This n That

Looking back at 2011’s Goals

2011-12-29T23:46:00.000Z

I never really sat myself any new year’s resolutions or goals last year other than to write more and to make more YouTube videos/get more involved with the online video community.

The creative writing may have taken a back seat but the video making was most definitely successful, having filmed/created over 50 videos with more still in production - that's over double the previous 3 years combined!

I also got to attend my first YouTube gathering which was an awesome experience that I hope to repeat in 2012.

This time next year, I’d love to be a YouTube partner.

Below are some of my favourite videos from throughout the year – filmed, edited, created by me.

The Eagle Wing Festival (in under a minute)

Steph visits Northern Ireland Parts 1 and 2

July 2011

Speedy Cat

Twinkle Twinkle Little Fish (my first attempt at Stop Motion Animation)

Lincoln Christmas Market – A Snapshot

Home for Christmas

Click here to view my channel :)

Things I Learnt in 2011

2011-12-26T23:53:00.001Z

I’m constantly learning about both the world and myself. I guess that’s not unusual. What is perhaps a little unusual is that I try to use the knowledge I’ve gained to help me grow as a person. (No, I didn’t mean that to sound quite as pretentious as it did...)

Anyways, I feel I learnt two main things this year:

The first, I learned over the summer (which I spent, among other things, travelling around a lot of England, working at various events, and having very little sleep). It was this: I can do a lot more than I think I can (or, that is to say, than I thought I could – past tense).

I always thought I was rather useless – that I couldn’t do much but, with a little discipline, I’ve discovered that I can be rather useful indeed.

The second thing I learnt is: The value of Discipline, especially self-discipline.

Up until now I’ve been fairly undisciplined in my life but, as I mentioned in a previous post, I have been striving to change this and I think progress has been made.

I define discipline as what I’ve been doing the last few months: Doing what’s right even though I don’t want to. And not being lazy.

(Also, in the last week or so, I learnt what the Oxford comma is and also that my family – particularly my parents – are completely incapable of playing charades/staying silent. Their attempts were indeed fairly hilarious as I’m sure you can imagine.)

I urge everyone to watch this:

2011-12-23T23:38:00.000Z

If you’re Alone this Christmas...

2011-12-22T17:02:00.001Z

I know this time of year can feel especially lonely for some people and so I wanted to leave a brief message here saying:

Whoever you are & wherever you are, you are worth something and God loves you. You need never be alone if you turn to him.

Be blessed, folks! xx

I know, I know, it’s been a while…

2011-11-08T23:43:00.000Z

Since I lasted posted on here (way back on July 2^nd) I had my dear friend Stephy visit me in Norn Iron, I caught a flight to Bristol, travelled down to Poole (via Bath) for a job interview, travelled to Northampton for a job interview, travelled to Lincoln where I met up with old friends, went to a wedding, a baptism and a graduation. From there I went back home for a week before flying to East Midlands to be part of the Powerpack Team at Faith Camp (Peterborough).

I made it to the Saturday of Summer in the City (in between weeks 1 and 2 of the Children’s Ministry Experience in Headington, Oxford) then visited Stephy at her home in London before travelling back up to Lincoln for Grapevine.

That was my summer. What followed was 10 days at home before I moved to Oxford for an academic year. I am doing an internship with a church here. My job title is “Ministry Support Worker” and it involves me helping out with various regular activities & less regular events.

During the week I help out at Mums & Tots, Over 50’s Club, After School Club and Youth Group. On a Sunday I help with Sunday School, Sunday Youth, Crèche & Data Projection. I have also just agreed to help out with a second Youth Project and a second Mother & Toddler group.

As you can see, my main focus is Children’s & Youth Ministry. I am currently completing a one year course in Youth Ministry with CYM. This involves travelling to Reading every month or so.

I also plan to study with The Open University come January.

I babysit twice a week to earn money.

Last month I was a Powerpack leader at a Church Weekend in Salford, Manchester. This weekend I am attending a conference in Bristol. The weekend after that I will be at Headington Baptist Church’s weekend away. In December I am visiting Lincoln for a weekend at the start & visiting home for 10 days at the end.

My diary is filling up for 2012.

So, yeah, life is busy!

If you want to physically see my adventures, subscribe to me on YouTube!

Illness Ignorance

2011-07-02T17:27:00.000+01:00

Most people ignore me when I’m in pain or say I feel sick because I tend to exaggerate and repeat myself but, although it is true that I do like to be dramatic for fun (sometimes!), that doesn’t make my pain any less real.

Consider the tale of ‘the boy who cried wolf’ – how would an unfortunate boy be treated by friends and family if he were actually attacked by several wolves, several times? He would need more help and attention than most and yet he’d receive the least amount of care and attention because people would refuse to believe anybody could genuinely have so many problems.

Sometimes, despite how improbable it is, one person can have way more than their fair share of “bad luck” and no one should have the right to destroy that persons credibility just on the basis of how improbable their “luck” is - because if the person is truly as unfortunate as they claim, you not believing them is only going to add insult to injury (quite literally).

Now I’m not saying that I’m the sickest person in the world (not by a long shot) but I consider myself to be fairly unfortunate with my unusually large and varied collection of chronic illnesses (and you may not consider it to be a large collection but, it is when you compare it to how many on-going illnesses a “regular” person has).

I don’t think that the fact that I’m sometimes a drama queen should mean that no-one ever takes me or my conditions seriously. Why should I pretend to be someone else – someone quiet, reserved – just to have someone care when I’m ill?

I can’t count the amount of times I’ve fallen over, cried out in pain, just returned from throwing up, told someone I have a bad headache, had little or no sleep and A, Been told it’s my own fault. B, Been completely ignored or C. Been laughed at. (Side-note: I’m not sure which of these responses is worse…)

Do you really think I make up my symptoms just to entertain myself? Do you know how much of an insult it is to be told I’m “faking it”? Do you know what it’s like to have sharp stabbing pains throughout your body while your friend essentially calls you a liar?

It doesn’t take long to get bloody sick of it (pardon the pun…) and I can totally see why some people find it easier to completely deny to both themselves and others when they’re hurt and need help; because, in my experience, if you ask for help too many times people begin to resent you.

This isn’t how life should be! I want to be able to discuss my symptoms/illnesses without fear of condemnation! I don’t want pity, I want people to understand and be a little less ignorant.

Why is it, that even when I *finally* have a diagnosis from a trained health professional, people still take no notice? As if I’ve just told them I’m a tiny pink elephant with huge sapphire ears!

I AM NOT CLAIMING TO BE ELVIS so WHY are you looking at me as if I’ve completely lost the plot? I *only* told you I find it impossible to sleep at night – why is that so far-fetched a concept to you? Does insomnia not exist where you come from?

AGAIN, I feel the need to state: I don’t want pity when I express how ill I am or how ill I feel. It would, however, be nice (even once in a while) if people were to take me seriously and maybe be a bit more gentle and/or understanding.

OK, rant over. But, be warned, I shall be severely tempted to batter the next person to tell me my suffering is “all in my head” with a medical dictionary!

And, for the record, my medical conditions:

Depression (with Bi-Polar tendencies), Insomnia, Chronic Sinusitis, P.C.O.S., Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and a knee that likes to dislocate at the most inopportune moments.

F.A.Q. –

Q: Are you sure you’re not just a hypochondriac?

A: If I were, I wouldn’t have been diagnosed with each (or in fact any) of the illnesses listed above!

Q: If you have all those things why haven’t they been treated?

A: Does the term “incurable” mean anything to you?!

Q: Why are you so upset about people not taking your illnesses seriously? It’s not a big deal.

A: *bangs head against brick wall*

X-Men First Class

2011-06-22T19:01:00.004+01:00

I’ll start off by saying: I *LOVED* this movie & I think it’s the best of the series so far, by far.

As always, my good friend Joel beat me to it and has his review posted HERE. I completely agree with him that Hugh Jackman’s brief cameo was the funniest part however we do disagree on a few other points…

He says that this movie makes up for the disappointment that was Wolverine and I’ve heard a couple of other people say something similar but, although it wasn’t as good as ‘First Class’, I really enjoyed Wolverine and wouldn’t count it a disappointment at all.

Joel also thinks Michael Fassbender (Magneto) was the star of the show whereas I would say James McAvoy wins that title hands down – aside from being incredibly handsome & charming he’s so believable in his role that I couldn’t imagine anyone else playing Professor X so well.

I’m not sure what it is/was but I didn’t like the child actor (Bill Milner) used to portray Magneto at his youngest.

I thought the story flowed really well and the plot was top notch, however, I’m not sure how much of this was already dictated by the comics & just adapted or whether it hadn’t been covered before & therefore had to be written specially for this film (I don’t know because I haven’t read the comics – yet).

My general rule of thumb for judging a film is whether I would want to watch it again & how soon I’d be willing to do so and by this standard it has done VERY well indeed – it’s one of the select few films that I’d be tempted to come out at the end of the viewing only to buy another ticket at the box office immediately for the next showing. Therefore, overall, it gets a 9 out of 10 and I fully intend to buy it on DVD.

My current list of movies I’m excited about, but haven’t watched yet, includes:

The Kings Speech, 300, Fast & The Furious 5, Slumdog Millionaire and (randomly) Moulin Rouge.

FRESH AIR!

2011-05-31T23:59:00.000+01:00

I feel most alive when I’m out, physically experiencing life. Surrounded by nature or taking in a new place. I want to do this more.

The thing is, I have barely any desire to be in this country and even less desire to be in my parent’s house… but I just get so down about being so far away from most of my friends and about being in a town with so little to do that I don’t even want to leave my room, let alone my house!

It was getting so bad that even my health deteriorated. So I had to do something, just get out – everyday. It isn’t always easy - I’d still rather stay in bed and hide from life a lot of the time but when I actually put the effort in and get out of the house I never regret it.

Cheers to breaking bad habits!

The Queen’s Visit…

2011-05-20T21:10:00.001+01:00

So, the Queen left Ireland today after a very historically & politically relevant 4 day visit and it’s all gone better than expected but I have a bone to pick with the news coverage of the whole situation. For the most part, the TV footage I watched was full of contradictions and as such, I was not impressed. I saw a couple of short reports and 1 longer documentary and in each of them there was little or no mention of the protest/riots the visit had caused – it had been all glossed over and although I understand why they did this I think it was wrong. News is supposed to be what happened not about pick ‘n’ mix facts that only tell half a story.

Then there was Sin Féin. One minute reporters were saying that Sin Féin’s support for the visit was key to the whole thing going ahead, the next minute they said there were members/supporters of Sin Féin involved in the riots (obviously meaning they didn’t support the visit at all) then they showed party leader Gerry Adams saying they had raised concerns about the visit but they had been satisfied with the response to their concerns and were happy it all went ahead. Which is it?

I’m ashamed to say, I found myself shouting at the TV when I saw the head of the UDA had been invited to events organised for Queen. Why, why, WHY on earth would anyone invite a terrorist to an event let alone the leader of the entire terrorist group! Obviously he posed no threat to the Queen as the UDA fight in support of unity with the monarchy (or at least, that’s what they claim to represent) but he should not have been invited on principal – he’s a criminal for pity’s sake! It’s like Britney Spears inviting a mass murderer to her birthday party because he enjoys her songs – absolute madness!

On another, heavily related, note… too often I see protests turning into riots. It’s almost inevitable and I think both the protestors and the police often have equal blame in this i.e. both sides could handle the situation better. It really sickens and terrifies me to watch it happening on the news. So much so that I completely refuse to go to a protest or demonstration at all – regardless of what cause it’s for or how strongly I feel about it. Emotionally I just can’t handle that level of violence. Not to mention the amount of people (crowds make me extremely nervous, but that’s a different story!).

Still Confused about the Alternative Voting System? Fear Not!

2011-05-04T00:24:00.001+01:00

It’s that time of year again – election season. This time round we not only have local elections but a referendum as well. Referendums are important mainly because they’re rare but also because they affect the entire UK.

If you live in the UK you should have received a booklet from the electoral commission telling you all about this. If you didn’t get one you can download it from [THIS WEBPAGE] – Just click your country (England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland).

Alternatively (see what I did there?) you can check out the links below for analogies explaining AV. Keep in mind they are somewhat biased in their representations but it’s all very light-hearted – make up your own mind by all means :)

AV explained with an X-Factor Analogy: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-if-you-get-the-x-factor-youll-get-av-2271058.html

AV explained with Cats (video): http://www.jamesdoc.co.uk/2011/04/av-explained-with-cats.html

AV explained with a Pub/Coffee Shop Analogy (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm5IBhrq_PU

I’d also like to take a brief moment to recommend this short piece by Shane Croucher: http://shanecroucher.tumblr.com/post/4804255167/is-av-really-a-step-towards-proportional

My personal view is that Proportional Representation (PR) is what we, as a democratic nation, should be both looking for and heading for. I agree with Shane that some people are getting confused between AV and PR - contrary to popular belief, they are not the same thing!
I also agree that AV will not necessarily or automatically lead to PR but I think AV is a step in the right direction in the sense that it’s closer to PR than the ‘First Past the Post’ system. To put it another way, I think AV is a substitute, a consolation prize, a lesser of 2 evils and as such we should vote for it but not stop there – afterwards we should campaign for a future referendum to put in place full PR or ‘AV-Plus’ as Johann calls it (see first link for reference).

If I were voting on Thursday I would be voting for AV but alas, the postal service has lost my form and therefore I am not registered. That’s a whole different story though (well, more of a rant really)!

X-Men Obsession Ahoy!

2011-05-01T17:50:00.003+01:00

Being the creature of habit that I am, I am continuing my trend of hopping on a bandwagon long after most people have got bored of its novelty and moved unto something else. I don’t do this intentionally, yet, I keep falling into the same pattern… It happened with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it happened with Doctor Who and Harry Potter (in that order) and now it’s happening with X-men.
In each case I had only seen bits and pieces when they came out and were first popular, then nothing - showed no real interest for years until one day, out of the blue, I become madly obsessed and remain so until this day.

Before ‘talking’ more about my imminent obsession with X-Men I would like to say 3 things. These things have no great significance and are only mildly related to this post but I just feel like saying them anyway... ‘cus I have the power to do that, mwahaha!
1 – The new Doctor Who season that has started is AMAZING. Sure we’re only 2 episodes in but hey, it’s still true :)
2 – I’m planning to read the rest of the Harry Potter books (having finished the first 1 a few months back) and re-watch all the movies in preparation for the last movie’s release in July this year.
3 – My favourite villain(s) of all time are The Weeping Angels (the idea of them placing someone back in time and letting them “live to death” is pure genius) and my favourite hero of all time is Spiderman (Y).

Now, unto the main purpose of this post – to tell you about my love of X-men…
I’ve grown up with the X-men cartoons. Watching them on and off and in completely the wrong order for years, I mildly enjoyed them. When the first movie came out (in 2000), however, it was a different kettle of fish entirely – I was no longer mildly interested, I was very much excited to see it. Yet, for some reason or other, I didn’t make it to the cinema and soon forgot about it until the second movie came out in 2003. As much as I wanted to see this one, I didn’t allow myself because I was (and still am) sick of watching movies in the wrong order and therefore wanted to see the first movie first. Unfortunately I had no access to the first movie (via DVD, internet or otherwise) so, again I forgot about it for a while until the third movie came out (in 2006) which I also refused to watch. Fast forward to 2009 – I was at uni, spending more time socialising than studying of course. My friends decided to watch a DVD one night and it just so happened to be X-Men 3 (The Last Stand). As previously stated, I didn’t want to watch it until I’d seen the other two first but alas, I gave in on the condition that my long suffering friend Joel explain the previous 2 plots to me with my butting in every 5 minutes to ask a question (sorry bud, I appreciate your efforts. lol).
So I watched the movie, enjoyed it and then forgot about the whole thing until the ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ movie came out later that year. By this time I’d allowed myself to watch it in the cinema and once again, I enjoyed it before forgetting once more and returning to life as ‘normal’. That was until a couple of days ago when I heard about the new X-men movie due to be released this summer… so now the plan is to watch the first set of 3 movies (in order!) plus the first X-men Origins movie again and happily fall into complete obsession with the series just in time for a nice little cinema trip :D

[Clarification of my Opening Paragraph (because I know die-hard fans and Nerdfighters alike enjoy debating about such things and because I don’t want to be misunderstood): I didn’t mean to down play the popularity of the shows/movies/books listed above when I said most people have gotten over their novelty and moved on. I know they are still popular but my point was that there was a lot of hype surrounding them and the people that liked them just because they were fashionable have moved on leaving only the true fans to appreciate them. This happens with all things and is in no way a criticism of them – I’m not saying they’re not as good as they once were or first appeared.
Secondly, I’m aware that X-men are not as popular as the other things listed. You may not think X-men deserves to be listed alongside the others or that the quality is remotely comparable - I’m not trying to say that they are as good (or even that they’re worse) than the others, I’m just listing them together for the purposes of this post/to illustrate my point.]

My 30 Day Song Challenge

2011-04-15T19:15:00.001+01:00

I started this on Facebook as a bit of fun, saying how it wasn’t really a challenge but some of these were actually quite difficult to answer. I think the main challenge is to remember every day though - so many times I forgot and had to catch up!
The funeral song question, I thought, was the most interesting and thought provoking of the lot. Anyways, it’s over now so I thought I’d correlate all my answers in one place…

Day 01 - Favourite song: I Miss You by Blink 182
Day 02 - Least favourite song: Lazy by X-Press 2 featuring David Byrne
Day 03 - A song that makes me happy: To Kayley, who is Sad by Nerimon & Tom Milsom
Day 04 - A song that makes me sad: Sacrifice (Instrumental) by Christophe Beck. It makes me sad but I still love it - from The Season 5 Finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Day 05 - A song that reminds me of someone: I Got a Feelin' by Black Eyed Peas (Reminds me of Miranda and the Odeon Crew)
Day 06 - A song that reminds me of somewhere: What if His people prayed? by Casting Crowns (Reminds me of New Word Alive)
Day 07 - A song that reminds me of a certain event: A Place for my Head by Linkin Park (the whole Hybrid Theory album reminds me of my 16th birthday but this song specifically sticks out)
Day 08 - A song that I know all the words to: This is really difficult, there are lots of songs I know about 75% of the words to... Gonna go for 'I'm with You' by Avril Lavigne - love it, listen regularly.
Day 09 - A song that I can dance to: Move it like This by The Baha Men
Day 10 - A song that makes me fall asleep: No song really fits the bill here but some do make me a *little* tired... 9 Crimes by Damien Rice
Day 11 - A song from my favourite band: When they Come for Me by Linkin Park
Day 12 - A song from a band I hate: Intergalactic by Beastie Boys (Although the Beastie Boys generally irritate me I do find a couple of their songs catchy)
Day 13 - A song that is a guilty pleasure: You Can't Stop the Beat from Hairspray the Musical
Day 14 - A song that no one would expect me to love: Mundian To Bach Ke by Panjabi MC
Day 15 - A song that describes me: You are More by Tenth Avenue North – So accurate it’s scary!
Day 16 - A song that I used to love but now hate: PASS! Sorry. I'm really stumped with this one. Usually the other way round - hate songs but then they grow on me. Once I love a song that's it, no going back.
Day 17 - A song that I hear often on the radio: Currently… Rihanna - Come On (S&M)
Day 18 - A song that I wish you heard on the radio: Keep on Movin' by Five
Day 19 - A song from my favourite album: One Step Closer by Linkin Park (from the album Hybrid Theory – actually the first song I’d heard of theirs. I knew then that I loved them).
Day 20 - A song that I listen to when I’m angry: Best of You by Foo Fighters
Day 21 - A song that I listen to when I’m happy: Yeah! By Usher
Day 22 - A song that I listen to when I’m sad: Virgin State of Mind by K's Choice
Day 23 - A song that I want to play at my wedding: If You’re Not the One by Daniel Beddingfield
Day 24 - A song that I want played at my funeral: Set the Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol featuring Martha Wainwright (and, of course, my Favourite Song – See Day 1)
Day 25 - A song that makes me laugh: Star Trekkin’ by The Firm
Day 26 - A song that I can play on an instrument: CHOPSTICKS. Well, I call it chopsticks but I think there is another song also called Chopsticks… *shrug* - This is the ONLY thing I can play (so far).
Day 27 - A song I wish you could play: River Flows in You by Yiruma
Day 28 - A song that makes me feel guilty: Because of You by Kelly Clarkson
Day 29 - A song from my childhood: Saturday Night by Whigfield
Day 30 – My favourite song at this time last year: Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo (I honestly can’t remember but this is close enough!)

Free YouTube Software

2011-04-08T19:02:00.003+01:00

YouTube has just launched this page - www.youtube.com/create - in which you can choose between 3 simple software programs to animate your videos. These are ‘in-browser’ so you don’t have to download anything and they come with a range of free features (for additional features you can pay to upgrade). Naturally I wanted to try them out so I made 2 short videos – below. I know they’re not particularly good but they’ll help you get the idea. Admittedly, I find the second 1 highly amusing just because it is so badly done. I’ll of course try out the 3rd programme some other time but for now, enjoy!

P.S. If you want to make a quick and easy slideshow video, I’d recommend Pummel Vision – you can see how mine turned out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYcfkJxt09I

*UPDATE: May 20th 2011*
I finally got around to using the 3rd piece of software this week and you can view my video HERE. Also, I recommend you download free 'Photo Story 3' software (this has nothing to do with YouTube i.e. it is available independently but you can still upload your creations to YouTube from the program easily) - I made THIS video using it so you can check it out to see what it's like :)

A SERIOUS TOPIC (For a Change…)

2011-04-07T23:59:00.002+01:00

WARNING: THIS POST COULD UPSET THOSE OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION!

A few months back I was outlining a blog post that I never got round to finishing. Now, I’m glad I didn’t post it because – in light of certain *news* - I’d have had to write a retraction…

You see, I was planning to sing the praises of a local Chinese restaurant. Saying why I was so impressed with it compared with another place I had also eaten at. The second place, a “regular” restaurant (as opposed to a Chinese one), used to be really good but it went downhill after being taken over by new management a couple of years back.

There have been rumours raging against the first place for over a week now. That the restaurant has been caught serving stolen, domesticated pets (i.e. cats and/or dogs) to the public – passing the meat off as chicken (There’s actually a bit more to this particular story but I don’t want to go into specifics for obvious reasons).

Now, if you know me, you’ll know how easily I’m upset even by the mere thought of animal abuse – I take these things very seriously. That said, I want to ignore my emotions for a moment as I try to outline THE FACTS in an impartial and objective way. I’ll admit now that I don’t *know* how true the rumours are BUT it does look very suspicious, for the following reasons:

1. I heard the rumour from 3 independent people – independent in the sense that these people don’t know each other.
2. All three people told me the exact same thing.
3. The eating of dogs and cats – both legally and illegally - has been known to take place in other Chinese restaurants across the world.
4. The restaurant has in fact closed down and according to their website, they’ve changed their name.

I’d also like you to bare this in mind:
1. In China, eating dogs and cats is considered “normal” – it’s not mine, or in fact anyone’s place to say this is wrong. It is wrong, however, when the animal is someone’s pet – when the creature has been stolen from its owner and customers are being lied to, taking away their right to choose what meats they consume.
2. I’m not an extremist (OK, maybe in some ways but not in this circumstance) – often, when these types of stories surface there is a huge moral outcry. I can completely understand why some people may want to have the owners/chefs “strung up” BUT I don’t think this solves anything.
3. I did an online search to see if anybody else had reported on this but I couldn’t find anything except similar cases in other countries. This could of course be for legal reasons – no news source wants to say anything without proof for fear of being sued. I’m also aware that, in some cases, the court can order the media not to report on an on-going investigation.
4. As hinted at in my previous point, I’m not mentioning the name of the restaurant as it may be considered grounds for liable.

Moral to the story? Stay legal, people!

Book Review – The Drowning Girl

2011-03-31T23:27:00.002+01:00

Written by Margaret Leroy, this novel originally came out in 2009 but I’ve only just discovered it. I didn’t know there was any kind of paranormal element to it as this wasn’t stated anywhere on the cover. I really wasn’t looking for anything paranormal and if I had of known this before I got it I probably wouldn’t have bothered. By the time I got into the story and this was sprung on me I was disappointed and even felt mildly deceived – it wasn’t the book I thought it was. I like to know what I’m buying before I buy it.
Despite this I finished it and found it relatively interesting. The pace was only just acceptable - any slower and I would have lost interest.

Some parts were predictable and the constant repetition of certain phrases really frustrated me – there’s no need to put the line ‘I said nothing’ in every chapter!
Generally I felt sorry for Grace’s character so the author did do something right. I could empathise with her situation but after a while I felt myself getting frustrated that she was so much of a doormat and wouldn’t stand up for herself at all.

I also think a brief epilogue would have been nice. I wanted to know what happened when they got home, if Grace got her man or a new job, if Sylvie got back into nursery and what Karen would say about it all.

Needless to say, I wasn’t satisfied but I do feel I’m being a bit too harsh. It did have some redeeming qualities - mainly that the characters were believable. The way Grace longed for Dominic, for example, they way she acted around him was spot on. I knew exactly how she felt.

All things considered, it gets 6.5 out of 10 from me.

More Laptop Issues

2011-03-29T00:10:00.000+01:00

So I thought my laptop had finally been fixed and I was so excited to be catching up on all my work but alas, last night the blasted thing broke down AGAIN with the same problem.

I repeatedly told the guys at the workshop the problem was with the backlight but they decided to replace the keyboard and other unrelated parts instead. How do these people get jobs? I mean they’ve messed me about no end - first my charger short circuited earlier this year. It needed replaced so naturally they ‘forgot’ to process my order, setting me back an extra 10 days waiting time. Then the backlight problem started and everything was taken off to the workshop twice.
All in all I’ve been without proper use of a computer for the best part of 3 months – its ridiculous, no other word for it!

I was so fed up today I complained my ass off in my local branch and ended up with a brand new laptop and an apology. Guess all’s well that ends well.

I Love Edinburgh

2011-03-26T20:00:00.006Z

I know I said I’d write about my short trip in my Creative Writing Blog and I will do, with regards to the writing workshop bits but the non-writing related parts will be covered here...

I did a fair amount of sightseeing – SUCH a beautiful city; the buildings and parks were/are top notch. The thing I really like about Edinburgh is that it proudly wears its culture, its personality, on its sleeve (unlike Northern Ireland, whose culture is buried in Belfast’s Ulster Museum).

Day 1 (Monday, March 21st) started off slow, checking into my hostel and getting my Barings. I stayed beside Haymarket Station and strolled eastwards to Princess Street for lunch.
Well actually, before all that, I had travel – something that never goes well for me. ‘Twas quite possibly the shortest and smoothest flight I’d been on so naturally I was sick. Not to worry though, I’d been expecting this and was prepared with bag in hand.

Day 2 was busier, I tried to find an internet cafe in which to print my boarding pass for returning home but instead I was forced to join Edinburgh Library and use their facilities as I was running out of time. I think libraries should have temporary guest accounts for these kinds of things. I mean, it’s crazy that I am now a member of 3 libraries in 3 different countries (Northern Ireland, England and Scotland) but now’s probably not the time for a rant...
Joining wasn’t straightforward – these things are NEVER straightforward but I am still unsure why! I was sent all over the building, to many different floors by many different members of staff who were “in a different section from normal and don’t know where the application forms and cards are”. Eventually I ended up on the lowest floor (way below ground level) and I got my card, after which I was then told there were no computers free for at least another hour. This would have left me late for my workshop but not to worry, it was a lie. Yet another member of staff found me a computer I could use right away (on the very top floor). Upon finding it I discovered it was older than me and therefore took almost 20 minutes to boot up and log in – again, this left me late for my workshop but thankfully only by 2 minutes or so.

Another stress that plagued me throughout my stay was the use of a key-card to unlock doors and enter rooms in my hostel. You see, I have this weird effect on anything magnetic so every time I held the card wrong or for too long it stopped working and had to be reset by confused staff.

Aside from these somewhat amusing annoyances the trip was GREAT. I visited the National Gallery and a few museums (not sure why Edinburgh has so many – not that I’m complaining!) and on Day 3, before my flight home, I had coffee at Nicola Morgan’s house/flat. It was such a nice atmosphere with interesting, friendly conversation. Really set the mood for the rest of my birthday :)

*UPDATE: May 20th 2011*

You can now see all my Edinburgh photos in this cool little Slideshow Video available HERE. Enjoy :)

Long Time No See! (Sorry)

2011-03-25T21:48:00.011Z

I haven’t blogged in almost two months and boy, have I missed it?! (Hope you’ve missed me too dear interwebs!) So much to catch up on, where shall I start?
I’m 22 now; birthday was on Wednesday and I’m celebrating tomorrow with a couple of friends and some Chinese food. Wednesday was also the day I got back from my mini Edinburgh Trip which was VERY nice – see photos below – details will be in my Creative Writing Blog Update this Sunday (I was there for a Writer’s Workshop).

The reason for my recent lack of blog posts (as you may know if you follow me on Twitter) is that my laptop was broken – was sent off to be fixed twice – but is now fully restored to health.

Events coming up that I’m due to attend are Spring Harvest (Skegness – Week 2) in April and ‘Summer in the City’ this August (my very first YouTube gathering!). Speaking of YouTube, I had a mini series of Vlogs planned but, long story short, my camera died and I’ve had to go back to using my parent’s digital camera (which has no sound).

I’m still doing my Creative Writing Course (just passed the half way point) and I’m due to be taking part on a short course with the Irish Pentecostal Bible College from April until June this year. It’s just a few hours per week on the topic of ‘Church and Pastoral Work’.

I think that’s everything, will let you know in the next update if I’ve missed anything. So I’ll leave you with this:

Current Favourite Song(s): ‘Price Tag’ by Jessie J & ‘Stuck Like Glue’ by Sugarland
Currently Reading: ‘Catcher in the Rye’ by J. D. Salinger & ‘The Drowning Girl’ by Margaret Leroy

*UPDATE: May 20th 2011*
You can now see all my Edinburgh photos in this cool little Slideshow Video available HERE. Enjoy :)

Classic Novels May Have Affected You More Than You Think!

2011-01-31T14:53:00.000Z

It’s widely known that ‘classic’ literature has had a huge impact on 21st century western culture - any avid reader or observer of social trends will tell you that. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, for example, inspired lots of similar themed books, animations and movies and a wide range of Roald Dahl’s ideas pop up in a range of media too.
Even if you haven’t experienced heavily influenced media, you will be still affected by it indirectly as it has shaped the world around you.

Some influences are more obvious than others and a lot of the time you may be experiencing plot elements from like likes of Mary Shelley without even noticing. Just think of how popular monster movies are; Frankenstein is where they often find their roots.
This goes to show that this phenomena isn’t limited to any specific genre however women’s so called ‘chick-flicks’ or ‘romantic comedies’ have been doing this more than most.

An obvious example within this genre is A Cinderella Story and its sequel. You would be less aware that the hit movie 10 Things I hate about you is based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew - unless you coincidentally had read it.
The TV show and movie Clueless is said to be based on Jane Austin’s Emma while Bridget Jones’ Diary takes its lead from Pride and Prejudice.

Shakespeare though, seems to be the biggest influence – both within the romantic comedy genre and overall. His most overused work being that of Romeo and Juliet of course.

All this begs the question, is anything truly original? If not, it may not be a bad thing!

I WANT TO VLOG, AND TO GATHER!

2011-01-23T01:08:00.003Z

Yet again I feel the need to apologise to my poor Twitter followers – most of my Tweets lately have been YouTube related. If you didn’t get the memo: I’m a tad obsessed... Well, something had to fill the temporary Doctor Who gap! Did I mention I’ve watched every single episode except Series 1? Yeah, OK, I know – I may have tweeted that fact several hundred times (slight exaggeration but I’m sure that’s probably how many times it felt like to non fans). Anywho, let’s not start all that again just now!

If you read this blog regularly you should have seen [This Post] in which I state I’m going to make more YouTube videos – I now have 21 in total BUT I’m limited to what I can make as I can’t get decent sound. Seeing as I can’t find my external mic I’m assuming it’s in England – along with other helpful objects such as much needed sleeping pills :(
When I retrieve this – during my visit in no less than 10 days – I shall start making vlogs (hopefully).

In other, heavily related, news: I *really* want to go to a UK YouTube gathering just for the craic. If anyone knows of any going on or wants to organise one, drop me a line – it’d be much appreciated.

Additionally, my new favourite YouTuber is: Littleradge aka Liam Dryden – cuz he’s Scotish :P
New favourite song/video: 'Bla Bla Bla' by Gigi D'agostino (rather old but I’ve only just discovered it).

I'll update my blogs properly soon peeps, for now: Goodnight!

Personal Statements of Core Beliefs

2011-01-13T22:45:00.000Z

Sometimes it feels like I have so many thoughts and opinions it’s difficult to make sure they don’t end up contradicting each other. I think, as someone who wants their opinion valued/respected, it’s my responsibility to think logically and that if I successfully keep this in check then I’ll be less likely to say things am I liable to regret/disagree with later.

In the same way that churches and religious organisations produce a statement of faith/core beliefs to make sure everyone within said organisation is on the same metaphorical page I thought it might be an idea to produce one just for me, to give myself an opportunity to think some major moral concepts through in depth.
I’m not committing myself to write one now but I would definitely like to compile one in the future.

A bit o’ a Rant

2011-01-12T23:59:00.002Z

It annoys me to think that so many good leisure groups and activities are largely ignored by the younger generations.

Tonight was my first time at my local Poetry Discussion Group and I got the kind of response I hear far too often – ‘ah, a fresh face’ or ‘young blood, just what we need’.
These kinds of groups, as well as general interest courses and other gatherings of people who share hobbies, are so often full of people well past middle-age. It’s not bad that older people go of course, it’s great that they still have interests at their time of life, I just mean it’s a shame other people don’t go too.

There’s a high possibility of these groups dying out if ‘new blood’ doesn’t keep coming in and that would be a shame; society would have lost a great asset.
I’m kind of getting a bit sick of sticking out like a sore thumb, always being at least 30 years younger than everyone else.

Maybe it’s just a social phenomenon, that once you hit a certain age these kinds of activities become alluring. Maybe I’m just odd for being interested by them at my age but I don’t think so, I encourage others of my generation to follow my lead and set a precedent. We don’t have to go along with social norms, we can change them for the better.

False Claims, What Would YOU Do?

2011-01-08T09:19:00.001Z

As former Member of Parliament David Chaytor has spent his first day/night in prison after getting caught out in the expenses scandal in 2009, I thought I would just make a quick point...

The outrage of the general public was colossal and, while I in no way condone the act of ‘fiddling the books’ as it were, I just have 1 question to pose to those still angry about the matter:
If you had the opportunity to save money/get a few freebies* and you knew some colleagues were getting away with it – wouldn’t you be tempted?
It can be easy to sit in your armchair swearing that you never would but it’s amazing how different you look upon a situation once you’re in it.
Just food for thought (please don’t lynch me!)

*Admittedly, I’m sugar coating this a fair amount here but my point remains the same

Thought for the Day: Great Ideas, or rather, Theories

2011-01-05T09:19:00.001Z

For years I’ve heard various members of my family complain about their jobs and a common theme in these complaints is change. Change isn’t usually the complaint itself, more that the change is impractical - seemingly handed down by someone somewhere in a think tank or board-room quite unaware of how unpractical their idea really is. I suppose this phenomenon is present in a lot of law and politics too – where an idea is theoretically brilliant, but the brilliance ends there. Theory is one thing but practice is quite another. One example that springs to mind is Communism – I think it’s a great idea, but only in theory.

YouTube etc

2011-01-03T23:45:00.001Z

I joined YouTube in March 2007 and since then I’ve uploaded 16 videos (number 17 is processing as we speak or rather, as I type). I know a lot of these have been poor quality as a result of me not fully knowing what I’m doing and having only very basic equipment. What I do know about making them is just stuff I’ve figured out myself and in light of that it’s something I can only improve on.
This year I plan to develop that particular hobby so, be expecting uploads a lot more regularly on my ‘channel’ (www.youtube.com/user/slayerspirit101).

On another note, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before or not but please check out: Art by Ellie Rose

Favourite Songs at the Moment:
Pocket full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
All the Right Moves by One Republic

My Top 5 Movies of 2010

2010-12-31T23:35:00.000Z

I want to start by saying that a very good movie slipped through the net for me in 2009 and it was: ‘The Blindside’. If I had watched it when it first came out it would have made my 2009 list but alas, I didn’t see it till this year. I think the movies I saw in 2009 of better quality than many of these but regardless, my 2010 list is as follows:

1 – How to Train your Dragon
2 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
3 – Despicable Me
4 – Easy A
5 – Leap Year

Other movies I saw this year that didn’t make the cut were:
Alice in Wonderland, Paranormal Activity 2, The Death and Life of Charley St Cloud, The Back Up Plan, The Last Kiss and Valentine’s Day.
I haven’t seen Tron: Legacy or Inception yet

Mikey’s Top 5: Click Here
Joel’s Top 5: Click Here

Test Drive the Arts NI

2010-12-29T00:02:00.000Z

Continuing my recent theme of Northern Irish Culture, I would like to recommend the ‘Test Drive the Arts’ project currently being run in conjunction with Belfast City Council (and others).
It aims to boost local tourism by offering free tickets to events (such as theatre, music, ballet) across some of Northern Ireland’s top venues including Belfast’s Waterfront, Derry’s Millennium Forum and The Grand Opera House

It’s free and easy to ‘apply’ for. The only conditions are that you must be over 18, be a resident in Northern Ireland and you cannot get tickets for a venue you have visited in the past 3 years (it’s all about showcasing culture to NEW customers after all).

For more information you can check out the website by clicking [HERE].

200th Post and 1 Year Anniversary

2010-12-28T00:03:00.000Z

So, I’ve finally hit the 200 blog post milestone on this – my original blog! In just a couple of days two of my other creations: ‘Ellie’s God Blog’ & ‘Creative Writing Blog’ will be a year old.

In other exciting news, I’ve finally organised my next trip to Lincoln – 2nd to 9th of February. I really can’t wait. I even get to go on this year’s Inspirit Big Adventure :)

Favourite Song(s) at the Moment:
Tiny Dancer [Hold Me Closer] by DJ Ironik featuring Elton John
‘To Kayley, who is Sad’ By Alex Day and Tom Milsom
‘Revival’ by Robin Mark

Still Reading: ‘The Me I Want to Be’ by John Ortberg
Just Started: ‘Moab is my Washpot’ by Stephen Fry & ‘Emma’ by Jane Austen
Recently Finished: ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter

2010-12-27T08:01:00.007Z

I’ve only *really* got into Harry Potter within the last month or so – it’s quite typical of me to be way behind the times (as I was with becoming a Doctor Who fan).

When Harry Potter first took the world by storm I was only 8 and my parents wouldn’t let me watch the movies or read the books, taking a very harsh stance on the whole topic of witchcraft.
The debate has been strong among Christians as to whether it’s appropriate or does indeed introduce dark subject matters to impressionable youth.
Personally I still haven’t quite decided – there are a number of valid points on both sides and as such I believe it to be far from a black and white issue. My approach to these kinds of moral dilemmas is usually to advise & encourage people to think about the issue and possible consequences a bit more than they would usually – if, at the end of this consideration your conscience is clear then by all means go ahead.
For a Christian this is a little bit more complicated – all things should be considered in light of the word of God - but as this isn’t the main point of this post I’ll end this section with this point:
Even if the books and/or movies do indeed introduce dark subjects to impressionable youth, it is no longer relevant to me as I am now an independent adult and this is a factor in why I’m embracing it now rather than previously.

Moving on...

After watching ‘The Deathly Hallows: Part 1’ in the cinema I had my own little marathon of the previous 6 movies. I’d seen bits and pieces of all of them apart from 4 and 5 and it’s interesting to note that while watching these two during the marathon I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling I was missing something – I’m still not quite sure what it was though. Maybe I’ll discover a key part in the book that they’d left out.
Speaking of the books - After the marathon I decided to read the first novel (Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone) and while it was quite good I didn’t understand *ALL* the hype surrounding it. Then again, it is aimed at a much younger audience than myself (at 21) and I’m pretty sure, if I had originally read it when it first came out, I would have adored it as much as everyone else. (You know how childhood books somehow stick with you in a way that books you read as an adult just can’t quite get at? Maybe it’s just me...)

I agree with my friend Mikey's point:
“Many people will say ‘You have to read the books to understand the film’ and many people say it as if it’s a no-brainer not knowing that there actually insulting the film. I’m sorry but it’s true, if you have to read the books to understand it’s just bad film making.”
And I would just like to add that I had no trouble understanding the movie plots without reading the books but again, maybe that’s just me.

A couple of points from Mikey's review of ‘The Deathly Hallows: Part 1’ that I didn’t agree with though are, firstly, the apparent lack of explanation behind not saying Voldermort’s name which is actually a recurring theme in all the movies and the book (probably all the books but I can’t confirm that having only read one). And, secondly, I feel the tent scenes where the trio are just “hanging out” are vital to the sub plot of growing up and dealing with adolescence.

It is in fact the awkward teenage moments between Characters with regards to romance that I find most engaging and amusing – cringe worthy though it may be.
Another personal highlight of the most recent movie was Hermione’s bewitched handbag – the line “but where are we going to find a tent?” had me laughing for days (and I’m not exaggerating).
The only line, from that particular movie, that tops it is of course: “Dobby didn’t mean to kill, only maim or seriously injure”.

Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on long enough. If you haven’t watched the latest movie yet I would recommend it (providing your conscience/Bible allows it of course). It gets 8/10 stars from me and I am looking forward to the final part hitting screens in July 2011.

Be a Tourist in your Own Town

2010-12-17T23:29:00.001Z

It occurs to me that most people don’t appreciate the place where they live/have been brought up and I think it’s a shame. In almost every town, city or village there are things to see and do specific to that place too often overlooked by locals

I’m not sure why we do this but in a bid to reverse the trend I’ve been checking out some of County Down’s coolest landmarks, taking pictures along the way of course (Check out my Facebook photo albums). I’m far from completeling my mini adventure but I don’t think I’ve done too badly since being home – finally figured out my way round central Belfast!

So go on, if I can do it so can you. I bet you’ll be pleasently surprised. Give your town a test drive!

Northern Ireland’s Historically Violent Culture

2010-12-14T20:30:00.006Z

Despite being taught about Northern Irish History in High School I was taken aback as I realised just how much my home nation has been riddled with violence for so long. I was wondering through the exhibits of Belfast’s ‘Ulster Museum’ when the realisation hit me – perhaps I’d never really processed it on a personal level while learning about it in school or hearing about it on the news. Just kind of glossing over it as yet another historical fact that bore no relation to the rest of my life just as the other kids had done. Oh how naive of us!

I’d forgotten quite how far back our violent history went; mistakenly thinking that ‘The Troubles’ (beginning in 1969) was the start and indeed the main series of riots and bombings.
I know I often argue that ‘The Troubles’ never really ended and in a sense it’s true as SOME bombings and riots carry on still to this day, although there’s no denying these occurrences are fewer and further between. In light of this I should have realised my original epiphany (for want of a better word) a lot earlier.

Of course, this lack of the right facts and figures did not stop me from having very strong opinions about it all - Opinions that I have been known to forcibly project on to others in the past.
I’m not alone in this; there are a lot of people of my generation with very strong feelings about what it means to be Catholic or Protestant from an entirely political perspective despite being wholly unaware of why they have adopted such a point of view from their parents. I’ve ranted about this online before only to ashamedly realise now that I have done (albeit to a lesser degree) that which irritates it so much when done by others (I do have a talent for finding and complaining about my faults in others – sorry about that!).

I think my point here is that perhaps violence is a bigger part of our culture than many of us have previously considered. It’s present in our music, our buildings (see photo of Belfast’s ‘Europa’ – Europe’s most bombed hotel – below) our literature and our art (again, maybe les-so than at the ‘height’ of ‘The Troubles’).
Secondly, I must conclude that – given that a substantial amount of people are partly or wholly unaware of our history and more importantly, its implications – there is a greater need for exhibits (such as that at the ‘Ulster Museum’) and perhaps even a new approach to teaching such subjects so as to limit how much is ‘glossed over’ as irrelevant.

Finally, it must be said, if this violence has been going on for longer than any of us can remember (which indeed it has) then we must ask ourselves: Why haven’t we got past all this? To pull this full circle, perhaps better education & awareness is the answer.

Anarchy in the UK

2010-12-08T01:49:00.000Z

I can’t help but feel the United Kingdom is in a kind of transition. As part of the “first world” it has come a long way yet hasn’t quite managed to shake off poverty completely and therefore it still has a fairly long way to go. I was reminded of this earlier today as I watched a documentary that raised an important point: when we are faced with unusually bad weather such as the current “big freeze” the nation almost comes to a standstill while other countries with similar ‘bad’ weather just get on with life as normal without batting an eye-lid.

The UK is never going to be perfect but nations such as Switzerland show us that it’s possible to run like a well oiled machine. Maybe we’re too tough on our politicians, expecting them to fix everything and NOW. It’s a tough job with limited resources and a HUGE list of things that need work.

(P.S. Sorry for the inaccurate post title, I often think in song lyrics & it popped into my head. I couldn’t think of anything else to label it so it’ll have to do)

People...

2010-11-30T01:05:00.002Z

I don’t understand people, or at least I think I don’t... [Heads up, this is a long and complicated post which may irritate some people but please bare with me and read ‘till the end]

Part of me loves people, I have a big heart and I can’t stand seeing anyone in pain (be it physical or emotional); I love my friends and yet there’s a part of me that wants to run and hide from every living being on this planet to live alone in a cave up a hillside.
This could just be me being the complex contradiction that I’ve always been or maybe it’s normal to feel this way.

I was reading ‘Word for Today’ recently and it said “How you handle others determines how God handles you”. The statement filled me with a mixture of emotions as I consider how I treat people... I’m a true believer in ‘treat others how you expect to be treated’ and I do live up to it however I’ve discovered that how I expect to be treated is less than what others expect and here lies a massive problem!

I know some people consider me inconsiderate when I’m *always*late in meeting up with them and it’s fair enough but (although I don’t relish it) I don’t really mind when people leaving me waiting – I mean yes, I will complain simply because I speak before thinking most of the time but I fully expect others to do the same (i.e. complain and get over it in about 30 seconds without being bitter).
For another example, let’s look at generosity – I think this is an issue where a lot of misunderstandings happen... If I can’t afford a drink on a night out I don’t expect someone to buy one for me, if they do then I assume that it’s a gift out of kindness and while it’s good manners to buy them one in return when I can afford it I’ve usually forgotten by that time. By all means remind me but if it was the other way round and it was I that could afford to buy drinks for people with no money I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be expecting anything when they finally have cash.

I’m not saying my expectations are right in either of these scenarios, far from it – it’s my wrong expectations that make me wind up either as a b*tch (when I leave people waiting & forget to return favours) or a doormat when I’m on the opposite side of the situation (hanging around, being at someone’s ‘beck and call’, doing anything they want without question).
I’ve learnt that I can’t and shouldn’t expect other people to think about a situation the same way I do and it’s a huge error on my part that I haven’t realised that sooner.

I think my personality fault of bouncing between behaving like a b*tch and a doormat without thinking about it could well be what has destroyed some of my past friendships and for that I’m sorry.
If you’re reading this and my behaviour has hurt you I hope you don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say here – I’m not trying to make excuses I’m trying to explain and tell you that I was wrong.

Thank you to the people who tell me (in love) when I’m messing up despite how difficult it may be for both of us; I’ll try - with God’s help - to be a better friend (I definitely can’t do it without him).

She Says by The Saw Doctors

2010-11-21T13:31:00.001Z

The unusually short song ‘She Says’ by ‘The Saw Doctors’ – originally put together for the hit Northern Irish TV phenomenon ‘Give My Head Peace’ by ‘The Hole in the Wall Gang’– has become a great wee part of the Norn Iron culture it represents. As such I was surprised to discover that the lyrics aren’t online anywhere.
Well, I’m here to put an end to that, the lyrics are below:

With yer bombs and yer bullets and yer goin’s on
I’m right, you’re wrong
2 minute warning, it won’t be long
You can stay but I’ll be gone

(She says that I says: ‘why don’t you give my head some peace?’)

Oh marching season, marching song
Beatin’ drums all summer long
Sun is out, weather’s fine
Balaclavas on the line

(She says that I says: ‘why don’t you give my head some peace?’)

With yer bombs and yer bullets and yer goin’s on
I’m right, you’re wrong
2 minute warning, it won’t be long
You can stay but I’ll be gone

(She says that I says: ‘why don’t you give my head some peace?’)
GIVE MY HEAD SOME PEACE!

CSN Stores Giveaway

2010-11-18T17:48:00.004Z

This week I have teamed up with CSN Stores to bring you an opportunity to win a £15 gift voucher that can be used at any of their 6 online stores towards a range of products from furniture to cookware – for example these Chest of Drawers

To win all you have to do is navigate through the site - via the link above - and then comment below with your name, email address plus which product you’re likely to use the voucher towards by 12 noon on Sunday (21st November 2010; GMT). If, by this time, there are multiple winners 1 will be chosen at random to receive the prize

***UPDATE – 19/11/2010***

Originally the voucher was only for use in the UK only however I am now pleased to announce that the competition is now open to The USA too worth a value of $25 if it is won across the pond.
I aim to please :)

***UPDATE – 21/11/2010***

And the winner is.... Katrina (via the toss of a coin).
Congratulations, your voucher code will be emailed to you.

The James Caan Controversy

2010-11-16T03:02:00.003Z

You may have heard in the news a few weeks ago about celebrity business man James Caan offering to buy a baby from an extremely poor family in Pakistan.
If you haven’t then you can see information on the story here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11605956 and here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11605927

I can completely understand the taboo with regards to people trafficking but that’s clearly not what’s happening here. In my opinion, Caan shouldn’t have got so much stick for making the offer that he made. I might even go as far as to say that (and please don’t tar and feather me for this) his offer was noble – the only difference between what he suggested and what Angelia Jolie has done a few times (and got a pat on the back for) is that money was mentioned. If Caan had wanted to adopt the child so as to relieve it from a life of poverty without giving the parents financial compensation then he would most likely have been called a hero.
I’m not saying people should be treated like property and exchanged for currency, I’m just saying that – as long as the right measures are in place, such as police checks of proposed adoptive families – this kind of thing could actually do the world of good (quite literately).
But why stop at rescuing a child from un-sanitary conditions when, if you’re like Mr Caan, you could do so much more. In giving money to the parents he could have changed their entire lives. Let’s face it; he was simply cutting out charities as a ‘middle man’.

Now I know a lot of people will disagree with me here as it is a sensitive issue but I ask anybody wanting to string me up at this point to consider it from a non-emotional, purely logical point of view – If James Caan had successfully adopted the child the way he had proposed three things would have happened: His Brother (who desperately wanted a child) would be blessed with a little girl, a little girl with horrible prospects would be given a wonderful chance at life and the parents would have enough money to buy materials for clean water, enough money to buy much needed food for them and the rest of their family and enough money to rebuild their home to a safe standard. If you find something morally wrong with any of these things then I question your ability for rational thought!

Book Review – Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman

2010-11-13T00:03:00.000Z

I loved this book despite being older than the targeted readership (teenagers). It gave me a great deal of sympathy for guys (especially fathers) and I think Malorie has done quite well at figuring out and representing how they think (which I believe if different to females). The only downside to the book for me is that it left some irritating unanswered questions and was predictable in just a couple of places. Both of these are forgivable though - overall it's a great book that's well written.
I give it 4 stars out of 5

Personal Christmas Presents

2010-11-08T00:51:00.003Z

I’m sure I’m not the only one who buys Christmas and Birthday presents for themselves along with gifts for others. Maybe its selfishness or maybe it’s that I don’t expect anybody else to put that much effort into finding out and hunting down the things that I’m genuinely excited about getting... either way, below are indeed the things that this year I am *so* excited to be buying myself. I might have to save up for the last one and have it for my birthday though instead.

1. The Life Application Study Bible NIV, Personal Size – I know I already have various Bibles but I need one that conveniently fits in my handbag (plus I’ve decided that NIV is my favourite translation).
2. A Wireless USB Adaptor - Small and relatively inexpensive yet very handy
3. Stephen Fry’s Autobiography & The New Malorie Blackman Novel (Boys Don’t Cry)
4. A Ticket to Lincoln for February – Words cannot express how much I long to be there!
5. A DAB Digital Radio, CD Player and iPod Dock all in One – 3 bits of joy wrapped up in 1 shiny package!

Oh and yes, now that it’s past November 5th (with Halloween and Bonfire Night out of the way) I officially recognise this as the Christmas run up! :)

Doctor Who (again)

2010-10-31T04:44:00.001Z

I know this is my 3rd Doctor Who related post in as many months but I promise I’ll shut up about it for a while after this.

I said in my first post that, after being really impressed with Matt Smith’s first series (series 5), I was going to check out earlier episodes. BBC iPlayer (mainly) has made that possible, so, in addition to Series 5 I’ve now seen Episode 1 of Series 1 (Rose), The Christmas Invasion Christmas Special, The whole of Series 2, The Runaway Bride Christmas Special (although this is a nightmare to find online), Episodes 1 – 7 of Series 3 not to mention the Children in Need Specials from 2005 & 2007, a Few Episodes of spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures (Sarah Jane’s Wedding & The Death of The Doctor) and The animated specials: Infinite Quest and Dreamland which are available on YouTube.

According to the font of all knowledge (that is Wikipedia) there was a 1996 TV movie too that I’ll no doubt hunt down at some point. I also want to try and find the 5 webcasts Wikipedia list too when I get a free moment.

While I am of course eagerly awaiting this year’s Christmas Special I would like to point out I have no intention to check out any of the original series prior to the TV movie I’ve just mentioned because at this rate the obsession looks set to take over my life, plus, there are lost episodes – gone forever – and having ‘gaps’ as it were would simply irritate the part of my brain that’s controlled by OCD!

So, baring all that in mind, it’s obvious that I have thoroughly enjoyed all this ‘Doctor Who-dom’ and I’ve clearly done a bit of research into it too. If you are equally interested (which you most likely are if you’re still reading this) check out the fruits of said research in the form of this really informative Wikipedia Page - Click Here as well as this rather nifty YouTube playlist I’ve lovingly put together - Click Here
With regards to the playlist, it may well be added to in the future – especially if I find those webcasts on there.

Now, it seems like an appropriate time to list just a couple of my gripes with the series...
Firstly, some the villains just seem so unimaginative – take the ones based on crabs or pigs or cats for example. Surely the great brains at The BBC could come up with something better?!
Secondly, I really don’t like Christopher Eccleston (The 9th Doctor from Series 1) – I know I may not have given him a proper chance having only seen one full episode from his tenure but in my defence, that one episode (Rose) is the one I’ve least enjoyed out of them all.

My Favourite episodes (so far) are:
The Girl in the Fire Place (Series 2, episode 4), Army of Ghosts & Doomsday (2 Part end to Series 2), The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone (Episodes 4 and 5 from Series 5), The Pandorica Opens & The Big Bang (2 part end to Series 5).

I really enjoyed watching the unconventional love story between The Doctor and Rose unfold in Series 2. So emotional – in a good way! Anyway, that’s enough from me, Alons-y!

Conspiracy and Mythology Theories – Part 1, Intro

2010-10-24T17:51:00.000+01:00

In this series of posts I will outline what I personally believe about various topics such as:

Government Cover-ups/The Men in Black
Aliens, Ghosts, Demons and Angels
Evolution verses Creation
Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies and Miscellaneous Monsters

(Not in any specific order)

I’ve been putting writing this off for a while because I know they’re likely to cause debates that I’ve had so many times before and am actually a tiny bit tired of. That said, if you want to reply or disagree with anything in them then feel free to comment and discuss – with respect, my blog is no place for a slanging match.

There is a lot to cover in the above topics so I don’t know how many parts this is going to run into. The first proper instalment will be online soon.

Despicable Charlie St. Cloud

2010-10-24T01:33:00.000+01:00

Before you correct me on the title, no I haven’t got my movies mixed up – this is a short review of BOTH ‘The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud’ and ‘Despicable Me’

Firstly, The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud (Certificate: 12A)
The movie is based on a novel about 2 sport enthusiast brothers, Charlie and Sam, played by Zac Efron and Charlie Tahan.
At a couple of points in the movie I thought comments made by the younger brother were inappropriate and not the kind of thing a boy of his age would come out with however, considering I am not nor have never been a young boy, I don’t have full authority to make that statement; perhaps that is the way guys talk to each other when us girls aren’t around... someone feel free to let me know.
Overall it’s mostly predictable excluding 1 unexpected plot twist. Definitely worth a look if you’ve got nothing better to do; acting was simply ‘OK’ so it gets 2.5 stars out of 5 from me

Despicable Me (Certificate: U)
This animated treat will appeal to most people – a true family film with many great one liners throughout.
It follows Margo, Edith and Agnes - 3 orphan girls that are adopted by criminal mastermind Gru, needless to say, hilarity ensues. Agnes’ character is by far the most adorable as well as the funniest.
One thing’s for sure, I definitely didn’t cry... twice.
4 stars

Not actual game footage

2010-10-22T13:18:00.001+01:00

I’ve seen a few fairly impressive adverts for computer games and it always confuses and irritates me to see ‘not actual game footage’ displayed at the bottom. If no actual game footage is shown then people have no idea what quality the graphics are going to be like based on the advert.

The advert could be 3D, HD, slow motion and black & white yet have absolutely nothing to do with how the game itself is displayed (false advertising, anyone?).
OK, so perhaps I’m going to extremes here, it’s most likely going to be *somewhat* similar to game play but it just seems so pointless to not include a little bit of actual game footage if it’s as good as they say it is – it’s not like including it is difficult for them, they have it at their disposal.

Now, you may be itching to point out that some game adverts that use non-game footage include game footage as well and this is true, some do show both. This particular rant is based on a specific advert I’ve seen recently that contains no game footage what-so-ever.

How NOT to Spend an Evening the Sequel – Revenge of Google Maps

2010-10-19T02:14:00.001+01:00

(Original ‘How Not to Spend an Evening’)

The moral of the tale I’m about to recall is to never let technophobic parents near any kind of computer based device otherwise you may face several long hours of commands that make very little sense (such as ‘up, up, up’ when you’re at the top of a webpage) and the words “that’s not how it works mum” imprinted on your default list of catchphrases for years to come.

I, of course, against my better judgement made the classic ‘show-off’ mistake of showing my parents our house on Google Maps – mum was both amazed and worried. “You never know who could be spying on us now” she’s been exclaiming fairly regularly ever since.

Then the ‘look what I can do’ exercise backfired just a tad once I was overwhelmed with requests of where to go next based on vague addresses that no-one could quite remember (at this point I’d gathered a small crowd around me).

Things got comparatively worse once the majority voted to search for my mother’s childhood home, a farm in rural County Tyrone that has since been renovated and therefore was barely recognisable.
When my mum was growing up the farm had no house number, no post code and the street didn’t even have a name - something that she didn’t tell me until 20 minutes into the search.
The town land that had many farms scattered across it was known as ‘Killybracken’ so my mum ASSUMED the road would be called Killybracken Road – it was not.
To my dismay – Google maps proudly declared that, within a 5 mile radius, there were no less than 12 Killybracken Roads (probably more than 12, I gave up counting).
You can see MOST of them on the picture below (highlighted by arrows).

After several requests to give up the hunt had been refused I let my brother take over; this was about an hour and half in. 2 hours after that he found it, after manually searching through all of the buildings dotted around the multitude of fields.
One might think that this might be the end but alas, my mother proceeded to look at the screen (from 5 different angles) and discuss each tiny detail at length. After this the family photo album came out and we all were forcibly dragged down memory lane.

I won’t be doing that again in a hurry! Goodnight.

How Till Speak Norn Iron So-It-Is

2010-10-18T04:19:00.001+01:00

A guide to my native language – not at all original but I did edit it

Afeared - scared
Ah - I e.g. Ah don't feel well
Amptinah? – aren’t I?
Aye - yes

Balleex – e.g. ‘Thats balleex like’, Used in context when disagreeing with someone
Bake – face e.g. ‘Look at the face on that wee Millie’
Baltic – very cold
Banjaxed - Broken
Bate -beat, I bate her up so ah did
Bate The Wife - bottle of cider
Beezer - Very good
Beg -Bag
Boggin - dirty
Bout Ye – ‘How’s about you’ or ‘How are you’
Brave - large
Brew - weekly benefit

Childer -children
Cracker – see beezer
Craic- good fun e.g. ‘This is good craic’ or ‘What’s the craic?’ meaning ‘What’s happening’

Dander –short walk
Dour -door

Eejit -Idiot
Eff Aaf -Go Away

FaakAaf - Excuse me my good man, kindly vacate the premises
Fally - follow
Fluer - floor
Fut - foot

Geg – fun e.g. "Ats a quare geg"
Getawaydaf*ck -go away now
Goes -replaces the word ‘said’ ie And I goes: Are you slabberin'?"
Gutties –type of shoe usually used in school sports

Hectic – e.g. that’s well hectic big lawd
Heel – end of a loaf of bread
Heerzme - "I said..."
Houl - Hold

Keep ‘er lit – similar meaning to American phrase, ‘keep on truckin’

Lawd - Lad
Lifted – arrested
Like – can be added to any sentence at the beginning, middle or end without any meaning
Lingo -language

Mad - See Hectic
Mairshen -Emersion Heater
Mawn - man
Meat Wagon - RUC Landrovers
Melt –e.g. I'll knock your melt in
Messages - weekly shopping
Millie – female chav, see also – spide

Norn Iron – Northern Ireland

Offies –off-license
Oxters –Armpits

Pat – Pot
Parr – Power (often followed by sharr)
Parfil – Powerful
Peeler -a police officer
Pssskety -common misprounciation of "Spaghetti"

Quare – odd, peculiar or note-worthy

Ragin' -angry, Ahm bloody ragin' so ah am.
Rare - odd or peculiar, not to be confused with "scarce"

Scundered - embarrassed
Shap -shop
Sharr -shower
Sicken' Ye - would annoy you
Skinned Ye! - Haha my good friend, I do believe I won that particular game by a significant margin
Slabber – e.g. you’re a slabber or ‘ye slabberin?’ (Are you slabbering? – Are you saying bad things about me?)
Spide – male or female chav
So-It-Is – Phrase used at the end of most if not all sentences
Spoon -someone with a low IQ
Steek –male chav
Stroked - stolen

Teamin – Raining Heavily
Toul - a towel
ThreeLeet - 3 litre bottle of cider
Till - replaces the word "to" ie Goin till the shaps
Two Leet - 2 litre bottle of cider

Weaker - yet another word for "brilliant"
Wee - put in front of words such as "drink", "dander", and basically anything
Wick - not exactly brilliant
Windielickurs - horrid term for the mentally disadvantaged
Windie – window e.g. I’ll do yer windies in
wind yer neck in - dont take things so seriously

Yer Ma -an insult said when nothing else can be thought of
Yeegittin? - Are you being served?
Yousens - When addressing more than one person

Ryanair, Doctor Who, Church and Work

2010-10-16T00:37:00.002+01:00

This is just brief ramblings about a mixture of things in my not so exciting life at the moment...

Firstly, Ryanair – not happy with them now they’ve made my life that little bit more difficult.
As of the end of this month they are stopping flights between Belfast and East Midland Airport meaning if I want to visit Lincoln (like I had planned for a certain someone’s birthday) it’ll now be double the price to fly with someone else.
Needless to say, travel will be on hold until I find a proper job and speaking of jobs – been applying for a fair few and got an interview on Monday (whoop!).
In the meantime, I’m working on a few pieces of fiction, catching up on reading and taking full advantage of all the old Doctor Who episodes appearing on BBC iPlayer.
Apologies if you follow me on Twitter and don’t like the show as I have went a tad overboard on the references of late (becoming quite an addict).
Also trying to do more in the line of church activities but being in a different town from said church is a slight issue.

Favourite Songs at the Moment:
‘Airplanes’ by BoB (featuring Hayley Williams) and
‘A Dream’ by Common and Will.I.Am

Currently Reading:
‘The Me I Want to Be’ by John Ortberg and
‘How not to Pray’ by Jeff Lucas

Review – A Thousand Suns

2010-09-23T07:06:00.002+01:00

A Thousand Suns is Linkin Park’s 4th Studio Album; they’ve also had 2 live albums & 1 remix album not counting the collaboration they did with Jay Z on ‘Collision Course’.
They are 1 one my all time favourite bands with their unique style that refuses to conform to set categories.

With each album they’ve tried something new and this one is no different. “EnergyUK” was right when he said it would divide fans. In true Marmite fashion, die-hard fans will either love it or hate it.
I personally love it and think it’s just a bit unfair to be upset with the band for going in a new direction – that’s part of what being an artist is all about. If they didn’t grow and adapt they’d get harsh criticism for recycling their earlier work (despite how awesome ‘Hybrid Theory’ was).

The band even reference the criticism they’ve been receiving in the album with lyrics such as:

“even the blueprint is a gift and a curse
Cos' once you have the theory of how the thing works
Everybody wants the next thing to be just like the first”

I have listened to A Thousand Suns almost non-stop for the past 4 days and even caught myself singing it in the shower (which is, of course, the mark of a great piece of music).

Please note that 3 of the tracks are explicit in nature and therefore contain swear words. This does ruin the album a bit for me as it did with ‘Minutes to Midnight’ – it just seems so unnecessary.
That said, ‘When They Come for Me’ is my favourite track on the album followed by ‘Wretches and Kings’ and ‘The Catalyst’ (in that order); though, due to the fact that I’ve been listening to the album via ‘Music Station’ I haven’t heard ‘The Messenger’ or ‘BlackBirds’.

Overall, the album gets 4/5 from me.

You can order the 15 track regular version online from iTunes for £7.99 or the Deluxe edition which includes the video for ‘The Catalyst’ and features the previously un-released ‘Blackbirds’ from the 8-bit Rebellion App. for £10.99

Suicide Notes

2010-09-18T23:23:00.001+01:00

Did you know that most people who commit suicide don’t leave notes? This may surprise you as fictional characters almost always leave notes on TV or in movies.

I have a theory that those who do leave notes don’t really want to die – I know, I know, it sounds crazy but hear me out.

Speaking as someone who was suicidal for many of my teenage years, I place myself into the above category. I didn’t want to die - I wanted to escape, I wanted all the pain to end and death seemed like a logical way to achieve this. To put it another way, death wasn’t the goal but the method of achieving the goal.

I honestly believe that those who write notes secretly want someone to find it, just in time and for that person to tell them they’re wrong, to tell them they are loved and that it will all be OK in the end - It may sound like so little but it means so much.

I was reminded of this the other day when I read this on my friend’s blog:

I heard a story recently of a man who committed suicide off the San Francisco bridge. A suicide note was later found in his apartment. It read, "If even one person smiles at me on the way to the bridge, I will not do it."

My theory may also be true for those that don’t leave a note but I don’t have any evidence to back this up. Either way, if you know someone who is suicidal the best advice I could ever give you is to tell you to love them and keep on loving them until they know it deep down.

When you’re in a depressed frame of mind your head fills with doubts and it’s easy to come to conclusion that no-one *really* cares.

I strongly recommend any-one considering suicide as a way out to watch this video –> click here.

Review - Music Station

2010-09-17T23:54:00.002+01:00

Music Station is a program very similar Spotify. Apparently it is already pre-installed on all new PCs but I’d never heard of it until last night when I accidentally clicked on it while looking for something else.

There’s an initial 14 day free trial that I’m currently taking advantage of; after this you can continue to use it for a monthly fee of £8.99 and apparently you get an additional free period once you’ve paid for the first month.

The obvious advantage it has over Spotify’s free version is that there are no adverts but to avoid these you could simply upgrade to one of Spotify’s other versions: Spotify Open (Free but limited to 20 hours streaming per month), Spotify Unlimited (£4.99) or Spotify Premium (£9.99). To see the full benefits and limitations of each click here (Spotify Free is not listed as you need an invite to access it).

Anyway, back to Music Station... a slight downside is it doesn’t link up to Last.fm (as far as I’m aware) whereas all versions of its competitor do.

There is of course the expected ‘community’ feature (that appears to be on everything nowadays excluding toasters) included but I don’t rate it highly considering it didn’t manage to save any of my details, you can’t upload your own picture and it’s not the easiest to navigate.

Also, the tracks fail to flow properly as they don’t always play the next one automatically. It’s not a big deal but it does irritate me slightly. On the plus side, it appears to be up to date with new realises and has a handy ‘chart’ feature.

Overall I’d say Spotify was better on most counts but I think it’s at least worth taking full advantage of the free trial.
2.5 stars out of 5 from me

www.musicstationonline.com

The End of an Era!

2010-09-12T15:53:00.006+01:00

3 years of living in England have came to end so I thought it was appropriate to look back on the whole experience... I've had some amazing times: CU Houseparties, Inspirit Big Adventures, Freshers Weeks, New Word Alive, Spring Harvest, Grapevine, Concerts, Graduation and all the rest. Forum '09 was the best time I've ever had in my life so far.
I've met some amazing people, I've cried buckets and I've messed up tones.
I've learnt a lot and most of it has been learnt the hard way...
I've learnt it's really easy to make friends and that it can be difficult to keep them. I've learnt I am naturally drawn to unhealthy, damaged relationships (both romantic and friendship wise). I've learnt that my personality is riddled with faults and that I care far too much about trivial things. I've been overwhelmed with regrets at many points in the journey and I'm trying to learn how to let them go, taking one day at a time.
I've learnt that I have some strengths and talents that need developed and I learnt what I want out of life.
It may be the end of an era but that means it's the start of the next... I'm nervous to see what challenges life has prepared for me now!

Difficulties…

2010-08-26T21:35:00.003+01:00

I said on here just yesterday about how busy I am currently. Life is all round pretty stressful and nothing is going to plan at all!

If you live in Lincoln you may have noticed an increase of unpredictable weather, the simple reason for this is that it starts raining every time I go outside. Of course, the less coverage I have the harder the rain. I really wish I was exaggerating this bit but sadly, lack of hoody and umbrella = heavier rain

On a slightly more serious note, I have had to move house 4 times in the past month and I’m heading back to Northern Ireland on September 10th. The decision to leave Lincoln itself has been a really hard and I will miss so many people.
I had originally planned to leave on October 2nd but like I said, nothing has gone to plan – not even my back-up plans are working out.

Moving my departure date means I probably won’t see many of the students before I go and it looks like I’m goanna have to say goodbye to my pets too.

I’m not even going to list any more of the things that have gone wrong this month as it’s highly depressing. Let’s just hope going home will be a fresh start.

Events

2010-08-25T21:36:00.004+01:00

This is a rather busy time for me... I'm a leader at TCM Holiday Bible Club which is running all this week with it's Spy Academy theme. Directly after that comes Grapevine 2010 (I'm a leader there too) closely followed by Graduation and me leaving the country (on September 10th). More details to come, please excuse the delay - got a lot to organise!

Too young to love?

2010-08-09T22:09:00.000+01:00

I know a fair few people who get irritated when people aged 13 and under claim to be in love and yes it annoys me too but I got thinking, why is the thought so offensive? Is it really because we believe these (and apologies if I’m patronising anyone here) ‘kids’ are too young and naive to realise what love really is or is their a small hint of jealousy as we remember the days when life was simple(r) and you could get the title of girlfriend or boyfriend, feel top of the world for a day, break up over something stupid and not be emotionally scared? Perhaps I’m going a bit too deep into this but I’m wondering, for those who genuinely believe someone so young is incapable of romantic love, I must ask, at what age is the statement of devotion taken seriously?
Obviously everyone’s different and there won’t be an age that’s the same for all however, I reckon the concept of romantic love really starts to set in around age 15/16. The problem with being this age is that there can also be a fair amount of lust going on too and at such a key point in maturity it can be confusing trying to figure out the difference [yes, there are a few 30 year olds out there that haven’t quite drawn the line there yet either…]
Not sure how to conclude my thoughts on this as I they’ll probably change over time, for example: If you had of asked me when I was that age if love had an age limit I’m pretty sure I would have said no. How things change! When I get to 65 and am living alone with 3 cats and a goldfish I shall consider renewing my stance, till then, feel free to comment!

Good Tunes, God Tunes

2010-08-07T16:59:00.002+01:00

I went to High School with this guy called Sammy, we were not friends. Since then God has massively changed both of our lives (I would probably say Sammy has changed more than I but that's a side note). Today I discovered his amazing talent/gift for music and was so impressed I just had to share it on here. The words of many of the songs have touched me and I hope they mean something to you too, please check them out at: www.youtube.com/user/TheSunShinesbyGrace

Self Employment

2010-07-31T23:44:00.001+01:00

I started a self employment trial period several weeks back and I’ve got few more to go.
The opportunity was presented to me by my local ‘Job Centre Plus’ in which I start a business from scratch (with the help of Business Link) and if it doesn’t generate enough profit (for me to live on) by the time the trial ends I’ll simply go back and look for a job in the traditional way again.
I’m working on a few different ventures under the umbrella of ‘Ellie Rose Enterprises’ in which the main focus is on Pet Sitting and Dog Walking with Babysitting as a sideline, the umbrella also covers ‘Ellie’s Card Creations’ which will go back to being little more than a hobby after this current project ends this week [I’ve been making cards for charity].
I’m considering breeding hamsters in the next few months seeing as I already own some and have spare cages.

I’ve had a few setbacks along the way so far in my business trial, mainly contact issues with my phone not working properly and then putting plans on hold temporarily to find a new place to live.
For the latest information on my business ventures feel free to check out the website: www.ellie-rose-enterprises.co.uk or email: ellieroseenterprises@gmail.com

Possible Homelessness and an Identity Crisis

2010-07-21T03:44:00.004+01:00

I'm in the odd, uncomfortable place of uncetainty right now. 10 days from now I have nowhere to live; my parents are telling me to come "home" to Northern Ireland but the cost of a flat is gonna be more than England (I have checked) not to mention all the shipping costs. I certainly can't stay in their house so staying in England seems logical, logic doesn't get a roof over my head though. On top of that I'm struggling with identity issues again; they've been a thorn in my side for the longest time. Not only do I not know WHO I am I don't know WHAT I am anymore either, I feel a bit like Robin's character in 'How I Met Your Mother' (Episode 5, Season 5) - caught between 2 opposing yet (physically) close nationalities, Am I Irish/Northern Irish or am I English? I'm starting to think I might be both. To my English friends I still have a strong accent but to their Norn Irish counterparts my accent has changed massively, not to mention my way of life. Belonging to a nationality is more than just a title it's a whole culture, an attitude. I feel like Lincoln is my home yet I'll always appreciate the Northern Irish sense of humor and the food (oh wow, the food!). I'm not sure quite what I'm trying to say here, just putting down words to stop them flying around in my head... I guess I'll see what happens!

Doctor Who

2010-07-08T05:18:00.002+01:00

OK, so this post is a little over due as I had intended to write it straight after watching the season finale... oh well; I just thought I’d take the time to show my appreciation to such a cleverly put together show.
Prior to the 2009 Christmas Special I had only ever watched odd episodes here and there and as such I never really ‘got into it’ as they say. I still don’t really know why I started watching it when Matt Smith took on the role but after 2 full episodes in row I became hooked.
Obviously I don’t have much basis to compare Smith’s take on the character to but there’s just something in amongst his jumble of thoughts and mutterings that is so likeable; I’d give his portrayal top marks.
There are not many programmes I could watch repeats of – one time is often quite enough for me – but I’ve found myself skipping through scenes, trying to remind myself of a few of the cracking quotes, only to end up viewing the episode again and again. [Just realised that that may make me sound just a lit bit pathetic/obsessive/geeky...]
Anywho, my point is, it’s a great show and I think people shouldn’t simply write it off as just something for kids (not completely sure why it’s semi-targeted at the younger audience in the first place but that’s a whole different blog-post!).
If the next series is as good as the last I may consider watching all of the Tenant eps. and maybe someday it’ll belong on my personal list of the best TV shows of all time - currently headed up by the brilliance that was Buffy the Vampire Slayer (cannot put into words how OBSESSED I was with that particular show).

Thank you IT guys

2010-06-06T05:13:00.000+01:00

I’ve been thinking, it’s about time computer programmers, web developers and the like get the credit they deserve.
I always cheat when working on websites by using pre-made templates and asking my merry band of geeky friends (you know who you are) for help regarding domain issues etc and even so, it takes a considerable amount of time to get the thing working and looking the way I want it. I can easily spend 2 hours changing settings for it only to make a slight visible difference on the actual site.
What a lot of people don’t realise is that a lot of work goes on behind the scenes when creating a website or a computer programme. I can’t begin to imagine how much effort goes into learning the various coding languages let alone putting them into effect and making it all run smoothly.
Despite this, there seems to be a lot of people out there whose primary function appears to be none other than to drive these people round the bend - Just check out ‘Clients from Hell’ or ‘Computer Stupidities’ if you don’t believe me.
In conclusion, I urge everyone reading this to give these guys a break and possibly even applause now and again. That is all.

Recommendation: HOPE!

2010-06-05T05:10:00.002+01:00

A friend of mine retweeted some truly heart warming stories from GMH the other day and I really recommend everyone check it out...
GivesMeHope.com is a website full of short inspirational stories that remind me that even though there is a lot of pain in the world, there are beautiful things happening everyday that we must focus on.
From the makers of GMH there is a similar site called Love Gives Me Hope (LGMH) – it’s equally brilliant :)

And it was all going so well...

2010-06-03T01:23:00.001+01:00

Today (Wednesday) started out brilliantly, the first 5 hours were the most productive I’ve been in months. I cleaned out my rabbit, my gerbils and 1 of my hamsters, emptied bins, brushed the floor, did laundry, tidied half of my bedroom (it’s a big job, was in such a state), washed dishes and even applied for a job in addition to making a couple of important phone calls I’d been putting off.
I had energy and felt great, met up with a couple of people in afternoon and it was all going swimmingly until I went for an IMPORTANT business advice meeting... despite having my appointment confirmed twice the office had never heard of me and therefore gave my slot away. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, its only 1 meeting after all, but consider the fact I’m supposed to become self employed as of Tuesday and still don’t know what insurance, license or tax forms I need I’m just a little bit screwed. Hopefully everything will get sorted out in time and I’ll get all the info I need...
Regarding going back to uni, I was told 3 completely different pieces of information today regarding student finance.
Apparently: I can’t get any finance at all, I can get partial finance and I can full finance if I successfully fill out a form. Needless to say, I have no idea which one is right and therefore am none the wiser about my future...
So my day ends here, with confusion and concern as I have no idea where I’ll be in 3 months, I may even be homeless.

Graduation?!

2010-05-25T17:41:00.001+01:00

I got a confused phone call from my mother yesterday telling me I had a letter from University inviting me graduate. This doesn’t seem odd unless you consider that I didn’t actually finish my degree. I questioned it today and it is in fact true, I am officially invited to graduate in September simply for passing first year and therefore achieving a Certificate in Higher Education.
I must admit, it does feel a bit unfair that I get this privilege alongside people who have earned it fully but on the other hand it’s exciting and also, it’s made my mum very happy.

Politics

2010-05-22T08:17:00.003+01:00

I remember well the arguments I had in my first year of university about the politics of Northern Ireland - I was so passionate yet, admittedly, didn’t understand fully what I was talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still far from an expert but I think I’m a bit less ‘pig-headed’ on the topic (I hope so anyway).
It was politics for the rest of the UK that gave me more trouble though, as much as I tried to understand the basics of what people were telling me, most went right over my head. Only after 3 years in England am I finally getting to grips with it [and again, I’m well aware I’m still far from being an expert].
It was the General Election that forced me to process all the information I’d gathered as I needed to vote, after all I have little right to stand around debating about how the nation should be run if I don’t vote and I refuse to vote if I don’t do the background research [As you can tell, I take this quite seriously, much to my parent’s despair].
Anyway, I now enjoying political discussions a whole lot more.
For my thoughts on the General Election results check out my tweets below:
(Hint: read from the bottom up)

FWD: Life, Explained

2010-05-16T21:05:00.001+01:00

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral of this story is: Know where you're going in life, you may already be there.

The Back-Up Plan and The Last Song

2010-05-15T03:29:00.004+01:00

Last week I saw ‘The Last Song’, a ‘chick flick’ (chosen by my mother) starring Miley Cyrus.
While it was watchable i.e. not awful [I’d recommend it if you’ve got nothing better to do] the plot really didn’t work for me in a couple of key places; also, some of the acting (mainly that of Miley) just didn’t do it for me. On a plus note, I think Bobby Coleman played his part well.

Also last week I saw ‘The Back-Up Plan’, another chick flick which admittedly seemed rather entertaining in the trailer. This one I wouldn’t recommend you bring men to watch – graphic child birth isn’t what most people look for in a date. I, unfortunately, wasn’t aware of this...
While it did get a couple of giggles I wouldn’t classify it under the comedy category personally; then again, I have a somewhat obscure sense of humour at times so feel free to take that comment with a pinch of salt.
As with many films in the genre it was predictable, complete with a couple of scenes that could easily be copied and pasted into many of Jenifer Lopez’s movies. I shouldn’t complain really, I mean what did I expect, a completely original plot? No, that would be asking too much from a billion dollar industry! < /sarcasm>

Both movies earn a 2/5 rating from me

London Adventure

2010-04-22T03:14:00.003+01:00

Today has been a monumental day for me – I got to see London, for the very first time (ever!) and I must say, it’s not what I expected at all: it has plants and trees and various other nice things to look at! I kid you not, I thought it was an ugly grey concrete jungle filled with crime and terrifying amounts of people (the media does wonders for tourism...)
OK, so I didn’t see much of the city but the coach I was on spent approximately an hour and a half (total) driving around Camden. From what I saw, I like – I like a lot!

‘Why were you on a coach in London?’ I hear you ask, well, it was a New Horizon’s trip to the British Museum which was also really exciting and nice to look at. New Horizons is part of my Local Church (Click Here for more info).

It was on the journey home that the real adventure began; we were running late and it wasn’t even my fault this time (miracles do happen) - the museum tour ran over our deadline.
We were travelling along fine when the coach got a sudden (and rather loud) puncture in one of its back tyres so while that was getting fixed we headed off on a impromptu ramble around Stevenage to find Pizza Hut (as you do).
Back on the road again, and even more behind schedule than before, everything seemed to be grand until one of the main roads home was closed – not a big deal, we followed the ‘diversion’ signs, got a bit lost, went in a small circle, joined the main road again and got diverted AGAIN... long story short, we were supposed to arrive back in Lincoln around 8pm, I walked into my house at midnight. Oh well, all’s well that ends well. I had a great day :)

Details of Museum Tour will be on my ‘God Blog’ in the next couple of days.

Project Natal

2010-04-20T01:01:00.003+01:00

Now I’m not much into video games/consoles (aside from Sega Mega Drive which is pure brilliance) but I’ve just seen the advert for Project Natal by Xbox 360 – saying I’m impressed doesn’t even cover it. This is an amazing technological advancement in which you are the controller; let’s just hope it reaches the bar it’s set itself!

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/

Tattoos

2010-04-18T22:57:00.010+01:00

I mentioned in my ‘Bucket List’ not long ago that I wanted to get a tattoo. Since then I’ve got two which I absolutely love – ironically. Below is the reasoning behind them

I got my first tattoo as an artistic representation of who I am as a person. It has many aspects that many people wouldn’t even consider when looking at it:
It has love at its centre as love is what holds me together (God’s love more specifically). There are five stars because biblically speaking, 5 is the number of grace.
I wanted Love and Grace to be above my heart in the physical sense hence the position of the tattoo on my body; I also took into account that I don’t want to show the tattoo off most of the time as its personal i.e. more for my enjoyment rather than the worlds. Being on my chest it is hidden by most of my clothes.
I draw stars the same way as they are shown here as part of my signature – again, very personal.
The bat is my favourite animal for many reasons hence it’s inclusion in the tattoo.
Also, I wanted the design/colors to be feminine as it is a side of my personality that I often don’t show; I chose purple for the main part as it is my favourite color.

My second tattoo is much simpler; TTSO stands for ‘Think Twice Speak Once – a great piece of advice given to me by a good friend. I never want to forget the advice so I put it somewhere I’ll always see it. It’s a message that may take years to fully take root and become an important part of my character but I want it to be a permanent lesson that will shape my life.

Photography by Stephanie Hibbert

Ellie’s Card Creations - Charity Project

2010-04-17T03:49:00.002+01:00

You may have been given a homemade card by me in the past but this post isn’t about that, it’s about a challenge and a great cause.

On the last night of Spring Harvest this year everyone in the big top was given £10 and asked if they would make it into £100 to give back to ‘Hope HIV’ by the end of July 2010. Hope HIV is a charity that has been around for 10 years.
People will no doubt have different methods of multiplying the money but my chosen method is to spend £10 on card making materials and then sell 50 cards at £2 each. I fully intend for them to be the best quality I can produce.

If you would like to support this cause and/or buy a card then let me know and I’ll get one to you.
There is a Facebook group set up for this so you can check up on the progress of this challenge.

Gingers Unite!

2010-04-14T18:54:00.000+01:00

One of the more obscure things I’ve learnt during my time here at Spring Harvest is that the ‘ginger gene’ is dying out; one particular person’s reaction to this news outside iScape was pure hilarity. The situation was made more comical due to the fact 4 ginger people were involved in the conversation... one has to wonder if perhaps they are drawn to each other by some kind of biological homing device? Doubtful, but hey it sounds like a good idea – if such a device were to exist it may be possible to avert the impending doom of the entire race (yes that’s right, they’re a race).

All joking aside, some serious scientific research has gone into this – National Geographic did an article and everything (apparently...) Click here for more details.

P.S. Gingers Unite was the name of a song a couple of truly bizarre members of iScape came up with in a bid to save the day - based around the Power Rangers theme tune... don’t ask, was a long night. Teenagers are odd!

Old MacDonald had a Swamp?

2010-04-14T18:21:00.000+01:00

A random conversation with a friend got us both thinking about Old Macdonald and how the song about his farm would be very different if it was written nowadays...

Old MacDonald didn’t have any pigs because of Swine Flu
Old MacDonald didn’t have any cattle because of Mad Cow Disease
Old MacDonald didn’t have any sheep because of Foot and Mouth
Old MacDonald didn’t have any chickens because of Bird Flu
Old MacDonald didn’t have any crops because they’ve all been destroyed by flooding

What does that leave him with? A soggy piece of unusable land... Make a nursery rhyme out of that!

Boomin’ Out the Stereo System

2010-04-13T21:51:00.001+01:00

Do you ever hear a new song only to spend the next month “booming” it out of your speakers/headphones wherever you go? Maybe it’s just me... either way, I might share my current musical favourite(s) on here more often.

The song I simply just cannot get enough of at the moment is The4Points by TheBandWithNoName (TBWNN) – Not only do I love the sound, the message behind it couldn’t get any better. I’ve heard the song live twice, by video link once and various times on CD this week alone.

TBWNN are a band that has enjoyed a relatively long and successful career which is now at its end.
I must confess that most of their stuff doesn’t really appeal to me [on second thought, I don’t think it’s supposed to...] but there are 3 songs of theirs that really stick out as something special: TheFourPoints easily being number 1; number 2 is their version of ‘Amazing Grace’ and then there’s ‘Pull up the Vinyl’ – a good song but nowhere near the quality of the previous pair [IMHO].

Not so fun times – Quarantine!

2010-04-12T12:07:00.000+01:00

After spending all of Sunday on my own in my room (Doctor’s orders) I’m finally allowed to be in the world again! Being ill really isn’t fun but after a day of sleep and antibiotics I’m feeling better (still not 100% mind you).
I want to say thank you to the team in Guest Services for sorting out access to a doctor and for bringing me food, you guys are great.
I should be back working with the kids again tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that – my group of 5 – 7’s will have changed now that week 2 here at Spring Harvest has started; It’ll be nice to get to know all the new faces and personalities.
Week 1 went really well overall, both the kids work and the Big Top meetings + After Hours fun.
I’ve been very blessed to both meet and work with a great mix of people – gotta give a big shout to crazy Beth who has very patiently dealt with my chronic indecisiveness in addition to introducing me to some wonderfully bizarre teenagers – THANK YOU! :)
Anywho – more details later, time for lunch.

Fun Times

2010-04-08T16:00:00.003+01:00

So I’m at Spring Harvest 2010 (Whoop!) – half way through my first week at Skegness. I’m not sure if there’ll be much appearing on here while I’m on site but look out for some detailed posts about the event when I get back to Lincoln.
I can say that so far it is pretty cool - the sun is shining and everything! :)

FWD: Something to Ponder

2010-03-26T11:19:00.000Z

A teacher asked her students to write an essay about what they would like God to do for them.
At the end of the day while marking the essays, she read one that made her very emotional.
Her husband, that had just walked in saw her crying and asked her what happened; she told him to read one of her student's essays...

It said:

‘Oh God, tonight I ask you something very special: Make me into a television.
I want to take its place. Live like the TV in my house. Have my own special place and have my family around ME.
To be taken seriously when I talk; I want to be the centre of attention and be heard without interruptions or questions. I want to receive the same special care that the TV receives when it is not working. Have the company of my dad when he arrives home from work, even when he is tired. And I want my mom to want me when she is sad and upset, instead of ignoring me.
I want my brothers to fight to be with me. I want to feel that family just leaves everything aside, every now and then just to spend some time with me. And last but not least make it that I can make them all happy and entertain them.
Lord I don't ask you for much, I just want to live like every TV.’

The teacher’s husband was horrified at what horrible parents’ this child must have.
She looked up at him and said: “This is our son’s essay”

My first 3D experience

2010-03-25T11:28:00.001Z

I had intended to post my brief thoughts on Alice in Wonderland a few days ago but I inevitably procrastinated/forgot; needless to say Doc beat me to it/inadvertently reminded me.

I’m sad to admit that this was indeed my first ever 3D movie – would have loved to have seen Avatar in 3D but as I wasn’t the one paying I didn’t really have much choice...
Alice in Wonderland probably wasn’t the best choice for me to test the technology out on – I forgot I was watching 3D through most of it and couldn’t tell the difference except in really obvious places. I’m told by Mikey that this is a good sign meaning it’s been done properly but I remain unconvinced.

Aside from all that the plot was simply ‘OK’ – I don’t plan on seeing it again but thankfully it didn’t freak me out as much as the cartoon movie.
I loved Depp as the ‘Mad Hatter’ but this may just be due to the fact he plays crazy really well and I generally LOVE crazy people (fictional or otherwise)...
I liked the final scenes in Wonderland (I would say why but that might give away the ending to those who haven’t watched it yet).
Not so much impressed with the actress playing Alice – I feel a bit horrible for criticising her but she was rather dull.
Things that did make me chuckle were how the white queen kind of ‘glided’ around (not to mention her eye-brows!) as well as Hamish during the proposal; he’s got a quare smile (as they would say back home)!

It gets 2 stars from me.

Striving to be Better

2010-03-23T04:11:00.001Z

I’ve always wanted to be a different person, to be better in some way or another; I’ve set myself goals and challenges plus made many promises in an attempt to be that better person but so far most of it has came to nothing. This really annoys and frustrates me. I try but I never try hard enough or I forget about God and go it alone only to fail not far down the road. I don’t know what the next step to take is.
I’m like those people who make a new year’s resolution every year to get fit and go to the gym only to give up and state the same resolution the next year, and the next and the next until the end of eternity.
I’m getting no where so I’ve been thinking I should fill my mind with God’s word and let him change me gradually in his own way. I’m tempted to say I’ll do this for the next 3 weeks (for example) but this would be counter-productive – falling back into the same habits. Let’s just see what happens...

(Side-note: I’ve given up the ‘Lent Plan’ – in case anyone was wondering. It’s just another example of good intentions going nowhere.)

Blessed, Blessed, Blessed! (Femininity and Spring Harvest 2010)

2010-03-15T05:43:00.001Z

I had a seriously fantastic evening last Friday (12th) spending it with the Ladies from Inspirit (The Student Expression of Newlife church, Lincoln); the topic was ‘Being a Woman of God’ and I don’t think I’ve ever taken part in such a blessed conversation in my life. The atmosphere was amazing and ironically – very, very beautiful!
When the night rolled to a close (hours after it was intended to) I left with a huge smile on my face – it made my week... until I got home and read my emails that is- my week got even better!
I had a message from Spring Harvest waiting for me stating I’d been accepted to work on the children’s team at Skegness this year. At this point I was so overwhelmed with happiness and excitement that I burst into tears of joy (if you’ve read this blog before you’ll probably know I cry A LOT...). After weeks of hearing nothing I thought it just wasn’t going to happen – after all I had applied late, yet it was something I really, REALLY wanted. It almost feels as if God’s confirming for me that this is the path (i.e. caring for children) is the one for me, I could be completely wrong of course but I guess time will tell.

Going back to the topic of ‘what it is to be a Godly woman’ - it got me thinking about many things, but mainly: what aspects of myself I want to let the world see/how I represent both myself and God. I personally don’t think I represent either very well and it’s something I want to change. I’m trying something new and radical – letting my feminine, girly side out more often. It tends to be the quiet and soft side to my personality and I think, more importantly, an aspect of my personality that glorifies God more. Again, I could be completely wrong on this one but hey, it’s worth a try :)

This is Me

2010-03-10T08:00:00.001Z

This is me
– a broken shell of a person.
I have many faults and just want to be
- loved
Inside my heart is
- misery
and
you’ll be
- disgusted
if you see my ‘true face’.
I wear a mask and hide from society.
Only God knows the real me,
maybe that’s the way it’s meant to be?

Re: Sport

2010-03-09T05:47:00.000Z

In response to those that are wondering why I said I’ll support any team that play England I’d like to point out that this comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously – “I don’t necessarily agree with everything I say” – Please excuse my Northern Irish sense of humor.

Rant: 3 Mobile

2010-03-09T04:50:00.001Z

I got a text from 3 mobile last night telling me to exchange my phone within the next week otherwise they will disconnect me- What’s that about?! - I’ve used this handset since Christmas (due to the phone that came with the contract dying on me) and it has been fine until now so why they have decided, out of the blue, that I’m only allowed to use a 3G phone is beyond me.
I would assume that what phone I want to use is my choice – clearly not.

This is a probably nothing more than a money making ploy on their part but it has backfired – I’m defiantly not renewing my contract now. I may get a new phone each time I get a new contract but they never survive much more than 6 months forcing me to acquire a cheep handset until contract renewal time. If 3 aren’t happy with my cheep handsets they can go find another customer!

P.S. Has anybody else had the same problem?

Sport

2010-03-08T05:11:00.003Z

I’ve got to admit, this post is somewhat unprecedented – sport isn’t something I’m generally interested HOWEVER there are three exceptions to this rule:
1 The Olympics,
2 The World Cup (Football) and
3 The Six Nations (Rugby) – in reverse order of interest.

As some of you may know, it’s Six Nations season and as always I’m supporting Ireland (primarily), Scotland (secondarily) and thirdly, anyone that plays England.
It’s not looking good so far – Ireland is in 3rd place, Scotland keeps losing and England are doing rather well (2nd place).
Hopefully things will get better... anybody up for watching the Ireland verses Wales and/or the Scotland verses England match(s) on Saturday (13th) let me know :)

Perspective on Pain

2010-03-08T04:45:00.002Z

A big thing I forgot to mention in my post about my ‘crazy’ week is that although it was so hard I understand why God allowed me to go through it.
I’m totally trusting in Romans 8:28 – ‘we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...’
God has been using 2 really tough experiences to help me grow spiritually and rely on him.

I kept promising God I’d stop turning to other things/people instead of him for comfort and fulfilment but I couldn’t do it so he took them away, out of my life for a while until I learn my lesson – this may seem harsh but I know it’s for the best; after all, I refused to learn it the easy way.
I, in all honesty, am so thankful that God has done this because I would never have the strength to carry it out on my own and I’m sick of making empty promises.

When I think about it from this perspective I know that going through the pain and heartache of last week is/was worth it and I’d chose to go through it again if that was God’s will.

Note: I realise this may not make too much sense as I’m being intentionally vague in parts – the point is, God is amazing and can/does bring good outcomes out of even our most horrible experiences.

General Ramblings in Light of Turning the Big 21

2010-03-06T06:35:00.003Z

Around this time last year I wrote a short post on Facebook about facing life as a 20 year old.

Looking back at it nothing much appears to have changed; what I wrote then still applies right now.

This has been a difficult year for me but I feel I’ve learnt so much about myself about life and about friendship – these haven’t all been good or easy things to learn but I guess it’s been worth it.

If I think back to a six months before I came to university (March 2007) I had a job, a course I was excelling in and a boyfriend; In the six months that followed I gave up my job to move to England, I started a degree course that didn’t live up to my expectations and I gave up the first in a series of destructive relationships – it didn’t matter, I was full of excitement and I was growing with God for the first time in years.
If I was to summarise my life now I’m honestly unsure what I would say... I have no job, no course and no boyfriend; even though I know these things don’t matter too much I still can’t help but wonder- WHAT AM I DOING?
I was telling a good friend the other day that I can summarise the last six months of my life in 3 words: I don’t know. The more I learn the more I realise how much I still have to learn.
MAYBE God is rubbing things out, making me a blank canvas once more so he can begin his work...
I’m trusting in God’s timing – he will give me the desires of my heart because it is he that gave me those desires.

A bit of a CRAZY week

2010-03-06T05:53:00.003Z

Many people have described life as a rollercoaster over the years – it’s so true, everyone goes up and down. I’ve also noticed that while going up and down my life tends to go round in cycles – I face the one thing after another only to come full circle and repeat the process again.
This week my depression paid me yet another visit, I gave up something I love for God and was completed humiliated – quite possibly the hardest week I’ve faced so far.
I was so low on Thursday night but a few little things happened – seemingly insignificant actions of others that just made me smile. I woke up on Friday feeling good again and the happiness just grew – at one point I was almost in literal tears of joy.
Unfortunately the joy hasn’t lasted; currently stuck in realms of being just ‘OK’ – nothing more, nothing less... It’s not a bad place to be.

So... Life is Interesting

2010-03-02T14:42:00.003Z

ULCU Events Week has ended and I’m back to having most of my days free. ‘Twas a very good but very tiring week; I actually managed to get up early each morning and that was a miracle in itself.
In addition to getting up early I actually made it to most things on time – finally fulfilling a challenge I set for myself months back. Just got to keep it up now!
With spending my time either out at an event or sleeping, it wasn’t difficult to keep to my limited amounts of Facebook and Twitter that I’m rationing myself to for Lent. Now that the week has ended however, the challenge really starts.

I’m doing a few free short courses at Lincoln College which are actually rather enjoyable; more start after Easter. I’ll have the joy of applying for a course through UCAS again this year... yay for personal statements!
I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the amount of jobs around that I’m interested in. Have a decent sized list of places/people to contact that I’m working my way through.
Until I find a job I really need to be keeping myself busy – should be getting more reading and writing done methinks... A personal reading challenge may be on the horizon.

Apology

2010-02-22T04:02:00.000Z

If I’ve ever hurt, ignored or criticised you I’m sorry. I know how powerful words can be even if the person saying them doesn’t mean it.
A lot of the time many of us will say things without thinking and not realise the damage our words can cause.
I was given some very good advice: “Think Twice, Speak Once”, and I’ve got to admit, I find it really hard at times but it’s a principal I want to live by.
I hope that if my words or actions have hurt you in the past or have damaged our friendship that you can forgive me.
I make a lot of mistakes and the chances are I’ll probably say stupid things in the future. Please bare with me, I’m learning.

ULCU Events Week 2010

2010-02-21T02:19:00.002Z

There are exciting times ahead for those in and around Lincoln Starting Monday (22nd Feb).
Events will be held all week mostly on Campus but you don’t have to be a student to attend.
All are free except Play-Zone.

Monday – Friday, 2 till 3pm = Lunch Bars
Free Food and a Topical Talk at The Library Bar

Monday is Girls and Guys Night
Girls meet at 11 Hewson Road – 7.30pm
Guys meet at The Sports Centre for Football followed by a trip to the Pub – 8.30pm

Tuesday is Play-Zone
Meeting outside the Engine Shed at 7pm

Wednesday is Back to School Quiz
Meting in room MB1008 (Main Uni Building, First Floor) at 7pm

Thursday is Film Night
7.30pm at 17 Westbourne Grove

Friday is Pudding Party with Music
Meting in room MB1008 (Main Uni Building, First Floor) at 7.30pm

Saturday is Picnic at The Lawn
Meeting outside the Engine Shed at 11am

For more Info click Here!

Lent 2010

2010-02-20T10:26:00.004Z

So Lent for this year started on Wednesday, 17th (February, aka Ash Wednesday) and ends on April 4th – Easter Sunday (according to my brief research. Research also tells me that Eastern Orthodox Christians start lent on “Clean Monday”).

“Why am I talking/typing about all this?” I hear you ask - Well, because this year I have decided to take part albeit in a less than traditional way.

The plan is to restrict my Facebook and Twitter usage (to an hour per day) for the first half of lent (17th Feb – 12th March) and to give up take-away food for the second half of lent (12th March – 4th April).

And before you point it out, I am aware this post is just a few days late, I had been planning it for a while but procrastination got the better of me (again).
The advantage to posting this now is that I can tell you how the first couple of days have went:
Day 1 wasn’t too difficult as I was rather busy for most of it. It was on day two that I discovered a problem (and yes, the problem is me)...
Although I haven’t necessarily broken my plan (so far at least) I can’t help but feel I’m defeating the purpose.
The reason I’m restricting my FB and Twitter access is so that I can spend more time doing things that are beneficial (such as looking for a job, reading my Bible or fulfilling my Writing Goals) but instead, the time I’ve saved by not going on the 2 sites mentioned above I’ve so far wasted watching BBC iPlayer and/or YouTube.
I endeavour to do better/use my time more wisely from now on – As ever, I’ll keep this updated as to how I get on.

Soundtrack to My Life (So Far)

2010-02-12T14:56:00.000Z

There are so many tunes out there that bring back a lot of memories for me. If my life was a movie these tunes would form the soundtrack: (Thinking about all this is making me emotional)

Spice Girls – Wannabe (1996; Age 7): I remember my sister singing this, was the first time I heard it. It was also the same day I spent with Cousin Michelle before the 9 year separation.

Shanks and Bigfoot – Sweet like Chocolate (1999): Reminds me of Bangor Central IPS when everyone went on the school trip to France (except me of course who spent the week in Mrs Black’s class listening to this and “Song” about Sunscreen)

Boyzone - When the Going Gets Tough (1999): Reminds me of my 10th Birthday when I got one of my favourite movies ever (Lion King 2) and a Strawberry Barbie (to replace my knock off Action Man with the broken leg). I was playing the tape in the playground one day when Lyndsy Coats told me how uncool I was

Point Break – Stand Tough: I remember my slight obsession with this band in my first year of High School (2000/2001)

Jimmy eat World – The middle (2002)
Avril Lavigne – I’m With You (2002)

When the Music Fades/The Heart of Worship: For all the Friday Evenings I spent under the stars after BYF in the Ballycrochan Baptist Church car park by the fields (Age 13 – 17)

16th Birthday – The entire Hybrid Theory Album by Linkin Park

Bowling for Soup – Girl all the bad guys want: Reminds me of High School, especially Mr Adair’s class and the Mix tape I made for a project

Summer 2005 (Age 16) – The transition between School and College/Tech:
Hoobstank – The Reason
Rise Against – Swing Life Away
Lost Prophets – Last Train Home
Lost Prophets – Last Summer

Hellogoodbye – Here in your arms: Reminds me of my month at AFBI in Belfast (Summer 2007)

Awesome God: Reminds me of my first Hillsborough Bible Week (Summer 2007)

TobyMac – Irene: Reminds me of ULCU Houseparty (Academic Year 2008/2009)

Housing Rant

2010-02-11T03:26:00.001Z

Since moving into this poor excuse for a dwelling the problems have become increasingly numerous and severe with the living room door almost in two pieces, furniture that’s falling apart (the drawers in my room refuse to stay shut without blue tack), many uneven floors and more damp than the sea.
Don’t even get me started on the outside loo with a caved in roof, the wall of mould living in the bathroom, the paint that refuses to stay on the kitchen wall, the massive amounts of insects, the stupid doorbell or the mysterious red stain that oddly resembles a pool of blood on the living room lino. Oh yeah and can I have some curtains now please?!

The only thing worse than the house is Lighthouses’ (the letting agent) apparent lack of ability or inclination to do anything about it!

I was informed earlier this week that the previous tenants, after reporting faults all year and being ignored, had all of their deposits taken by Lighthouse to pay for the “damages” that were apparently their fault regardless of the faults being there when they moved in!

On the Brightside, one can escape this nightmare to take a breath of fresh air – that is if you don’t mind looking at the burnt out cars at the back of the house or listening to the man a few doors down who snaps his front door handle several hundred times every time I pass (you would have thought he’d have noticed the door was locked by now)... *sigh*

Exciting Times! (New Website)

2010-02-07T07:00:00.000Z

I’ve been meaning to overhaul my personal website for years (not an exaggeration – unfortunately – Procrastination is taking over my life!).
So, I finally got around to it... yes I cheated (used webs.com) and yes, its not the best website ever but it does its job and has came a long way since it’s conception. Although it doesn’t look like it, the overhaul took a good 3 hours of my life (I had to delete a lot of useless information written at the age of approximately 15) so please don’t let it have been a waste of time by checking it out: www.ellierose101.co.uk

Seriously Guys, what are ya thinking?!

2010-01-31T04:10:00.000Z

I’m sick of seeing guys wearing their trousers so low half their backside is falling out of them. No-one wants to see your underwear; it’s not attractive. Please, I’m begging you, BUY A BELT!

I am Sam

2010-01-30T03:11:00.001Z

As I just mentioned in my previous post, I spent a significant amount of last night crying; there are a couple of reasons for this but the main one is an amazingly heartbreaking movie called ‘I am Sam’. Having never heard of it I stuck it on and it caught me off guard – the actors (Sean Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer and Dakota Fanning) are top notch.
The story, made in 2001 and directed by Jessie Nelson, is of a mentally handicapped father’s relationship with his intelligent daughter as she grows up.
It contains a lot of Beatles references, much to my distaste, but even that doesn’t put me off.
I would advise everyone to watch it but beware when you start crying like a baby you might not want anyone else around... 8 out of 10 for story line but 10 out of 10 for acting so 9 out of 10 overall.
Previous to this I watched ‘Marley and Me’ – the cause of yet more tears. It gets 6 out of 10.

Technical Issues

2010-01-30T02:37:00.001Z

Last night (Thursday), after spending approximately 5 hours crying my eyes out, I spent 20 minutes laughing uncontrollably – overall it was a good night!
“What was so funny?” I hear you ask, WELL, after listening to Apples complain for an extended period of time about how the projector she needed to use wasn’t working – and watching her get more and more frustrated as all the advice she followed failed her she made the massive discovery that in order to get it to work you must PLUG IT IN, in the right place!
She, of course, will deny she was ever so logically challenged but if you could have seen her face... PRICELESS!
(If you want to know why I crying check out the blog post that’ll be online not long after this...)

I, myself am having technical issues of my own... Can someone please tell me how to get my web cam and Window’s Movie Maker to co-operate? The web cam audio has also been a nightmare to fathom.

While on topic of technology/computers and stuff, I have been using Tumblr a lot more recently – when I first signed up I thought I’d post every few weeks or so but I keep coming across cool things (by my standards) increasingly regularly. Of course most of it is just recycled posts with very little original input from me but if you wish to check it out you can click here.

Reasons to be Cheerful, 123

2010-01-25T14:58:00.000Z

So I have a few things to be happy about at the moment; I got 3 pieces of good news from the University of Lincoln today:

1 – I don’t have to go through the headache of extenuating circumstances after all. Drop-out paperwork is done, Whoop!
2 – I’m not getting charged by the university to drop out (due to the fact I didn’t have to pay Tuition Fees this academic year...)
3 – I shall be receiving a Certificate of Higher Education for my time here so my studying to date wasn’t completely pointless after all *happy face*

My mum will be very happy and a happy mum = a relieved drop out

On a slight sad note, my orchid is dying despite all of my best efforts to revive it after its mild disagreement with the cold weather *sad face*

(P.S. If you don’t get the song reference in the title, Google it)

Bucket List

2010-01-15T12:21:00.001Z

I know the idea is very un-original but I thought I’d write a list of things I’d love to do/see/experience at some point in my life before I “kick the bucket”.

Before I get on to that I would like to point out that although these things might be nice, they’re not what I was put on this planet for; I know my purpose in life and I’m trying not to prioritise anything above that.
These things may be desire-able but if I don’t achieve any of them yet fulfil my purpose I’ll be a happy woman.

With that out of the way, let’s get on to the actual list... They’re not in any specific order and I’ll probably add more things over the years.

1. Go to a football match, in a proper stadium
2. Get something physically published (i.e. not just published online)
3. Get a tattoo
4. Visit every continent
5. Learn to swim/get over my fear of water
6. Wing walk
7. Parachute Jump from a plane (attached to a pro)
8. Become fluent in a second language
9. Get a degree
10. Ride a large and scary rollercoaster
11. Learn how to ride a horse (and stop being terrified of it)
12. Go to the top of the Eifel Tower
13. Watch the sun rise or set over Kilimanjaro
14. Explore a rainforest (and not get freaked out by bugs)
15. Host a successful dinner party
16. Learn how to dance/ gain enough confidence to dance in front of people
17. Act in a play/panto in a proper theatre
18. Get singing lessons
19. Ride a motorbike
20. Have something I’ve designed actually become a reality
21. Spend a night under the stars
22. Go abseiling
23. Drive a racing car
24. Take a ride in a hot air balloon
25. Finish reading all the books I own
26. Learn to play piano
27. Give Birth
28. Go to a really big concert
29. Run a (mini) marathon
30. Learn enough computer code to make a simple web page by myself

Being Nocturnal

2010-01-13T04:31:00.000Z

I’ve been nocturnal for as long as I can remember and it’s inconvenient to say the least but what really annoys me is that people who don’t know what it’s like misunderstand it completely. That’s why I was so happy to find this article; it explains so much of what I’ve been saying for years. I really suggest people read it because if I have one more person telling me I choose to be this way and could change easily I’m going to cry!

BBC Book List [UPDATED: May 2011]

2010-01-12T02:21:00.001Z

The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 classic books listed below.

Out of the list I’ve Read: 4 Full Books, Am Currently Reading 2 and Have Read Parts of 2 others.

1 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen –                                                Watched Movie Adaption(s)
2 - The Lord of the Rings by J R Tolkien –                                             Watched Movie Adaption(s)
3 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte –
4 - Harry Potter Series by J K Rowling –                                     Read 1 of 7 & Watched Movie Adaption(s)
5 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee –                                               Read
6 - The Bible –                                                                                       Currently Reading
7 - Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte –
8 - Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell –
9 - His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman –
10 - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens –
11 - Little Women by Louisa M Alcott –
12 - Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy –
13 - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller –
14 - Complete Works of Shakespeare –
15 - Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier –
16 - The Hobbit by J R Tolkien –
17 - Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks –
18 - Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger –                                                 Read
19 - The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger –                           Watched Movie Adaption
20 - Middlemarch by George Eliot –
21 - Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell –
22 - The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald –
23 - Bleak House by Charles Dickens –
24 - War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy –
25 - The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams –
27 - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky –
28 - Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck –
29 - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll –
30 - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame –
31 - Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy –
32 - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens –
33 - Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis –

34 - Emma by Jane Austen –                                                                 Currently Reading
35 - Persuasion by Jane Austen –
36 - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis –                       Watched Movie Adaption(s)
37 - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini –
38 - Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres –
39 - Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden –                                          Watched Movie Adaption

40 - Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne –                                                        Read Some
41 - Animal Farm by George Orwell –
42 - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown –                                                 Watched Movie Adaption
43 - One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez –
44 - A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving –
45 - The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins –
46 - Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery –
47 - Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy –
48 - The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood –
49 - Lord of the Flies by William Golding –
50 - Atonement by Ian McEwan –                                                           Watched Movie Adaption
51 - Life of Pi by Yann Martel –
52 - Dune by Frank Herbert –
53 - Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons –
54 - Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen –
55 - A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth –
56 - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon –
57 - A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens –
58 - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley –
59 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon –
60 - Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez –
61 - Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck –                                             Read
62 - Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov –
63 - The Secret History by Donna Tartt –
64 - The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold –                                                Watched Movie Adaption
65 - Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas –
66 - On The Road by Jack Kerouac –
67 - Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy –
68 - Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding –                                        Watched Movie Adaption
69 - Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie –
70 - Moby Dick by Herman Melville –
71 - Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens –                                                    Watched Movie Adaption(s)
72 - Dracula by Bram Stoker –                                                               Watched Movie Adaption(s)
73 - The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett –                            Watched Movie Adaption(s)
74 - Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson –
75 - Ulysses by James Joyce –
76 - The Inferno by Dante –
77 - Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome –
78 – Germinal by Emile Zola –
79 - Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray –
80 - Possession by AS Byatt –
81 - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens –
82 - Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell –                                                       Read Some
83 - The Color Purple by Alice Walker –                                                  Watched Movie Adaption
84 - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro –
85 - Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert –
86 - A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry –
87 - Charlotte’s Web by EB White –                                                        Watched Movie Adaption
88 - The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom –                    Listened to Audiobook
89 - Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle –            Watched Movie Adaption(s)
90 - The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton –
91 - Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad –
92 - The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Expery –
93 - The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks –
94 - Watership Down by Richard Adams –
95 - A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole –
96 - A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute –
97 - The Three Musketeers by Alexadre Dumas –
98 - Hamlet by William Shakespeare –
99 - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl –              Read & Watched Movie Adaption(s)

100 - Les Miserables by Victor Hugo –

Suggestions Please

2010-01-04T19:41:00.003Z

I have enough non fiction books to last me quite a while but I like to ballance it all out with a healthy amount of fiction. My problem is, I only own about 7 fictional books and therefore I really need help figuring out what to read next.
What are your favourite novels and why are they good/why should I read them?

Social Networking Rant

2010-01-03T15:39:00.002Z

Regular Facebook users will no doubt have seen many examples of somewhat humorous Pages and Groups about various topics or situations that, according to the high number of members, most of us find ourselves in. Yes some of them do make me smile but ultimatly they are rather pointless.
This rant is regarding one group in particular that really annoys me: "60 things that girls need to know about boys" - not only is it unhelpful I think it's also really inaccurate. Many of the things listed do not apply to my male friends at all (as far as I know) and yet it has a lot of members, this leaves me with three questions: 1. Am I totally wrong/do these points accuratly represent guys? 2. If these don't represent the majority of MY male friends then by some strange coincidence or phenomenon are my male male friends different from the rest of the male populas/exceptions to the rule 3. If I am right and the points do not apply to most guys then why has the group got so many suppoorters?

On another note; can people please learn how to rotate their photos, it's really not difficult! (Sorry, pet peave)

Big Blogging Changes ARE HERE!

2010-01-01T03:30:00.004Z

So I said yesterday that big blogging changes were comming and guess what, they've finally arrived!
My two new blogs are now up and running and you can check them out by clicking on the links below:
Ellie's God Blog
Creative Writing Blog

Oh, and Happy New Year to you all! =0)