Thank you

This is just a quick note to say thanks to those people who have offered their support. When I set up this website, I didn't really expect anyone to read it, it was more of an outlet for my thoughts. But I have been proved wrong, and I'd just like to show my appreciation. So, thank you very much. It is a great honor to have experienced Bloggers leaving comments and I can't express my excitement when I read them! I have been a Blog 'supporter' for many years, so to finally have my own and recieve comments from people across the world is amazing!

Once again...THANK YOU!!!!

I hope you all had a good Easter!

Looking Forward to Looking Back

I often wonder where I'll be in the future, and more importantly, how I'll look back on my life. Shane Nickerson talked about a similar topic not too long ago, and that's what got me thinking. My life at the moment is very much in the air. I graduated from University not too long ago, and fully expected (as we had been told our whole university lives) to go pretty much straight into a good job. As a student you live in this wonderful bubble; you have a guaranteed income of your student loan, (it may disappear quickly, but it's ok, you know you'll get another one!), if you're in halls, your accomodation is all inclusive, which means you know the gas will never run out, and you'll always have hot water. You are somewhat protected from the harsh reality of life outside University. As students you are led to believe that after your degree you will be held in much higher regard when it comes to jobs than 'non-students'.

When you do a degree in an open-ended subject such as American Studies, finding a job becomes a little harder, especially when your bubble of security bursts. As I left University I found myself living at home, working as a waitress/barmaid in a small country pub. Now, don't get me wrong, I mostly enjoyed working there, but its not something that I would want to do for the rest of my life. So I decided to move back up to the city where I went to University, and find a better job. That better job involves sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day copying information from a piece of paper into a database! Talk about dream jobs!?! I keep telling myself that it's just a temporary job until I find something I really want to do, but while I'm working here, I find I have very little time to actually LOOK for something I want to do.

In so many ways I just wish that somebody would come up to me and tell me that I will find my dream job, and that I'll be very happy and have a comfortable life. I'm not asking to be rich, (although I wouldn't turn it down if it came to it!!) all I'm asking for is the opportunity to live without having to worry too much about the finances. Of course that's not all that it comes down to, there are just so many questions I have to ask, but no one to answer them! I want someone to put a plan in front of me of exactly how my life will pan out, where I'll be and when. But then, when i actually sit down and think about, the more I dislike that idea. I'll never be able to make mistakes, and learn from them, and I reckon that ultimately, my life will turn out for the worse. I'll always be worrying that the desicions I make will be the wrong ones to get me where I need to go.

I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what life has in store for me, and live MY life to best that I can, taking each day for what it is. I hope that everyone can do the same.

Keep on Rocking

We went to our local pub last night for our weekly fix of live music. The Friary has an Open Mic night every Monday evening which is by far the best night out of the week. Since September of 2003 my housemate and I have been regular attendees of this night. When we first started going, we were merely observers into this new and exciting world of free live music; people getting up on stage with just a guitar and singing a mixture of cover songs, and their own works. My housemate built up the courage (thanks to copious amounts of beer) to go up and sing...she blew everyone away. I have to say though, in those early days, she was by no means the best one there, as her confidence was pretty low. She would have her words written down in front of her, and was almost always a little more than tipsy! But as the weeks went by all could notice a great improvement in her performances. Not just her of course, but everyone who played there on a regular basis.

During this time there were a few people who stood out from the rest, and they seemed to form a kind of elite which those who were not of the same standard as them, were not allowed in. It was almost like being back at school, when if you weren't cool enough you didn't to join whichever gang was the lastest craze. However, over the time, Daisy and I (because I am a total groupie!), DID get to become part of the elite, becuase she played every week and gained enough cool credit to be allowed in. And because I'm a groupie was also there every week, I managed to muscle my way in as well. Now, once the elite had its final member, the Open Mic's really became memorable. At the end of the nights, or if players were getting a bit thin, the whole group of them would get up on stage and just jam. They were no longer performing to a crowd, they were up there having fun, and seeing what music was made in the process. These were my favourite times, as it was so much more relaxed and you could tell that they were all just having a blast.

The reason for this mini flash-back is because last night's Open Mic was very similar to 'the old days'! As it is the Easter Break for the University Students, who make up the majority of the Open Mic's audience, it was pretty quite in the pub. Because of this were only 4 people willing to get up on stage and sing. Daisy, Al, Danny and Dave, who runs the night. We all know each other, and they are all FANTASTIC performers, so for them to get up and sing together is no big thing (for them!). Once again, it was night of getting up and playing to a crowd, it was just the 4 of them on stage having a jam. At some points I really do think they forgot that the audience was watching! It was just great all round entertainment with some great tunes, from the fairly obscure Jason Mraz and Ryan Adams to the more well known Oasis and Damien Rice.

If anyone reading this lives anywhere near Derby, I suggest you get your Butts down to the Open Mic night, every Monday at about 9.00pm! It's a great way of keeping Live Music alive! "Keep on Rocking in the Free World" people!

Culture...Culture...Culture

My housemate and I have decided that we should become more cultured, so we made a pact that we would save up what little money we have, and go to at least One live music gig a month. My housemate is a singer/songwriter and so is educating me in many forms of music. As we were reading our local newspaper, we came across an article about a guy named Kelly Joe Phelps playing at a venue near us that night, so we thought we'd go along just to see if they had any tickets left. Man, was that a great spontaneous desicion! The support act was another unknown (to us) called Paul Curreri, who was just amazing. I defy anyone not to tap their feet and drum on the table while listening to him. It was so upbeat, and some songs were just so amusing! You could feel the atmosphere in the room as everyone was becoming enveloped in the accoustic sound that was Paul Carreri. We enjoyed his set so much that we even spent the last of our money on buying his CD!

As for Kelly, well...he wasn't bad, in fact he was very good, but his music was very much more chilled out, and as I looked around room at the audience, there were a numerous amount of people trying very very hard to keep their eyes open! (Me included, I'd like to add!) Bear in mind that this was a Thursday night at about 9.00pm, and most of the people there would have come straight from work, as we had, and so when sitting in a small, dark, fairly warm room totally involved in relaxing, sweeping chords and words, staying awake was definately a mission! But it was still very enjoyable, and if nothing else it spurred us on to our culture quest.

For those interested, here is a link to the Paul Curreri Website. I advise you to go and check it out....it's wicked good!!!

http://www.paulcurreri.com go check it out!

New to This Game

Hi, My name is Rach, and I've been inspired by a few sources to set up my own Blog. I visit various blogs on my travels through the 'net, and in my comments to their posts, i usually end up writing much more than i probably should. It was because of this, that I decided to set up my own blog, to write here what I'm thinking!

I'm not sure how many people will visit this site, but I'm going to give it a go!

Enjoy People...