Before I start this post I would like to say that I am returning from my unannounced sabbatical. This was due to personal reasons that I am not going to cover, because somethings should remain private and off of the internet, but just know I am doing better than ever now.   

As a teenager I suffered from viral acne; horrendous, painful and extremely bloody. To control this issue I had to take some heavy duty medication which turned off the oil ducts in my face, thus resulting in dry skin and lips, something I had to maintain so that bleeding and pain did not occur throughout my treatment period. The medication took a year and a half to clear my skin, and only minimal scaring remained, something I have been self conscious about for five years of my life. Once the treatment period ended, the oil ducts in my face have turned back on, but not the full extent that they once were and I only get blemishes due to hormonal changes once a month, something I can easily deal with, but the issue still stood about dry skin, so through trial and error I have found the most effective and cost effective skin care routine for myself. I now get comments about how beautiful my skin looks, and that is such a change from the bullying that I suffered that the hand of a genuine viral infection. So continue to read on for my personal skin care routine, and just for a little extra, I have thrown in my hair care routine.

Clear skin actually starts from within. Despite having to take medication as a teenager to clear up my acne infection, I know that clear skin begins with what you consume. Dairy, sugar, and oils all contribute to increased oil production and blemishes on the skin. I'm one of the lucky ones that does not get blemishes from dairy (cheese is one my favourite foods), but sugar and oils do lead me to have a small blemish or two, so I tend to drink only water and coffee, and even then I have only one, maybe two coffees per day (more now that I have higher fatigue levels due to iron deficiency which is very common in women often due to regular blood loss and reduced iron absorption, but that is a story for another time). I aim to drink two to three litres of water a day, which besides being good for the skin, is great for the kidneys, liver, urinary system, and blood, and basically the entire body benefits from this. I barely drink soft drink, juices, and never drink cordials. I hear you screaming now, just give us a list of products that you use on your skin, so okay enough about the benefits of water, here are the products I use.

Cleansing/Face Wash/Mask/Spot Treatment

As I barely have blemishes on my skin, and these blemishes often only appear once a month due to hormones (hormonal pimples often occur on the chin and are much larger and more red than your common yellow pimple), I tend to use a very gentle face wash, and then once a week I use a gentle exfoliater and mask. 

For my everyday cleanser I use Garnier Fructis Naturals Pure Active Fruit Energy Energising Cleasing Gel. This is very soft and gentle on the skin and does not dry out the skin. I use a facial cleasing brush to apply this which eliminate extra oils on the skin from the fingers. Unlike the recommendation to use a cleanser twice a day (once in the morning and once at night), I only cleanse my face at night time after I have showered. 

For my exfoliater I use Garnier Fructis Pure Active Fruit Energy Energising Exfoliating Gel. I specifically chose this as it was in the same line as the cleanser and because I knew that Garnier products work well for my skin. The recommended amount of times to use this during a week is two to three times, I however only use it once. This is just due to personal preference and that I train in taekwondo multiple times a week resulting in sweat build up, so on a Saturday night when I know on a Sunday I will be doing no exercise for that day, I will exfoliate that night to remove and debris from my face for that week. 

The same night I exfoliate I will then use a mask. On the nights I exfoliate I use a mask that is hydrating. The typical mask I use for hydration is Montagne Jeunesse Creamy Coconut. This masks is specifically designed for hydration and contains coconut water and shea butter. When I have extra blemishes and when I just want something about more skin tightening I use Montagne Jeunesse Mud Pac. This mask is specifically designed from pore cleaning and due to this being a mud mask, tightens the skin as it dries. I use masks for more problem issues I have with my skin. I also use the Nutrimetics Clear Spot Correcting Gel on any blemishes to dry them out a remove them from my face.

Tackling Hydration 

Morning Routine     

I begin my morning skin care routine using a toner. The toner I use is by an Australian brand that uses only natural ingredients and is 100% vegan and 100% carbon neutral. I use Sukin Hydrating Mist Toner. This toner contains rosewater, chamomile and is completely alcohol free. This toner is specifically designed for all skin types. Toners are important in a skin care routine as they rest the pH balance of skin. This particular one is very cost efficient and I find it to be very hydrating. The great thing about it being a mist toner is that is can be spray whenever over the face, whether this be over makeup or later in the day when your skin is feeling dry throughout the day without reapplying a moisturising cream. 

Over the toner I use a day cream also by Sukin. I use Sukin Hydrating Dy Cream with Rose Hip Oil. I apply this using a foundation brush then rubbed it in my my fingers. Applying it with a brush to begin with reduces the amount of oils transferred from the fingers. Obviously there will be some from rubbing in the cream, but using a brush limits it to just that one transfer. I use the day cream most days, but some days when I am in a rush or when my skin has blemishes I use a lighter moisturiser. I use Sukin Facial Moisturiser for Sensitive Skin. This is more lightweight than the day cream, but still provides moisture to the face. I apply makeup over the top of these products, often without a primer as these provide so much moisture. 

Night Routine

The first step of my routine is to apply oil to my face. I use Essano Rosehip Oil. This particular rosehip oil also contains acai berry antioxidant oil. This is an organic natural brand as well. I use this as it provides extra hydration and it helps with reduce acne scarring, and redness. This has no real smell which is great as highly perfumed products cause me to have allergic reaction breakouts. I apply this by applying a few drops onto my face and rubbing it in with my hands. Instead of just a light rubbing into the skin, I massage it into the skin. 

 

The second step of the routine I apply the a night cream. Once again I use a Sukin branded one. I use Sukin Calming Night Cream for Sensitive Skin. I apply it to the face with a brush and the massage it in with my fingers. There is no smell at all for this cream. The best part of Sukin products is that they last for a very long time. The products have a six month expiry date on them, and guess what, they last the entire six month period.  

Body Hydration

For body hydration I use two different products. For my legs, stomach, breasts, and feet, I use Vaseline Intensive Care Coca Glow. This body lotion is quite thick. For my shoulders, neck, arms and back and I like to use a more water based body lotion. I use Glow Lab Body Lotion. This is a thinner body lotion and does not leave a shiny sheen over the skin, which I don't hate, but don't want to have that on my neck and shoulders. This particular body lotion is great in the aspect that it cools body temperature. I use these after showering.

  

I have no particular favourite lip balm, and find most to work for me. I have a particular lip scrub I use, this being Lush Lip Scrub. When I buy a new jar, I change the flavour every time. At this present time I am using a Lip Smacker Disney Emoji Belle Lip Balm; rose flavoured. 

Hair Care

I don't have a particular shampoo and conditioner that I use, I just tend to use what is in the shower at the time that I shower, except when I have had blonde in my hair, and I used purple shampoo and conditioner at this time. After washing my hair I use Garnier Fructis Miraculous Oil Brushing Express in damp hair. I concentrate on the ends of my hair where the most damage has occurred. I will then dry my hair and use any heat product. This oil is a heat protectant and reduces frizz and makes it easier to brush my hair. When my hair is dry I use HASK Unwined Rosé Wine 10 In 1 Leave-In Spray. This is a product that I have just discovered and the fact it was wine inspired had me buying it instantly. It makes my hair so soft, smooth and shiny. 

 

Disclaimer: I have decided that on this blog I am going to start covering different criminal cases, miscarriage of justice cases, and other cases that spark my interest. As someone with a background in Forensic science, I am going to try and give different cases perspectives from a Forensic science stand point as well as giving as many facts about the cases.  This is going to be done out of the want to bring more light to cases that may not even been know, or to provide insight into where bad Police and Forensic work has occurred. 

Back on the 11th of January 2013 the body of teenager Kendrick Johnson was found inside a rolled up mat in the gymnasium of Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, U.S.A. The initial cause of death stated that Johnson's death was accidental suffocation, with the specific autopsy results stating Johnson died of positional asphyxia, after Johnson fell into the mat to retrieve a shoe that fell in first. This conclusion led the Lowndes County Sheriff's department to label the death accidental, this resulting in the inquest into Johnson's death to conclude.

Police during the initial investigation, have claimed that they had spoken to students at the high school. The three students who were spoken to claimed that it was common for students to store shoes behind or under the gym mats where Johnson was found. One student claimed to share a pair of shoes with Johnson and that Johnson was known to jump onto the mats and threw the shoes into the holes of the gym mats. From this information provided, Officers hypothesised that Johnson's death could only be accidental. This conclusion contradicted with Johnson's family who hypothesised that the victim was murdered. 

On the 15th of June 2013 an independent autopsy was undertaken. The family of Johnson funded this autopsy. This second autopsy concluded that blunt force trauma occurred to the right of Johnson's neck and various soft tissues. The official autopsy report stated that the findings were not consistent with positional asphyxia*. This suggested that the victim's death was not accidental. This new information allowed the family to proceed with legal proceedings. On the 31st of October 2013 the U.S attorney announced that there would be a formal review into the death of Johnson. This review was delayed due to further legal proceedings filed by the family that demanded that the governor of Georgia authorise an inquest instead. The Governor's office stated that no inquest would be made until the U.S Attorney's review had been completed.   

A third autopsy was carried out and concluded that the cause of death was non-accidental blunt force trauma. 

When the independent autopsy was carried out it was found that there were no internal organs present when Johnson's body was received, and the body was in fact stuffed with newspaper. This may seem strange to people who do not know any proceedings with funeral homes. The funeral home had placed newspaper in Johnson's body when dressing the body for the funeral. This practice is an old one that is not often used to fill empty cavities where organs should be, but most commonly cotton and sawdust are used. These empty cavities had to be filled as the funeral home never received Johnson's organs from the coroner's. The prosecutor had claimed that the organs had been removed and discarded before Johnson was sent to the funeral home. 

The high school had 35 surveillance cameras that overlooked the gym in which Johnson's body was found. The November of 2013 saw 290 hours of footage being submitted to CNN for investigation after the court awarded this to happen. A Forensic analyst was enlisted to investigate footage from two cameras that were missing a total of 65 minutes of footage from one camera and 130 minutes from the other camera. The analyst found that where lapses were seen was the result of unsynchronised camera systems. It was also determined that where the mats were situated was actually out of range of camera view. Originally it was believed a cover up had occurred, but through this investigation it was determined that the position of cameras and unsychronised systems gave the appearance of doctored footage.

This cases, like most unsolved cases, has many theories and misinformation surrounding it. Various sources state that Johnson's body was found headfirst in the mat. This information is true, Johnson's body was found this way. Where the credibility falls short is that some sources state that the gym mat opening diameter was smaller than Johnson's shoulder width, suggesting that in order for the victim to be found within the mat, he would have had to been, for a lack of better term, stuffed into the mat. In conjunction with the second and third autopsy reports stating blunt forced trauma was the cause of death, the most likely way for Johnson to be found in the gym mat would be for an assailant to put the victim there after death. 

One source stated that dried blood was found on the wall of the gymnasium, shoes and a hoodie not belonging to Johnson were found at the scene. This particular source claimed that Police did not test these items. Due to this source only speculating this, I cannot say if this is in fact the truth. If however this is the truth, then this is bad Police and Forensic work. The blood on the wall should have been tested to link it to either the victim or anyone that may have been present at the time of the incident. The hoodie may or may not be linked to the crime. This at a forensic stand point would not be on a high enough relevance to warrant the spending to test it, however the shoes were speculated to be found on the mat above Johnson's body. These should have been tested in relevance to the crime. This source also stated that the Police did not cordon off the scene, the CCTV footage is missing from the time of Police investigation of the scene, and that the Coroner was not called until six hours after the Police entered the scene. I cannot find sources that support that claim, yet I cannot find any that refute it either, so it remains in question.  

The exceptionally hard part of this particular crime is that it occurred in a school where thousands of students frequent. This makes DNA evidence really hard, not to obtain DNA, but to distinguish if the DNA is transferred or it came from the incident. The cost alone to DNA test the gym and then having to find suspects for the crime, as you must have a reasonable amount of evidence to have someone give DNA evidence, would be astronomical. So for people who are going to say, "let's just DNA test everyone in the high school and then DNA test every article related to the crime scene to find out who the majority of the DNA came from and hopefully find a match," this is a very unreasonable idea. The cost is just too high that the items that are of most relevance are the only items that will be tested, and finding a match is harder as unless the assailant is, or a close family member is on a criminal database, there will be no matches available to even go forward with investigation resulting usually in a cold case.       

In my personal opinion, I believe that the police investigation was a product of conformational bias. This is a form of bias that forms when an individual/s (the Police in this case) already has a preconceived idea about what happened. This often leads to ignoring crucial evidence and the development of patterns that are often not there. In this case the Police believed that the death was accidental very early on into the investigation. This transitioned to the coroner and resulted in the wrongful conclusion from the autopsy. 

Many theories surrounding who may have killed Kendrick Johnson have arisen. I personally do not want to comment on these theories as the theories themselves are quite complex and some cannot have even occurred due to proof via alibis and CCTV footage. So far there is no true suspect, just various theories. So far this case remains unsolved, and it is unclear if any further criminal investigation is likely to occur.  

My final thoughts on this case is that it was wrongfully handled from the beginning. Police had preconceived ideas about the event and how it occurred, resulting in an incorrect conclusion. This makes this case a miscarriage of justice case. The family deserve to know what happened to Johnson and the assailant deserves to be identified and charged. Due to the early ruling of this being an accident no murder weapon was investigated, so I personally would like to see a weapon type try to be matched to the injuries. I would like to see if there was fingernail scrapings taken from the victim during initial forensic examination, and if swabs were taken from the clothing of the victim.      

*link to official autopsy report by Dr. William R. Anderson

Author Note 1: the organs may have been destroyed prior to the second and third autopsies, but microscope slides from the first autopsy were given to the independent examiner. 

Author Note 2: the image that comes up of Johnson's body from a Google search that shows a bludgeoned and bruised body is that from after the autopsy occurred. 

Now I'm that person that hates cooking, so anything that I can do to limit the amount of time in the kitchen, the better, and I despise cooking in the morning. From that, I decided that I needed to prepare my breakfasts in advance, and this is where I created this recipe. Now this recipe has the texture and look of cake, but it has none of the bad elements that cause weight gain and health issues. It is not a cake however, and I am labeling it as baked oats, a recipe that is full of all the goodies that you need in a healthy balanced diet. 

Ingredients 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) 
2. Sift together the oat flour, quinoa flour, half the cinnamon, and the baking soda
3. Add in milk and eggs and beat until the mixture is the consistency of cake batter
4. Pour mixture into a greased cake tray/tin 
5. Cover the top of the mixture with the apricot, blueberries, rolled oats, and the remainder of the cinnamon 
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the knife comes out clean   
7. Allow to cool
8. Slice and store in an airtight container

This recipe can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, or frozen for two months.

  * If you don't have access to oat flour, or you find oat flour too expensive, you can make your own by grinding up the desired amount of rolled oats in a blender.

**  If you don't have access to quinoa flour, or you find quinoa flour too expensive, you can make your own by grinding up the desired amount of quinoa in a blender. Always rise the quinoa before use as this removes the bitter taste.    

What happened to the days where people wrote love letters? What happened to the days where people spoke face-to-face? What happened to the days where real romance existed? What happened to the days when people actually valued who they slept with, and showed it as a sign of love, not just a pleasure seeking activity? Maybe I was born in the wrong era; the wrong decade.

All I want is for someone to come into my life and not expect me to spread my legs so quickly. I want to meet someone who I do not have to seek through the internet and apps. I want to have a real conversation about literature, about art, about music. I want that epic romance that only belongs in books, and in history. 

My idea of love is meeting a person is a place you yourself care about, maybe it is a bookstore, a record store, an art gallery, the museum, the place you go for comfort. My idea of love it not being the object of desire, but an object of admiration and respect. My idea of love is not having expectations, but taking things as they present themself. 

When did my generation decide that love was proving your love by the use of your body? That is not love. Love is in the touch, love in words you use, love is your partner that you are there for them no matter what. Love is not what you use your body for (however it can be at times). Love is taking your partner and showing them they are your world. Love is trust and communication. Love is comfort. 

This is something we, millennials, have lost. We as a generation have lost everything about love that makes it love. We have lost our abilities to communicate, our abilities to show people we care. Maybe I am stuck in a fantasy world, but to me romance is dead. I need to accept the fact that the love I so ever crave will never present itself to me, and that as much as I desire to be swept off my feet, they are going to remain firmly on the ground. Maybe it is not even love I crave. Maybe what I yearn for is human contact. Maybe the issue is that we have lost the ability to communicate. Now that my old timely view of romance is dead, I will crave it more.

13 Reasons Why just dropped on Netflix and it has got the world talking about teen suicide, rape, rape culture, sexism, mental illness, and bullying. It is extremely overdue that a TV show even begins to talk, and depicts these issues on a large global scale that is Netflix. This poses the question, why in the 21st century, is teen suicide still a taboo topic? Why is it we can talk about things such as euthanasia and war, but we cannot talk about one of the highest killers in the western world? There is a truth is saying it is the silent killer. So, let's talk about suicide, and even more so teen suicide. 

I personally know an individual that committed suicide in her teen year. I however will not speak of her story for privacy reasons as it is not my story to be telling as I was not close enough to her to know every thing about this situation, but I will comment on how heavily it impacted me. I did not know her well, and yet I could not help, but to think what if I had just said to her once, 'I am here to talk to you.' I know I should not make her story about me, but if I am to speak about her suicide I do need to touch on my own emotions. I also have a friend who attempted suicide and was unsuccessful and another who had written a note to her parents and thankfully, never went through with her plans to commit suicide. I also know two other teenagers who have killed themselves over the last two years. The friend who tried to kill themself, well I was shocked when someone told me they were in the ICU; I had no idea that they even thought that way. This is just proof that suicide is the silent killer. 

I did a quick search on the two words 'teen suicide' on Google and I got 58,800,000 results. I then did a search on my University's data base and I got 61,938 results for academic sources. With a combined total of 58,861,938 results, it is hard to understand why this topic is not one that is spoken about openly. I cannot remember once during high school ever having a class or discussion involving a teacher that specifically talked about depression or suicide, we had many talks and classes about bullying, but never one about suicide or depression. I'm not going to name the school, but you failed, you had one student attempt suicide and another actually succeed at committing suicide. You failed those two teenagers. The speech that was given after the student actually died was too late and achieved nothing, because it had already failed.

I have a question, why is there a large focus on bullying in schools and the mentality that bullying is the cause of the unhappiness of students at a school, but so many other influences are blatantly ignored? Yes, normally bullying is a largest influence for teenage suicide, but that in no right means ignore the other issues that could influence a young individual to even have the slightest thought that them dying is the best option. High schools are not protecting their students enough. Even primary schools are not doing enough to protect their children. 

I know one specific event at a local primary school (family members attend this school) near me where a student tried to commit suicide during school hours. As far as I am aware, the older students (from grades 4-7) were not given an in depth assembly addressing this issue or even asked how they were impacted by this event, and I am lead to believe it is due to the fact that this school does not have a counselor qualified to deal with this situation. So, this leads to the point that maybe an issue is in Australian schools is that to be a school counselor you only need a degree in Education and have done a short course in the mental health, that these "counselors" are not qualified enough to even make a difference in the mind set of at risk youth. Perhaps Mental Health Nurses should be posted in every school across the nation just to attempt to combat the ever increasing numbers across Australia. 

Let's talk about the statistics: 

In 2015 there were 3,027 deaths due suicide Australia wide. 76% of those people were males, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were twice as likely to commit suicide than those who are non-Indigenous. In comparison to the annual death rate suicides account for 16.3 per 100,000 deaths in Tasmania, 10.8 per 100,000 deaths in Victoria, 13.4 per 100,000 deaths in South Australia, 15.0 per 100,000 deaths in Western Australia, 21.0 per 100,000 deaths in the Northern Territory, 15.7 per 100,000 deaths in Queensland, 10.6 per 100,000 deaths in New South Wales, and 11.6 per 100,000 death in the Australian Capital Territory. The Northern Territory has the highest rate per 100,000 due to the large Indigenous population that resides there. 

ACT:

In 2015 46 people died due to suicide (36 males; 10 females). This was an increase from the 38 suicides recorded in 2014.

NSW: 

In 2015 815 people died due to suicide (621 males; 194 females). This was an increase of the 795 suicides recorded in 2014.  

NT:

In 2015 50 people died due to suicide (32 males; 18 females). This was an decrease from the 54 recorded suicides in 2014.

QLD:

In 2015 746 people died due to suicide (568 males; 178 females). This was a large increase from the 648 recorded suicides in 2014. 

SA: 

In 2015 236 people died due to suicide (174 males; 62 females). This was a decrease from the 240 recorded suicides in 2014.

TAS: 

In 2015 85 people died due to suicide (67 males; 18 females). This was an increase from the 69 recorded suicides in 2014. 

VIC: 

In 2015 654 people died due to suicide (501 males; 153 females). This was a increase from the 646 recorded suicides in 2014. 

WA: 

In 2015 394 people died due to suicide (292 males; 102 females). This was an increase from the 374 recorded suicides in 2014.

In 2015 8.5 of all deaths in Australia that occurred on a daily basis were due to suicide. In the age group 15-19 in 2015, there were 89 males and 56 females that committed suicide out of the 3,027 suicides that occurred Australia wide that year. In the age group 20-24 in 2015, there were 192 males and 54 females that committed suicide out of the 3,027 suicides that occurred Australia wide that year*.

Let's Talk About the Signs:

Signs are not limited to this list, and some may not even present any signs 

REFERENCES: 

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Causes of Death, Australia, 2015. Catalogue No. 3303.0. Belconnen, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia. Accessed September 28, 2016 from:http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/47E19CA15036B04BCA2577570014668B?opendocument  - See more at: http://www.mindframe-media.info/for-media/reporting-suicide/facts-and-stats#sthash.hAwK0IiU.dpuf

*http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/47E19CA15036B04BCA2577570014668B?opendocument

** http://jasonfoundation.com/youth-suicide/warning-signs/ 

*** https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/youth-suicide-the-warning-signs

 

 

 

   

Nearly six months ago I purchased tickets to one of my favourite band's concert in my hometown. That band would be Twenty One Pilots |-/. It was a long wait for me to attend that concert, but it finally came; the 29th of March 2017 (also Tyler and Jenna Joseph's second wedding anniversary). It was an eventful day that one. I was awake at 5:30am, not because of excitement, but because the life of a Forensic and Analytical Science Student was beckoning. I had a practical laboratory to complete that morning; Rate of Isomerism of cis[Co(en)₂Cl₂]Cl. Needless to say, I tried to complete that lab as quickly as possible to get home to compose and ready myself for the excitement of the night. 

4:30pm came and my brother and myself set out for the arena of the concert, but not before we stocked up on Subway for dinner and box of Oreos to scoff down when stuck in the traffic away from the venue after the concert. We, my brother and I, sat in the car and ate our early dinner before lining up in front of the venue, but not before I could convince my gullible younger brother that I left the tickets at home. 

6:15pm, the doors opened. We were near the front of the line, so our wait to get in was less than 5 minutes; the perks of us buying Sliver Reserved Seating, not having to get to the venue at 6am to be anywhere close to the front near the stage. My brother and I rushed to the bar to get our overly inflated priced water ($5 for water. I repeat, $5 for water!). We then went to take our seats. We had a view of the entire stage and the pit, which we watched the people rush, push, and sprint despite securities' instruction, to get to the front. 

7:15pm, SAFIA, the support act went on. This was a band I had never even heard of before, but I actually did know a song that they were on. I had no idea that they even featured on this track and I was pleasantly surprised. This so is 'Take Me Over" - Peking Duk and SAFIA. They did well to get the crowd pumped and ready for Twenty One Pilots.

 

8:30pm, time for Twenty One Pilots! Now, because if I detail everything that happened, there would be no point of ever going to see Twenty One Pilots in concert, I am going to keep details rather vague. Let's just say that the opening was part of the rap from 'Fairly Local' and let's just say 'Heathens', 'Stressed Out', 'Tear in My Heart', and 'Ride' were all played throughout the night. 

 

All in all, this was one of the most amazing concerts I have been to, if not one of my top two all time favourite concerts I have ever attended, and I have been to more than I can count. Every single minor detail was carefully planned out and executed, and the boys, Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph sure know how to please an audience. 

 

In conclusion, have my top five Twenty One Pilots' songs to cure that PCD and FOMO.