La Vie Boheme

"The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)"

2011-04-22T18:56:00.001+01:00

Margaret arrayed the rocks around the hull before it was sinking,
A million stones, a million bones, a million holes within the chinking.

And painting rings around your eyes these peppered holes so filled with crying.
A whisper weighed upon the tattered down where you and I were lying.

Tell me now, tell me this, a forest's son, a river's daughter,
A willow on the willow wisp, our ghosts will wander all of the water.

So let's be married here today these rushing waves to bear our witness.
And we will lie like river stones rolling only where it takes us.

But I pulled you and I called you here,
And I caught you and I brought you here
These hazards of love, never more will trouble us

Oh Margaret the lapping waves are licking quietly at our ankles
Another bow another breath this brilliant chill's come for the shackle.

With this long last rush of air we speak our vows and sorry whispers,
When the waves came crashing down, he closed his eyes and softly kissed her.

But I pulled you and I called you here,
And I caught you and I brought you here
These hazards of love, never more will trouble us.
And these hazards of love, never more will trouble us.

Drop in for a Spell

2011-04-17T17:16:00.005+01:00

This is me, my mum and my friend Emily 'blending in' with the Pendle Witches on a walk in March 2003, making us 10 years old :D

They were outside this shop, which was adorable and one of those interesting 'Curiosity Shop' types that you find in small villages such as Pendle/Barley.

A whistle stop explanation of the Pendle Witch legend is that in 1612, 13 people (both men and women) were accused of Witchcraft and Murder in and around the Forest of Pendle, and were tried at Lancaster gaol. Of those 13, 10 were executed there after being found guilty of both charges, 1 died awaiting trial but was posthumously found guilty, another who lived just over the Lancashire border was actually tried and executed in York instead, and the final witch, Margaret Pearson, was found guilty of Witchcraft but not Murder, and so was only sentenced to a years imprisonment. The story is claimed to be the most famous witchtrial in all English legal history!

AHHH I've just researched this a bit and it's actually really interesting, so I'm going to carry on explaining but I won't be offended if you don't read any further!!

The two witches at the centre of the trial were Elizabeth Southerns, who called herself 'Demdike' and Anne Whittle, who called herself 'Chattox'. They were once friends but had a bitter feud and became arch enemies, apparently forming two separate 'covens' in the area, based on their respective families. It's not entirely clear who belonged to which coven, but Demdike was the powerful matriach of the Device family, with her daughter Elizabeth and grandchildren James and Alizon Device all being executed alongside her. The second daughter, Jennet Preston, was the witch executed in York. They lived at 'Malkin Tower' and in his confession, James described several sabbats that occurred there...this is brilliant, all the names sound so fairytale, you just couldn't make this stuff up!

So much is known about the Pendle Witches because Thomas Potts, a court cleric, was so meticulous in his records, and so the statements of Demdike, Chattox, Alizon and James have survived intact. It's noted that they were not under duress or torture and so it has puzzled many why they were so willing and detailed in their accounts of their own guilt, however Demdike and Chattox appear to have incriminated each other ferociously and when Demdike died before being sentenced Chattox blamed her entirely for enticing her and her family into witchcraft.

It did not work.

There's a ton of gory info about what they did and all about 17th century witchcraft including the original confessions of several of the accused at:

http://www.pendlewitches.co.uk/

A Novel Idea

2011-04-16T18:01:00.003+01:00

It's been awhile, and that wasn't really about to change because I just never seem to find the time/what to say on here :')

I keep up with blogs regularly and I enjoy reading my friends, but I found my diary which had been long lost, so I began to fill and finish that then begin another notebook, I missed it ^_^

Anyway the lovely Lou has said a few times she misses me writing blog posts, so I came up with an idea :D

In a few posts I've done that've mostly been text, I've included a random-ish picture at the end to break it up a little, and I thought I could post a random picture from my computer every day, and then update as I wanted from there ^_^

It'll keep my blog going and *might* be interesting :')

We'll see how it goes... XD

*edit, I've just spent aggges after this post trawling through my photos, laughing and thinking of captions...this IS going to be fun!*

So we'll start with...

Me and my Uncle Simon at my Grandad's 60th birthday in 2002...so I'm 9? The theme was 60's, and you can't see it very well but I'm wearing a leather bodycon dress :') Just got back from holiday so tanned and braided, I was assured that braided hair was 'very sixties dear'

I had fun!

Ev'rybody Wants to be a Cat...

2010-12-05T20:28:00.003Z

I'm actually loving a cartoon Facebook, so many reminders of childhood and seeing who all my friends have chosen is hilarious, some are so accurate it's untrue :')

I wanted to be Velma as I'm quite alot like her and I dressed as her for two halloween parties this year, but a couple of my friends already had the Scooby Doo lot for their pictures, so I went with Marie from the Aristocats instead :D

A RINKY TINKY TINKY!

'Ladies don't start fights. But they can finish them!'

I love the Aristocats :')

Disney's funkiest musical!!

A Pretty Good Time

2010-10-19T18:27:00.004+01:00

So I went to Russia with college in July, yes I'm aware it's now December :P

I did promise to post my summer in installments...and even though I probably should have blogged much more since summer...I haven't.

Much has happened.

RUSSIA

I thought about doing the pictures in some sort of order, but I just cannae be bothered, this is the order they popped up, so this is our group cooling off in St Petersburg, it was about 30degreeeeees+, stinky hot! I didn't mind, but the boys complained bloody murder :')

The 'Supreme Seven' as named by Beckah outside...a palace in St Petersburg (seriously, there are hundreds of palaces in St Petersburg). It was Peter the Great's palace though, pretty important, the city's named after him :P

We have left to right, Baker, Adam, Ric, Beckah, Jack, Dave and I'm stood at the front XD

That garden was gorgeous, and full of fountains which was nice due to the insanely hot weather, apparently Peter the Great was somewhat of a practical joker, and jets of water shot suddenly from all directions, it was pretty awesome!

Me, Adam, Dave and Beckah on a river cruise in Moscow, I don't think I can explain my facial expression, although Adam did make this his facebook profile picture for awhile just because of it :')

Jack, Me and Ric in Moscow, sort of, next to Red Square. It's the next square over. We went to Red Square on the first day, but this is a couple of days after when we actually went inside the Kremlin, which was freakin' awesome. There was some sort of military parade with horses and guns and stuff! It was pretty impressive, but this picture was taken afterwards when we were getting lunch XD.
Yeah we went to Russia and ended up getting McDonalds twice. I feel ashamed.

Hard Rock Cafe Moscow!! Me, Ric and half of Baker's face. Me and Ric had a thing where we'd accidentally lean too far in, drastically underestimating the camera's ability to get us in shot. The cafe was nice, but because there were so many of us we had a set menu. First, a greek salad, not too bad apart from y'know, I hate salad. I ate what I wanted and just let the boys hoover the rest up, perks of sitting with 3 constantly hungry lads (Y). Then some weird broth thing which was disgusting but the boys lapped up, no surprises there. I may sound a little picky, but it really was horrible, literally nobody ate it apart from our table. Then the main meal, rice and a meat that I'm pretty damn sure wasn't chicken. I looked at Ric, could tell he was thinking the same. But we weren't gonna ask. We just ate it.

Supreme Seven in the Winter Palace St Petersburg, which houses the largest collection of art in the world, the Hermitage Museum :D Notice the boys' McLenin's t-shirts, on the back they said 'The Party, Is Over.' YAY History Jokes!

It was pretty darn awesome, they had some Leonardo Da Vinci, Matisse etc, and also just an impressive building, lots of ball rooms, throne rooms, extravagant staircases and entrance halls etc etc....very very large. We had about 5 hours and thought sod it, we're going for lunch. I had a ham sandwich which I saved half of for the plane, which we were getting later that day, but I left it in the Hermitage by accident :( poop, I ended up scrounging food from everyone else in Amsterdam, particularly Matty Nash and Jack who'd been to McDonalds, they got offered weed by the cashier :') Good ol' Amsterdam!

Gang in the bar of the St Petersburg hotel, on World Cup night. We did go down there with the intention of watching the match, there was a really good atmosphere as it was quite an international hotel with lots of Spanish/Dutch guests, and everyone else simply chose a side. Most of us decided on Holland, specifically for me because of Dirk Kuyt :D
But we kinda lost interest, we were having some really good discussions and were off to the side of the big screen so it was hard to see anyway. I think it's nice that we were more interested in each other than the telly, good old fashioned values!
Earlier that afternoon a bunch of us had gone swimming, but apparently that wasn't allowed and we all got in trouble :P But seriously, there was a water park in the hotel! It had tons of slides, a wave pool, a rapid river (which was hilarious XD) and a couple of hottubs. Well worth the rollicking!

Munira (awesome roomy! :D seriously, on the last night the Supreme Seven stayed up until reallly early, not entirely sure what time it eventually was when we went to bed, but it was after 4am :'), Munira didn't really fancy staying up that late so she went to bed muuuch earlier, but realised I'd left my key and left the door to our room on a latch for me! Jack wasn't so lucky, he had to phone his room from the phone in Adam&Ric's room and his roomate was most disgruntled :P So, yes, brilliant roomy XD), me and Rihannon on a promenade in St Petersburg. We'd just arrived that day, via sleeper train from Moscow, which was incredible!! The cabins were tiny little boxes, with two bunk beds and space underneath for suitcases, but otherwise you could literally not move, it was extremely tiny. We took the challenge, and managed 13 in one cabin, but it was freakin' boiling. Stayed up until 3-4am, and when we finally did get to bed, the partitions were so thin that all I could hear was a banging from next door, the boys' room. 4 kinda big lads in a box that small...recipe for disaster and hilarity! Adam's bed was on the other of the partition to mine, and he had trouble fitting in the space, so all I heard was a bang followed by and expletive, and then the body part he's bashed. A la...."*crash* $H!T MY KNEEEE!" I fitted in my bed perfectly and had one of the best night's sleep ever :P

Me and Rihannon, I'm pretty sure this is St Petersburg, we stopped off somewhere on the way back from somewhere, but the place was closed, so we went for a walk round a little lake. Specific I know, but it was a while ago now, cannae believe how long ago it actually was!

So we spent a few days in Moscow, then took the sleeper train up to St Petersburg and flew home from there. It was honestly an unspeakably awesome trip, I made some new friends who I'm still really close to and got to know old friends better :)

Some of my friends like fashion blogs, and I ought to really have done a 'what I wore' or something, but it was honestly so hot that it was literally shorts and a vesty top every day. I did have one wardrobe disaster though, the button on my blue stripey shorts popped off just before our Moscow river cruise, extremely embarassing and I ended up clipping it together with a bobby pin until we got back to the hotel where Beckah, total babe, sewed it back on for me!

So that was your fashion fix :P Otherwise I'm more interested in the people and the experience!

Low & Pixies...

2010-10-12T23:33:00.003+01:00

...some kind of conspiracy?

Last night, Monkey by Low came on my ipod shuffle, which contains the lyric 'Tonight the Monkey dies'. It was immediately followed by 'Monkey Gone to Heaven', a Pixies song.

I thought it was adorable!

My summer will be posted in installments XD

Russia
The White House (Shropshire style)
Summer Impact
Rhodes
Cornwall
Staffordshire

I also went to Wales to see some old family friends, and to Plymouth with my bestie and her family, but I didn't get any pictures :(

In the meantime, here's a picture of me and my sister at Avenham for her first Easter, we're instructing her in the skill of egg rolling XD

Oh and my UCAS is looong done, I'm getting emails from universities now telling me they're processing my application...eeeek!

Yay, a Tag!

2010-07-31T17:07:00.002+01:00

It's my first one, and I'm overexcited about it :D

Lou tagged me to answer a few questions...sounds do-able!

1. What's a perfect styling for you?

I like lots of things, and I don't think any of them are particularly perfect :) I usually just wear hoodies and jeans out, and in summer just switch to shorts and t-shirts, I dress pretty simply :P I'm not very fashion-minded, so I don't tend to be adventurous at all :') I don't even have a wardrobe, I attacked mine with a hammer so now I have sort of a rail type thing. And other types of styling are virtually non-existent with me...I barely brush my hair, don't wear make-up and my converse are my favourite shoes. I have 4 pairs, and that's extravagant for me :P

2. On what do you spent most of your money?

I'm a saver not a spender :P I don't really buy clothes or magazines, most of the money I take to college/out goes on food :') I buy CD's and DVD's more often, but not regularly. Although I've been to Iceland and Russia (which I havent't got round to talking about on this blog yet, but it was utterly amazing XD) this year with college and I've paid for a portion of those trips, so quite a bit of my money went on those. I guess I go to the cinema alot, but honestly, I'm not usually short of money because I just don't spend any!

3. What's your favourite song at this moment?

I listen to bands and artists that no-one's really heard of, but I've been listening to a comedy trio on YouTube recently who make parodies and originals, and if you've never heard of them, I definitely recomment Youtubing 'The Midnight Beast', their songs are all hilarious! My favouites gotta be the Tik Tok Parody, and Lez Be Friends :D

But I also just discovered that 'Go First' by Damien Jurrado has just shot up my Top 25 Most Played to No.2, when it wasn't even charting before. I don't need Radio 1, I gotta my own ;) Although if anyone can knock 'Monkey' by Low off the top spot I'd be incredibly impressed.

4. Which excellences do you think you have?

Ahh that's a lovely worded question, 'excellences'. I'm excellent at eating twirls and remembering song lyrics, especially if they're musical theatre (mostly because they were drilled into me in 8 hour rehearsals :P). I'm excellent at making my face look like I'm sucking a lemon in most pictures taken of me, or vastly underestimating the camera lense's ability to get me in shot (resulting in me leaning over far too much and thus looking rather idiotic).

5. And what are your failings?

I can't ride a bike very well. I've got the balance thing down, it's just the steering that's giving me problems. I mean, I'm sure I'd have been fine if that big white van hadn't been just where it was and I'd remembered I had brakes. I panic, and my legs go sideways :')

...I have no idea who else to tag...can I tag everyone that reads this? Basically...if you want to, I tag you!

Day 2!

2010-07-30T12:37:00.005+01:00

My blog name...La Vie Boheme.

It's a song from Rent, a musical that doesn't really seem like a musical. It's more like a film with the most amazing soundtrack you could possibly imagine (and well, a Brroadway Musical too, but I only have access to the film :P)

The film's about a group of 'Bohemians' living in New York City in 1989, and it just follows their lives. A major plot point is the AIDs epidemic sweeping the city at that time, at least 4 of the main characters have HIV or AIDs. One of the most powerful songs is 'Will I Lose My Dignity', a simple round sung by an HIV support group that the characters attend.

The song La Vie Boheme is performed in the gang's favourite cafe, and it celebrates everything weird and wonderful, showing the brilliant eccentricities of the lives of this disparate group of people.

It's 8 minutes long, I know all the words, it's up there on my Top 25 Most Played, and on the left, in my sidebar, is a picture from the Broadway show, all the colourful characters after they've just finished performing this song :D

It seemed to fit what I wanted this blog to be like ^_^

Wait...

2010-07-29T17:18:00.003+01:00

...does this count as Day 1?

Err right then, that's thrown me.

Here:

1. I don't drink

2. I don't smoke

3. I don't brush my hair

4. I really really hate the hat I'm wearing in that picture

5. I like twirls

Insanely glad it said 5 random facts, rather than 5 interesting facts :P

Because I'm a terrible blogger!

2010-07-29T15:29:00.003+01:00

This is nicked from the lovely Heena, who in turn nicked it from Martha :)

I don't have a lack of things to do, I just have a lack of things to blog about (well, not really, but I've been fairly busy recently and lots of exciting things have been happening. I could either say here that this means I'm too busy to blog, or there's no
way I could do these awesome experiences justice whilst blogging about them), and this seemed a valid alternative to simply forgetting my blog :P

Although, I'm quite looking forward to lots of these. So I might do some all at once. And not do others at all...
And hopefully it will be interspersed with fascinating titbits of my life :P (yeah, only Conor can do sarcasm on a blog. I just fail)

:D We'll see!

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 5 random facts about yourself.
Day 02- The meaning behind your blog name
Day 03- What you did today
Day 04- A photo you took
Day 05- A website
Day 06- A photo of you from 2007
Day 07 -A Picture of you and your closest friend
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past month
Day 10- A food you could live off
Day 11- A youtube video

Day 12- How you found out about blogspot and why you made one
Day 13- Your celebrity crush
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your player on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- A picture of you taken today
Day 17- Something you have created
Day 18- The last film you saw
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- A picture that makes you smile
Day 21- A screen shot of your desktop
Day 22- Your favourite album/sDay 23- The last thing you ate/drank
Day 24- Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- Your favourite band at the moment
Day 27- A collection you have
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- What you wore today
Day 30- What you see yourself doing in 5 years time

Here's a random photo of me pretending to be Indiana Jones. Just so this post isn't all text XD

Trains and Sewing Machines

2010-06-30T22:15:00.005+01:00

Ooooooo...song lyrics as my title...risque, if I say so myself ;)

I had a lovely day yesterday! Most days are lovely, and today was lovely also, but something special happened yesterday. Every part of yesterday was lovely! (That's not the special part, although it is pretty darn special)

So, because I'd had such a lovely day, when I started walking home I was amazingly happy, and the sun was shining brilliantly (pathetic fallacy :P) and Fatboy Slim was the first thing that burst out of my ipod. Because of this inane Happiness, I grinned, quite a giant, cheesy grin. And I just happened to look at this little old woman who was walking by me, still grinning. She stopped me, and I took out my earphones and asked if she was ok.

She just looked at me and said 'You know, you've just made my day!' and then tootled on her way.

If I thought I was happy before, it was nothing compared to how I felt after that :)

That was brand new information for you all right there...I Am Happy.

What I have discovered...

2010-06-18T23:45:00.002+01:00

...is that when a review of a catwalk (why is called a catwalk actually? It's not something I've ever asked before but it suddenly seems peculiar to me!) show says that the collection is 'wearable', it really means, it's wearable if you're 6 ft tall, have killer legs, can actually walk in heels higher than half an inch, always look mean/vacant and live somewhere with no people to destory/ridicule your 'beautiful' clothing...i.e the sahara desert or space.

Honestly, I would not call this wearable. When I need clothes that look so heavy that I'd barely be able to stand up in them let alone parade around for someone to look at, I will make them myself ;)

Some of those girls look incredibly uncomfortable too, like they can barely walk, which kinda defeats the whole point of a 'catwalk'. Which by the way, I googled, just now :D

Turns out it's not the actual walking that's the catwalk, it's the raised platformy thing they walk on, like a runway or a stage (hence the terms 'runway show' and 'runway walk' also, I assume) that's just been adapted to all kinds of fashion shows. I like the alternative name wikipedia gives though, a Skywalk. That would be much, much cooler. Not least because it sounds like Skywalker.

There, I have shown you my (lack of) knowledge about fashion, although I am now well versed in the origins of the term 'catwalk'. Although I don't know why they chose cat. And not a different animal. Lionwalk would have been awesome, would have given them an actual reason to look so angry all the time. I know broody is fashion (I think...maybe? Possibly?) but sometimes broody is just downright scary, I think they're gonna walk right off those Skywalks and clobber me with their 6 inch Lobbotinny (or something) shoes.

Yes, that's right. Models scare me. No wonder I've never actually seen a fashion show...and am going off secondhand information here and therefore everything I state above should be taken with a pinch (or punch) of salt, but seriously, the pictures alone are enough to make me realise that if I did watch a fashion show, I'd spend most of the time behind the sofa sobbing something unintelligible about some dude called Jimmy who's about to Choo my head off.

To keep myself sane.

Though I admire ninjas, it's just foolish to underestimate your enemy.

Pirate all the way.

PIRATE!

*salutes*

Longing..

2010-06-02T16:13:00.002+01:00

...for a beach

Even if it's just a plastic one ;)

A most excellent film!

2010-05-15T21:43:00.002+01:00

In fact, probably one of the best I've seen for a good long time.

Yes, it's about vampires, and yes it's in Swedish, but don't let that put you off.

This ain't no Twilight.

It's a beautiful and chillingly gothic story told with the most amazing cinematography, and the leads are some of the best young actors I've ever seen.

I mean it, watch this film!

I Love Internet Memes!

2010-05-11T20:36:00.002+01:00

(If you can't see it that well I think you can click on it for a bigger version?)

Because it deserves it's own post.

A Tribute to LOLcats

2010-05-10T22:45:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago (probably a bit more, let's just say 'the other day' because that can mean anytime up to abouut a year ago :P) I did a post: http://sometimesiwishitwouldrainbows.blogspot.com/2010/02/tribute-to-demotivational-poster.html

This is in the same vein, just with LOLcats!

I'm not entirely sure why they're called LOLcats, maybe because they're cats and they make you 'laugh out loud'? Hmm.

Here are some of my favourites:

And my personal favourite (don't ask me why):

Hehe, these all came from me googling LOLcats with my best friend and almost sister Beth, over a period of several months and being sad enough to save them to my desktop :D

You are who you are...

2010-05-08T23:13:00.003+01:00

...when you think nobody's looking!

So, according to this logic, I am...

A Narcoleptic...

Awe-filled...

Adrenaline junkie!

:D :D

Definitely works for me!

...I want to go on an adventure...

Told You ;)

2010-04-18T03:04:00.003+01:00

As (sort of) promised, Ryan and Ben fleeing from the waves, and James just being washed away :P

Fun times in Iceland! Mostly...breaking...Iceland.

That'll mean more to Icelanders ;)

XD

2010-04-11T22:53:00.004+01:00

We're busy doing nothing, working the whole day through
Trying to find lots of things not to do.
We're busy going nowhere, isn't it just a crime,
We'd like to be unhappy!
But we never do have the time ;)

Because me and my friends are weird :)

So, Iceland!

2010-04-08T20:26:00.005+01:00

Warning: Picture heavy post ;)

I did promise! And even though it's mostly just pictures of people, I always think they're more interesting. And you can see some of Iceland in the background!

So, we were supposed to set out at 11.25 on Monday morning, and dutifully got to the airport just past 9am. What we didn't know was that 13 hours, many games of Chinese Snap, Twister (yes in an airport lounge :P), and Splat later, we'd still be there. Not only had a volcano erupted two days before we were due to leave, but there was also an air mechanic strike, and my best friend (who was supposed to be on the trip) was too ill to fly! It did not begin well...

But then we got to Iceland, and everything changed

Tuesday: Two amazing waterfalls, brilliantly fun high winds, exceptionally long coach journeys, and more Chinese Snap and Twister in the evening!

Wednesday: Ice Lagoon, walking on a Glacier, more exceptionally long coach journeys (I believe this was the beginning of the narcolepsy) and a music festival that night in the hotel. There was a bunch of us with Ukuleles, plus James brought a recorder, flute and harmonica, and the hotel had a piano! We all lent our voices and had a brilliant night!

Thursday: More rather large waterfalls, some pretty explosive Geysers, and a trek through a Lava Tube! Then some more long coach journeys, and into Reykjavik for a pizza challenge and a walk round the city, mostly spent trying not to fall asleep so as not to worry everyone ;)

Friday: Late breakfast, then a tour of the city, more coach journeys, a fish and chip lunch at Grindavik (which was absolutely delicious) then the Blue Lagoon! The Blue Lagoon was utterly amazing, but it probably would have been kinda dull without 30 of my (now) closest friends to mess around with. Yeah, they loved us there ;)

Then back home again early on Saturday morning. It was not nearly long enough for one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life (so far ;P), but I've got memories and friendships that'll last a lifetime

Wow that sounded less soppy in my head, let's move on!

Pictures!

The gang in front of the giant waterfall, that you could walk behind!

Back of the bus LEGENDS! This was our crew

Just ignore the bandy legged girl in the middle, check out the lovelies on either side, and the amazing scenery of the ice lagoon behind!

The CNC Clan, with out 'Warrior' talismans. We're too cool. I'm the one with the awesome pink hoodie and legwarmers ;)

Me and Ryan (oh and Ben, sort of) before caving in the lava tube. Yes he did go down there in a suit, as he did on the glacier, and pretttty much the whole time! :D

A most fetching outfit, I'm sure you'll agree!

After the cave, looking like a positively radiant teletubby!

The whole gang at the rifting of the American and Eurasian plates, along with Pietr, our tour guide, who was AWESOME!

Paul, Me and Emma (Barnesy :P) at the plate rift, after the addition of my awesome headband, which James found in a field, and gave to me XD

An all too familiar sight for my fellow Back Bus Crew members, here they are, messing with my sleeping self once again. I love ya, guys ;)

Outside the impressive Cathedral in Reykjavik :)

The girls on top of the Pearl, an observatory with amazing views over the city. Twas windy :D

The last night :'( We all wore our Iceland hoodies, I'm sort of in the middle, next to Paul in the blue hoodie (he's the only one so :P)

Me and Paul halfway into Helen's room on the last night. We definitely made the most of the last night, by sneaking in and out via corridor windows, and prank calling each other on the hotel phones :')

As I said, we really made the most of the last night ;) Me and Katherine (Briggsy :P) downstairs, after me, Sam and Jack decided we'd be hippies!

We didn't let our Iceland spirit die, even on the plane home! James, me and Elaine with our wonderful eyeliner tattoos! :D

Finally, we tried to write CNC Iceland 2010 on the beach near the ice lagoon, (CNC stands for Cardinal Newman College, just in case any readers are not familiar :P), but we ran out of beach, because just to the right of this shot is the sea :') So we just wrote CNC 2010 (the CNC is out of shot to the left) and drew a Puffin. Then we all went to stand by it.

(I thought I'd finish with a group shot :P)

To all Icelanders 2010,

I love you all!

PS. I will probably follow this up with random Iceland photos I find here and there, for example, there's a crackin' one I took of James, Ryan and Ben getting washed into the sea, and I know there are some good ones Simon took in the Blue Lagoon somewhere, so don't be surprised if in future posts, a picture of Iceland magically crops up ;)

Well...

2010-03-27T13:06:00.001Z

Iceland was pretty much the most amazing experience of my life.

More to follow, I promise! :D

My New Philosophy

2010-03-11T11:04:00.003Z

Ahh Philosophy, what I'm actually in the middle of now, and should really get back to.

The title is also a song from You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, sung brilliantly by Kristen Chenoweth in the Broadway Revival :D

But...*evil incidental music*...I'm about to collect my AS Modular results.

I should be more nervous than I am, I might have to end up resitting all of them. But, my new philosophy (which isn't technically new, I've had it for awhile now) says that whatever is in that envelope, is already in that envelope. There's nothing I can do about that right now, and I just have to deal with what comes my way, which is all anyone can do. It's easy if you take it one bit at a time, and it's actually very refreshing. Lightens the load considerably.

Some would say it's going with the flow. Others happy go lucky.

I would say wish me luck, and if you did, I'd be grateful and extremely happy, but even luck can't change what's in the envelope now.

Wish me luck!

You know it's a good party when...

2010-02-17T14:55:00.008Z

...you only managed to get some questionable pictures as everyone romped all over the house having the BEST TIME EVER!!

So, as you can probably tell, I had a pretty darn amazing time at my friend Lotte's house on Monday night, and a reallly good day when we woke up Tuesday. I was expecting awesome times at Lotte's, but not to have such a good day afterwards, so thanks guys :D

Mainly because of Ben's insistence that he was lying down-when actually he was standing over us all with a pillow, and also due to the fact that there was 9 of us laid out like sardines in Lotte's average sized living room we managed around 40 minutes sleep (weirdly, pretty much at the same time. It was a collective decision to fall asleep and wake up at the same time :P).

We then hiked to Tesco's for breakfast, losing 5 people along the way (they went home, we didn't just abandon them :P) and practically inhaled our sausages. Then somebody made the suggestion (or it was pre-planned and the rest of us just got invited :P) that we should all go to Tom's to make pancakes (it was pancake day after all!).

So after some confusing and funny bus rides, and a pit stop at Aimee's house, we spent the afternoon making exceptionally tasty pancakes, and if anyone asks, mine and Niamh's were definitely the best :D

A rather good picture of John's shoulder :)

Sam and Tom :)

Tom, in all his wonderful un-photogenicness :D (sorry Tom, if you're reading this :P)

Aimeeeeee :D

Everyyybody loves cake!

Sam and Mark arrive (lateee, as per :P)

Ahh, Ross gets his alone time with the camera :P

Mark, looking suitably bashful :)

Lottteeee, the birthday girl :D

Tom, Steph and Sam, making the most important decision, quite possibly of their lives...Red Hot Chili Peppers or the Foo Fighters? It's a tough one ;)

Our wonderful pile of stuff, clogging Lotte's hallway :)

It was difficult to find stuff in there.

Apologies about the picture heavy post (which I said I never do pfft :P), and if you're not interested in my life, like, at all, then this post was probably incredibly dull and I'm surprised you've made it this far!

P.S

2010-02-14T19:12:00.002Z

Sorry for the two week gap between posts, I would say I've been busy, but I'd be lying!

I just didn't have anything interesting to say!

A Tribute to the Demotivational Poster

2010-02-14T18:31:00.005Z

Now I rarely do just picture posts, but these, these are just too awesome!

Most of them came from my friend's Facebook album, and I have no idea where he got them from, but I have a feeling a good few were his own creation!

Mr Atkinson, I salute you!

Letting life take over

2010-01-31T23:06:00.003Z

Because sometimes it's important :)

I have much to tell, but I'll tell it when it's over. It's not bad, (I don't think :S) but it's just incredibly weird. Then again that's nothing new for me!

I just discovered Janis Joplin, and I think she's wonderful!

Sometimes...well, always :D

2010-01-19T17:37:00.003Z

I should not be this happy the day before an important exam that I'm not sure about!

Nor should I be blogging!

But sometimes, it's the little things that make you happy, and in my case (at least according to my friends, one of whom expressed the view that 'I'd love to be Dooley just for a day, because everything makes her so excited!') it's always the little things that make me happy.

I found a new song and put it on repeat walking home from college today, and because of the wonderfulness of this new song, I didn't care about how cold I was (what was I thinking wearing leggings?? Trousers woman, trousers!).

The song is Fireflies, by Owl City.

Everyone's raving about it at the moment, and I know why. I heard it on the radio on Friday morning and my friends told me about it on Friday night at Weekend Warm Up (incidentally, that's another reason I'm happy, it was really good and I missed the Christmas WWUP because of Slovenia, so nice to see everyone again)

The cover art of the album is lovely too, as is the name.

Not only does it make e think of summer, adventure and holidays (three of my favourite things!) but I also have family that live incredibly close to Dubai (in Abu Dhabi actually) so it makes me think of them, which is nice :D

No more! Revision is calling, well yelling actually :/

Liberal Reforms are coming out of my ears!

Normal service is resumed...well...almost!

2010-01-12T17:03:00.005Z

So I haven't blogged in quuuite a while, and there are several reasons for this. In true Dooley fashion, I'm gonna make a list!

+ I spilt water on my keyboard :/ All my friends found it rather amusing, but as I was without a spacebar, a B key or an N key, and several other keys were stuck together, I was not. But then we found my old wireless keyboard, put new batteries in (and we thought it was broken, pfft) and I'm back!

+ I have had several January Modules to take with my college work, I had Critical Thinking yesterday, Philosophy this morning and I have History a week tomorrow. I've been revising 8-) (mostly)

+ The last one's rather peculiar. I didn't switch my desktop on once yesterday. And do you know what? It felt pretty darn awesome. Like, I was suddenly more connected to the land of the living, rather than the land of the virtual living. It makes sense to me :P

Anyway, I finally got the Slovenia pictures up on the computer :DD

Most of 'em are pretty good, I think :)

It was like a frozen waterfall, I got quite excited :D

I felt like I was walking through a Christmas Card. Especially on Christmas Day ><

Yeahhhh my snow angel rocked. The snow was extremely deep, and all powdery, as in, you wouldnt injure someone by throwing a snowball at them :P

Hehe, I'm snow ploughing :D

Hmmm, me hurtlng towards Sam on newly attached skis.

It's like a 'What happened next?' picture :')

See if you can figure it out :P

Top Gun! :D

I felt pretty darn cool in those aviators and that helmet.

And safe 8-)

This is one of the most intereting games of pool I've ever played :') Someone (I won't name names :P) potted the white ball, and the table failed to spit it back out again, so we improvised and used the green stripe. But of course, we couldn't lose another 'white' ball, so we all had to stand and 'protect' the pockets, to make sure we didn't pot the green stripe. It was extremely funny at the time, with much running about and "I've got it, I've g...oh dear" :D

Yes, we did go on holiday in a Lord of the Rings film. 'Twas rather exciting :D

Hehe, "Are you taking my picture?" "Well that's why I've pointed the camera in your face!"

If I could figure out how to do vids on here, I'd post the one of me (terribly) humming the Lord of the Rings theme tune, and panning the landscape, and pretty much humming the tune of every epic film I could think of, I even think James Bond made it in there for some reason :')

It was all very dramatic ;)

But I had an epic time (no pun intended), learning to ski, spending time with my family :) Meeting awesome and cool new people :D

I really like life!

New Decade

2010-01-04T20:11:00.005Z

It's not just a new year, let's not forget :)

I feel sort of bad, because I only have one resolution. I don't go in for that sort of thing, but it is a new decade!

So, I only have one resolution because I would be doing everything else whether there was a new year or not eg pass exams etc

So my New Decade's Resolution iiiiiiiiiiisss:

Get my glasses fixed

:DD

It's kind of important, they keep falling off my face, because at the Wednesday Club (these guys:

http://heavybasslineismykindofsilence.blogspot.com/

http://he-makes-things-wacky.blogspot.com/

http://vespariderconnor.blogspot.com/

will know what I'm talking about (well basically they come back to mine in our giant free period every Wednesday and we eat ice cream)) I roly polyed off the sofa and landed on my glasses. Hence the brokenness :/

Here's how I spent the New Year:

It was a really big windowledge, and the nice thing is that me and Beth (on the right) both sat in the windowledge at the ages of 11 and 9 respectively. See how much we've changed!

A New Year's Day walk, how lovely. My aunty posted this on Facebook with the caption 'The Castle of Park formation diving team prepares for its first (and last) performance'

I love my family!

Back to college now though, and sinking my teeth into the revision that piled up over Christmas. I have 3 exams within as many weeks. Wish me luck!

Legen....wait for it!!

2009-12-29T23:12:00.002Z

DARY!

How I Met Your Mother is pretty darn awesome (there's that phrase again)

I really do like Neil Patrick Harris (the blonde one on the left), who has several awesome catchphrases including 'Legen..wait for it...DARY!' And 'Suit Up!' and of course, that wonderful way of introducing Ted to women: 'Haaaaaaaave you met Ted?'

It's a shame he's gay :/

But Marshall and Ted are both cute too :)

It's just so very funny :D

Lara

2009-12-29T15:31:00.005Z

She's the most beautiful person I think I've ever seen.

She's not for everyone, but I think she's strange and wonderful in a peculiar way.

I find her fascinating, and that's the highest compliment someone could give me, anyway.

Lara Stone+Gap=a dare.

Only I understand that last sentence, but it's open to interpretation :P

You know, I think I do!

2009-12-28T23:18:00.004Z

Do I say 'pretty darn..(awesome, amazing, etc)' too much?

The title says it all :)

Bit of a text heavy post that last one, but I was slightly over excited :D

I'm officially swayed to going away at Christmas, that's two out of this world christmasses now :DDD

So, seeing as I have no pictures on my computer of Slovenia juuust yet, and am still waiting for the Bradshaws (the wonderfully lovely family we met and spent Christmas with) to post their pictures of us all, I'll post some highlights of the other amazing Christmas, Egypt :)

The Legendary Team Mongoose, we have, from blondie Dan at the front clockwise:

Mongoose Boy (Dan)

Mongoose Mongoose (Adam)

Mongoose Girl (SoSo (Sophia))

Mongoose Woman (yeahhh baby ;))

Mongoose Man (Callum)

Don't ask about the Mongoose thing. I'm pretty sure it was Adam's idea and he's just crazy:

Okay, so we're both a little crazy. But it was definately his idea!

Two perfect Christmasses, we're already looking for next year :)

Annnnd some of you may be shocked to know, I was actually quite good at skiing.

So nyahh!

:DDDD

:DDD

2009-12-20T13:36:00.002Z

So, I`m writing this from Slovenia, just come back from my first skiing lesson, sat on the only computer in the hotel trying to use this peculiar Slovenian keyboard where all the letters are swapped round etc.

Having an amazing time so far :DDD

The resort is full of hotels for skiing, and the slopes are just amazing, everywhere is so beautiful!

Had a (sort of) adventure last night trying to find the ski hire place, made some friends along the way (which is always nice), people staying in our hotel who were also slightly lost. They`re all expert skiers though, so quite unnerving watching them pick out all the gear, and us just having absolutely no idea what we were doing :/

The snow is incredible!!! It`s so very deep, and perfect for snow angels etc :DD

No pictures yet because we don`t have the camera lead to connect it to the computer :/

So my first lesson :)

Made a friend in my ski class (although does it count if I don`t know his name? I`ll find it out) who was also a complete beginner. In fact it was a beginner class, so we all failed just as much as each other.

I was actually quite good!

Struggled with my ski boots at first, they were really painful and I was practically in tears, so I had ot get them changed.

But then I was ok :)

And I learned turns, stopping and climbing mountains in the first lesson!

I`m still not particularly good at stopping when I really build up my speed, but at least I only fell over once!!

And that was because my skis slipped round and I ended up going down the mountain backwards :/

I crashed into some people :S

But they just laughed so (Y)

Tomorrow we get to use the lifts, lesson at 9am, bright and early. Which means up at 7.30 to get breakfast and get kitted up.

My salopettes are groovy :D

Right, off out for a walk now, apparantly there`s a very nice lake just 10 mins away, gonna have jaunt :D

So far, a pretty darn amazing holiday :D

I've been thinking

2009-12-16T21:08:00.004Z

about how much I miss performing. I used to do tons of shows all the time, one after the other. It was stressful, and for a while it was nice to just relax. But now, I miss it. Especially that feeling after you've done a show and the final curtain falls and the entire cast hugs each other, there's a sense of togetherness that you don't feel very often. Telling stories in the dressing rooms, seances :'), all the crazy costumes, Gay Joe. We didn't realise how good we had it until it ended :/

Capturing Moments, and people wearing silly hats because drama kids aren't afraid of what people think!

All the girls, boys, and Gay Joe, obviously.

I had to drop drama on my first day of college because my timetable was too full. I know I made the right decision, but I wish I hadn't had to make the decision at all.

I miss being a Drama Kid!

Singing on the subway! Having breakfast at Big Nick's. Acting like crazy tourists and rehearsing down by the Marina. The Legend of who-gave-you-permission-to-breathe Josh, The Empire State Building!

None of these pics are from actual shows :') They're just my lovely jubbly drama people who I barely see anymore :/ And the last few are form New York. How amazing was my Drama? Golly I miss Imagine. <<

And I'm going skiing on Saturday...

First time, slightly nervous :S

I'll get some pictures of me in my Salopettes :)

Expect me to return with a limp!

:DD

I would love to live...

2009-12-15T22:41:00.004Z

...in Big Sur.

I found this photo on a blog somewhere. There's a story to accompany it, about how this wonderfully diverse group of people managed to get together and go on an enormous road trip up and down the coast of California, sleeping in their VW Buses or under the stars, and generally just having an amazing time! Now that's something that's on my to do list :D

Moo?

2009-12-15T22:40:00.000Z

A Good Day

2009-12-02T15:57:00.005Z

I have had many in my life, and today was most definately one of them.

Philosophy first, 'Why, that's a lovely can of water you've just opened Rob!'

'No no no, it's a gay velociraptor!'

Me, Amy and Lotte just constantly going 'Charliieeeeeeee' and 'Shun the non believer!'

'Shunnnnnnnn'

The supply teacher actually said thanks for being so amusing!

Then our huge free period, and everyone came back to mine and we ate ice cream from the tub, sat in the middle of my living room listening to Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks.

:DD

And then.

A truly epic English Literature lesson. We actually acted out Act 2 of Dancing At Lughnasa in the middle of the room, with me playing Maggie, Gab as Chris, Rachel as Agnes and Eldon as Gerry.

I don't think I've ever laughed so much!

Eldon's pathetic attempts to dance, and my wellingtons!

He said they'll feature in his nightmares :')

And then a really nice English enrichment session about Victorian Novels, just chatting about how Edwin Drood should have ended and whether Pip should have married Biddy or if she was better off with Joe. It was nice.

Going to Colchester this weekend, should be really good, even though I've had to turn down some offers of the cinema etc and it'll take us about 6 hours to get there :/

But still, it's a Landmark! And Landmark's are always always always fun :D

Some Legendary Landmark moments:

Eating breakfast outside :)

We could not stop laughing. Gotta love it :')

Cos we're cool 8-)

Speaks for itself :')

We like to paddle :D

Ahhh the weekend of the standing stones. I couldn't find the herd of killer cows :/ But we were pretty much trapped on these standing stones :') We can laugh about it now.

It snowed!!!! I was so excited :D New Year in a Landmark=awesome (yes that's me with the giant snowball about to fall over :P)

You can practically hear the dramatic music

I love photos that make you think of old tales of adventure and mystery.

Couldn't this castle (I think it was Stirling) just be straight out of King Arthur?

I think of knights in shining armour, and gallantry, and quests, and fair maidens, and floaty sleeves!

Yes that's it. Floaty Sleeves :D

Glue, it's a good thing to be

2009-11-30T19:46:00.004Z

Non-solvent obviously, I'm safe to sniff ><

Just saw the new Chanel No5 advert with Audrey Tautou <3

and it has to be said, an absolutely heavenly looking guy.

His face must have been carved by angels, it's so pretty :)

It's actually a really good short film in itself, as well as being a good advert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ljQDJ4EILc

I fail at techno computery stuff, so I'm not sure how to put the actual vid on here.

But that's a link :)

But I just like perfume adverts in general, especially when they're really done well.

Some stills that have caught my imagination:

Today was the first really really cold day of the winter I think, we've been getting away with it until now.

And I decided I didn't need my coat :')

Meditation in RE this morning, surprisingly good, and I really needed it, been insanely tired all weekend.

Parents evening tomorrow, so we miss Tutorial. Again.

Christmas soon!!!

eeee :D

Favourites =)

2009-11-21T22:34:00.000Z

They all remind me of adventure, and summer :)

And the last one is pretty darn awesome.

Throw those curtains wide!

2009-11-21T16:45:00.001Z

What a song!

Elbow, One Day Like This.

So ridiculously feel good, and I can actually harmonise to it!

:DDD

The river was a lovely colour as I was walking home from college yesterday, all velvety blue, and then into purple as it flowed under the bridge :)

Here are some other river pictures:

Rainbows over the river :)

Frosty, at Christmas, or New Year

Mistyyyy :)

I like where I live :)

It's Official

2009-11-17T21:56:00.000Z

I'm Socially Inept.

In every way possible.

It's quite disturbing really.

Aren't zips amazing?

And roads in forests that make you feel like you're in Lord of the Rings, they're pretty awesome.

And random google searches yield the best results ever!

Isn't Magical Trevor amazing??? :DDD

Magical Trevor has just made my day! :D

Ahhh Google. When will you cease to delight us with your wonderful games and thought-provoking images?

High School? It wasn't for me.

2009-11-11T16:27:00.000Z

COLLEGE ROCKS!

I'm extremely happy right now, today was a good day :)

As a testament to how good the day was, I had the dentist

at 12.30, and the day was still amazing.

My computer is fixed, I had a really nice lunch, and something incredibly geeky and good has happened :D

I actually laughed out loud when I was walking home.

People stared again ><

And I listened to an excellently happy song walking home, by a 'geek rock' band, They Might Be Giants.

They call me Doctor Worm

Good morning how are you I'm Doctor Worm.

I'm interested in things

I'm not a real Doctor but I am a real worm!

:DD Love it.

For the first time

2009-11-05T15:05:00.001Z

I got splashed by a bus walking home :D
there was a giant puddle at the side of the road, and this evil bus driver, he was evil i swear, drives straight through the middle and my entire left side ends up soaked
is it weird that I got quite excited and waved at all the people who were staring at me?
:DD

I've been...

2009-11-03T18:22:00.000Z

...absolutely obsessing over one particular song at the moment.
Now, this is nothing new for me, I am constantly obsessing over one song and then moving onto another, not getting sick of it exactly, just finding a new mood :)
For the last few months it's been the masterpiece that is Monkey, by Low.
It ended up with over 200 plays on my ipod, shot to the top of my most played list, waaaay above number 2, Make Your Own Kind of Music, which has 84 plays :')

But the current song is called Letters From The Sky, by a band called Civil Twilight

It's so beauuutiful, and it's finally stopped making me cry every time I listen to it :)

23rd time's the charm, eh? :D
The reason it makes me cry is because it was used on an amazinggg one off TV series, called Harper's Island >< But it was used during the death scene of my two favourite characters, Cal and Chloe :'( Cal was murdered by a psycho and thrown off a bridge, while Chloe (who had just agreed to marry him) watched but couldnt do anything, and then the psycho started to walk towards Chloe. But she said, "You can't have me", and let herself fall :'(

He's just proposed here, it's just before the death scene, you can sort of see the bridge in the background.
The words are a line from the song, Letters From The Sky. I recommend giving it a listen, or youtube Cal and Chloe's death scene. Even if you've never heard of Harper's Island, I defy you not to cry!

Aside from those two, my favourite character was Sully, played by the virtually perfect Matt Barr, who I actually fell in love with :D

Also on the cast, the very dashing CJ Thomason :)

I liked the song so much, that I downloaded the rest of their album.
It's really good :D
Aha I've had the song on repeat all through doing this post, and now it's got 37 plays, instead of 23 :')
I know, I take long to blog, I'm multitasking!
Half day at college tomorrow, cos of Parents Evening. Me and my friend Gabby are going into town to buy some books (Y)
And maybe a sneaky look in Topshop wouldn't be too bad?
:P

Showering...

2009-11-01T22:46:00.000Z

...is a funny thing.
Before I have to shower, I think it's a waste of time and I really can't be bothered.
But when I'm in the shower, I get a peculiar feeling and I make all sorts of resolutions, like 'I will not press the snooze button about 4 times tomorrow before getting up, I will jump out of bed, dance crazily for a minute, and then I'll be awake!'
And I sing and I do things without realising, like spinning around and blocking the plughole so I can have a Bower (a bath/shower).
But when I get out of the shower, the feeling goes away and I can't be bothered again. I never make good on my resolutions.
I take the longest showers too. About half an hour is the norm, though I've been known to last up to an hour :)
I did once manage 10 minutes, though i'm not quite sure how :o

Half Term

2009-10-30T12:05:00.000Z

Has been pretty good so far!
Had a few movie days, Star Wars fest 8)
and a horror one ¬_¬
I reallllly don't like horrors. I clutched the armchair so much that my hand actually got stuck :/
Plus people kept making me jump *cough* Joe, Connor, Conor, Lou, Richard ¬_¬
that was a long cough :')
But yeah, and Evie kept screaming, even I'm not that bad :)
So thankyouu Jess of 'It's just a thought...' for a pretty awesomesauce day :D

Then, after that movie day I went to a party.
Now, this wasn't the best party I've ever been to.
I knew a grand total of 3 people, one of whom was the hostess.
Usually, at parties, I'll go and meet randomers and talk to people I don't know, but I was feeling a little swamped.
And that wasn't the only bad ting. The music (when it was on) wasn't very good, the place was a bit small and stank of smoke, and the real clincher: No Food!
I was pretty much starving, because I'd forgon any other food in the hope of filling up at a buffet/whatever, but there was nothing!
So the best part of the whole night was when a bunch of us (the people I knew and two of their friends) just left, and we shared a pizza down the road.
Plus, something I never thought I'd do, I had to take my shoes of because my heels were killing me, so wandering barefoot round the streets of Chorley (Y)
And a big thanks to my lovely Nana who saved me from having to sleep over there, and gave me a bed at her house :)
ahaha this has been quite the essay.
Shorter posts from now on methinks :))
Anyway, there's still some more of half term left :)

Mini Cars, Floppy Hats and Hot Air Balloons

2009-10-16T22:14:00.000+01:00

Because I might end up driving one, ^^^ this is my Dad's (I don't just lean on random cars :P)
They're cute and small and I don't think I could parallel park in four by four :/

But I prefer the old ones, the ones that are more like lunchboxes than cars :)

Straw are obviously the best kind, but I have a giant floppy hat that's white too :D They look very vintage and are actually very practical in the field ><

Sophia Loren knew how to work a floppy hat, and while I'm not quite as glamourous, I think I did ok :P

Finally:

They're pretty darn awesome :D

Self explanatory methinks. Who could not love a hot air balloon? Even my mum, who has a serious case of vertigo, loooooved it when we went up :D

Just some random thoughts there :)

After all, that's what this blog is about.

Because Life's Pretty Good

2009-10-16T21:48:00.000+01:00

And I need to make sure I don't forget :)