Earlier this week, Flicker of Freedom hit its one year mark. It all started last year on the 22nd of March with this post.
Sabrina and I worked away on the blog for a few months before parting, but now, along with a celebration of the past year, which is what this post is all about, a little announcement. Sabrina is back!
This is something I've been thinking about for a while, but I finally got around to asking and she said yes! We've got our exams starting soon, which will take priority, but we're hoping to keep up with posts and enjoy this as much as we used to.
Now, on with the post. Sabrina and I both agree that this has been a pretty good year, given a few events, so here's a look at the good bits, month by month, since the very beginnings of Flicker of Freedom last year...
Sabrina and I worked away on the blog for a few months before parting, but now, along with a celebration of the past year, which is what this post is all about, a little announcement. Sabrina is back!
This is something I've been thinking about for a while, but I finally got around to asking and she said yes! We've got our exams starting soon, which will take priority, but we're hoping to keep up with posts and enjoy this as much as we used to.
Now, on with the post. Sabrina and I both agree that this has been a pretty good year, given a few events, so here's a look at the good bits, month by month, since the very beginnings of Flicker of Freedom last year...
March 2015
A: Back in March, I was having a really great time. I remember a lot of walks with Sabrina and feeling at peace with the world and my place in it. Making Flicker of Freedom was largely thanks to this closeness between Sabrina and I and where this tok us so I was really thankful for that. It was also amazing because I finally met two of my internet friends, which Sabina talks about in her point on March.
S: On the 30th, we finally met our internet friends for the first time in real life! This day has been dubbed as the "Mushnik Meetup", named after our Facebook group chat name. We spent the whole day together; we took tonnes of selfies together, went shopping and made loads of new inside jokes together. It's honestly one of the highlights of my year.
April 2015
A: April was a really great it terms of where I got to go. There was the Stornoway concert that Sabrina talks about (and we wrote about here), as well as a trip to Bristol with my friend Caitlin and her step-dad to see Theory of a Deadman. I also got to go back up to Scotland for a few days, after having made the first step in shorter hair and getting it cut to just below my shoulders!
S: On the 15th, Alison, our friend Maddie and I all went to a local cafe, which was hosting a live gig for the band Stornoway. It was a lovely summery evening and it was nice to sit and listen to new music. We also got to meet the people in the band themselves, and they signed my CD and Alison's vinyl. I really want to make another trip like that again this year, as that evening made a lot of positive memories, so hopefully we'll be able to go to something like that again and blog about it!
May 2015
A: In May, my Gran came down from Scotland to visit us, which always means we get out of the house more to show her about the areas near to where we live in England. On this trip, we ended up going to a safari park - the kind of place I absolutely love, and the day is still cherished in my memory.
S: Eurovision! One of the most iconic international competitions out there, bringing together the entirety of Europe (and Australia?) into a huge singing competition that a huge part of the Internet talks about. Alison stayed round my house to watch it, and we ate a lot of ice cream and laughed at the bizarre acts of some countries that we'd never even heard of before. This was also at the same time when Alison got a hold of my phone, went on my tumblr, and spammed everyone's dashboards with giraffes and elephants and all kinds of weird stuff, an iconic moment in my 2 1/2 years of blogging.
June 2015
A: Back in June, I finally got to go and see 5 Seconds of Summer with my friend Caitlin. It was such an amazing night, the kind pif concert you wake up the next morning with your throat raw from screaming the lyrics all night long. We were so close to the stage and I got such amazing photos - and thankfully, Caitlin and I get to go and see them again this year! I also agree with what Sabrina has said, we spent so much time together as a group, and one day that sticks in my mind was our trip to Stonehenge for History coursework. The rain was going strong for the whole day, but everyone enjoyed themselves and joked about nonetheless.
S: The first thing I think of for June, is the many summer evenings that I spent with my friends. I've got loads of pictures of us mucking about and having fun, along with aesthetically-pleasing photos for my Instagram. Those summer nights are my favourite kinds of evenings, where everyone is in a good mood and has had perhaps too many sweets and energy drinks, yet we're all having a great time.
July 2015
A: It's definitely our school trip to Pencelli that sticks in my head most from July. I got really close to a few people and my legs looked so good afterwards - it was such a brilliant week. Seeing as our summer holidays also started in July, it was then that I dyed my hair purple for the first time (our school has some pretty strict rules regarding hair colour), and honestly I don't think I've loved my hair more than I did when it was purple - despite the amount of towels I ruined...
S: In the first week of July, we went on a residential trip with our school to Pencelli. Not only did we get 6 hours of interesting exercise each day (resulting in really toned muscles), but we shared a room of 8 people that I'd been meaning to become closer friends with. Despite the odd bits of drama towards the end of the week, I had a really great time and it was good to interact with people that I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for that trip. The fact that we had a whole week off school was an added bonus too!
August 2015
A: I look back at August with a really warm heart, not only did I go to Summer in the City with Sabrina, where I met some of my favourite you tubers, but I also went to France with my family and my friend Caitlin, went to a safari park in Birmingham with Caitlin and her family and touched a zebra, and I finally made the leap and got my hair cut above my shoulders - which I am still so thankful to have done to this day. The safari was probably one of the coolest things I have ever experienced - you can drive about with your windows down in so many areas of it which means you can really feel a part of it all.
S: The best part of August was Summer in the City, hands down. I had such an amazing weekend, as I met my favourite people after having watched their YouTube videos for two years. Our near-front row places to watch the stage performances in the evening was also incredible, and I had never felt that happy in such a long time. That whole weekend is also definitely one of the highlights of 2015 for me, and is a memory that I'll cherish for a very long time.
September 2015
A: Our village carnival is what I remember being important to me in September. It takes place every year and there is a fun fair around about the same time - we all go as a group of friends every year, but I also spent time there with Caitlin and her family after a lovely barbecue at their house. I remember really enjoying that day, there was music playing and Caitlin and I looked after her little cousins for a bit, and even seeing them in their bridesmaid dresses too.
S: September was more uneventful compared to the previous months I just talked about, but it was still pretty good on the whole. I think the most notable part was when my internet friend Caitlin and I started watching the Great British Bake Off on BBC1. At first we only intended it as a joke (seeing as innuendos are quite common in a baking programme), but soon enough we were sucked into it and were really emotionally invested in it. Every Wednesday evening at 8pm, we'd start spam each other screaming about each contestant, from "the chipmunk guy" (Alvin) to "matamata" (a typo that was created when I was screaming about Mat, one of our favourites). That was a positive part because it makes me smile whenever I think about it, and I look forward to this year's competition too!
October 2015
A: This was quite an emotional month for me, as we finally put our house back in Scotland up for sale after owned it for nearly 10 years. That, when we first moved in, was going o be the 'forever home', and was where my parents even planned to stay once my brothers and I had moved out. We had been renting it to my Aunt since we moved to England but there was still a part of me that thought we'd keep it forever. Aside from this though, it was still a good trip up to Scotland. It was really nice to go back and say the final goodbyes to the house, as strange as that may sound, and think about all the memories that were made in that house and that town.
S: October was a pretty great month, because not only did I see Fall Out Boy in concert, but I also saw Dan and Phil on tour. The Fall Out Boy concert was on the 10th and it was so incredible, as I'd been waiting for it since I'd become a fan back in 2013. I had such an amazing night and still get emotional to this day when thinking about it! The Dan and Phil tour was on the 26th in Cardiff, so I travelled to Wales with my friend and dad, and again, I had such an incredible time. Their stage performance was really well produced, but it still felt like their natural humour and it felt like it was still them, whilst sticking to the main "story" of the show. If you have the chance to go to their upcoming USA tour, then go for it! You won't regret it, I promise you.
November 2015
A: The main event that stands out to me in November was The 1975 concert. We had all tried to get tickets for the concert, but only Sabrina had managed. Thankfully, Caitlin's Mum managed to get us two tickets really last minute and we all had such a great time.
S: After a last minute hurry online, my brother had managed to get me a ticket to go see The 1975 with him on the 27th. I was super excited for this because I'm also a big fan of The 1975 and have been listening to their music religiously over the past few months, especially since this concert. They were so amazing live, with the ability to captivate the audience in a quiet moment of serenity whilst playing Medicine, yet also have everyone bouncing on their feet during the more upbeat songs such as Love Me and Girls. They also played some new songs from their latest album "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it", which has become one of my all time favourite albums since its release back in February 2016.
December 2015
A: I always get so excited come December because of Christmas and the fact that my birthday is then only 2 months away. It's always quite a big event in my family with plenty of little traditions that make me feel like I'm still just a little girl. We read the same Christmas book on Christmas Eve every year, walk up the stairs singing jingle bells whilst shaking our own bells, my brothers and I share a room and wake up together for example. Mum and I spend the day cooking once we've all opened our presents and more often than not we go on a big family walk. It's just a day that makes me really thankful for my family and happy to still be at home and experiencing Christmas the way I do.
S: In December, I had my mock GCSE exams. Also in December, I found the world of anime. You can probably imagine how my mock exams went because of this. Just kidding, my results weren't that bad, but I was sucked into the void of Free!, an anime based around a group of Japanese high school students who love to swim and want to make it to national competitions. Whilst this sounds kind of average and probably not too exciting, it does get strangely addictive as each episode progresses, soon leading me to finish all 25 episodes in literally two nights. Oh well, it was still a great emotional rollercoaster and made me realise that Japanese cartoons aren't just aimed at children, and have a huge variety of genres too. (I soon went on to watch Death Note too, which is one of the most highly regarded anime out there, and it's clear why!)
January 2016
A: I feel like January was a really good time for our group of friends meeting up around each other's houses rather than walking about our village freezing our butts off! It was on one of these occasions, when we were all round Sabrina's that we pulled out Wii sports. I failed miserably at tennis and at bowling, but when we finally played Wii boxing, I won all but one game - and trust me, I'm never going to give up going on about that... I am far too proud about it...
S: January was fairly uneventful, apart from our squad's Friday night sessions where Alison beat everyone on Wii Boxing (which she's mentioned in her part of this post) and we played Cards Against Humanity, which is a great laugh if you're playing with a lot of people and have a dark sense of humour. Also in January, I subscribed to Graze. This is a service which provides you with healthy snacks delivered to your door, and you can choose what snacks you have and how often you want them delivered. It's quite cheap, and a much healthier alternative to the junk food that I was eating before. Go check it out if you're interested!
February 2016
A: Back in February, I finally turned 16, and with the events around it, I would definitely say it was one of my best birthdays yet. I had a really successful college interview on the day of my birthday, and two days later Caitlin came down from Hull and surprised me. We met up a few times, like when I was surprised, when we went to see Deadpool with our whole group of friends and when Sabrina, Caitlin and I went to see Star Wars, and on each occasion I had such a brilliant time, with each becoming more difficult to say goodbye.
S: February half term was awesome, because our internet friend, Caitlin (one of the people from the Mushnik meetup) stayed at my house for a whole week! We kept it a secret from Alison until the day they actually met again on the 14th, a couple of days after Alison's birthday, so we got to surprise her too! She met the rest of our friends and we all went to the cinema to watch Deadpool, which is also a brilliantly hilarious film. We also spent the week watching anime and making cupcakes and collages too. It was such a lovely week and I'm really glad that we got to spend it together.
Looking back on the past 12 months, we've realised that at least one positive thing has happened during each month. It was really nice looking back on the past year, and we're really looking forward to the next year too!
See you soon with another blog post,
Alison and Sabrina
A: Back in March, I was having a really great time. I remember a lot of walks with Sabrina and feeling at peace with the world and my place in it. Making Flicker of Freedom was largely thanks to this closeness between Sabrina and I and where this tok us so I was really thankful for that. It was also amazing because I finally met two of my internet friends, which Sabina talks about in her point on March.
S: On the 30th, we finally met our internet friends for the first time in real life! This day has been dubbed as the "Mushnik Meetup", named after our Facebook group chat name. We spent the whole day together; we took tonnes of selfies together, went shopping and made loads of new inside jokes together. It's honestly one of the highlights of my year.
April 2015
A: April was a really great it terms of where I got to go. There was the Stornoway concert that Sabrina talks about (and we wrote about here), as well as a trip to Bristol with my friend Caitlin and her step-dad to see Theory of a Deadman. I also got to go back up to Scotland for a few days, after having made the first step in shorter hair and getting it cut to just below my shoulders!
S: On the 15th, Alison, our friend Maddie and I all went to a local cafe, which was hosting a live gig for the band Stornoway. It was a lovely summery evening and it was nice to sit and listen to new music. We also got to meet the people in the band themselves, and they signed my CD and Alison's vinyl. I really want to make another trip like that again this year, as that evening made a lot of positive memories, so hopefully we'll be able to go to something like that again and blog about it!
May 2015
A: In May, my Gran came down from Scotland to visit us, which always means we get out of the house more to show her about the areas near to where we live in England. On this trip, we ended up going to a safari park - the kind of place I absolutely love, and the day is still cherished in my memory.
S: Eurovision! One of the most iconic international competitions out there, bringing together the entirety of Europe (and Australia?) into a huge singing competition that a huge part of the Internet talks about. Alison stayed round my house to watch it, and we ate a lot of ice cream and laughed at the bizarre acts of some countries that we'd never even heard of before. This was also at the same time when Alison got a hold of my phone, went on my tumblr, and spammed everyone's dashboards with giraffes and elephants and all kinds of weird stuff, an iconic moment in my 2 1/2 years of blogging.
June 2015
A: Back in June, I finally got to go and see 5 Seconds of Summer with my friend Caitlin. It was such an amazing night, the kind pif concert you wake up the next morning with your throat raw from screaming the lyrics all night long. We were so close to the stage and I got such amazing photos - and thankfully, Caitlin and I get to go and see them again this year! I also agree with what Sabrina has said, we spent so much time together as a group, and one day that sticks in my mind was our trip to Stonehenge for History coursework. The rain was going strong for the whole day, but everyone enjoyed themselves and joked about nonetheless.
S: The first thing I think of for June, is the many summer evenings that I spent with my friends. I've got loads of pictures of us mucking about and having fun, along with aesthetically-pleasing photos for my Instagram. Those summer nights are my favourite kinds of evenings, where everyone is in a good mood and has had perhaps too many sweets and energy drinks, yet we're all having a great time.
July 2015
A: It's definitely our school trip to Pencelli that sticks in my head most from July. I got really close to a few people and my legs looked so good afterwards - it was such a brilliant week. Seeing as our summer holidays also started in July, it was then that I dyed my hair purple for the first time (our school has some pretty strict rules regarding hair colour), and honestly I don't think I've loved my hair more than I did when it was purple - despite the amount of towels I ruined...
S: In the first week of July, we went on a residential trip with our school to Pencelli. Not only did we get 6 hours of interesting exercise each day (resulting in really toned muscles), but we shared a room of 8 people that I'd been meaning to become closer friends with. Despite the odd bits of drama towards the end of the week, I had a really great time and it was good to interact with people that I probably wouldn't have if it wasn't for that trip. The fact that we had a whole week off school was an added bonus too!
August 2015
A: I look back at August with a really warm heart, not only did I go to Summer in the City with Sabrina, where I met some of my favourite you tubers, but I also went to France with my family and my friend Caitlin, went to a safari park in Birmingham with Caitlin and her family and touched a zebra, and I finally made the leap and got my hair cut above my shoulders - which I am still so thankful to have done to this day. The safari was probably one of the coolest things I have ever experienced - you can drive about with your windows down in so many areas of it which means you can really feel a part of it all.
S: The best part of August was Summer in the City, hands down. I had such an amazing weekend, as I met my favourite people after having watched their YouTube videos for two years. Our near-front row places to watch the stage performances in the evening was also incredible, and I had never felt that happy in such a long time. That whole weekend is also definitely one of the highlights of 2015 for me, and is a memory that I'll cherish for a very long time.
September 2015
A: Our village carnival is what I remember being important to me in September. It takes place every year and there is a fun fair around about the same time - we all go as a group of friends every year, but I also spent time there with Caitlin and her family after a lovely barbecue at their house. I remember really enjoying that day, there was music playing and Caitlin and I looked after her little cousins for a bit, and even seeing them in their bridesmaid dresses too.
S: September was more uneventful compared to the previous months I just talked about, but it was still pretty good on the whole. I think the most notable part was when my internet friend Caitlin and I started watching the Great British Bake Off on BBC1. At first we only intended it as a joke (seeing as innuendos are quite common in a baking programme), but soon enough we were sucked into it and were really emotionally invested in it. Every Wednesday evening at 8pm, we'd start spam each other screaming about each contestant, from "the chipmunk guy" (Alvin) to "matamata" (a typo that was created when I was screaming about Mat, one of our favourites). That was a positive part because it makes me smile whenever I think about it, and I look forward to this year's competition too!
October 2015
A: This was quite an emotional month for me, as we finally put our house back in Scotland up for sale after owned it for nearly 10 years. That, when we first moved in, was going o be the 'forever home', and was where my parents even planned to stay once my brothers and I had moved out. We had been renting it to my Aunt since we moved to England but there was still a part of me that thought we'd keep it forever. Aside from this though, it was still a good trip up to Scotland. It was really nice to go back and say the final goodbyes to the house, as strange as that may sound, and think about all the memories that were made in that house and that town.
S: October was a pretty great month, because not only did I see Fall Out Boy in concert, but I also saw Dan and Phil on tour. The Fall Out Boy concert was on the 10th and it was so incredible, as I'd been waiting for it since I'd become a fan back in 2013. I had such an amazing night and still get emotional to this day when thinking about it! The Dan and Phil tour was on the 26th in Cardiff, so I travelled to Wales with my friend and dad, and again, I had such an incredible time. Their stage performance was really well produced, but it still felt like their natural humour and it felt like it was still them, whilst sticking to the main "story" of the show. If you have the chance to go to their upcoming USA tour, then go for it! You won't regret it, I promise you.
November 2015
A: The main event that stands out to me in November was The 1975 concert. We had all tried to get tickets for the concert, but only Sabrina had managed. Thankfully, Caitlin's Mum managed to get us two tickets really last minute and we all had such a great time.
S: After a last minute hurry online, my brother had managed to get me a ticket to go see The 1975 with him on the 27th. I was super excited for this because I'm also a big fan of The 1975 and have been listening to their music religiously over the past few months, especially since this concert. They were so amazing live, with the ability to captivate the audience in a quiet moment of serenity whilst playing Medicine, yet also have everyone bouncing on their feet during the more upbeat songs such as Love Me and Girls. They also played some new songs from their latest album "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it", which has become one of my all time favourite albums since its release back in February 2016.
December 2015
A: I always get so excited come December because of Christmas and the fact that my birthday is then only 2 months away. It's always quite a big event in my family with plenty of little traditions that make me feel like I'm still just a little girl. We read the same Christmas book on Christmas Eve every year, walk up the stairs singing jingle bells whilst shaking our own bells, my brothers and I share a room and wake up together for example. Mum and I spend the day cooking once we've all opened our presents and more often than not we go on a big family walk. It's just a day that makes me really thankful for my family and happy to still be at home and experiencing Christmas the way I do.
S: In December, I had my mock GCSE exams. Also in December, I found the world of anime. You can probably imagine how my mock exams went because of this. Just kidding, my results weren't that bad, but I was sucked into the void of Free!, an anime based around a group of Japanese high school students who love to swim and want to make it to national competitions. Whilst this sounds kind of average and probably not too exciting, it does get strangely addictive as each episode progresses, soon leading me to finish all 25 episodes in literally two nights. Oh well, it was still a great emotional rollercoaster and made me realise that Japanese cartoons aren't just aimed at children, and have a huge variety of genres too. (I soon went on to watch Death Note too, which is one of the most highly regarded anime out there, and it's clear why!)
January 2016
A: I feel like January was a really good time for our group of friends meeting up around each other's houses rather than walking about our village freezing our butts off! It was on one of these occasions, when we were all round Sabrina's that we pulled out Wii sports. I failed miserably at tennis and at bowling, but when we finally played Wii boxing, I won all but one game - and trust me, I'm never going to give up going on about that... I am far too proud about it...
S: January was fairly uneventful, apart from our squad's Friday night sessions where Alison beat everyone on Wii Boxing (which she's mentioned in her part of this post) and we played Cards Against Humanity, which is a great laugh if you're playing with a lot of people and have a dark sense of humour. Also in January, I subscribed to Graze. This is a service which provides you with healthy snacks delivered to your door, and you can choose what snacks you have and how often you want them delivered. It's quite cheap, and a much healthier alternative to the junk food that I was eating before. Go check it out if you're interested!
February 2016
A: Back in February, I finally turned 16, and with the events around it, I would definitely say it was one of my best birthdays yet. I had a really successful college interview on the day of my birthday, and two days later Caitlin came down from Hull and surprised me. We met up a few times, like when I was surprised, when we went to see Deadpool with our whole group of friends and when Sabrina, Caitlin and I went to see Star Wars, and on each occasion I had such a brilliant time, with each becoming more difficult to say goodbye.
S: February half term was awesome, because our internet friend, Caitlin (one of the people from the Mushnik meetup) stayed at my house for a whole week! We kept it a secret from Alison until the day they actually met again on the 14th, a couple of days after Alison's birthday, so we got to surprise her too! She met the rest of our friends and we all went to the cinema to watch Deadpool, which is also a brilliantly hilarious film. We also spent the week watching anime and making cupcakes and collages too. It was such a lovely week and I'm really glad that we got to spend it together.
Looking back on the past 12 months, we've realised that at least one positive thing has happened during each month. It was really nice looking back on the past year, and we're really looking forward to the next year too!
See you soon with another blog post,
Alison and Sabrina