A-Z of Becky: Z

Z is for Zealousness

Ok, I'll admit that Z was a really tricky letter for me. I don't have any particular attachment to zebras, or zigzags, or Zambia so I was stuck for a good while. However, I've finally settled on zealousness. Great word, right? 

I'm super enthusiastic about everything. Anything I put my mind to, I will do it. Fact. Not only that but I'll do it as excitedly as possible.

I'll take some liberties and use this to cover my childlike enthusiasm for anything and everything. So, to demonstrate this, have some photos of me being more excited than anyone my age should be about anything! 

I can't believe that, after 9 months, I've finally finished this series! Time to think up a new weekly series, I guess. 

A-Z of Becky: Y

Y is for Young Becky

I went through some differenct incarnations in my youth. As a young child, I was really, really cute... even if I say so myself! I had perfect blonde curly hair, chubby cheeks, huge round eyes and a little button nose. I looked a lot like Karen in Outnumbered and, in fact, I was pretty much as creepy and morbid as her too, despite the innocent looks!

Then I hit puberty. It was not kind to me. I was the gorkiest kid to live. I had frizzy hair, wonky teeth (and later, braces), big round glasses and hamster cheeks. Certainly not my best look!

Aged 16, I started to grow into my looks. Around the same time, I decided my calling was emo. I was emo through and through, with blurry black and white photos of my eyes taken on my Motorola and posted to Myspace.

I have to admit that I still carry a little part of Becky the Emo Kid around with me everywhere. It's an inate part of my being! 

A-Z of Becky: X

X is for Exhibitions

I can get away with cheating a little, right? Since xylophones, x-rays and people named Xavier have no part in my life, I've settled for the phoneme rather than the grapheme. This will also be more about art than actual exhibitions. 

Art is a massive part of my identity. As far back as I can remember, I've loved anything creative. In fact, one of my earliest memories is getting blue paint on my slippers at nursery. The problem is, I'm not actually very good at art. This is how I describe it: Put me in a room with a random cross section of people and I'd be one of the better ones. Put me in a room with art students and I'd be the worst one there. My worst grade at GCSE was a C. It was in art. My worst grade at A level was a D. It was in art.

Things looked up when I went to uni though. I originally planned to go to art college but, after studying two art subjects at A level, I never wanted to hold a paintbrush again. Instead, I returned to my childhood dream of being a teacher and specialised in English. After just a few weeks, however, it became apparent that I would never escape my creative longings. I switched to the art specialist course and eventually graduated with a first class degree. My highest grade was in art education, as well as my dissertation. 

It became apparent at university that my artistic knowledge and my understanding of art education was where I excelled. I thrive on studying art, visiting exhibitions, reading up on artists. My favourite artists are mostly postmodern sculptors, a passion that I discovered when taking my sculpture A level. Grayson Perry, Tracey Emin, Antony Gormley and Damien Hirst are just a few of my many favourites. For this reason, the Tate Modern is my absolute favourite gallery. I love that feeling of really connecting with an artwork. Of standing, staring at it and relating to it on so many levels. I once spent 50 minutes looking at Jenny Holzer's Blue Purple Tilt.  

 I'm also very, very, very passionate about art education. It's my thing. Planning and teaching art comes so naturally to me. I'm an close-to-outstanding art teacher. Watching children engaged in creative learning is so inspiring. I love how inclusive art is- It doesn't matter if you can read or write, if you speak English, if you have special educational needs. It doesn't matter if you feel you can draw or not. If you can make marks on a piece of paper, you can create art. Everyone can achieve. 

A-Z of Becky: W

W is for Whitstable

My grandparents moved to Whitstable in 2002. I'd never even heard of the place before but, on my first visit, I was in love. It's a gorgeous little seaside town in Kent. It's so quaint, with independent shops, beach huts and a fair few art galleries. My brother and I would visit for a week a few times a year until they moved back to my locality in 2007.

It was such a relaxing place to spend the week. So quiet and peaceful. We only watched the TV in the evening and never used the internet. It was pretty much a place for reading and studying. Absolute bliss! 

I missed it a lot after they moved back so, for my 21st birthday, Rich and I went back there. It was absolutely lovely! 

A-Z of Becky: V

V is for Vintage

I have no idea when my love for vintage started. As far as I'm aware, it's been ingrained in me since I was a baby. Growing up, I loved listening to the Mamas and the Papas, Elvis and the Monkees with my dad which fostered a love for the 60s. My favourite film was (and still is) Oliver. I spent my early childhood dressing up in my grandma's 70s cast-offs. My favourite book as a 7 year old was a Dorling Kindersley book about costume throughout the ages. I desperately wanted the 1960s plastic dresses!

I got my first taste of vintage clothing when I was 16 and my grandma gave me one of her 1960s Laura Ashley blouses. A couple of years later, I bought a 1980s skirt from a vintage shop and my obsession developed from there.

I couldn't even begin to count how many vintage items I have. Clothes, sewing patterns, fabric, clocks, books... It's all under my roof. My glasses are vintage. My engagement ring is Edwardian. If I could live an authentic vintage existence, I would. 1960s please, genie!

A-Z of Becky: U

U is for Ukulele

I'm cheating a little. I haven't played my ukulele properly in a long time. However, it's the closest thing I've ever had to being able to play an instrument. By which I mean, I can actually play some songs and I know how to play a good few chords. 

When I was 8, I decided to play the violin but, in true Becky style, I never practised and so I never went beyond squeaking out a few chords. I also taught myself the recorder but, after auditioning for the church band and being unceremoniously rejected as my recorder was out of tune (is that even possible?), I lost my appetite for it.

So my ukulele playing is quite an achievement for me. My uke is called Percy and I love him! 

A-Z of Becky: T

T is for Teaching

For obvious reasons, I don't have any photos of me actually teaching so instead, have a photo of me at my graduation.

My grandma was a teacher so I've always been around schools. Even as a baby, she was taking me into school to show the staff and, as I got older, she would sometimes need to take me to school. I was content to sit in her office and colour.

It was a no-brainer that I would go into teaching too. I had my first work experience at 15 and I took to it straight away. As I reached uni and had annual school placements, I lived for being in the classroom. I was so passionate about teaching- it made me feel alive.

Then, in January, I finally got my first teaching placement and became a fully-fledged teacher. Now I've passed my induction year so I'm a Real Teacher now. I love it. It's the most exciting, interesting, fun job in the world. I'm never bored at work. In fact, most of the time I forget I'm even working. I basically get paid for having the most fun ever. There's nothing else I would rather do. 

A-Z of Becky: S

S is for Shopping

I know it's superficial but I can't help it. I just love shopping! I love the thrill of seeing something I love and knowing that it's all mine...forever! I never ever throw anything away so it just ends up cluttering the house. Nevertheless, I buy more. In my defence, though, I do buy a lot of vintage and I frequent charity shops, so it's all for a good cause, right?

A-Z of Becky: R

R is for Rich 

Well, it would have to be, wouldn't it? Almost 5 years ago, I got to the local rock club to meet my friend. He never turned up and I was left hanging around the bar like a lemon. Luckily, some strange dude took pity on me and introduced me to the group he was with, including this slightly socially awkward guy who pretty much said one sentence to me all night. 

However, the next weekend, this socially awkward man was there again. We started having a conversation about literature, he showed me the sneezing panda video on his iPhone (back when they were exciting) and then he insulted me. 

He stalked found me on Facebook and, after spending hours and hours chatting on MSN, I invited him to visit me at my uni halls. After that, we were inseperable.

It turns out, in a weird twist, he was working as an IT technician at my sixth form college when I was a student. I'd actually spoken to him 2 years earlier, as a disturbed 17 year old emo kid, and remembered him as "the horrible one with glasses". He'd since grown facial hair, long hair and ditched the glasses, so I didn't realise it was him until he recognised himself in the background of this photo of my best friend. Bizarre or what?

Awesome vintage photo, right? I mean, a disposable camera from January 2006 is totally vintage! 

4 years and 9 months on, we're engaged and will be getting married in Florida in August. He is the geekiest geek I know. He is a total loser, he loves computers more than any man should and he can't pronounce the letter H correctly. Despite these, rather major, shortcomings, I still love him more than he probably deserves! 

I'm only kidding. I love him more than I ever thought possible. I'm not sure what I did to deserve somebody as patient, caring and devoted as Rich, but I'm eternally thankful for him. I love you, Bear. 

A-Z of Becky: Q

Q is for Quack

Duck face! I love ducks. I'm not really sure why. I just think a big, yellow duck is hilarious. I have a duck shower cap (as seen here), duck drawing pins, duck teddies, duck soap, glow in the dark ducks that stick on the ceiling... I just think ducks are awesome. And they're not even my favourite animal!

If you're wondering, my favourite animal is a pig. I also love pandas, penguins, pugs and, erm, bats.

Quack with me: Quack quack!

A-Z of Becky: P

P is for Pepsi

I've made no secret of the fact that I love Pepsi. I know it's bad for my teeth. I know it's full of bad stuff. I just can't help it: I love it! I used to drink full fat Pepsi all the time but then I switched to Diet Pepsi when I realised how many calories were in it!

It took a while to get used to the taste but these days I much prefer it. I'm not trying to lose weight or anything, I just enjoy it more. Regular Pepsi always seems too sickly for me.

As well as enjoying the drink, I love Pepsi paraphernalia, especially if it's vintage. My mum bought me an awesome tin sign for Christmas a few years ago and it hangs up in our kitchen. I love these vintage advertisements too- So adorable!

A-Z of Becky: O

O is for Oliver!

Source

Oliver! has been my favourite film for as long as I can remember. In fact, I can't even remember the first time I saw it. All I know is that we used to have a dusty old VHS with it recorded on from the BBC circa Christmas 1993, with the ending credits of Eastenders and an advert for Ghandi as a prelude.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I know every single word from it. Of course I now have it on DVD (I have no idea what happened to the VHS tape) and I couldn't even begin to guess how many times I've seen it. I have the soundtrack on my iPod too, for those days when I feel like bursting into song on the train.

In fact, Rich even took me to see the stage show for our one year anniversary and proposed afterwards. Although it was all a bit of a disaster. We were late, we ran out of money, Nando's was closed for refurbishment and the ring broke within 90 minutes. Maybe I'll go back and see it again some time.

A-Z of Becky: N

N is for Needles

You may have noticed that I have a few piercings. In fact, I currently have 15- all ear and facial, believe it or not! I think that's the most I've ever had at one time, although I've had 24 in total across my lifetime. I thought this week it might be fun to go through a little autobiography of my piercings.

1998

Yes, this is me at 10 years old. I was a looker!

I was 10 years old and shopping with my grandmother when I saw a pair of handcrafted wooden elephant earrings. They were pretty awful, looking back, but I loved them and I was desperate for them. Slight snag- I didn't have my ears pierced. My grandma whisked me off to the hairdresser that afternoon. I was so terrified. Then the needle went in and... I laughed! "It tickles!", I chuckled. The girl who did it had three ear piercings and I remember thinking "I can't wait to get another one!".

2001



Only a couple of months after getting my ears pierced, my earring fell out on holiday and healed up. I was gutted but, for my 13th birthday, my mum took me to H Samuel's to get it redone.

2003
Aged 15, a whole array of us went to the local hairdresser to get our second holes done. Mine were done slightly wonky but I grew to like that.

2004




I was 16 now and had fallen into the emo scene. Hard. I got my third holes done at a local tattoo studio and then, a few months later, my fourth holes.

2005



The year I went crazy. A goth shop opened up in my home town and the most beautiful (albeit gay) man worked there. He was also a body piercer and he had an incredible piercing studio above the shop. I was totally in love with him and his 30-odd piercings. My first piercing was a standard nose piercing. A month later, I had my scaffold pierced. 4 months later, I got my nose done a second time.

2006

This year opened with the devastating news that the shop was closing down. I was heartbroken but took full advantage of the half price piercing offer with two surface piercings on my stomach, one above and one below my belly button. They lasted about 8 weeks before they grew out, leaving permanent (but lovely) scars. Later in the year, I got my lip pierced at Blue Banana in Cardiff, followed by a surface piercing on my nape. Unfortunately, I never got any photos of these.

2007




Then I left uni and had to get A Real Job. I chose to work in a nursery and that meant bye bye piercings. Unfortunately my nape, second nose piercing and lip piercing all healed. However, when I returned to uni in September, I replaced the nose and lip sharpish! It was this year that I started to stretch my left ear. 

2009



I had always, always wanted spider bites. It took me over 4 years to do it but, finally, I got round to the second lip piercing. My ear was up to 6mm by now.

2010



I hadn't had a piercing in 6 months and I was starting to get the itch. I wanted my nape done again but, as I was working part time in a nursery, it needed to be something that wasn't clearly visible. I settled for my collarbones. These beauties lasted a good couple of months. 

2012



It had been a very long time without a piercing before I decided to get my conch pierced. By now, I was working as a teacher so I had to be very considerate about the piercings. Unfortunately, the cheek piercings I had always lusted over would never be a reality. My ear is now at 8mm.

2013
I have plans already for my next piercings. First up: Anti-helix and rook. Bring on the needles!

A-Z of Becky: M

M is for Music

Ok, so everyone loves music. It's hardly a shock, especially as I've already told you how much I love going to gigs and festivals. Though I think you can tell a lot about someone from the music they listen to. As an angsty 17 year old, I was obsessed with emo (and I was one of those rare breeds of emo kid who would admit that they were emo!) and I'm not ashamed to say that my ipod hasn't really changed since 2006.

I've got quite an eclectic taste in music really. Before turning all depressive and angsty, I was a total 60s freak, then I got really into 1950s pop when I left my teens. Now my taste is a weird mesh of the three, with a little shockers thrown in.

As a little demonstration, here's the first 15 songs that pop up on iTunes when I shuffle it up (Sorry for the dodgy formatting. It's fine when I edit it!):

Roses are Red (My Love)                                Bobby Vinton
One Step Beyond                                              Madness
Are you Lonesome Tonight?                           Elvis Presley
10 Years Today                                                 Bullet for my Valentine
Bleed Black                                                        AFI
Skylines and Turnstiles                                    My Chemical Romance
Spit It Out                                                            Slipknot
Bulimic                                                                The Used
Oh! Darling                                                         The Beatles
Moment                                                               Aiden
Swing                                                                  Taking Back Sunday
In These Shoes?                                               Kirsty MacColl
Homecoming                                                     Green Day
Shimmy                                                              System of a Down
Magazines                                                          Brand New

A-Z of Becky: L

L is for Language

The English language is so important to me. I am ridiculously pedantic about spelling and grammar. I started reading at the age of 3 and I have never stopped. I will read anything and everything: books, magazines, shampoo labels... You name it!

There is so much you can do with language. It can be used to stir any emotion felt by a person and used for both good and evil. Plus, you can have so much fun with it; Onomatopoeia is one of my favourite things!

As well as the English language, I also love the German language. I was pretty good at it when I was in school and considered studying it at A level. In the end, I decided against it but I wish I had now. Instead, I console myself by sporadically speaking only in German and confusing everyone around me!

Just don't ask me to speak Spanish or French: I'm absolutely useless!

A-Z of Becky: K

K is for Knowledge

Yes, this is a photo of me behind library stacks.

I love to learn. Which I guess is a handy trait for a teacher to have. I adored university and I cried on my last day. Not because of the loss of friends (I only made a handful of lasting friends at uni) or because of the fading student lifestyle (I stopped drinking after my first year and never once went to the weekly student night at the SU). I cried because I was going to miss learning. Sitting in lectures, taking everything in, reading up on theory and writing assignments. I loved it all.

I'm hoping to find the time to squeeze in a master's degree at some point and my life ambition is to complete a PhD. Dr Bedbug has quite the ring to it, wouldn't you say?

I am absolutely serious when I say that if I won the lottery, I would be a student forever. I would just do degree after degree after degree. However, at the moment that has yet to happen, so I console myself by reading constantly. Fashion magazines, newspapers, true crime books, Wikipedia (yes, I know it's not reliable!). I visit art galleries and museums. I practice new skills constantly: My ukulele, photography, blogging, writing.

I immerse myself in learning. I dedicate my life to the acquisition of knowledge and skills, both for myself and for those I teach.

Aristotle once said "The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching". Damn straight!

A-Z of Becky: J

J is for jetting off

I hate flying. Which is odd because from the age of 6-13, I flew once a year and absolutely loved it. My grandparents took us on several cruises from Palma and we often flew from London to visit my dad in Liverpool. Then I had a 3 year break from flying and, much to my surprise, spent the entire trip to Ibiza clinging to the seat in terror, convinced that the plane would fall out of the air and we all would die.

Due to university and lack of money, I didn't go on my first trip abroad sans-family until last year, aged 23. Then I went crazy and went on three holidays in the space of 4 months: Madrid, Florida and Amsterdam. The photo above was taken as we landed in Madrid.

I'm still terrified of flying but Florida is my favourite place on earth. I'm getting married there next year. I also have a huge list of places that I want to go to in the next couple of years: Germany, New York, Stockholm, California...

I think I'm going to need to stock up on Bach's Rescue Remedy.

A-Z of Becky: I

These, frankly amazing, photos were taken by my little brother when he was 10. I've done what I can with them but excuse the dodgy composition/ exposure. Not bad for a 10 year old though!

I is for Identity

Identity is very important to me. There are a number of things that I feel make me who I am, but the most important is my background. I briefly touched on my upbringing in my If You Really Knew Me post. I don't have a sob story. My childhood wasn't a pit of despair (despite what Jacqueline Wilson would have you believe, but we won't go into that now) but it was certainly instrumental in making me who I am.

My parents divorced when I was 8 and, after a couple of years with joint custody, my brother and I went to live with our mum on a council estate. We didn't have a great amount of money but we always had what we needed. I worked hard at school and eventually went on to university.

It was only when I got to university that I realised the stigma that still surrounds council estates. A lecturer once announced that we need to support children from council estates because they certainly won't make it as far as university. Another informed us that children in council houses don't have a high quality of life.

I thought that was bad enough. Then my friend told me that her sister was "hanging around with council estate people... You just don't want your sister seeing those sorts of people". Later, on bursary day, she would say "I wish my parents didn't earn so much money so I could get a big bursary like you". Wow!

To this day, my little brother's predicted grades are calculated by his postcode. You read that correctly. His exam results are consistently above his predicted grades because he is assumed to get low grades due to his address.

Despite the stigma, I am ridiculously proud of my council estate roots. It has made me tough and resilient, especially during my emo years, when just stepping out of the house was a guarantee of verbal abuse from the local kids. It's made me determined to make something of myself and prove all those people wrong- the ones who think that children from council estates will never amount to anything. Most of all, it's made me completely grounded. I always remember where I came from and I appreciate everything that I get, every opportunity that has been presented to me.

This is the house I grew up in. Yes, there's a skip and a broken fridge in the garden. I'm a primary school teacher with a first class honour's degree. What's your point?

A-Z of Becky: H

H is for Harry Potter

When I was 11, my year 6 teacher Mrs Neve decided to read us a book that her friend had recommended for the class. It was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I became obsessed for a year or so. Then I relaxed a little. I still read the books and watched the films when they came out but I wasn't a complete nutcase like before. When I discovered emo aged 16, I completely lost interest. I didn't read the newly released books, I didn't go out of my way to watch the films. I just didn't care much.

Then I met Laura. Laura, who became my best friend, was a total Harry Potter geek. She got into it at the same time as me but never lost that love. We bonded over a joint nostalgia for Hogwarts and slowly she brought me over to her side.

Then we ended up going to a Harry Potter convention in Florida and she'll be maid of honour for my wedding at Wizarding World of Harry Potter next year. Yeah, I'm more obsessed now than I was at 11. Thanks Laura!

A-Z of Becky: G

Every Time I Die. 27th May 2012.

G is for Gigs

9th April 2005. London Astoria. My Chemical Romance.

This photo isn't actually from my first gig. This is the third time I saw MCR- 5th November 2005.

My first gig. I was 16 years old and I bought my ticket with my EMA. I wore dark blue jeans, pink checkered Vans, a black vest top and a black studded belt with pink rhinestones that I bought in Claire's Accessories. I thought I was so cool. I got even cooler when I bought a bootleg hoodie whilst in the line. Then I got as close to the barrier as possible, completely naive of the pushing that would happen as soon as Bob Bryar entered the stage before freaking out and retreating to the safety of the back.

Nevertheless, it was the most exciting thing I had ever experienced. I was hooked. I couldn't even begin count how many gigs I have been to. Let's put it this way- I have seen MCR 16 times alone. Yes, I am a huge massive emo kid!

There is no better feeling than being in a hot, sweaty mass of people with someone else's hair in your mouth and your face pushed into someone's shoulder blades, screaming out the lyrics of your favourite songs until you lose your voice for a week and can't move your legs for days.

2nd August 2012. Sub 89, Reading. Funeral for a Friend.

The last gig I went to. I've seen Funeral for a Friend so many times that I've lost count but I'm pretty sure it must be between 12 and 15 times. They just always seem to be touring! The cloakroom was closed for this gig so we were forced to stand at the back of the room. I didn't get any good photos because of this so this one from Shepherd's Bush Empire, 23rd July 2010 will do.

My next gig booked is Every Time I Die at the Electric Ballroom on 29th October. Just before Halloween? Sounds perfect to me! We're going in fancy dress and coating ourselves in a bucketful of fake blood. It's all fun and games!

Oh, and before I go, I want to share this photo of Dave Grohl. For no reason other than it's pretty awesome.