Lost in Translation: Guest post

I was fourteen when I first listened to an Elvis Presley song. It was love at first tone. When I told my mom about my musical discovery, she smiled and showed me the Elvis cd's she'd had for years. She also hadn't listened to them in years, because she'd expected me to dislike the music. But that day, Elvis was heard all through the house.

What I'm trying to say with this? Nothing special, just that it doesn't matter how old you are, where you're from or what you've been through; music creates a bond. It can change lives, generation after generation. That's why I have today's guest poster Bryleigh from A Little Yarn Blossom with me here: to tell you what the awesomeness of music can do!

“Hey, I’ve heard that song before? Who’s it by?”

“The Red Hot Chili Peppers! I love them!”

I was at a Christmas party at my best friend’s house. I was 12, and I had no idea how those sentences would have an effect on me. We were dancing and singing along to a RHCP song, and I was hooked. I loved the sound, and the lyrics. That was one of the funnest days ever.

Fast forward to about a year and a half.

I’m getting close to 13, and I was sad. A lot. I felt misunderstood, and I was missing my best friend. She had moved to Pennsylvania. (She’s moved back since then) I was grounded a ton. Throughout that whole time, I listened to RHCP. They helped, and I felt a lot happier when I was listening to them. They’ve been sort of like comfort food. When I’m missing her, or just feel in the mood, I play them and feel happy.

We’ve fast forwarded to present time, and I’m sitting with the Mac. I’m blogging, and the song I was listening to just finished. I’m trying to figure out what song I want to hear while the commercials play. I look to see at what the people I’m following are listening to. My friend Abby had listened to a song called The Ballad of Mona Lisa by Panic! At The Disco.

Meh, why not? I can’t find anything I want to listen to anyway.

I clicked, and it began.

Herm. Not liking this song, maybe I’ll change it. The the chorus hit me.

WHAT THE F*** HEY I KNOW THIS SONG!!

I pulled off my earbuds and pulled the cord out of the Mac. The song blared out. “Do y’all remember this song?” I asked my sisters excitedly. “Yeah.” They said unexcitedly. From that moment I was hooked. (My sisters are too)

Music will always be a huge chunk of my life, and I love how it makes me feel.

4 Fellow Ramblers

November is my blogoversary month, so I thought it'd be a good idea to do some new things in my own little corner of the internet. I already have a contest open for entries right here. A little while later, Holly from Inky Quill and Paper sent me a lovely e mail and asked if I was interested in doing a guest post swap. This was an offer I couldn't refuse! So hereby I present you the very first guest post ever here at Picking up the Pieces, written by the amazing Holly!

Hi guys! It's Holly from Inky Quill and Paper here! These a lot of 'What if's' in the world. From that 'what if I had brought that dress' or 'what if I had the confidence to talk to that person on the train', everyone every single day thinks about what could have happened if something had or hadn't happen. Would my life have changed so much more than it is now? Would my relationships with other people be different now?

My big 'what if' in life is what would happened if I hadn't got into youtubers and the whole youtube video culture. Back when I was a few years younger, I wasn't involved in anything internet orientated. I had grown up a small, village primary school which didn't really make me interested into the whole internet based world. Once I reached secondary school, the internet hit me like a brick. There was MySpace and Skype and Facebook which people in my year already used regularly. I wasn't used to that whole world and I really didn't know how to work it.

Youtube was one of the last things that I got into. I didn't originally understand the whole concept of video watching but then I started to watch music videos which moved onto viral videos on the 'popular' homepage of Youtube and then onto short films. Short films moved to vlog channels such as Jenna Marbles and Joey Graceffa. Joey later introduced me to the british youtube group and their videos.

Via

I loved creating videos and being creative with my own ideas. I started out with creating short films with a small group of old friends under the channel name of 'Qualityroses Productions'. All the videos were based off books and our own ideas and we really felt progress every video. It was the start of my creative outlets online. I loved producing short films and the ideas kept me busy writing and rewriting scripts, casting and recasting characters and creating props and finding locations. It opened up new doors for possible careers for me as well. I feel in love with the idea of producing films. This was the first career path that I really wanted.

Youtube was one of the first place that I became properly aware of the blog world, also. I started to watch people like Zoella and SprinkleofGlitter in 2012/13 and often on their channels, they spoke about their blogs. This interested me and intrigued me quite a lot. What was this blogging concept? How do you find blogs? What do blogger do and write about all the time? Then, in the summer 2013, I researched into the whole blogging idea and started not only a blog but a youtube channel. Neither lasted very long but it gave me fresh new concepts of the internet world and taught me a lot about the whole blogging and vlogging world.

I continued my interest in the whole blog and youtube world over the next year. I then became ill and wanted something to do with my life so I was able to communicate with people every day without putting pressure on myself mentally and physically. A blog opened those doors and this was how Inky Quill and Paper was created and remained. Youtube opened a lot of doors for me and if it had never caught my interest, I think I would have really struggled this year. It's given me a chance to expand and express how I feel about things.

See ya on the flip side (or on my blog over at inkyquillandpaper.blogspot.co.uk),

Holly x

Want to do a guest post or swap posts too? Contact me with your idea!
Stay Awesome!

2 Fellow Ramblers