Revisiting Piles

So, as most of our readers (you know who you are Russia) know by now, our blog was originally created as a running commentary on Daly's blog. In her recent venture, Daly revisits her piles.....................................................................of books.

Good job Daly.

 I got thinking about what else to write this months blog on, once I had gotten the dig to Daly out of the way. And I thought about how Daly had vowed not to buy any more books at the start of the year (she failed).

Which led me to think about things that I have achieved not just this year, but in the past.

 I saw recently how somebody had ticked one thing of her bucket list - naked bungee-jumping. Safe to say that this will never be on my own list of things to achieve in life.

 I dont have a bucket list so to speak because I dont want to make that kind of commitment....to a list. So instead, how about I make it a mixture of stuff I want to do and already have done?!

 Here it is, the fuckit list, in no particular order:
1 - Get a degree (done - twice actually)
2 - Get a Masters (done)
3 - Get a PHD (to be completed.....and ummm started)
4 - Pass the FE1s (15 years later)
5 - Get an apprenticeship (done)
6 - Visit New York City (done - and hoping to revisit)
7 - Go on the Oprah show (Which sadly I will never technically be able to do, unless she has her own show on her own network...surely a possibility?)
8 - Go on a show on the Oprah network (see 7)
9 - write an erotic novel (so many ideas, but so much procrastination)
10 - Do the stupid outstretched arm tourist thing at Christ the Redeemer Statute, Rio de Janeiro (and so begins my small mention of things I have done while on holidays......nonetheless cool!)
11 - See the top five waterfalls on Earth (I actually have seen one of the top waterfalls, Foz de Iguassu, Brazil. I feel Niagara Falls may be the next one realistically me being able to see....I dont think the Torc waterfall in Killarney counts?)
12 - Visit the Amazon (I touched a turtle!)
13 - Smoke a Cuban Cigar in Cuba (Think I still have one in a drawer somewhere that we smuggled back in a..."sock", ya "sock")
14 - Visit Halong Bay in Vietnam (we thought we were going to be killed....it was typhoon season/there was some wind.)
15 - Go tubing in Laos (No, I dont need a life jacket thanks, no I cant swim, I'll be grand.........)
16 - Learn how to swim (it's my new years resolution......)
17 - Travel on a sleeper train from Laos to Thailand (It was not exotic or romantic)
18 - See an Elephant in the wild (the mystic was kinda taken away when I realised he was being used for manual labour....maybe it was okay though, you know, if he had like an 8 hour day, decent lunch break, 21 days holidays and a pension plan?)
19 - Stay out all night at a full moon party (It's hard to party when you have pink eye)
20 - Become an extra for a day on the Home & Away set. (It's going to happen)
21 - Read Ulysses (IT HAPPENED YOU HATERS)

 Right, due to my lack of concentration, I am now done with this and have to take a nap.

 To be continued........

Procrastination Personified.....

So 2011 has had it's ups and downs for us ladies.
Things are going well for the most part at the moment but I wonder, when things are going well do I subconsciously jeopardise things to make sure that my standing in the universe is more balanced?
Or is it just because I actually am the world's biggest procrastinator?
For instance,I had to endure a needless and expensive return train journey up to the city to do a college thing that I had been putting off for the week,thought I could do at home,discovered I couldn't,hence had to get the train back up,do the stupid thing for 5mins,turn around and get the train back down.
Coupled with the fact that I had forgotten to bring my student card,had gotten a student ticket and the one frigging time there were ticket inspectors on the frigging train,henceforth I ended up getting a frigging fine!!!!!!!
raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaage.

Okay,it's not the end of the world.And apparently if I ring up the nice people at CIE they can trace my student card and should be able to cancel my fine.

But still,why do I have to make my life more complicated than it already is?why do I have to make things harder for myself?!!My name is Musings and I am a procrastinator........
Maybe there is like a 12 step programme like in AA to recover from the addiction that is procrastination?

Step 1. Admitting that I have a problem. (Check.I totally admit to procratinating)
Step 2. Recognising a higher power. (No problem. I already recognise alcohol as having a higher power)
Step 3. Examining past mistakes. (eh,would I call them mistakes per se?)
Step 4. Getting a sponsor. (what's the likelihood of me getting sponsored by Smirnoff?)
Step 5. Making amends for these errors. (Have I not been punished enough by having to get the frigging train?)
Step 6. God, 12 steps is alot right?Maybe I'll just come back to this later.....there's like a film on and.....where was I?
oh ya,steps.mmmm,i'd really like a vodka right now,or maybe some wine.....
wow,this film is crap......but OMG it's called 12 rounds!co-incidence right?!This film, "12 rounds" is like my 12 step programme, "the five step programme".

hmmm,i know I have some alcohol around here somewhere.....

So,to conclude,love yourself.....procrastination and all.
I dont think I should be so tough on myself, I mean if I wasnt me, and I didnt procrastinate,who would I be?
Daly, that's who.

Taking a turn

So the great thing about having a blog that no one reads, is that I can at least vent to the world without having to worry. Mum had a stroke. It's so fucked up and I'm trying to get my head around it. they're in Australia. I know she's fine and it's all going to be grand. Insurance seems to be sorted. At least it's a country with good health care. At least it's a country with family. Dad and Emer are in a house rather than in some hotel. I'm trying to focus on the positives but it's soooo fucked up. I keep thinking about both my grannies. Granny Meade being in a bed unable to talk or move one side of her body for 9 years. And Granny Gavin, having physical and mental dementia where she'd think she was drinking tea or smoking, unaware that she wasn't. I know that it's fine. That Mum hasn't got any side effects and that they're keeping her in to find out what caused it. I'm presuming that means that they'll be able to figure out how to make sure it doesn't happen again. But it's shit. It's so shit and really scary. And I think that the more time I have to think about it, the worse it becomes.

I guess it's all just getting older. For me and for everyone in the Meade household. Neverland has never looked better.

The Amazing Drink Machine

This is epic: http://www.morskoiboy.com/2011/09/now-i-can-taste-words.html

Also Musings and I need one. Now I know it shows you how to make this, but I think this person is a genius and I do not have the technical know how to make this. There is an even greater problem. You need 26 flavours. At first this seemed like the greatest thing in the world but then you realise you could end up with some really awful combinations.

As per the pretty letters on the side, that's really impressive but I'm in it for the drinks.

I also think this would make blog and book writing easier and more fun!

Now I have been thinking about 26 flavours that can go into any cocktail, in any combination and still work. This is what I have:

vodka
gin
rum
tequila
orange juice
cranberry juice
pineapple juice
apple juice
passionfruit juice
pomegranite juice
lemon tequila
raspberry vodka
seville orange gin
Dash of lime
White lemonade

A Very London Day

Today has been a very London day. This may sound weird but it is everything that a London day should be (so far, it's only 16.30). I started the day by getting on the tube, and zipping off to the gallery to collect some work. Work I'll do at some point over the weekend. You know, no matter how sunny it is, you still have to do work.This is in Mayfair, which is posh and pretty. And then I met up with Nikki at Oxford Circus. She's just moved over. So it' was great chatting with a friend in a nice cafe, escaping the heat. Can't handle the sunshine. I then jetted over (by tube again) to the Water Poet so that we could do a tiny tech and make sure we're ready for the show on Wednesday. Getting into Liverpool Street Station the doors were blocked and there were Cops/Guards/Pigs/Muccanna/Police EVERYWHERE. So I walked all over the shop just to get to the Water Poet. There was tear gas and rioting, something to do with the BNPs I heard (essentially skin heads that are under a political banner). So I got to the Water Poet, got more work done and then Hen and I decided we should put up posters around Brick Lane. Brick Lane is is artsy bo-ho London. Filled with vintage stores, tattoo parlours and street stalls. We got Pina Coladas that were out of this world, made from scratch and turned out to be virgin, it may have been the nicest pina colada I've ever had but it was missing a vital ingredient... Anyway Hen and I wandered around this street, every now and again putting up a poster for "Play @ the Water Poet". Now we're at a Cafe, around some hipsters, currently sitting with a lit up globe on my right, Hen on my left (as in Henry not chicken) and a lamp made out of paper cups offering the lighting. I guess later I'll put up more posters and then try and think of other London things to do. I've been to the theatre twice this week, so I mean I don't feel an obligation to see a show. Maybe watch a film at home and try Stella Artois Cidre, I've a bottle in my fridge, awaiting the moment I need it the most.
...
Ok fine I've had wine so I haven't needed the cidre (it's not cider it's cidre, apparently). Well tonights the night, unless of course I have a trip home via the offy.

What else is a London thing to do? Let me know. I have days to fill here!

Itchy Feet.....

Not itchy feet as in the athletes foot kinda sense but itchy feet in that i havent been to a different continent in about a year and im getting increasingly restless. What I wouldnt give to feel that stifling heat on my face, to feel the stares of the locals by being the only honky in the village, to feel that sense of adrenaline in not knowing what's going to happen to you in the next five minutes.........sigh.

This time last year I was dusting off my backpack and getting ready to head East. Trying to pack economically and fit in a bumper pack of hand sanitiser and a supply of toiletries that would keep Boots stocked for a month was not easy, but it was joyful.

It was the heading off into the unknown, the excitement of not knowing what exactly would happen, the opportunity to discover different cultures and the chance to discover things about oneself along the way. Oh Lord how I yearn for such an opportunity again. I mean Im not asking for much, a month would do. Peru maybe, or Chile. Austrailia or Africa.....some place that involves a long haul flight and atleast five in flight movie opportunities.

Every trip changes your perception of life a bit. People who have come back from travelling always bore their friends about the ah.mhaz.ing time that they've had, be it the time they were in Brazil or Argentina or Paraguay or Cuba or Thailand or Vietnam or Laos or Abu Dhabi or the Bahamas or the United States.....Im glad Im not one of those people.....but you do feel the need to share the experience with folks who make the mistake of giving you a chance to tell your tales.

My current passport expires in 2013 and I want to fill it's pages with as much stamps as possible before it expires.....realistically that's not going to happen this year but perhaps in the next two years....anything could happen.

I need a holiday. I need an adventure. I need the smell of another culture invading my nostrils. I can feel myself getting increasingly flighty and I need to dust off my left over bottles of suncream and to smell like coconuts. I need to leave behind any responsiblity and evade anybody depending on me to conform to normality. I want to paddle in water that is actually tepid. I want to play "guess the meat". I want to get intoxicated on rum and pass out on a hammock......These things just arent achievable in Ireland.

I guess I really am a traveller at heart.

Moving On......

So, this is my last night in the convent.
I am not leaving the sisterhood, I was merely an honourary sister I suppose(cept without having to do the whole religion/chastity thang). I have been living here since last October and am getting kicked out.
Well it's not that dramatic (they need the room), but effectively i shall be homeless.
So both my esteemed chum and I are both now without abodes. Though I will get to sleep in an actually bed as apposed to a couch, which mo lady seems to have come quiet attached to (see previous blogpost!).

So nine months have gone by and boy have things changed. From bad to rock bottom to pretty damn good, the only blip being my soon to be homelessness.But i imagine it will give me a sense of freedom and set my spirit free to wander.....right?!hmmmm....do they allow people to pitch a tent in the park these days?

What a difference 9 months can make. Generally of course after 9 months many people get landed with a sprog.....lousy.
For me, the past 9 months have been spent finally achieving something that I have wanted for years now, and of course becoming myself again.

Even through poverty and homelessness my compadre seems cheery at her plight and still optimistic and loving her new city which I think is pretty damn inspirational. (Also, send me on your address you fool so I can send you some rice, dried fruit or a carrot or something).

So things have changed for the both of us in the past 9 months. Both of us have gone 9 months without getting a baby at the end, huzzah! We are both in new cities that we enjoy discovering/getting lost in (Ahem, you may never diss me about getting lost again smellyhead).

Things didnt look so rosy 9 months ago......I was a shell of my former self and my amigo was getting forced out of Canada. But we found each other again and through laughter, cinema drinking, talking about Daly beind her back, drinking, licking, drunk diarying.....did I mention drinking, we dug ourselves back up again.

And now, the next 9 months are full of opportunites and new adventures. I am starting back in college again which will make my heart whole once more and mo lady has the whole of london as her muse and will get a job that recognises her talent and rewards her handsomely for her efforts!

So here's to the next stage..........may we remain baby free, careless, maybe not homeless, wine drinking, wise, happy and not too far from each other.