Meet the parents

It's an uncanny truth that whenever I meet up with my boy, we have at least one day of brilliant sunshine (which is no small thing, in a summer this relentlessly dismal.) Granted, we met in summer which doubtless carries an advantage, but it's nevertheless gratifying to remember all the moments we've spent together on warm days under blue skies. I'm pretty sure I photosynthesise too, so it feels very Right.

Every time I stand at a train station looking out for him, I get hideously nervous for a few seconds. When I spot him I tend to be glad to see him, terrified, and thoroughly knackered and bored of travelling - and this manifests itself in me walking hesitantly towards him with an awkward smile on my face. Every time. And every time, it's not until the mercifully immediate First Hug that the tension dissipates; then I'm just there, in his arms, almost oblivious to the busy surroundings.

Yes, it's going to be a soppy post. I'm in love, deal with it.

(At this point the author pauses, fingers motionless over the keyboard, as she tries to deal with the significance of what she just wrote. It's all too much for her poor little mind, so she thinks about ponies until it goes away.)

I went on Friday and met his parents, who are thoroughly lovely, and watched the Blues Brothers on the sofa with him. Never seen it before, it was good!

Best quote:
ELWOOD - It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
JAKE - Hit it!

On Saturday we went to Hull to attend his friend's album launch, which was obviously very important since Girlfriend Approval Papers were required, but I passed apparently so that's alright. ;) They had kitties! Who were all fluffy! It was a bit of a trek away but we managed alright, despite train delays and cock-ups. (I'm thinking of making a little wax train that I can stick needles in whenever there's a problem, but I know it would only take three trips before the thing would be so full of holes you could use it as a Matrix sequel.) But we made it back to Birmingham in the end for a proper family meal, which was properly fun. Always good to see your Significant Other with his family, isn't it. This time it was anyway.

After that, we went to the pub to see some of his boys! I got talking to one of them about God, who may have forgotten most of it. Luckily. I mean it's not really pub talk is it. Still, it was great getting to know the lads a bit, I did pretty well at being friendly but totally failed at the knowing stuff. They were talking about music and techie stuff, so I just stood there smiling vacantly and trying not to feel like a bimbo! (See? I would NEVER have used that word about myself before my hair turned blonde. It's affecting my self-image.)

Monday I came home, travelling went very well despite another train delay at the start.

The entire weekend was suffused with general huglyness and cuddletivity, and I can honestly say that I have never been so completely comfortable with someone as I am with him.

It's all looking good, guys! And although I did get a bit mournful in the car on the way to the station, I'm not feeling too lonely. It won't be long before I talk to him again. So... yay, and stuff.

This has been the smuggest post in history, hasn't it... I am sorry, people. But those of you who know me well know that this doesn't happen often (i.e. EVER) to me, and is thus a deal of the big kind.

Ok, ok, blatant gloating time is over. Love to y'all. x

Overthinking

So much paperwork, so little motivation. I'm just waiting for one thing, then I can get it all done. Hopefully.

Interesting thing of the day: spoof signs. Made me chuckle :)

Sometimes I say to people that if I were anyone else, I'd be jealous of me. I have a pretty awesome life. And occasionally I think about whether I might in fact be a bitter mid-40s businesswoman in the future who just paid people to invent the technology to write herself this childhood. And I'm just living that. And other times I wonder if maybe I think too much, and should just get on with it and stop being so introspective... meh. Such is life!

How are you, my beloved readership?

Reverse graffiti

What a day. Started out very well, with me actually managing to cheer someone up (gold star!), and swiftly degenerated into Issues in the afternoon. An old friend of mine got married this morning and very few people had any clue it was happening. Anyway!

Today's interesting thing: Reverse graffiti! Like writing 'clean me' on a dirty window, dust tagging is an awesome way of sending a message without a spray can. Here are some examples: car art and advertising. Yes it's graffiti, but is it vandalism? And how the heck do you prosecute someone for cleaning stuff?

My favourite reverse-graffiti story (nabbed from here):
"Brazilian Alexandre Orion turned one of Sao Paolo’s transport tunnels into a stunning mural last summer....

The authorities were certainly miffed but could find nothing to charge him with. They had no other recourse but to clean the tunnel — but only the parts Alexandre had already cleaned. The artist merely continued his campaign on the other side of traffic. The utterly flummoxed city officials then decided to take drastic action. Not only did they clean the entire tunnel but also every other tunnel in Sao Paulo."

Nice one X)

Good intentions

I'm not entirely sure why, but as I write this I'm half-watching one of those dire programmes where they put a group of gorgeous 20-somethings on an island to form couples and learn basic social skills.

Television really doesn't engage me any more. If I want to watch something, guaranteed you can find it online... semi-legally... so the only reason I actually turned it on was so that if there was a global disaster I wouldn't be the last to know. Seriously, it was just in case somewhere got bombed. Is that paranoia or a perfectly reasonable possibility?

Oh my GOSH I know what I should do, I should watch the Matrix! We've bought the 3rd one, Revolution, which I never did make sense of at the cinema. On the other hand if I want to work it out that's like 6 hours of it. Hahaha.

It's been one of those days so far, I'm so full of good intentions and so unable to do anything. I've got paperwork to do and phone calls to make but none of it's working enough for me to get something DONE. How annoying.

Never mind! Grin and bear it, at least I've got this weekend to look forward to...

Weeks

The problem with doing lots and wanting to write about it all is that I will never, NEVER write about it all. So instead here's a brief summary.

Three weeks ago: I spent the weekend with Gav in Cardiff. It was AMAZING. See my Flickr page if you want to see photos, there's a link on the left somewhere. Had a truly wonderful time. YAY.

Two weeks ago: Had a family reunion thing, we do that every year, it was great to see everyone again. Was especially nice to talk to Sarah, who's officially starting her own salon now which is awesome, and Ran whose sense of humour is exactly like Eddie Izzard (which is a Good Thing in my book).

Last week: Soul Survivor, it was good.

This week: PAPERWORK, forms forms forms X( I HATE it...

So, I've got the updates out of the way, now with any luck I can get on with blogging slightly more frequently!

The end of something...

So the gap year is over. To recap for anyone new, I've been doing a year of youth work for a Christian charity on the Isle of Wight... and that's over now.

Now technically it's not entirely the end, there's still Soul Survivor to go yet (and to be honest I'm pretty sure they'll rope me into stuff whenever I'm around!), but officially, this is it. So I'm moving out of my host family's home. I'm all packed and ready to go tomorrow... basically, this is me:


I know. Whimper.

Luckily though, my impeccable sense of timing has kicked in again. I remember when I left school, some people weren't ready to leave and some had reached their limit months ago... I was just getting fed up of school when it ended. And again, I'm just starting to feel that it's time to move on, and it is! How convenient.

So I'm sat on my bed listening to REM and trying not to be too emo about it all, because as much as I'm going to miss everyone and everything from this year (and I really, really am!), it is time to move on. I know. How wisdomous am I.

If anyone who's known me at all during the past year finds their way to this post, I want to thank you so much for making this experience so incredible. I honestly feel very blessed by the people I've been surrounded with and supported by. So thanks.

The Solace Tent

The Solace Tent has become a bit of a legend amongst festival-goers on my beloved island. There's two major festivals every year; the Isle of Wight Festival and the Bestival; and for these events and many others, a bunch of well-meaning do-gooders buy tickets specifically to sit in a tent feeding and talking to anyone who wanders in through the doors.

I have sadly not been lucky enough to help out at a festival, but the past weekend has been an event called Park Life, and I was in the Solace Tent doing free henna tattoos while others painted nails and braided hair. But the things that caught my attention most, strangely enough, were the graffiti tables. They're new in 2007, I believe, and these are some of the things written on them so far:

Remember to look B4 U leap; but still leap or you'll miss life!

You've been tango'd

:( another year 2 wait!

ITS ALL ABOUT THE NUMBER 8 (THINK ABOUT IT)

I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smelly!! -> festival goers!

:) smiles are free :)

Woohoo! I'm missing the rolling stones!

May this song be the soundtrack to all the times that you're uninspired, take heed & begin to realise, maybe someday you'll inspire others
ellie

BADGERS EVERYWHERE

You know it could be

I fell asleep in solace! and missed muse!

Love someone and never let them know

I found it pretty fascinating. This was just one table out of at least three, I was too busy trying to draw flowers and dragons and and hearts on various forearms to inspect the others. I think there's definitely a place for graffiti. It doesn't even have to be art. It doesn't even have to be important. Just something, from someone, sent into the world.

For more information about the Solace Tent, such as why they do what they do, check out their MySpace page :)

Quick update

Ok! Well, I've just had the most amazing weekend. I didn't go camping in the end, the weather was too bad, but for all that everything was utterly amazing. The beatboxing workshop went very well! Everybody had a great time. And Catalyst on Saturday was quality too.

For some reason, Sunday was as sunny and hot as you could hope for, which was a welcome relief from all the grey and rain we've been having. Seriously, what happened to summer?! Hahah anyway, so I am currently in a very good mood indeed. I'll post more when my brain can say more than "uhgahbuh".

Ignite

So, today started out with me being slightly irritated and concerned that I hadn't heard from Gav. I got fed up waiting around online when the weather was so beautiful, so I went outside with the intention of buying lunch and eating it in the park, reading the book he'd lent me.

Things didn't quite go to plan; I was only halfway into town when God suddenly reminded me of something I'd heard the day before about not letting the fire die. It hit home. You know, that way things sometimes do, when a little thing takes on such significance that you can't believe you missed it.

I have a vivid imagination, and it's been the case for a couple of years that I think of God's Spirit in me as a flame, flickering and wavering but always there. I started crying, right there, in the beautiful sunshine, on the way into town. I was overjoyed that God hadn't forgotten me, that I still had fire (however fragile) burning in me. That's when God started grabbing the reins of my day. He convinced me to go into the Christian bookshop, to buy a book I was recommended yesterday (something I very rarely do), and to go to a different part of the park than usual to eat.

I sat down on the grass, thoroughly happy with how everything was going, and started to read an inspirational poem in that book known as The Vision - while an orchestra that had set up opposite me played "I will follow him". I must have been reading and giggling at the sheer brilliance of it all for about half an hour. It was so perfect!

If there's one message I want you guys to take from this, it's that you must NEVER EVER let your fire fade. Be you, as beautifully and brilliantly as you can, because nobody else will ever do it as well. Live passionately, as if everything you do matters - because it really does. Love extravagantly and wholeheartedly. Whatever you do, commit everything in you to it. And I pray that I learn to do the same.

Brighton and drama

Hello! And welcome to IssueFest 2007, we'd thank you to leave your common sense at the door. Please take a seat, sit back, and enjoy the trauma...

The thing about keeping a blog is that there's two very conflicting motivations. On the one hand, I want to record everything for posterity and be completely honest with my audience. On the other, discretion is very much an issue.

Some people will tell you everything, will even conduct their lives via their blog. Others won't tell you where they work, or even their name, remaining completely anonymous. I tend to be fairly open as far as that stuff goes, and I only stop short of telling secrets that aren't mine.

Discretion and honesty is a difficult balance to keep in every walk of life. It seems that lately I've strayed too far towards keeping my mouth shut when perhaps I should be more up-front, and I may have hurt someone badly through that.

So I apologise for not being more detailed in my summary of where I've been, but the following I can tell you: the Brighton Battlejam was amazing, life's ups and downs continue like a boat on rough waters, and I remain (as ever) cautiously optimistic.