About me

I've been reading The Hunger Games lately, along with half the book geeks in my life, it seems; and there's a part where the protagonist grounds herself in reality by reciting things she knows to be true about herself.

Well, thinking about it, I don't exactly have an About Me any more - not since changing my blog profile to this G+ thing - and since every other bio on the internet wants me to say everything in three lines, that means I can't really take my time over it.

So, I'll do it here. My blog, my rules! Haha!

About Me

• My name is Anna Fruen.
• I'm 24.
• I live in Cardiff, but grew up on the Isle of Wight, just off the south coast of England.
• I play the ukulele. Not because I'm good at it, but because it makes me happy.
• I write and perform poetry. Not because I'm good at it, but because I want to be understood.
• I just got a poem published for the first time! It's in this here kindle ebook, which costs only 299 British pennies.
• I'm terrified of the thought of going into space.
• I adore graffiti, and exploring to find it.
• I've recently gotten into urban exploration (wandering around abandoned sites and taking photos until a man with a flashlight asks you nicely to leave).
• I have a degree in English and Creative Writing.
• I don't have a job. I do want a job. Please give me a job.
• Those last two may be more related than I'd like.
• The first time I considered dying my hair purple, my best friends in the world tried to talk me out of it. They tried to steer me towards blonde.
• I still dye my hair purple sometimes.

I don't really know what else to say, other than thank you. The people who read my blog do it, so I'm assured, because they care about me. Even if that's only a little bit true, you care enough to read my words and that means the world. So thank you.

Here is a song I like.

Recap

I really have been neglecting you, haven't I. I'm very sorry about that. I think it's because my life is full of people now, so I rarely feel the need to reach out to the internet.

It all changed rather abruptly; I moved in with a friend from uni and his housemates, and suddenly it was as if I'd pushed off downhill in a shopping trolley. Sometimes the road steepens and sometimes it levels out, sometimes the road is especially bumpy, but I love the ride. And extended metaphors.

There's a lot of things I can't write about for privacy reasons. This blog is connected to my real identity and pseudonyms wouldn't protect the anonymity of anyone who knows me and my my friends, so to a certain extent I've had to curtail my desire to write about my experiences.

Let's see, what shape is my life right now...
I work in retail, in a job with great customers. It doesn't earn me much because it's only around two shifts a week. I'm also working as a volunteer for a Cardiff-based publishing company! I've mentioned that, I'm sure, but it's great and exciting and scary and stressful all at once.
Every week we have Drunken Sunday, where loads of our friends come over and we talk, drink, laugh and generally make merry. Drunkenness entirely optional, of course. Sometimes I'm in the middle of everything, flirting outrageously and loving the attention, and sometimes I sit in the corner and just smile because I feel so lucky to be there.

I am, you know. Very lucky. My friends are passionate, interesting, talented people, and easy on the eye to boot! Truth be told, sometimes I feel unworthy. The ol' self-esteem is kind of at an ebb right now. So it goes. I've gained a bit of weight over the past year due to not cycling any more (some helpful person put Ben's 5-digit lock on my bike, so it needs some trial-and-error codebreaking and an awful lot of TLC before I take it back out on the road). It shouldn't matter, and it's not like I think I'm ugly, but every time I see my body I'm disappointed and low. Such a shame. With a bit more confidence, I'd be having a lot more fun!

I am having fun though. Trying new things, going on adventures... On Monday morning (after two hours' sleep and a Drunken Sunday), I went up Garth mountain with my friends. Admittedly I was, er, bringing up the rear - as I say, I'm not in great shape at the best of times - but I made it up eventually and thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. And the night was just magical. It's rare to feel that close to a group of people.

I hope you're all well, and again, I'm sorry for the rather lacklustre attempts at blogging lately. You deserve better. I'll try to up my game!

Love,
A x

Corrupted (plus photo recap)

Well, it's official, my mind has been broken.

I was helping out with the lounge today, which is an event not unlike Soul Café for an older patronage (so, no dance mat. Boo!) It's held at our church, Woodville Baptist. It was a lot of fun, and I even know how to make lattés and stuff now (although, hey, let's not test that knowledge just yet).

But yes, the guys I was helping refer to the various coffee contraptions by female pronouns, as you do. And at one point, someone was making a hot chocolate, and that particular contraption was a bit tricky to use, and he said "Ooh she's a squirter... nice." And I was the only one who laughed.
Ok, right now half of you are laughing, and the other half are thinking "I don't get it," because I have a wonderfully diverse readership like that. But essentially that was the moment I realised that I have been seriously warped by the people I hang around with.

Hang on. I didn't say that was a bad thing. The way I see it, I just have a whole new sense of humour to supplement my regular sense of humour. Only, the new one involves piles of dead babies, and ducktaping cats.

In other news, I realise I'm stretching the term "almost daily" to breaking point since about mid-December. I'm not sure whether to apologise or not. On the one hand, my blog is suffering and my readers aren't getting their regular injections of wit and humour that I so skillfully bring to their otherwise drab lives. (I know. Thank me when you see me.) On the other, the blog isn't the only aspect of my life that's suffering, and you people don't pay me anyway. CONUNDRUM.

But I will try to be better. Really, really I will. Since I've been taking tons of photos lately, I'll use them to jog my memory about all the things I need to update you on.


Ah yes, this is the Elm Street legal graffiti wall. The girl in the picture was interviewing the artists as Ross and I walked past, so she found me on Flickr and emailed me a few questions. You can read what that was all about here.

Next...


Lucy! My lovely lovely Lucy! I had a great time with her. She's an old friend from the Isle of Wight, whom I have mentioned on multiple previous occasions, and she's very lovely and special. We went for a walk up past Roath Lake to a place where there was a river and squirrels and trees, which made me happy. (It was actually SUNNY, too!) We also went shopping - I bought a dress! And a not-diamond not-silver ring that was £1! It's so shiny! And we did face mud mask thingies, the pictures of which will NOT be finding their way online. Nope. Also we went to see Aladdin with Anthony Costa in the starring role. It was my first panto! And it was amazing! Ok, Costa (from Blue, don'tcherknow) was shit, but the 3d glasses made up for it. Then we had sushi, watched Iron Man, slept like babies in my lovely lovely bed, and had pancakes for breakfast round the corner from my house. It was so great to see her again.


Oh oh oh and then the other day, I spent from 1pm till 5am - holy poop, 15 hours?! - at Ross's house watching movies n' stuff! I know, I know. Shocking. But it was so much fun, and Ross, Rich and Dan are just about some of my favourite people. Being cuddled up under a duvet watching great TV with them (again) is no great hardship. We saw 3 Batman movies, several episodes of Nighty Night, some League of Gentlemen, the final episode of Avatar, and several hilarious personals on Gumtree. A++, would do again.


Ahh! It's Gav's Rock Face! Yes, last night I finally got to see Gav rocking out on the bass. Apparently his energetic performances I've seen thus far have been the restrained ones. The band, Gary and the Gutners, did some quality covers at a birthday party in Buffaloes. I took hundreds of photos - probably around the 500 mark! - and danced with some of the lads from church. Oh and also! A lady got talking to me about my photos, said she works in media... I'll definitely follow that up, she gave me contact details and everything. Exciting!

So, yes. While I have been low and am not getting on with uni work or organising my life AT ALL, at least I'm making time for the important things.