It's a Christmas miracle!

Gosh. It's been a while, but I always do come back.

I've been missing writing, and I want to pick it up again.

Right now it's tricky, because it's Christmas, and I'm listening to Cabin Pressure with my family. So I can't concentrate. Despite how often I multitask, I am not very good at it. Nor are you, actually. Multitasking is one of the great lies; we have finite resources for attention, and splitting that up between multiple tasks decimates the amount of energy we can dedicate to each. This is one of those times when the whole is truly less than the sum of its parts.

I would like to address my most recent post of a little over a year ago (making this, I think my longest hiatus yet). I was depressed! It kicked in again in November this year, and I couldn't work out what was wrong, until I brought my blog up. "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again," as the saying goes. It helps to remember that.

The doc's prescribed me a whole bunch of anti-allergy stuff, and I'm feeling in better health than I have done in a very long time. And feeling well in body has left me feeling well in mind! So that's been awesome! I'm getting a bit of the seasonal malaise, but (today aside) I've been eating far better lately. Let's try and work some exercise into that, and we'll be away.

Did you miss me?

Sometimes you don't know what you've been missing until you're in the middle of it.

Tonight I caught up with a lot of very good friends. Many of us apologised to everyone for 'being antisocial lately.' It happens so easily sometimes, doesn't it; you're busy for a bit, or fancy some alone time, and the next thing you know you haven't seen some of your favourite people for months.

I've been very lonely and I don't think I saw a way out of that until tonight.

A couple of weeks ago I went home to visit my family. We did the usual Cowes Week things - beach barbecue, fireworks, catching up with my oldest friends - while thinking about how it might be very different next year. Dad's retiring, so a lot of things might have changed when I next go back.

One moment stands out though: it was so wonderful to swim in the sea again. It was the first time I've been swimming since... maybe over a year ago? Could be two. A long time. As I squeaked about the cold and inched my way deeper in, my sister said the sea had missed me, that it had been waiting for me to come back.

The thing that surprised me, both tonight and back on the island, was being reminded that there are other people who think like me. Whether it's my friend Zaru encouraging me to perform my poetry soon, or my brother Michael chatting to me about quantum physics, it's been a blessed relief to be around people who are interested in things that interest me. I don't get that at work.

I work with good people, kind people, but I don't have much common ground with them. I know nothing about football or reality TV, and am too scared to go digging for something real to talk about. So I've felt alienated. At first I thought they were a bit weird, but in the absence of anyone with whom to talk about that, the thought gradually became "I am completely abnormal."

Well, normal is all in the context. These people, my family and friends, are the context in which I make sense. They are my normal. They are my home.

Dear Family:

I can't make it home for Christmas, and maybe for that reason I'm thinking about you guys so much.

Esther, thank you so much for the presents! I've had so many comments on my cute new bag, it's insane. Guys, look:

it is ALL THE COLOURS

HOW CUTE is that? I'm delighted.

Michael, I've been watching your Minecraft Let's Plays with John and I'm really wishing we could hang out, and that you could teach me the basics of that dang game. I know I'm late getting into it. I'm late getting into everything. You remember how long it took me to discover (let alone finish) Portal? Too long.

Judi, it means that world to me that you came up to visit. I had a really great time shopping with you, and I miss y'all a lot less now as a result of that day. Also, I love my badass new reversible skirt (again, CHECK IT).

Look 1...

Look 2! Aww yiss

Naomi, I don't think you read this. You might not even know about it. Maybe it's better this way. But I should tell you that, in my dream last night, you had the most awesome Scottish accent. You were talking to me about how Ran was coping with sharing Michael's bedroom. :|

Mum, in the aforementioned dream, you started a fire in a bin to try to clear your sinuses. Important note: do not do this. It did not end well.

Give my love to Dad; I'll call soon.

I haven't decided yet whether your presents will go ahead of me in the post, or whether they'll come down with me in January. Which means, probably the latter (you know what I'm like). But rest assured I've been thinking of you all, and I hope you have a very special Christmas.

P.S. Uncle Steve, have a very happy birthday! John, Paul, I wanna hang out with you guys soon. Julia, I think you're partially responsible for my life-long love of purple.

P.P.S. Cousins on my dad's side, of which there are many: every time I find out what you've been up to lately, I get all smug because I'm related to awesome people. Keep kicking your various kinds of ass.

P.P.P.S. Nanny, thanks for recognising me even with purple hair. Granddad, thanks for looking after her. I know you won't read this, but I love you both.

Time

I'm not good enough. The list of things I would change about myself are as long as the phone book, and decidedly less interesting to read (and to write. As a favour to both of us, I will not enumerate them here). Ultimately, it's the length of the list that proved the biggest obstacle to my self-improvment; I get paralysed by the indecision. What's the biggest problem? What's the most urgent one? What needs long-term improvement? I have no idea. I hate lists.

I've always thought the "kid in a candy store" analogy didn't really encompass that moment: the moment when the kid clutches onto mum's skirt and hides their face because this is too many everythings.

I have, however, made a huge leap forward: I've targeted the one area that I really need to work on, and it's time management.

I've always been terrible at it. For the past 15 years, it's been the reason that I got incredibly creative with my excuses for having not done my homework. Remember this blog post? Of course you don't; it was seven freaking years ago (almost to the day), but it was by no means an isolated incident. Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow?

Maybe it's hereditary. My own family was habitually late everywhere. Memories of school mornings are a blur of stress and hurrying, trying to remember where in the chaos my shoes were.

One of the side effects of this perpetual lateness was that I am extremely paranoid about travel time. I am currently getting to work about an hour early in the mornings, just because the journey home sometimes takes a couple of hours. It's hard to calm myself down enough to actually leave home later in the morning. I prefer being early anyway, I tell myself. I don't get told off for being too early. I go for walks instead; mentally calculating and recalculating that, since it took ten minutes to get this far, I should allow twenty to go back. It doesn't make a lot of sense, I know.

Oh yes, that's a new development: work. I work full time in a call centre now; 36 hours a week, or thereabouts. So far I've had two weeks of training in customer service. I won't get paid until a month from now, due to fluctuations in the mysterious forces that govern administration. That's sad. I wanted money for my birthday this coming Tuesday. I'm deferring my celebrations until I am ludicrously wealthy a month from now. (This is my first full-time job; it will feel like affluence beyond reason to me!)

So my job isn't paying me yet, but what it is doing is forcing me to think harder about how I'm spending my time. If I want to catch up with friends, I can meet up with them in town for a couple of hours in the evening, or we can plan something on the weekend. That's it. No more spending a couple of days at a mate's house just because we've gotten addicted to a new cartoon. No more spending all day on tumblr, unless I've actively decided that that is what I need to do that day. (Sometimes that is what I need. Sometimes I crave the mental space to bumblebee around the internet, alighting on a topic for only so long as it takes my fancy.)

In other exciting (to me) news, a short story I wrote has been accepted for publication by the UK Zombie Defense League! I'll let you all know when it's out. I'm planning to buy the paperback and show it to everyone I pass for a month or two.

Here follows a miniature list of things I have been doing lately, in what I'll generously call my "hiatus":

• visited my family on the beautiful Isle of Wight
• saw Frankie Boyle perform, thanks to my lovely twitter-friend Meryl
• went to see Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm again
• discovered Gravity Falls and decided that Mabel is my soul twin
• the other stuff that I've already told you.

A few photos I've taken recently:

Judi, my big sister, who is crazy pretty and doesn't even know it

I finally managed to reattempt this after losing an SD card a few years back!

A helium princess. Blurry, but just about perfect.

To round things off and reward you for reading my witterings, here is a story told by Neil Gaiman, in which his family are more terribly late than mine ever were:

Flipping

Gah, I keep trying to think of fun subjects to blog about. It's not like my past week or so has been uneventful, by any stretch of the imagination!

First of all, my dad had a heart attack last week. He's ok, I think - the clever doctor people have put a stent in his heart, which is a cool wire mesh thing to keep an artery open. Hopefully that's sorted him out, so although he's tired he's hopefully be okay.

In other news, Fat Tony came to stay! It was so awesome. He was only here for one night unfortunately, but we crammed in some youtube, Mario Kart, Community, Archer, Wall-E, pancakes and socialising. I call that a success.

No silly pictures this time around, tragically, but I'll leave you with this.



I genuinely don't know what to make of it. It's so unabashedly cheesy that I find myself quite warming to it, and I think it's by far Alex Day's boldest and best endeavour yet.

Festivities

The buildup to Christmas is a long one. Even at the start of December, I was celebrating Not-Christmas at a friend's house. I got a full stomach and a stocking full of chocolate to remember it by, not to mention a pretty severe crush.

After that, I went home for a couple of weeks, which was as it usually is, i.e., lovely with regards to seeing my family, and fairly horrendous in terms of staying in that house. I live in hope that one day my parents will see sense and chuck out 90% of their stuff.

I've felt very guilty about presents this year. The sad fact is, this year I don't have enough money to cover rent and bills, or even food for myself, so I can't treat everyone to the nice things they deserve. But, for some reason, people care enough to give me things, because it isn't really about reciprocity, so I'm told. They love me and want me to know that, so they give me gifts.

Oh man, let me tell you, this year for the first time I got a gift from someone I've never met! Someone in America! Paul, a guy I've known for probably a couple of years now, sent me the most epic, tricked-out, bells-and-whistles sonic screwdriver set I've ever seen. It's got me thinking about designing my own Doctor look to cosplay! Most people seem to go for a female interpretation of an existing Doctor's costume, but I'd want to start from scratch. My first instinct was to see if anyone from the Doctor Who costume department is on twitter, but no such luck.

This is going to be my first Christmas with friends. I've spent one away from home before, with my ex's family, but I've never dealt with the full mixed bag of celebrating Christmas with vegans, pagans, and people who've lost loved ones / are missing their kids, etc. But we're doing it. I'm a little bit proud of us for that. If we can get through it without drama, I'll be even more so.

I'll also be spending the day with my aforementioned crush (a poor word choice, but anything more accurate would give too much away, and it's early days yet). I wouldn't mention it unless I thought it was going to be important. Unless I thought he was going to be important. We'll see, I guess.

Anyway! I've wittered on long enough. I'll let you get back to all that important hall-decking. If I don't post again beforehand, have a very merry one indeed! See you soon for the traditional New Year navel-gazing.

Feelings! Quick, squish 'em!

A lot has happened since my last post. I would have kept you more updated, but apparently this is the 90s and wireless internet isn't a thing yet.

Here are some things that happened!

I went to a new church for the first time in ages, with my ex. The service was very American Southern Baptist, understandably, since that's where the people are the front were from. I feel like I reconnected with God, although that's more to do with admitting my anger than with anything they were saying. Also there were assnapkins. Seriously! Little butt-hankies that they'd drape over people's posteriors when hey knelt down at the front of the church, to conceal any undergarments or bumcleave.

Anyway, that made me chuckle.

Also, I performed at my first ever Open Mic! (Well, second, but we don't talk about that.) I sang and played ukulele. he first two songs were a but shaky, but the third, my relyricking of the Cranberries' song Zombie, went down a treat! Hopefully, soon, a friend's going to lend me a videocamera so that I can get something up on youtube.

There are photos of the performance viewable here, courtesy of the very talented Rob May.

This weekend, I helped Rob out with a couple of photoshoots (standing in places with a reflecty thing! Huzzah!), and actually got a few pics taken of myself - I'm sure they'll be turning up soon, though I may well not tell you. Depends how bashful I'm feeling at the time!

It was my brother's 21st birthday yesterday. Apparently my parents forgot, but the pocketwatch I'd been so excited to give him arrived in the post on the right day, so yay for that.

I'm still around, my lovelies. Haven't gone anyway. Granted, I've been restricting my internet usage to sites accessible from my mobile phone, but comments are still read and appreciated! Much love x x

Present

I know I ought to write something here, but I can't for the life of me think what. Um. How are you? I'm good.

I've had a very traditional Christmas with my family, received some lovely gifts including a Bill Bailey DVD and the first season of Being Erica (delighted), seen the Tron sequel in 3D twice (veh good), and done precious little of the catching-up-with-friends that I was so looking forward to. And not through lack of lack of trying. I really didn't try at all, I'm not sure why; it's just that when I got here, it didn't seem awfully important. Anyway, I spent a lot of time with my family and got to see my oldest friend a couple of times, so I'm happy.

This is my current favourite video. It makes me gleeful; I hope it does the same for you.



Welcome to 2011, by the way! I think it's safe to say that this will go down in history as the year after 2010.

Kilt and céilidh

I spent the last week in Edinburgh, attending my sister's wedding and seeing the sights. I'm pleased to announce that, at the request of some very kind ladies and gents, I did indeed dance at the céilidh (pronounced kayley, it's a Scottish knees-up), at the expense of my ankle but not my enjoyment.

I'm sure photos will be going up, so you'll get to see my already-stunning seester looking radiant in her wedding dress. If that's your sort of thing. There will also be photos of my father and brother in kilts; if you're reading this, Mike, discretion will cost you.

I'm back in Cardiff now (after a pig-awful journey that was 7 or 8 hours, and 2 hours longer than it needed to be). I'm moving house in one week, so I've got to get on with packing and such, all while trying super-hard not to think of anything, because thinking makes me feel all confused and worried and I don't want that right now.

I really hope I get a dentist appointment soon... I'm so sick of this wisdom tooth being 'partially ruptured'; it's had at least 3 years to get its act together and has utterly failed to do so.

In other news, I'm going to be posting some short stories to Idle Scribe. I submitted them as university work and got pretty good feedback, so do have a read if you're interested.

Chrimblas-related stuff and things

Lately I've been staying up late. Like, five-in-the-morning late. I've got a pretty big family, and while Christmas at home is by no means as chaotic as it once was (running to wake up the parents at 6am to show them what Father Christmas brought us in the night), late evening / early morning is pretty much the only time I get to be alone right now.

I've been on the Isle of Wight with my family for three weeks or so now, so I'm missing Gavin like crazy - especially at night, when of course I can't call him and talk to him. Such is life. But if it's been hours since we spoke, it's been weeks since we saw each other, and it's been a month - maybe more - since we actually got much time together. I've had deadlines and he's had work, and a million other reasons, all culminating in a big idiotic missathon. Missathon should be a word. Although it kinda makes 'Jonathon' sound like it means an abundance of Jon, which is -

Where was I?

Yes, so, Christmas! That's where I have been. Not that Christmas is a place, or anything, oh lord why can't I think straight? I have had too much chocolate, done too little exercise, watched too much television, and generally upheld Britain's finest festive traditions. Believe me, I'm already planning to hit the gym in January (HA).

I've been feeling awfully uncreative lately, too. It's become quite apparent that I'm not going to be a comedian (I appreciate funny like you wouldn't believe, but am incapable of producing it), and am questioning my ability to write. It's all about hard work though, really. If I could discipline myself, I'd be able to write something special (or so I persist in believing, despite a complete dearth of evidence for this (Also, mini-hellyes: that may be the first time I've used dearth in a sentence. New word! Woo! (Never lose track of your parentheses, kids.))).

So, as I can't embed any photos or drawings from my illustrious self, you'll have to make do with this instead:

Head Trip is an awesome webcomic, I've been reading it since I discovered this strip. (Yes, I discovered the backlash long before I discovered the books. Possibly influencing my decision to read it, as we young 'uns say, 'for teh lulz.')

O hai!

Hello, hello! It's been over two months since I last updated my blog. That's a very odd feeling, you know. This blog is my baby, but I wasn't doing you lot justice by saying "I'll update properly later" every week or so.

Y'see, I do care what you think. Every new reader makes me smile, and every comment gives me something to think about. But even apart from that, I'd keep this just for me. You know I would! Just like I did four years ago when I began, and nobody read it but me and an American radio presenter called Les. (I liked Les. I wonder how he is now?)

It makes to begin this post, as I have done with so many others, with a recap of what I've been up to lately. Just over a month ago I went home to the Isle of Wight, my beautiful island that I'd been missing so much. It was exactly what I needed. Some valuable family time, including a family reunion with my gorgeous, newest cousin Josie. Doesn't seem like that long ago I was celebrating her birth (I know for a fact I wrote a post in honour of her arrival, but I can't seem to find it now), and now she looks like this!

Josie

So, yes, there was an element of "My Haven't You Grown" happening in my head. At least now, I know that when friends of the family said that to me, they were secretly thinking "Good Lord I'm old."

I was equally delighted to spend a fair bit of time catching up with old friends. We went bowling, hung out on a beach in the rain, went to the cinema - all the usual stuff we used to do back when we were 17-19! I'd particularly like to thank Lucy, on the off-chance that she reads this, for being my rock when I go a little bit crazy. She's like a big sister to me.

Oh, speaking of big sisters, my biggest (in spirit) sis just got engaged! I couldn't be more delighted for her. Very exciting times!

After that little refresher course in Reasons My Family Drive Me Crazy (But I Love 'Em), I went to Southampton and the cruise began... it was a Cunard cruise, which essentially meant that I was outclassed by everyone and everything right down to the tablecloths, but that I got treated like royalty. Here follow some pictures of what I got up to:

The pool at night

The stateroom

Danger in Italy

One sunset

Ape on Gibraltar

All dressed up

Jump

I'm back in Cardiff now, getting on with all the stuff that needs getting on with when you've been away for a month. And looking for a job. There's just no avoiding it any more, finances won't allow me to stick my head in the sand, so I need to get out there and do an honest day's work like everyone else! So you can look forward to lots of complaining about a) not having a job or b) how my job sucks. Those appear to be my only options. Bummer. I'm also trying very very hard not to bite my nails, but you know the saying - old habits die hard. And this is the Bruce Willis of old habits.

And, just to leave you with some Interesting Things, I've had two songs stuck in my head lately - Coin-Operated Boy by the Dresden Dolls:

and Surfin' Bird, which goes like this (yes, I curse Family Guy every time I get it playing on the mental gramophone.)

Volunteers and things in ears

Ever been 'volunteered' for something? As in, told that you were going to do it and then left to deal with that fact? Of course you have. Well, last Thursday was the date of a church party that my sister had volunteered me, my brother, and my youngest sister for.

We were all up visiting her for the week, and had been shopping a few times and watched a lot of movies by this point. When I got to the church on Thursday, I started blowing up balloons for the games. I'd been told what game I was going to run, and secretly I was delighted to return to something I knew that I was good at. I did a year of youth work for a Christian charity on the Isle of Wight (something I've blogged about on many previous occasions), so I have a huge repertoire of games. We played quite a few classics that night; Mafia, this is a tick, Splat, and of course musical chairs. We were catering for people aged 15 to 90. My previous experience with youth work had been a lot more... youthy, but I distracted myself by taking photos of everything in sight.

These were the lights in the kitchen of that church - look how pretty! Oooooh! (Photographers are much like magpies. Anythign that looks even vageuly interesting, and we're as good as hypnotised!)

While we were staying with my sister, I absolutely fell in love with a cat that had adopted her. The cat's called Lilcat Freesian, or Lily Freesia for short, and is a one-eyed beauty with a heart on her back. Sadly her real owners showed up towards the end of the week, but I absolutely loved having some kitty time anyway! Honestly, those of you with full-time cats are very lucky indeed, I have to borrow cats from my friends.

I'm back with my parents on the Isle of Wight now, after a beast of a train journey that was meant to be direct (but ended up with two changes and huge delays). I've been meeting up with old friends and relaxing (as relaxing as anything can be when you're once again surrounded by siblings) and I'm very much looking forward to getting home to Cardiff!

I got a phone call from my boyfriend this morning. He's - how much of this have I told you? - He's on a stag do for his best friend, and they successfully survived the mountain-climbing part. He hasn't been so lucky with the pubs and clubs part, however, as apparently he had to be taken to a medical centre to remove something from his ear with pliers! Now, I love and respect my boyfriend tremendously, but if I can't mock him relentlessly for that then there's just no point us being together, is there.

On the importance of internet and family, and how they both kinda suck

When I'm having a bad day, and the depression seems to have a firm hold of my mind, pure escapism is the only way I can convince myself that things are ok.

When I was a child, fantasy books were my escape. I'd spend every breaktime, every lunchbreak, sat in the library huddled over some new mystery; some enthralling adventure that would take me away from real people for a while.

These days, I seem to have been struck with that curious perspective disorder that makes people further away seem more important. I could be talking to my family; the people I love, who I grew up with, and will miss when they're gone. But for some reason I need to escape them sometimes and talk to a chatroom full of Americans who don't know me. That's how I escape.

The escape has been going fairly well lately. A couple of people I really respect have acknowledged me, which validates my existence in some tiny, pathetic way; and makes me think that perhaps I matter. (Yes, I know this is a very emo post - I'm unhappy. Deal with it.)

That said, my 'internet friends' can't bring me comfort the same way as a phone call from my sister. Nobody on any of the forums I frequent know me and understand me as well as my brother (aside from, erm, my brother). And nobody will be there when it all goes tits-up the way my family will. So tonight I have to remind myself that, one day, I will regret every second I passed them over in favour of a faceless name on IRC.

That doesn't mean they don't drive me crazy sometimes, though, 'cuz they do.

Eventful day

Also, Gav's brother is engaged to his lady! Hooray!
Also, my uncle died of cancer either today or yesterday. I barely knew him.
Also, I played lots of wii mariokart tonight.
Also, one of my friends is a Lost geek like me!
Also, telling someone they're being oversensitive when they're angry is a FANTASTIC way of calming them down...

Repentance

You know what? Repentance hurts. My tears last night were tears of pure grief at the things I've done and the way I've been, and it was like wringing out my heart. I'm a sinner. An unpopular word, perhaps, but that's what I am and I realised that anew last night. I was sobbing the words I'm sorry, over and over, but words didn't do it justice. I was grieving the things I'd done to sully the Holy Spirit. Something so pure and beautiful that should lift me up to better things, and I've trodden it in the dirt time and time again.

Gavin told me he felt I should call my sister Judi, so I did, despite the fact that I assumed she'd be asleep. So I said no. Gav said "I really feel like you should call her." So I did; no answer. "Try again." I did, and she picked up, and she said all the right things... she hadn't been able to sleep so I hadn't woken her. She said the right things, encouraged me, and gave me good advice. I thank God for people in my life like Gavin and Judith who are, thank God, there when I need them.

And today... this appeared in ASBO Jesus:

I thought mine had, but last night my tears made it burn brighter.

A post that possibly includes pineapple and a delusional caterpillar

Good news, everyone!! I am currently ploughing through my last essay of the academic year, after which I will run away to sunny and exotic lands, meet interesting and exotic people, and eat exotic fruits, possibly including pineapple.

By which I mean, I'll go to Cardiff. And then home to the Isle of Wight, at which point I'll begin an arduous five months of living out of boxes because my bedroom has been a building site for the last year and a half. Didn't I only leave home 9 months ago, I hear me ask? Why yes, yes I did.

It's ok. It's part of the natural growing-up process to be bitter about how quickly your parents move on. It's due to the assumption that they don't properly have lives of their own, and only do these things to annoy you.

At any rate, I think I'll be a lot more psychologically healthy when I'm not "stuck in the gap" any more. People warn you about that if you're going on a gap year, getting a feeling of aimless in-between-ness, but my gap year was purposeful and busy and awesome. This year, however, has been rather more... voidish than I would have liked. I'm currently working on deluding myself into believing that the second I leave here I'm going to emerge from my cocoon as a beautiful butterfly... which I imagine will look something like this:

Shalom!

How I scared an old couple

Interesting thing of the day: Banksy. So true, so artistic, and so difficult to catch ;) You won't have seen this piece before, so check it out.

I had a bizarre dream last night. Gav and I were around at a friend's house - a middle-aged married couple, nice people. We were there to scare them. Half the time I was polite and friendly, but the other half I looked like this.



It was just a bag that I kept putting on my head, and then I'd wander up to the poor dears whose house we were in and go "wooooo." Or possibly it was "blaaaargh." Either way, I was quite unconvinced by it all, but they seemed suitably afraid, so we ran outside.

I was picked up by my family, and we got out of there, safe in the knowledge of a scaring well done.

Still not the strangest dream I've ever had!

Paris etc

I flew!
From above, France is much neater than England. Going up and coming down was exciting; inbetween that, it felt like my head was being squeezed through a cardboard tube, so I fell asleep.

The apartment was LOVELY. Very small, but very nice, and with a beautiful view! We spent a lot of time in there watching films.

We also walked about a lot, visiting various tourist attractions. We went up the Eiffel Tower more or less on a whim, resulting in two very chilly silly billies. We also saw the Arc de Triumph, the pillar at the Bastille, etc etc.

Films we saw:
The Devil Wears Prada (rubbish, read the book instead) **
Be Kind Rewind (good, nothing special) ***
Juno (very happy; yay!) ****
Chocolat (love it) ****
Silence of the Lambs (classic, pretty enjoyable, plus we got a story about it from the man in the video shop) ****
Black Sheep (possibly the funniest zombie sheep film of the year, enjoyable) ***
Have I forgotten any, Gav?

We ate mostly bread and cheese. 75% healthy, very good.

The journey back took sooo long, I began to get really edgy about going home. Another 3 or more hour journey would have killed me, and I was so tired already from getting up at 6.30am that I started to get all teary. Stupid female hormones, I swear I'm logical really. So Gav, bless him with many blessings, took pity on me and took me in for the night. It was SO good to have a bit of a rest before starting the journey home.

So now I'm with my family, yay! And also boo! Because much as I love them, my health rating has plummeted to 25%. Accursed easter eggs. Mm, if only I could say no...

It's been so wonderful, wandering around my beloved island listening to birds singing and enjoying the sunshine and making friends with the random kitties I find. I'm trying to catch up with whoever's still around, which sadly isn't many of them, but yay! for that.

Photos of my Paris trip are available here (flickr) and here (facebook).

In honour of how beautifully sunny it's been lately, I've bought a dress! Lookit!



And cool new shoes, lookit lookit!



I'll answer your wonderful questions in another post.

Life continues

I saw some reverse graffiti for the first time yesterday! I wrote about it a while ago.


I still think it's way cool.

Been an ok few days; Gavin is home safe from his adventures, thank goodness, so I'm not a widow or owt! I've been chasing through my university transfer, and I've got an interview at UWIC on Friday the 7th which is super-convenient because I was gonna be in Cardiff that weekend anyway. (Hopefully we're gonna go to the Bristol Beatbox championship heats!) I've promised myself a bottle of Baileys when I'm certain that I'm transferring.

Last night I dreamed of my family for the third night in a row. My dream recall really has improved lately!

Don't forget it's Mother's Day this Sunday. A favour from me to you.

Interesting thing of the day: GreenMetropolis. Heaven for the bookish types among us!

Back from the island

So the past few days since returning from my beloved Isle have been... fairly dull, I suppose. So I won't bore you with that and will instead tell you about my weekend.

I was home on the Isle of Wight with my wonderfully odd family and my oddly wonderful boyfriend (whom I shall no longer refer to as the boy for the sake of clarity and suchlike). We went to Ventnor Botanic gardens which was amazing. It's one of the more beautiful places on the island, which is saying something; and because I've been there every year for as long as I can remember, I wanted to take Gavin there and show him all the pretty secret places we've found over time.

There was a point on the Saturday when I realised just how idyllic and chocolate-box perfect my childhood was. We were walking down an aisle, with the noises of some mans playing football in the field on the left, birds singing in the trees on the right, and church bells chiming up ahead. I miss my home.

Sunday was all about running through the woods shooting people with laser guns. Or in my case, standing in the base waiting for a rush that never came. I was SO COLD!

The following are various pretty pictures I took over the weekend:






Interesting thing of the day (you can now find all past ITOTD items on the left-hand column): Spin the black circle. Totally addictive, very clever idea.