Tag: The Soundtrack to My Life

I saw this on Sharon’s blog and knew I had to do it myself!

Song You Listen to When Happy
Really depends on what I’m in the mood for! Like Sharon, I’m enjoying Bang Bang by Jessie J & co., every time I hear Shake It Off played at work, it puts me into a good mood! Motown is using pretty good, 80s are a really good bet for me in case you didn’t get that from the music meme I did way back when on this blog! Rio by Duran Duran to name but one song.


Song You Listen to When Sad
Songs from A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay, Elton John (Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word), certain Beatles songs (Eleanor Rigby, Yesterday, In My Life), Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Not that I don’t enjoy these when happy either.


What song will you have at your wedding?
I’ve never really been set on certain songs to play at my wedding, it hasn’t crossed my mind that much. Bar one song that I love and don’t wish to divulge here!


What song do you dance around the house to?
Stick on pretty much any Michael Jackson and I’ll dance. Especially Blame It On the Boogie and Rockin’ Robin (complete with chicken dance moves). Actually make that pretty much any disco. Also Let’s Dance by David Bowie, Twist and Shout by The Beatles, Bye Bye Bye by N Sync, Tightrope by Janelle Monae, I did a great rendition of Proud Mary by Tina Turner just before Christmas while tidying the house and packing!



Song You Play on Your Headphones When Out and About
I have a playlist called Happy and I put it on shuffle, it’s songs that make feel good. Most, if not all, the songs already listed are on there, as well as a mix of songs like I Turn to You by Mel C, Madness songs, Dance Wiv Me by Dizzee Rascal, Toxic by Britney Spears, Micheal by Franz Ferdinand, I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor by Arctic Monkeys, Rip It Up by Little Richard, Greenlight by Beyonce, I could go on and go!


Song You Listen to When Angry
I probably go to rock, something that I can thrash away to. First It Giveth by Queens of the Stoneage helps to diffuse anger in me. I also like Winter by Vivaldi, it’s the violins. If I could play the violin I’d play this when angry and channel all my anger into that.


Song That Makes You Lose Your Shit at a Party
Hmmm, I can’t think of the last time I was out in a situation with this! I do remember however Gasolina by Daddy Yankee being one of those ‘OMG!!!’ moments at my secondary school graduation, due to a friend and me hearing it in London a few months earlier, not hearing it ever back home until that moment and running to find each other on the dance floor to go ‘OMG, IT’S THAT SONG!!’



The Last Song You Listened To
I put on a random Michael Jackson playlist when I started this post, starting off with Blame It On The Boogie. Currently on though is Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson.


Song You Want to See Live
I’m not a massive concert goer, I’ve been to a few before and while I’ve enjoyed them I haven’t been to one in years and years. I would love to go to a Madness concert though, I grew up listening to them thanks to Mum and I think it would just be a great concert to go to. On the flip side, I’d also like to see Prodigy live but my boyfriend reckons that I’d never cope at one, I’d be jostled around and I’d be miserable!


Your Karaoke Song
Wake Me Up by Wham! J-j-j-jitterbug!

What songs do you work out to?
I used to have a playlist on my phone with songs but it got wiped. I do like dancey stuff actually, which is surprising as I’m not a massive dance genre fan. Things like Hey Boy Hey Girl by Chemical Brothers, Adagio For Strings by Tiesto, Prodigy songs, Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal.


Song with most memories attached
You can’t help but attach memories to songs. There’s is no one song that holds the most memories. Toxic reminds me of being in Prague on school tour in TY, Monster by The Automatic reminds me of being at Oxegen music festival in 2006, It’s Raining Men by Geri Halliwell reminds me of my 1st year school tour, Tipsy by J Kwon of my 18th birthday party, Maneater of the debs, SOS by Rihanna of dancing on the bed with a friend after a night out in college, Bright Lights Bigger City by Ceelo Green  of driving to early every morning to my first proper job after college, Never Enough by Roisin Murphy reminds me of the day I handed in my final year dissertation, Uptown Girl cover by Westlife reminds me of when my sister was born. I could go on and on and on! If I was to attach an album though to memories, it would be 2002 in London staying with my Nana, going to my cousin’s confirmation and watching Ireland play in World Cup and that album is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.



Song that Makes You Cry
Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It was played at my cousin’s funeral 7 years ago and it still tugs at my heart to this day and brings tears to my eyes. Danny Boy and Brown Eyed Girl always have the same effect. Annie’s Song by John Denver makes me well up as well for some reason.


Guilty Pleasure Song
No such thing. NO SUCH THING AS A GUILTY PLEASURE! If you want me to list songs that fall under cheesy, then I’ll go with bands I liked from childhood to teenage years, like Spice Girls, S Club 7, Steps, Vengaboys, you get the picture! Still enjoy listening to them to this day.

Zigazigah!

Favourite Song from a Musical
Again, no such thing as just one favourite! Love the entire Chicago soundtrack, as well as the Annie one too. There’s Singin’ in the Rain, El Tango de Roxanne from Moulin Rouge, My Favourite Things from The Sound of Music, Electricity from Billy Elliot, Hey Big Spender from Sweet Charity, Part of My World from The Little Mermaid (I’m counting Disney films!).


Song by an Irish Artist
Seeing as I don’t listen to Irish radio anymore, I’m not really up to date with Irish bands. I do still really like Encore by Wallis Bird though, such a rousing song.

Favourite Song to Play on an Instrument
I can’t remember the name but I loved playing a ballad song on the tin whistle, I could make it sound quite melancholy. I should pick up the tin whistle again really or learn to play another instrument.


Song You Hate the Most
Still hate those Coronas songs, as well as that ‘I got soul but I’m not a soldier’ bollox by The Killers


Your Favourite Song of All Time
Don’t have one. Can’t pin it down to one, no way. I love most of the songs mentioned here and many more. I will say though, I love so many different covers of I Put a Spell on You. Screaming Jay Hawkins, Nina Simone, Bette Midler in Hocus Pocus, Annie Lennox, and Tim Curry. I’m sure if I looked up more versions on YouTube I’d like them too!

Please feel free to do this post if you’re interested, I always love seeing posts like this myself!

2014: A Look Back

I was going to do a similar post to Louise’s, going through each month and picking out the things I’ve done. But seeing as I did a monthly recap, I thought doing a post like that would just be a recap of the recaps! I did however want to reflect on the year that was 2014.

It was, like many years, a year of highs and lows. But this time it was different due to living a different country. This is the first time since 1990 that I’ve spent an entire year not living in Ireland, having moved there in 1991. The move was scary but exciting, something that I wanted to definitely try but being a homebird just made it that slightly bit harder for me, as I would often ache to be home. Before getting a job, I found myself slipping into a lonely and dark place at times. I had no friends, my boyfriend was often at work until 10 in the evening,depending on his shift, I had no real reason to leave the house unless it was to go to the library, as I had no money or no one to spend time with. Luckily there was one person I knew when I moved here, a neighbour of my boyfriend’s from back home in Ireland. EG and her boyfriend met up with us and helped so much, so thank you thank you! In February I decided I needed to get out of the house more and so joined a local knitting group. These girls have been the best, I clicked instantly with them and they’ve become great friends. I look forward to knitting every time it’s on, it’s given me something to look forward to and has helped with my creativity too. So thank you Sarah, Amy and all the other girls (who I’m not naming on here by name, like most other people, purely because I don’t know if they’d like to be named, not because I don’t appreciate them!).

Like I said before, I’m a homebird and I have a big family I’m close to. I’m lucky to have some family members close to me here. My uncle and his wife don’t live far and have been very kind to me and my boyfriend, meeting up with us and offering their help. I have a brother in London, who I talk to on a nearly daily basis and have seen several times. I have various cousins in London who have let me stay with them, offered advice and just been there if needed. I now also have another cousin and her boyfriend who is living in Manchester, we’ve met twice since November and no doubt will meet many other times this year. It’s just really nice to have that extra person in my friend circle and someone from home too. And of course there’s been the family that have not been around me physically, my parents, siblings and other family members back home, who have been so so encouraging, supportive in many different ways and while it breaks my heart to leave whenever I visit, I just love going home to see them all. So to all my family (and I include my boyfriend’s family in this too), thank you so so much.

Speaking of those not physically near me, there’s my friend’s from back home who have just been so amazing. Especially KS, my closest friend, who has just been there whenever I need her. They say a great friendship is just being able to click back into place whenever you have not seen each other in a long time and that just happens with us all the time. It’s like I haven’t gone and I love how stepping into her family’s homes still feels like it has throughout the years, like stepping into the house of my second family. Thank you KS and family, for everything over the years. And to all my other school friends who have been there over the year. This year has been a special year to us, having lost a friend 10 years ago, but here we are, ten years later and still friends, despite now being scattered around the place. Having dinner together over Christmas was so much fun, I just loved how things were the same, all the laughter and memories we have together. Here’s to another 10 years!

And if I’m talking about friends not being physically around me, then I can’t forget my ‘internet friends’. To Sharon, Chloe and Roisin especially, thank you for being such great friends. Despite not having met you (yet!), I consider you some of my closest friends. Ye are so kind and encouraging and I love reading your posts and Tweets. Another set of internet friends are my LoSo ones, a group of ladies I’ve known from a forum for over ten years now. They remain some of the most interesting, funny, supportive and exceptionally kind people, who have listened to my thoughts and problems over the years and have encouraged me all the way. Thank you lovely LoSo ladies! Other new people this year include people who I met at the Pinterest event (Anyonita being my baking partner and fellow blogger from Manchester), the new bloggers I discovered from Rosalilum’s BEDM, the #bookbloggers and the bloggers I met at various other events, including Plastic Rosaries, Miss Pond, Prorebel, Lily Kitten, Susan Styles You, Painted Nails and Baking Scales, Of Beauty and Nothingness and many others. And of course, last but not least, Rebecca from The Lucky Rainbow! Talking about clicking instantly, the first time we met we stayed over 6 hours chatting to each other! It was so so exciting to find an Irish person in a similar position to me and I can’t wait to meet you more this year!

To my boyfriend, who I’ve been with for 9 years. This move has been tough at times on us, but we’ve stuck together and worked things out. He’s been a rock of support for me, in some many ways, and I don’t think I would have survived a move abroad if I hadn’t made it with him. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally to myself. Ok, so I’m not going to thank myself really, but there has been so much growth this year. Despite this being tough on me emotionally and mentally at times, I have also grown in confidence, learnt new things about myself and have started to be less harsh on myself. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, maybe it’s because I watched a lot of Rupaul’s Drag Race (thanks Amy!), but I’m beginning not to see myself as an enemy, but as a friend. Here’s hoping 2015 will be another interesting year!

Throw Back Thursday

I’m taking a break from the TBT Nails for this week as I wanted to do another TBT kind of post. When I was at home last month, I discovered a bunch of things that I had kept from over the years and thought this might be a fun post to do. I did a similar kind of post when I first moved out of home and went through all my junk (you can find that one here).

Page from a kids Filofax Activity thing

I used to love these kinds of things, where you could fill in all your favourites. I have no idea when this is from to be honest, but I had at first listed Jumanjii as my favourite film but crossed it out for Greece (ha, I totally meant Grease! My spelling is so bad here). I had Robin Williams listed as my favourite actor (even before his death earlier this week I was going to do this post and when I remembered this page after I heard the news it made me feel even sadder. He was a massive part of my childhood, of some many people’s childhoods, and some of his films are still my absolute favourites. I could go on but if there’s one thing we can take away from all this is that mental health is still such an important thing to talk about). I had Brookside listed as my favourite TV programme! What kind of kid was I?!

 

Tapes

 

On the left is the Grease soundtrack (well, couldn’t have it as my favourite film without having the soundtrack!), with the bonus songs of Blame it on the Boogie and Canned Heat at the end of the tape to fill up the space! On the left is one of my oldest tapes, the second tape in a Disney compilation that I got one Christmas off my uncle to go with the cassette player I got that year. I think I was 7? No idea where the first tape is though, which is a shame.

 

Selection of Old Nokias

If there was a nuclear war, you can be damn sure there would be Nokias still intact! Before my current iPhone (which was my mother’s phone before I got it), all I owned were Nokias. These are all of them except my very first one, Nokia 3310, which I sold after I got the one on the far right, which was my very first camera phone. After that one went, I got the middle one which lasted me 4 years before upgrading to the one on the left. I still own a Nokia for my English number though I should really swap my phones around.

 

Barbie Postcard

         

This was sent by a cousin who lives in London, before her summer holidays over in Ireland. From the address on the postcard, I would date this around 2000.

 

Lemony Snickett Print

My sister printed this off and slipped it under my bedroom door one day. Not creepy or sinister at all….

 

2003 Elle Diary

 

 

Oh to be young again! I used this diary to fill in things that I did so I could remember and I’m glad I did. It shows so many things, like my first time meeting friends (including my boyfriend of 9 years!), all the fun things I did with these friends (cinema, discos, hanging out with each other), serious things like my Nana dying and the things pictured above (Justin Timberlake concert, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book release and my Junior Cert results). It filled with fond, fond memories.

 

Christmas Card from 1998

                                 

While I still have a lot of cards and stuff that I got from primary school (specifically this year, as it was my last year there before moving), I don’t know why this wasn’t with the others, packed away in storage. Perhaps because of the way my name was spelt wrong?! (seriously people, it’s not that hard!)

 

Favourite and Least Favourite Colour Sweet

In Transition Year, I decided to survey my friends on their favourite and least favourite sweet colour (what a barrel of laughs I am!). It was probably sparked by an argument with some friend over which was best. Here’s the results below.

Colour	Favourite	Least Favourite
Purple/Black	5	4
Red	6	1
Green	5	2
Yellow	2	4
Orange	3	2

Red seems to be most popular, with the purple/black the most polarizing. My favourite is green and yellow is least favourite. It would be interesting to see if anyone has changed their minds! I know I didn’t.

It’s so amazing what you can discover when doing a proper clean out! What have you found when spring cleaning?

My Favourite Museums for Museum Day #BEDM

I love museums. There is always something for everyone, so there is no excuse to call them boring. The first time I remember going to a museum was when my aunt brought me to the Natural History Museum when I was 8. I just remember being in sheer awe at the dinosaurs on display. And the real life sized replica of a blue whale. Though my favourite section was the gemstones display, all the pretty, shiny stones. I was especially impressed with my birthstone, the opal!

I’m going to write about a few of the museums I’ve been to over the years, some with pictures. I’m also going to put my want-to-visit list at the end too.

1. Museum Row, South Kensington, London

Museum Row has something for everyone. You have the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum. It’s the perfect location if there’s a big group of you with different interests. The fashion section in the V&A is my favourite, I love looking at all the garments. And I once saw an exhibition there featuring Penguin Books and their covers which was amazing. Best thing about all three of these are they are free!

2. British Museum, London

Last year was the first time I went to the British Museum. I was actually supposed to go there with my aunt but it was closed or something the day we got there so she took me to Natural History Museum. This museum has loads of different artefacts that most people will recognize by names. The Rosetta Stone, an Egyptian mummy and an Easter Island head are some of the things to see there. This one is also free.

3. London Transport Museum, Covent Garden, London

This museum is one for people who, like me, are fascinated with the Underground! I’ve been here three times. You have to pay for a ticket but that ticket is then valid for a year, which is great if you live in London or visit often as the exhibitions sometimes change. I saw an exhibition last year about poster designs for the Tube, which was amazing. You can also step back in time and step into old fashioned Omnibuses, old Tube carriages or sit in the driver seat of a bus.

              

4. British Film Museum, Covent Garden, London

Just around the corner from the London Transport Museum is the British Film Museum. It’s a small one but I loved it. Free entry, you can see loads of different props from famous British films. The Spice Girls Union Flag Mini was my favourite! There was also this film reel showing clips of different films set in London, that highlighted the diversity of the city.

5. The Beatles Experience, Liverpool

This is a must see for any Beatles fan, but even if you’re not a huge fanatic, you might still enjoy this. There’s so much to see there, but my favourite (besides being in a Yellow Submarine) was some of the memorabilia. Beatles tights anyone?!

6. Museum of Brands and Packing, Notting Hill, London

This museum is amazing! I really loved it and raved to people after. It takes you through the history of packaging and advertising from the Victorian era to present times. Then there’s sections where they take certain brands and lay out their packaging from the beginning to current times, like Coca-Cola and Johnson’s Baby Powder, it was great to see the subtle changes in packaging. There’s also a section on different products in other countries (like the crazy flavours of drinks you can get in Japan) as well as a section on the idea of copyright and how own label things often try and mimic the packaging and names of the branded item (like instead of Penguin bars, having something like Puffin bars). This is a trip down memory lane, packed full of things to look at. Well worth it!

Ok, I could go on and on about museums I’ve been to. I mentioned here that I was recently at the Museum of Science and Industry here in Manchester but I barely had time to look around as we got there pretty late. I’ve been to many a museum in Ireland, including Bunratty Castle, Craggaunowen, King John’s Castle, A Day in the Bog, West Clare Railway, Titanic Experience, Dysert O Dea Castle to name but a few I remember! I haven’t actually been to any in Dublin, at least not off the top of my head (and if you don’t count Guinness Storehouse, which I actually think does count).

And here’s my museum wish-list, things I want to go to in Ireland and UK. I thought the list would be too long if I included other countries as well!

1. Dino-Snores for Grown Ups

This is an event at the Natural History Museum which is a sleepover for adults in the museum. You get to sleep under the dinosaurs! It’s packed full of events and fun things to do and I just think it sounds fantastic!

2. Baked Bean Museum of Excellence

I mean, how can you not want to go to this?! I read about it in a book that I reviewed here, where the author goes around the UK to quirky interesting museums. As a bean lover, this has interested me!

3. The Old Operating Theatre Museum

This one is fascinating. Built in the garret of St. Thomas’s Church, Southwark, there used to be a hospital attached next door, where the garret connected to. When the hospital moved in 1862, the garret laid unused until discovered in 1957. It’s the oldest surviving operating theatre in London (1822), has a big herb garden as well as various old instruments inside.

4. V&A Museum of Childhood

This V&A museum is situated in Bethnal Green. There’s currently an exhibition on there that ends June, so unfortunately I won’t see it, but it’s a cabinet of all toys confiscated by teachers in school. There’s also an exhibition on Jacqueline Wilson, which my inner child would love to see!

5. Crime Museum (Black Museum)

Museum of crime at Scotland Yard, featuring all sorts of grizzly items and artefacts. Famous murderers, Jack the Ripper, Notorious Poisoners. Unfortunately, though while this sounds fascinating (to me anyway), it’s not open to the public. Boo. There is however a police museum in Manchester that I will be checking out at some stage!

6. Wellcome Collection

The website says it’s a ‘free destination for the incurably curious’. Sounds like my kind of place! I became interested in going here when I saw an exhibit by them in the British Museum. Also along this vein is the Hunterian Museum, set in the Royal College of Surgeons, which I think would be interesting too.

7. British Lawnmower Museum

Another museum that was mentioned in the book I read about odd museums, though I had heard of it before. In 2007, I was at a wedding around that area and my aunt said she was interested in going. Unfortunately we never went but it’s been stuck in my head since!

Look, I could blab on and on about museums, the ones I’ve been to and the ones I want to go to. But I’ll leave it here for now. Have you been to any of the ones above? Have I skipped anything interesting? Let me know below!

My Favourite Decade #BEDM

I actually didn’t see this topic the first time I looked through them all and had planned to write something else today but I read over all the topics the other day and thought ‘How on earth did I miss this? It’s right up my alley!’.

I had debated doing the 90’s, as that’s the decade I mainly grew up in and it would be full of nostalgia. But I knew that if I asked anyone what my favourite decade was, they’d look at me crazy and say ‘Why are you even asking, the 80s of course!’.

Ah, the 80s. I must admit I have a soft spot for it. I do love a lot of 80s things. And of course my childhood through the 90s was influenced from time to time by the 80s. Like these toys.

      

And this awesome keyboard with an even more awesome demo! I think Wake Me Up by Wham! is one of my all time favourites and this keyboard is probably why! Other 80s music I like include Duran Duran, Madonna, Bananarama, Blondie, Elton John, Jimmy Sommerville to name but a few!

The 80s produced two of my favourite films. One that I was obsessed with during the 80s (The Little Mermaid, apparently I used to watch it on video at least once a day) and one that I discovered much later (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off). Special shout out to the Annie movie too, I still love that!

     

The 80s crept into my reading when I was child, as I particularly love the Sweet Valley series by Francine Pascal. If you haven’t read Red Lemonade’s Sweet Valley Revisited, I highly suggest you do. The first few books have been reviewed and they are very funny.

Of course, you can’t mention the 80s without talking about the fashion! Yes, some of it was truly awful but a lot of it is very popular right now. Especially jelly shoes, they are a big trend for this summer.

 

Primark jelly heel; Forever 21 nailing jelly shoes with another 80s classic, neon

Primark also has a lot of kitchy t-shirts featuring 80s favourites like My Little Pony and Carebears. Though it’s not just high street fashion that’s currently loving the 80s. Crimped hair was spotted on the runway of Giorgio Armani for AW 2014.

     

Primark outfit; Giorgio Armani AW 2014

I could wax lyrical for hours about all things 80s. Rubik's cubes, androgyny, men wearing make up, shoulder pads, the crazy make up, Girl Just Wanna Have Fun, jelly bracelets, legwarmers, Super Mario Brothers. I’ll leave you with this picture of me dancing with a friend at an 80s party I once helped organize.

Things that Kids Won’t Know

Call cards

Or even phone boxes in general! I don’t think I ever got to own call cards myself, however I used to love seeing as the new ones that came out, with bands and films on it. So what do you do if you stacks of these at home? Well, you could do what my boyfriend’s brother did, which was arrange them into a frame and make it into art!

Dialling tones to Internet

Imagine having to sit through this bloody thing while waiting for the internet to connect?! Seems like an alien concept these days (while the tone itself sounds like aliens). Though, upon searching for this video, I came across this dubstep remix of the tone. So maybe kids these days do know this tone!

Using a pencil to wind a cassette tape

Oh the humanity of it all! In case you’ve forgotten about this yourself, here’s a handy article on WikiHow on How To Manually Rewind a Cassette Tape.

Walkman

Speaking of cassettes, what about Walkman? I’m sure they don’t even remember Discman (oh, the conundrum of trying to walk and listen to one of these!). Though all this talk of cassettes reminds me of when this happened to me

Blowing into a Nintendo game to get it to work

Ah yes, we all knew how to fix a Super Nintendo that was buggy. None of us remember where we heard this advice though. And it turns out it actually BAD for the cartridges as it blows in moisture and can damage it! I’m shaking my head at 9 year old me for doing this.

This sound

Ah, the sweet, sweet sound of the PlayStation 1 starting up! About 2 years ago I managed to snag a PS1 in a charity shop along with controllers and some games for 10 Euro! There’s so many more games I want to get though that I’m missing (Spyro Games and Crash Team Racing come to mind!). Must start looking on eBay really. I envy people who kept their PS1 games (and their SNES! I really really want one!)

Floppy disks

Floppy disks eh? I remember using them in TY to save documents, 8-9 years ago. Though to be fair, they were ‘going out of fashion’ then, for our Coca-Cola Futuristic Fashion entry, we used the plastic shells as armoury.

Den TV

Zig and Zag! Dustin! Ray D’Arcy fighting with Ted! Podge and Rodge and their evil antics around Halloween! And let’s not forget the programmes. Bosco, Echo Island, Draw With Don, The Disney Club. TV just isn’t as good these days.

Prizes in Cereal

Seriously, these are either non-existent these days or just plain shite. Ah, the fights to be the one who got the prize! More pictures here at The Daily Edge.

I could go on and on and on but I won’t. What would you add to this list?

Childs Play (Your Inner Child)

I watched the above video on YouTube last week and it really struck a chord with me. It’s all about the games we’d play as children, the silly things we did to entertain ourselves. And I realised that it wasn’t something I did when I was younger but it’s still something I do from time to time!

The video opens with games the narrator and his sister used to play in the car. I did these too, both of them. I used to ‘chop’ all the hedges and trees to the same height. Or failing that I’d pretend someone was travelling beside the car, doing somersaults and flips on all the objects so they wouldn’t touch the ground. I still do this when I’m a passenger in a car.

And while I no longer try to stop a stopwatch on the exact ‘perfect’ time, I do try and get my petrol pump to stop at the exact number!

To entertain myself going down the street, I would try not step in cracks, limit myself to 2 steps per pavement stone and balance along the curb. I’ve been known to do the balance thing when walking back to a friends house after a night out! When I was around 7 I would also walk across the top of my closed gate, something I don’t think I’d try do now!

I would run and (unsuccessfully) try to touch leaves and other things at heights, try to successfully predict when the light will turn green, hold my breath will going through a tunnel (something my boyfriend and I still do to this day!).

I would get the sweeping brush, line it up against the couch so it was at an angle and try and walk up it! I would turn off the light at night and try to run into my bed as quick as I could so the monsters wouldn’t ‘get’ me. I used to tuck my teddies in with blankets so they wouldn’t get cold. I used to sleep my head under the covers as I was afraid that people such as my teachers had a secret view into my bedroom at night! (that one is quite weird I admit!). And I wouldn’t let my feet out of the bed covers in case they got eaten.

And then we come to the classic ‘Don’t Touch the Lava’. It’s funny as I was playing this game last month in the Burren with two friends of mine!

This has reminded me of how many of the ‘games’ I still play and it makes me happy, as I think it’s important to be in touch with your inner child from time to time. But it’s also reminded me of how fearless you can be as a child. I used to walk across my closed gate when I was 7-8 and I was never afraid to do so. Now I don’t time I’d have the courage to try that! I would hop up on skateboards and the likes without fear. Now I see my younger siblings zipping around on whip sticks and yet when I’ve tried to go on them, I get straight off as it’s terrifying! It makes me sad how much fearless we become as we grow older and release responsibilities and other things like that. It’s certainly necessary but I hope I can tap into my inner child when I need it, to help me relax and play when things become to serious or too stressful. I suppose that’s the good thing about having younger siblings (or for some people nieces and nephews, children, grandchildren), they are great to be silly around!

Do you play any of these games? And how do you stay in contact with your inner child?

Memories and Music: The Bee Gees

It’s been ages since I’ve done a post like this. My last one was the Lauryn Hill one. I’ve been meaning to do for ages but just never got around to it. Until now, when on Twitter I saw the sad news that Robin Gibb from The Bee Gees had passed away. That’s the second big music loss this week, the first being the passing away of Donna Summer. So since I’m now listening to Bee Gee songs, I felt compelled to write about my memories and experiences.

I can’t remember the first time I ever heard The Bee Gees. My Mum used to have a vinyl of theirs and she recorded some of the songs from it onto a cassette tape (the other side had some Kristy McColl songs). It was one of the staple tapes she had for car journeys (along with Elton John and Jimmy Sommerville!). Because it was recorded from a vinyl, the sound was low and scratchy but I still enjoyed listening to it (most of the time anyway! Sometimes we used to beg to listen to the radio for more modern songs!). Only recently my boyfriend said ‘I didn’t know Massachusetts was a Bee Gees song!’ which shocked me as how could you not know it was one of their songs?!

When we were in the house we used to play the vinyl, often when my older cousins were babysitting and we used to dance around to the upbeat songs (one favourite was You Should Be Dancing). The Bee Gees were still release songs when I was that age, NOW 36 was one of my first CDs and their song Alone was on it.

Even if I hadn’t heard any Bee Gees as a child, I couldn’t help but be surrounded by cover versions as a child and a teenager. One of the first songs I ever remember recording off the radio (ah, those were the days!) was How Deep Is Your Love by Take That. I still love both versions of that song. The of course there was the Boyzone cover of Words (Used to love the video to it!), 911 version of More Than A Woman (I remember listening to late night radio and falling asleep to that!), Steps version of Tragedy (I bought the single and I knew the dance!), Jimmy Sommerville’s version of To Love Somebody, I Started a Joke by The Wallflowers (from the Zoolander soundtrack). There just a handful of covers done out of the Bee Gees back catalogue. All the versions I mentioned were ones that I listened to regularly.

The Bees Gees were more than a band though. They also wrote loads of songs for other people. The ones that are closest to me are Chain Reaction for Diana Ross, for which they sang backing vocals for. Though the Steps cover version was probably how I first came across that song! Emotion by Destiny’s Child was also another one written by them, Islands in The Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton and Grease by Frankie Valli. This is my favourite song from Grease, I used to rewind the beginning of the VHS just so I could watch the beginning and listen to it again. And while we’re talking about films (and John Travolta ones at that!), how can you not mention Saturday Night Fever?! A bunch of Bee Gees (among others) rolled into one film with fabulous costumes and awesome dancing! Here’s a link to the iconic opening scene to Stayin’ Alive.

This Christmas gone by my siblings and I bought my aunt a Greatest Hits of Bee Gee songs. Which resulted in us all dancing around the kitchen to the music. And me doing gymnastic routines to Tragedy with the gymnastic ribbon my sister got as a present (best present ever!).

Thanks to Glee, a whole new generation have been introduced to Bee Gee songs. I hope they are inspired to go search out the originals. For more info on cover versions, go here, all of them are listed. I’ve added links to all the songs mentioned above (cover version links are under the name of the artist covering the song, the original versions are linked in the name of the song). There’s no denying that the Bee Gees have left an incredibly legacy and I’m grateful for all the memories they have given me.

Facebook Flashback

I recently changed my Facebook to timeline. I was waiting (and dreading) Facebook changing it themself but when I realised it would be a great chance to look over some of the things I’ve said and remember fun times, I changed it myself. And my how much did I laugh?! I spent a good chunk one Sunday reading through it and taking some screen shots of funnier things. I have too much to post in one go so I’ll probably do a series of posts.

My first ever status update. Note the date, St. Patrick’s Day. No alcohol was consumed that day as it was smack bang in the middle of my 3rd year exams, I had sat an exam the day before and had one the day after. I took a break to take my Manx housemate out to celebrate and watch the parade and had to beg the barman to put some green dye into my 7-Up after he had put it in her beer. Later we baked cupcakes, coloured green for the day that was in it and after consuming so much food dye, I was in quite a hyper mood!

 

The reaction by the person I was travelling with is the funniest thing about this. I had just started my work experience that week and seeing as it was a Bank Holiday weekend, we got to leave early. My housemate was driving us back across the country to our ‘home’ homes when we stopped half way and ordered food in McDonalds. Just as my housemate bit into her burger I remembered it was Good Friday and shouted it out loud. The look on my housemates face was PRICELESS! You’d swear I had just told her that if she eats that burger puppies and kittens would die. While I’m not too religious and probably would have ordered the same thing had I remembered it was Good Friday, she was slightly more religious and wouldn’t have ordered it at all. In the end we ate the burgers as we figured God wouldn’t want us to waste food!

 

And that’s exactly what I did. With the curtains closed so no one would judge me. I know you’re jealous you didn’t think of this yourself!! (I bought a red one for anyone who is interested).

 

I should have added *FACEPALM* to the end of that status. I have my ditzy moments at times!

 

I don’t know how they do it but every time I see a JML ad, I want the product. Thankfully I don’t have a credit card, otherwise I’d have rooms full of pens that could write upside down, pet grooming tools, Shamwows and and Toastabags (and yes, I know this comes after something I just wrote about a Snuggie! Though I bought the Penneys version!).

 

That man started walking down the same aisle as my boyfriend and I and then swiftly turned around as I pretty much shouted ‘OMG, they have strawberry Ribena. STRAWBERRY!! WOOOOO!’ and did a dance in the middle of Tesco to celebrate.

 

Three years on, nothing much has changed. I should probably start wearing strapless bras when I go out!

 

I totally regret not buying this when I saw it! Oh the fun that would have been had! If I ever see it again, I will know it’s destiny and buy it straight away.