SaimaSmilesLike is funny, smart, entertaining, and I really like that she's so positive about Islam, and open about the fact that it's a big part of her life.
Go check her out, I'm sure you'll like her stuff as much as I do!

ALSO: I wrote a short story that I was quite proud of, so you should go look at that, and remember to comment!

A few weeks ago, I got my haircut. And I was very happy with it. My "fresh trim" - as you young'uns like to call it - was definitely a vast improvement on my previous hairdo.

In fact, this was the general consensus- New Hair was cute, preppy and all the things I'd been going for when I had strolled into the hairdresser's three weeks ago.

But I've also got some... stranger comments.
Most notably of all, two people this week have told me that I look like a Downton Abbey character.

The first time, I was talking to a bunch of year 8s with some friends on the bus, and one of them screamed "OI! You like a girl off Downton Abbey!". That was fine.

Actually, I found it pretty funny, so I shrugged and jokily said "thanks" with a grin.
The second time was in a French class, and the topic of discussion was 'media'. We were discussing our favourite TV series, someone mentioned Downton Abbey, and a few of the people on my table decided that I look like a girl from the show.
At the time I took it as a compliment- who wouldn't want to look cute and '20s, with that short, sleek wavy hair? It's the perfect mix between fun, fresh and a little bit sultry, right?

But then I realised that the only female characters in the show are either a) uptight old ladies or b) slutty servant girls who work for the uptight old ladies. Now I'm not so sure how I feel about the compliment.

Still, I might have to take it- beggars can't be choosers!

So, give me some advice, guys! What's the best way to take a bad compliment? And just out of interest, do I look anything like the 1920s girls on the show? I'm not sure I really do, but I'm curious to see what you guys think- so comment below to tell me just how gorgeous and retro my new hair makes me look (go on, you know you want to)!

I was one of the people who had really great hopes for the Lib Dems before the election, and believed - in retrospect, slightly naively - that the small, left-wing, underdog party might actually try to make the changes that they had said they would pre-election. So I was very dissapointed by Nick Clegg's sudden turn against his policies.

And no apology- sincere or insincere, remixed or not- is every really going to change that.

Clegg lied to the people who voted for him, and his party has the lost the trust of a nation- in particular students, who, partly due to his sudden change of policies, now have to pay triple the amount for higher education.
So no, Clegg, I don't accept your apology. In two years time, I will have the vote, and I now know for definite that there's one party I won't be wasting it on.

Comment below if you can take Nick Clegg's apology seriously, or just politicians in general- I'm quite distrusting of them generally, these days, so I'm probably biased. Anyway, I love getting comments (comments on my blog make my life worth living), so put your answer below!

I may have forgotten to tell you all, but we're in need of a celebration. Party hats on, guys- it's the first EVER birthday of Not All About Boys!

Sure, it may have officially been back in August and it's now the 19th of September, but ah well... Anyway, we have a lot to celebrate, so I thought I'd just run you all through what we have achieved this year!

1. Getting off the ground
It may not seem like an achievement, just to get started properly blogging, but it took me about two years to get together all my energy and ideas and start a blog. And part of that is down to you. I would never have kept it up without constant encouragement from you guys, so thanks for that!

2. Drastically improving my mental health
Writing has always been important to me, but I've gone through a lot this year (losing a grandma, doing a professional opera in Germany, surviving the agonies of GCSEs, as well as just all the plain old struggles of growing up), so being able to just vent and get stuff off my chest in a productive way has been brilliant for me. I'm pretty sure that if I didn't have Not All About Boys, I would have completely lost it this year, and you'd have almost definitely seen some headline 'Teenage Opera Singer goes on Killing Rampage in Germany Rampage' in the papers.

3. Getting archived by the British Library
In February of this year, after just 6 months of blogging, Not All About Boys got archived by the British Library and now represents youth blogs for them! That's quite an honour, really.

4. Helping me to decide that I want to be a journalist
Before I started blogging last year, I had considered journalism, but I'd not really had any experience of it, and was playing with the idea of law as a career too. But now I've lobbed that idea out of the window and am throwing myself into journalism- much to the dissapointment of my parents, who were hoping I'd earn enough as a lawyer to put them both up in a house in Spain when they grow old! Well, sorry parents- I've made up my mind, and you're almost definitely not getting a European villa anytime soon...

5. Together, we wrote about 20 million signs.
As my long-standing readers will know, I love making signs. And this year has been my most productive sign-making year EVER!
And now I present to you... an EXCLUSIVE montage of loads of the signs I've made this year. Enjoy!

About a month ago, I recorded a cover of one of my favourite songs- 'Trouble Sleeping' by Corrine Bailey Rae. But I hadn't gotten round to uploading it until today (for various boring reasons that I won't go into). Anyway, here it finally is!

The recording is FAR from perfect (I had a bit of a cold, for starters!), but considering that we all turned up to the shoot without having memorised the words, practised it, or even looked at the music- and then managed put this video together within just two hours, I think it's pretty good!

As always, thanks a LOT to Yuanyi Zhu (my pianist and friend) and Asha O'Neill (my camera woman and friend by day, super hero by night).
Comment if you liked the video! I always appreciate feedback of all kinds- so make sure you say just how much you love me, down in the comments!

You might not have noticed it at first. In fact, you probably didn't raise much objection to it at all- but celebrities are taking over.
Now, I could look at a hundred different areas in our lives which celebrities are dominating right now (beauty, newspapers, magazines, fashion- just to name a few!), but today I'd like to focus on one which makes me particularly angry.
Documentaries.

See, whereas 'back in the old days' documentaries were hosted by knowledgable, often unattractive experts who were smart and knew their stuff, many TV channels have decided that those old presenters just weren't sexy or well-known enough!

So what did they do?
Replace the experts with much prettier famous people who just aren't experts- essentially dumbing down documentaries forever.

Case in point no.1: 'Can We Trust the PoliBce' hosted by actor Adam Deacon, which aired earlier this year.
Take a look at this short clip from the hour-long documentary.

I generally don't mind Adam Deacon- he's a good actor, and his performance as Space in my favourite TV show ever, Charlie Brooker's zombie series Dead Set was just perfect. But that's my point: he's an actor. And it seems that his only real credentials for presenting a BBC documentary on policing are the fact that he grew up in Hackney, an area known for its troubled relationship with the police, and that he's confident in front of a camera. The latter of which seemingly isn't even true- look how he's rocking back and forward in the video above, in and out of the shadow like he's scared of the cameraman or something!

Case in point no.2: 'How Clubbing Changed the World' hosted by Idris Elba, which aired in August.
Again, another actor (you may recognise him from The Wire?) thinking that he's an expert on something when he isn't. I'm sure that you'll agree that although Elba is a DJ and an actor, who has no doubt been to many clubs over the years, none of this makes him qualified to really comment on the social and economic changes which the phenomenon of clubbing has brought about. Very few people are- which is why it's a shame that Channel 4 didn't ask one of them to talk about the matter for an two hours!

I mean, just watch the first 40 seconds of the show, and you'll see what I mean!

Yeah that's right! Turn it up, NAAB NUTTERS- WE 'BOUT TO GO DEEEEEEP!
No offence to Elba, I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but this is quite possibly a case of 'the lights are on but nobody's home' syndrome. Or at the very least, that's what you'd think from the way he talks.

Case in point no.3: 'From Addiction to Recovery', hosted by Russell Brand and aired earlier this year.

This is an interesting one, because I actually quite enjoyed the documentary, and Russell Brand - who was famously a drug addict for many years, but came clean at the age of 27- was actually surprisingly good at getting to the bottom of the fact that government programmes designed to wean druggies off of substance abuse just don't work. It highlighted some interesting points, like how illegal drugs are currently seen as a criminal issue rather than a health issue- and the fact that methadone doesn't really work as a supplement for drug users.
'From Addiction to Recovery'- although hosted by a celebrity- was actually a pretty good exposé on society's attitude to drugs, which is why I brought it up. I didn't want to trash ALL celebrity-based documentaries, because , as we can see, they're not all bad.

So now that we've laid out all of the facts on celebrities hosting documentaries, I want to hear what you think! Do celebs playing experts on TV dumb down our programmes, or is it okay to have famous people presenting these shows if they have experience of police brutality or drugs- maybe it's more relatable for an audience to have heard of the person speaking before they hear what they have to say?
I know there are a lot of different opinions on this, so comment yours below, and we can get a nice little argument going in the comments!

Hey guys, sorry it has been a few days since my last post. I've been ever so slightly preoccupied with... well, just life, really!

As you may know, I started at a new school last week so I've been settling in, which of course is great fun, and everyone's lovely- but being the new kid is EXHAUSTING!

I've been shattered from being sociable and trying to make friends and talk to people all the time, but I've also been absolutely knackered from the AS work.

For my non-British readers (shoutout to the Russian and American NAAB NUTTERs- there are a surprising amount of you!), AS Levels are the exams you take when you're 17 in Britain- and they're REALLY tiring.

AS work is a MAJOR step-up from GCSEs, I've discovered.
I'm taking English Literature, History, French and Music, and I'm pretty much dying from all the work I've got on. Especially Music. Music is great and all, but the theory part (i.e. 70% of the course) is a nightmare, and I've forgotten EVERYTHING from Grade 5 Theory. Still, I'm trying really hard to work on through it, with as positive an attitude as I can muster up!

Oh and I know what you're all thinking. I'm at a teenage girl at a new school: have I seen any cute boys?
Well, a lady never tells...

Or maybe this...

Well, in the past year or so, the term 'religious clothing' has come to have an entirely different meaning. In short, it has become incredibly mainstream to wear religious symbols on a day-to-day basis.

This trend- originally the penchant of teenage hipsters, keen to break social protocol with their slightly sacrilegious get-up- has now broken into mainstream fashion. (Which I guess means that hipsters actually did like the craze "before it was cool". Who knew- the stereotype really does hold true!)

Anyway, take this top from high street clothes shop Urban Outfitters- plain black, with a leopard-print cross emblazoned across the front. What do you think? Sexy and cool in animal print, or plain old offensive and out of order? I'm not entirely sure...

OR... if you've already got more than enough christ-themed tshirts for the season, how about accessorising your look with this charming crucifix watch? A blue leopard print crucifix, this time- even more jazzy and mad than the tshirt. Once again, I'm not mad keen and I'm really not sure whether all these crosses in fashion is such a great thing.

I may not be a Christian, but I'm still not liking this trend. For me, non-religious people wearing Christian symbols, especially if they're not part of that religion anyway, kind of dilutes the whole message of the religon. Call me old-fashioned, but I think it's a little disrespectful...

But it's not just Christianity that's getting a high street makeover! Judiasm's getting a bit of an image-upgrade too with some exciting religious accessories (About time too! All those black clothes and nothing to break up the colour scheme?? Something needed to be done!). This is the Hamsa sign- an Islamic and Jewish symbol for life, fertility and protection against the evil eye. And now popularized by shops like TopShop and Urban Outfitters, so that 12 year olds can feel cultured and cool when they wear it!

But hey, being cynical is in my nature- I'm bound to dislike this trend. What do you guys think of this craze of wearing religious symbols all the time?
You already know what I think, so now I want to hear your opinion.
Comment below if you like the trend, and you're not offended by it at all- or maybe, like me, you think it can be a bit distasteful? Either way, I want to hear your thoughts on the issue!

We all know that teenagers are constantly given a bad name by the media.
The riots of last year? Blamed almost entirely on young people.
The endless "Youth mob attacks pensioner" stories that the Daily Mail dredges up?
The near-constant "Young people are antisocial thugs"

Well, we've had enough. Teenagers AREN'T thugs or yobs, and we're really trying to better our name!

This is the mission statement of Perception, a campaign being run by twelve British teenagers, who are determined to improve the image of young people!

In order to achieve their goal of challenging these negative stereotypes and preconceptions of young people, they're raising money by doing a sponsored walk in Enfield Town Park, which will all go to the Rose Taylor Day Centre in Enfield, a centre for the elderly. Perception are also speaking to the people that use the Rose Taylor Day Centre, and volunteering to help them out at their allotment. The money raised from their sponsored walk is going to help them to build a sensory garden for the centre, which will be for the community in Enfield.

I think it's a great cause, and I really admire the twelve teenagers involved for taking real action to improve the public image of teenagers, as well as helping their community. It's also particularly poignant for me that their cause is helping the elderly, because I think that -alongside young people- the elderly are a portion of society that often get forgotten, so it's nice to appreciate them by putting the money towards something that will benefit old people!

If you'd like to contribute to the Perception campaign, you can either sponsor them on their walk in Enfield Town Park on the 15th September (where you can go to cheer them on!), or you can make a pledge at their website 'Perception I Pledge'. I'll certainly be sponsoring a fiver towards their cause!

As September ploughs on, completely merciless to the whims of children and teenagers up and down the country, it's back to school for me!

Well, actually it's not back to school. I'm changing to go to a different sixthform, which is... scary but exciting!

Anyway, I've tried my best to prepare for the new school- yesterday I did the annual mad dash to WHSmiths to stock up on stationary, and as you can see, I got 4 MASSIVE folders (1 for each A Level subject), biros, highlighters, a ruler (because I accidentally snapped about three last year) and tipex- because I'm really quite messy in my work.

(Sidenote: I love buying stationery, it makes me feel like I'm going to be really productive and organised, but then I never am. Comment if you feel the same way!)

I've also bought a shed-full of new clothes for sixthform, because the dress-code is 'Smart Casual'. At first when I read this, I just thought it meant 'Nice and Clean-looking' i.e. basically anything as long as it's not slutty. But no- alas, I was soon told that not even jeans are permitted! And I'm pretty sure my dirty denim Converse would be frowned upon, so it's pumps for me for the next two years!

And of course, I got my hair cut. Can't possibly start at a new school without a new hairdo!

But more than just these little adjustments to my life, I think the biggest change is that I'll be the new kid again.

We've all been there- not knowing anyone, getting completely lost every five minutes (especially with my sense of direction), the fear of embarrassing yourself in front of your classmates...

I'll admit, it's all a bit scary, and of course I'm a tiny bit nervous.
But I think it's the good kind of nervous! The kind that forces you to do new things, and to talk to people, and makes you a better, stronger person in the end.

So there's my message to the kids who are changing schools this year- it's good to have nerves, but just make sure that you don't let your nerves get too much and stop you from doing things. And if you're not changing school, I just wish you luck for this year- I definitely feel like it's going to be a good one!