Quasmassy Quasmas!

'I was up at the crack of dawn, all excited to check what Santa had left under the Christmas tree for me and count how many gingerbread men he had helped himself to!' Erm... No I didn't! Like I've mentioned in one of my earlier post... I'm not that crazy yet! Grumbled as I opened my eyes and checked the time – just past 9. Having reminded myself that it was Christmas day I thought it was as good a time as any to try something new and so I set myself the (convenient) challenge of imitating a sloth for as long as I could. I'm sure you can tell what a Christmassy person I am by now! The sloth game lasted for 37 minutes (precisely) after which I proceeded to crawl out of the warm comfy haven that my bed had become. After the usual morning routine (the details of which I am absolutely positive you would not like to know) trotted downstairs to join everyone. Now, being brown has its bonus in the fact that you don't have to carry on with the entire Christmas charade! There's a brownie point right there – don't excuse the pun. 
 

For Christmas breakfast it was a cuppa coffee and a warmed up mince pie (the only reason I look forward to December). After having checked mails and realising nobody loves me (for I had no notifications on fb*- this realisation was followed by me fb stalking a very pretty boy who is a fb friends friend, but I suspect is gay) my friend and I decided to brave the cold and make a snow man! We scraped the snow from the driveway and the cars into a bucket and within the next two hours we had a shamefully obese snowman with its chubby legs spread out in front of it. Deciding that our snowman clearly needed some fruit in its diet, it was ornamented with lychees for eyes and a strawberry for a nose! Mashed up some bananas and mixed it with rose syrup to give our snowman a sinister smile with blueberries for 3 rotten teeth – must be all those gingerbread men it ate when I looked away! To keep it warm I lent it my ridiculous purple hat and gloves and a pair of shoes at the end of its legs! We,my friend and I, grooved our intials into the snowmanschest and filled it with the banana rose syrup 'stuff' .. oh yes, our snowman had tattoos! ;) By the time we got back into the house my knees and fingers were all numb and red, but it was totally worth it!

Lunch was essentially an elaborate process of me stuffing my face with all the good food my aunt had made. For the first time in a long time I consciously ate my way through countless 'pooris' and servings of rich curry. I ate till my stomach ached, as disgusting as that may sound it was amazing! (I can see you roll your eyes and judge me... had you been there I'm sure you'd have eaten just as much if not more! :P ). The ritual of 'face-stuffing' was followed by me lazing in the living room and watching 'Dancing in the Rain', 'Shrek 3', 'Gruffalo', 'Home Alone' and a quick snooze coz the food had literally gone to my head! Before I knew it... Time for dinner! Nom nom nom!!

In the company of my family friends I've had a very Merry Quasmas, the sloth-game and everything! Hope yours was too!

** For all you who have been living under a rock fb means Facebook

P.S. - As someone recently pointed out, its only X'mas for exs!

The White Menace

It had just past midnight. I laid in bed unable to sleep when it started. It was beautiful and exciting. Right outside my window I could see it in the yellow light of the street lamps. White, pure and the first sign of what was going to be something of a hellish winter! If you've spoken to me lately, you've probably rightly guessed... it was snow! I remember how happy it made me, and I'm sure (read as hope) I wasn't the only one.

Glasgow doesn't normally get a lot of snow. It does get terribly cold every winter but the pure white flakes somehow haven't often favoured the city in the past. It got me thinking that night whether the snow would stick (to the ground I mean!). To my surprise - and the dismay of many others - stick it did! It wreaked havoc all over Britain over the next few week! Headlines read 'Frozen Britain' (BBC being all melodramatic to be honest... as if no other place Earth has ever seen a couple of inches of snow!). The British (me included - before you go accusing me of racism!) moaned and grumbled - whilst sicking cups of tea from their perfect china set - about planes and trains being postponed, cancelled. The very possibility of presents being delivered after Christmas Day will surely make all those 4 year olds weary of trusting Santa ever again (I'm so sorry if you are 4 years old or Santa... or neither but believe in Mr. Claus!) The ability to just suck it up and get on with life doesn't seem to have been encoded in the human genome of many.

Fair enough if you had a holiday booked to go to Egypt and that got cancelled coz the plane companies decided it was too risky for you to fly and all your booking and reservations on the other side got cancelled with no refunds. Yes, in that case you may moan till your patient listener goes deaf.

White Menace aka Snow

Dwink on the shelf

I am, at present, a teetotaller. Putting it in context the urban dictionary says a teetotaller is 'Someone who does not drink at all usually for health, religious or personal reasons; not just because they are short on cash or their wife pokes them good in the eye with a broom for coming home drunk.' No, I didn't wake up one fine morning with a black eye from my wife – mainly coz I have no wife! Nor did I decide in a fit of boredom that I shall give up the -OH group for a year just for the fun of it... I'm not that crazy (yet!). It's a resolution I committed to after an occurrence at some point earlier this year. Nevertheless, I've never been what you may call a 'drinker'. I'd fall under the category of an occasionally occasional 'drinker'. End of exams, birthdays, meeting an old friend... that sorta drinker. The drinker that needs a valid enough reason to tax her liver and slaughter her brain cells!

Be that as it may, despite not being a regular alcohol consumer, the past two months have highlighted the times alcohol acts more as a social glue than merely a way of loosing you inhibitions – though granted the latter may make the former less of an effort! My house mate now sticks to lemonade when we go to the movies or grab a random bit, because, as she puts it, Drinking alone is just sad! So lets scratch out parties, end of exam celebrations, congratulatory parties and any other celebration that includes drinking and bonding over slurred speech and finding absolutely everything funny especially when its not. You're bound to get frowned upon if you mingle with a bunch of highly intoxicated folk and not join in on the criss-crossed walk!

Do I sound like I'm moaning? I really don't mean to... It just comes naturally with being a moody cow! :P Teetotalism isn't all that bad. Where should I start...! Well, for starters, my mum is well proud of me. That's not to imply that she wasn't before I 'teetotalled'! Guess she's a big fan of brain cells and a healthy liver. I suppose, so she's relieved to an extent... at least for the next year! The whole self-control argument holds in this case as well. The temptation to join in and the discipline to not... so far so good! Oh and plus there's the ££ benefits! Yes, -OH is more expensive than it would seem when you've had a few! Spending £30 for a 'night on the tiles' doesn't seem all that 'reasonable' a price to pay for a banging headache the next morning and when the slightest ray of light is like a gift from Satan! There's the added benefit of improving you social skills by meeting people when you're plain, dry sober and 'breaking the ice' without falling on them as you try to stand up! Discovering fluids that aren't just water, milk or coffee.. now there's a surprise! A friend of mine got me something that for all intents and purposes is non-alcoholic bubbly... so I don't feel 'left-out'! Oh I feel special! Lol!

It's a social tool... and an amazing one at that! In my world, however, its sitting on the shelf till October! :)

Off to catch a bus n a smoothie! Till l8r xx

It'll get better... Will it?

'Accept it. I promise it'll get better'

Let's call him Mark shall we. A four year old boy. Youngest of 3 children to his parents. Visited the Respite Home once a week. The youngest who goes there... definitely the cutest! I had never before heard of the Syndrome that he suffered from. His file revealed all – Mark was born with leukaemia, amongst other things. He had been diagnosed with a heart defect. Digestive problems meant he could only eat some types of food but was required to be tube-fed through his belly. Muscular and joint pain kept him up most nights a week, t'was dormant during the day. Lastly this adorable 4 year old was shorter than an average 2 year old healthy boy. He wore the most innocent blue eyes. His speech and ability to communicate is immaculate; 'Why are you talking to me like that? I'm not a baby. I'm 4 now even though I look smaller!'

Suppose his older brother would be called Jamie? Lets roll with that. At 7 the boy is handful and a half to care for. Brilliant imagination. Playful - cops and robbers, aliens and CCTV's; and he always owns a licensed handgun! Hyperactive (– running behind him is a great workout if you're looking to lose some pounds!). Terribly low attention span. Add to the mix a good dollop of anti-social behaviour. Home-schooled by his mother.

Mark and Jamie have an older sister – Helen. 8 years old. 'Normal'.

Penny, the trios mother, is 28. Drops her 2 sons at the Respite Home every Wednesday. Once a week the Home gets a taster of what the woman goes through every day of the week. Its rough. Jamie constantly running up and down the places, playing cops and robbers and hurling verbal abuse in every direction -for he is the prince of his will. Well overprotective of Mark -which is adorable but highly inappropriate in the manner of which he does it! Mark is a very well behaved toddler with higher demands of personal care. tube-fed at meals. Muscle ache by night. Functioning on 3 hours of sleep a day Penny juggles her job, attends to Marks and Jamie's needs, home-schools Jamie. Helen? Lost in the chaos.

Anti-depressants are practically an integral part of Penny's daily diet! 'Accept it. I promise it'll get better' ...yah right!

The World is your biggest teacher. You just need to want to learn. Lessons learned. If broken you survive on Hope. Even if there isn't any. Life chooses its victims. It has no 'Pause' button.

'If God puts you to it, He sees you through it' – Really?

The 'c' word

The answer is Coffee. Who cares what the question is??

Kick start the day with a cuppa, make it through the day with another cuppa... or 3! Bored, tired, exhausted, sleepy? COFFEE!!! I'm starting to sound like a salesperson. Deary me!

I have, what some people may refer to as, an unhealthy relationship with coffee. We - coffee and I - have been faithful and loyal to each other through the past years, I forget how many it is actually. The 2 shots of espresso with frothy steamed milk and sprinkled with chocolate... or even better chocolate in the expresso with frothy milk!! Oh what more could one want! When it's freezing outside (which is most days since its Glasgow!) the comfort of holding that warm mug and regaining the will to live when you are up in the morning finishing an assignment, or studying for an exam late at night, or... just for the heck of it!

For my 22nd birthday, three of my friends chipped in to buy me a coffee machine. My life, at that moment in time, was complete! N since then my kitchen smells of coffee - its a good thing my housemate loves coffee as well or that would've lead to a massive falling out I reckon! :P So that's pretty much when I waved goodbye to resisting the urges of drinking coffee and said 'Ello!' to insomnia! Lol! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owb6K2t9YO4

Life is stressful. Agreed. Life is unfair. Agreed. Life is a bitch (sometimes). Agreed. Coffee isn't gonna change any of that... it'll just promise to be there - as long as you buy it, make it, drink it. Best bit is you get to chuck it down the sink if you don't fancy it... and make another one if you change your mind! MAGIC! If only most things were as good as coffee.

P.S. - For all of you's who don't appreciate coffee as much... Time for tea? (Plus... Why?!)

Those 3 words...

Often unspoken, they make the world go round (along with food, sex and money). Probably it is exactly what you are thinking of, most possibly it is not. Having been slapped in the face by disillusion more times than once, I have come to realize its worth. If once worthy of being told these 3 words, it becomes more of a responsibility to try ones best not to disillusion. Nevertheless being honoured by the words is nothing short of a blessing.

Most people, I would imagine, do not realize they do it. Most of us, most of the times, do it unknowingly. Often we realize we had done it after its too late and it doesn’t exist in the place(s) it used to anymore. The honor having been bestowed upon oneself can easily be taken for granted; not knowing that it exists in the first place doesn’t really help the cause. Reprications of its retraction are often difficult to bounce back from which makes me wonder why these words do not come with a tattoo saying ‘Handle With Care – FRAGILE’

The foundation that these words lie on often has its base in faith, assurance and (possibly) years of acquaintance. The knowing that one can place ones heart, soul, feelings, emotions, time, thoughts, keys, money, body, and every other materialistic psychological, emotional, physical burden in the palm of another and not have to worry about its welfare. The unconscious surrender of oneself amazes and scares me at the same time. Unknowingly at many times, we make ourselves dependent, unaware of our own vulnerability, and yet realize it mostly once our vulnerability is exposed.

Confession: I’m one of those who look through the peep hole before opening the front door – even if the person on the other side yells out ‘It’s me!’ Being a pessimist by nature and one to extend my hand before my heart saying those 3 words is, unfortunately, a feat in itself. The fear of being disillusioned yet again allows me to think and rethink where and how I place my emotions – often energy consuming! I do realize this guarantees nothing (it would seems nothing guarantees anything nowadays!) ‘Everything will happen when it is to happen and as it is to happen’. However, to tread carefully could hardly hurt.

Big headed as this may sound, those 3 words would be the single prized possession from me to those I decide to give it to – that is also to say, sad as it may sound, I have no better compliment to offer. Unfortunately I have not been able to master the skill of tattooing these words with the warning sign I mentioned above, but that is a work in progress (… maybe one day I’ll be able to! You never know! :P) Yes, those 3 words are words, nothing more and nothing less. For some they are just words. For some those words are trampled upon and disfigured out of recognition. For some those are words they try say after being disillusioned. For some it signifies the possible restoration in faith. For some those words are hollow. For some those 3 words are the best they can offer.

‘I love trust you’

From Blog-Virgin to Ex-Blog-Virgin

Ello lovely face (and the unfortunate-not-so-lovely face)

Blog-Virgin. Is that even a word? I'm pretty sure it's not! I suppose if people started using it often enough it could end up being a 'proper' word. Anywho... as of now, I'm pretty sure it's not.

There seems to be much fuss about blogs. Having given up trying to pretend that I was doing uni work I thought... 'Why not?! Lets give it a go! Be adventurous! Live on the edge!' Jokes! So looks like I'll be blogging on here. I do every much look forward to boring you endlessly with jibber that you probably don't give a crap about but I hope to keep you entertained nonetheless!

Watch this space :)

Blog-Virgin to Ex-Blog-Virgin

Gee x