Thursday Truths...Educating Rita...i.e.me!

Thursday Truths!

Yesterday, I finished my novel and remembered that today is Thursday Truths. Then this morning I remembered that Thursday Truths was changed slightly last week (due to the on-again-off-again nature of Tuesday rants) as Tuesdays sometimes contained truths. Do you remember? I had gone all theme-y. It was “sleep” last week.

I don’t really expect you to remember, especially not when my memory is so bad, but I did again ask for prompts...again received none...but then my Twuddy the Gargoyle proffered two; Charity and Death, and seeing as I blatantly ignored her suggestions last week I am going to address one of them this week.

Charity

I need to add some kind of disclaimer to this which is: its not that funny and is a bit long and if you have known me for a year now then you may have heard some of this before!

Lets get this show on the road.....

The majority of my childhood was spent growing up in the 80’s and I consider myself very lucky, it was a great time to be a kid. The music, the films, the lack of technology; were we the last to spend the majority of our childhood playing outside and waiting outside phone boxes?

But one memory that I have and that influenced my life choices was Live Aid. When I saw those children, even as a child myself, I knew that I wanted to help them. I told my mum that if they needed me to go over there (at that time) then I would, happily. 

Then several years later there was a problem in Russia with hunger and starvation, it sounds ridiculous when I think of it now, but I wrote to the Russian embassy to advise them to breed rabbits (I’m not even joking).

As I grew up I always volunteered for things such as campus service (I helped in the library!) and as a Mentor (I worked at a Girls School) and I guess (without sounding too pompous) I have always liked to help where I can.

I took part in the citizenship project that they were running in my first school, I always was the class representative (throughout secondary and higher education), I loved helping the new kids settle in at the school, and did and still do enjoy helping others. I’m not sure why, if it’s for selfish reasons or altruistic but all the same, that’s how I am.  

I knew that at some point in my life I wanted to volunteer in a developing country. I knew that the way to do this was to get a degree. When I was studying my A’ levels I, had this in mind, a driving factor of going to University wasn’t to get a great education and pursue a high paying job (I lack materialistic motivation) but because I knew that I needed a degree in order to volunteer. 

Since forever, I have always been one of those people who have no idea what they want to be when they grow up, I am interested in everything, learning new things, meeting new people. Life is an adventure and so my degree subject wasn’t something I thought too much about. At the time, I wanted to study environmental studies. I visited several universities and my first choice was the one that I felt comfortable in  - I wasn’t concerned about its image, rankings or course instruction – but it had to feel right.

I failed my A’levels miserably and thought I would have to go to plan B. My plan B as a teenager was to be a nurse. I know now as an adult that it is not a career to be chosen lightly and I really don’t know if it would have been for me but I have never needed the plan B. The university I chose gave me the option of studying a foundation course and then if I passed moving on to study a degree. It meant an extra year, but I wasn’t too bothered, I was happy to go to my first choice and agreed.

I think that everyone, if they try hard enough, can probably remember a point in their lives where they made a decision that changed the trajectory that they were on, maybe it was a big decision for you and maybe not, maybe like me it was a spur of the moment choice.

You need to bear in mind that my A’levels that I failed were in; English Literature, Geography & General Studies (I just about passed this one).  I had started off with these three and German but had stopped that after the first year when the teacher told me he didn’t expect me to pass. English literature actually put me off reading for a very long time. I think I have had more bad teachers than good unfortunately. I had passed my GCSE’s averagely and can honestly say that I never put the effort in. I did one GCSE a year early, and really applied myself to prove a point to the teacher, again it was German (which I loved) and she told my parents that I shouldn’t expect anymore than a D. I got a B. But after that it was always about doing just enough.

I started that foundation course and it was in science: Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Communication Studies and there was an option: Laboratory Practice (LP) or Environmental Studies (ES).

One afternoon at College the lecturer was discussing the optional choices of LP or ES. I should have chosen ES and I did, but then he gave a speech about how if they didn’t have enough people to do LP then they wouldn’t teach it. Could I sit idly by when I was so indifferent to a career goal? So I chose Laboratory practice.

At the end of the year we had to make our degree options and providing we had the right grade we could do that at University, I didn’t choose ES because I hadn’t studied that option, I didn’t choose Chemistry because I was failing it (I don’t like to blame others but the lecturer hated me – that does sound like a cop out but when your classmates notice it and its not just you being paranoid then that makes it fairly valid). I still to this day hate chemistry. I didn’t choose Maths because it seemed highly intensive and I was left with Biology and Physics to choose between. I liked my physics teacher and thus I opted for Physics; with no science or maths A’levels! I believed that if it was an option then they must think that I am capable of studying it, but you already know I am naïve.

The first year at uni was very different to college, in college I had lodged with an older couple who bred border collies (like lassie) only the miniature version and kept a Shetland pony in their garden. First year at uni was in halls of residence and was a blast. I think I was having too much fun!

I took all the courses I needed to and an additional course in German! It was German that saved my honours degree, because I failed a course and when I returned in the second I had my meeting with my personal tutor (most impersonal man on the planet) and he said I hadn’t enough CAT points to continue with the honours and I wouldn’t be able to add another course and keep up, when he read out the courses I had done he never mentioned the German. I remember saying “What about the German I thought that was worth CAT points?” He checked and said “oh, oh I forgot about that, oh. Ok then.” And thus I was rescued!

Year 2 was extremely hard! It was only 4 courses but the level they jumped from first year to second was far greater than the sum of its parts or something like that. I thought that there was no way in hell that I would pass the course. That I would not be back for year three and that maybe I could choose plan B after all! I did try harder, but the maths in a physics degree is ridiculously hard. At the end of the year I told my mother that I thought I had failed, that I wouldn’t be going back, that I would look into plan B and I didn’t bother looking for accommodation. So when the letter landed on my mat and I discovered that by some freak chance I had done enough to pass them all! I was surprised. Even to this day I am still surprised. It was by far the hardest year. Year 3 was still hard but not as hard as year 2 because now things were starting to make sense.

Success

I did pass my degree, not amazingly with flying colours, but I graduated with a BSc (hons) in Applied Physics with a 2:2.  I like to think it could have been so much worse.

I had originally enrolled to do a teaching degree, so year 3 I would have spent doing my teacher training, but after year two I opted out of doing that, much to everyone I know disappointment and continuing insistence that I would be a great teacher. I wouldn’t. I’m too bossy and I don’t think the subject matter is as important as how you teach it. I don’t pander and I think everyone can achieve their dreams. I guess I see each step as a stepping stone to what you want as opposed to having to know the subject in minute detail, I guess I am more about functional education. Does that even make sense?

As you know, I went travelling after that, and then I when I came home I had to decide what was next for me. I was working and was happy to do that but I also still wanted to volunteer and so I filled in the application for and applied to the VSO. I never told anyone in case I never made it past that point. I did and received another form, and another and another. Then I was invited for an interview and assessment day. I passed that and had to start the training courses, and each course you were still under assessment and could still be refused, I went on about 4 of these weekend courses and then I had to spend a week teaching (and being assessed by teachers) in a school in Bristol. I passed.

I have always wanted to go to China and I was hoping that the posts that they would offer me would be in China. I was offered Ghana, there was a secondary school in a village that needed a Maths and Science teacher. I remember thinking that it really didn’t seem too challenging but I accepted it.  I was finally on my way to volunteer in (what at the time) was a third world country (it has changed so much in such a short amount of time) and finally achieving my dream.

And that is how I got my first job working for a charitable organisation, there are many stories from the two years I was there which I guess you may discover as the weeks go on…but please tell me?

What did you study at university? What would you like to study more? Have you had a great teacher or a terrible teacher?

Moutaineering with moi!

Today is rant or truth day and although in the past many things have irritated me it seems that today I have woken up particularly perky! Who’d a thunk it?

I had no real idea but I have a story that sort of (as in totally does not) related to the month I have had. As some may know, I have been writing a novel for NaNoWriMo this month, and it hasn’t been easy but neither has it been too hard. The quality is questionable but that’s why its just a first draft and I am nearing the end of November, the end of the novel and the end of 50,000 words. It has been a real learning curve for me as I have never written so much before, and never finished a story idea that I have had, so I guess NaNo has worked in giving me a kick up the bum, and its down to me to carry it on, with some of my own self-kicking!

I want to compare it with climbing a mountain…or rather I am going to compare it with climbing a mountain. Once I reach the end of the first draft (I see this as the mountain peak in this scenario) I am going to come down the other side which I think will be much dicier than going up, especially for clumsy folk like myself…You see…imagine if you will…a hot day in Israel…

My sister, friend and I had woken up before dawn to catch a coach to take us and tens of others to climb Mount Masada and to watch the sunrise from the top of it.  We had the unfortunate luck of being on a coach where the last person on it had been sick. It was a typical old style coach with that carpet like fabric covering them, the kind that retains the stench of death and this persons vomit, and we were sat near to it.  It had been cold when we boarded the coach but by the time we reached the base of Mount Masada it was hot.

Before the actual walk up (it wasn’t a climb – more like step aerobics) there was a small hill to the bottom, we reached there and there was some shade and a bench. My sister decided she wasn’t going to walk to the top. She wanted to wait for us on the bench and would watch the sunrise from there. My friend then decided on the way up that it was some kind of race to the top – I was happy to trail behind – and I never made it to the very top by the time the sun came up. I was about 5 feet from the top – almost but not quite! (story of my life, tsk!) and I sat down with others (my fellow almosts but not quites) and watched the sun come up. It was beautiful and after watching it I carried on to the top. I had a brief look around and decided I should go back down to wait with my sister.

So I started wondering down (as you do) and about half way down I was going a tad too fast for my legs (something about momentum) and tripped over a loose stone (honest guv!) and lurched forward, my sister who was sat at the bottom of the mountain watching my descent felt her heart in her throat as she was about witness her sister go flying head first off the side of a mountain! Fortunately, I’m still here so we know that didn’t happen, there was a metal railing along some of the route. I ended up lurching forward into that. I was suitably too tall to pass under it and too short to fall over it (just call me Mary Poppins!). I remember laughing to myself on the way down and thinking “that was close, good job no-one saw that” only to reach my now pale-faced sister!

So with that in mind, the continuation of the work on my novel, with a mere death toll of seven, will be one that is taken with caution.

Happy Tuesday!

NaNoWriMo (Sneaky Peak)

This year is my first attempt at NaNoWriMo and so far it has been a pleasurable experience. I had not thought to post extracts of my progress, and be warned they are as is with no editing/rewrites etc., mainly I think because the idea for the story had come about from some flash fiction (it was to be posted in 12 parts but I decided to stop at part 10 when I chose it to use as a basis for Nano - part 1 is still avaible on the blog).

My progress has been steady and I have been lucky enough to find some writers to word monger with in the evenings and at weekends and I think it would have been much harder without them. I am currently backed into a corner with the story and unsure which way to go next and have been struggling this week. I am hoping that once I get through this momentary writers freeze I will be merrily on my way.

I considered writing a summary but as the story is still unfinished I will leave you with four extracts taken from page 2, 18, 27 & 36. Any feedback would be appreciated.

The main characters are Clare and Rob. Clare is a retired actress, local celebrity and the biological mother of Rob. Rob has just become a police detective on the day that Clare turns up in the police station, he does not know at this point that she is his biological mother.

The first extract is taken from near the beginning of the story and from the most important scene. From this point; the story of Clare is told retrospectively from what has happened building up to this scene and the story of Rob is told moving on from this point as he solves the case.

Extract 1
She kept turning almost frantically, her eyes clamouring to find a familiar face, and then she saw him, eyes ablaze with confusion and panic as he walked slowly towards her, his arms outstretched a flash of concern across his face. She fixed her eyes on his and for a moment she thought she saw recognition in them. He touched her arm and the warmth from his hand sent a signal along her nerve endings, she knew she could end the show now, it was curtain time, and she let all the energy that had been tensed up in her body go free, as she exhaled she relaxed every muscle, her fingers released the bloodied machete to the ground, her knees gave way and she fell into his arms.

Since Extract 1, a body has been found & another murder has taken place, Meg is the receptionist at the police station, a close friend of Clare and love interest of Rob. Kent was an old school friend of Rob and was the second victim. Jeff is the bar tender.

Extract 2
“What?! What is it Meg? Why are you looking at me like that?” he said through gritted teeth. “I know Rob, I know you knew her… you knew Clare…she said she knew you…she told me things only a friend of yours would know…why are you lying about it? And why were you the last person to see Kent?” “WHAT?!” he exclaimed. Composing himself he said “I did not know that woman, not at all. If she says she knew me then she must be some bloody kind of psycho. As for Kent, I wasn’t the only person who saw him last night, Jeff was there too and all the people in the bar, Christ Meg, I saw you going into The Raven last night…are you sure you didn’t do it?” He knew he had gone a bit far with his outburst but he was not going to be accused of something he didn’t do. He needed to get to the bottom of this and fast because even his closest friends seemed to doubt his innocence. “I’m sorry Rob.” Meg sounded truly repentant. “She knew a lot about you, I’m surprised is all. I’m sure that you will solve the case and put everyone’s mind at rest” then she got up and left.

This next extract is taken from the end of a scene where Clare's old agent and friend Graham has turned up at her house as the employer of a journalist who is writing her biography. Emi is the name of her ex-husband who committed suicide and is the biological father of Rob.

Extract 3
She welcomed him in a warm embrace and went off to the kitchen to find him a chair. She could hardly believe it was Graham. He had been distant with her when she chose to move back to St Helens from Los Angeles and gradually they had lost contact when her contract had ended.  She was like a teenager again, rushing around to find him a chair and then hurrying back to the kitchen, she had over the years often wondered if things would have been different between them if she had never met Emi. She remembered a time when they had just moved to Los Angeles and she had begun to notice a friction between Graham and Emi. She had asked Emi about it and he had said that he didn’t like Graham, that he didn’t think his motives towards her were honourable and that he was like a predator just waiting, ready to pounce if Emi should ever be out of the picture. She smiled to herself as she remembered how she had laughed at Emi and the mere suggestion, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him on those soft pillowy lips of his. As she reminisced in the kitchen she felt a lump form in her throat and gulped it back. It seemed to her that all she did these days was long for those people who she could never have in her life again.

In the next extract we are back with Rob, he has recently discovered (whilst interrupting a robbery) that he has been followed by a homeless man called Douglas. He meets with him informally to find out why.

Extract 4
Douglas chose a table in the corner and Rob ordered 2 teas and a full English, he was starving. As he stood counting out his change to pay with the café owner said “Your turn this week is it?” “Sorry?” Rob replied. “Douglas, he usually comes in with that actress, then last week 3 different men and now this week you, what is it some kind of care in the community scheme?” Rob looked over at Douglas and then handed the money to the café owner. “Something like that, eh!” he responded.
As he reached the table he pulled his notepad from his back pocket and sat down, pen poised to write down anything of any value. Douglas looked at him and said “What is it you want to know?” “Not much, just who were the three men you met in here last week and what was your relationship with Clare Carlisle?” “You mean your mother” Douglas replied. Was there anyone left in St Helens who didn’t know?

These extracts make the story seem very straightforward but that is quite misleading. This really is just a scratch of the surface.

I shall post a summary on the 1st December which is scarily only a week away!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Sleep sleepy sleep sleep...zzzzzzzzz

I decided to be organised this Thursday and tweeted for prompts last night. I sat back and waited for all of my loyal and devoted followers to tweet me their prompts...as time passed I continued to hit the refresh button...I have to conclude that Twitter was down for about 12 hours because I only had the two prompt suggestions and both from the one person!

The prompts were:

• Southern Charm
• Omnipotence

I considered these and instead opted for an indirect prompt. The prompt came via my dear friend and comrade in the impending uprising...by dear friend I mean; I have exchanged tweets for about a week now and by comrade in the impending uprising I mean: comrade in the impendning uprising.

He has been suffering from insomnia and even tweeting to me didnt help (I thought it was fail safe!) and thus I bring to you this weeks Thursday Theme (drum roll please....)

SLEEP

Sleeping is something that I have always been very good and I would even go so far as to call it a natural talent. Ever since I was a child I have always listened to my body telling me its tired and need to sleep. My sister never wanted to go to sleep in case she missed something, I on the other hand, would always take myself to bed without being told. If ever we went anywhere and were walking home around my usual bedtime (which I didnt need) I would hold my mums hand and just sleep.

I have had moments when I can't sleep and I find the best remedy is to tell someone I can't sleep (automatically my body tells my brain - I'll show you!) or alternatively I try to clear my mind and think of blackness. I am very lucky in that both methods work for me. My sleeping habits are probably one of the few things that I never worry about. When I am asleep, I am pretty much dead to the world, you can shout, scream, play loud music, hurrican, earthquake, storm, phone, anything....I will sleep through. I can also go to sleep when in a noisy environment.

This has all served me well on my travels, I can sleep on buses, trains, planes and in noisy environments such as in shared accomodation. When travelling it is a great advantage to be able to go to sleep as soon as you get on transport until you reach your destination and especially if travelling overnight. My sister was always amazed that my friend and I could get on a bus and bo the be napping within 10 minutes. I think that it is this natural sleeping ability that makes me a morning person. I wake up very happy and maybe a little less energetically these days than I used to.

A tale...

The funniest sleep story I have is one from when I was in my teens. Imagine it, its 1991, John Major is the prime minister, there is a mortar attack on 10 downing street, George Carey is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, Manchester United win the European Cup, The National Gallery opens its new Sainsbury wing, two IRA terrorists shoot their way out of Brixton prison, CERN get a website and John McCarthy is freed from Lebanon, Bryan Adams Everything I do (I do it for you) is playing, and Louis from One Direction is born, the country is in recession and I have my own room on the ground floor of the house. We live in a cul-de-sac and my bedroom window is next to the front door. My room is pretty small but sharing with my sister is not an option, she isnt a morning person and I need my own space to mess up. The bed is underneath the window. I've drawn you an intricate sketch of my room so you can envisage it in all its glory...

 

So one evening, my mother had gone out for the night, and I had eventually grown tired and gone to bed underneath the window (see diagram above) and was happily dreaming away as per usual. Unfortunately for my mother, I had locked the front door latch before going to bed. When she returned and put her key in the door - sleeping beauty...thats me!...was snoring away. So she knocked gently on the window to stir me from my slumber...knock knock...no response just more snoring...knock knock knock...no response. So she beagn to knock much harder on the window and bang on the door. Don't forget this was pre-mobile phone times. Some time passed and she banged again. The next thing you know, she has awoken aforementioned sleeping beauty - who whips the curtain back, glares through the window and shouts;

"Do you mind? People are trying to sleep in here!"

then drops the curtain back and returns to her slumber. At which point my long suffering mother starts banging on the window again. A switch must have clicked in my head then a s I dragged myself out of bed, unlocked the door and returned to sleep again.

An ode to sleep...

As the clock ticks away and my body prepares, to sleep away my worries and cares

As the night draws in and darkness prevails, I get ready for bed and read bedtime tales

As my eyelids grow heavy and threaten to close, and the only sound is silences echoes

As I fall into slumber without counting sheep, i'm away with the fairires and I dont give a bleep!

Sleep themed playlist..(in no particular order)

Sleep Alone by Bat for Lashes

No Sleep till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys

I need some sleep by Eels

Sleep by General Fiasco

I guess I should go to sleep by Jack White

Sleep by The Roots

Fear of sleep by The Strokes

Sleep Alone by Two Door Cinema Club

So tell me...

Funny sleep stories to share? What do you swear by for helping you sleep?

10 Things ....

10 Things that I have considered ranting about or writing about this morning…what can I say I’m sensitive..

1. Martin Lewis tweeted about an article he wrote in 2009 about banning Christmas presents, and he is now using the hashtag #BanXmasPresents

I have no problem with this idea and he says himself that he is talking about giving gifts to people outside the immediate family, like friends and work colleagues.

My issue (I always have one these days!) is that it is just common sense, to only buy gifts for those who you want to buy gifts for and to only spend what you can afford. I think it is patronising, but maybe it isn’t, maybe there are people out there who cannot think these thoughts for themselves and who sit at home wondering how they cope without being told the most obvious stuff by someone they don’t know (like me :p)

I guess it is something that annoys me in general about some articles like this, I despair with people who have no common sense and I grow agitated with articles aimed at these people, what also irks me is when someone comments on said article along the lines of….

“Wow! You have changed my life. For the last 20 years I have struggled to buy gifts for immediate family, extended family, friends, colleagues, friends family, passers by and your advice to just not do that, really has been indispensible and I don’t know how I could ever thank you. You are top of my Christmas gift list this year!”

2. To continue following or to not continue following

Have you ever read a tweet from someone and thought..I find that offensive or the person does nothing but complain (more than me)…and had your finger hover over the unfollow button as you decide how offended you are? Just me then!

I’m not talking about miscommunication in a conversation with someone but more someones single tweet.

I have a pretty good sense of humour, dry, wicked, crude & slapstick jokes all being favourites and not forgetting a good pun. But one sunny day (unlikely that it was) I had begun to follow someone who is “funny” and some jokes posted were ok, then one was posted that I found offensive. I decided that as open minded as I am, that that joke was just a bit too much and if all subsequent tweets were to have that leaning on them then I should unfollow. Not for me.

I have this dilemma a lot, do I go with my own personal beliefs or do I just ignore their tweets, or do I keep an open mind? What do you do?

3. Twuddy – for all of about two seconds because I couldn’t think of anything to say! Blast him…I mean bless him.

4. Earphones

On my commute to work and home and more often than not during lunch I listen to music using earphones.

I hate that they always break after no time at all! If it’s not losing sound in the left one then it’s the connection to the mp3 player. I seem to spend a lot of time buying earphones. I should design them! Maybe not but it’s not much to ask for some that last longer than a couple of months...is it?

5. TV Shows

It annoys me that no-one wants to discuss TV shows in the detail that I would like to, or that they even watch the TV shows that I do. I am therefore sentenced to a very one sided conversation where I am always right! Wait? Why am I complaining?

6. Practical Jokes

When should you stop saying boo to people? Is there a right or wrong age?

The other day I crept up behind someone and in the deepest, huskiest voice I could muster I said “Boo!”, they were a little surprised.
Actually, they were a lot surprised, the following things happened;

• They jumped up in the air, both feet left the ground.
• Yelped.
• They got goosebumps all over.
• They nearly wet themselves.
• They were a little shaky.
• Their heart was pounding in their chest.

I should tell you, this poor victim was my long suffering mother! If you have read the post about Budapest you will know I nearly killed her, route marching her up five flights of stairs, but anyway….she is ok…now.

I did apologise as soon as I had done it, in between laughing that is, because as I walked up behind her I had a conversation with myself, a bit like this;

Me:                  Shall I say boo?
Other Me:        Yeah, go on it will be hilarious.
Me:                  I shouldn’t she looks pretty deep in thought.
Other Me:        Go on, it will be funny…fu..uu..nnnnnn….nnnyyyyyyy
Me:                  I can’t, she’ll jump out her skin.
Other Me:        Go on.
Me:                  I shouldn’t.
Other Me:        Go on….it will be funny…..
Me:                  ok then….

Fortunately, her cardio vascular system seems to be in good working order and she is fine, she did laugh but that’s because she has had years of training and she knows me! I recently discovered that I get this personality disorder from my Dad. Thanks Dad.

7. A true story

I considered another tale of my incompetence, naivety and travel. However, I have so many instances that I would need a prompt and I don’t have one, I did consider telling you about the following;

• Nearly falling off of Mount Masada
• Falling over in the busiest Café in Israel
• Unfortunate sunburn
• Being told to get out of a car in the middle of a desert
• Taking friends and family on the slowest train in West Africa
• Travelling across the Dominican republic on a wing and a prayer

 And so on…

8. “The Horrorfice”

This was a film idea that I came up with yesterday afternoon at work, it is a horror spoof, based in an office (100 points if you can guess where I was), in the same style as ‘The Office’ TV show (which I have only ever watched one episode of!).

The idea was very much like that film, with that man, who flips on the motorway?! What its called? Was it Michael Douglas? Anyway, an employee flips and starts killing people in interesting ways as he does not have weapons and can only use office stationery.

My friend and colleague wanted it to be based in an Oceanography department, and have the killer have a fish obsession, to go around with a swordfish and cutting an initial into his victims (like Zorro).

Then we decided that the unlikely hero would try and get all the remaining staff members across campus to somewhere with wifi because their office only had a fax machine. They would have to battle zombies from the lunchtime Zumba class and race against the zombie alpine walkers and lunchtime runners!

9. Peoples desire to lie when the truth will suffice.

I can’t even summarise this because…aaraaagggghhhhh….but tell me the truth, because it annoys me when you prefer to make up some story, that I know is a lie and which then makes me feel bad when I shouldn’t. Everyone can make their own choices, I don’t want to be the reason that you do something that you don’t want to, so don’t be a coward and just tell me you don’t want to do it. I will respect you more as opposed to some story. Seriously, its not life and death and I wont be offended.

10. Pigeons, Gargoyles and puppy dog tails.

Isletunna welcomes you...

I dont know where this story came from, a piece of impromptu flash fiction, maybe there is more. What do you think?

The baby opened his mouth and gave an almighty wail. He had only just entered the world and could hardly know what future he would have but he cried out as if he did. His lungs drew in great gulps of the toxic gas that filled the planets atmosphere and in less than a few seconds a mask was placed over the newborn infants small mouth and nose and the anxious parents looked on in hope that no damage had been done. It had been ruled upon for many years that all children of Isletunna were to be born on the surface and only the survivors of the blackness would be allowed to enter their haven.

The parents had born other babies that had not survived their first few breaths and they had watched as within a minute or two, the small delicate children had begun to cough and splutter as a black sludge would dribble from their mouths, their eyes would roll back in their heads and turn a burnt red, the veins in their bodies would become turgid as the blackness began to clog them creating a map on their bodies like the back of a leaf. Soon the sludge would burst the veins and emanate through every pore, spread over the child and smother it in a hard unrelenting casing. The casing and the child inside would be left on the planets surface and the parents would have to leave back to the underworld that they lived in.

The parents of this child were not alone in their grief, every family had experienced this at some time, none had lost as many, and this was the 13^th child they had. None of their other children had survived and they held more hope for this child as it was the last viable egg they had. The mother held onto her husbands hands, her knuckles white with fear, her legs still shaking and tired from the birth, and her face stricken with tears and dirt. The father stood tall and proud and would show no fear, he would not let it penetrate his armour, even if his heart was crumbling into a million pieces. They looked at each other exchanging glances that spoke a thousand words.

As they waited for time to tick by they looked at their 13^th child, not wanting to hope, not wanting to love this child, but they couldn’t fight it, it had been instant. After 5 minutes the child hadn’t presented with any of the symptoms of the disease and after 10 minutes they allowed hope to creep in, after 30 minutes the doctor took their newborn infant to be marked with the Seal of Isletunna. If he survived this ritual then they would be able to take him home. This baby would be the new leader of their land when the time came, and no sooner had it been announced that he had beaten the blackness than the people of Isletunna rejoiced.

Thursday truths...introducing....

Thursday truths is a chance for me to rant about something rattling around in my brain cell or to tell you a tale of my life to date. I do the same thing on a Tuesday, and last Tuesdays Cairo tale was rather lengthy, so to avoid boredom I have decided to keep it short today! A little shorter....

You see, a couple of weeks ago, I opened a second Twitter account to use to tweet about my writerly journey, life and writing. I intend to tweet about what I am writing, whether it is a poem or a song or some flash fiction or my current novel, it will be tweeted about there.

There are two weeks left of #NaNoWriMo and each day I will tweet 140 characters from a sentence that has been written that day, for example yesterday I tweeted:

'some love is so great that you cannot control it, you are a slave to it and you will do whatever it takes to have it'
I will also be around between the hours of 8-10pm (GMT) to answer any questions you may have about aforementioned writerly stuff.

As I am pretty new to all this (I have always had stories in my head) and am new to making them publicly available, I will also tweet things about that I have discovered, learnt or any questions that I have about writing.

I hope that if you have visited here today then you will follow me and share your journey @marjiemyers
So...Thursday truths today is about why I have chosen Marjie Myers as my pen name...

I think that I have always wanted to write, actually I know that, and I remember as a child hearing on the news about an 8 year old boy who had written a book and I was 10 at the time, all I could think was I could do that! Ah! the precociousness of children...I may not be so sure these days but the one thing I am sure about it that I have always wanted to write and a pen name.

My name is ok, but I have never thought it gave the right impression, maybe the pen name I have chosen doesnt either but as a self-respecting wannabe, I have created a whole writerly persona to go with the name. She is much more confident and maybe less silly but still overly friendly and smiley.

The name itself, comes from my Grandmothers middle name and maiden name, and it just clicked for me. I had to check with my grandma to make sure she was ok with me using half her name for my own personal use and I think she was. She cried happy tears. I just dont want to misuse it and so will try to produce my very best writing under that pseudonym.

Have you got an alter-ego? Have you got a pen name? What impression do you think this name gives?

Write 4 Ten: At the breakfast table

At the breakfast table was this weeks prompt for Write 4 Ten (see side bar)and I decided to write for it. I went slightly off topic of 'at the breakfast table'. I was prompted by it though, so I guess that still counts.

The wooden table filled the dining room leaving barely enough space to walk around it whilst people were seated. There was pulling out space but that was it. It ocupied the whole room, owning it, and people had to fit in where they could. It had orginally been her great grandmothers, and then her grandmothers, her mothers and eventually on her wedding day it became hers.

It had plenty of dents in it from over the years; the time it had fallen off the cart that had carried it from the flea market to her great grandmothers house, some scratches; when the children were learning to use cutlery, a partial saw ridge; her brother and cousin had it in their heads that they were going to make a pirate ship out of it, her grandfather had rescued it just in time, a wobbly leg; the number of times it had been dropped or bashed during house moves but oddly it was always the same leg, and cup rings and other hot dish related burns from carelessness. It carried the scars of having been a part of the family for over a hundred years.

Everyday without fail they would eat at least one meal at the table whether it was a breakfast table, a lunch table or a dinner table it would be used, and everyday someone would say 'Anyone fancy a shimmy?' and they would all laugh as they went to the dining room to shimmy around the table to get to their seats. No-one got bored of hearing it said each day and no-one got bored of saying it.

Making the decision to get rid of the table had been a difficult one. Her neighbour may look at it and only see a table but she saw all the birthdays and family gatherings, all the games they had played on it, and she remembered all the people that sat around it who were no longer alive. It had been a silent observer, a keeper of secrets and a teller of tales.The house fire had damaged it beyond repair and all she had left were the memories that the table had been a part of and a solitary nail that had once been holding it together.

I'm just as bad...

I was teasing someone earlier today about their lack of blog presence and post...DOH! I am just as bad at the moment.

The novel is taking a lot of time in the evenings and all my stitchy projects are for exchanges, my writing blog does get updated with some flash fiction, poems, the odd song, rant and true stories. So check that out if you have time :D

I am always available on Twitter if you go to: @tsk_show and let me know you came from the island and I will follow you back :D

I miss you all! ((((((Hugs)))))))) and some pretty photos to make up for it.

Tuesday Truths: At the Copa CaCairo!

Its another Tuesday :D
Last week we (I) discussed the issue of value focussing mainly on self-worth and the impact of social media on how you asses that.
This week I thought you might want less rant and more truth but as there are no prompts today I have to find my own prompt (as I did last week) and here goes...Twitsperation.
Its 9am and I have asked for prompts..a mere five minutes...as I am an impatient fool otherwise I will be hijacking the first tweet at 9.06am...
**waiting**twiddles thumbs**flexes muscles (ahem)**starts whistling**times up!**
I have decided to go professional and up market...so here is the...
Results section:
First suggestion...'lopl' meaning: this stands for Laugh Out Proper Loud
Second suggestion....complaint about my spelling :( Oddly I spelt it correctly above!
Third suggestion... was a wish for greater english vocabulary so they could suggest a weird word.
Fourth suggestion...'Serendipity' meaning: The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
Fifth and final...'Detriment' meaning: Damage, harm, or loss.
Finalist:
Ladies and gentlemen please join me in celebrating the triumph of Twitsperation. I may not take any of these literally but the first suggestion came from someone who has been to Egypt and so too has the Spellchecker, communication is what sprang to mind with the third suggestion, serendipty made an appearance and detriment is at the start of the tale. So to the masses that have arrived to read this, please get comfy and be happy that they're are all winners and I shall begin...its a bit long..seriously, grab a cuppa!

If you read Thursday truths, then you will recall that the summer after graduating from university I travelled to Israel, Jordan & Egypt, today I will continue with some more tales from that adventure. I am not sure if it is wrong to refer to a holiday backpacking with friends as an adventure, as I always think you need a magnifying glass to go on an adventure and I didn’t have one, but looking back it seemed like that.
After travelling around Israel (more tales to come) we then went to Jordan (our objective to see Petra) and from there we went to Egypt. At the time the backpackers’ haven was Da’hab and so we caught the ferry there from Aqaba, Jordan.
CAIRO
I have tales (of course) but they are not the subject of today. We had decided that we wanted to go to the museum in Cairo. Friends of my friend had told her that she had to be really careful in Cairo because lots of people (tourists) had bad experiences. I distinctly remember hearing how a man had been mugged in Cairo whilst he was cycling through. It wasn’t enough to put us off, but we did decide to go for one day, we would take the train there and come back the next day. That was the plan.
What wasn’t the plan was the fact that one of us had ran out of money! Ok, it was me. I had miscalculated my budget and it wasn’t until we were in Cairo and I tried to get some money out of a cash point that I discovered I had NO MONEY! I still had over a week left…luckily I found this out on the day that I arrived in Cairo. We booked into a hostel on one of the main streets (it cost about £3 a night) and I decided to do the only thing that any self-respecting twenty-something backpacking in the Middle East with her friend could do….I called my mummy!
“MUMMY!!!!”
Did I mention that it was a weekday? It was a weekday. I wasn’t a complete incompetent; before I rang my mum I went to Barclays to find out why I had no money! It must be a mistake surely. I can’t remember much about it, it’s a very vague memory, but I do remember being in the managers office telling him about it. He said he couldn’t do anything, but advised me to call someone at home (in the UK) and get them to go to Barclays and pay some money into the account and he will give me the money, he then stood up to see us out the door. I just looked at him and said so brazenly “Can I use your phone?” he was surprised a little but I did my best puppy dog eyes (I always carry a set) and he let me use it. I rang my mum and she then had to get out of work to go to the bank before it closed to pay the money in, because I was in Cairo and two hours ahead, I needed her to do it immediately because the bank was going to close. I left the bank with money!
SUCCESS!!
The hostel was a state but I have never been one of those who can’t live without home comforts, over the weeks my friend and I had become veritable experts on napping, and hostellers amongst you will know the routine, you arrive, drop off your bags and get out! That’s what we did.
NEW FRIENDS
It was late afternoon and we decided to find an exchange bureau for my friend (of course) and the phone for me to call my mum to tell her it was all ok now.  We headed towards the museum just to know where it was and beside it is/was a very posh hotel that you could walk through and had an exchange bureau and phones etc. To get from the road we were on to the Hotel we had to cross a very large road called Tahrir Exchange. It is one where you have to cross in halves, you know; run for your life across the first half, stop for breath, smile at nearby road dashers and leg it across the second half. It was at this halfway point that I struck up a conversation with a local. We continued the conversation once we had crossed the road and we (royal we here – me and my big mouth) asked if there were phones in the Hotel. He was very kind and friendly and showed us where they were in the Hotel.
A WEDDING
As we walked through the main reception area there was a lot of hustle and bustle and towards the back there was a spiral staircase, our new friend told us that there was a wedding going on and the bride would come down those stairs. After changing money and reassuring my mother that I could survive on £2 a day (thank god for crackers and laughing cow cream cheese) we decided to loiter in the hotel to see the bride.  It wasn’t instant. So in the interim, we went out of the back of the hotel to the pier that was beside the Nile, hired a boat and went for a punt. I decided not to have a go at driving it, my friend was feeling brave and nearly crashed us into the side of a cruise boat! Good times! J
ARRESTED!
A couple of hours later and we saw the bride descend the stairs and heard the music and it was great. Then our friend was arrested by tourist police for talking to us even though we told them that he was in no way asking us for money, which is apparently the plan, and yet they still took him in. He was very calm about it and we told him where we were staying so that he could tell us what happened when he was let go. We hadn’t meant to get him into any trouble. Anyway, we returned to our hostel and went  to sleep, at around 3am we were woken up by a member of the hotel staff to tell us someone wanted to see us – in all honesty, I stayed in bed because once I am asleep that’s it and my friend got up and spoke to him. It was all ok, he was ok, and she arranged to meet with him the next day for tea. Plus, we would be safer with a local than roaming around aimlessly on our own, we had experienced that a couple of times already!
TEA
The next day we went to the museum and were thinking we would stay one more night and leave to Da’hab the next morning. After the museum we went to have tea, late afternoon, and we were chatting when our friend asked us if we wanted to go to a Bedouin wedding that evening in his village. Obviously, looking back it seems ridiculous that we never worried, but of course we said YES! We waited for his friend to come in his car; we bundled in and drove out of Cairo to his village, and his family home.
FASHION HOUSE
The house was very basic and the family were gathered upstairs on the open roof area. Our friend translated for us and we were very polite and curious as to where this wedding was. We were both wearing trousers and it was suggested that we may like to change into a dress of some sort – we didn’t have any dresses with us and the mother said she would lend us some. Well, this memory makes me laugh until I cry when I think back to my friend, her dress was floral, green and blue and was western and quite possibly left over from the 80s, with shoulder pads, pleats, a sash and broach, she looked like Princess Diana did in the 80s and I being slightly curvier was given a simple shift dress in cerise with embroidery down the front – I hadn’t been more prouder of my curves from that moment when they saved me from a fashion catastrophe! Lopl
ANOTHER WEDDING
So we attended the wedding in the centre of town, everyone was sat on mats (like a giant picnic) and there was a small stage with a band and belly dancers, everyone expected us to dance too and how could we say no when they manipulated us with children. It was beyond awkward but great fun at the same time. After the wedding he took us to his friends house and we went out on Camels, it was amazing to be riding on a camel along the banks of the Nile in the moonlight, something I never imagined I would do, we spent the night sleeping in the desert with two strangers and their camels… the next day we went by camel to the pyramids in Saqqara and returned to Cairo in the mid-afternoon. Our total stay in Cairo was 4 nights and 5 days as opposed to our original plan. It was memorable for sure.
What adventures have you been on? Have you had fun in Cairo? Share share :D

Write 4 Ten: Ceiling Fan

Morning! 

I have missed these prompts and thought I would treat you all. I use the term 'treat' quite loosely here. So, here it is....

Szhvit…szhvit…szhvit..the ceiling fan whirred above the bed. It only succeeded in moving the warm air around the room. She lay on the large bed in shorts and t-shirt, trying to be as flat as she could and inadvertently making a snow angel. ‘Snow’ she thought…and then tried to unthink it…as she looked to the window and started to see snowflakes floating down to the ground. She stood up and turned the fan off, she figured that she had about half an hour until she would have to put the fire on.

Children who had been playing out in the streets, having water fights were now even more excited at the prospect of being able to make snowmen, to have snowball fights and to have a day off from school. She smiled to herself, the hot weather had made her so lethargic as all her energy was spent on keeping cool, cold weather she could do things in, she could go ice skating. She got dressed and grabbed her ice skates.

It wasn’t a long walk to the rink and she followed the road. This weather was preferable to the heat; people passing out with heat exhaustion, animals were dying from dehydration, the earth cracking up and damaging people’s homes, this was much better. As she walked along feeling smug with herself she heard a blood curdling screech as a car hit its breaks and slid sidelong across the road into oncoming traffic. She could only stand there and watch as the car smashed into the truck. A large bang and a crunch as the car was crushed by the force with the people inside.

Every weather condition had a curse, inheriting this job was a curse, why did she have to be Mother Nature. 

Thursday Truths...Tales of the Crypt

This story was requested by some good friends on Twitter, star Twuddies that are @HapRochelle & @LynnGerrard. There are unfortunately no photo's as this was pre-digital cameras! Got a cuppa? Sitting comfortably...then let me begin...

After graduating from university I decided to go travelling with my friend, she had been living in Israel on a Kibbutz for a year whilst I was doing my final year, and we had decided to take a month to see Israel, Jordan & Egypt.

I had never backpacked before but was confident and careless and safe in the knowledge that she had a list of instructions from a friend who had travelled around the same region previously. Everyone knows that if you have a list then you can’t go wrong…right?!

We also planned to spend 1 week in Israel, which was plenty of time to see everything that we wanted to, and my sister asked to come along for that segment of the trip. I think she was pleased to leave at the end of the week and get back to normality; many people are surprised we survived the month!

My friend Kibbutz was not far from the northern border in Nahariya and I stayed there with her for a few days before we headed back to Tel Aviv to meet my sister.

One of the places that we went was, of course, Jerusalem. We visited sites from there and also did a couple of excursions that were offered by the Hostel we were staying in.

Excursion 1: Bethlehem

A short bus ride from Jerusalem is Bethlehem, and we couldn’t really go all that way and not see the birth place of Jesus at the Church of the Nativity. I won’t go into any detail here about my beliefs (they’re mine, all mine, my precious) but I am interested in religious artefacts and places (regardless of the religion). I have a bit of a thing for stained glass too.

Anyway..

We took the bus from Jerusalem to Bethlehem; we weren’t sure of where to get off the bus and opted to at a small museum. We chose to walk from there to the Church. It didn’t seem far on the map. It took as quite a long time of walking in the wrong direction for us to realise we should be walking towards where the noise was coming from, the muslim call to prayer, there was a mosque right next to the church.

The church isn’t very big and is quite quick to look around….

We looked at the spot which had been adorned with decoration on the ground. As we were thinking, is that it?... lets go…a hunched man engaged us – not in conversation exactly but he waved and indicated for us to follow him…so we did!

We left the church at the back and went to a gate, he unlocked it and there was a flight of steep rock steps going down into another area. We followed him down and as we reached the bottom of the steps we could see that it was a crypt. In we went. It was really spooky and you could walk down a passage and look through some grid iron windows at mounds of rock on the ground. There was another area near the entrance with some artefacts and we were trying to decipher what we were looking at.

The man then pulled me to one side were there was a stone dish on the wall, he couldn’t speak English and we tried to figure out that he was saying it was holy water, he then started pointing at my waist and as you do (when you aren’t thinking) in an attempt to understand you also look at the area – he then wanted to dowse me in holy water! We did think that this was weird. Everything else, perfectly normal!!

Now the mans keys to the crypt were like something out of a movie and were on a large iron ring. We carried on looking, I went down the passage again and my sister loitered by the door – she’s a worrier! She called us back and said she wanted to leave because he was sorting his keys out, and we looked and saw that he was heading to the steps!  My sister really did panic and shouts “Run, run, he’s going to lock us in!” and you know when someone panics, even when you aren’t sure you should be you automatically start to panic. Well, we all ran after the man who was now halfway up the steps, we legged it and shoved past him and out the gate and down the street, I don’t think we looked back.

In our haste we went the wrong way out of the church (for anyone who doesn’t know, Bethlehem is contained within the notorious west bank in Israel), and we ended up down an alleyway. I was laughing (as I tend to do) and could hardly walk from the hysteria. My sister was still panicking and saying, “Where are we? I don’t like the look of this, where is everybody? This is really creepy.” I on the other hand am the worst person to travel with if you are sensible, health & safety oriented or a worrier. We’ll be fine, this way, I’m sure we’ll work it out is my mantra although only in groups, when travelling alone its paranoia that I suffer from.

But, my general method of getting unlost is to go left at every turn. Those intelligent people amongst you may naively believe you can end up walking in circles….I never have!

Anyway, we headed to the main intersection, and it was quite busy and we did start to feel like we stuck out a little…then my friend & sister noticed that the bus driver who had dropped us off earlier in the day was flashing his lights at us and beckoning us over. We climbed on board and he said “What are you doing walking around here? You shouldn’t wander.” And off we went back to Jerusalem, so we could rest up ready for a 4am start to go and see the sunrise on Mount Masada…my sister nearly got to see me fall to my death off of Mount Masada…Aaahhh! Good times :D

Work in progress...

I started writing this yesterday, but thought it was too serious to post and feel I need something a little lighter, and it is still a work in progress. It will most likely change over time - so keep popping back - and if you want to collaborate and add something too it then please comment below. I won't be publicising this one, so lets keep it between us...:D

Emptiness inside you that rattles with every step,
Filling slowly from the edges, reaching inner depths.
Tender moments that embrace your heart,
Forcing joy to dissipate within each part.

Timing is difficult to control,
Erratic cracks and dents demeans your whole.
Trading joy & love with hurt & pain,
Keeping quiet that they aren't the same.

Surface illusions of the wrong kind,
Inner decorations that glitter your mind.
Accepting your destiny and fate,
Denying the reality and fighiting self-hate.

Captive only to the doubt inside,
Escaping to a place outside.
Owning your life and all your choices,
Loving yourself despite the voices.

Tuesday Truths: Value

Today is Tuesday and I decided last week to dedicate Tuesdays and Thursdays to Truths.
These truths can take the form of a rant or a true story. I thought (naively) that it would be easy to think of things. I decided I would need a prompt and after announcing on Twitter that today was Tuesday Truths and I needed inspiration (of which I would get from the next tweet) not one of the people I follow tweeted...I never knew I was so intimidating (i'm not) and a whole five minutes passed before @TheBloodyQuills retweeted. The Bloody Quills are a band that I reviewed recently which you can check out by clicking here. They retweeted an uberfact which was...
The Olympic Gold Medal is actually only 1.34% gold.
You would expect the Gold medal to be made of 100% gold but its not. How often have you met someone who has turned out to be nothing like they profess or seemed to be at first?
Many times you think someone is one thing and theyre not. You trust people at face value but the reality is often different. I am always trusting people and very many memories all start with..well, I met this person...but I recently (a few months ago) trusted someone based purely at face value and now I am questionnning that decision.
Over the months there have been instances when their behaviour has been of a competitive nature towards me. They are wasting their time with this because I am not a competitive person, ambitious yes but not competitive, I'll do something and I'll do it at my pace and to my own satisfaction, I wont compete against you. I believe that everyone has something to offer and deserves success and that no single person is better than any other. I dont compete against people and if I feel like I have become embroiled in a competition then I will stop whatever it is I am doing, I am me, you are you, and we all deserve to be judged on our own merit.
However, more recently the person has changed their style (and it has been a big change) and I can't help but think they have done so in an attempt to prove that they are better than I am. It annoys me that they have done this because it has gone hand in hand with a patronising manner and distancing themselves except for when they are fishing for information. I know that we are all different and go about things in different ways but I dont want anything to do with it. If you think that you are better than me then you are, because whatever I say in response, you will look down at me and say I dont know what I am talking about (thats because you think you're better than me). I am sure we all know someone lilke this.
So the purpose of my rant is to say; lets not compare ourselves to anyone else but to accept ourselves as we are; lets make changes in our lives for ourselves and not for anyone else; lets treat others how we expect to be treated.
Just be you, embrace your worth for you are valued, compete with yourself to be a better you, remember one person isnt better than another and that we all have something to offer.
More importantly, however similar you are to someone else, remember that you are different in equal measure and that is what makes you unique.
Now, be honest, who expected my rant to end like that?

Grandads Voice: poem

I promised a poem today and here it is...inspired by a character in a podcast produced by BannedLibrary  (also on iTunes podcasts) called Grandad. Check out podcast 4 for a listen (he's towards the end'ish)

Grandad speaks

Smooth

Steady

Enticing 

Gentle

Gravelly

Delighting

Deep

Heavy

Unrelenting

Quiet

Sexy

Pretending

Monday Morning Update/Plans for November

Good Morning! (maybe) Its been a while since we had an update...

Writing: NaNoWriMo

I started participating in National Novel Writing Month on 1st November. It means that I have to write 1666 words a day for the next 30 days (unedited) in the hope of having a 50,000 word draft novel.

I told myself that I would not go out for the month. I would stay in and write and craft (I am so behind on that I must be on a death wish list somewhere) and become a recluse (I'm not far off that already!). But good intentions as they are prone to be are just that good intentions and...

Day 1: I won some tickets via Twitter to see We Are Scientists play an acoustic set in London. It was for the very same day...should I give the tickets away or should I go...whats a girl to do? ANS: Go of course! It was on the far side of London so took 2 hours there and 2 hours back and so I never had time to write. I also managed to win a signed T-shirt whilst I was there! It was a lucky day for me.

Day 2: I finish half an hour earlier in a Friday and decided to get home as soon as possible and get straight to work. I can't remember if that is what actually happened or not but I did write! I managed 2359 words which was below my target (remember I needed to do 2 days worth).

Day 3: Aah! Saturday... again I did not write! I don't know why and I have absolutely no excuse whatsoever!

Day 4: I woke up and decided to read through my entire Twitter feed and saw that some writer buddies (who live elsewhere and thus are awake when I'm asleep and vice versa) had been playing #wordwar with each other. These are sometimes called writing sprints and the idea is that for a set amount of time, you write and then report back with a word count, and then you go again a short while later. In theory, it might be difficult to understand how this would work, but it really does work! I decided to start off having a #wordwar with someone who was sleeping and that got me off to a good start, then someone else in the UK said they were writing and for the next couple of hours we had 15 minute sprints. It was great, not only did I write an additional 5400 words but I also discovered things about my characters and the story that I hadn't even considered. So, I went to bed very happy and all caught up and am looking forward to seeing how the story develops tonight.

I also was encouraged to write about some of my adventures. I might do this on Tuesdays/Thursday truths....it requires some thought...:D

Writing: Music Reviews

The love/hate relationship that I have with music reviews continues. I love doing them when I am doing them, I hate having to wait ages for question answers (I know people are busy having lives, lol!) and I hate that I can't just write them and spit them out regularly. I have to be into the band and excited by their music at the time of writing or else it doesn't work, I become stuck and I lose interest. I also hate that I can't keep them short or use long convoluted words, but I love that too as I only write the good stuff. Some EP's/Albums may have aspects that I don't like, but I am not going to write about that, I am just letting you know whats good about it! I don't know that I will be writing any this month, unless I am totally swept off my feet...I am currently listening to Andy Burrows album Company (and I am liking it a lot), so maybe you will get a review minus the interview.

Writing: Flash Fiction

I am not sure that I am going to have time to write any flash fiction this month. I can't promise that I wont, I feel like I have a poem in me today, and I will still check prompts in case something grabs me by the jugular and shakes me until I concede.

Other

I have a lot of stitching to occupy my time this month! So I am thinking I should ban myself from Twitter for the month. I don't tend to tweet anything of much interest..although I had some fun last week when I my tweets were rhyming! I think only a couple of people would notice but I know it would be extremely hard to stop cold turkey and everything...its an idea....maybe...eek!

And that was more about this months plans than a recap on October...have a great November! Still visit me :D I will post...I can't stop writing now can I? Not after I spent yesterday perfecting my writer image at home. I stayed in my dressing gown for most of the day and I had the urge for a drink at 11am! I had one too! lol! I actually had two in the end and felt like a total lush.

If you have any writing requests/music review suggestions or comments please comment! Let me know you're breathing as I think the undead stop by on occasion.

Kate x

Music Review: Beethum

Many of you will know that there are a hundred and one music apps (possibly a slight exaggeration) out there where the musically minded can upload tracks for 'us' the audience to have a listen and either go...

Ewwww!

or

Ooooooh!

...and one such site is called SoundCloud.

Now the nature of this site is that you can follow people who are also registered on the site, and any tracks that they upload, favourite or download you will see on your timeline. It’s a bit like Twitter, where you can see what the people you follow have favourited. The only difference being that these tracks will appear in your timeline regardless, whereas in Twitter the person has to retweet in order for you to see it (or you have to look up their activity).

So one sunny day I was on SoundCloud and I noticed a track that someone had favourited. The track was called ‘Hurricane’ and was by a band called beethum. Now, if you are an older person (NOT old!) like me then this might bring to mind Beechums (Cold & Flu) and I considered that enough to warrant a listen. That was my first experience of the band to be reviewed here, and so with out further ado, put your hands in the air like you just don’t care and welcome…

I think the best description comes from the band themselves on their SoundCloud page.

"beethum's core consists of four friends, although occasionally additional contributors are drawn in. All those involved share a love for the textures and sounds that can be created by all things musical. Acoustic and electronic instruments sit side-by-side, sometimes easily and sometimes discordantly, to create a sound that can be both beautiful and challenging."

Can you give us a brief history of the band?

'beethum' is essentially four friends who decided to get together on a regular basis to make some noise. After a bit of messing about playing covers (really badly), we swapped instruments and Heath started writing his own songs.

[Identities are top secret (I will assume they are the teenage mutant ninja turtles!)]

Now doesn’t that sound like a band that you want to listen to? I am tempted to push you in at the deep end with ‘Hurricane’ but lets work chronologically shall we? Or at least I think its chronological…

Are the tracks that are uploaded on SoundCloud done so in the order that they were written and recorded?

No not really. We do have a couple of albums and most of the songs on soundcloud belong to either of these, but we've thrown in a few recent tracks that are still in a relatively raw state. Album wise we recorded 'Songs for the Number 8' first, followed by 'Food that Moves', and we've got another in the pipeline with the working title of 'Clicking in Silence'. We don't tend to record songs with a view to them sitting consecutively on an album, in fact we usually have several songs, or parts of songs, on the go at the same time. Some songs take months to complete, others seem to get resolved much quicker.

There are 27 tracks available for your listening pleasure and I have decided to look at some of my favourite tracks (obviously) in the order that they have been uploaded. They are also divided into sets, so lets start with the set entitled:

Songs for the number 8

As is my way, when I listen for the first time to a collection, I favourite/star those that have ‘kerb’ appeal. You will need to bear in mind that this is ‘kerb’ appeal that catches MY ear. It also lets me see how my feelings towards a song change over time. There were three tracks from this set that instantly I thought…

Hello!

…or rather, lets favourite that one shall we missy anne…don’t ask!

I am going to suggest that you open soundcloud (click on any of the songtitles to take you there and listen along) :) The songs were:

 

Can You Fly

A track that comes before ‘Can you fly’ and is called ‘Black Box’ caught my attention, I think it has real Bowie-esque vocals (not a bad thing in my book, I love Bowie!). It has a very space-age psychedelic synth based rock vibe going on and I like that about it. They do seem interlinked like two parts of the same story.

Were Black Box and Can you fly written separately or consecutively?

No they weren't written consecutively, in actual fact they were written sometime apart. 'Black Box' came first and was abandoned several times before we were happy enough with the structure and the musicality. Can You Fly was relatively more straight forward and simpler to write. However, you are right to guess there is a connection, 'Black Box' is basically about a plane crash and well 'Can You Fly' is kind of self-explanatory.

Mist and Dew

The singers vocals are very melancholic by nature but the music is definitely able to set the tone of the track and I think this is demonstrated here. The almost tickly delicate guitar intro with the faded echo-y vocals gives it a more upbeat sound and it seems altogether to be a very considered track.

Innocence

The lyrics to this track I do really like. I like the angst and the tension that is created by the vocals. Anyone who knows me knows I love an angry song! My favourite line is:

‘I need to know, what is it in me that made you hate me so’

Other highlights for me on this first set are Safe, Grave and Smile.

Moving onto the second of the three sets, Food that Moves, and my instant favourites were:

I can't see the light

The change in pitch of the vocals is a nice change and this song (as has been commented) is quite Bluesy. At about 2 minutes in its almost as though the song changes to another one but the melody is still carried on very subtley and then is more evident as the song progresses. I like this because when the first part ends, there is some synth sound like a computer dying and this lull and guitar solo for me represents some kind of reboot. One of the pleasures in listening to music is that you can interpret it in your own way, but I wonder…

Can you talk me through the creative process of the track ‘I can’t see the light’? I have my own interpretation of what is going on there and am intrigued to know how different it is from the intention you had?

It's quite hard to remember back to any particular point for creating this song, however Heath seems to remember that he originally wrote two seperate songs which became merged together.

Towards the end of the track, the tempo changes again and this sound very much reminds me of the sound that they seem to move more towards in the third set (we’ll get to that very soon).

Song A

What can I say about this? I‘ll leave you to be the judge this time, especially as I find it quite a sexy number!

The third and final set is a group of …’Roughs for new album’. My favourites…

Please don't change

If I am feeling a little reflective, then this song is the one that has the ability to make me cry. Everything is kept very simple and that is what gives it that strength and passion.

One of my favourite tracks is ‘Please don’t change’, it tugs at my heart strings and has the ability to make me cry at times. What is your favourite track so far?

We all have different favourites. The songs that are the most difficult to form are probably the most satisfying, although a fresh song, or a work in progress is often the most interesting to us. Anyway seeing as you asked: Heath is really into 'Hurricane' at the moment, and other favourites amongst us all are currently 'Safe', 'Black Box', and 'Please Don't Change'.

Clouds

I think this song is a good transition track between please don’t change and Hurricane, What do you think? It's quite unusual for the drum beat to take my attention on a track, but it does on this one.

And the song you have been waiting for since the review started – I present to you…

Hurricane

Having heard some of the other tracks we know that they have the ability to add multiple layers of sound alongside the melody. This add dimension but I also think that they can do simplicity. I love the slow tracks as much as those with a quicker tempo. I am not usually a big fan of auto-tune but used correctly it can definitely add to a song and this is demonstrated by beethum, but who do they get compared to?

Are there any artists that you are often compared to?

We're open to any comparisons we just might not agree...

Who are your musical inspirations/heroes?

Anything from Elvis and Sinatra to D.O.A and Aphex Twin...

I think their sound is most definitely coming together and I, for one, am excited to hear what’s next and so…

Whats next for you guys?

Not sure really - we're interested to hear what people think of the music, so we guess getting heard is a priority. Maybe a gig or two...?

I have taken to always asking which track artsits would cover if they were to be invited onto 'Live Lounge', what track would you cover?

The FAME theme tune.

Having been played on BBCIntroducing two weeks in a row there is no doubt that these guys have something to share. So have a listen, let me know what you think or better still let them know on SoundCloud.

They have just recently joined Twitter so get following beethum here.