Shamefaced

Well I went to the doctors in the end. I am STILL coughing after four weeks.

He says it's just a viral infection, that there is a lingering cough going around. Nothing he can prescribe will help.

So having fought my phobia and visited a doctor for the first time in 3 or more years I am just embarrassed that I wasted his time!

One Word Meme

Loads of folk have done this one. I'm in a mood - dying to have someone to talk to and p'ssed off that my boyfriend is so late home from work. So for distraction: The One Word Meme.

There's only one rule...you only get one word.

Yourself: Girl
Your Partner: Late
Your Hair: Brown
Your Mother: Rose
Your Father: Twit
Your Favorite Item: Trumpet
Your Dream Last Night: Forgotten
Your Favorite Drink: Cava
Your Dream Car: Any
Your Dream Home: House
The Room You Are In: Bedroom
Your Fear: Growing-up
Where Do You Want To Be In 10 Years: Gigging
Who You Hung Out With Last: Friends
What You're Not: Skinny
Muffins: OK
One of Your Wish List Items: N/A (don't really understand this one, sorry)
Time: scarce
Last Thing You Did: Drank
What Are You Wearing: Jeans
Your Favorite Weather: Warm
Your Favorite Book: Various
Last Thing You Ate: Chicken
Your Mood: Bored
Your Best Friends: Funny
What Are You Thinking About Right Now: Practising
Your Car: Dented
Your Summer: Rainy
What's on your TV: Coronation Street
What is your weather like: Mild
When Is the Last Time You Laughed: Yesterday
Your Relationship Status: Couple

Trav's Staying Out of the Dungeon Trivia Meme

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to:

1. Choose a category from one of these: Television, Stage & Screen, Nightly News, Publishing, Lives & Times, Music

2. Find 8 bits of trivia about your selected category

3. Be sure to let me know when...ok, if...you decide to play along so I can see what you come up with.

4. You may tag, or simply offer the meme for borrowing or stealing as you like.

Please see Trav's blog if you want to know more - and please take the tag if you fancy doing the meme! http://travsthoughts.blogspot.com/

CAT STEVENS

By no means my specialist subject!

I had heard Cat Stevens songs before, and have an album he released as Yusaf Islam.

However last weekend when entertaining McTiny on our way back to the car after playing in the park we passed my boyfriend's favourite shop, a CD shop called Fopp.

We went in and I set McTiny (I had to give him a name.. wee man can only do for so long) off looking for a CD for £5.00. He found a couple - and then selected this one finally. It has quite a child-friendly cover.

So at the age of 28 I heard for the first time 'Tea for the Tillerman', and I loved it.

1. This (track above) is the last track on the album Tea for the Tillerman. It's so short, yet this burst of music made me happy despite the early hour at which I was heading to work this morning.

2. Cat Stevens was born 21 July 1948 in london, named Steven Georgiou. He was a pop singer in the late 60's and still performs today. The most famous of his songs over here is probably Father and Son. According to Wikipedia (the best source of information in all things... what was it Turnbaby... Wikimedia?) Wild World was the big hit in the USA. (?)



3. In 1975 he released a concept album entitled 'Numbers' about a planet in space. The album went alongside a book which he illustrated.

4. In 1977 Cat Stevens converted to Islam, and in 1978 he became known as Yusuf Islam. I have no interest in religion so this makes no difference to me, but on reading up (on the internet) it seems that he turned his back on music for a while in the 90's. And on reading comments left on Youtube I can see why - as there are several comments criticising him for use of instruments which are forbidden in the religion.

5. "...Yusuf volunteered his services to the hugely successful Live Aid concert in 1985. He even wrote a song especially for the occasion. Alas, Elton John's appearance ran too long, and to bring the schedules back for the American audience Yusuf's appearance was dropped from the line-up. Not to be deterred, he began writing and composing again. An album called A is for Allah was produced for the instruction of children and he also created his own record label: Mountain of Light." Quote from BBC.co.uk (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A30044585)

6. In 2004 Yusuf Islam was refused entry to the USA when he was mistaken for someone on the authorities' terrorist watch list who shared his name.

7. His interest in promoting peace has earnt Yusuf the "Man for Peace" award, which was presented to him by Mikhail Gorbachev at the opening of a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates (in 2004 too I think).



8. In 2006 the album Another Cup was released. It's a bit patchy. There's new stuff I'm not so keen on, and it turns out this is the album I had heard already. It includes a re-release of I think I see the Light, which is a cool tune.

I have just rescued the cat from potential death by spare rib bone. He has left the house in disgust, the ungrateful wretch.

This afternoon I have off. I have no gig, no teaching. So I now can choose whether to prepare for Brownies toymaker badge(have stuff to get them), to make the charts up for Brownie camp, to knit, to practise the trumpet or to do the journal project I'm really behind with.

I like that I pretty much put them in reverse order of importance subconsciously.

At the moment the knitting option is winning. Either that or sleeping as I think I need to do something to shift my cough. Three weeks is a ridiculous duration for a cold, particularly without the other cold symptoms you usually get.

Small Changes

This week is feeling weird because I swapped my teaching in Edinburgh day to a Tuesday instead of a Wednesday.

So I spent yesterday feeling muddled up.

Today ought to be Thursday. But it isn't.

Antics

It was a busy weekend. The wee man has just left - and I am a bit sad because he is fantastic and very entertaining.

When the wee man woke up on Saturday morning he spotted a jigsaw train toy in my living room. He played with that for a bit after he got dressed, then at about 11 we went for coffee with my friend's cousin, his wife and a great aunty and uncle. We went into the french Patisserie, I had a chocolate croissant which was huge but delicious, he had a chocolate cake (shared with his mum).

Then we walked up to the Botanic Gardens. They have just done up the Kibble Palace (a very big circular glasshouse in Glasgow) so we had a look around there.There is a wishing pond full of fish.

We had a race (anounced a draw by the wee man although I personally believe I was the winner) after which we headed up to the swings to play. Then we walked back the loopy way and headed off for lunch.

This bit won't sound fun, but it was cool (honest!). We went for lunch in Morrisons cafe because we were having a birthday party for my friend and needed some shopping. Her son wanted to get some party blowers but there weren't any so we bought bubble mix and blowers instead. He was most excited when I suggested we surprise his mum with some fairy cakes (from a mix). He chose some farm cakes and princess cakes. When I said we had to hide them I meant put them behind his back til we reached the trolly... but he tried to shove them up his little jumper! He chose magic candles that relight and jumped up and down in his excitemement, making me laugh a lot!

We headed home then and played in the garden for a bit with the bubbles and a frisbee. I put Shrek on while people arrived at the party (all 3 of them). We had some party food before bedtime for boy. Then the grown ups drank wine and chatted. It was a fairly early night - the last guest left at half 10. We carried on chatting and had a midnight feast with some more party food. I went to bed late!

The wee man is really clever - amazing actually - and said some cracking things over the weekend. Mrs S in comments on my last post left a description of a four year old which is strikingly accurate. He is very inquisitive, and his imagination is great. He certainly asks a lot of questions and he is soaking up information just now.

I told him a silly rhyme this morning because he asked the time when it was ten to nine. He asked me to repeat it just once.

Then I heard him chuckling to himself in the living room as he recited:
"What's the time? Ten to nine. Hang your knickers on the line,
When they're dry, bring them in. Put them in the biscuit tin,
Eat a biscuit eat a cake. Eat your knickers by mistake!"

Kids

My friend is staying this weekend with her son. He's four.

I'd forgotten how cool he is. This weekend will be fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Sunshine!

We have sun - and it has made ALL the difference to the mornings before work. I am doing overtime this week in the office and for most of winter have dragged myself out of bed at the last minute before grabbing any old clothes and mooching off to the bus stop grumbling to myself quietly.

For the last two days I have been up at seven feeling pretty cheerful. The light at work was brighter and therefore less soporific. I quite often find in the office on a dull day that I feel sleepy and it can't just be the job.

However this is still school holidays from teaching and as such I am taking it pretty easy. Normally after a day at the office I would come home and teach, or practise, or play a gig. This week I am not doing any of those things. I don't even want to go out and see people. Household vegging is great.

Chick Flick news: I have discovered that my boyfriend likes the film Wimbledon.

Surprise

We started to watch the film I mentioned yesterday and my boyfriend doesn't hate it at all. In case you were wondering, it was Enchanted (Disney film).

I am most surprised. This is encouraging me to try more. Don't tell him yet, but there will be plenty of chick flicks coming!

Laptop

The insurance covers me and all I have to do is drop it into the shop to be mended. That sounds easy enough. If they can't mend it I get a new one.

I can't save all my stuff off it though- because I can't turn it on so I'll need to query that when I take it tomorrow.

Currently my boyfriend and his sister are watching Glasgow Warriors play Edinburgh. I didn't want to go. We used to be regular fans of the Warriors until they moved to Firhill. Now I'm not as interested as it's nothing like the immediate experience it was. I don't need a seat on a riser- I want to be able to hear the thuds and almost touch the players (mm... love the rugby thighs) huddling around the pitch wearing a hat and scarf, with a beer in my hand.

Hopefully they're having fun anyway. I have to go to buy some booze now before I go and pick them up so we can start to consume the booze.

His sister wants to watch a film that I know he will HATE and I'm quite tempted to buy it for my own entertainment. Regardless of how much I like the film, watching him tut and humf will make me chuckle!

Update

The laptop issue is unresolved because I have forgotten about it and not phoned the insurance yet.

Otherwise - Mum got home safely yesterday. She had a lousy journey up here, standing for much of the way. You'd think SOMEONE would have offered their seat.

On Monday we didn't do a lot - made some tea then headed out for a few drinks in the West End. It was fun.
Tuesday was a clear morning and we drove out to the mountains for a bit of a walk. We picked a 5mile route which was pretty easy, apart from a short almost vertical stretch where they have cut big steps into the side of the hill.

So after crippling ourselves climbing we headed off to do some sightseeing before coming home. The day finished with a curry in Balbirs - which turned out to be lovely!

Wednesday morning brought a trip to the Kelvingrove art gallery/museum. I've been there loads of times and it's a good filler - interesting too. After that I had a brownie meeting so we came home where ma & boyf relaxed for a bit. For tea we had roast chicken and veg. After dinner we played scrabble. I am a really bad loser.

Wish I could blog it all daily - that would be better and I'd be able to write in proper English rather than racing now as I have to be at work at 9.

I've tried to pop round to see everyone but most of my browsing had to be done on the sly through google reader rather than this morning - will come round again when I can comment too.

BROKEN AGAIN

The power cable has stopped working again. And we have visitors just now (my Mum til Thurs, then my boyfriend's sister til Sunday, then my friend).

So I will catch up with the things I have been saving (awards and memes) hopefully asap.

Off to claim on my laptop insurance!

BLIP

It is working again this morning. No idea what was going on.

stupid computers

My laptop cable's broken. It isn't the fuse in the plug.

Bah.

Music

For those who don't know - I am a musician. Music is part of everything for me. If I watch a movie, I'll probably like it more for the music than the content. Certainly - if the music is great - I'll be kinder to a poor plot line.

I sing in my head all the time.

Since Tuesday (Brownie) night I have had serious insomnia caused by incessant stupid kiddie songs floating around my head. It drove me nuts.

That has now passed.

I love the power that music has to move me. Somebody asked recently when was the last time MUSIC had moved me to tears? The point of the question was to suggest that music enhances our emotions, and that we use music to enhance emotions we are feeling. For example: If we are feeling sad we might either put on songs we know make us happy. Or we might put on a song that makes us feel sad. And in the latter case - the tears are from our own emotion rather than emotion caused by music.

I am not sure about this. If I'm caught unawares music genuinely can move me to tears... easily. I am watching a French film - The Sea Inside. When I say I am watching the film, I really mean that the film is playing on the TV while I am blogging and chatting online. HOWEVER music started a moment ago that made my heart twist. And it got me thinking.

I love all sorts of music. And narrowing down the bits that move me particularly is very hard.

On this theme - has anyone played or sung Dream of Gerontius?

flesh

This one's freaky... he seems to be missing some bits. There are plenty with bits if you google though.

I started doing a Thursday Thirteen - inspired by Kyra but had to go to work before I was finished.

So I'll just post what I'd got done before I left.... Mr Depp's bum has to be the highlight.

FUN night

It was cool in the end!

Do you often find that anticipation of something you are a bit scared of often turns out to be far worse than when you do the job?

I was allocated the singing in a Brownie fun day when I missed a division meeting (due to gigs). It is invariably the case that if you miss a guiders division meeting you will end up with the duff job.

Given that I have a lot on the go most of the time - working 6 different bits of jobs and playing too - I had not taken time to really think about this night in advance. I read the email telling me I was doing singing, replied to say OK, asked who the other leader doing it was. I received a reply telling me she helped in the unit we are going on pack holiday with, and the commissioner would give her my contact details so we could sort it out but I did not receive any contact from her. This didn't worry me as I put the whole thing to the back of my mind as I was working a lot.

TODAY I wondered whether she might print off song sheets or whether I ought to do it. I decided I would as it is better to be safe than sorry. This turned out to be right, as she assumed that I would organise it and she would help me.

I wrote up sheets for: Cuddly Koalas, Penguin Song, Teddy Bears Picnic, Animal Fair, Alice the Camel and Found a Peanut (which I loathe but my Brownie pack adore). I put pictures on them and printed 10 copies off.

When I arrived I found out the plan. POSSIBLY it might have been better to have had the plan before I arrived there. Oh well - guiders are used to winging it!

There were 87 girls from Glasgow West division. They split them into groups of 20ish and had activities planned that they would do in rotation.

There was craft: Teddy Bear pictures - lots of glue and tissue paper. Mess is always popular.

There were parachute games: Outside activity - worked well til it rained 20 mins before the end.

There were indoor games: Normal ones we do at Brownies - didn't really hear what was going on but the girls looked like they were having fun.

There was singing: This bit I have been helper at before when the songs were a bit dull and the kids weren't inspired. I picked songs with actions, and mostly songs that had dancing around or that involved looking silly. It seemed to go down really well - I was quite chuffed.

One of the girls from another pack came over at the end to say thank you to me (appreciation always makes you feel good) and two packs asked for copies of the sheets to take back to their units.

Overall I had a lot of fun. All of my unit turned up, with the exception of a few who have been absent recently - I had 2 more girls there than last week which was fab!

I am shattered now though. It probably won't shock you to hear I'm tucking into my second LARGE glass of wine and am relaxing in the flat. I just finished a hot water bottle cover I have been making for a couple of days as a housewarming gift so now it's time to watch Law and Order before bed.

Teddy Bears Picnic

Today is the Brownie Revels - a division fun evening.

The theme is Teddy Bears Picnic and I have to do the singing - which makes me nervous. Craft and games are easy. Oh well - I could have said 'no' but didn't take the chance so I'd better just get on with it.

Songs: Penguin Song (only just learnt this but it was fab)
Animal Fair
Alice the Camel

Umm......... I've got a book. Better go and get it.

Choices

I went for:

1. Cooking the roast. After an hour of cooking (not a big joint) I found that the bottom tray containing spuds and parsnips was not cooked but the roast on the top shelf was lovely.

The bottom element on the cooker has gone. We ate pasta in the end though and I cooked the vegetables today to have with the reheated lamb.

In the disposable culture spirit I am going to buy an oven on Wednesday.


2. I had a gin and tonic. Followed by a rum with fruit juice. Then I went out to the pub quiz where we came 7th out of loads.


3. As to the gig - my boyfriend is off work that weekend so after my gig I have booked us bunks in a youth hostel as it's £42 for 2 nights for both of us. I'm quite excited. My colleague will get a train home after staying with his friend.

Thanks for your help x