Chilled

So, I'm about to leave Jersey for a quick visit to London (and work) and then off again to Cornwall - weather permitting that is!!

I've blogged before about being in Jersey, leaving it, and my confusion about having two homes, and all that applies again. Apart from last time, it was warm and sunny, and now, it's wet and cold.

Still, I'm very much looking forward to New Year in Cornwall. Where I'll cook up some fantastic new year's resolutions and then post them on here to amuse you all!

Oh I do love to be beside the sea side...

Happy Boxing Day. I hope all (few) of my readers have had a good Christmas and that you are looking forward to an excellent new year.

December has been a slightly philosophical blogging month for me, perhaps not conveying the joys and highlights of the festive month as much as I should have done, and concentrating on the stresses and traumas too much!

Ah well. A post on my new year's resolutions for 2006 will follow. In the meantime, I've had a great and relaxing Christmas, although it has taken me a long time to wind down!

Instinct

Mad, bad, busy week...

Happy that I've been out three times drinking and not had a single hangover, but my week has been very dominated by work, and there's a whole lot more of that to come!

I can't think of a useful and entertaining blog entry, so I'm going to stop now. I am going to leave you with a few pictures though. I've seen a few cats this weekend, and they were all in a photogenic mood...









and finally, as I'm starting to feel just a tiny bit Christmassy...



More on Flickr, as usual

White Tie And Cognac

Sometimes I wonder how I ended up here. I have a great job that I truly enjoy, despite the traumas, and sometimes I end up in the most fantastic situations at the most fantastic events and thank my lucky stars that I am where I am. If the 18 year old me could have had an insight in to where I would be now, she would be truly shocked.

Geekery

Thanks to Ginger Rich I've added a bit of geekery here, including a site meter (hidden right at the bottom of the page) and the very cool Flickr flash badge, which shows off a nice selection of my fab (and usually drunken) photos.

Nice

Cheers Rich. I'll buy you an ice cream sometime ;-)

Seven

Seven lists of seven things...

I found this here. Jo would probably be puzzled about how I came to find her site, and I’m not sure either, but I’ve been reading it for a while and find it very interesting…

So:

Seven things to do before I die

1. Buy a house
2. Get a Masters
3. Visit Madagascar and/or Mauritius
4. Spend at least 6 weeks travelling in America
5. Have children
6. Complete the ITEX walk
7. Learn to scuba dive

Seven things I cannot do

1. Dance
2. Play a musical instrument (although I am still vowing to learn to play the sax)
3. Sing
4. Play any sport which involves balls
5. Touch my toes
6. Jump and tap my heels together a la Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz
7. Drink whiskey, tequila or Aftershock without being very sick

Seven things that would attract me to my spouse if I had one

1. Nice legs (the bandy thing)
2. Nice hands
3. Nice eyes
4. A nice smile
5. A good sense of humour
6. Being a ‘foodie’
7. Being loving and caring and thoughtful, especially in times of need

Seven things I say most often

1. Exactly
2. Well, quite
3. Cool
4. Rubbish
5. Thank you
6. Hang on…
7. (I’m a bit stuck now… this is the kind of thing that I don’t notice, but others will – any suggestions?)

Seven books (or series or authors) I love

1. Goodnight Mr Tom
2. John Grisham
3. Harry Potter
4. Tony Parsons
5. Catherine Alliot
6. Auto biographies and biographies, generally
7. Bridget Jones (I love the films, but the books are better)

Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time - I’m expanding this to include TV series)

1. Four Weddings and a Funeral
2. Love Actually
3. The Lion King
4. Shawshank Redemption
5. This Life
6. Friends
7. Jonathon Creek

Seven people I want to join in, too

1. Tania
2. Rich
3. Naomi
4. The Midlander
5. Steve
6. Marty
7. Kev

When life goes on

I’ve been working on this post for some time, which is unusual for me, because usually I start up Blogger, write what I’m thinking down, spell check it, and that’s it (apart from when I’m drunk, when I usually miss the spellcheck out, but the magic ‘you can spell and be coherent when you’re drunk’ fairy seems to sort it out anyway!)

I often ponder how different people cope with the challenges that life throws at them. Some just get on with it, some crumble, some get very bitter, some become hysterical or come to rely on drink or drugs. I can’t work out what distinguishes which way each person will go. I also can’t work out how some people are consistently ‘copers’ and some are not.

I’ve faced a reasonable amount of times where I’ve needed to ‘just cope’ in my life, particularly recently but also in various phases, especially in my teens. I think there is something about your natural outlook and make up which makes you resilient (or not) to the little, and rather more than little, challenges.

I’m a coper… but I do wobble. And how do I cope with the wobbles? How do I cope with coping? Maybe I’m too inclined to rely on a drop of the hard stuff at the moment – but this wasn’t always the way. And I seek comfort in the fact that the hard stuff is always accompanied by good company. I’m naturally a fairly closed person. It takes a lot to get out of me how I really feel about something. I’m bubbly, bouncy and generally not fazed by much. I’m more or less unflappable in a crisis. You really have to push me to get me angry, upset or emotional. But doesn’t that mean that all those feelings, which naturally exist, are therefore suppressed inside me?

I've pickled my liver

This is in tribute to Kelly, Sarah and Verity, who I’ve spent a wonderful evening with, but they’ve been moaning that they can’t spend enough time with me in the future because I’m booked every Saturday night in January so far (and most of the rest of December is written off with various Christmas parties).

This is bad. But it’s also good. I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time recently thinking about me, who I am, the challenges I face and the things I enjoy, and what I want for the future (partly fuelled by “20 Something, 20 Everything – a Quarter-Life Woman’s Guide to Balance and Direction” – and yes, I know it sounds like clap-trap, but it’s actually really good). My Dad says I always face challenges head on, and he’s right. I love being challenged. But I also love the support, companionship and understanding of my friends. I mean friends in the widest sense. I have some wonderful people in my life, and I frequently ponder that I am so very lucky to have them. Part of the reason that I’m “booked up” until February is because I have lots of different groups of friends, and I really love that. You all give me a different perspective on my life - those who read my blog and those who don’t; those who I work with and those I don’t; those who knew me at school and those who didn’t; those who knew me at uni and those who didn’t; those who have only ever seen me existing on the precipice of drunkenness that I currently occupy, and those who knew me in my more sober, less hedonistic days…. Those who are now reading this and thinking “Hang on, it’s Tuesday. She’s drunk again. Oh dear”

Three gloopy sauces, two hot dogs and a partridge in a pear tree

Sing it and it'll make sense.

How did it get to be the 1st of December already, that's what I want to know!

Anyway, fab Moeker gig tonight... Marty - thank you for the song dedication to me, Tania and Rich (and Pete and Helen in their absence). It really was appreciated. I've had a rubbish day and a Moeker gig is always a great chance to have a laugh and feel a bit normal again. AND I didn't fall down the stairs this time, although the cheering and cajoling was nearly as embarrassing as the falling was last time!

Although, I have an odd feeling of contrast from the last time I walked home from a Moeker gig and then blogged (check out my "Gig... It's all good" post from Friday 2 September in the September archive as I can't get a link to it to work right). Mainly because it was summer then and I was more carefree.

And now it's winter and I'm stressed... and I have to be up in 5 hours. Wicked.

Tania, Rich, Steve and Sally - you're stars. Thank you.

Some pics from tonight here.

D-r-o-w-n-i-n-g

Today I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of paper, work, complications and confusions. It was predictable that this week would be a difficult one. Still, I'm getting good support from those who should be supporting me so I'm happy with that.

I'm also happy with my new flatscreen, although the colour is slightly odd.

And I'm also happy with this. As I'm a bit lacking in inspiration to come up with anything funny, I thought I'd link to this, as it made me laugh out loud - thank you Tania - although of course I'm not laughing at your pain!

Sleep

Today I had the best sleep in ever. I didn't get up until 2pm. It would be fair to say that the earplugs I was wearing helped, but the sleep was clearly much needed. But, now I'm drunk again, no surprise there then.

I'm also massively scared about the week ahead. I just hope that by this time next week (when incidentally I'll be in Brussels) I can look back on the week (I'll no doubt be drunk by then too) and be happy.

I love you, you're Lewisham, now change

Lewisham. Much as I love you (but only for your reasonable amount of shops and short walk to Blackheath) you're not where I want to be at 11.30 on a Thursday night. But, love you I did for ten minutes after falling asleep on the DLR and ending up with you instead of Mudchute or Island Gardens. Either would have done nicely. Why didn't they have the courtesy to wake me up when I was with them? I'm going to have to have words with them.

I'm now so cold that I'm nearly crying. But hey, I have to be up in 5 hours. Doesn't that rock. Not. I'd rather be in Lewisham.

Although actually I'd rather be in Rome. I never came back to post more about it. Enough to say that I had the most wonderful time, and cemented some wonderful friendships, and I really want to go back there sometime. Rome - you treated us well and we will be back. This time maybe I won't have quite so many accidents!

Viva Roma

More about Rome soon, but just time to say - it treated us very well, we had a fab time, lots of laughs, and took lots of pics, some of which are here, some of which need tweaking, and some of which probably won't ever make it past my camera and in to public view. More will arrive there soon.

Tania, Marty, Helen and Pete - thank you

The case of the mysterious missing comments

I owe those of you who have posted comments on here recently an apology - for some reason unknown to me, the 'moderate comments' option had been turned on, and I only stumbled across the 7 comments waiting for my authorisation by accident this evening! So, I've published them all now! There was me thinking no one loves me and that no one is reading my random ramblings and rantings anymore... ;-(

Anyway, I think I've changed the settings back now, so feel free to comment willy nilly.

Today I have three things in my head:

1) Far far too much information about the job I was doing until two weeks ago, the job I'm doing now, and the job I'm about to start

2) A lovely tale about the Mancunian taxi driver who drove me home last night, after I left work at 11.30. Turns out he might know my Dad! Small world eh.

and

3) A rant. The garage where I have put my car in for an MOT and service are blatantly trying to rob me. They are being paid a handsome amount to do the service and MOT, and then they had the cheek (this is only one example) to tell me today that they were going to charge me an extra £50 for investigating why my windscreen washers weren't working, on top of the cost of the part which needs replacing to get them to work to get it through the MOT. DON'T FRICKING THINK SO!! I might be a blonde(ish) woman but I'm not bleedin stupid you idiots!! I think I've put them in their place. They'll learn not to mess with the Griffiths if they give me any more crap when I pick up the car tomorrow.... Grrrrr.

I got the boots

Well, I got two pairs of boots actually. Which is one more than I really needed. Bit like how I didn't really need two new tops, a pair of pj's, a pair of jeans, a scarf, a bag, a belt and a coat, nor did I really need a nice expensive dinner from Marks and Spencer.

Still, I feel better for it, and the mammoth shopping trip which resulted in acquiring all of this was very successful given it took place at lunchtime and in one hour after work! The only slightly distressing thing was that I had to go to three different branches of Next to get the coat I wanted... I was extremely distressed by the time I got to the last one and found they didn't have the right size. However, I thought I would be astute and have one last check to make sure there wasn't one on the wrong hanger or something, and, sure enough, there it was!

The point of that little tale is that it led me to reflect on how something so simple and seemingly insignificant can have a massive impact on your mood. I wasn't expecting to get it, and then I really wanted it, and then I found it and was elated. Just goes to show that good things can happen when you least expect them to...

I was so happy once I'd tried it on that I even found myself singing along (quietly of course) to the Christmas songs in the shop, despite being a firm believer that things Christmasy should not be present anywhere until at least 1st December.

On a slightly different note, having realised that 6 out of 7 posts this month so far have been alcohol related, I thought I'd mention that I'm not drinking this week (except I had a glass of champagne last night, but that doesn't count). That is until we get to Rome...

two and a half

It has, in the words of another, been a crazy week. And, like Marty, I can't post about a lot of it on here. However, the headline news is that I've been promoted, and, although it was a gruelling process, I'm well chuffed, and everyone else seems to be too, including those who matter!

Had a fantastic night celebrating and catching up with old uni and college friends. The hangover was evil though. I love the work hard - play hard ethic! I am however very much appreciating a Sunday in the house pottering around right now though!

To all those who have wished me luck and supported me in various different ways this week - thank you. I really do appreciate it.

And expect champagne and merriment once the pay rise comes through!

I'm just going to leave you with two pictures:

Yeah baby!

I've had some fantastic nights out "just because it's Wednesday" in the past, right back to when I was at school. I'm not sure why this is, it might be because I hate Thursdays. Anyway, you can see the repercussions of tonight here.

But before you go there, check out this:



which I think is a cool pic - good macro setting on camera...

and this,



which Na and I think is a hilarious photo, but I suspect others won't quite see why!

More later on in the week...

Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps

Except in my world it's five pints of lager and a packet and a half of crisps.

Hic.

Still, finally managed to spend tonight catching up with KWTNH. Anyone who is still wondering who he is can email me to find out and I'll tell you, but I'm not going into it on here. But my god he makes me laugh! And he's a great mentor type person. He's frank and a bit harsh at times, but he cuts to the chase, and he's got to know me very well over a relatively short period of time. Funny how that happens.

I'm glad to have lots of great and wonderful mates, but they more or less fall in to completely different groups, and I really enjoy that. It gives me lots of different perspectives. Some might say it gives me more than the average amount of opportunities to go out drinking too...

Fireworks

Again, I've got so much going round in my head that I could probably get a whole long page filler of a post out - but I'm not going to.

I am going to leave you with some fireworks pictures though:







From the very good display at Blackheath last night. I have, again, had an excellent weekend. Best of luck to Pete and Helen in their new flat. And Na - the raspberry daquiri went straight to my head, but it did the trick. Thank you.

PS - there's more photos on my Flickr site.

Full

I've got a whole head full of thoughts that I can't quite marshal in to a logical and reasonable blog entry, and as I've already excelled myself with one extra special completely non-sensical blog entry this month (and it's only the 4th!), I think I'd better restrain myself!

I am however going to comment on the fantasticness of risotto. As I had another unexpected evening at home last night (KWTNH again, but he's got a good excuse), I cooked my most favourite dish ever, risotto with herbs and goats cheese (those of you who know my cooking/eating habits will know that my 'most favourite dish ever' has a habit of changing, but this is it for now!). Given that I am incapable of cooking a reasonable amount for one, I usually end up with left overs. Which I've just scoffed this evening, as a very satisfactory post-wine/champagne snack.

The best thing about risotto (which outweighs by far the 30 mins preparation and stirring that it takes) is that you get a whole bowl full of carbohydrate rich creamy comfort food - but with no cream actually involved and therefore not many calories. Wicked. You've got to be happy with that.