Wednesday 2 January 2019

Year 2018


WOW! This year has gone by so fast!
Hello to all of you absolutely amazing people!! As we draw a close to the end of the year 2018, there shall be great opportunities for us in 2019!
I know I have said that I needed to do certain things in 2018, but I did not do them. I know that there will be next year and I need to make it happen.

So what all did happen this year...?
Well I shall type some of the major events that happened this year that I have heard about. I shall also show what movies and music came out this year, and sadly, a few deaths that happened this year...

First off, here a few highlights of the year:
  • In January, there was a Super Blue Moon that took place. This is the first blue moon eclipse since 1983.
  • The winter Olympics was held in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February.
  • South African president, Jacob Zuma resigns as president after nine years in power.
  • There was a school shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed and 17 were injured.
  • In March, there was a "March for Our Lives" in Washington, DC, in which more than 900 cities internationally participated in demonstrating against gun violence and mass shootings.
  • The 2018 Commonwealth Games were held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
  • The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate, and Prince William welcomed their third child, Prince Louis.
  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle got married on 19 May this year, and the two are titled the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The wedding took place at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
  • In May, US President, Donald Trump, announced his intention to withdraw the US from the Iranian nuclear agreement.
  • In June, The 2018 FIFA World cup took place in Russia, and was won by France.
  • In July, there was the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century occurred and the planet Mars makes its closest approach to Earth since the year 2003. 
  • In August, Apple Inc. became the world's first public company to achieve market capitalisation of $1 trillion.
  • On 12 October 2018, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's Royal Wedding took place, and it was at the same location as Prince Harry and Meghan's. At St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
  • At the same time as Princess Eugenie and Jack's wedding, Meghan Markle announced that she is expecting her and Harry's first baby in the spring of 2019.
  • The Camp Fire ignited in Butte County, California. It has become California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, with 88 deaths and 18, 804 buildings destroyed.
  • In December, France experienced its worst civil unrest since the protests of the year 1968, due to the yellow vests movement.
  • This year, we sadly had to say goodbye to Stan Lee.
  • I discovered an online game called Fortnite, which everyone is playing at the moment.
2018 Deaths:
It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to these talented people: DJ Avicii; Barbara Bush and George H.W. Bush and Paul Allen, plus many more.
I have to admit, the death that affected me this year was Stan Lee, the legend! he was the co-creator of action heroes from the Marvel Universe, including creating the superhero Spider-Man - one of my favourite superheroes. Even though he retired in the nineties, he still continued to make cameo appearances in the Marvel movies.

This year my grandfather also passed away this year, and it was sad to hear of his passing. When I went to St. George's Chapel, I did light a candle for him. I did see my grandfather this year, and I am glad that I did get to speak to him.
I am sorry to all of you whose loves ones passed away...

Deaths of 2018...sadly...
Here are a few movies which were released this year:
Aquaman; Avengers: Infinity War; Mary Poppins Returns; Venom; Incredibles 2; A Star is Born; Second Act; Bumblebee; Ralph Breaks the Internet; Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald; Deadpool 2; The Grinch; The Nutcracker And the Four Realms; Ant-Man and The Wasp; Robin Hood; The Meg; Mission: Impossible Fallout; Holmes and Watson; Smallfoot; The House with a Clock in its Walls; Solo: A Star Wars Story; Mortal Engines; The Nun; Ocean's 8; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; A Simple Favor; Christopher Robin; A Quiet Place; Night School; The Spy who dumped me; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse; Rampage; Hotel Transylvania 3; Early Man; Teen Titans GO! To the movies; Johnny English Strikes Again; Paddington 2; Fifty Shades Freed and Braven.
Avengers; Infinity War made it into the Guinness Book of records 2019. It was the first superhero movie to gross over $2 billion worldwide, which broke numerous box office records, and also became the highest-grossing film of 2018. The movie also became the 4th highest-grossing film of all time.
The Solo: A Star Wars Story is the first film in the Star Wars franchise to be considered a box office bomb, which grossed $392.9 million worldwide.
Ralph Breaks the Internet grossed over  $350 million worldwide and also received mostly positive reviews from critics, who called the movie a "worthy successor" and also praised the animation, characters and humor. The film even received a Best Animated Feature nomination at the 76th Golden Globe Awards and also the 24th Critics' Choice Awards.
Aquaman has grossed over $751 million worldwide, which made it the 7th highest-grossing film of 2018. there was an announcement of an early Amazon screening, and Aquaman's first 24-hour pre-sale totals had become the highest in the history of Atom Tickets, which beat Avengers: Infinity War.
A Star is Born has grossed over $388 million worldwide and also received critical acclaim, with praise for Lady Gaga, Sam Elliot and Bradly Cooper's performances and Brad Cooper's direction.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, making it the 3rd film from the Jurassic franchise to pass the billion-dollar mark. This movie is the 3rd highest-grossing movie of 2018 and the 12th highest-grossing film of all time.

A few movie released in 2018.
Here are a few music albums that were released this year:
Fall Out Boy-Mania AND Lake Effect Kid; Of Mice and Men-Defy; Justin Timberlake-Man of the Woods; Toni Braxton-Sex and Cigarettes; Kylie-Minogue; Thirty Seconds to Mars-America; Breaking Benjamin-Ember; Loreena McKennitt-Lost Souls; Five Finger Death Punch-And Justice for None; New Years Day-Diary of a Creep; Jessie J-R.O.S.E AND This Christmas Day; Owl City-Cinematic; 5 Seconds of Summer-Youngblood; Christina Aguilera-Liberation; Bullet for my Valentine-Gravity; Halestorm-Vicious; Ariana Grande-Sweetener; Josh Groban-Bridges; Disturbed-Evolution; Michael Buble-Love; The Chainsmokers-Sick Boy; Amaranthe-Helix; Alan Walker-Different World and Ice Nine Kills-The Silver Scream.

A few albums released during 2018.
Ice Nine Kills released a few music videos, which lead up to the release of their new album The Silver Scream. These music videos also tell you a story each time, here is my current favorite song from them:


Bullet for my Valentine released a few music videos for their new album Gravity:


Josh Groban released a music video from his album Bridges:


Disturbed released a music video, plus a few lyric videos, from their new album Evolution:

On a more personal note:
I was lucky enough to visit the United Kingdom for a while, including going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. WOW! Was that an amazing place to be - bucket list-tick-done! I could not believe how many shops sold Harry potter merchandise. It was truly an amazing experience to behold!
I am thinking of posting a blog on its own with my time in London...If I do start typing about London on this blog, I will be typing for a long time. What I can tell you for now is that I went to see as much of London as possible, and I went to Windsor, which was absolutely lovely!! I can tell you that London was absolutely beautiful and is definitely a place you would want to see!

Me at the Harry Potter Studio Tour next to Buckbeak!
I was in a Quidditch match at the Studio Tour!
Me next to a telephone box in Windsor.


Reflecting back during the course of this year, I can say that I am happier with my body shape now. I can definitely see a change in my body, and this year, I had a better understanding on what foods are good for me and what foods are not.
I did start a program which was MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) inspired, and those exercises were really good.
I still consider Lucy Wyndham-Read and The Cara Collective as a huge inspiration for me. Cara is the main person who inspired me to start practicing Yoga and if you follow her on Instagram, you will see that Cara's posts are motivating and inspiring.
Lucy Wyndham-Read has started a 7 minute 7 day challenge this year, and there are quite  a few videos that you can follow. You can even choose four 7 minute 7 day challenges and that is your whole month of workouts done. Lucy's videos are also amazing to follow along as her workouts require no equipment, and if there is equipment involved, you can substitute with something else.

This year I have also started following Kayla Itsines workout programs. Her program does consist of equipment, but it is minimal and plus, you don't really need the equipment if you do not have it, or you substitute the equipment for something different. Even though I like body weight training mostly, this year, I have tried weight training too with dumbbells and a kettlebell. Kayla Itsines also has an app called SWEAT, and Kayla's workouts are short and will definitely give you results that you will notice within weeks. On Kayla's Instagram account, from what I have seen, she shares workout videos that you can follow as some of her fans request for workout videos and then she will share the video.
I have also discovered another Youtube fitness channel, Love Sweat Fitness. The channel has videos that are amazing to follow, and some of the workouts are quite short. The lady behind Love Sweat Fitness is Katie Dunlop, who also shares her weight-loss story on Youtube. Remember everyone, mostly everyone has struggled in their life to loose weight...remember that. The Love Sweat Fitness channel - or should I say LSF channel - is amazing for all you ladies. On her channel you will find HIIT, toning and weight training plus more! On the official website, if you sign up with LSF, you get a weekly workout schedule each week - isn't that amazing? The workouts are about 10 - 15 minutes each, so if you only following these workouts, you only workout about 10 minutes a day. I discovered LWF from seeing Katie on a video from POP Sugar Fitness. POP Sugar Fitness is also another great channel to follow for good workouts and exercise moves.
If you'd like to check out LSF on Youtube and social media, here are the pages:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovesweatfitness/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lovesweatandfit?lang=en
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovesweatfitness/?hl=en
Official website: https://lovesweatfitness.com/
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/LoveSweatFitness
For those who are interested in Kayla Itsines, here are her social media websites, plus here official website:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/k.itsines/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kayla_itsines
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kayla_itsines
Official Website: https://www.kaylaitsines.com/

I am still a vegetarian, however I have been consuming more vegan products this year. I have also been going a little more gluten-free this year. Going gluten-free is great to do. I do however still consume a few products that contain gluten, because if I do go completely gluten-free I do not think my body would handle gluten anymore. If you are a person who cannot have gluten, then that means would go gluten-free, but for those who can still have gluten, if you do go completely gluten-free, your body can build up a gluten intolerance - which means you cannot consume gluten anymore.

Me living a fit and healthy life!
I know I do type this probably each year, but next year I will definitely try to post more blogs. This year I did post a few blogs, but next year, I need to post a few more. I will try as much as I can to post at least one blog each month.

So 2018, it was lovely to see you. You flew by!
Now 2019, I am ready for you! I made it through 2018, I am ready for you 2019!
Just think, in 2019, you will have 365 opportunities to make a difference! I do hope you all had an amazing 2018!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!
HAPPY 2019!!

So long 2018! You were such a fantastic year!
I cannot wait to see what is in store for 2019!