Thanks Neil!

Well hello!

Thanks to a certain blog post by a certain curly-haired author my blog has seen a lot of page views from across the pond.

So that was pretty amazing, I love the internet!

I've been spending my days finising The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and although it was over too quickly I really enjoyed it. I could really relate to the main character surrounding himself with books as a child; it got me thinking about my own childhood.

I loved reading about the adventures of the Famous Five and their dog Timmy - one of my main ambitions back then was to have an exciting adventure! My ultimate favourite though, was The Chronicles of Narnia. I spent a lot of time trying to get there through the back of my grandparents dusty old wardrobe!

Ocean is a fun read, lots of mystical things going on, oh and cats! What's not to like about pulling up a cat from the ground like a carrot? (Bet that sounds odd if you haven't read it yet, you should).

Ever since going to the signing at Ely, I've been feeling a more inspired to write up a story idea I had. Funnily enough as a child I used to love to write, I did it all of the time, but as I've got older it almost feels like I've forgotten how.

The story is about a man who finds a strange coral crown washed up on the sea shore, and a one-eyed raggedy seagull. I'll post it here when I work up the courage to write it, I know it probably won't be that good as a first attempt but I'll give it a go.

Meeting Neil Gaiman at Ely Cathedral!

Well, I'm back in sunny Stoke-on-trent now after a fun weekend of exploring Cambridge and Gaiman-ing in Ely.

The boyfriend and I stayed in Cambridge Central Travelodge (stay classy), and were very happy to see that there was a Nando's AND a Pizza Hut within metres of the hotel.. yay! We both had a great time exploring Cambridge, it's a really picturesque city. It has a cool vibe; there's loads of nice coffee shops and cafes and people cycle everywhere.. very european.

We also had a stroll around St. John's college - which is basically Hogwarts. Here's a fun fact for you, apparently fellows of the college are the only people outside the Royal Family legally allowed to eat unmarked mute swans.. nice!

The swans left long ago..

Next stop was Ely, which I was surprised to find out was actually pronounced eel-y - on account of all of the eel fishing that they did there, makes sense.

We headed on over to Topping and Co book shop, where the very helpful staff gave us our tickets to the signing and informed us that they were expecting around a thousand people to turn up! With a train to catch later on we decided to get in the queue early.

We spent around 2 hours waiting, but it was quite fun to sit and people watch in the sunshine. Got in a bit of reading of Ocean at the End of the Lane too, and was happy to see that there were cats in the story! Before we knew it, it was time to go inside.

Ely cathedral is a beautfiul old building and a great atmosphere for the signing, complete with bats flitting around! Neil came out and answered some questions put to him by the audience, he was really funny and interesting to listen to. Someone asked what he thought about people thinking he was odd, and he said that he sees himself as normal and the rest of the world as odd! He did a reading of Ocean, and his new children's book Fortunately, the Milk and was really good at bringing the stories to life, doing different accents and everything.

Afterwards as we were in the first 100 people we got to meet him pretty quickly. As we were waiting we had to write down our names, and what we wanted our signed dedications to be and I went with "something about cats!"

Was really nervous but Neil was very friendly and made the effort to chat to everyone. Kudos to him as I think he was there pretty late "signing until my hand falls off." I said that I liked cats, so he drew me a "bat-cat" which was pretty awesome!

My boyfriend is a writer, and Neil remembered reading one of his stories on twitter and even shook his hand. We were really chuffed at the end of it all, and it was a brilliant end to our trip.

Back again!

So, I'm going to try and be more regular with my blog posts.. pwomise!

These things just tend to run away from me, but I'm feeling more motivated at the moment. I'm going to be spending my days learning, cbt-ing (cognitive behavioural therapy for the brainwrongs) and trying to get out and do more.

Heading to Cambridge for a couple of days soon as the bf and I are going to a Neil Gaiman book signing at Ely Cathedral, how very grand and exciting! It's going to be his last ever signing tour so we knew we couldn't miss it; I have no idea what we're going to say to him... he must have heard it all before so many times "I love your work LOL"

The curly haired one!

Recently dyed my hair an orangey colour and realised it makes me look a little like Delirium from The Sandman graphic novel, one of my favourite characters of all time. I need to get me a fishie now. Also I don't know why I keep mentioning hair, there's a conversation topic ha.

Will report on how it all goes!

Self improvement

Ohai! Sorry for the lack of updates.. if anyone really cares!

I haven't been feeling so good for the past few weeks, had some minor health niggles so I suppose I haven't been feeling very productive.

I'm starting to tackle my anxiety pretty soon, which is scary but neccessary. It's going to involve going into new situations and doing a lot of new things.. who I am I kidding I am dreading it but I REALLY need to improve, so shuddup brain and get on with it.

Re health niggles, the doctor thinks I have IBS, so that's just great. Looking into modifying my diet as I'm sick of being bloated and generally icky. Think I'm going to have to give up wheat-y bread for a while so looking into rye bread alternatives, probably going to start eating rice cakes and oatcake type of things too. So less of the processed foods and more of the good stuff.. enter Becki the health fiend!


I'm off to argos soon to go and argue with the staff to give me a replacement on my sewing machine, I've only had it for just under a year and it keeps missing stitches and getting jammed. Hopefully all will go smoothly and I can start doing more crafty things and making a bit of dollar.

That's it for now, and in the words of the wulfrunians, tarar-abit!

It's been a while

So.. *looks awkwardly at the ground, I was all like yeah let's start a blog, awesome! Then the internet gets cut off and I can't update said blog.
What happened was we contacted the lovely people at orange internets, to say we would like it to cut off at the end of the month, when we were supposed to be moving to a new provider. So, naturally they decide to cut it off the next day with no warning leaving us with no internet. Well done.

So anyway that all took a while to get sorted; and now regular updates shall commence.


I've been feeling a little melancholy lately, sorting through some old things looking at old photographs; it's funny how time changes you. Been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.
Was considering going back to uni to do a biology course, I feel a little stuck in a rut and want to achieve more; but there's the whole debt issue, and whether I'll even be able to get a decent job at the end of it.


The other option I was thinking of is veterinary nursing, being around animals makes me happy and people say you should follow your passions in life. I'm leaning towards this option, I just wish I didn't have the anxiety holding me back.

So my goals for now are:

• Job
• Driving lessons
• Voluntary animal work
• Vet nursing

I think it's important to have goals and plans for the future, makes me feel less hopeless when things get me down. That's so cheerful!


Anyway, if anyone ever reads this, I'd be interested to hear what your goals are :)

Bye for now.

Crazy cat lady

Today I thought I'd blog about my favourite furry friends, cats. 

 When I was growing up I didn't have any brothers or sisters but I did have a cat, called Tammy. So in a funny sort of way she was a feline sibling, we got her when I was 8 and we grew up together.
She had a brother called Tim who sadly died quite a few years back.

They were so cute when they were small, and loved to climb absolutely everything. Including the wallpaper. It was so funny walking into the kitchen and seeing this tiny ball of fur clinging on to the wall, almost reaching the ceiling with a perfectly innocent expression!



Tammy died last year at the age of 17, which is good innings for a kitty but I always miss her when I visit home and she's not there to greet me. RIP kitty.






When I moved in with my boyfriend there was a cat shaped hole in my life. We decided that we wouldn't have any pets as we couldn't really afford it. So, naturally 6 months or so later we had a cat; a cat that happened to choose us.

She decided to let herself into the flat in the middle of the night by jumping through the window, giving my boyfriend a bit of a shock!

Raoul

She was a stray from a feral colony on some wasteground, we fed her some chicken bites and a bit of corned beef so I guess she decided it was worth sticking around. She can't have been much more than 6 months old, my boyfriend named her "chairman meow" before we found out she was actually a girl!

She was very wary at first, and liked to sit in the corner and keep an eye on us, she's always been very inquisitive though, and likes to follow us around. Occasionally her mum (who we decided to call Raoul) came to visit but she was a lot more wild, she'd eat the food we put out for her but would never let us get very close.

 So, chairman meow became Tejas - we seem to have a bit of a penchant for odd names, and now she's as friendly and tame as any other cat and has really settled in with us. I can't imagine not having her around now, it's lovely to have a little face waiting to greet you when you get up in the morning - (even when that little face decides to trample all over your face and breathe down your ear when you're half  asleep and would much rather stay in bed).

It's definitley worth putting in the effort with a feral as it's so rewarding when they settle down and start to trust you, so please make sure you neuter your cats as feral colonies are a big problem, especially now during the recession. The PDSA can do it for free if you're on housing benefits, or at least point you in the right direction if not.

Shelters are also overrun with stray and abandoned cats at the moment so please support them and adopt!

Find your local shelter here: http://www.catchat.org/adoption/

My week

Reading - The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkien.


Watching - Utopia - little gem of a series, first episode was great. Cringed at the scene involving the spoon!














Listening - Absolute radio, the Frank Skinner podcasts are pretty darn funny.


Highlight - Had a nice chilled out valentines day with the bf; in which we watched total recall, ate steak and chips and drank wine.


Bargain - Superdrug brightening hot cloth cleanser was half price at £2.99 so thought I'd treat myself. Used the Liz Earle one years ago but I'm too poor to get it now, this one seems good, smells really nice and comes with a muslin cloth.












 
Future - Looking at volunteering opportunities, would love to find something with animals but might just go to the PDSA charity shop.

Bane of my life and Being Human

Today I thought I'd post a little about the bane of my life: anxiety.

Wanted to put off writing about this but I'll try and share a little. So most people get anxious from time to time.. right?

I get anxious a-helluva-lot. I get anxious about general things, such as getting things done (can be anything from housework to going to the shops) and I get anxious about social things like meeting people, talking to people, basically anything that involves people! What fun!

It manifests itself in an array of different ways, from the lovely sensation of your heart pounding in your chest to the little voice in the back of your head saying "you won't be able to do this, you're a failure."

I'm in the process of trying to get over it, but damn it isn't easy. I've tried so many different things with varying success. I wish I could pop a little pill and be done with it, but from my experience.. pills don't work they just paper over the cracks, in fact never mind that the pills just fall into the cracks and I don't feel any different.

Still I haven't given up hope, there's plenty more things to try and I hope one day anxiety will have less prominence in my life. For now I'm just trying to live in the moment more, I will keep plodding on with life and it's many distractions.


Heavy stuff aside looking forward to watching series 2 of Being Human tonight, first episode was pretty good (if a little cheesy in places).

They revealed the big bad to be the devil, which I was a little bit WUT about, as I thought how can they top that; but turns out it's going to be the last series so that makes sense.

It's a shame as I like the new cast, (there's only so much shrieking Russel Tovey you can put up with)!

I guess the bbc needed the cash so we can all watch more shows like "sun sex and suspicious parents" and "the world's craziest fools."




That's all for now, ta-ta.

My Top Sci/Fi Fantasy Films of 2013

So, as I've already mentioned in my first post, I'm a bit of a geek and I enjoy watching movies and anything sci-fi/ fantasy. I guess it's cause I like escapism, and elves.

As there are some cracking movies coming out in 2013 here's my top 5 for fellow fans of everything pointy-eared.


1. Cloud Atlas

I saw the trailer for this today and it immediately caught my eye, in fact if eyes could talk they would have said "ooooh."
The film follows the lives of six people and how they are all connected.

Definitely a must-see; anything that engages the brain gets a thumbs up from me.







2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


Yay more adventures from Bilbo Baggins and friends! I wasn't crazy about some of the additions that were made to part one but hey, we get three movies in middle earth, I'm not complaining.

Looking forward to getting a good look at Smaug; voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.



3. Star Trek Into Darkness

The second in the JJ Abrams series; in this one the crew find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organisation. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a one man weapon of mass destruction, all sounds pretty hard to the core!

Our Benedict is getting about a bit, let's hope he leaves some time in his schedule for more Sherlock..

Anyway, enjoyed the first one this looks good too.









4. Riddick

 The third long-awaited film in the Riddick series, always enjoyed these films and their quirks (necromongers anyone)?

Vin's back and this time he's been left for dead on a scorched desert planet and has to fight an alien race of predators. Awesomes.








5. Elysium

Look, Matt Damon's a baldy!

Set in the year 2159, wealthy folk live on a pristine space station called Elysium and everyone else is stuck on an overpopulated, ruined earth.

Looks interesting, and it's been a while since I've seen a good sci-fi flick (after the disappointment of Prometheus) so hope this one is worth a look.






So that's what I'll be watching this year, what would you add to the list?

All that is gold does not glitter...

At the moment I'm having another read through the Lord of the Rings trilogy; I last read it ten years ago although it doesn't feel it!

Enjoying it more the second time around, it's good to learn about the history of middle earth and more information about the characters I'd forgotten.


The Riddle of Strider by Bilbo Baggins

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Hullo!

Tejas bids you welcome

Hullo there.


Welcome to my first blog post!

As you can see it's all a little basic at the moment but I plan to redecorate as I go along. I'm going to blog about whatever takes my fancy including; what I've been up to, my ever present love of cats, reading and all things geeky!

So, a little about me. I'm 25, female ( if you hadn't guessed) and I live in sunny Stoke-on-Trent with my boyfriend and my kitty-cat Tejas. I'm socially awkward - though I try not to let it bother me, as it allows me to see the world from a somewhat *ahem* unique perspective.

I used to love to write when I was younger but I got out of the habit years ago, so bear with me as I try to fish around for the right words.

I'm currently unemployed but I scratch a living selling things on ebay, and have a little sewing project on the side making handbags. My ultimate aim is to work with animals, they are such fun to be around; much better than people it has to be said!


5 fun facts about me

1. I'm only 5ft2
2. I can't ride a bike
3. I'd like to visit Germany
4. I play a little piano (not literally, although it does sound fun)
5. I like to eat cheese every day 

I think that's enough for starters, nice to meet you!