Saturday, 29 October 2016

Why I Don't Like Coke

Hello!



I have a short blog post for you today. The past few blog posts I have been writing like essays and I am sure not everyone is a fan of reading that much, especially a blog post. So, here is for the short, snappy readers!


Coke, the favourite of millions of people around the world. But one of them is definitely not me. I really don't like it. I struggle to understand how people drink that liquid like it's water, and some do drink it like it's water. Here are a few reasons why I just don't like coke!


1. You first take a sip and it tastes like it is a glass of sugar dissolved in a bit of water with bubbles with a dark brown colour. Realistically thinking that is what coke really is. If you look at the ingredients, the first three of them are basically what I mentioned. The other ingredients do not convince me that they are in fact good for us and it is not specific at all.
The image above is taken from the following website: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/drinks/coca-cola/coca-cola


2. After you finish that can or glass of coke, you are not in your own state. In my case, I feel like I am not in my own senses or in other words I feel "drunk". You speak to me I will not be responding properly because I don't know what is going on. I will blabber out anything and at the end I have no energy to do anything. Basically, I get hyper and then weak. This is what a can of coke can do to you. Just look at the ridiculous amount of sugar in a can of coke. 35 grams!!! That is just way too much.


3. You can get addicted to coke. The results are not good at the end. You will always be drinking coke and if you don't, you will loose your mind. It is very likely because of the caffeine in coke. Caffeine also makes you loose sleep so that sucks. What can happen health-wise (long term)?
- Store excess fat
- Damage your teeth
- High risk of diabetes
- Damage of the bones

If you think diet coke or whatever replacements they have are better then forget it! They are equally or worse than normal coke. I cannot comment on coke life as I have not tried it yet but I highly doubt it is going to be any better.


Maybe think again before approaching that can for your own safety...
I hope you enjoyed this quick post and don't forget to check back every Saturdays. Also, feel free to recommend any kind of post that you would like to read in the comments and follow!



Take Care,


Yours, Nafiza

Saturday, 22 October 2016

Food for Thought: Love

Hey!



I am back with another Food for Thought post. If you didn't know, these will be the kind of posts where I put everything in my mind, leaving you thinking about it by yourselves. Last time was Friendship. This week is Love. As cheesy it may sound, it is worth giving it a thought. Love is a huge part of people's lives and at certain point we all (if not most people) fall in love. I have spent the past 2-3 weeks thinking about love and it was the most 2-3 confusing weeks of my life.


So... What is love? It is such a common yet such a hard question to ask and answer. You ask anyone about what love is, they will give their own definition and there is not a definite answer. Love comes in all sorts of forms. Most importantly love has no stability of emotions, or does it? Is love happiness or sadness. If you are in love, are you content or not? I know love is an emotion of its own but everything is ultimately categorised into "good" and "bad". Is it "good" when the charming person is with you and "bad" when the charming person is still not with you?


Once we sort of find out what love could be, we get to think from our own shoes. Am I in love with anyone? Is there someone I think I love? Am I joking or serious? Bear in mind that it is not always the case that if you think you are in love, you actually are in love. Are you really in love or is it just lust or a temporary crush? Not to forget that so many times we get love confused with aesthetic attraction. This is when you want this person to be in front of you, How would you know? Because in my opinion, if you are in love, you imagine that person with you for the rest of your life. This will be person with whom you spend your remaining life. So many times we hear the expression "love at first sight", is that even existent? Can you love someone seeing them the first time?  I understand you cannot control love but, is the person you love suitable for you in longer terms? This is in terms of romance and relationship. There is also family love. which I will not discuss in this post as it is irrelevant. It could probably be a post of its own.


The feeling of love can be so weird often times. Is love how it is interpreted over media? You know the roses, teddy bears, chocolates, etc? Or is it beyond that and those things are just a "show off"? What do we see in love? But then is that what is actually is? If your definition of love is that the person is always flirting with you, is that what it actually is? When you are in love, do you get weird feelings, like getting super excited to see the person, heart beats faster, sympathetic nervous system activates, excessively smiling as seeing the person, etc? If not the how do you feel? Imagine of a person you really like/love, how do you feel or react to the situation? It is a stigma that these are the feelings developed in girls. So, boys, do you feel the same way or it takes you longer to understand this?


Let's think about Love-Hate feelings. I mean when you claim that you love the person you hate or vice versa. What? How does that happen? If you love someone you love them and if you hate someone you hate them. How do you develop both of them? Is it that you love them but maybe you hate that one thing they have done to you or just generally? What have they done to you that you hate the person but cannot move on because you love them? Does this even have a logic? At some point in their lives, will they make up their mind whether they just love the person or just hate them? Or will it stay with this love-hate feeling for the other person?


At the end of the day, you are fortunate to be in a relationship with someone. Or are you fortunate? Did you want to be with this person? Or you just went with the flow and ended up in a situation that you regret being right now? If you are with someone, do you still love them how you did from the start or has it increased/decreased? Are you in a healthy relationship? How would you know? Is the love in the relationship one way or both ways? Are you competing with each other over who loves the other most? Is it actually going to work out that way? On the other hand, this might not even the case. Maybe you are together because it is "fashion". It may sound cool when you tell someone that you are with someone but there is no love between the both of you and you are just hanging in there to be cool. Could that be the case? If so, should you even let that keep hanging in there? Would you keep your clothes hanging outside in the garden for a straight month? Of course not because it would eventually get dirty. It is the same with these kind of relationships, it will eventually be dull.


Showing off your love! ๐Ÿ˜ช Why? Do you think it is mandatory to be showing off how much you love someone to the world. I understand every now and then it is okay to show how much you appreciate this person but, if you keep reminding everyone how much you love this person or they love you, it gets a bit boring doesn't it? Are you doing this for the Facebook "likes"? Are you seeking approval of your love from the world? Are you insecure about love and you keep reminding yourself that you love the person or they love you and no one else? If your love for someone is expressed excessively over social media, so much that it is more than expressing it in person, are you even in love with that person?


There is so much more I could have discussed about love as it is such a huge topic to talk about and think about. It is so big it can lead to deeper thoughts, which I will leave it out for now. Again, these are most of the thoughts that were running around my mind and some of them are hard to put them into words so I will leave them out. I know there will be some people out there clueless thinking "Nafiza, what on earth are you on about, it makes no sense!" To you I say, one day you will understand, maybe the time has not come for you to understand this. Just hold on for now.


I hope you enjoyed this post and you are liking these "Food for Thought" posts because I am loving these. I love to pour my mind and soul into words for you to understand and think about it. Make sure to check back every Saturdays for a new post.


Take Care Lovelies,


Yours, Nafiza

Saturday, 15 October 2016

Anime Recommendations/Favourites

Hey!

So... recently I have been a lot into these animations or so called anime. Anime is basically Japanese animations. They can be for children or for people like us. A lot of the plots and stories are more suitable for people around our age due to the maturity you need to understand the plots. This does not mean they are inappropriate. They are safe and clean to watch. From being someone who did not get the hype about anime to now being an addict, these are the top 5 anime from the ones I watched so far that I loved and I would recommend them to anyone. It is also quite soothing and some of the plots are on point. If you are in my Snapchat, you will see me sometimes post about them and the most frequent one being ReLIFE (the first one). Sorry! ๐Ÿ˜…

Here we go!


1. ReLIFE

Obviously I had to put this first! It is one of the best animes I have ever come across in my life. If you follow me on Snapchat or a friend of mine, you will know that I have been spamming pictures and stories from ReLIFE's anime and manga (japanese comic). In my opinion, the manga is much better than the anime, but this does not mean the anime is bad. They are both mind blowing.
It is about a 27 year old guy, unemployment, who takes a pill from a shady organisations that makes him look 10 years younger and has to attend high school for the organisation as an "experiment". Things happen after that... maybe some romance too...๐Ÿ˜

My favourite character and my crush is Yoake Ryo (the guy on the right side, slightly at the back with blonde hair from the image below), no doubts or questions about it! I adore him so much and if you watch it then you will see why and he's cute. Rating: 10/10



2. Wagnaria (JP: Working)

This is also another anime that I got pretty addicted to. Since there are three seasons, each of 13 episodes, you kind of want to keep watching because they are so addicting. Like I read someone's comment: "every episode is worth watching for" and yes that person is right. Every single episode is equally amazing in all three seasons.
It is about a family diner/restaurant called Wagnaria that have "different" staff members (let's be honest, they are all weird and funny) but their bonding with each other is really strong. Every episode shows a day working in Wagnaria and how the staff members behave with other staff or people in general. Again there is a slight romance but it develops over time so be patient. Let me give you a slight intro. The main character guy Takanashi  (the middle guy at the back with brown hair and glasses) is obsessed with small cute objects like puppies, kittens and kids under 12 and his senpai Taneshima (short girl on the right side with brown ponytail hair) who looks like an elementary school girl because she is quite short. I cannot give a better explanation than this, just watch it seriously!There is a special episode called "Wagnaria: The Lord of Takanashi". DO NOT WATCH THAT UNTIL YOU WATCHED ALL THE EPISODES FROM ALL THE 3 SEASONS. That is, if you are interested to watch it. 

My favourite character is Satou Jun (blonde, yellow, emo hair dude at the back from the image) because his character is almost how I want to be and of course the good looks. I rate the anime 10/10, that applies for all three seasons.



3. Food Wars (JP: Shokugeki no Soma)

This one is for the food and cooking lovers. It is all about cooking. A simple guy, Yukihira Soma works at his dad's family restaurant and they have cooking competitions but he is always a step behind his dad. One day he is asked to go to one of the best culinary schools in Japan where he faces with challenges but he ends up impressing the chefs and judges and the battle keeps going on...
There are 2 seasons, season 1 with 24 episodes and season 2 with 13. The food is mouthwatering and every episode is blasting. Season 2 has more drama than season 1 but they're both really good.

My favourite character is Hayama Akira. He is so passionate in his area and it is even cooler knowing his background. I won't say much but he is known as the "Spice guy". I rate the the anime 9.5/10. Season 1 was 9 but season 2 is amazingly a 10. Season 2 is so intense and has a higher level of drama where season 1 is slightly chilled.

4. Kokoro Connect

It is a little complicated to explain the plot of this anime but I will try. It's a bunch of high school students who formed their own society since they weren't able to join a normal society. At different stages they get different superpowers and as a team they have to face the consequences. A lot happens from friendship to love and life-death situations. How will they deal with the consequences? There is one season with 13 episodes but there are 4 especial episodes with a lot of intense drama. It keeps you proper thinking about life and the friends you are surrounded by. 

My favourite character is Yaegashi Taichi (the dude on the left side with short brown hair from the image below). He is my favourite because he is very sensible. He is very caring and knows how to sensibly deal with girls. He is basically the ideal guy for a girl. I rate this anime 9/10. It is thrilling and every episode is a new mystery and experience for them.



5. Bonjour, Sweet Love Patisserie (JP: Bonjour Koiaji Pรขtisserie)

This anime consists of 24 episodes, each being no more than 5 minutes so you can watch all of them in around 2 hours if you have time to spare. It is quick but each episode contains its own drama and it is thrilling to see what happens next.
The main character, Sayuri (the middle girl), gets into an elite pastry academy in Tokyo through a scholarship due to her excellent skills and wants to become a pastry chef. The teachers are attractive but it is against the rules for any teacher-student relationship so she encounters with different situations everyday with the teachers and...

My favourite character is Yoshinosuke Suzumi (the guy at the back right with purple hair from the image below). It was a tough choice because all the characters were equally good but, he is my favourite because he represents the kind of teacher that I would like to have and become as well. Very practical and will give everything to teach his students. I rate this 8.5-9/10. It is amazing but I wish it was longer and a bit more drama happened to make it 10/10.


I have tried to provide the links of most of their trailers so you can get an insight of what to expect before investing your time into watching them. Apologies in advance as some trailers do not exist or are not subtitled in English but that is just a few of them.

Anything mentioned is my personal opinion, so please do not take my opinion as facts and I could have been biased unintentionally but this is how I truly feel about these animes. Some of these plots are quite unrealistic but that is the thrill about them. You might or might not like them but if you have time then give it a go. What anime would you recommend if you are also obsessed with anime? Also, would you like to make a similar post like this one but with anime that I did not like? Let me know!

I hope you enjoyed this post and do not forget to check back every week on Saturdays. Next Saturday I have another "Food for Thought" post with quite an intense topic in my opinion but you will have to wait until next week to find out. I am in the current phase of thinking about it myself and I am really passionate about ๐Ÿ™Š You might be too!


Take Care,


Yours, Nafiza

Saturday, 8 October 2016

Food For Thought: Friendship

Hey!



It's been a decade since I last posted a blog (at least that is how I feel in my mind). Today I have something a bit different from what I usually post. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but I do not have a theme for my blog so I will simultaneously post anything that crosses my mind. Hence why this is going to be  completely different theme. This is also my 40th blog post so ๐Ÿ˜Š


Friendship.... We have friends, we all do. It is something we have but we don't think about it a lot. I have been thinking about this for a while and I have been having too many questions. I am not sure if there are definite answers to this and it is fine if I don't get any. This is a food for thought post. It is to give you a chance to think about certain stuff that we don't think about in a daily basis but thinking about it every once in a while will not kill you.

What is friendship? I have so many friends but till this day I am not sure what friendship actually is. This is because in my mind a friend is a person to whom you are some step closer than an acquaintance. Sometimes I think a friend is a person that you can share anything personal such as family matters and love. I am sure a lot of people reading this are my friends so is this how you think of it as well?

In the friendship, there is also the "being a friend". Do you need skills to be a good friend or just go with the flow? In my 20 years of life, this is the first time thinking about it and it is very strange. A lot of us are blessed to have amazing friends in our lives, but what about the minority of individuals that do not have friends or never experienced what having a friend feels like? Why don't they have friends? What was lacking in them that led them to this sadness. Of course there are those who avoid people to succeed with studies and what not. But those who do not have that intention, what happened to them?

We make friends in school, college, uni, work, etc. When we move one step ahead in life, (e.g. college to uni), we fear that we won't make new friends and it will be a struggle to make new friends. Let's be honest, when we move ahead we meet new people and make friends and then reduce communication with our previous ones. That doesn't mean that we unfriend our old ones, we just reduce communication. Are we (especially me) working too hard to maintain our old friendships while being in new ones? Do our old friends still want to be friends with us or cut the friendship and we are the annoying person from the past?

Sometimes, a lot of friends have disagreements in opinions and we learn to respect their opinions while politely expressing ours. How does this friendship last? Is it okay for friends to disagree on opinions? I think yes! But will this friendship last? As a human, how long can you  keep sacrificing your opinion and listen to the one against? Disagreement can lead to hate. What if your friend isn't really your friend? Are they pretending to be your friend because they hesitate to step back? How would you know if your "friend" hates you and what do you do when you find out?

It is also not always the case that a friendship is "good" or "healthy". Sometimes it could be that the person you consider your "friend" is using you, materialistically. You are the path of their success but in a bad way. For example, you have a phone and your friend doesn't but he/she needs/wants to speak with their partner (bf or gf), are you their mean of communication/the phone provider of them but still tagged as "friend"? I don't mean to say that you should unfriend them if they want to use your phone. What I mean is, is this a healthy friendship where they are just getting the benefits from you without giving anything in return? In a lot of these cases we might encounter the person saying "I am so glad we are friends" or "I love you (as a friend)". Do they mean this for real? I presume no! Again, I am not saying about short favours every once in a while but I mean long term favours. As soon as they do not get what they need, it will not take them a second to turn their backs at you. Beware please!

I want to leave you with this last question to think about. Does friendship have a level/degree/parameter? Is there such a thing as very good friendship or weak friendship. Think about  all of these...


I may have been mumbling a lot of crap. This post is completely different from what I usually post and pure honesty, it is unscripted, which means I have just put almost everything that has come to my mind and what I have been thinking the past few days. I still have some things in my mind but I am not sure how to put that into words so I will leave them out. Am I just talking bakwaas (nonsense) or this is actually something to think about? Please reassure me!!! I hope you enjoyed this post and I shall be putting more of these kind of posts in the future.


If you have seen my Instagram and Snapchat stories, you will see I mentioned that I will explain why this post went live today (Saturday) and not on Wednesday. Well... I have come to the decision again that I am going to post a blog once a week and that is on Saturdays. There are several reasons to be coming to this conclusion. First one is that I am short in time. After I have started 2nd year of uni 2 weeks ago, I barely get time to do anything other than studying. It is a constant pressure. I even had to almost give up things I used to do in a daily basis and just focus on my studying. I want to do better this year (not that I did bad last year) so I want to focus on my studies. Second, I want to post good content. I have realised that my recent few posts have not been a good quality and that is not the the standards that I want to be working at. I would rather less often but post good quality for you to enjoy and not become a "spam" in your feed or messages. Third, and I feel bad to be saying this reason but, I am running out of ideas. Blogging twice a week is like 2 ideas per week and I need more time to explore this world full of wonders and get new blog ideas. If you like my posts, do not fear my friend because I will keep posting blogs and if you hate them then tough luck mate! Reducing blog posts does not mean I will stop. I do not intent to stop unless something happens. If you have any ideas please let me know. I will appreciate it a lot.

On that note, make sure to check back every Saturday and I just realised this post was a bit too long... Sorry...

Take Care,


Yours, Nafiza

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