In which Demi considers being 'middle-aged'.

As of midnight, I am now 20 years old.

Seriously, when on earth did that happen? When I was a kid the years seemed to drag, and now whole months can zip by and leave my head spinning.

I've been thinking about turning 20 recently. Along with the demise of my 'she's just a teenager' excuse and the rapidly approaching big 2-1 with ultimate responsibility (dear lord, can't I just stay a teenager?!), I have come to realise that current perceptions of middle-agedom are wrong. Being middle-aged doesn't mean you're halfway through your life. Death is so unpredictable that it's foolish to call 40s-50s middle-aged, because who says we're even going to get that far?

I am middle-aged. This midway point, here, is to be middle-aged. Stuck between childhood and adulthood, I'm treading water as I learn to swim in this real world. A world full of full-time work, bills and budgeting. It's similar to the paddling pool filled with all of my childhood friends, my parents' warm embraces and a whole lot of Nintendo merchandise - but a lot deeper, a lot more scary.

I'm working on staying afloat right now, and hopefully one day soon I'll feel ready to strike out into the ocean and all it's possibilities.

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In which Demi reminisces and reads.

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It's funny how the strangest, most insignificant things can have a massive impact on you. This game, or rather its original form, is one of them. I cannot recommend this game highly enough, as I'm sure anyone else who has played it does. It is a work of sheer genius. And yet so simple and pure in concept.

When I was about seven years old, my cousin was heading off to University, and offered us his well-loved Nintendo 64 console and a handful of games, since he wouldn't have the time to play them. Ocarina of Time was one of them. Me and my brother were too young to be able to play it properly, and so every afternoon after school we would sit and direct our mum into running around, solving the puzzles and screaming encouragement as she wildly hacked in the boss fights.

It helped to form a tight bond between us. My younger sister was only about 4 at the time, and so doesn't remember these many, many afternoons, but we completed that game as a team. And years later, I find myself sat, peering over my mum's shoulder as she awkwardly manipulates my sister's DS with the new version, guiding her through the same temples that are so ingrained into mine and my brother's memory, but she has long forgotten the details of.

It made me love fantasy and adventure. It made me want to read of worlds unlike our own, to write countless (dreadful) stories involving princesses and heroes and villainous villains. And even now, years later, I like to indulge my geeky side and read something different. My latest buy was 'The Hero and the Crown' by Robin McKinley, which was sweeping and beautiful and emotional.

My current read is the Millenium series by Stieg Larsson, which could not be further away from the mythical, dragon-filled world of 'The Hero and the Crown', but is equally compelling, and I am coming to understand the hype surrounding these books.


I've just spent a healthy £40 on 9 novels for just one of my modules next year, all of which I'm hoping to read before the start of the new year. I'm excited again by reading books, rather than coming to dread it, as I was at the end of term. I always find it extremely theraputic to read something different, far from the highly regarded canon of literature, over the summer to let my mind free up and be ready for more intensive books for September time.


I'm off to tuck up in bed with my book and my sister's DS. Saving the world calls. xo.

In which Demi has some time to be a slob, hurrah!

I'm still in my pajamas at 2pm. Yes, I am being a slob today. And yes, I love it. I intend not to get out of bed unless there is dire need. Such as hunger. Or until I go out with my friend tonight.

So after 2 weeks at my second PR company (it got reduced from 3 to 2), I have concluded:

• Corporate PR is dull. This company had a very different list of clients than the first, but they were more along the lines of investment banking groups, lawyers, estate agents and charities. Retail PR was much more up my street, where there are new products to push, and the industry and market is constantly changing. So while I didn't enjoy this placement as much as the last one, at least I know which field I prefer.
• PR is most definitely not the 9-5 job I assumed it would be. I was asked to go along and help at one of the many events they run in the evenings, and didn't get home until gone 9pm, having left the house at 7.55am. When do they have time for a social life??
• Building on the last point, I learnt the power of hobnobing and schmoozing. I had to greet the guests and guide them towards the host, get them drinks etc, and later mingled and tried to talk to as many people as possible. I got to talk to a corporate and personal stylist, the PR woman for the TV show Emmerdale, a presenter on BBC Radio Leeds, a local historian and two very cute twin guys a little older than me who were schmoozing in the hopes of landing a placement.
• I'm pretty good at writing press releases, as it turns out. All that writing practice and dreams of being an author seems to have paid off!
• I'm a 'tall poppy' according to the lovely stylist at the event. Don't ask.
• Long days mean eating a lot. I now understand why all the girls in the office eat salads for lunch. I've gained so much weight it's depressing. Time to crack out my Davina exercise DVD!

It's been a fantastic experience, and they were lovely enough to let me print off examples of all the press releases and work that I'd done to add to my portfolio. They all offered to write me a reference, and treated me to cakes and a pot plant on my last day :) I was more prepared this time and had bought a box of chocolates along to say thank you as well.

So, what's on the agenda now? R&R? Getting drunk? Lazing about in the sun? Well, as it turns out, no. And not just due to the horrible weather in the UK at the moment. I got a call from the 3rd company I applied to, way back in February, who had never responded to my email over Easter about going in for an interview. Lo and behold, they call me up in the middle of my second placement and ask to meet me to discuss going to work for them for a bit. Add that to my return to my first Leeds placement at the end of August, and I'm looking at working for more weeks than I'll be having off. Which I do appreciate, don't get me wrong. All this experience is absolutely invaluable. But considering I'm not getting paid for it, unlike my friends at accountancy/law etc firms, who are raking in thousands for their summer placements, I don't find it surprising that I'm a bit more reluctant. Ah well, it'll all be worth it!

...I hope! xo

In which Demi is behind schedule and apologises.

Wahhhh, note to self: NEVER promise to 'blog properly' the next day. Inevitably, a week will go by before you get the chance. I do apologise to anyone who has been waiting, patiently or impatiently.

...On that note, I will be posting later today! Honestly! As it is now almost 2am, and I am shattered after completing my second work experience placement. Yaaaaaaaaaay! So technically it will still be today (aka Saturday).

But it's sleep time now. I fully intend to sleep until midday. Last thoughts of the day: http://the-frenemy.com/post/7373467801/let-go

xo.

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In which Demi is kinda grossed out...

I make no secret of the fact that I love make-up. I love wearing it, collecting it, trying new things out. I own enough products to stock my own shop practically. I'm not blessed with the kind of skin where I can just sweep a bit of blush and mascara on and walk out the door. Oh no, I wear a primer, 2 types of foundation, bronzer, blush, eyeshadow, mascara... and that's just my daily routine. My going-out face can take about half an hour to put on.

However, I like to think that I apply make-up quite well. One friend once sat and watched me apply my many layers in stunned silence, only breaking it to ask what bottle or tube I was adding to the mix. By the time I was finished, all she could say was 'I had no idea you wore so much, it looks like you only wear a bit!' Which, for me, is what I'm after. I don't like to look like I'm caked in the stuff (despite the fact that I tend to be....) I have friends that slap foundation on as if they're plastering a wall, and with a product about two shades off their actual skin tone. It's taken many years and a LOT of practice, but I've finally found a routine that - I think, at least - makes me look the way I believe make-up should help you look: like you, but on a really good day. So that you can pretend that yes, I did roll out of bed looking like this.

Which is why I'm equally fascinated and repelled by this video, in which a pair of artists apply 365 layers of daily make-up onto a model's face... all in one day.

Maybe I'll try using only one type of foundation after all.... Better post tomorrow, about my work experience part II. xo.

In which Demi is elated. And exhausted.

One week and one placement down, another for 3 weeks to go.

Oh, and the first company asked for me to come back for more later in the summer. Guess I did something right.

....

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVED IT!

Ahem. Dignified now.

It was exactly what I needed to get an insight into the day-to-day running of a PR office. I drafted press releases and wow sheets (basically visual press releases/posters, showcasing some new products under a snappy headline/blurb), I called a couple of journalists (terrifying! They had the numbers for every major publication in the UK! Everything from Vogue and Grazia to Home and Garden and The Times!), I e-mailed clients with information and journalists in search of certain products to fit their themed articles, I researched local activity groups who might be interested in a new GO Outdoors store opening (one of the clients), as well as a bunch of normal admin stuff like labelling 100+ lookbooks to be posted out and keeping the journalist and publishers database up to date.

And I loved it. Every minute of it. Even the really boring, simple tasks, which the girls in the office apologised profusely for making me do. I couldn't care less, I was learning either way. It's just the right balance between creativity and organisation for me - I feel like I'm too creative (and not good enough at maths...) for a plain marketing job, but neither do I have the abundance of ideas and off-the-wall thinking required for advertising.

PR is slap bang in the middle, just like I am.

The team was so lovely as well. It's only a very small Leeds office of a much larger London company, and they made sure to ask about me and keep me in the loop with what they were doing, while I asked as many questions as possible. At the end of the week I was stunned to be presented with a gorgeous bunch of flowers! And upon hearing that I was heading straight off to another placement this week, they asked me to get back in touch in August to see if I can go back for another couple of weeks. ME! AGAIN! Yeahhhhhhhh!

[On the downside, getting to work for 9am living where I live is a bloomin' nightmare. Hello 6.45am starts.]

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