Today is Mike’s 21st, so this blog is officially dedicated to “he-that-be-old”! :op
I know he had a lot planned for today and I have to admit, I was no different. Today I had decided to spend some time at home with the ‘Fam’ and to generally get some important stuff done.
First thing I did was to settle some bills for my house in West Drayton. With that sorted quickly on the automated ‘phone service, I spent the day keeping Mum company whilst she ironed an entire wardrobe of clean clothes, keeping Adam company whilst he chugged away diligently at some PowerPoint slides for his Psychology revision, and keeping Dad well equipped with mugs of coffee whilst he fixed the kitchen patio-door and worked on the computer! Adam actually taught me some very interesting things relating to both Crime and Education as he did his preparatory work for his A2 year. I learnt all about the “Skinner Box”, operant conditioning and positive and negative reinforcements! Marvel at my new informed self! :op
The Psychology stuff Adam has been doing with me has really sparked my interest in the subject; considering in sixth form I didn’t want to touch its course content with a barge pole (symbolic or otherwise). I’m thinking seriously about doing some research into the subject myself. Though it’ll have to wait ‘til after this year; the strict regime I plan to set myself this year will not be easy to stick to! With all the reading and note-taking I have to do at the start of this term, I shall barely have time to eat and sleep, let alone get into researching my dissertation (which I should be doing if I want to pass), or getting a part-time job (which I NEED to do if I plan to buy anything or go out at all this year!).
Anyways, after this eventful day keeping my family occupied (and myself by proxy), it was time for Mike’s party! The last, unfortunately, to be held at no. 52 Onley Street as he and Lei are moving out on Wednesday. T’will be a sad day for much fun was to be had in that house.
Though I wasn’t drinking all evening, we all had a great time and hopefully gave the old man a great night to remember :o)
Huggles and Birthday wishes to you Mike!
Here are some of the pics I stole from Facebook:
(Mike being his usual-Photogenic-self)
(Ellie being her usual-Photogenic-self)
(Me being my usual-Photogenic-self, with Mike)
THE DRINK....
(I wouldn't want to even hazard a guess at the muck that was poured into this...)
“Oooh I know you’d love it!” to quote Mrs Lovett if I may? :op
Yesterday, I decided to surprise my best friend by kidnapping her and stealing her away to the coast for the day. I will miss being so close to the Seaside when my family moves back to Berkshire as it will no longer be easy to hop on the train to Sheringham, as we did today. I arrived at Ellie’s house by 8:30am (having hitched a ride with a parental taxi), grabbed a banana for brekkie and one of Ellie’s jumpers (Oh, and her) and we were on our way! Ellie is lucky enough to live close to the city centre of Norwich so it is extremely quick and easy to walk down to the Riverside station from her home.
Once on the train I grew more excited about my plans for the day, though as the train was fairly crowded we tried to restrain ourselves, just a little . . . When we landed in the dingy, drizzly, greyness that was Sheringham’s little town, we decided that I was hungry. So, in order to give the weather a chance to pick up a little, we rummaged through Budgens’ wares for food stuffs. We were lucky today because by the time we emerged it was already starting to look a lot brighter and by the time we reached the sand/shingles the sun was beaming down at us :o) Ellie and I played around for a while skimming stones across the sand and into the surf before we got bored and decided to walk to Cromer. We are simple people :op To be honest, although it may not sound very exciting to play with small stones or amble along the beach to the next-but-one Seaside town, it was so relaxing to know that we had the whole day to ourselves and we had nothing to rush home for. It was Ellie’s first full day off from work for a while and we were determined to enjoy it!
The walk was really not very far, but it took us over two hours to make it to Cromer! We were walking slowly because some old dear crashed into Ellie’s ankle with a Waitrose trolley yesterday and gave her a nasty graze which impeded her speed. We also revelled in the sandy walk, dodging between the waves and clambering over the slippery groyns. It was fun to do what Ellie and I do best (natter) in a different environment.
Once we were into Cromer, Ellie was famished so we headed for food again. We found a lovely little café away from the beach and closer into the town itself where we could sit and eat in peace. We also discovered a new restaurant/pubby place, which looks fantastic! We made plans to return for dinner that evening because it has a lot of choice (especially important for Ellie, as being a vegetablarian tends to restrict one somewhat!) and the prices seemed very reasonable. After lunch we just lounged around on the sand, eating lemon sorbet/strange ice cream mixtures and laughing at the other people enjoying the beach :op
I have to admit that no matter how many times I go, or how old I get, I think the Sea-side will always retain a powerful hold over me and my emotions. Churches get me too. Whenever I visit either, I feel a vast wave of awe crash over me and any pent-up emotions come flooding to the surface, forcing me to pay them attention. If you ever join me by the Sea, don’t be surprised to see me lost in thought as the atmosphere and setting alone can send me into a trance-like state. To be dramatic, the Sea is the key to my inner-most thoughts. It is my happy place. Hehehe.
That being said, I couldn’t live there. It’s strange how exhausting it is to breathe in the fresh Sea air. We found ourselves feeling very dozy as the afternoon progressed and, when the beach had almost emptied, we decided it was time to go home. As we waited for the 9 o’clock train, we sat outside The Station House pub and I wrote postcards to my grandparents (feeling very much like a tourist in my own county). We had very filling meals there too (we were too tired to walk back down the hill to the other restaurant). All in all it was a fantastic day and I really enjoyed myself! I think Ellie had fun too :o) I look forward to doing it again soon, and I’ll be sure to document it for your enjoyment too!
xxxx
My, my, I am proud of myself today: I've managed to cut my brother's hair into a much nicer, shorter style than his previous Wolverine look, AND I've spent a good part of the day clearing out the clutter from my bedroom :o)It's good to have a decent clear out every now and then, you discover things you had completely forgotten about. Now for a writer (and for me) that tends to be embarassing old poems that don't even belong with Hallmark, and very short stories. I did find one poem that I was quite impressed with, though, based on 'Animal testing'. . . delightful, eh? The thing that surprised me most about this one is that it doesn't rhyme. I mean, I know I've written poems with no rhyme scheme or rhythm before, just to attempt a wider range of styles, but I find those poems so unsatisfying to write and so clumsy to read that I rapidly returned to writing poetry in my own lilting fashion and soon destroyed all evidence of the experimental writing. Or so I thought...Though I have admitted to being fairly amused by this hidden treasure, I am reluctant to publish it on the blog. Does anybody have any thoughts as to whether I should share it or not?Back to the tidying. . .I can now see carpet. This is new. . . I don't remember having carpet. . . hmm. . .
Other discoveries for today include:
- An essay on 'Unrequited love' in Twelfth Night which made me cringe (I can clearly see how vast the improvement in my essay writing has been since I left CNS at the end of my A levels! It seems so alien now, an essay without footnote referencing. . . WAS there really a time when I was oblivious to the Harvard referencing system?),
- A photograph showing me at the age of 7 or 8, with Adam aged 4 or 5, Andrew Davidson (same age as me) and his little sister Fiona (same age as Adam). Andrew and I look perfectly normal children; my brother on the other hand was wearing one of my dresses and a plastic beaded necklace, with Fiona by his side dressed in Adam's full Batman costume. They both look far too happy in their cross-dressing . . mind you, I seem to remember it being my idea, . . . what does that say about me? :op
- More than a few items of clothing I regret ever wearing, yet also wish I could still fit into,
and. . .
- About three million plastic bags!
Seriously, who needs so many?!I'm hoping that by the time I have finished tidying this room I'll also have enough space (and fewer spiders to disturb) in order to move the room round a bit, make it look a bit different. It's been over a year since I rotated the furniture, and if you've ever lived with me, you'll know that this is something I like to do regularly. It throws the spiders off you see. . .
Right, well, I suppose I'd better get back to work; at the moment, my bed is so covered in belongings that even Stig would be uncomfortable sleeping there (apologies for literary reference, but if you don't know who Stig is, you shouldn't be reading my blog. Loser).
Laters! xxxx
So, I still have about 35 days left before I return to Uni for my third year at Brunel and already I am clamouring to go back! I miss my friends, the classes, even the work; all this AND I am getting excited about beginning my dissertation project.The dissertation is a new concept for me, though I have been both looking forward to it and dreading it for a long, long time! Very sad, I'm sure, but it bears the appeal of a new subject to discover, very few boundaries other than word limit (10,000) and the opportunity to write an intelligent document with a higher value than regular essay-assignments. I have chosen to compose my project on the subject of Fairytales as I have never studied them to the extent that I would have liked and would very much like to discover more about the origins and adaptations of the genre.
My particular focus within this very broad subject keeps changing, though these are a few of my initial ideas:
- The changing role of the woman in the Fairytale genre – tracking the changes to traditional fairytales and folktales from around the world as they are influenced by the Feminist movement:
>> Modern interpretations of classic fairytales and feminist manipulation of certain character roles (e.g. Dahl, Carter),
>> Analysis of generic character stereotypes, e.g. Fairy godmother, Prince charming, Evil Stepmother, Wicked witch etc…
- Investigating the earliest traditional European fairytales and contextual examination of their influences on modern culture and society.
- Delving into the horror element in popular fairytales: Where has the traditional horror disappeared to? Are fairytales still as horrifying as they were meant to be? If not, why not? Is it tru that Walt Disney etc. has extracted the crucial pain and terror from the original stories? Why are modern children not allowed to experience these classic tales as they were intended? Do we really think that today’s children would not cope with such horror? What was the purpose of horrifying elements to a story? Are the stories meaningless without this element?
And other such theories. I have to admit that the horror theme has me pretty hooked for enthusiasm at the moment, especially as I have googled the keywords on Amazon only to unearth modern takes on the Gothic fairytale genre. It looks good so far, kids!
If I can get an original slant on this project I will have vastly higher marks, as it is one of the significant purposes of the dissertation project (to research a topic in a completely new and original way). I emailed my tutor this evening to explain my new ideas and we'll just have to wait and see what she says about it. I've not been taught by her before, so it's a new experience all round, but she seems really friendly and has been pretty fast to reply to previous introductory emails :o)
Anyway, I think I have been plenty unsociable this evening so far (having disappeared up here to the computer almost as soon as I finished eating), so I shall go mingle with the Fam for a bit.
TaTa4Now xxxx
Welcome to my first post on a brand new blog.
I hereby make no easily broken promises for continuity of the blog, nor do I pledge never to bore you, the reader, with the dredgeries of my everyday thoughts and opinions.
However, I shall do my best to refrain from commiting such heinous crimes.
Happy Reading :o)
(Mike being his usual-Photogenic-self)
(Ellie being her usual-Photogenic-self)
(Me being my usual-Photogenic-self, with Mike)
THE DRINK....
