Currently listening to: Auld Lang Syne (Hotel Cafe Presents...) // My Yvonne (Jack Penate)
Currently pondering: Oh I hate you tellaphone...how I hate you...
Christmas could have gone on and on across these households, but for the sake of my waistline and skinny jeans, we are putting an official end to it NOW. No more junk food, no mid-week drinking, no more than 5 meals a day thank you very much. Until New Year's Eve- the final opportunity of the year to drink and eat to your heart's content without being judged on your porcine eating manners. But after that, the diet starts. Again. And serious revision gets under way, not the piddly kind you start while watching some House M.D. or Gossip Girl and the like.
So, new year, new year resolutions, new developments etc etc- but can I just make one tiny request? STOP IT WITH THE SHODDY NEW TECHNOLOGY. Make things better! Let me explain...
Currently pondering: Oh I hate you tellaphone...how I hate you...
Christmas could have gone on and on across these households, but for the sake of my waistline and skinny jeans, we are putting an official end to it NOW. No more junk food, no mid-week drinking, no more than 5 meals a day thank you very much. Until New Year's Eve- the final opportunity of the year to drink and eat to your heart's content without being judged on your porcine eating manners. But after that, the diet starts. Again. And serious revision gets under way, not the piddly kind you start while watching some House M.D. or Gossip Girl and the like.
So, new year, new year resolutions, new developments etc etc- but can I just make one tiny request? STOP IT WITH THE SHODDY NEW TECHNOLOGY. Make things better! Let me explain...
17months ago I signed up for a new contract with my little blackberry. It was love at first sight: gone was the poor touch-screen predecessor with all these glorious buttons, free texts to others with blackberries, internet on my phone and cute phone themes I could change as much as I liked. Heavenly. And then things turned sour. Phone decided to play mind games with me, refusing to recognise new software updates so persistently, that I was convinced Elisa's updates were fakes/viruses/because her BB was different to my BB. I called Orange for peace of mind, and lo! 11months in, they delivered! A new phone that is. I was officially on top of new technology and was doing my tech-savvy man friend proud.
And then 2 months ago, phone learned some new tricks. This time, it was a case of not sending or making phone calls I wanted to make, but cutting me off from new texts and calling odd numbers and even odder times of night. A result of this, I ended up with a £70 phone bill (compared to usual £24) that I couldn't even dispute because technically the calls were undeniably made. Even if they weren't by me. I was even asked if I'd been drunkenly calling and texting more than usual! The cheek! I have learned my lesson RE: drunk texting, and haven't done it in ages or to anyone except Alex. After having a bit of a hissy fit, the phone company agreed to remotely monitor/update my phone to clear it of any possible bugs it might have, and for a while it seemed to work. Then it began AGAIN. The only explanation Orange had this time was that it might have been an issue on other phone networks e.g. Vodafone etc, that was upsetting my call and text reception *raised eyebrow* so they'd put me on a new scheme to share network signal with T-mobile, and that should fix the problem. It didn't. Of course it didn't. But I have now found that T-mobile has a lot better signal coverage than orange, go figgur.
The latest episode of the saga: absolutely NO calls and texts being made/received on time since before Christmas. At least before I had a 60% success rate.
And then 2 months ago, phone learned some new tricks. This time, it was a case of not sending or making phone calls I wanted to make, but cutting me off from new texts and calling odd numbers and even odder times of night. A result of this, I ended up with a £70 phone bill (compared to usual £24) that I couldn't even dispute because technically the calls were undeniably made. Even if they weren't by me. I was even asked if I'd been drunkenly calling and texting more than usual! The cheek! I have learned my lesson RE: drunk texting, and haven't done it in ages or to anyone except Alex. After having a bit of a hissy fit, the phone company agreed to remotely monitor/update my phone to clear it of any possible bugs it might have, and for a while it seemed to work. Then it began AGAIN. The only explanation Orange had this time was that it might have been an issue on other phone networks e.g. Vodafone etc, that was upsetting my call and text reception *raised eyebrow* so they'd put me on a new scheme to share network signal with T-mobile, and that should fix the problem. It didn't. Of course it didn't. But I have now found that T-mobile has a lot better signal coverage than orange, go figgur.
The latest episode of the saga: absolutely NO calls and texts being made/received on time since before Christmas. At least before I had a 60% success rate.
....and NOW the little sod has given my laptop ideas, and I have a trojan horse roaming around here somewhere. And I lost my laptop charger before I could banish it, so after 3 days, my anti-virus can't find it anywhere and I'm too afraid to shop online in case someone nicks my credit card details.
-Technology is actually rebelling against me. Thank goodness I'm only three weeks from upgrading to a new phone, and I can then banish my "Whackberry" to the depths of a drawer reserved for old, dusty, decrepit gadgets and gizmos.
New Year, new phone. But I can write something a lot more interesting about New Year's than a long-winded grumble against my phone.
Last Christmas day dinner, I'd put a version of "Auld Lang Syne" at the end of our play list to appease the old fogies, but knowing we would never realistically spend that long at the table to ever hear it. But we did. Goooooood grief we spent ages slumped over empty dinner plates, belts and waistbands creaking like old wooden ships about to breach and take on water. Titanic-sized wooden ships. Digression. Dad went gaga over this cover of Auld Lang Syne, to the point he began tearily singing along to it, not just under his breath, but really belting it out! It was so surreal. I put it on the play list again this year, knowing how much he loved it, and it was pretty much the same reaction, but a little quieter thanks to a sleeping baby. I decided to do a little googlin' and see what this song was all about and I quite liked the info that came up in the process.
A popular New Year's song, written by Rabbie Burns and performed by drunkards spanning the English-speaking world, it never fails to goad someone into asking (usually my niece): "What on earth is this song about?!" Let me enlighten you m'dears.
Auld Lang Syne
Chorus.
And for auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne,
1.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' auld lang syne.
2.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
3.
We twa hae
And pu'dgowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary foot
Sin auld lang syne.
4.
We twa hae paidl'd i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin auld lang syne.
5.
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o' thine!
And we'll tak a right guid willy waught,
For auld lang syne Doesn't it make so much sense now?!
Ha! No. But I also found a translation!
Chorus.
And for old long past, my joy (sweetheart),
For old long past,
We will take a cup of kindness yet,
For old long past,
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And days of old long past.
And surely you will pay for your pint-vessel!
And surely I will pay for mine!
And we will take a cup of kindness yet,
For old long past.
We two have run about the hillsides
And pulled the wild daisies fine;
But we have wandered many a weary foot
Since old long past.
We two have paddled in the stream,
From morning sun till noon;
But seas between us broad have roared
Since old long past.
And there is a hand, my trusty friend!
And give me a hand of yours!
And we will take a right good-will drink,
For old long past.
Isn't that nice?
It made me think of an old friend I'd seen on the street a few days ago, but by the time I'd realised who it was to say hi, I'd lost them in the Christmas crowds. I should have texted them later on to see how they were but for some reason I let the "it's been too long, we wouldn't have anything to talk about, and I don't want us to be awkward around each other ever" thoughts stop me.
(I realised after publishing I should probably give a little background here or the sentiments are a little lost). When I was a lot younger, knee high to a grasshopper, I had a very very close friend who I went to school with, saw everyday outside of school and considered a best friend/sibling kind of figure. We pretty much grew up together, but when we went to different secondary schools, we for some reason just entirely stopped seeing each other. It was only years and years later when we bumped into each other on the walk home from school did we exchange numbers and started chatting again, only to stop talking yet AGAIN. Fast forward to uni life, and we had a huge catch up chat after which I realised we were two totally different people. Not that we couldn't talk about anything or that it was awkward, but I just mourned the two small kids who rode around on bikes and scooters together, and who swapped some beads for a golden lion pendent (Peter Pan similarities? Yes, I told you that film shaped my childhood). I still have that pendent somewhere, I found it when we moved house and it only made me feel even sadder about moving. I want to be 8 years old agaaiiinn! Ahem. So the fact that I didn't get in touch with someone so important to me only wins me huge bad-guy points. I'm such a wimp. I am not impressed with myself right now.
With how far away from home and home-friends I am, and with having to split myself across 2 homes, and just my general laid-back attitude, the only friendships that can work for me are the ones that aren't affected by time. The ones where even after ages of not seeing each other, or keeping in touch, if put into a room we could just pick up right where we left off and get on with catching up.
I was having a conversation about this with someone else earlier on during the week and thought it must be really easy for that kind of relationship to be misunderstood as an excuse to just "never bother with someone". I was getting a little put-out by thinking somebody just wasn't making an effort to see me, but what if that was how other people were perceiving my attitude? I needed to reflect on the difference between not being able to give someone time because it was time you didn't have or because you didn't have time for a certain person.
(I realised after publishing I should probably give a little background here or the sentiments are a little lost). When I was a lot younger, knee high to a grasshopper, I had a very very close friend who I went to school with, saw everyday outside of school and considered a best friend/sibling kind of figure. We pretty much grew up together, but when we went to different secondary schools, we for some reason just entirely stopped seeing each other. It was only years and years later when we bumped into each other on the walk home from school did we exchange numbers and started chatting again, only to stop talking yet AGAIN. Fast forward to uni life, and we had a huge catch up chat after which I realised we were two totally different people. Not that we couldn't talk about anything or that it was awkward, but I just mourned the two small kids who rode around on bikes and scooters together, and who swapped some beads for a golden lion pendent (Peter Pan similarities? Yes, I told you that film shaped my childhood). I still have that pendent somewhere, I found it when we moved house and it only made me feel even sadder about moving. I want to be 8 years old agaaiiinn! Ahem. So the fact that I didn't get in touch with someone so important to me only wins me huge bad-guy points. I'm such a wimp. I am not impressed with myself right now.
With how far away from home and home-friends I am, and with having to split myself across 2 homes, and just my general laid-back attitude, the only friendships that can work for me are the ones that aren't affected by time. The ones where even after ages of not seeing each other, or keeping in touch, if put into a room we could just pick up right where we left off and get on with catching up.
I was having a conversation about this with someone else earlier on during the week and thought it must be really easy for that kind of relationship to be misunderstood as an excuse to just "never bother with someone". I was getting a little put-out by thinking somebody just wasn't making an effort to see me, but what if that was how other people were perceiving my attitude? I needed to reflect on the difference between not being able to give someone time because it was time you didn't have or because you didn't have time for a certain person.
This holiday break, I've been trying to divide my time evenly between my own family and Alex's, spending alternating nights at each and leaving early/arriving late to balance the quality time I got at each. I thought that was fair enough, but then I realised mum was feeling a little neglected because while I've had "family time" I've not had very much "mummy-and-me time". I felt horrendously guilty. I never realised how many worries she's had for me over the last few months, and since she hasn't had a chance to be reassured by me, she's only been getting more worried. Tomorrow is officially dedicated to mum, cuddles, clearing the air and booking health-related appointments. Some parts seem instantly more appealing than others, but whatever puts momma at ease. And I think I need to re-cut my time spending so that it isn't split 50:50, but rather 50:30:15:5 to factor in revision and non-family quality time too.
I also had to assure mum that I wanted to spend time with her because I wanted to, not out of duty. What good is spending a day with her if I'm checking my watch all the time, or opening up my laptop while I'm watching a film with her and making it clear that she is one of my lowest priorities? I know that personally, I'd prefer to feel like an elected option rather than a last resort/forced hand/lower ranked priority.
I also had to assure mum that I wanted to spend time with her because I wanted to, not out of duty. What good is spending a day with her if I'm checking my watch all the time, or opening up my laptop while I'm watching a film with her and making it clear that she is one of my lowest priorities? I know that personally, I'd prefer to feel like an elected option rather than a last resort/forced hand/lower ranked priority.
They say your new year is set by how you spent New Year's Eve. My relationship has weathered NYE's together and apart, so hopefully spending this year's with the family won't spell disaster for my love life and I can enjoy my night surrounded by the lovely family guzzling down champagne and Vietnamese food. Mmmmm Asian heritage....taaaasty....
Be kind to each other and have a lovely New Year lovers (oh I feel so Snoop Dogg!)
xxx
Be kind to each other and have a lovely New Year lovers (oh I feel so Snoop Dogg!)
xxx
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| Yay for drunken reunions :D |
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| I never realised this table had a hidden third portion, resulting in us positioning it diagonally across the room |
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| Whilst you can crop out people who blink, there's no way of making a grumpy teen look happy |
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