremely unethical. So much so that it is not allowed to be replicated in today's society.

It involved John Watson and Rosalie Rayner wanting to see if fear could be conditioned. To do this, they showed an eleven month old boy called Albert a number of animals and objects including a white rat, a white rabbit, a dog, cotton wool and a coat. He showed no fear towards any of them. Next they struck a steel rod with a claw hammer to stimulate a fear response in Albert. On the third strike they succeeded with Albert falling forward and crying. 

They then wanted to see if they could condition his fear of the loud noise with the white rat. So every time Albert touched the white rat, they struck the steel rod. Albert obviously was distressed. They did the same thing a week later but Albert refused to touch the rat. They explained this as Albert showing a fear response to the rat as he expected the loud noise. Five days later they placed a white rabbit in front of him to which he cried. They therefore believed that Albert's fear of the white rat had generalised to other white fluffy objects - the rabbit. He also cried at the dog, coat and showed heightened distress at the cotton wool, but only for a little while.

When they showed Albert the white rat and other animals five days later he did show the same distress but didn't cry, this is not what they wanted. They therefore started to "freshen" the reaction and so everytime the animals were placed in front of him, they struck the steel rod. Over the next few days they basically struck the steel rod at random and moved the experiment into different rooms to see if this had an effect or not. This is different from what they originally set out to do in order to prove that fear could be conditioned within Albert which is why the results can be seen as questionable as all their changes showed their desperation to get Albert to cry.

As Albert showed distress and fear responses to objects and animals he previously had no fear of, the experiment showed that fear could be conditioned. Though the distress that they inflicted upon Little Albert for a full month was unacceptable.

Three, is a magic number...

So I've got another meme for you guys today. It's where you give three answers to a set of random questions. Let's go...

Q1 Three of your favourite movies

• The Man in the Iron Mask
• National Treasure
• The Count of Monte Cristo

Q2 Three of your favourite songs

• Seal - Kiss From a Rose
• Nickelback - This Is How You Remind Me
• James Horner - Becoming One of the People (Avatar)
  

Q3 Three of your favourite drinks

• Apple Juice
• Orange Juice
• Mixed Fruits Koppaberg

Q4 Three things you do to keep yourself entertained

• Read
• Watch tv
• Surf the web

Q5 Three things you're attracted to in the opposite sex

• Good sense of humour
• Facial hair
• Accents

Q6 Three things you love about yourself

• That I'm extremely loyal
• My pale skin
• My large eyes

Q7 Three things you're looking forward to this week

• Spening the entire weekend with Paul
• The good weather
• The Eurovision Song Contest

Q8 Three wishes specifically for yourself

• That Paul and I lived together
• That I was healthy
• That I had lots and lots of money

Q9 Three of your favourite quotes

• "What we do in life, echoes in eternity" - Gladiator
• "Fuck faith, earn it" - The Grey
• "You DARE threaten me, Thor? With so puny a weapon?" - Thor

Q10 Three of your biggest fears

• Losing someone I love
• Deep water
• Being completely alone

Q11 Three of your favourite tv shows

• NCIS
• The Big Bang Theory
• Merlin

Q12 Three of your favourite things to purchase when you're shopping

• Lingerie
• Books
• Clothes

Q13 Three things you enjoyed last week

• Seeing The Raid in the cinema
• Getting my hardest exam out of the way
• Spending time with Paul

Q14 Three things you always have close to you

• My phone
• A spare hair-band
• My medication

Q15 Three types of food you wouldn't want to give up

• Chicken
• Potatoes
• Curry

Q16 Three types of food you never want to try

• Sushi
• Snails
• Gruel

Q17 Three of your favourite books

• The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
• A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
• Break For Freedom by Ewan Clarkson

Q18 Three of your favourite actors

• Nicolas Cage
• Johnny Depp
• Jeremy Irons

Q19 Three things you dislike about blogging

• People who copy your ideas but don't credit you
• Captchas
• Writing a great post full of thoughts only for someone to write a generic comment

Q20 Three ways blogging has changed your life

• It's a part of my daily routine now
• I've met some wonderful people
• It's introduced me to Twitter

100 Things: Northern Ireland Part 2

Northern Ireland is a beautiful country that I think most people overlook due to its troubled past. I therefore wanted to list 100 things that I love about my country that hopefully, will make you fall in love with it too...

#11 Belfast Zoo

Belfast Zoo is the only zoo in Northern Ireland which is located on top of a hill which gives the animals a tranquil living environment due to being away from traffic and noise. Belfast Zoo has a range of animals with the majority of them being saved from death in the wild. They include, elephants, giraffes, sea lions, penguins, red pandas, sloths, prairie dogs, meerkats and lots of exotic birds and reptiles too. Lily the Lion (above) was born in Belfast Zoo in 2007 and was the first lion ever to be born in the entire island of Ireland.

#12 Bushmills Distillery

The Bushmills Distillery is the oldest whisky distillery in the world and is quite a popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland.

#13 Game of Thrones Filming Locations

The popular television series known as Game of Thrones had many Northern Ireland filming locations such as Ballintoy Harbour for the Pyke port in the Iron Islands and Castle Ward for Winterfell plus many more.

#14 Liam Neeson

Liam Nesson was born in a town called Ballymena and was named after his local priest. He is a famous actor with starring roles in Schindler's List, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, The Clash of the Titans, The Grey and Taken.

#15 Marble Arch Caves

The caves are found in County Fermanagh where you can explore a section of them in 75 minutes. The first part you explore via a boat and the second part is done on foot. Near the end of the caves you pass through what is known as the Moses Walk as the water is on either side of the wall.

#16 Belfast Waterfront Hall

A place to see various performances either by comedians, musicians or even just to watch a movie. It caters for everyone.

#17 Mussenden Temple

Mussenden Temple is located on the edge of cliffs in County Londonderry and looks out over the Atlantic Ocean and Downhill Beach below. It was intended as a library and was built in 1785 in memory of the Bishop of Derry's cousin, Frideswide Mussenden. It has an inscription which reads "Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore. The rolling ship, and hear the tempest roar." 

 #18 No Dangerous Wildlife

In Northern Ireland, we don't have large or dangerous beasts roaming the wilderness. Our largest animals: bulls, cows and horses are all domesticated and are found in farmland. We don't have monkeys or tigers roaming our forests or snakes, moose or bears. I think we did have wolves but they were hunted to extinction here hundreds of years ago unfortunately. So if you ever get stranded in a forest over here, don't panic. The only thing out there would be badgers and foxes and possibly deer and they'd be more afraid of you and would scarper rather than attack you.

#19 Ulster Fry

A traditional Ulster Fry consists of bacon, eggs, sausages, soda bread and potato bread. Other things like mushrooms, beans, tomato and white or black pudding can be added to it but it won't be classed as a traditional Ulster Fry.

#20 Belsonic

Belsonic is an outdoor music festival that happens every year in Belfast. Acts that have performed at it include: Biffy Clyro, Paramore, Kasabian, Florence and the Machine, Stereophonics, Dizzee Rascal, David Guetta, Elbow, 30 Seconds to Mars and many more.

This ten part series is inspired by Charlotte

To see more in this series, click here

Summer To-Do List

Now that uni is over for the summer, I can finally relax and do what I want! Therefore I decided to create this little To-Do List of all the things I wanna achieve this summer

Read

I've been absolutely dying to read a few books that have been waiting in my bookcase for months now. Hopefully I'll get them all read!

Exercise

I recently bought a treadmill and I'm hoping to tone and strengthen my legs with it. I've been wanting to do this for ages so it's about time I started.

Travel

I really wanna explore Northern Ireland more and do plan on visiting places like Rathlin Island as well as going on coastline tours this summer.

Days Out

I can't wait to spend more time with Paul, doing activities that we love such as days at the beach, going out for dinner and going to the cinema etc. There are a bunch of great films out this summer too so I can't wait to see them!

Bake

I haven't really had time to bake anything so I'm hoping to fix that this summer too!

TV

Due to spending all my time revising I wasn't really able to watch as many tv shows as I wanted to. I therefore plan on catching up on shows online such as Planet Earth Live and My Little Pony Series 2!

 

What do you plan on doing this summer?

I ♥ Africa

I love to travel and these posts are dedicated to the places I would love to visit someday. Here are some of the reasons why I would love to visit:

Africa

Acacia trees which remind me of The Lion King

Safari's in the Serengeti

The African Wildlife - also including meerkats, rhinos, hippos, wildebeest and crocodiles

Masai Warriors and Tribesmen

Cape Town

Elephant Rides

Victoria Falls

Day trips to Morrocco

The South African Accent

Song of the Week #18

A Real Hero - College

This is from the film Drive - a film I've yet to see but can't wait til I do!

Wishlist #20

Quiz: Nude Crochet Batwing Sleeve Top : £26.99

20 Things

So there's this honesty meme going round and because I have nothing else to post about, I thought I'd do it too. It involves listing 20 things you want to say to certain people but you know that you never will. You can't say who they are either.

#1 Sometimes, despite all that has happened, I still miss the craic we had

#2 Why don't we talk anymore?

#3 I wish that we were closer

#4 Why did you have to be so horrible? We could have been great friends

#5 I miss you but... I can never trust you

#6 Stop being so creepy

#7 I don't understand why people like you so much

#8 I think I'd be really depressed if we ever lost touch

#9 I used to think you were really cool, now you just annoy me

#10 Why were you so hostile?

#11 For once, I wish you'd just be quiet. All you do is talk!

#12 Did you feel as awkward as I did?

#13 I think you're away with the fairies

#14 Are you avoiding me?

#15 You need to grow up

#16 You're making me feel as if we're competing. I don't like it.

#17 I still don't really know if I like you or not

#18 Don't patronise me just because you're older

#19 I'm sorry for not keeping in touch

#20 You were completely useless

To see other people who have taken this challenge, check out Leah and Mark

Dark Shadows: Review

WARNING: THIS POST WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!

Contrary to what the trailer suggests, this is not a comedy. It is actually quite dark and to be honest, I preferred it that way. 

It opens with us learning about Barnabus Collins and how he spurned a witch he was shagging because he did not return her love. Instead he falls for someone called Joset though to me it sounded like he was saying Joseph! Anyways, the witch bewitches Joset and she falls to her death off a cliff and poor Barnabus jumps too out of despair. However the witch turns him into a vampire so he didn't die. She then turns the towns people against him and they bury him alive. 

Two centuries later, in 1972, he is awoken by builders whose digger accidently digs his coffin up. He then rips the builders throats out due to severe thirst. Thus giving the first indication that this was not a comedy. He then returns home to his mansion only to find it in poor shape and occupied by his descendants who... are a mixed bunch. A teenage girl who seems to be stoned all the time, a young boy who they all claim is disturbed, a greedy man who is the disturbed boys dad and a strong but stiff woman who is the teenagers mum. There is also a caretaker, a cleaner, a psychiatrist and a nanny. The nanny is new and bares a striking resemblance to Joset so of course Barnabus takes a fancy to her straight away.

Basically the whole film sees the witch, who now pretty much runs the town, trying to get Barnabus to love her but it doesn't happen. Therefore the past repeats itself as she destroys their business, their family home and gets the nanny to jump off the same cliff as Joset. However, Barnabus catches her and turns her into a vampire just in time so she doesn't die. The end.

Now throughout the film Barnabus tries to come to terms with living in the 70's and he does a good job of it! Resulting in many funny moments due to witty dialogue. There's also a bunch of other little things such as the nanny and little boy seeing ghosts, the teenager being a werewolf, the psychitrist using Barnabus' blood to turn herself into a vampire and the fact that in his sunglasses and leather coat, Johnny Depp bears a scary resemblance to Micheal Jackson! So yeah, just little things like that...

Highlights: 

• Barnabus' 18th century way of speaking
• The fact it wasn't a comedy
• Caretaker Willie
• The fact Barnabus puts so much stock into family

Rating: 3/5

100 Things: Northern Ireland Part 1

Northern Ireland is a beautiful country that I think most people overlook due to its troubled past. I therefore wanted to list 100 things that I love about my country that hopefully, will make you fall in love with it too...

#1 The Giant's Causeway

This is pretty much our most famous landmark, being named the 4th Natural Wonder in the UK in 2005. Legend has it that Finn McCool built it in order to walk to Scotland to fight Benandonner. However, he fell asleep before he got there and Benandonner crossed over instead. Finn's wife Oonagh (Una) covered him with a blanket and pretended he was a baby. When Benandonner saw the size of the "baby" he assumed the father, Finn was gigantic and fled home, ripping up the Causeway as he went so that Finn couldn't follow him.

#2 The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Carrick-a-Rede means "rock in the road" and the bridge was made so that fishermen could access the Carrick island. Although it may not look incredibly sturdy, no one has fallen off it. Yet.

#3 The Titanic

Everyone is aware of the tragic tale of the Titanic so there's really no need for me to explain anything other than it was built in Belfast.

#4 Portrush

Portrush is a little seaside town that everyone visits at least once during the summer. It's where my parents took us every year of my summer holidays as a child where I played in the amusements and went on the roller-coasters. I always loved saving up pennies for the amusements all year long just for that one day in the year.

#5 The University of Ulster

I've already shown you my campus at Magee, so I thought I'd show you the Belfast campus instead. It's frigging huge and reminds me of Hogwarts. You can't help but feel smart walking around it's grounds.

#6 Snow Patrol

The legend that is Snow Patrol are from a small place called Bangor and have taken the world by storm with tracks like Chasing Cars and Run.

#7 No Snakes

For those with you with snake phobias, rejoice! For Northern Ireland hasn't got any. Legend has it that Saint Patrick banished all the snakes after one attacked him during a 40 day fast. However, there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that snakes ever lived here.

#8 Potatoes

Potatoes are the staple food of anyone here, including myself. It's pretty much the only vegetable I eat religiously. They're pretty darn versatile what with being able to be baked, roasted, mashed, boiled, chipped, fried as well as being tasty ingredients in stews and soups.

#9 City of Culture 2013

My hometown of Londonderry has been awarded the title of the UK's City of Culture 2013, something that is pretty darn impressive! I really didn't think we'd win.

#10 Northwest 200

Every summer the Northwest 200 motorcycle race happens which causes quite a buzz throughout Northern Ireland. Mainly because the little seaside town of Portrush and surrounding areas gets so crowded and because the roads are closed for the race. Anyone who is a motorcycle fan will also know that the champion Joey Dunlop also came from a place called Ballymoney over here.

This ten part series is inspired by Charlotte

To see more in this series, click here

Life Ambition #44

"I'd rather be playing the fiddle in the dark and hope that you can hear me rather than give into rationality and logic."

~Tommy Tiernan

#44 See Tommy Tiernan LIVE

I have loved Tommy Tiernan for many many years. I can't remember where I saw him first but I do remember watching his material on youtube and literally almost wetting myself at it. It was that funny. I therefore hoped that someday I would see him LIVE and I have! It was in a small venue in Belfast and he was performing his show Crooked Man and he was hilarious as always. I talked about it here.

He's always been, what you'd say... a tad insane. Just watch any of his material and you'll understand but he revealed that he's actually suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder and is absolutely delighted about it! It also explains A LOT.

Tommy is quite a controversial comedian, so I'll understand if you don't like him as much as I do but here are a few clips of what made him one of my firm favourites...