"Wow, a snail made out of bread!"

Why is that I seem to spend the vast majority of my life waiting on other people?

Goodbye Joyce

It was Joyce's funeral today.

The service was lovely. The church was full, it was so good to see that she had so many friends who wanted to say goodbye (though not at all surprising).

She was a truly amazing woman and I for one feel blessed for having had her in my life.

"You're like a steamed vegetable only smarter!"

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! Why does EVERYTHING seem to be against me moving??

Nothing seems to work out for me *sigh*

"Marriage is supposed to be about trust, communciation and not being terrified!"

I forgot to say, my vicar kept hinting at Stef and I the whole time we were at the Music Marathon! He kept saying "Now there was something I have to say...what is it? Something about..this is for the first time of asking..."


He's nuts! (But great!)

"And you ask me why I like to sing..."

So...our first gig.

It should be said first of all that I was extremely nervous. It's one thing singing at home where just my family and maybe Stef will hear it, it's quite another to be singing to a bunch of people who have never heard me sing before, yet alone doing a track with lyrics that I myself wrote. As I said to Stef, he just has to play the right note, I actually have to hit it!

Anyway, before we went to church Martin, Stef and I went to The Draper's Arms (*drapes arms*) and had a drink- I saw a bunch of guys who were in my year at school. One of them (Paul, I think his name is) waved amd mouthed hello to me as he walked past, I did see the others pointing at me at one point though!
Anyway, after a drink or two we went to the church.

When we got there we sat down with Lizzy and not long after that Non-brother Martin arrived so I introduced him to everyone (by that I mean Martin, Lizzy and Stef!). We all spent a while talking (Lizzy also picked up her friend, Mike and he joined us). Lizzy and I were invigilating from 11pm to 5am. Mike helped while he was around (he left about 12, I think). He's an odd one- I like him, I really do, but he's odd. He kept looking at me. Before you all think I'm being paranoid, Stef noticed it too! In fact, Stef mentioned it too me, I wasn't sure whether to mention it to him in case I was being silly! Anyway, he's cool though, I like him. Good job too, I guess, as he's Lizzy's best friend!
Our invigilating duties, for anyone who is interested, consisted of making a note of who had performed (there was a couple of lists, one had it typed in and we had to tick them off, the other was blank so we had to write in. We had to write down who was in the open hours on both), take photos every half an hour and make sure the music didn't stop- we had some musical instruments to help us!

After Dave's band had done their first set (that was the first time I'd heard any of their music, so that was cool) Stef and I went to the hall to practise (we'd tried throughout the afternoon but kept getting interrupted/distracted). We went through our tracks 3 or 4 times and then we went back into church. We missed Dave's band's second set- d'oh! There was an open session and Stef suggested we do that but I backed out of that. There was an open house after NB Martin's set, so we went for that. Everyone was very impressed with NB Martin. Good job too as he had another couple of sets to do on the Saturday!

So...our set. As I said, I was extremely nervous but I got up there and performed and oh my goodness, what a buzz!!! I am now even less sure why rockstars get caught up in drugs etc when they have such easy access to a natural high like this!
We kicked off with our own track, which was very nerve wracking for me. The track is rather personal and I wasn't sure what people would make of it. No one actually mentioned it though so I needn't have worried! After that we did a couple of Pearl Jam tracks- Last Kiss and Alive. I think they both went okay. I was a bit worried about my timing for Alive- it's quite a hard track timing wise, especially as I'd never had a proper chance to practise with just the music, I'm used to Eddie singing it with me! In the end we did it but I had it on my MP3 player and I had one headphone in. Obviously that isn't going to happen everytime we perform it but it served it's purpose for now!
Anyway, they both went okay I think, despite my nerves. Stef was great, as always but I wasn't worried about him anyway, I knew he'd be great.

Anyway, the rest of the night (well, early morning) was spent listening to the other bands/people- Stef and I did Last Kiss again, this time Stef was on his electric guitar. Stef also performed Lenny (the Stevie Ray Vaughn track). He did extremely well, I was so proud of him! Lizzy was impressed too- she said he was like Santana! Martin and Stef also did quite a long set. After that Stef and I tried to get some sleep- first of all on the pews, which was useless but then the chairs became free so we got a few hours on them.

Saturday started off with food (for Stef, anyway) and we talked for a while- our old organist did a recital, and there was a worship band from one of the churches who I was REALLY disappointed with. I saw them when they came in and I thought they looked really cool, I was looking forward to some great music and they just went on and on and on and it all sounded the same and it was dull and I was SO disappointed! Stef and I took a break during their set and went to town to check my bank balance.
When we got back NB Martin was doing his set.

After NB Martin had finished his set, we (NB Martin, Martin, Stef and I) walked to Pizza Hut- they'd had a power cut though so we eventually went back to church and had a cream tea! After that there was a "Name the tune" competition, which we did awfully at- we= Jordane, Martin, NB Martin, Stef, Lizzy and I, though Lizzy wasn't actually there at the time!- we got 5 out of 12 I think!
After that there was one of Sue's friends playing on the piano and then we had the answers to the competition (dad and mum, and two other people drew) and then we had the finale.

And that was the end of a brilliant 24 hours of music! Sooooooo much fun, I can't wait to do it again!

RIP Joyce

My godmother died today (4:20pm).

I'm devastated. I know it was expected and everything but that doesn't make it any easier.

She is going to be sooo missed. She was an amazing woman and I am so blessed to have had her in my life.

"That should do it. Everyone knows lice are only attracted to messy grossoids with no fashion sense"

I feel so awful today.

This morning I was feeling quite happy, (and as I'm been feeling pretty crappy this week, I was pleased with that) and that lasted until this afternoon and then something happened I'm not going to get into that made me feel like crap (the...sitting on the outside kinda crap), and then I got the news that my godmother has died. I know it was expected (she had got worse lately, though, happily, her faith was still strong and visible) but I'm devestated. Knowing didn't make it any easier at all. Every time the phone rung I was expecting the news but...I feel awful. Absolutely awful. *sigh*

RIP Joyce.

You will be sadly missed.

"It's 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a packet of cigarettes...it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

If only, eh?