Yep it's my birthday today - the big ole 28 - shush, don't tell anyone! :p Think I'm gonna start lying about my age for sure; reckon I've always looked a fair bit younger anyway. It has been quite a cool day though; I got lots of nice messages, cards, and gifts - flowers, money, make-up, and other bits and pieces. My older sis is always really good at buying novel cute little things. She'll buy lots of small bits (like a mini bottle of wine for example) rather than one big gift; I like that. Then this evening I was out for a meal so all in all it has been fun - just have to forget the "getting older" bit haha!

There was a very disturbing one hour TV documentary on in the UK last week, focusing on an 11 year old girl called Sasha whose mother believes that the most important things in life are fame and money. The mother, Jayne, is a self-styled former glamour model (I think her career extended to a few shots draped across a car wearing a bikini) who is clearly attempting to live out her failed dreams through her daughter. Jayne is on a mission to find fame and fortune for Sasha, seemingly by any means possible. Jayne and her husband allegedly spend £300 per week on beauty products for Sasha; she has her hair bleached (!), gets fake nails, fake tan etc. This link shows you what Sasha looks like as I can't be bothered to post photos. The mother is even worse than a stereotypical "pushy mother"; she is bordering on emotionally abusive. She shouts and swears at Sasha and at other times is passive aggressive - for example sulking if Sasha won't practise her cheerleading routine in the middle of a restaurant like a performing monkey. The father appears to be dominated by Jayne and seems to have little influence on the situation, apart from telling Sasha that she's stupid - he favours her younger brother.

At one point, Jayne takes Sasha to a child modelling agency; the female director is shocked at Sasha's portfolio of very adult-looking photos. She makes it clear that they would want her to look much more natural, as a child of 11 should - but that isn't what Jayne wants. Eventually the family go off to Texas to enter Sasha into one of their infamous child beauty pageants. Now these aren't at all commonplace in the UK which, for British viewers, just adds to the freaky atmosphere of the whole show. I've personally watched a few documentaries about US child beauty pageants before so I wasn't particularly surprised at seeing these little girls who resembled moving dolls more than people - with their insincere smiles and troweled on make-up. Even by "pageant Mom" pushy standards though, Jayne is a horror - one of the pageant mothers saw through her as well. As had been the case through the whole documentary, Jayne managed to manipulate the focus of every situation there back to herself - make no mistake, it's ALL about her....not her daughter. One of the pageant organisers asked her if she could imagine a particular sash on her daughter; Jayne responded "I can imagine it on me!". Nice.

Sasha herself didn't really have much of a personality; she seems quite shy and withdrawn. You could tell that she had been utterly brainwashed by Jayne - she claims that what she wants most is to be famous but, when quizzed by the producer, doesn't have a clue why she wants that. For most of the programme I got the sense of a child who would much rather have been living a normal life rather than the one that has been chosen for her. It was obvious that Jayne has psychological problems and even seems quite deluded - calling herself a "Yummy mummy"...."a gorgeous babe" when to be frank she's quite a plain Jane (no pun intended). I think most viewers would have been horrified at the damage this woman is doing to her child's self-esteem, clearly believing that it's acceptable to sexualise a young girl in the name of hitting the jackpot. I do think that Sasha will end up pregnant in a few years time; she'll probably try to look for the love and attention she fails to get from her parents elsewhere. I don't think Jayne's and Sasha's relationship will be very good in the future either; there are already signs of Sasha getting fed up of the mother's constant bullying and controlling behaviour. Sadly, her chav of a mother has failed to teach her daughter the one essential thing a good mother teaches - self-respect. What a hideous programme - car crash TV all the way!

I just read this news story:

"Padded lampposts are being trialled in a London street to protect inattentive pedestrians.

A pilot scheme has been launched in Brick Lane after it was found to have the highest number of 'walking and texting' injuries in the country.

A study carried out by 118 118 found one in ten people has hurt themselves while focused on their mobile phone screen.

The charity Living Streets is so concerned that it has teamed up with the directory enquiries service to test a scheme to wrap up the nation's lampposts.

A poll will be carried out on Brick Lane to gauge the response of locals.

If successful, the concept will be rolled out in Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool."

Just ridiculous. I swear the UK is becoming more of a nanny state every day. To be honest, if people don't have the brainpower to realise that while you're texting and walking, it helps to look up every once in a while, they deserve a knock on the head! Who knows? It might knock some sense into them.

I'm sorry but these look very wrong - click me.

They might save space but no....just no. *sigh* And I thought black Christmas trees were bad enough!

I'm feeling even less festive than usual this year but am certainly trying not to be a scrooge. I've just been putting up the Christmas decorations so maybe that'll help. One thing I did notice though, was that the Christmas tree angel appears to have alopecia - how disturbing! :/

Well thought I'd do my first entry since moving over to this new place! Up til the middle of last month, I was busy finishing off my course and revising for the exam. Not really too sure how it went but am currently awaiting the result which should be out in mid December so fingers crossed eh?!
Anyway, just thought I'd share a news article I saw on yahoo earlier as it tickled me.

"LONDON (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II's speech in the parliament Tuesday may have been routine but at least nobody got bored to death. That would have been against the law.

Dying in parliament is an offence and is also by far the most absurd law in Britain, according to a survey of nearly 4,000 people by a television channel showing a legal drama series.

And though the lords were clad in their red and white ermine cloaks and ambassadors from around the world wore colourful national costumes, at least nobody turned up in a suit of armour. Illegal.

Other rules deemed utterly stupid included one that permits a pregnant woman to urinate in a policeman's hat and murdering bow-and-arrow-carrying Scotsmen within the city walls of York, northern England.

A law stating that in Liverpool, only a clerk in a tropical fish store is allowed to be publicly topless, was also ridiculous, said a poll of 3,931 people for UKTV Gold television out Tuesday.

Nearly half of those surveyed admitted to breaking the ban on eating mince pies on Christmas Day, which dates back to the 17th century and was originally designed to outlaw gluttony during the rule of the Puritan Oliver Crowmell.

The laws and other regulations were culled from published research into ancient legislation that has never been repealed although subsequent statutes have rendered them obsolete.

Respondents were given a shortlist and asked to vote.

Most ridiculous British law:

1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 percent)

2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (seven percent)

3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (six percent)

4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (five percent)

5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (four percent)

6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (four percent)

7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen (3.5 percent)

8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (three percent)

9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour (three percent)

10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (two percent)"

Not sure how many of us were aware of those - I certainly wasn't!