the rise of the quirkster.*

* weird kid in class that will occasionally bust out singing songs from Titanic or have a week long crush on a guy because he has nice arms.

Hello. I'm Rebecca a 22-year-old lass from Birmingham. I'm an iddy biddy, all five foot and one inch of me and with three sisters each with their own lovely personalities I think from the word go I've had to fight for attention. Not really on purpose, christ no. Nothing I've ever intended to do, but I think it's finally time I accepted and loved my inner (and probably in your face) quirkster.

Over the years we've loved the quirky girl in films and sitcoms. Friends bought us Phoebe Buffay or as she'd like to be Princess Consuela Banana-Hammock and most recently Zooey Deschanel who is just as outrageous as her on-screen character Jess from New Girl. Even us Brits have the odd loveable odd 'un. Miranda Hart. Yes her show is staged but if you are a fan you know it's based on her life so there. How can I forget John JD Dorian from medical sitcom Scrubs with his constant inner monologue and love for appletinis?

I sing out loud. I dance in public (only if I'm with someone, I wouldn't do it if I was alone, dur). I talk crap.  I read tea leaves in a wine glass without tea leaves in it. I make a tit out of myself but I embrace it.  But I am (can I say this about myself?) quite intelligent, mature, ambitious, loving and kind and hilarious and not just when you're laughing at me. For a long time I refused to believe I wasn't normal and that I was odd because I always thought it meant being locked away in a white jacket and I really can't wear white because I'm pale. It was only when I found my old Bebo and my old Myspace and old diaries, yes I was a bore, aged 15 and stalked paperboys, that I realised I have always been this way and always will be. I've matured over the years, I'm wise and headstrong but I'm a crazy bag of crazy cats.

You shouldn't be ashamed of the person you are and shouldn't feel the need to pretend to be anything else. There is nothing wrong with unleashing your true self on to the world. Normal is boring. Nobody remembers boring. People might think 'Oh dear lord what is she doing' when I walk around work doing the mom shuffle dance but it's who I am. I can control her, sort of. She's usually at her best when on dates. Phoebe found Mike who loved her. Where's my Mike Crapbag?

It seems there are so much of us now and that being weird is the new cool thing. The new tamagochi or the new bubble back pack. So much of us that I have given us a collective name, the quirksters. In fifty years we will look back in fondness as we describe to our grandchild how we once made a sex joke when having a job interview and how we made up a dance routine in the middle of a pub on a quiet Tuesday afternoon.
There is a fine line to being a kooky kid and being a maniac though guys, don't run around the city centre in your batman pyjamas singing I believe I can fly.

Don't create a quirky personality. It's just as weird as me pretending to be normal. If you can't love yourself how can you expect anybody else to. Confidence is sexy. Purrr. Wave your freak flag with pride.

What we can learn from Hipsters.

Hipsters used to group middle class twenty somethings but in recent years the term has become loosened. It's now used to describe the pesky thrift shopping 16 to 21-year-olds who plait their hair and love their life. I've been thrown into the Hipster/Indie kid pit myself a few times. Just because I like owls, wolves, tea, cakes, beards, tattoos and vintage clothes doesn't necessarily mean I'm a hipster but yes, yes I probably am. If anything I am their leader, all these kids running around in their Oxfam clothes and raiding their mothers wardrobes. I will take you into their world and give you a few life lessons we can learn from these little rascals.

1. Love life. Hipsters, unlike goths and emos and skaters and chavs (society really is full of miserable twats isn't it?) are generally happy-go-lucky munchkins. Optimistic skipping about in their urban outfitter skater skirts and Fred Perry polo shirts.

2. Be a romantic. Quote songs and movies. Why? Why the hell not. See pictures either side, cuties aren't they? For these and similar please join tumblr, this is where Hipsters reside when not in second hand stores or coffee shops or tattoo parlors or dying their hair wacky colours.

http://pretty-hipsters.tumblr.com/

3. Save the world, get the girl. As majority of hipsters enjoy thrifting/second hand stores they are helping the British economy. Not only by recycling and up-cycling (cut your dress into a cropped t-shirt, go on, I dare you) they are helping the rise of our beloved charity shops and the charities themselves. They wear your grandads clothes, they look incredible.

4. They like cats and cats are loving animals. Cat's calm you down. Therefore stroking a cat a day will lower stress levels and inevitably keep us living longer.

5. The constant need to blog everything, your life is on the internet for the world and it's mother to see. Makes the whole 'Who you are' ancestry thing easier for your great grand-kids. Freckles and Frolics will be engraved on my headstone, dur.

6. They like coffee and reading books and baths. Something we can all relate to. Relax bro. 

So next time they push past you on the bus listening to their versatile i-pod (Kanye, One Direction and the Weeknd, yolo) in their vans, cut off shorts, tanned skin and pink dip-dyed hair think about the good they are doing for us, our economy and how much happier you could be if you let yourself take a leaf from the hipster tree.

Nation of TMI? OFC, LOL.

'Put it away for christ sake', I say as I watch a channel four documentary cleverly named 40 year Old Virgins. It documents a 45-year-old man and a 30-something Irish lass desperate to lose the big V. As I am a huge fan of weird and a huge fan of documentaries, I was oddly hooked.

In today's highly sexualised society it's easy to assume we're all comfortable talking about sex. I'm far from prude but there are things I want to see on TV and there are things I'd rather delete from my brain and this channel four documentary is one of them. Are we becoming a nation of over-sharing and where does it end?

It opens with lots of hands and clothed breasts and the odd naked buttock shot so it pretty much led us into this journey of no escape from the word go. You don't want to watch it but you can not withdraw your eyes from the screen.

Apparently, this is news to me, there are sex therapists in America called surrogates who prepare you for the big moment, right ok. So a lot of talking about likes, dislikes, turn ons and turn offs? Nope, think again.

We join Clive Dancey, pictured above, on his travels with his few sexual relations on his CV to America to meet his surrogate sex partner, Cheryl. Cheryl is an elderly woman, twenty years Clive's junior. She can boast a massive 850 sexual escapades and a part-time husband who is very understanding about her work, ahem. Within minutes the pair were sucking fingers and stroking hands, legs wrapped around legs before they'd even have time to introduce each (I might be exaggerating a tiny bit here, but you get the picture).

Irish virgin was a bit mean to her surrogate, constantly telling him he smelt like ham and that he had a sweaty face. Safe to say her trip wasn't as successful as Clive's. His training included naked spooning, yes I saw an old ladies downstairs and I wish I hadn't, dry humping and lot's of weird sensual massages which as lovely as they aren't something you wish to receive from your Nan.

I'd expect a subtle door shut as the big moment arrives; an awkward camera-man and crew waiting outside but no hapless Dancey is successful. Cheryl clambers on top of him and wahey, bingo. We see it all. All ten awkward seconds of it. Sat open mouthed yet eyes still glued to the screen I began to wonder; why would you want to share this moment with a) a stranger who couldn't make one session because she was collecting her pension (jokes) and b) the whole frigging nation!?

I think they are the same sorts of people who will show their warty arse to Dr. Christian or lumpy tits to Dr. Pixie of Embarrassing Bodies. Yes, I'm so mortified by my condition but sure I'll pull my kecks down in front of you and this camera crew and let you have a fiddle. It's not normal.

The same can be said for Secret Eaters and other fat/skinny based programes, a lot of which I disagree should be on TV but I believe there are under-lying mental issues with eating disorders and they don't need millions of people pointing the finger and laughing at them yet I still watch them as do you because we find a tiny bit of joy from the fact we aren't them. This isn't our life, those aren't our flaws being picked out by a pompous prat and more importantly those aren't our tits being fondled by Dr Is-he really-a-doctor Christian Jessen.

If you put it out there, we as the laid-back yet moan about everything nation we are will watch it and the probably complain about it on their blog.

Hey, it's okay

...to have a girl crush.

Blimey, I have a several a day. Miss Pervert is what I shall now be known as if you please. I mean this in a completely straight way (nothing wrong with lesbians, I'm pro same-sex love) but I am forever checking girls out.

Okay, yes more so than what they are wearing than what they are packing but I don't feel they realise this. I'm not a hand in pants sitting at the back of the bus type pervert, I will just notice beautiful people. Male or female.  I just love anyone who knows how to dress for their shape, whilst looking good. 

London Fashion Week '13

I once saw a girl in a simple get-up; black cropped trousers, black top with an oversized tweed jacket accessorized with (my current obsession) a chunky necklace. I prefer the more reserved style. Simplicity with effort. Somebody like Rita Ora, as gorgeous as she is, is the opposite to my style but each to their own. My style has been described ‘vintage granny chic’, they are really not my own words. I don’t purposely dress to a certain style. I’ll throw things together and if it looks good, I’ll wear it. I have constant 'I have nothing to wear days/where are my clothes?' days like the rest of us. I can't  just try on one outfit in the morning. It’s like five and then put on what we wore to start with. There are days I look generic if I’m heading to work, looking smoking in my too big for me jeans and black shirt and there are days I’ll make an extra bit of effort. I get bored easily with some items but, like most of us, have our beloved trusty statement pieces. Those blazers, those black boots, that staple blouse.

Style crush alert - Ne-Naw

Elegance and simplicity
 - Palermo style

My style girl crush is probably 99% girls on the street, girls in magazines and few celebs like Olivia Palermo (left)  who is the Queen of elegance without even trying and Fearne Cotton who likes to wow with daring prints or keeps it fresh, scruffy and vintage (so cringey, I know. And cliche) pictured right.  I hardly talk about my fashion influences because it people don’t really care. Friends will say they like something I’m wearing, I’ll say where I got it and conversation is over. We shouldn't be afraid to be like that with strangers. So many times I’ve asked a customer at work, in the street or in the queue in Topshop where they got their necklace/dress/shoes from, not so I can go and clone their outfit but just because it’s nice to see how other people dress certain items of clothing. Plus it gives a nice confidence boost to a stranger! Nothing puts a smile on your face than an unexpected compliment, even if it is from the crazy girl behind you in the queue.

My summer must haves are as always trusty nautical theme, bright pencil skirts, lots of stripes, cropped t-shirts, pleats, a-line skirts, brown wedges and lots of Aztec print. I don't like monochrome mainly because it doesn't suit my pastey skin. Accessories I just love trashy gold pieces. Lots of it. Think Pat Butcher on crack.

So, if you see me looking at you or occasionally double glancing please don’t be creeped out. It just means your outfit is smokin’. Like totally.

(sampled from a previous blog post)

Traits/Habits I Hate.

Right, just to set things straight I do moan a lot but I am probably one of the most laid-back sods you'll ever meet. I know, paradox much. I don't get offended and I swear like your grandad. I don't judge people but there are things that really grind my gears.

1. Arrogance - there is a tiny line that separates confidence and arrogance and not so many realise when they have crossed it. These people are usually too busy picking out others faults to notice or they don't care. They think the world revolves around them and it really, really does not. Get off your high horse and start living down here in the real world.

2. Correctors - You get something wrong, say a fact or joke and quickly realise your mistake and try to change the subject, but no, these people are on hand to point out and laugh at you and make you look a bigger tit than Katie Prices leftie.

3. Mouth open whilst eating-ers - gross. Even Adam Levine was sitting opposite me, naked and was slurping his soup and chopping sloppily on his steak I'd have to ask him to leave.

4. Look at me, look at me! - You have a big personality, we get it. Now sit the fuck down and shut up.

5. Arse lickers - I don't mean this quite literally, what you prefer to do in your own time is your own business, but I mean people who suck up to people. Usually bosses. I hate people who are false. I'm weird but I'm down-to-earth. Either like me or you don't but I won't go changing for anyone.

6. Racism - it isn't acceptable. Ever. Under any circumstances, but then again it isn't acceptable to play the racism card. Sometimes a white man will fight an Asian man for reasons other than his skin colour, unless proven otherwise, call him a shitty thug.

7. Bodily functions in public - from farting (why do I find it so horrible to have this word on my blog yet I have the word fuck at least 12 - count, I dare you) to nose picking. Especially as I have a weak stomach. I watched a woman openly picking her nose and ears on the train the other day. Even when I saw her she carried on, even looking at me like I was in the wrong for not digging out my orifices. Vile.

8. Me, me, me - People who talk about themselves. All. The. Time. They don't care about what you've been up to, just as long as you know what they've been doing with their lives they are happy.


I'm not perfect either so here are some habits/quirks I'm sorry for:
I talk too much, sometimes about nonsense and I'll expect you understand what I'm on about. I could be having a conversation with myself (I'm a right hoot y'see) and suddenly bring you into it. But on the other hand I do consider listening one of my all time top traits, I love conversation! I stare off into the distance, even if we're talking. I am listening to you. I promise. I'm just a people watcher and like to see what everyone else is up to. I hate that I do this but I can interrupt you while you're talking. Only if I have a similar story, I won't do it to shut you off. If I hear a song I like on the radio I will dance or sing, subtley, but yes, I will do it in public.

What are your bad habits? What habits really get on your goat?

Job rejection generation.

My last article featured interview tips and advice as I consider myself an expert I've had that many, well, I did. Lately the job front has been as slow as a slug riding a tortoise.I'm not sure about yourselves but, as a 22-year-old partially qualified young professional I am finding harder than I originally thought to find a job. I'm not talking serving food to middle aged couples or pouring cocktails for the wild youth but a proper job, a stepping stone into a career.

Most young people will admit to not having a clue as to what they'd like to do with their lives, even those at universities have little thought as to where their degree will take them. I am one of them. I know what I'd like to do as a dream job and what I need to do to get there it's just the nitty-gritty in-between that leaves me clueless.

As a university dropout (a decision that took a lot of thinking and one I do not regret) I am finding it harder to find even a simple office job but even graduate friends are having similar problems. We see in the news that unemployment has fell 14,000 between October and December to 2.5 million, especially in 16-24 band, but I can bet you that this is mostly made up of part timers. What about us who want a fresh start, a new challenge.

My CV is made up of retail, catering, bar work and waitressing with a 6 month experience in administration. I wish employers would look at this! I have the experience god darn it, albeit 6 years ago but what more do they want? Most jobs states they are looking for an already experienced Assistant with two years in a similar role, but why can't my customer service skills from current job be taken in. Same thing. I have great organisational skills, great customer service and a sponge like brain. I only need one employer to give me the break I need so I can start my career whilst I'm still young. Plenty of friends my age are in similar minimum wage jobs and it saddens me to think this is shrugged off as the norm. It's not as though I'm applying for jobs out of experience, I am a realist. I am fully aware of my strengths and weaknesses but all I appear to get is 'thanks for your application but unfortunately the position has been filled'. I just scan the email looking for that word and don't bother reading on.

I'm optimistic I will get a job soon it's just a case of when and I know it's just a case of somebody else being a little more qualified/experience than me not being good enough. I've even started a college course in hope an extra qualification will give me that extra push. Fingers crossed not only for myself but for the rest of my fellow job rejection generation.

*correct as of Feb 2013.