Ah, Saturday. Saturday's are usually pretty lied back for me. Apart from shopping in the morning (because I need food to live) I generally don't have that much on. Sunday's are usually quite busy with church going and friend meeting, and obviously the weekday seems to get busier and busier every week. So Saturday has been my little rest bite. Until now.
You see one of the readers of this blog and sometime commentator on it, Crystal, set me a challenge the other day. She is a somewhat more successful writer than I am, as you will see if you click the link in this paragraph to her own blog. Recently she wrote an interesting and funny piece on television addiction, a subject that I must ashamedly admit to having a fair share of experience of.
But the other day she set me a challenge which set the creative parts of my brain ticking again, blowing away the mental cobwebs that have formed there surprisingly quickly. She gave me a sentence to kick me off and told me to write a page to follow from it. Now, I haven't been able to find the time as yet to make a proper start on it due to my continuing FYP work, although I have formed a few rough ideas in my mind.
Maybe I'm taking it all much too seriously, but writing is (mostly) incredibly important to me. I don't think I care completely that I may never be a published author, as long as I can keep writing, and keep using it as an escape from reality, that's all that should matter to me. So thanks to Crystal I now have a label for the Saturday edition of my blog. It shall be known as Story Saturday. If you're at all curious or interested, then come to this site next Saturday and see what I've got in store for you.
Laters.
Saturday, 12 April 2008
Friday, 11 April 2008
Guess Who's Back...Back Again?
So this week I returned to Winchester for the remainder of my last semester studying English within these hallowed halls...or something like that. The term actually starts up again next Monday, but I needed a week back here to get my head together around my FYP and the other wonderful essays I have to write for my lovely subject. Plus I had run out of food. And I need food to live.
Not to sound too melodramatic, but I am getting sick and tired of English. Not writing - that's a different matter. Last term for instance, as a break from essays, I used the opportunity given to me by the director of a production the my local young theatre group are doing to write a scene for their new play, called This Bird Has Flown. Basically, it's all inspired by the songs that John Lennon wrote whilst he was in The Beatles. My scene was set in this asylum where some of his weirder creations - the Walrus, the Egg Man, Mean Mr Mustard, etc - are "residing". It's all a coma-induced dream of our hero, of course, but it was great fun to go totally mad with it. As a reward, I've been given both the cameo roles of the Walrus and John Lennon - both times I get shot, the former with a tranquiliser dart, the latter re-enacting Lennon's murder. I bruised my knees a lot falling on the hard wood stage. Ah, the things I do for my art.
The FYP is, as it so often has been, coming along slowly but surely. I'm writing this blog entry whilst sitting in the university library at the moment, as I intend to make the most of the fact that there's only two other people in here besides me...make that three, someone else has just walked in. But still, what freedom! Don't get me wrong, I love people. I do - people are great. But there's something about a nearly empty library (make that four and counting) that just screams of perfection. Ask my mother - she's a school librarian, she'll agree with me!
It's the same at my house. We're not really all together at the moment, though this will probably change over the weekend. But still it's nice to sometimes be the only one in the house. It gives you time to relax and unwind. Don't get me wrong, as soon as term starts, I'll be back to doing all the work I love to do with my CU, with other people, making sure I have time for my housemates. But sometimes it's just good to be alone. Yeah, there's a danger that the loneliness could kill you eventually, but I'm more than an expert now at this to know my limits. It's great that I can say that, isn't it? makes me sound like a regular party animal.
Laters.
Not to sound too melodramatic, but I am getting sick and tired of English. Not writing - that's a different matter. Last term for instance, as a break from essays, I used the opportunity given to me by the director of a production the my local young theatre group are doing to write a scene for their new play, called This Bird Has Flown. Basically, it's all inspired by the songs that John Lennon wrote whilst he was in The Beatles. My scene was set in this asylum where some of his weirder creations - the Walrus, the Egg Man, Mean Mr Mustard, etc - are "residing". It's all a coma-induced dream of our hero, of course, but it was great fun to go totally mad with it. As a reward, I've been given both the cameo roles of the Walrus and John Lennon - both times I get shot, the former with a tranquiliser dart, the latter re-enacting Lennon's murder. I bruised my knees a lot falling on the hard wood stage. Ah, the things I do for my art.
The FYP is, as it so often has been, coming along slowly but surely. I'm writing this blog entry whilst sitting in the university library at the moment, as I intend to make the most of the fact that there's only two other people in here besides me...make that three, someone else has just walked in. But still, what freedom! Don't get me wrong, I love people. I do - people are great. But there's something about a nearly empty library (make that four and counting) that just screams of perfection. Ask my mother - she's a school librarian, she'll agree with me!
It's the same at my house. We're not really all together at the moment, though this will probably change over the weekend. But still it's nice to sometimes be the only one in the house. It gives you time to relax and unwind. Don't get me wrong, as soon as term starts, I'll be back to doing all the work I love to do with my CU, with other people, making sure I have time for my housemates. But sometimes it's just good to be alone. Yeah, there's a danger that the loneliness could kill you eventually, but I'm more than an expert now at this to know my limits. It's great that I can say that, isn't it? makes me sound like a regular party animal.
Laters.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Trouble Ahead
Three things have come to my attention fairly recently which no doubt spell an uneasy future for the next couple of years. Two of these things most of you will be aware of. The third...eh...not so much.
The first of these is obviously the growing crisis in Zimbabwe, which, lets be honest, has been "growing" for a fair few decades now. I always knew that Mugabe would never go without a fight, and though he may have lost the elections, he can always pretend to have been asleep over that week and woken up none the wiser to the results, meaning I don't care, I'm still in power and I've got these nice men in uniforms and holding a variety of deadly arsenal to back me up. It's going to end in horrible bloodshed - sorry to be morbid, but I believe this could be the turning point where simple protesting goes too far. The opposition will try for a peaceful solution, but they're not going to get it. It's a sad, pathetic example of how power so easily corrupts, and how equally as easy it is to use violence to get what we want. Could we condone the bloodshed if it meant the end of Mugabe? Of course we could, but it would throw up a large number of interesting, though perhaps nervous, debates on morals and beliefs.
The second trouble maker in our ranks is the Beijing Olympics. Now that Gordon Brown has put his clunking iron fist down on the table and said he will not be attending the opening ceremony, others will follow. Brown insists he will attend the closing ceremony and it has nothing to do with the continuing saga of protests against the situation in Tibet which has made the Torch Relay such a shambles. Yeah, right. Someone tried to grab it off ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq here in Blighty on Sunday - Konnie Huq! That I'm not impressed with. Couldn't they have tried to grab it off of someone more important, someone to do with sport? How about Sir Steve Redgrave or Dame Kelly Holmes or Little Theo Walcott? (He's not that Little, I just wanted to give him a title...The-o, The-o!) Will we get this in 2012 in London, with Commonwealth countries protesting against their "imprisonment"? Will Canadians or Australians be trying to grab the torch off of a wheel chaired Sir Steve, a walker-assisted Dame Kelly, or Lord Walcott? Actually, that might be fairly amusing.
The third and last thing that spells trouble, and the lightest of the three, is the decision by Roger Wright, the new head of the BBC Proms Season, to have a Doctor Who Concert in this year's season. On my signal, unleash hell. Purists will no doubt argue that the Proms have gone too far, bowing to the demands of popular culture in an attempt to be with it and street like with the kids, innit. Personally? Yay! Doctor Who Music! Bring it on!
Laters.
The first of these is obviously the growing crisis in Zimbabwe, which, lets be honest, has been "growing" for a fair few decades now. I always knew that Mugabe would never go without a fight, and though he may have lost the elections, he can always pretend to have been asleep over that week and woken up none the wiser to the results, meaning I don't care, I'm still in power and I've got these nice men in uniforms and holding a variety of deadly arsenal to back me up. It's going to end in horrible bloodshed - sorry to be morbid, but I believe this could be the turning point where simple protesting goes too far. The opposition will try for a peaceful solution, but they're not going to get it. It's a sad, pathetic example of how power so easily corrupts, and how equally as easy it is to use violence to get what we want. Could we condone the bloodshed if it meant the end of Mugabe? Of course we could, but it would throw up a large number of interesting, though perhaps nervous, debates on morals and beliefs.
The second trouble maker in our ranks is the Beijing Olympics. Now that Gordon Brown has put his clunking iron fist down on the table and said he will not be attending the opening ceremony, others will follow. Brown insists he will attend the closing ceremony and it has nothing to do with the continuing saga of protests against the situation in Tibet which has made the Torch Relay such a shambles. Yeah, right. Someone tried to grab it off ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq here in Blighty on Sunday - Konnie Huq! That I'm not impressed with. Couldn't they have tried to grab it off of someone more important, someone to do with sport? How about Sir Steve Redgrave or Dame Kelly Holmes or Little Theo Walcott? (He's not that Little, I just wanted to give him a title...The-o, The-o!) Will we get this in 2012 in London, with Commonwealth countries protesting against their "imprisonment"? Will Canadians or Australians be trying to grab the torch off of a wheel chaired Sir Steve, a walker-assisted Dame Kelly, or Lord Walcott? Actually, that might be fairly amusing.
The third and last thing that spells trouble, and the lightest of the three, is the decision by Roger Wright, the new head of the BBC Proms Season, to have a Doctor Who Concert in this year's season. On my signal, unleash hell. Purists will no doubt argue that the Proms have gone too far, bowing to the demands of popular culture in an attempt to be with it and street like with the kids, innit. Personally? Yay! Doctor Who Music! Bring it on!
Laters.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Is There Hope Yet For You, Britters?
Okay, so first off, apologies to any readers out there - and I mean any readers out there, if there are any apart from my mother - as I haven't written anything on my blog for quite some time now. I went home for the Easter holidays and subsequently took a holiday from my "Trials". But I'm back in Winchester now and, as you can see, ready to start writing again.
In the middle of all the work I had to do I found solace having various music channels on in the background whilst I wrote my FYP. This does mean that I have no announcements as to what song's coming up next, but then I treated it as a nice surprise.
There have been a few songs that have got me tapping my foot recently, but a surprising one was the latest from a certain Miss Spears. Now I am not the biggest fan of the more recent stuff that Britney's done, and would probably be the first one to say that she needs to get some help, seriously needs some therapy or counselling or something.
But her latest single, "Break The Ice", could, I feel, show a little spark of positivity. Although not nearly as good a pop record as "Baby One More Time" or "Toxic", one feels that, had it a better backing track it could actually rival those two songs which we instantly relate with her now. The video is an interesting one to watch too, done in a manga/anime style, no sign of our real life Britney anywhere. But maybe that's a good thing. See for yourself.
In the middle of all the work I had to do I found solace having various music channels on in the background whilst I wrote my FYP. This does mean that I have no announcements as to what song's coming up next, but then I treated it as a nice surprise.
There have been a few songs that have got me tapping my foot recently, but a surprising one was the latest from a certain Miss Spears. Now I am not the biggest fan of the more recent stuff that Britney's done, and would probably be the first one to say that she needs to get some help, seriously needs some therapy or counselling or something.
But her latest single, "Break The Ice", could, I feel, show a little spark of positivity. Although not nearly as good a pop record as "Baby One More Time" or "Toxic", one feels that, had it a better backing track it could actually rival those two songs which we instantly relate with her now. The video is an interesting one to watch too, done in a manga/anime style, no sign of our real life Britney anywhere. But maybe that's a good thing. See for yourself.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Two Men & A Guitar
So last night we had an Acoustic Cafe at the Chapel and sooooo many people came to it - so wonderful and brilliant. When people left, more people came in. There was just enough cake and drinks for everyone, and so many people performed too. Including myself, with my guitar playing mate Ed. We did "Falling Slowly" from Once, which I've wanted to do for ages, and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", which is an absolute classic, and I'll have fisticuffs with anyone who disagrees with me!
But last night was really about us as a Christian Union giving other people the chance to 1) see that we're normal people too and 2) just to chill and relax in this tiring last week before the holidays. I don't think there was anyone who wasn't smiling as they left at nearly 11pm!
And so, once again, we've defied expectations and done God's work magnificently. And that got me thinking. I don't know how many people read this blog, or if you've been slightly turned off by my more religious writings recently. But when you have a spare moment, please, watch this video and I hope you'll understand why I'm just so darn excited!
But last night was really about us as a Christian Union giving other people the chance to 1) see that we're normal people too and 2) just to chill and relax in this tiring last week before the holidays. I don't think there was anyone who wasn't smiling as they left at nearly 11pm!
And so, once again, we've defied expectations and done God's work magnificently. And that got me thinking. I don't know how many people read this blog, or if you've been slightly turned off by my more religious writings recently. But when you have a spare moment, please, watch this video and I hope you'll understand why I'm just so darn excited!
Monday, 10 March 2008
Rain, Rain, Go Away, You Won't Stop Me Trying To Pray...
So we decide this week, the last before the Easter holidays, to have a Prayer Table/Cafe for the rest of the campus outside our chapel. Then boom - biggest storm for a while hits practically the whole country. Okay, I'm being a bit over-the-top but from the way it was reported by the media it sure felt like the whole of the country.
Anyway, we at Winchester weren't left out. Right as we started to set up the heavens opened, which I suppose is kind of ironic. But did that stop us? Nope. In fact, I would argue that more people stopped inside the chapel to have a hot mug of something, a chat and occasionally a prayer then they would have done had it not been raining and it been glorious sunshine.
To misquote slightly, God works in flipping mysterious ways. We are never going to understand them here on earth. We prayed and prayed and prayed for sunshine, for no rain to fall - didn't happen. Doesn't discourage us, though - far from it. We managed to proclaim his word by offering shelter, warmth, sunshine on a rainy day...okay, that one was a little corny, but you get the idea.
So why the Monday Moan status? Well, muggins here decided to stand outside with his friend's brolly to invite people in, only for a mighty gust of wind to blow it first inside out then snap it off its handle all together. Should have seen that coming, so I guess this is more a moan at myself than anything else. Silly boy.
Laters.
Anyway, we at Winchester weren't left out. Right as we started to set up the heavens opened, which I suppose is kind of ironic. But did that stop us? Nope. In fact, I would argue that more people stopped inside the chapel to have a hot mug of something, a chat and occasionally a prayer then they would have done had it not been raining and it been glorious sunshine.
To misquote slightly, God works in flipping mysterious ways. We are never going to understand them here on earth. We prayed and prayed and prayed for sunshine, for no rain to fall - didn't happen. Doesn't discourage us, though - far from it. We managed to proclaim his word by offering shelter, warmth, sunshine on a rainy day...okay, that one was a little corny, but you get the idea.
So why the Monday Moan status? Well, muggins here decided to stand outside with his friend's brolly to invite people in, only for a mighty gust of wind to blow it first inside out then snap it off its handle all together. Should have seen that coming, so I guess this is more a moan at myself than anything else. Silly boy.
Laters.
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Pinch, Punch, And Is That A Cuckoo I Hear?
In a perfect world, this day - the 1st of March - would be the first day of Spring. But, thanks probably to good ol' global warming, it's probably been Spring over here in Blighty since half way through February.
Anyway, as homage to the first day of Spring - whenever it is - we feel compelled in my house to do some spring cleaning. Well, okay, we don't exactly feel compelled, it's more like we have to. And when I say "we" I mean myself and Other Bloke, as Smoker and Second Year have gone home for the weekend. Cheers, girls.
My realm has been that of the kitchen, lounge and hallway/stairs. I also have to spruce my own bedroom up a bit, as we have the dreaded housing inspections this week. Fun, fun, fun! Speaking of fun, time to wipe down the oven.
Laters.
Anyway, as homage to the first day of Spring - whenever it is - we feel compelled in my house to do some spring cleaning. Well, okay, we don't exactly feel compelled, it's more like we have to. And when I say "we" I mean myself and Other Bloke, as Smoker and Second Year have gone home for the weekend. Cheers, girls.
My realm has been that of the kitchen, lounge and hallway/stairs. I also have to spruce my own bedroom up a bit, as we have the dreaded housing inspections this week. Fun, fun, fun! Speaking of fun, time to wipe down the oven.
Laters.
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