Two more children released from the clutches of poverty!

I would like to introduce you to the two newest additions to my family. The young girl is Edna and she's from Brazil and the cute little boy is Nehemias from Guatemala. They are both sponsored by myself through the organisation Compassion. Visit http://www.compassionuk.org/ for more information (UK) or http://www.compassion.com/ if you are in the states.

The children receive medical care, food, education, supplies for school, clothes and much more at the project. Never before have I encountered a charity that has such integrity. The children write regular letters and draw pictures for their sponsors. We are even encouraged to go to visit our children to see the work of Compassion first hand! (An offer I will definitely take them up on in the not too distant future).

Check it out for yourself. It is so satisfying to see these little children growing up, knowing that I made a difference in their lives.

Marriages are made in Heaven... Weddings are from Hell!

A couple of days ago I started reading "Diary of a Mad Bride" by Laura Wolf. Never before have I read a fiction book that is SO similar to real life. It was these few particular lines that caught my attention as something very similar had happened to me in the Bridal shop I work in, about a month ago.

"It's true and you know it. People who are about to be married magically transform into raging narcissists. Able to hear reports of burning day-care centers and worry only that the scent of charred diapers might waft into their wedding reception."

You might laugh and think "surely that's not true, people wouldn't be that selfish would they?" YES! They would... and they are. Just a couple of weeks ago I had a woman on the phone who was asking where her bridesmaids dresses were as they were a little late coming to us from the suppliers (by about a week that's all!). I had already spoken to the suppliers on the phone and they had assured us 100% that the dresses would be with us the very same week. The woman was having none of it and played hell with me on the phone. So I told her the reason for them being delayed and her reaction was, to put it nicely, not what I expected. Actually, it was disgusting and I wonder whether people like that even have a heart to love someone enough to get married. This is how it went:

ME: I'm really sorry about your dresses being a week late but there's still a couple of months until the wedding and they'll be with us by Saturday. Plenty of time for alterations.

WOMAN: *Sigh* I could do without all this stress right now. Blah blah blah... (She carried on speaking for about 10 minutes but since I was already livid, I tuned out from the conversation so that I didn't totally flip at her.

ME: I know this must be a stressful time for you, but if you can just listen to me for a second, your dresses are late because the factory is in China and due to the recent earthquake, our suppliers have been hit with delays on the dresses.

WOMAN: I can appreciate that and I'm sorry for all the families of the victims who lost their lives, but this is my WEDDING DAY we are talking about here.

OH MY WORD! It took all of my strength not to scream obscenities and slam the phone down on her at this point. How selfish can someone get? Who the hell do you think you are woman? That SIXTY NINE THOUSAND people losing their lives, and fifteen million losing their homes is less important than a few hours in a day where you stand in a dress, saying vows you will probably break anyway, and getting drunk and embarassing yourself infront of the inlaws. I half wished her dresses wouldn't turn up that Saturday but they did.

Now before I tar all brides-to-be with the same brush, let me get one thing straight. SOME are nice, but even they can turn at any second when you are least expecting it, over a crease in a cravat or whatever. I've even come across couples where I've even questioned if they should be getting married at all! (To myself of course, wouldn't ask them outright or we'd lose the sale of a dress ha ha). This happened just last week: This guy comes in with his mate to be measured for suits. After being measured they were required to pick the colour of the suits, the waistocats and the cravats. He pulls a little bit of paper out of his pocket with a list of the colours that his fiancee had written and picks the colours accordingly. Just as all the suits had been put through the automatic retail system (which means the orders had already reached the suppliers) the girl comes in and demands to know what her other half has ordered. The guy explains he has followed her instructions on the bit of paper, and flips through the swatch chart to show her the colours he has picked. When she sees them she throws a huge tantrum right in the middle of the shop and starts screaming at the guy for being so stupid because those waistcoats and cravats do not match the bridesmaids dresses. He tries (unsuccessfully!) to point out that he has never seen the bridesmaids dresses as she wouldn't show him, so how should he know they didn't match? She proceeds to flip through the swatch chart again, and find the "right" colours this time, muttering under her breath about how she should have done it herself and that her boyfriend was so useless. The poor man was so embarassed, and was trying to calm the girl down but before she left, she had another hissy fit and made a scene by storming out of the shop dragging a little two year old girl behind her. Girl, you didn't look good, you didn't look diva-ish, you just looked stupid, made a massive fool of yourself and now we all don't like you. Seriously, should this couple be getting married at all? If I was the guy I would get out of there before it's too late! Why on earth would he want to be stuck with that for the rest of his life? They didn't even look as if they could stand the sight of each other, let alone be madly in love!

So aren't people missing the point here? If she's too concerned that the waistcoats are the wrong colour to notice that there's something not entirely right with the relationship then it's destined for the divorce courts already. It's the rest of your lives that is important, it's not all about that one day. Will a creased cravat make a difference to your marriage for the next 40 or so years? I don't think so, you wouldn't even be able to see it in photos. Yes ok, everyone wants their "dream wedding" that they've thought about since they were a little girl. But when that one day starts to become more important than your future as a married couple, or the stress of the organisation nearly ends the marriage before it has begun, surely you need to take a step back and review the situation. Remember the reasons you wanted to do this in the first place.

I'm going to stop now because I'll probably get into trouble for posting this anyway, so best quit while I'm ahead, even though I have PLENTY more stories ;-)

Broken Chains Festival 2008!

Between Friday 23rd May and Sunday 25th, the first ever Broken Chains Festival took place in my little home village of Tonyrefail. It was great to see it actually happening after all those months of hard work that everyone put into organising it... Andrew especially! It was a big vision for such a small mining town, many did not believe we could pull it off, but there were those who kept the faith and saw it develop from just an idea into a massive success.


The weekend (which was completely FREE I might add) kicked off with a Christian rock concert on the Friday night, where the likes of YFriday, Electralyte and OneHundredHours were performing. There is no words to describe the feeling I had when I walked out from backstage to see approximately 2,000 teens and twenties jumping with their hands in the air and having a genuinely good time. You might be thinking "well it was a rock concert, that's what happens, it's not strange to see people jumping up and down". Let me explain... It was a Christian rock festival and the majority of people there were not Christians. Now I don't know if this is the same in other places but it is certainly true of my town, that whenever a Christian organisation puts on an event, it is either a) extremely poorly attended, or b) if people decide to turn up they certainly make sure they don't "look" as if they are having a good time. Because we're all bible-bashers and it would look very uncool infront of their friends if they were singing along to Christian songs. Catching my drift? Anyway enough of me waffling on, here's some amazing pics taken by my brother and the rest can be found at the Broken Chains Festival website.

























All day Saturday was a carnival/fete/family day with lots of different shows, workshops and rides for the children. Unfortunately I was working all day so could not attend, but from the pics it seems that a good time was had by all.















And of course not forgetting Terl Bryant and the Psalm Drummers who put on a drum workshop during the day and a concert for all us lucky people in the night. Seriously these people need to be heard to be believed. I have NEVER heard drumming like it in my entire life!















And finally, the festival concluded with a Sunday morning Communion service which was well attended by the local churches. Worship was led by the Tim Bannister Trio from Cardiff. And thus the adventure had come to an end. All those months of planning and it was over before we knew it! Roll on Broken Chains Festival 2009 I say anyway!







Finally, this blog wouldn't be complete without a pic of the man himself... Pastor Andrew Butcher. What an amazing guy. He birthed the vision of this festival and carried it right through until the very end. Even during the times when it looked like the festival would not go ahead, he kept the faith and trusted God in everything. Fantastic job Andrew!

Welcome to my family Denisse!

In September 2007 I became a new mum! Ok well maybe I didn't actually give birth, but I began sponsoring a little girl in Nicaragua via the Compassion child sponsorship programme. I can honestly say it is the most rewarding thing I have done so far in my entire life. Her name is Denisse Milagro Valberbe Mendoza and she is such a little sweetie! I love her as if she was really my own. Here she is:

She is four years old today! Happy Birthday Denisse! I receive lots of letters from her written with the help of her tutor from the Compassion project and really cute little colourings of animals. I adore her! When I started sponsoring Denisse it was because I wanted to give this little girl a chance in life. I don't think it's right that people on this earth live in abundance while others are denied even the basics such as food, water, education and healthcare... I want to see her grow up to be a person with ambitions and influence and through my Compassion money she now has that chance. Compassion gives her the food she needs to live, clean drinking water, proper medical attention, and an education which could have not been previously afforded by her family. It is sad when I think of the harsh reality that without Compassion and my money, she might not have even made it to this day, her fourth birthday! I love her so much. In a few years I will go to Nicaragua to see her and her family where I will be able to see the work of Compassion first hand. Compassion encourages sponsors to go to see their children as it is not a faceless charity that just takes your money and you don't know for sure where your money is going or what it is being used for.

I hope to sponsor another child very soon. A little boy this time instead perhaps. It really does feel as if you're making a difference in the world, and you certainly are making a difference in that particular child's life! What really cuts to my heart is the fact that despite all that I have here in the U.K., the education, more than enough food, stupidly expensive material posessions etc. Denisse's tutor always writes at the end of every letter that Denisse prays for me and my family every day, that we are healthy and that God gives us what we need! What?? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Here are people living in the darkest depths of deprivation and poverty and they are praying for the wellbeing of me and my family? It really hit home to me one day, when I really realised the importance of what she was saying to me. Well I am praying for her and her family also, everyday, but I know already my prayers have been answered. Compassion was the answer to this little girl's prayers as it not only affects her directly but it also helps her family too. Have a great birthday little one, and I hope you liked the presents!!

If you want to know more about sponsoring a child yourself, please go to www.compassionuk.org if you are in the United Kingdom, or www.compassion.com if you are in the States. It really is worth every penny of the £18 a month! That's only 60p a day to save a child's life and better their quality of living more than they could have even imagined!!! My little girl Denisse was fortunate to have found a sponsor but there are thousands and thousands of children registered on the programme who have not yet found sponsors and are waiting in anticipation. You can make a difference by being one of those sponsors and giving yet another child a chance in life.

Anyone Out There???

Hi all.

Whoah I haven't posted on here in SO long. Apologies!! Anyway, I'm going to ease myself back into it gently I think... and see if I can keep it going for longer this time!

To say that a lot has happened since I last wrote is the understatement of the century! I've got a new job in a Bridal gown shop. I've got a place on the teacher training course for secondary school R.E. And yes, you must have already guessed it... I'm STILL doing the Masters degree lol. Currently I am back in lovely Lampeter to try to get as much work done as possible as working from home proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated at first. Not only have I been slack with the regular posting, I've also not kept myself up to date with the blogs that I read regularly. So I'm leaving this post as it is for now, and going to catch up with the rest of you.

Ciao! I'll be back soon...

Fruit frenzy!

Want to see what I had for my lunch???



This is banana, pineapple, mandarin slices and strawberry yoghurt. I'm in one of my artistic, creative moods. It was delicious!

This made me cry...

London blog is a bit late due to unforseen circumstances... I'll leave you with this in the meantime.

Not sexy enough for the aliens :-(

Well I'm still here... which means the aliens didn't find me sexy enough to abduct and take home to their planet. I've needed all this time (since my last blog) to come to terms with the rejection before posting again.

I have LOADS to blog about so there is simply no excuse to miss any days from now on, especially since I am home from University as well! Yes, I've decided to finish the rest of my MA from home as there was too many distractions (in the form of episodes of Charmed) in Lampeter and I wasn't getting enough work done. All is not lost though... Lampeter, I will see your beauty again when I move back in a year or so. It would break my heart to leave you forever. You have tugged at the strings of my heart for four years and I expect you will continue to do so for the rest of my life, regardless of where I choose to settle. (By the way, Lampeter is a place not a person, ok?)

Hasn't the flooding has been horrific lately? We were caught in some during my last week in Lampeter, but fortunately it's not as bad there as it is in some parts of England. May God be with the families of the couple of people who have lost their lives due to the rainfall. Hard to believe it's Britain isn't it? It's like the monsoon season.

Last Tuesday I went to London with the parental unit. Fun was had all round and hundreds of pictures taken. It stuck me as funny when I realised that I was taking pictures of buildings and monuments which were very similar to what we have here in Cardiff. I would never think to take pictures of the Cardiff ones because I pass them loads, but in London they seemed picture-worthy ha ha. Anyway, I would love to blog for longer but I need to get up early tomorrow so I'm logging off now. I'll post pictures and blog about the London trip tomorrow. (By the way, I saw Darth Vader and got a good pic ha ha).

Thank you so much to my faithful readers who keep checking my blog even though I haven't posted for a little while. I promise to be good and bring you lots of blogging niceness from now on.

It has been nice knowing you all...

ATTENTION ALIENS ARE COMING TO ABDUCT ALL THE GOOD LOOKING AND SEXY PEOPLE. YOU WILL BE SAFE, I'M JUST BLOGGING THIS TO SAY GOODBYE.

Sensational Sushi!

A while ago I posted that I had tried sushi for the very first time. Well since then, Nic and I have become quite the sushi experts *cough* and decided that it was time to unleash our sushi skills and actually make it from scratch ourselves. Contrary to popular belief, it turned out really well and although there were a few little things we realised we could have done better... it was absolutely delicious, and a great first attempt. Plus, we had heaps of fun in the process!

The seaweed!

Sushi rice and filling placed on the seaweed.

Nic rolling up the sushi mat.

The finished sushi roll...

...which is then cut into pieces.

A few different fillings/toppings.

The finishing touches... Et voila!!!

Easter Turkey Fiasco!!! Warning... Do not read if you have a weak stomach!

This happened a little while back (Easter time to be precise) but it caused so much laughter that I wanted to record it forever so as to never forget it (not that I think I would forget this easily!). Well here goes... I went home for a few days over the Easter weekend as although I've been living away for four years, I have never failed to go home for Christmas or Easter. My brother and his wife and children were also coming to dinner on Easter Sunday so my mam bought a large chicken in Tesco. I think we've had turkey every other year so I don't know why she opted for chicken this time. Then again, if she had stuck with turkey, this wouldn't have happened and we would not have had such a laugh ha ha.

Anyway, mam cooked the chicken late the night before (chicken had stated on the packaging - "no giblets") and to be fair, it was smelling delicious. However, when she retrieved the chicken from the oven and looked inside she was nearly sick. Called for me to come look and I was nearly sick. Called for my dad to look but I don't think he wanted to ha ha. Yes, there were giblets inside and no, they weren't the nicely washed giblets in a bag that some people eat. This was the entire inside of the chicken left in... and now cooked. Seriously, it was as if they had just cut the head off and sealed up in a bag, as is. Eww it was revolting, you could see everything.

Well you can probably imagine the conversation from there on:

Mam: There is NO way I'm eating that or serving it to anyone else.

Me: Eww that's so gross! *Peers right into the chicken*
Dad: Well you'll have to eat it! It's half past eleven! What else are we going to do?
Me: Eww I'm going to be sick. *But still inspects the insides very closely*
Mam: I don't know what to do, but I am definitely NOT eating that.
Me: Urgh, look at that bit, it looks curly like lungs.
Mam: No thanks I don't want to look.

Me: Phone Tesco then.
Mam: At this time of night?
Me: Umm yeah.

So that's what we did. And after a rather frantic phonecall later with cries of "We won't have anything to eat or give our guests on Easter Sunday!", the woman on the phone told us to go to Tesco and she'll see what they can do. Tesco was shut but we were advised to go around to the security gate at the back and the guy would let us in.

When we got there, the lady was ever so kind and told us that unfortunately they didn't have any more chickens in the shop but they did have a turkey and asked would we like it. With no other option other than to go without dinner the next day, we agreed. Then, she came out with an absolutely HUGE turkey, about four times the size of the chicken we had previously bought! It was priced at £21.64 and we could have it for free! Haha. As we walked out, somewhat struggling under the weight of the turkey, all we could do was giggle to ourselves. My mam whispered to me "We'll be eating this for a month", and that cracked us up and sent us into fits of laughter. I replied "Don't laugh so much until we're out of sight of the security cameras, they could be watching us!" Which caused another bout of hysteria.

So, it was well worth having a really minging chicken in the end, because we all enjoyed a nice big juicy turkey on Easter Sunday... Thankyou Tesco!!!

I want to show you a couple of my favourite things...

I just wanted to share a few photographs with you of two of my favourite objects at the moment. The first is a plant that I bought in Tesco a few weeks back. For those of you who know me, you'll know that plants do not last longer than a few weeks in my care. I seriously don't know why they all die! I don't forget to water them, I keep them in a light place but out of direct sunlight... and I try not to water them too much. Nevertheless, in a few weeks the leaves are always a brown or yellow colour :-( However, I am pleased to announce that my current plant hasn't died yet and I love it so much I'm taking even more care than normal. Even dusting the leaves every day to keep them shiny. I must admit, though, that it was the plant pot in which the plant came that made me actually buy the plant ha ha. I LOVE RED!!!

The second thing is sort of my own creation. At Easter, one of my chocolate eggs had a very pretty chiffon bit of material around it, with a drawstring. It was so nice that I was reluctant to throw it away after the egg had been eaten, so, in one of my more artistic moods, I tied it around my blue glass paperweight! And this is the result:

I LOVE this picture above. The light reflecting off the blue/purple/pink really makes it looks like dancing red flames!!!

Goodness me! Is it waking up time already???

I've not been on top form lately. Seriously, there's something wrong when a 22 year old girl, after a good 7 or 8 hours sleep, wants to curl up in a ball and go straight back to sleep. I should be raring to go, eager to face the day ahead but I can't muster up the energy to do anything. After being awake for only a few hours it feels like I haven't slept in a week, and walking around like a zombie (especially at work) isn't a good look for me. Although I drag myself to work because I have to, I'm usually too tired when I get home to do my University work. If that starts to suffer, then I'll have no other choice but to give up my part time job because there's no point in working for minimum wage (when I already have a degree!) and failing my MA in the process, which cost me thousands of pounds.

Have I been hit by a serious case of 'Lampathy' (Lampeter apathy), which comes from living in a 'too chilled out' rural area? I mean, I know they say the country is supposed to be relatively stress free and all, and that's why people go to the country for recovery or respite, and even after retirement from a hectic city job... but seriously, this place does not exist on the same time scale as the rest of the world. I now know that there is such a thing as too quiet, too peaceful and too relaxed - it just makes you want to sleep all the time!

Ok so if the diagnosis isn't Lampathy then it's got to be something else. That's why, starting from Monday, I am doing a strict detox programme. Maybe this tiredness is down to generally not being fit enough. So it'll be nothing but fresh fruit and vegetables, white meat, fish and LOTS of water from Monday onwards. No junk food, no coffee! I'm also going to aim to go for a little run early each morning to both kick start my day and kick start my marathon training. If I don't figure out what my problem is I won't last a mile in the marathon without stopping to lean on a fence and fall asleep!

I'm hoping that my new diet and exercise regime will solve the way I'm feeling, otherwise it could only mean that there's something deeper wrong with me and I'll have to go to the doctor for blood tests. This I REALLY do NOT want to do! Not that I mind having blood taken or anything, I give blood all the time (although I don't know what good it's doing the person who receives it if I'm feeling this crappy myself), but I am scared that they'll find something wrong :-(

London Marathon 2008... What Have I Done???

Err... Nic and I have decided to run the London Marathon 2008!!! I must have been half-alseep/semi conscious when I agreed to this, but never a girl to go back on her word, I'm going to do it! Which means (at time of writing) I have 11 months, 8 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds to get fit - or so says the little clock on the official website. AARRRGGHH!

I've contacted both the Heart UK and the British Heart Foundation chartities as I have a family history of heart disease and so want to do my best in raising sponsorship to go towards these causes. Both have replied saying they would like me to run with their team, however, I still have to apply through the general ballot in August. I'm quite excited about it actually, even though I did have a minor panic attack as soon as the words "Ok, I'll do it", escaped from my mouth. Then while pondering over the details later on that evening, the phrases "I'm going to die", "How on earth did I think I'd be able to run a marathon?", and "Oh no, I won't be able to have any junk food for a whole year", were running through my mind. I'm sure you don't even need reminding how it went the last time I gave up junk food!

Well enough of the whinging, I've even put it in print just to secure it further. Now I'll have to go through with it or you all can laugh at me for my failure ha ha. So on that note, I'm off to get me a stick of celery to munch on... maybe even go for a run! I'll keep you posted :-D xXx

P.S. I couldn't find a 2008 logo so had to make do with the 2007 one, just incase you were wondering...

Rebecca Needs...

There is this really cool game that I discovered while blog-surfing! I wanted to give a link to their site but I visited hundreds of blogs and now cannot find which one it was. All you need to do is type your name into Google and then the word "needs" after it. E.g. I typed "Rebecca needs", if your name is Julie then you type "Julie needs". Get it? Then you type a list of 10 (or more, up to you) things that the google search came up with. This is all that the original game consisted of. But just to spice it up a bit more and make it a bit more personal, I have commented on, or added the very first thing that came into my mind after reading the sentence:

"Rebecca needs to be enlightened!" - Hmm I thought I already was!

"Rebecca needs your help!" - ...to find her sanity; last seen when she was about 16.

"Rebecca needs support around her educational goals." ...because she will use every trick in the book to get out of doing her essays!

"Rebecca needs to vent." ...because she's so cool she's obviously got an inbuilt, fully functioning air cooling system :-P

"Rebecca needs to go back to the drawing board." ...to discover why Plan A of world domination didn't work!

"Rebecca needs to choose a database." - Err... Do I?

"Rebecca needs just one, good, meaty, dramatic role." ...and then the world's greatest film director will think to himself/herself, "My word! This girl is the greatest, most talented actress we have ever seen in the history of acting! Fly her to hollywood, immediately!"

"Rebecca needs to stop taking too-close pictures of herself." - Like, that is so not just me! Have you seen the Myspace revolution? It thrives on kids taking three million too-close pictures of themselves, just to upload to their profile. What's really disturbing is when they are doing sexy/sultry/pouting poses when they are only 13!!!

"Rebecca needs to become involved with someone who feels the same way about her." ...because wasting time on losers is doing her no favours.

"Rebecca needs to get used to being ritisized." - I need to get used to WHAT???

"Rebecca needs to know that love is not corrupt." - I don't think that love is corrupt actually, I just think that relationships are corrupt when the people involved have mistaken their friendship for love.

Cute Shoes and Not-So-Cute Comments... (Thanks to Sognatrice for naming this post for me!)

Why oh why do my REALLY pretty summer shoes hurt SO badly? I mean, they look as if they'd fit like a slipper and they're so gorgeous it's hard to believe that they can be so evil! I have about 63 million blisters just from wearing them for about 5 or 6 hours yesterday. What makes them even more evil is that they seem smug about the fact that they know I won't stop wearing them all summer. It's all an act I'm sure of it. They lull me into a false sense of comfort and prettiness, then they unleash their evil powers of pain and destruction on my feet when I am least expecting it. I seriously have a love-hate relationship with these shoes. I love them and they hate me! Anyway, I suppose it's a good time for those who have shares in plaster (band-aid) companies because the amount I have purchased in the past couple of days MUST have caused the share prices to rocket! Incidentally, I was going to post a pic of my blistered feet but I didn't want to put you all off your dinner, and I didn't want someone finding this blog while googling for foot fetishes or the like, ha ha!

I don't know if you read the comments section of my 'blog silence' post but it seemed to have caused somewhat of a stir with a certain person. My immediate reaction was to delete the comment straight away, as I didn't want the younger members of my family to read language like that on my blog. However, when Jenny commented me that she had had a similar comment from the same person on her 'blog silence' post, it prompted me to rethink whether I was right to simply delete his comment without further thought. Surely everyone is allowed an opinion, so who was I to delete his point of view just because it didn't tie in with my own beliefs? I decided that it was unfair to begin the habit of deleting bad comments and leaving nice comments for others to see. After all, this is a blog of 'daily life' and it would be a gross misrepresentation of the world if I was trying to make it seem as if everything was always peachy. Therefore, after some careful reconsideration, I commented on the post myself, and included his original comment within it (as I still had the email containing the comment which was sent to my personal inbox). So there you go mate, I've let you have your say - and if I'm honest, I've learnt alot from these moments of reflection on this situation. I have learnt to respect other people's points of view and not shun them just because I do not share the same opinion. I have also learned that there are a lot of troubled people in this world unfortunately, and deleting anything they say and ignoring them is not only not improving the situation, but is probably having the reverse effect! Maybe if I took the time to listen to them instead of acting like nothing was said, I'd be one step closer to understanding the reason for their hurt and possibly helping them.

Sshhh... Silence for the innocent students who lost their lives at the Virginia Tech shooting.

Click image above for more information.

Every day, do one thing that you've never done before!

I made this little pact with myself a few months ago, to do one thing each day that I've never done before. Originally the plan was to do one thing each day that scared me, but I couldn't find enough scary things to do in a little place such as Lampeter. So I settled for doing something that was new to me. Even if it's something extremely simple such as walking along a path I know I have never taken before or talking to someone new from the Uni or the town. For me (and my floaty, philosophical mind), it gives life just that little bit extra excitement and anticipation as you go through (what could be) yet another mundane day.

A couple of weeks ago, I did two things that I've never done before, in one day! Nic and I had gone to Tesco late night shopping one night and we purchased two things that were completely new to me, although Nic had tried one of the things before. The first was sushi! I have always said I don't like seafood (apart from a few types of fish), but the truth is, I hadn't really tried anything so never really knew if I liked it or not! (Apart from prawns, I KNOW I hate prawns). Well the verdict on my first taste of sushi is a BIG thumbs up. Took a bit of getting used to, and I think I forced the first couple of mouthfuls down, trying my hardest not to taste it as I chewed ha ha, but once I had gotten used to the taste I was eating it like a pro! ;-) If I'm totally honest though, I wasn't a huge fan of the seaweed that surrounds it. It tasted salty and fishy and reminded me of the stale smell of fishing nets in harbours which I REALLY cannot stand. Apart from that I enjoyed it, and now do not have to worry one bit about eating it when I am in Japan. Nic thought it was best to introduce me and get me used to it here rather than try it for the first time in Japan. Probably so that I wouldn't make faces as if it tasted like sick, as that would seem rude to the lovely Japanese people.

The second new thing I tried was new to Nic also; it was called dragon fruit: proper name - Pitaya. We saw it on the shelf in the fruit and veg section of Tesco and just HAD to buy it! Between the neon pink skin and the illuminous green leaves it looked like a mutant pineapple! Definitely the prettiest fruit I have ever come across so far! It was extremely juicy inside and could be compared to the taste of a kiwi fruit, but not as or tasty as a kiwi fruit. This, in my opinion, was definitely a case of "don't judge a fruit by it's pretty colour", as the inside (although also very pretty) was rather bland, and the small crunchy seeds got on my nerves after a short while. I think I would buy one again, but only for decoration purposes. Quite disappointing really considering it looked so nice and... tropical. I expected it to have the sweetness of a mango or pineapple, or the tanginess of a citrus or kiwi... but it didn't. On the other hand, admittedly, we only bought one! So could it be the case that we had just picked a 'not so tasty' one? Are they really supposed to be sweet or tangy normally, instead of tasting not that different to water? Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to criticise until I've tried it again to form a second opinion ha ha.

Cute Kitty :-D

Sorry everyone... I'm not dead, I just disappeared off the face of the blogosphere for a while. Even though I didn't actually post, my 'blog mode' never switched off and I was constantly coming across things that I thought would be awesome to share with you. So now I have a LOOOOONG list of stuff to post about. However, in an attempt to ease back into it gently, here's some really cute pics for all you cat lovers out there... especially Kass!

To view these cuties and more at their original source, click here!

Bye for now! xXx

And the winner is...!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway, I know that I said results would be on the 9th but I'm fashionably late as usual heh! So anyway... I wrote everyone's names on pieces of paper, folded them up really small, jiggled them about in my hands for a while, laid them out in a line on my desk and then asked Nic's boyfriend to pick a number between 1 and 8. He picked number 7 and I opened the little bit of green paper to reveal the winner. And the winner is... Dollymama :-) Congratulations! I'll be in contact soon so that I can get your address to send you the book.

Thirteen Steps Down (Part 2)

Ok, unlike the previous post there is actually a reason for this post being called Thirteen Steps Down. I've just finished the book and I must say I really enjoyed it. I don't know about you but I really like Rendell's style of writing. So, as the ultimate blog party continues, in true Christmas Blog Party spirit, I've decided to give the book away to one lucky individual :-) All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is leave a comment on this post (even if you just say "Hi" and nothing else)... and that's it! You'll be in the hat! I will be announcing the winner on 9th March (gonna try and grab Nic or someone to pull a name out of the hat so it's fair) so if you want to win, please comment before then. If you are the lucky winner I will contact you via your blog to let you know and ask you to get in touch regarding where I should send your prize. I will be happy to post the book worldwide so there are no specifications of who can enter. Party on!!!

P.S. You don't have to be a member of the Blog Party to enter either... this is open to everyone!


If you are still reading this then that means you're not already on my comments page... What are you waiting for??? Go comment!!!

Thirteen Steps Down

Thanks to Sognatrice I came across (and subsequently joined) the Blog Party which is continuing until 9th March and you should all do the same! A big thank you to everyone who has commented on my blog as a result of landing here from the blog party home page. If you would like to join there is a banner at the top of my side bar which, (if I have installed it correctly) when clicked, should take you to the correct page.

Just as a bit of fun I thought I would post this pic of a poor bread roll or sausage roll, I can't quite decide what it is. I found the "thing" in the bottom of the oven one day and although it wasn't MY culinary disaster, nor do I particularly like the stereotype that students can't cook*, I found it hilariously funny. Luckily the kitchen didn't go up in smoke (surprisingly) and all that was left of the ordeal was a lingering smell of burnt bread roll/sausage roll and this piece of charcoal.

* In actual fact, the reason why we fill up on cup-a-soup or beans on toast more often than not is because of our financial situations rather than our lack of culinary skills. So there! :-P

Ever since Nic did an online swap with someone from America last summer, I have wanted to do something the same. This is why I have come up with the idea to begin a "Swap-It Saturday"** section of my blog. It will probably be once a month to start with, but if enough people are interested and it doesn't go horribly wrong the first time, I may increase it to weekly so that everyone has a chance of doing at least one swap. I have read a few blogs of expats and their cravings for Cadbury's chocolate, Marmite, Peanut butter, British magazines, books written in English and lots more items they cannot get in their new surrogate country and thought it would be really cool to send them the items they want in the post in return for just a few little items that are readily available where they are now but not in Britain.

I haven't, as yet, worked out the ins and outs of how this will work but the main thing will be to keep it low cost so that it stays as a bit of fun and people are not put off by the assumption that they will have to fork out a small fortune to take part. However, before that, I am just interested to know how many people would like to have a go at this because if no-one is, then it's not worth me spending hours working out the detailed plan of action ha ha! Just leave a quick comment to let me know you would like to join the swap-it community but remember at this point you are simply showing interest and not binding yourself to any particular swap. If just one or two people are interested then they might as well just do swaps with me, but if more people join than I am able send out to personally, then I'll devise a plan where people from different countries are paired up with each other. This should be a lot of fun and I hope it works well!

** By the way this is the only time that the "Swap-it Saturday" will be mentioned on any other day of the week apart from Saturday! I was going to wait until the weekend to post this idea but I couldn't wait ha ha.

Incidentally, if anyone is wondering why the strange title for this post when it's got nothing to do with the content, it's because Thirteen Steps Down is the title of the book I am currently reading by Ruth Rendell. It's very good! Since this post consists of a few different topics, I couldn't decide what to call it, so I settled for something completely unrelated... and now you all know what book I'm reading as well. (Nearly finished it though!)

Lunar Eclipse and a confession... Oh the shame :-(

To start this blog on a bright note, here are the pics of last night's Lunar Eclipse. The clear, starry sky couldn't have been more perfect for such an amazing event. As I gazed out of the window I watched the moon magically perform in all its glory. Just a pity my camera wasn't so perfect :-(

By this point and during the total eclipse, the rest of the moon was a deep red colour, but my stupid camera couldn't even pick that up. Grrrrr!!!

Ok and now for the confession... You know that bit in the Bible where it says we should confess our sins before God and before man? Well, God already knows, because He saw me last night so now I'm confessing before you all. I've broken my lent promises already! :-( In fact, more than a few times as well! Nic and I decided to give up chocolate and other junk foods for lent, and even though I gave the convincing "gasp of shock and horror" when she rather sheepishly revealed to me a few days ago that she had eaten a piece of chocolate cake, I've done worse than that. In fact, I've eaten more crisps, sweets and chocolate in the last few days than I ever did before making this decision to give it all up for lent. I'm a bad, bad girl! *Hangs head in shame*.

Sometimes I do the craziest things!

Your eyes are not deceiving you! Those ARE the 43 books I bought the day before yesterday... FORTY THREE!!!

I had come to the decision that, unlike my undergrad days, I would rather be in my room with a book than go out to The Extention. Yes I still enjoy a night out now and again (as you'll be able to see from previous posts) but if I had started this blog in my first year, going out is ALL the material I would have had to blog about. I literally went out every single night without fail. There was something seriously wrong if my flat-mates and I were not to be seen on the dancefloor or in the Union on any given night. Times have changed. The fact that I now have "proper" studying to do coupled with the possibility that maybe I genuinely have calmed down a bit in my old age (!) means that I don't feel the need to be out living it up until all hours of the morning anymore. I am quite happy settling down in my pyjamas and picking up a good book, in which I get really engrossed and enter a whole new world, ignoring everything in reality for those few precious hours before I fall asleep.

I reasoned (the completely rational person as I am *cough*) that since I wasn't spending money on my nights out as I used to, I would now be able to indulge in buying a few more books to keep me happy (and as a way of procrastinating from my essays). As I wandered into the University Bookshop I saw an abundance of second hand novels which one would never guess were second hand, apart from by the price. Upon seeing a few I liked I noted them down on a piece of paper as I didn't get paid until the following day. Early in the morning, as I excitedly set out to buy the books, I happened to recall seeing, a while ago, an animal charity bookshop in town that I had only ever entered once previously. Out of curiosity I ventured across the road and pushed open the door. The shop had a lovely musty smell of old books, it reminded me of the smell in the University library. The man behind the counter looked up and gave me a warm smile. This I noted because the students aren't really liked by the towns-people for some reason. At once I noticed some of the titles that I had put on my list to buy in the Uni shop... and these were half the price again! Yet still in the same "never been read/read only once" condition. I was ecstatic!

Ok, suffice to say, as you can tell from the photo, I got a bit carried away. But there were SO many titles that I liked the sound of, and for 50p ($1ish?) would you leave them there gathering dust on the shelves? No, I didn't think so ha ha. After handing over my £20 (yes I know what you're thinking, at 50p each I should have had 40 books but he gave me three free ha ha) and an even bigger smile from the guy behind the counter, I hauled my sack (yes he also gave me a sack!) of books right across campus and collapsed through my door and onto my bed with exhaustion... But I felt GOOD! I don't have a clue where I'll put my 43 books or how I'll get them home from Uni at the end of term considering I have enough in my room to fill a truck as it is! Or where I'll put them when I get home as my room is quite small at my parents house, but for now that's not my worry. I've got all the books I need for the next year or so and it had only come to £20, which had gone to help poor suffering little animals as well. Needless to say I shall be visiting that shop again... But not for a long while!

Lampeter Sunsets

Believe it or not, all these photos were taken within the space of about half an hour. It was amazing to see how the colour of the sky changed so many times in such a short period of time! I had to lean dangerously far out of my window to get the best pics I could, but it was more than worth it to have captured these beautiful images!

In other news, I had a good little giggle to myself in work today when a customer informed me she had a "photogenic memory". I'm assuming she meant photographic memory but I didn't say anything. I smiled at her but it took all of my energy not to burst out into fits of laughter. Yes I am random and yes work was quiet and therefore it only took something as little as that to set me off. Ha ha! Ah well, it brightened my day for all of ten minutes :-D

Pancake Day!

Just thought I would share some photos of Pancake Day at Nic's place. We had a great time! The night started just after 6pm when I finished work and after a brief stop at Somerfield to pick up some shopping, headed over to Nic's flat. At first I was in awe of her real television with real programmes for a while... yeah I know, sad as it sounds but this poor student can't afford a TV licence so she has to make do with DVD's all the time *sobs*. On this occasion, when I finally come into contact with a real TV after months without it, we watch a programme on pig farming! Haha. It was really good though! This guy was trying to prevent the extinction of a rare breed of Essex pig. Anyway, I'm going off topic now. When the pig programme finished, Nic got out her shiny crepe making machine. Every other year I have made pancakes in a frying pan, so this was something of a novelty for me. Only bad thing about it is you can't flip the pancakes like you can in a pan, and that's the whole fun of pancake day isn't it?

Nic made some first and hers were done to perfection. MY first one was great! I could have been an expert crepe maker. I twizzled that little stick around the pan to spread out the mixture as if I had been doing it from birth!

Then I realised it must have been just beginner's luck because my second one turned out like this. Oops!

Well after we had made a batch of about 20 (um yes... just for the two of us!), we set it all out on the little table in the living room along with all the fillings, both savoury and sweet.

As we tucked into our delicious pancakes (and they were delicious! Even the one's I made ha ha) we watched 'V for Vendetta'. What an awesome film! Anyone who hasn't seen that film should watch it. I've made a mental note to buy it on Ebay soon.

By the way, you should read Nic's blog. I have to say this because she is holding my beloved 21 year old teddy bear at knife-point until I do. Ha ha, just kidding. It will be a great blog when it's fully up and running but she hasn't posted much yet as it's a new account since having to delete her other one because of a very annoying person.

Better late than never!

Huge apologies! I have loads of stuff to blog about but I've simply not found the time to write them in the past few days. I know this is really late as it's now thursday, but here's my blog about the happenings on Saturday night. Nicola and I decided to go to the Chinese New Year festivals that the Chinese Society were holding. I was really excited about going because I was thinking of all the pretty, colourful pictures I would be able to blog about. Anyway, when it came to the time to leave, neither Nic nor I were ready to go (as usual) and by the time we were both ready we were about three quarters of an hour late and neither of us wanted to walk in very late looking all shame-faced. So we decided to ditch Plan A and go with Plan B... the Extension. That particular night it was fancy dress in the Extension so we both had to rush home and throw together something that remotely looked "fancy dress-ish". Nic decided to be a cat and I went for the "Fairy Goth-mother" approach. After much back-combing (Nic's fancy dress trademark) and lots of black eyeliner (a regression to my gothic phase when I was 16) we were ready to party.

We talked to Ebo for a while, who looked like he was an alcoholic that night since he was holding his own drink and another two drinks that belonged to people who had probably gone to the toilet or something. I just had to get a photo ha ha.

This is Sigourni, our lovely barmaid who served us with a beaming smile all night :-D

I found Action Man! Ok it's Paddy really, but I had to have a pic with him dressed as Action Man, or a soldier or whatever he was ha ha.

Me doing my best serious/mysterious pose!

It was the best night I've had out in a long time. We danced practically all night as it seemed that whenever we were just about to leave the dance floor, one of our favourite songs came on and we had to stay for "just one more song". We ended up leaving the dance floor finally when the dj booth shutters went down and all the lights came on, signalling the end of the night. Well the end of the night at the Extension that is. The fun carried on at house party in town but Nic and I (being the old mature students as we are) got a bit bored and slightly tired after about an hour there and so we left early(ish). Here's a few pics of the after-party.

Look at those gorgeous drapes they have on the ceilings and walls!

It's Pippy Longstockings! Actually it's Vicky - the hostess of the party.

Oh my word! Look how long this girl's hair is! I don't know who she is, hope she doesn't mind me posting a pic of her here ha ha.

And still the fun and adventure didn't stop after leaving the party! So much for going home to bed! Nic realised she had forgotten her keys and I now realise that trying to wake her boyfriend up is like trying to ressurect the dead ha ha. We tried ringing his mobile - no answer. We tried ringing the doorbell - no answer. We tried throwing coins up at his window - nope didn't work either. We tried shouting loud enough so that he'd hear but not so loud that we would wake the whole street (it was 3:30am)! All our efforts failed so Nic and I walked back to my room so that she could stay at mine for the night. I was ok with this arrangement but Nic was adamant she wanted to go home. In the end she messaged someone on the student forum site (hoping he'd still be online) who lived in the same building as her and her boyfriend. It worked! So we both went to our own beds at roughly 4:30am, absolutely shattered but having had the best night in absolutely ages!

Tomorrow's post will be about the amazing pancake night at Nic's - stay tuned ;-)

Love is not just a feeling!

I've had the phrase "Love is not just a feeling" as my screen name on msn from time to time, and I also currently have it written next to my picture on Myspace. Many people have asked me what I mean by this statement and I usually just say, "Oh it's just something that I came to realise one day and has helped me understand a lot about love." However, if they and I have time, or I'm supposed to be doing an essay, then I might delve into the whole (rather long story). Well since I am taking a well deserved *cough* break from my work right now, I'll tell you the story of its origins in my life. Now I don't profess to be an expert on the meaning of love (far from it!) nor do I mistakenly think I was the first person to come up with this phrase (as I'm sure countless people have uttered such a thing many times before) but all I want to write down (should I ever forget this) is what it means to me and at what point in my life I suddenly came to the realisation of where I had gone wrong.

Growing up in a Christian home meant going to church every week and hearing so often the words of 1 Corinthians 13 resounding from the pulpit. For those of you who may not have a clue what I'm talking about here, this is an extract from the New International Version:

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I can easily recite this passage word for word but until a few months ago it had no meaning for me. I'm not saying that I disagreed with the verses, it all made rational sense to me but it was simply empty words that touched only my mind and not my heart. Then, one day, as has happened many times with many different parts of the Bible, it suddenly seemed to come alive to me. I instantly had a deeper understanding of what each sentence meant and understood how to properly apply it to my life so that I may not make the same mistakes in the future. I know of no other way to describe this "enlightenment" other than the revelation of God in and for my life. If any people reading this has had a similar experience with the same, or other passages of the Bible then you will know how hard it is to describe your "new found meaning" to someone else. But I'm going to try anyway. I think the best way for me to do this is to use a past relationship as an example.

At the time I thought I was in love. I told him I loved him. I told my friends I loved him. I told my family I loved him, and I wanted everyone around me to know that I was in love. I wasn't lying! I genuinely thought I was in love! Why? Because everytime he was around me I had a fuzzy feeling in my stomach and I felt safe and secure in his presence. Unbeknowing to me at the time, this "fuzzy feeling" wears off slightly and it's what keeps a relationship going beyond this stage that matters the most. What did we have? Umm, nothing apart from a shared love of football. Now I really think football is great, but it's not THAT magical that it can hold a two year relationship together single-handedly. Even after the relationship ended (a year and four months ago) I thought that I had been in love but the love was lost at some (unprecise) time. Then, one Thursday night last September, I was in an IPOR (In Pursuit Of Revival) meeting at a nearby church when pastor John Bullock spoke on... yes you guessed it... 1 Corinthians 13. During the service I was listening to the words but the "I know all of this already" attitude had started to kick in. It was only when I got home that night that it suddenly hit me why that relationship hadn't worked and why I was definitely not as "in love" as I thought I was. I started to realise that what John had spoken about were all the things needed (or not needed) for a relationship to last past the "fuzzy" stage, and looking back, we had LOADS of the things that are best left out of a relationship and VERY few things that are needed to make it work:

Patience - Serious lack of this, from both of us! We would get annoyed at each other for the tiniest of things.
Kindness - Yeah ok, we had our times when we'd do something a bit nice for each other but there were no major acts of kindness shown. The type when you really go out of your way to make the other person happy.
Envy/Jealousy - I'm not even going to start on this one because he might read this blog and I don't want to make out he was a completely horrible person. But yeah, his jealousy got a bit out of hand and was very frustrating, but there were times when mine was almost as bad as well!
Self-seeking - Yeah this went for both of us as well. I called him selfish for the times he just took me for granted. But looking back, even the times when I felt completely unappreciated could probably be interpreted as me just being selfish and feeling sorry for myself.
Anger - Got the best of both of us at times.
Keeping a record of wrongs - Now I can't really speak for him but I for sure as fire is hot am guilty of this one. Everything he did "wrong" was stored in this little black book in my mind, only to be consulted at a later date - no doubt to fire as weapons in the heat of an argument.
Trust - Serious lack of this also!
Perseverence - It was quite obvious that neither of us had much perseverence with the relationship when every little argument would lead to us breaking up for a short while and then getting back together when everything was fine again. That wasn't exactly "working through our problems" was it? More like "let's break up until we both calm down". Hmm...

You all must be wondering how on earth we lasted two years after reading this, but I can assure you that we did have some good times together. It was just a friendship that was wrongly mistaken for love on both parts I think. I had never experienced love and so I thought that the nice, warm and comfortable feeling I was experiencing was love but when it faded, I quickly realised that we had nothing to sustain us past that time. To my ex - I'm sorry if you read this and you don't approve of the things I have said about you, but you know what I have said is the whole truth, you can't deny it. We have a good friendship now and I would like to keep it that way. To the rest of you reading this - Sorry it has been a long blog! But I had to write it down. This is more "journal entry" than public blog ha ha. So now you all know how I came to realise that "Love Is Not Just A Feeling!!!"

10 Random Things About Me...

Ok, nothing really worth blogging about has happened in the last few days so I thought I would tell you a few more things about me.

1) First and foremost, God has blessed me and my awesome family abundantly and I am forever thankful for the cool life He has given me.
2) I speak Welsh, English, and bits of Italian, Greek and French. My aim is to be fluent in these last three then I'll be happy. But who knows... I love learning languages so much that I might not stop there!
3) I think I may have a slight case of OCD because everything has to be tidy/clean/sorted/organised or I go into a cleaning frenzy. For example, I CANNOT settle down to write or read if my room is a mess, it has to be cleaned from top to bottom first. In the case of my MA work though, this could also be labelled as procrastination! Plus, I make lists for absolutely everything!
4) I have lived in only one country all my life but I have visited 9 other countries: England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Austria, and Belgium.
5) I'm a true optimist and I make the best out of bad situations. I think even the bad stuff happens for a reason and it's all part of the Master Plan. There isn't often a time you go through a bad patch and come out the other end having learnt nothing from it. Usually you are wiser and stronger which are better qualities for a person, so the bad thing was in fact good for you.
6) People who think they are superior to others REALLY get on my nerves. We're all the same haven't you noticed? Just little human beings in this big wide galaxy... and beyond. Maybe this is why I really can't stand celebrities.
7) I'm a better friend to guys than girlfriend. Maybe it's because I've grown up with two older brothers and I love cars and football (Chelsea rule the world, might I add here?Haha!). My close male friends look out for me and protect me and are there for me like brothers - though they generally just treat me as one of the lads.
8) I need my own space more than I feel the need to be around people. I love my room in Uni because I can just lock my door and it's MY room where I can be on my own and do my own things.
9) I have been playing the piano since I was 7 years old, the violin since I was 11 and the flute since I was 13. I also have a guitar which I'm going to teach myself how to play. I also played the bassoon for a few months but had to give up because my fingers were too small to reach the notes. I would love to learn the saxophone in the future.
10) I really love reading, writing, cooking, watching movies, listening to an Irish accent, fancy dress parties...and I really love life in general.

Travelling, Subscription Feeds and Hard Drives...

I would LOVE to travel Europe in this! Ha ha ok, maybe not painted in this way... I'd quite like a lilac one to be honest :-) I really can't wait to go travelling. Further blogs will undoubtedly be dedicated to my dreams and aspirations of travelling the world... especially as the time gets nearer and nearer. But for now, that's all they are - dreams. In between doing essays I love looking at travel websites and other people's travel blogs. Karina's blog Wanderlusting is a great one by the way if you're looking for travel blogs to read as well.

I've discovered that army surplus sites are really good for practical items that one may need while travelling and of course they are compact and surprisingly cheap. I mean things like little camping stoves and folding cutlery and waterproof ground sheets etc etc. I also like buying books about travel and gap years so that I can read them before I go in order to somewhat prepare myself. Although I know that many of you who have been travelling will advise me at this point that you can't really prepare yourself for travel by reading about it - you just need to GO and experience it for yourself... and I will! In time ha ha.

In other news, I'm trying to get the hang of this "feeds" thing. I usually just click on my favourite blogs at the side, usually once a day, to see if they have posted anything new. But I guess this feed thing will save a lot of time if I can read all the new posts in one place. Not that I'm fishing for readers, but... subscribe to mine pleeeeease! Ha ha. Just kidding.

Oh and in other other news, I'm searching for an external hard drive to plug into my computer. Mainly to be used as a back up disc since my precious laptop is now four years old and I'd be devastated if it dies on me and I've lost four years worth of music, photos, uni work, and all the other crap (but very important crap) that i've accumulated over the years. I started to put stuff onto discs but then realised I'd probably need about 63 million discs (ok slight exaggeration) to store all the stuff I have on here at the moment. I've been looking on Ebay and there are some promising possibilities for purchases but I'm not completely "up" on all the computer jargon and I'd probably get ripped off somehow or other. If anyone knows loads about computers, ideas/suggestions would be really helpful... I'll keep you updated!

A desperate attempt...

... to change my links on the right hand side! They're always all about essay writing or finding love! Just for the record, there is more to my life than my essays (even though it doesn't exactly feel like it at the moment) and to be perfectly honest I'm extremely happy being single right now. So come on you Google people, crawl my site again and list some links to the stuff I'm really interested in! Maybe these key words will help: Travel, philosophy, religion, culture, politics, movies, music, different cuisines, good wines, books, reading, fashion, technology etc etc etc... :-)