Pretty much my sentiments exactly...

Grace Dent on CBB

I agree...I'd like Big Brother to go back to the orginal format. There's no need for all the weird attempts to pull in more viewers - go back to basics - a bunch of people thrust together in a house full of cameras - see how they respond. That's sufficicient manipulation - don't try to take them to breaking point! Bring back the chickens!

Ha!

"The weirdest thing about weird people is how normal we are"
Louis Theroux

I like that!

Nothingness...

...encapsulates my Sunday perfectly. It's been lovely. Got up at 11, watched loads of trashy TV (Hollyoaks, Shipwrecked AND Big Brother), have stayed in my pyjamas all day and have no intention of getting dressed. Listening to the top 40 (I used to do that every sunday when I was younger and make a tape of all the songs I liked, awww bless me) Bath, sunday roast, Big Brother final, bed. Mmmm! (Not a word Mike! :0P)

An Escapade virgin no more...

Hmmm I don't think I was missing much there. I've always been quite proud of the fact that I'd never stepped foot in Escapade but tonight that all changed. I hang my head in shame! It wasn't as bad as it could have been. In fact I'd say Blu Bamboo still ranks lower.

However it did make me feel old - it was full of 15 year olds!!! I know I'm not old (far from it!) but I think I'm beyond that. And how come they're still playing all the dance tunes from the 90s - Corona, 2Unlimited, Venga boys - what's all that about?!! I used to dance around to those tunes in my friend's living room when I was about 9!

What makes it even funnier is that even though I got in about 1:30am, my parents still managed to stay out longer than me AND I ended up tucking my very drunk mum into bed. Ah the irony! She was all cute and giggly (though I don't think that's the state I'll find her in in the morning!!!)

Well I've been to Escapades and done Escapades now. Also went to Play Bar which I had thought would be really seedy (it has a bed in one of the rooms :0S) but I was pleasantly surprised. We all got nice and snug on the bed, and the decor was funky too.

Well I best be off for a bath. I refuse to get into bed stinking of smoke. Roll on April and the smoking ban. DISGUSTING!

Yay yay yay!

I'm going to see Damien Rice, woop woop! :0D Not til October though...but still!

Eeesh I'm slacking...

...a whole 8 days since my last post, tut tut! Guess it's a good sign really because it means I've been busy. I quite like being busy (though obviously there's busy and there's too busy!)

Right first up...

I spent the weekend in Cambridge with Becky and Gareth and it was looooovely. It was my third and longest visit to Cambridge - what a stunning city. It really is magnificent. It still tickles me to see so many bikes! Gareth showed us all the sights - we wandered round various colleges (WOW!) and he selected our entertainment very well. (Thanks Big G!) On Saturday we did lots of wandering taking in the sights and sounds of Cambridge, we had a gorgeous meal in a lovely Meditteranean restaurant and boogied the night away to some very funky tunes in Soul Tree. On Sunday we went to mass at King's (we wanted to see the choir!) The mass itself was rather freaky if I'm honest. I've only ever been to church services in our local church and it's fairly informal there but at King's there is the whole shabang! I'm really pleased we went thoguh - the choir were amazing and the building itself is totally breathtaking. The changes in light made such an impact on the interior of the building - the coloured light reflecting from the stained glass windows danced about the walls. Gorgeous.

*Even* GNER surprised me. Shock horror I know! We got down to Cambridge in 3 hours on the firiay night with no problems. On the sunday there were scheduled engineering works - we had to make 3 changes including a bus journey. In total it was estimated to be a total journey tiem of 4.5 hours and we made it in that. All the changes and bus transfer were smoothly handled. I was impressed. Well done GNER. For once you got it right!

Back to work...

Had a pants day yesterday but I'll spare you the details! There was one quite intriguing development. I received an invitation to join "Beau Monde", a ladies social club set up by one of the younger teachers and her friend after a drunken discussion over Christmas. They were ranting about how hard it is to meet people and make time for social activities so they decided to do something about it. The idea is to arrange a social event for the first saturday of every month. It seems like a weird idea at first but I guess it's just a reflection of the changing times - life is so hectic that people forget/don't get chance to have a bit of 'me' time and get themselves out there in situations where they wil lmeet like-minded people whose company they can enjoy. Take the rise of internet dating and online chatrooms/networks - I guess this is just an extension of that idea and these sorts of things will continue to grow in popularity.Well I'm going to give it a go - I've nothing to lose and perhaps friends to gain. That's gotta be a good thing. It was a nice surprise anyway.

Ooooh Big Brother is calling....

No surprise here...

I'm loving Mika - Grace Kelly- awesome!

Fruit and nut...?

So here I am still sorting my room out 6 months after I began a proper attempt at getting it organised. I have alot of stuff (as everyone keeps reminding me). All very important stuff in my mind, but quite difficult to know where to put what as most of it is fairly random 'stuff' AND me being a perfectionist, when I do something I want it to be done properly. (No that 's not just an excuse!)

Well today my mum went in my room and moved all the furniture around and hoyed anything that got in her way on the floor. I'm 22!!! (I don't think that gripe requires any further clarification!) I gave in though and I am making an attempt to make some progress - get all my pictures hung etc. It's just taken me ages to reaarange all my electrical stuff so I can reach plug sockets. Blah blah blah...

Being as I'm just tidying, I'm still in my pyjama bottoms and scruffy t-shirt, and my hair is piled on top of my head and fastened up with huge clips. Granted I look like a bit of a tramp but I'm comfy! Anyway I just went downstairs and my mum remarked "look at the state of you". "What's that supposed to mean?" I retorted. My parents then informed me that I'm eccentric.

Eccentric...hmmmm, I would say I am to a degree. I can cope with being labelled eccentric, though I don't think I deviate that far from your typical 22 year old really. Yep I can deal with eccentric. However my Dad then decided to continue with "y'know a bit of a fruit and nut". Now there's a bit of a difference between eccentric and crazy, right? Cheers Dad!

-UPDATE -
Photos on Ringo!

This week's gripes...

My inability to articulate myself
I'm becoming more and more concerned about my growing inability to articulate myself. Even sitting here now I'm struggling to locate the 'appropriate' words. I feel really dense! One of my Sociology teachers way back in my sixth form days said I had a 'way with words' and that my essay style was 'mature beyond my years'. Now I struggle to string a sentence together without thinking a 7 year old could do better. What has happened?! Sometime I listen to the drivel that falls out of my mouth and I cringe! Maybe my brain has stagnated...

The latest Seven Seas Advert
OMG, have you seen it? A giant cod 'swimming' along the streets and tapping people. It's gross! No idea about the roots of this fish fear of mine. It has no logical basis. It's not like I've had a particularly nasty experience with a fish. I don't usually mind them if I'm just looking at them and there's a barrier between us, it's more the thought of them touching me in any way that freaks me out. Think the advert is an issue because the fish follows people and prods them *eugh* Thankfully I don't think there's much chance of a giant cod swimming along beside me on my walk to work and prodding me. Phew.

Have Your Say
I've been a regular reader of BBC news online since my uni days (procrastination nation!) but I'd never read any of the 'Have Your Say' section until the last couple of weeks. It is quite frightening reading. I would imagine the BBC would pull in a pretty wide ranging readership and though people who respond on these kinds of things are likely to share certain characteristics, I would think that those commenting on the BBC website are a fairly representative group. I think a lot of people make it their lunch break reading. Anyway the three topic areas I read about over the last couple of weeks were pretty diverse: the case of Ashley X, the organic debate and the new gay rights laws. Some of the comments (even on the much less emotive organic vegetables debate) were shocking. I can't quite comprehend the extreme views of some people in this day in age. I appreciate that everyone is entitled to their own opinion yada yada yada BUT it's 2007 and some people really need to get with the times.

Life, the future and everything!
Yeah this is a bit of a biggy but pretty much encapsulates my concern! How on earth are you supposed to make a decision about what you want to do with your life? How do you know if it's the right decision? How do you make a decision?!! See I've never been good at making decisions - they scare me. I don't like the unknown. Pathetic I know. I know life would be boring if we knew what was going to happen and I wouldn't want it to be like that. I quite like a bit of spontaneity in some aspects of life. Don't be so surprised! I'd just like a bit of direction and enough courage to go with something and see where it takes me. I really admire people who just go with their instincts and enjoy the ride. Me...I ask everybody else what I should do...I'm not sure that's quite the idea...

Expensive exercise...

Over Christmas I sat on my ass *alot*. I did make sure I left the house at least once a day for some form of 'exercise' though that's probably not the appropriate word - 'movement' is probably more adept! Over the last few months I got much better with my eating habits - I'm even more fussy than ever about what I eat. I'm trying to 'monitor' what I put into my body a bit more and hopefully I'll reap the benefits. I used to have at least one chocolate bar a day and I'd managed to quash that but then Christmas happened, there was an abundance of chocolate and let's face it - chocolate is truly wonderful and a real comfort! Chocolate and tea - that's even better. Milky tea too! On the news yesterday they were telling us all that putting milk in your tea quashes the health benefits - that study was based on 16 people!!! Come back when you've got something a bit more substantial. *tut tut* But that's not the point - milky tea is a national treasure!

Anyway I totally went off on a tangent there...so I'm attempting to eat more healthily but I'm also pretty unfit. I've never been into sports or exercise really but when I've had my little fads (Davina's cardioboxing is awesome!) I have enjoyed it (I'd love a trampoline!) I decided to start walking to work as often as possible. I bought myself an mp3 player...love listening to music and thought it'd keep me motivated to walk. I can get a right march going to my music! Cost £45. This morning I didn't walk to work because Dad said it was going to rain and I didn't want a frizz-head (technical term!). After a long day at work I decided to walk home but that involved passing Monsoon with its massive '70% off' posters in the window, and I was feeling in need of some 'comfort' so I went in. Cost £27.

Yep, walking to work has so far cost me £72. I do love my mp3 player though - music when I want it and it's pink! And I'm walking so that's good, yeah?!

Wide awake at bedtime...

I've spent the first week of 2007 in a somewhat dazed state...part of my brain is definitely 'offline' at the moment. I'm not sure how it's happened - maybe it's because I was so ready for last term to end, that once it did I just shut off and haven't managed to switch myself back on again yet.

I'm really lethargic all day then I suddenly wake up at bedtime and I'm buzzing! On Thursday night I lay there for 4 hours trying to nod off but it just wasn't happening. I used to get really agitated when I couldn't sleep (it happened a lot at uni) but that just makes it worse. I read somewhere that even if you can't sleep you should try to 'enjoy' just being in bed, lying down relaxing (not doing anything ok!), rather than getting yourself worked up about it.

After 4 hours I gave up with that strategy! When I finally did get to sleep I had a really freaky, vivid dream. My neighbour drove down the street and crashed into a van. There were three students inside, two of them flew through the windscreen and were all contorted on the ground. My neighbour was wetting himself because he was in such a panic. My mum had to be dragged back by my dad because she was having a panic attack. It was all very traumatic and thankfully just a dream. But where the f**k did that come from?! The scary thing is that that came from my head! Weird huh?!

One of my other freaky dreams this week involved me being forced into the rapids in the river and held down while all the fish 'sucked' on me. I have a fear of fish, in particular of fish 'touching' me in any way. So that was very disturbing *shudder*

Right I'm going to go and attempt so sleep because sitting in front of a computer screen definitely doesn't faciliate sleep!

Everytime...

It's that time of year again - Celebrity Big Brother is upon us once more. I didn't even protest this time; I just accepted that it will become a part of my daily routine for the next 3 weeks. Sad I know. Yes it's cheesey and very cringeworthy at times but it is pretty entertaining too for those reasons, so what the hell. I didn't watch any of "I'm a Celebrity..." (she says trying to justify her bad habits!) so CBB will be my dose of reality TV...

Leo Sayer (legend!): "I can't sleep...and there's a naked man in my bed"

I've not really watched that much TV of late, even over Christmas - the only programme I watch regularly is Lost and that's not on again til February. Nooooo! I finally got around to watching episode 6 today and it was nailbiting stuff. Will they or won't they?!

Helloooooo Daniel Craig...

I'm not usually a Bond fan. I don't think I've ever seen an entire Bond film, mostly because I don't like Pierce Brosnan (he stole Mrs Doubtfire's children!!!) and to be honest it's not really my thing. However when it was announced that Daniel Craig was to be the new Bond I was quite intrigued. He was fantastic in the film adaptation of Enduring Love. He's probably not the most obvious Bond choice and my how he was slated - before anyone had even seen him in action, how rude and presumptious! I think there'll be a considerable number of people taking back their jibes now.

I don't want to give too much away but if you haven't seen it I'd say it's recommended viewing (not just because Daniel Craig is rather attractive, though that helps. Not just one but TWO shots of him emerging from the sea in teeny tiny trunks ;0) It has enough action to keep the action lovers entertained (even I was pretty impressed by some of the stunts), some stunning locations and there's also a good bit of romance in there for those of us who like a bit of cheese! And of course Judi Dench - absolute legend.

James Bond: "Vodka-Martini"
Bartender: "Shaken or stirred?"
James Bond: "Does it look like I give a damn?"

Knock knock...

I don't think I've 'woken up' properly yet this year. In a bit of a daze. I've not got a grasp of day or date as yet - that'll change when I'm back to work next week. I shouldn't complain because I do have considerable more holiday time than the vast majority...but it doesn't stop me!

Hellooooo brain, where are you? Wake up!

Patience pays

My Dad bought my Mum a Nikon Coolpix L3 digital camera for Christmas 2005. I have since been 'looking after it'. It's a pretty swish wee camera. Since Christmas 2005 I've been meaning to read through the instruction booklet but I'm just too impatient so I didn't bother and have been merrily plodding along taking substandard photos (my 3 year old niece often manages better shots than me!)

This morning I finally had a nosey through said booklet and I'm mightily impressed at some of the additional settings I've not known about. Bummer! Just think of all those great shots I have potentially missed out on due to my laziness! Ah well I'm looking forward to havign a good play around with it now. GEEEEEEEK!

Happy New Year!

First off...here's to a wonderful 2007. Make it a good one :0)

So it's 2007 hey. That sounds so wrong - 2007 already. I can now say that it's 2 years since I graduated. I'll be 23 this year. 23! (Mike'll be 30 though - haha ;0P) I wonder what this year will bring and what (if anything!) I'll be writing here this time next year. Things could be oh so different or very similar - who knows what events will unfold over the next 12 months. Somethings will happen because I make them happen, others will be totally beyond my control...I guess it's quite an exciting thought really.

I usually hate new year and choose to stay away from any form of celebration. When you look at it logically it's just a date, but it becomes this massive deal (or is that just me?!). A new year, a new start, a time for change, a time for decisions etc etc. A time for much pondering - reviewing the previous year, expectations about the coming year - a big headache (often in more ways than one though here I refer to the tangled web of thoughts as opposed to the new year hangover)

Surprisingly this year turned out to be a pretty darn good one despite my usual reservations. I'd planned a quiet night in with good company, good food and drink and good banter, and that's how it began...

See I like to plan things meticulously - know exactly what I'm doing, when, who with - it's safe and comfortable that way! This is just me, annoying as it can be at times - I can get quite tetchy when unexpected things happen. I like to be in control (freak!) However I'm willing to admit my flaws!

Sometimes the best times are those that are unplanned...like my sister's arrival last night to drag us next door to the annual house party at numero uno. Off we went and a great time was had by all. No sitting thinking about things, no worrying about the year ahead, no fretting about things past - instead we just enjoyed the night for what it was. And it worked. So all in all a pretty good start to 2007. Thanks Becky, Pink and, of course, my darling iccle sis Joey.

Of course I haven't entirely put my thinkyness to one side. Don't be daft ;0) I don't make new year's resolutions - I only break them and then feel guilty. So instead I've decided to make a list of things I'd like to achieve this year - no pressure, just potential, no need to feel guilty...

So, in no particular order...

Do a photography course and make the time to go out and enjoy taking photos
Make a decision (not my strength!) about current 'career' situation and act on it!
Spend more time with my beautiful nieces
Improve my general level of fitness (currently very pathetic!)
Listen to the radio more
Spend more time with friends
Be more proactive in all areas of my life!!!

HAPPY 2007 ONE AND ALL :0D X