Bye Bye 2013... and good riddance

It's the last day of December and every blogger is either running up a review of their year or actively avoiding doing so. I guess I'm placing myself in the former camp.

2013 has been a year of dizzying highs and severe lows. 

Over the course of one year I have seen life fall apart in many ways and multiple times. I have seen people I love hurt to a degree that no-one should be hurt.  Lets not forget the start of the year when I nearly died...

I have had friendships tested and lost, friendships tested and strengthened, friendships forged.

I pushed myself beyond my limits and achieved beyond my imaginings.

I hoped and planned for the future.

I danced under the stars.

I laughed.

I cried.

I lived.

I won't be sad to see 2013 go and, although 2014 will no doubt hold a continuation of a lot of the problems of 2013, it also holds the excitement of the future. 2013 has passed by now and I hold no regrets as the past can only guide us towards the future. 

Lets make 2014 the year of happiness and magic.

Home sweet home?

All my 'important stuff' ready and packed. Including
Ring of Power thanks to Aimee's Christmas present!

Well, I've just got back home from my little Christmas escape. I can't really say that I'm pleased to be back but oh well!

One thing that was lovely was walking in the front door and practically tripping over a pile of Christmas cards to various members of the family. We'd missed getting the last minute cards due to our being elsewhere and it was nice to be welcomed home by them.

This card from Gitta has to win the prize for the most
Christmassy; the cinnamon in the tea made it smell so good!

What's not been so joyous is the pile of emails I have to reply to! Yes, some of them are delightful messages from friends (I'm not complaining about you lot!) but a bundle are about varying types of work. Guess there's no easing back into life gently!

Anyway, I'm going to upload some blog posts I wrote while I was away and then go and have a bath and a sleep... I'll probably put off writing emails until tomorrow. It's been a long old day!

Book review - 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Visual Companion ' by Jude Fisher

Rating: 3/5 stars

Plot:

"The second epic instalment of Peter Jackson’s trilogy The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will see The Company of Thorin Oakenshield encounter even greater perils in their quest to claim their long-forgotten gold.

After setting out from the safety of Bag End, Bilbo Baggins has journeyed through Middle-earth with his fourteen companions, fighting through fire, Wargs, Goblins and even escaping the creature known simply as Gollum.

Introduced by Richard Armitage, who plays Thorin Oakenshield, and with over 100 rich illustrations, the Visual Companion is the perfect guide to the Company’s passage to Erebor and the Dragon that awaits them…"

-from 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Visual Companion' on Goodreads

Review:

Last Christmas my mother bought me the visual guide for the first Hobbit film and this year she bought me the second one. I wasn’t exactly surprised!

This book, like its predecessor consists of pictures from the film, arranged by theme, and descriptive text about that theme. A lot of the text was repetitive and very similar to the first book and basically recapped things learned in the first film. I guess one would expect that from something that is supposed to tie in with the films and therefore I’m not complaining. We also meet new characters from the second film, and new places too. I’m not really qualified to comment on how repetitive these bits are as I haven’t actually seen film two and will probably have to wait for it on DVD – yes I’m sad too. I feel that the ‘new character’ pages read a bit like a teaser trailer for the film which was quite nice if a little cheesy.

The pictures are, as the title suggests, undoubtedly the focus of this book. The images are a mixture of promotional photographs and stills from the film. I must admit that I wasn’t really all that impressed by the images used or by the quality of the book’s layout. It’s been a while since I looked at the first book (and it’s not with me now) but I feel that there’s a decline in quality here which is a real shame.

All that said, I’m pleased I have the book. I think it’s a sweet little thing, a quick dip in and out read, and worth buying if you’re a fan of Tolkien or of the Hobbit films. It’s not amazing but it’s good enough.

This book's on quite a lot of offers at the moment so it might be worth you looking around if you want to buy it. However, amazon, as always, has it for sale if you click here!

Seriously not the Christmas I was expecting

Just before writing this post, I read the end of the last entry I wrote (the one of the24th as I wrote the one of the 25^th before leaving home):

“I am pleased that I get to spend it with my parents, however, and I know that I am lucky to have them here.”

There’s something slightly sickly amusing about that sentence. About two hours after I wrote it, my mother was rushed into hospital by ambulance. She was kept in overnight and, luckily, she was discharged at about midday on Christmas day. Naturally, I got no sleep that night and spent it very worried. The afternoon was a bit strange too, to say the least. In the end we decided to open gifts and just lurk with lack of intent.

Only took my little camera out so pictures weren't that great. All the same!

Today was a lot better. My parents decided, on a whim, to go into Torrington to watch the Boxing Day hunt set off. In fairness, we always try and catch one of the hunts on Boxing Day but with everything that happened yesterday I wasn’t really expecting us to go out today.

The best bit of the day, hands down, has got to be meeting up with my friend from college, Zoë. I’ve not seen the girl since June, I guess, and it was absolutely wonderful to catch up with her and her crazy cat. She also managed to put up with attempting to teach me some accordion even though I have the brain of a sieve. Now I have to make it my life’s quest to buy myself an instrument and learn it before I next see her so I don’t have to torture her ;-)

Anyway, I’m now sat at the kitchen table, cooking Christmas dinner. Yep, we had toast for dinner yesterday so going to have to make up for things today!

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Merry Christmas!!

When this blog post goes online it will be Christmas day (in England anyway!) although, due to being somewhere without internet, I wrote this post a while ago. Usually I would send each of my friends an individual message on Christmas day but, as this isn't possible, a blog post will have to be the next best thing.

I hope that you are having a beautiful, happy Christmas, surrounded by the people that you love and hold dear. Whether you celebrate Christmas as a religious festival or as a tradition, or even if you don't celebrate it at all, I hope that it is one day among many of warmth and light for you, your family, and your friends.

As for me, I'm spending it with my parents somewhere that hasn't been flooded and that has a carpet. Pure luxury!

Christmas Song of the Day

Fairytale of New York performed 

by The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl

This has got to be one of my favourite Christmas songs. I doubt this surprises anyone at all and I'm not really going to go into details as to why. I do, however, love listening to it playing in public places (or on the radio) and seeing if they're playing The Pogues' version or a censored cover!

Bonus cover by Rapalje:

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…

…and my parents, who insist we stay up to see Christmas in are currently asleep on the sofas. I admit that these sofas are beautiful but really!

Actually, I’m exhausted right now. It’s been a good fun day but rather tiring. I actually managed to get some arty stuff done today albeit just a few drawings in my own sketchbook and therefore not for sharing. I also managed to have a good old play on the low whistle even though my father likes to try and sing along (often in a different key) which is really off putting considering I’ve only been learning for about one and a half months!

This evening was the big Christmas Eve buffet. It’s something we’ve done ever since I remember, have a huge buffet dinner on Christmas Eve. It’s enough to feed a fair few people (because we need to be able to feed whoever might turn up) and, in practice, it ends up being dinner for weeks afterwards.

Only when we set it out did we realise how
vegetarian unfriendly this buffet was!

The buffet is still out on the table in the other room, albeit somewhat depleted, so I have the washing up and putting away to look forward to, if my sleeping parents are anything to go by!

As for tomorrow, yes I’m excited. In case you haven’t realised by now, I completely adore Christmas and it’s really, really exciting! I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to email/text my friends to wish them a happy time tomorrow though as that’s one of my favourite bits. I am pleased that I get to spend it with my parents, however, and I know that I am lucky to have them here.

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Book review - 'Shiver' by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating: 2/5 stars

Plot:

"When a local boy is killed by wolves, Grace’s small town becomes a place of fear.

But Grace is fascinated by the pack, and finds herself inexplicably drawn to a yellow-eyed wolf.

There’s something about him – something almost human. Then she meets the yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away….

A chilling love story that will have you hooked from the very first page.."

-from 'Shiver' but not on Goodreads because they didn't have the same blurb

Review:

When visiting bookshops with my best friend and looking for books to buy she would often tell me to get this book. She sang its praises (and she wasn’t the only one) and, as our taste is often so similar, it seemed likely that I would also like this tale. However, the blurb didn’t really catch my attention; I’m not really into werewolf romance as a concept. It seemed I always walked out of the bookshop having spent my money on something else but with this novel stuck on my ‘to read’ list. Staying in a holiday cottage, I noticed this book on the shelf and, naturally, I set myself to reading it.

And now for the review, proper.

I’ve been putting off writing the review of Shiver for a couple of days as I hate giving a bad review. Not only is art subjective, which means that this is only my opinion among many, but the artist has to give so much of themselves during the process and to have that rubbished is rather like someone stamping on your soul. So, sorry Mrs. Stiefvater. If it’s any consolation, I liked Lament! Anyway, I’m going to keep this short for the sake of not being really mean (I can’t face the guilt!)

I actually quite liked the wolves within the mythology of the book. The idea of temperature prompting the change was really rather clever and served the plot well. I also feel that the fact that the wolves have a limited number of changes allows for an added dimension of character; how do you deal with your impending loss of humanity?

I think the main problem I had was with the characters.

Grace was someone I just wasn’t interested in. Although Steifvater does an excellent job explaining why she didn’t become a wolf when bitten, something that would have otherwise really annoyed me, the rest of her character just does nothing for me at all. Her personality is not particularly likable, her relationship with her parents seems false… and her relationship with Sam seems even less believable. I guess I should have guessed that their relationship was going to be implausible from the phrase “[Grace is] inexplicably drawn to a yellow eyed wolf” on the back cover. The pair’s relationship is incredibly intense from the word go, no one bats an eyelid, and no-one (not even the couple) stop to wonder why they have this overriding obsession with each other.

Overall, the book did not work for me at all. I feel that a lot of the concepts and plot moments were strong and unusual however the lack of connection to and belief in the characters really let it down, for me. It is a shame because I know that Steifvater is a good writer and I feel that there was the chance for a really good story here but sadly, in my opinion, that chance was missed. The second book is also on my holiday cottage’s book shelf but I won’t be reading it any time soon. 

I don't own a copy of this book but if you would like to buy one then you can buy it here and at basically any other bookshop online or on the high-street.

In the midst of relaxation comes a busy day

After just a couple of days here I feel so much healthier and so much happier. It’s almost as though my body and my mind had forgotten what this state was like and has suddenly reawakened. I’d definitely got used to abnormality.

Anyway, today was the compulsory last minute trip to the shops to get the vegetables that wouldn’t last if they were bought any earlier. My parents somehow managed to convince me that my father’s van wasn’t like normal vans and so I consented to doing the hour long journey in the van, in a storm. Yep, I felt sick the whole way. Why vans make me feel ill when no other mode of transport does will never fail to confuse me!

The shopping wasn’t as hectic as I’d expected. A lot of (sensible) people had, it seems, been put off by the weather. That said, the queue was about an hour and a half long. I’m really not complaining about that in the slightest. It’s amazing how everyone starts to chat in those circumstances and how no-one tries to push in even though the line was snaking around two and a half isles…

I then went to drop Aimee’s gift round even though she’s not contacted me properly in forever and has been messing me about again. Turned out that she’s been having a bit of a tough time so I couldn’t be angry with her even though I wanted to be. In fact, I feel guilty that I couldn’t stay to give the needed hugs. I know that, no matter how annoying she might be, Aimee is always going to be family and I really do miss her. Urgh, soppiness over!

Returning back to the cottage, today was baking day. I don’t know why I made gingerbread again this year because it never goes right. My first ever attempt was tooth breaking. I’ve made a fair few successful batches in the years since but the dough never binds and therefore I kinda smush it together and my gingerbread’s highly unattractive.

Pretty pleased with my quiche though ;-)

Yep, I'm proud of this little quiche!

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

I am never again staying somewhere with comfy sofas

Today has been another lazy day which, quite frankly, is brilliant.

This morning I made the most of the two foot thick walls to practice low whistle to my heart’s content. Okay, low whistle might not be as loud as normal whistle but it’s still got some clout, particularly in the upper octave, and my own house has paper thin walls. It was also great to be playing somewhere where my hands weren’t cramping constantly because of the cold. It’s only a shame that the ‘cello was too poorly to come too… it would have been great to have played here.

I spent some time working on the Tanz der Vampire translation but I must admit that I wasn’t really in the mood for it. I am in a bit of a ‘snuggle up on the sofa in a blanket and watch a DVD mood’ so I think it’s another Harry Potter evening tonight. I will try and do some more Tanz before the film comes on the television but I have no guarantees. I can’t even get myself motivated to do any painting!

Now, if you excuse me, I need to go and save my brandy from my overzealous father!

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Home from home

After a rather stressful start, Saturday was quite a lovely day. Getting everything ready to go away for a week, especially when that week is a ‘special’ one is quite the task, as we found out. My father’s hardly organised when it comes to life so that didn’t really help. Honestly, he nearly left my canary behind!

Anyway, we eventually all got out the door and went on down to deliver presents to my siblings and their respective families. Because my mother and I set off later than my father, having been left to pack the final things alone, I only got to see Rebecca, my youngest sister, and her sons Ashton and Jenson. It was those two I was most eager to see though so I’m alright with that. As normal, it took Ashton a good while to get used to me and not to act in a shy way and Jenson, having aged considerably since I saw him last, was more than willing to copy his brother’s behaviour. I got some lovely hugs and Jenson cried when we left so I’m not too offended that they ran away to start with!!

You'll never guess the name of the place we were staying! ;-)

 Then it was onto our little holiday cottage which is basically in the middle of no-where. We had a sheet of directions to follow although the owner informed us that one of the key points to look for, a horse riding mounting block, was destroyed in a car crash a couple of weeks ago. We weren’t really looking forward to this bit, my mother dreading it, considering she’s not keen on driving down little lanes. In the end, it ended up getting dark even earlier than expected due to an incoming storm which broke just as we were getting to the lanes with grass in the middle. Looking back, it was quite the adventure but I must admit that we all breathed a bit of a sigh of relief when we arrived!

The cottage itself is really sweet. Part of a unit of barn conversions it’s got real charm and is actually deceptively large. The owner was delightful and, when we walked in, we were greeted by crackers, mulled wine, and a Christmas tree. I think we’ll have a great time here.

I must say that I quite like the way that the cottage's
owner attacked this tree with tinsel!

The rest of the evening has been spent curled up on the sofas as a family, watching Harry Potter or, in my father’s case, sleeping. It’s strange because, looking back on the last couple of years, I think this is one of the first times we’ve been able to just relax as a family. I guess that life has been so strange for so long what with death threats and extreme bullying to flooding and illness that I’d almost forgotten what normality is. I’ve really missed this.

When I wrote this post, I was without an internet connection. It’s been uploaded onto t’interweb since!

Getting away

Today is the day that I travel down to the cottage we're renting for Christmas.

I've been packing for a few days now as, due to the time of year, there's so much that needs to go with us. I've also learned that packing after a couple of (large) glasses of whiskey is not a good idea... yes, I did manage to get my head stuck in a suitcase. It took my parents about fifteen minutes to free me, although I'm sure that time could have been cut down dramatically if only they had stopped laughing!

En route to the cottage I am going to stop and visit a couple of siblings and, most excitingly, the diddy nephews! Yes, I am still planning on dressing as an elf!

As for where I'm going, it's a holiday cottage in the middle of no-where down in the south west. I'm close enough to Exeter that I can meet up with a couple of people if they bother to get back to me but far enough from everything that I can just get away from life for a while. I also believe that there is no internet at the cottage so I'm actually really looking forward to that. I'll only be there for a week, and one day of that will be Christmas day, but it will be nice to be stuck in 'real life' for a couple of days.

I'm taking a couple of musical instruments with me. Sadly, my 'cello is back in intensive care so she won't be coming but low whistle certainly is. I'm also taking a bundle of paints with me and will just see what happens over the next week. It'll be lovely to be free to just create with no strings attached and no real pressures.

So, I guess I'm off now. See you all after Christmas!

Christmas Song of the Day

Solstice Evergreen by Spiral Dance

Because today is Yule, or the Winter Solstice, it seemed only fitting to have a song relating to this festival instead of to Christmas per se. I'm still getting over the fact that we're not going to be able to really celebrate the festival this year but I guess the last couple of years have been strange for us as a family and what better time to remember that there's always next year!

As for the song, this is by a Pagan Folk band called Spiral Dance and is a great piece of music that works for Yule, Christmas, or just winter festivities in general. Enjoy.

(because I've been having some issues with blogger and youtube recently, if the video isn't embedded then click here to listen)

A day of little gifts, preparations, and music shop annoyance.

So, today I finally received something that I had been waiting for.

Peg paste bought from Hobgoblin Music's website

This little pot of gunk might just be the key to getting my 'cello in a playable condition again and, considering I've been working at doing just that for some months now, I'm quite excited. 

I first ordered some peg paste off 'DJM music'. Don't. I paid for next day delivery and got an email today stating that my order has just been dispatched. It's a week after I placed that order. Naturally, I've sent them a rather strongly worded email demanding a full refund and that they arrange to pick up their item from me which it eventually gets here. To add insult to injury, it's been posted first class royal mail not even as a next day parcel!

Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be a rant about them (trust me, I could go on!) but I do want to comment on Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin are a chain of folk music shops in England, with worldwide shipping, and I must admit that I love them. I have visited their Birmingham store quite a few times now and found the staff to be both welcoming and knowledgeable, which is rather rare in music shops, it seems. I ordered my peg paste from them, online, at 12:30 a.m. yesterday. It arrived today. I paid for standard shipping, which was a bit steep in price but that's Royal Mail's fault really and am really rather pleased with their service. The prices of their instruments and accessories are always more than fair and the quality of their items has always been high in the past so I have no doubt that I have received an all round good service here.

In short, DJM music bad, Hobgoblin music good.

I also received a little gift off of my mother today in the form of a diary for next year. I hate buying diaries for the next year because they're so expensive and at a time of year when money is tight anyway so I'm really pleased that I don't have to go through that pain this year! Actually, mother bought the diary for herself when we last visited Glastonbury but has since decided that it's probably not big enough for her. I don't mind getting pretty hand-me-downs!

It still smells of Glastonbury incense. I keep having a casual sniff!

Other than that, I'm getting ready for tomorrow which will see me going off into the sunset... ahem... going to a holiday cottage for Christmas. So much to do!

Christmas Song of the Day

'Baby, It's Cold Outside' as performed in Glee

Okay, I'm not a huge Glee fan but I did watch the first and (most of the) second season. Although I wasn't a great fan of the plot a few of the arrangements really did catch my fancy, this one being one of them. In fact, I bought the album just for this song, disliking the rest of the tracks!

Big families are not worth it!

Okay, I'll admit that I don't mean this title in the slightest. I am very much a family person even if my own tends to verge on the dysfunctional at times... most of the time.

Well, I've finished my wrapping now although I'm sure my parents
 will get me to do theirs now. The above was today's little lot.

That said, Christmas becomes a bit of an expensive little escapade. I have four siblings, each with their own children, several aunts and uncles, not to mention parents and friends. That is a lot of wrapping! It's also really difficult because, while I don't think Christmas should be a materialistic festival, I do try my best to give the people who matter to me something really special and something that will mean something to them and to our relationship.

Excuse the general refurbishing house mess but this pile should give
you some idea of the amount of things I've wrapped/got to wrap.
The polka-dot one is from Annelies to me.

I'm just sad that I don't get to spend Christmas with the big-family. I'd especially like to spend it with the younglings but I guess you can't win them all. I'm not even sure if I'm going to get to see my siblings and co. this year as it seems that dad's dropping the stuff over. I'm thinking about trying to talk parents into us all going and dressing up as a Christmas elf (again)... hmm...

Christmas Song of the Day

Jingle Bells performed by Bellowhead.

Bellowhead, a folk band from England, have been stalking me this year so I feel that I might as well post one of their songs here today. Seriously, whenever I have turned on the radio they have been playing! I'm not complaining because they've got a great sound and are brilliant fun! Jingle Bells needs no explaination, I assume!

Translation: Marie Antoinette Part 5

Sorry for the delay with this but it's finally online.

The exact translation in this video is probably a bit sloppy. I'm really out of practice with German which feels weird. It's almost like my old Elisabeth days when I had to stop and look things up every five minutes. Okay, in my really old Elisabeth days I had to look things up every five seconds but I digress. I was also rushing with this part to attempt to get it online and finished it at three a.m.. It's been three months since I uploaded the last part and, although I have good excuse, I feel really bad about that.

Claudia, a friend of mine from Austria helped me with a line that was causing me real trouble so thank you to her <3

Also, I still can't get accents to render properly on my hard subbing so some words are missing accents. Of course, this doesn't really affect English but this musical does like to chuck in the odd bit of French (translations below).

Anyway, talking about the video:

Axel has this lovely line where he says 'Wir sind freier als die meisten Menschen.' (We're freer than many people). It's a lovely concept. Although they're unhappy he knows that, in comparison, they're lucky and shouldn't complain. Annoyingly, free isn't commonly seen in a comparative fashion, and I'm unsure if technically it can be as you're either free or not. Apparently, there is a word "freer" so that's the one I used.

Maskenspiel is translated as masque not masquerade. A masque is a kind of big entertainment play dance song thing put on by players (within courts). Traditionally, masks would be worn by the players so this is a big metaphorical thing beyond just saying "we wear masks". A masquerade, is a ball at which people wore masks so slight difference :-)

Translations:

Mainly French, again, with a bit of Latin. My Latin is very rusty as I learned it many years ago so may not be accurate. Axel also 'translates it' in the musical. In fact, my French is getting rusty too but that's a complete other story!

Trés jolie, ne c'est pas? - Very pretty, isn't it?

Oui - Yes

Bon soir, Monsieur Orléans! - Good Evening Mr. Orléans!

Palais Royal - Royal Palace

Non! - No

Bien sur. - For sure.

Bien oui - Well yes

S'il vous plaît! - If you please (also means just "please")

Pour le plaisir - For pleasure. (This is kinda creepy in context!)

Dolore Fortiter - Sorrow bravely (Latin)

Quelle que soit - Whatever

Excuse-moi, chéri - Excuse me, dear.

Attempting to get back into translation

Well, it's been three months since the last part of Marie Antoinette went online and I moaned about feeling out of practice then. I've not even been flexing my German let alone working out how to put German words, thoughts, concepts, implications, into coherent English. Yuk!

I feel bad about not having kept up with my translating, however, and spent the last couple of days getting up to speed with Marie Antoinette. I've all but finished the next part and, all things equal, hope to upload it tonight. I'm sitting here fighting with the hardsubbing programs... they're winning, as always.

I'm also carrying on with Tanz der Vampire and want to get the English libretto for that done before I go away for Christmas and loose internet at the end of this week. Yes, I'm being optimistic but, in fairness, I did manage to create the revised English libretto of Elisabeth in a day. 

Other than that, it's been Christmas chaos all around. Places have lost orders, sent wrong things, not taken my money or sent the order that I asked to have next day delivery on (and paid to have next day delivery on... if they take my money) Urk, urk, urk.

It's not made any easier by the fact that we're going down south to spend Christmas in a rented cottage. It's a good thing, after all, carpet and a shower will be bliss, but it also means that we're leaving the house later this week. It adds a little bit of stress but I am looking forward to it.

Anywho, no photos today so we'll just have to make do with this:

Christmas Song of the Day

Silent Night sung by some of the cast of London's Les Mis

My singing teacher is using this song to get me to work on vowels so trust me, it's not one of my favourites right now. She was especially amused when I had to ask her for a copy of the words in English as I only knew the German version. Anyway, current developments aside, this is one of my favourite Christmas songs, and my mother's complete favourite. Add to that the multi-language idea and I'm sold.

Introducing The Geekling

Of course, if you went to college with me you have no doubt who I'm talking about when I say 'The Geekling'. There is only one Geekling in Exeter and that is this chap:

This photo is about two years old. Haydon might not be talking to
me any more because of my use of it!

Meet Haydon. We were introduced by a mutual friend. She had gone to secondary school with the gent and was also in my history class. Haydon and I didn't share any classes or anything like that but he ended up being one of my closest college friends, poor chap.

Now I haven't seen Haydon in, probably, six months now so the information I give here might be a bit outdated. I mean he was the biggest 'Apple' fan in the world but I believe he's just got rid of an iPhone so something is going drastically wrong there. That said, Haydon has always been the 'go-to' for any technological problems. If he pronounces your computer dead then you might as well dig the grave because it will not survive. Oh, there is one exception that proves the rule. My old Toshiba laptop is going strong about two years after being given the "it's over" prognosis. Mwahaha.

Making a big sacrifice and finishing my dinner as well as his
own to save me the embarrassment of being unable to finish!

So, if this gentleman is such a technological being, how come we get on so well? We have a lot of different interests but we have enough in common that we manage to find something to chat about no matter what. I guess one of the things we really share is our love of music and we've shared music recommendations over the years and just fangirled/boyed over things generally. He's also someone who I have spent many a happy hour with doing things that we both find enjoyable be that going out for lunch so that we can have a catch up chat or going to Torquay to go to the theatre (Spamalot, if you're interested). 

All that said, it's easy to see why I'm friends with Haydon, he has an inexhaustible supply of time and kindness for people around him. From his ability and willingness to listen to any problem to helping out with filming for one of your classes he is there. He's a friend who puts his all into the friendship and who is a genuinely lovely person. Rare those types. Admittedly, his solution to every problem might be a cup of tea but heck, that's mine most of the time too!

Overall, Haydon is a good friend and, more importantly, a good person.

I don't have any recent (or decent) photos so I
kidnapped this one from his facebook. Oops!

Bonus video:

I'm determined that Haydon will play the character singing this song 

(from the musical Le Roi Soleil). It's so him!

CD Review (kinda) - 'Cassadaga' by Bright Eyes

Genre: According to their facebook "Rock and Roll". According to Wikipedia, indie folk rock.

Review: 

I first discovered Bright Eyes online back in late 2006 on some Spotify-like website, the name of which I forget and which has since closed down. “Cassadaga” was the first C.D. that I bought by the band, sometime later, and remains one of my favourites by them.

So, why review it now? I have no doubt that I cannot do this record justice and nor can I review it very well. The music is full of double meanings and messages about life. To talk about it is to have to unravel the meaning and debate the issues, something that I am not qualified to do. A friend of mine, however, has been asked to review a song for her university course and has chosen “First Day of my Life” (from “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning”) therefore I have written this mainly to try and provide some inspiration for her and I would not consider it a full review even if it's quite long.

I’m doing this quite differently. I’ve written a track by track review of the first five tracks and then a summary. Obviously, this isn’t my normal style but this isn’t a normal review either!

The opening track, “Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed)” is something that I rarely listen to because of its rather bizarre opening. A woman talks about psychic matters while discordant music builds up in the background. I believe that I once read that Bright Eyes deliberately makes the openings of their CDs difficult to avoid the ‘casual listener’. If this is the case then it works. It’s a shame though because the song itself, which comes in at the two minute mark is actually quite pleasant. Heralded by gentle fingerpicking Oberst’s lazy vocals enter, crooning a socio-political message. Maybe you should have listened to the introduction: this CD isn’t going to be an easy ride.

The next song “Four Winds” is easily one of the most musically upbeat of the album with a bouncy fiddle introduction leading into similarly bouncy vocals.  Interestingly, this change to a more joyous tone serves to emphasise the message of the song through its contrast. Although the song, as many by the band, is a critical look at life it uses jubilant  imagery, and tone, in order to emphasise and, I feel, undermine a lot of the aspects that society find to be important.

“If the Brakeman Turns my Way” seems to give a more introspective view of life and focuses on the self-development of the narrator and the listener. The simple backing, initially provided by a piano, combined with the use of vocal harmonies during the chorus, ensures that the focus is always on the lyrics which are exquisitely profound.

The rhythmic drive of “Hot Knives” gives the impression of a never ending inescapable continuation, probably to illustrate the nature of the lives of the character(s) of this song. The lyrics of this song are beautiful, focusing on the evils and vices of life, on escapism, but ultimately on forgiveness of others and of the self.

Finally, a love song! Of course, “Make a Plan to Love Me” couldn’t be straight forward, after all this is Bright Eyes, but it is beautiful. Oberst’s almost pained tone contrasts with the ethereal female backing vocals creating an atmosphere of desperation and need. The images in the lyrics are typically romantic from “shoot[ing] straight to the moon” to the “world [being] a Ferris Wheel”. There is no doubt that the narrator in this song is desperately in love and the listener cannot help but empathise with his feelings, no doubt being reminded of their own experiences.

Overall, Bright Eyes cannot be called an ‘easy listening’ band, although you may well find their CDs in the easy listening section of your local CD shop. The songs are quite different musically with some being supported by full bands and others by simple finger picked guitar patterns but they are united by two things Oberst’s lingering vocals and evocative lyrics that you will have no choice but to think about for days on end. Do I always like Bright Eyes music? No. Sometimes their sound is a bit too weird for me and sometimes the subject matter is too dark or just goes straight over my head. That said, they’re a band that you will not be able to forget.

Om nom nom

My parents have just got back from doing the last of the Christmas food shopping, well the bits that we can get in advance. I wasn't really planning on writing about that but it seems that my last couple of days have rather resolved around food in some way or another so it might as well be mentioned!

Dad bought me back a pudding that I'm allergic to (again)
so I decided to photograph it instead!

Last night I went to a restaurant with my mother and a friend of the family we quite often go there because it serves beautiful Italian food. Usually I'll have a spinach ravioli which is beautiful but, due to being a bit ill the yesterday morning, I had a minestrone soup with fresh bread which was absolutely wonderful. The highlight of the evening had to be one of the waiters, prompted by my mother telling him about my interest in the accordion, coming across to my table with his piano accordion and chatting and playing. This was utter Havanah heaven.

I also managed to get Annelies' food parcel finished (at 2 a.m.), packed and sent. If Annelies happens to be reading this, and I don't think she does read my blog, look away now because I'm putting up a picture in a mo. I was really pleased to finish this little parcel because I wanted to get it on its way but I had such fun putting it together.

The all but assembled food parcel on my, as always, messy desk!

So yes, for someone who can't eat a lot, food is featuring quite heavily right now. Oh well, it's Christmas ;-)

Christmas Song of the Day

Gothic Christmas by Within Temptation.

Within Temptation were one of my utter favourite bands just as I was discovering music. Of course, I still love them! This song, although not one of their most musically impressive, never fails to make me smile! I thought it would contrast with the other songs I've been posting too!

A flurry of activity

When I first started to apply to the Dutch university I was hearing from them every single day. I would see something in my inbox and my heart would go into my mouth. Worst of all was the email telling me that they were now processing my application (whatever that means) and that was the last I heard of them.

Silence.

It's strange because I am in limbo. I have done all I can do and all I can do is wait. For how long?

Today I got this email...

I've not bothered to blank out my legal name but have
blanked out the teacher's for obvious reasons. 

My final reference is in. Everything is there. Nothing's really changed, not for me, but somehow just hearing this makes me feel ten times better. This teacher will have done be a good reference. I don't know what she'll have said about me but I trust that she will have been detailed, rigorous, and honest and that's all anyone can ask for. The fact that all my references are in is quite reassuring.

I also booked my flight out for the university open day. Sadly, I'm coming back on the same day (it's going to be tiring!) so I won't get to see any of my friends out there... this time! It's also going to be my first time visiting Amsterdam and I'm not going to actually have chance to look around. I'm determined to buy a gift for each of my diddy nephews out there though!

I'm actually really looking forward to going to the open day. I'm looking forward to being out of the country for a few hours and to have that freedom. It's also nice to be arriving in a country without a suitcase as I'll be able to work out public transport without having to worry about that big rectangular thing I'm pulling behind me! (*)

I've already thought about what happens if they reject me before the open day. Well, then I have a nice day trip to be a tourist, right? Oooh, I might even have my new camera by then!!

(*) Anyone who feels the need to point out that a suitcase isn't actually rectangular as a rectangle is a 2D shape will be dropped into the Bog of Eternal Stench. Anyone who doesn't know what the Bog of Eternal Stench is will be bogged twice. 

Christmas Song of the Day

Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, performed in Hungarian 

by Szinetár Dóra and Bereczki Zoltán.

Dóra and Zoltán, the cutest couple in Hungarian musical theatre. Let's not mention the D.I.V.O.R.C.E. Ahem. Their Christmas C.D. is stunning with some lovely arrangements of Christmas songs. Rudolf has to be my favourite on the disk and this is just a wonderful video. I believe that they pulled the girl from the audience (I think I saw that on a longer clip once upon a time) and the confusion on her face is quite brilliant. Okay, I love children. 

Book review - 'World After' by Susan Ee

Rating: 5/5 stars

Plot:

"In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?"

-from 'World After' on Goodreads

Review:

A couple of days ago I read and reviewed Angelfall, the first book in this series. I moaned that I had bought the book full price a few months back, only to see it on promotion the day after. Well, yesterday I saw World After reduced to half price and figured it was the universe readjusting itself. Naturally, I bought it.

I wasn’t too impressed by Angelfall’s ending. The rest of the book I loved but the ending just didn’t work for me. It’s my problem, and not a problem with the book, but it would have delayed my buying the sequel for a while had I not seen it going cheap. However, World After picks up right away. It’s got a very similar tone to Angelfall and, in many ways, a similar plot. Penryn quests for her sister while Raffe, who gets less page time, quests for his wings.

Something I liked a lot about Angelfall was the focus on secondary characters and this was a strength that continues in World After. Although Penryn is the focus of this novel we meet new characters along the way, and follow some of the old ones too. I think my favourite ‘other’ character has to be Clara. She tags along with Penryn and therefore is in the background, however, her own journey is really just as great. I didn’t even realize we’d been following her story until in concluded (as much as anything can).

I mentioned that Raffe wasn’t as prominently featured in this book but I didn’t really miss him. Penryn is a strong enough character to keep things going, perhaps a little too strong, and she’s interesting enough to keep the reader engaged. However, when Raffe turns up I found myself enjoying the book even more. It’s as though Ee’s writing style becomes more imaginative and vibrant when Raffe is present in a scene. Whereas the humour earlier in the book made me smile, I found myself laughing at things once Raffe was back. Part of me thinks the author must really like writing his character!

I also liked the ending a lot more. As always, I won’t include any spoilerish information but I feel that this ending feels better. Obviously, the last one was pretty good too because it led onto this book but you know what I mean! The best part of this book, and probably the series, is that I don’t know what will happen next but I trust Ee to construct the happenings in such a way that I believe in them! 

I bought this book in paperback format but the kindle edition is exceptionally good value if you click here (or indeed if you do a search on Amazon for yourself)!

More bitsy bits of life!

This is going to be another bitty blog, I’m afraid. I’m doing a lot of stuff none of which is worth its own post but eh, is anything really?

Singing

First thing is that, after a rather disastrous session last week, singing on Monday was wonderful. It’s really difficult for me because, not only am I trying to learn new techniques, build muscles in and control aspects of my body that usually go ignored, but I’m trying to do all this while fighting against the constant thought that I’m rubbish and should just shut up now. It’s the mental battle that’s the hardest bit and I feel like I’m pushing myself more and more each time. Last week it was too much and I fell apart a bit. This week, another student listened in on my class and I managed to carry on. I guess it’s one day at a time but for a person who refused to sing for years I feel I’ve made so much personal improvement in the three months or so that I’ve been singing. My teacher’s also got me working on “Ich gehör nur mir” (I knew it was a mistake telling her about Elisabeth in my first lesson!) and I managed to hit the last note so something in me is feeling incredibly good right now.

Christmas

After my singing lesson yesterday I migrated to Tesco in a state of complete exhaustion (I had grabbed half an hour of sleep the night before). In my quest for a postal box, I managed to find some lovely tartan wrapping paper and have since been sat wrapping gifts for my friends, and family.

One of the most exciting gifts I’m wrapping is going to a friend of mine from the Netherlands, Annelies. She had the wonderful idea of swapping some local foods over Christmas so we’re each sending a box of goodies across the channel. I love sending things to friends abroad, and receiving things too, as there’s something lovely about the physical connection when the majority of contact is through the interweb! Of course, I love food too so this is ideal ;-)

A small part of the gift parcel for Annelies,
featuring my beautiful wrapping paper.

Actually, I’m in Havanah heaven right now. I enjoy wrapping and preparing parcels, making cards etc. There’s something glorious about being able to give someone something that you have put time and effort into and that looks good. It’s a lovely way of showing your love and friendship for someone. That said, I’m not making bows etc this year. Not enough space and the ribbons all clashed with my (wonderful) wrapping paper!

Cesair

The other happening of a couple of hours ago was me finding this on my facebook feed.

Post by Cesair.

Again, whoops. Never expected this to be found either. Oh well, I’m pleased because if, as Thomas said, it made him, as a member of the band, happy for a little while then that’s wonderful. Cesair are one of my complete favourite bands and they deserve all the praise they get! Now go and listen to them!

Christmas Song of the Day

Lukas Perman and Marjan Shaki singing 100,000 Friedenslichter. 

Lyrics can be found in the video description if you view it on youtube.

Couple Lukas and Marjan are no strangers to working together, having stared alongside each other in various musicals, recorded an album together. I also really like their voices. It's not them that truly makes this video for me, it's the children. Watch it a few times and you'll see the children nudging each other to pay attention, attempting to organise each other, and generally being adorable. Fitting with this song.

For those of you who don't speak German, I can't find a translation, and I'm too lazy to do one myself, but rest assured that it's got some lovely lyrics. Shame you're missing out ;-)