Matt the Cat

We got back from our usual Monday night out last in the small hours of the morning, and we were milling about outside as you do when you're saying good bye to people, and my house mate Rich grabbed me and exclaimed, "look Rach, down there!" On the door step of the house 2 doors down (a notoriously dodgy house at the best of times) all curled up in the rain and the cold, was the tiniest black kitten. i could hear him wheezing, and he was visibly shaking. His fur was all spiky because he was soaking wet. I was not going to leave him out in the cold all night, so I picked him up, (getting an earful and an evil look from the man in the house, who claimed the kitten was not his - although I have my suspicions) and we took him inside. We wrapped him up in a towel and just hugged him and calmed him. We tried to give him some milk, but you could tell he was a poorly cat! Eventually the wheezing got better, and the only reason he was shaking is because of the faint purring we could hear. We have fallen in love with him, and have named him Matt - as we found him on a door mat!!!! Matt the cat!

We left him curled up in a box with lots of towels in the kitchen last, thinking that he'll go one of two ways, and when we came down this morning...My goodness! When we went to stroke him it was like someone had put a mini pneumatic drill in the box. His purr was incredible! We think that he may have lost an eye, and we still couldn't get him to eat anything, but I'm going to go and check on him now, and make sure he's still ok. He's such an adorable cat, and none of us could understand how anyone could leave an animal like that out in the rain and cold? It's just pure cruelty. Well, if we can't keep Matt, then we'll find a good loving home for him to go to, but hopefully Matt will become the new House Cat!

It all paid off

After about two and half months of planning, one of the best weekends ever happened last weekend! It was my housemate Daisy's 24th birthday party. As she is a musician, she made an off the cuff remark about how, for her birthday, it would be cool to have some people round, for a bit of jam, and a mess around with instruments. At the time, I though, "wow, how vain???" but then I thought...hhmmm, let's take this one step further. So I did some enquiries, and managed to rent the community hall just down the road from our house - without Daisy's knowledge! The next few weeks were spent organising food, PA Systems for the musicians, a compare, and trying to tell all of our friends, without Daisy finding out. Between us all, it came together! So many people helped out, and last Saturday night at about 7.00pm I led Daisy down to the hall, on the pretense that we were going to a friend's house for dinner. As we walked past the hall, all of our friends were stood outside with a Birthday banner! It took a couple of seconds for Daisy to register the fact that she knew all these people! All the lies and the stress, the organisation and the planning paid off when I saw the look on Daisy's face...It actually brought tears to my eyes! In front of everyone!!!! The whole evening was one surprise after another for her, as not only had I got the party sorted, our musician friends had all learnt some of Daisy's own songs, as well as some of her favourites. It was a whole musical evening dedicated to Daisy and her love of music. Rich, our other housemate was the first one to get up and play and he opened with a song of Daisy's called Go Away, and that too almost made me cry, when she realised that he was playing one of her songs! The goosepimples were out in abundance that night!!

Everyone had such a good time, and I couldn't have asked for it go any better. I loved it. We had friends, live music, presents, party games, food and whole lotta love in that room! It's what birthday's are all about...Having a good time, surrounded with people you love ignoring the fact you're one year older!!

Humans vs. Robots

I received a comment on my previous post from the Street Philosopher, who you can always rely on to give some good philosophical points on the everyday workings of life. I checked out his blog for the first time in a while, and the first post really got me thinking. He talks about a new education scheme called PEBBLES (check out his post for more information), which is a form of home schooling for people who cannot attend regular schools. He then goes on to talk about human interaction, and how essential it is to our lives. I thoroughly agree with this. It still amazes me how easy it is nowadays to go through life with very limited actual human meetings...You can buy all your groceries online, you can borrow books from libraries, buy or rent movies, attend an online university with things like the Open University over here in the UK, get all your news updates on the web..One could quite easily go through life living alone with hardly ever having to talk to another human being. As Street philosopher points out however, there is nothing better than a hug when you're feeling a bit down, or sitting down to a meal with either family or friends around a table as supposed to in front of the television. Now don't get me wrong, in my house, we quite often sit in the living with our meals, but I do enjoy sitting around the table and actually talking to each other. Also, sometimes there is nothing better than curling up on the sofa watching a good movie, or even going to the movie theatre, for a bit of pure escapism from the busy hectic world that is our lives, but my favourite part about that escapism is discussing the movies afterwards with my friends.

So, what I'm trying to say is, although the modern world of technology is great for some things, I really hope the art of actual conversation, and real human interaction does not get superseded by machines and robots...I'd miss hugs too much!

He Wishes For the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)





This is one of my favourite poems, and I have just found it again, after years of not really thinking about it! My world at the minute is pretty rubbish...i'm in a job I don't enjoy...having man troubles - but then what girl isn't?!?! - had my cell phone stolen last night - got turned down for a job that really really wanted! But life could be worse for sure, i have my friends, a roof over my head, and as of this afternoon...food in the cupboards! YEY! But i just though i would share this little poem with you all.

Take care
Rach

Bring back the flow

I recently read back over my old posts from last year and when I first started, and it struck me that I write in a totally different way now. For starters the posts have become very thin on the ground in recent months, as supposed to at least one or two every week back in 'the old days'! I also came across a story I wrote, A Love Never Spoken Of, which was loosley based on a true life experience. Becuase I knew what it was based on, i was actually surprised at how honest I had been in the story. I really feel like for the past months, I have lost my creativity and passion for blogging, which upsets me. I love it, and deep down I know I can find that inspiration from somewhere. I was at work yesterday, and i wanted to just check my site, so instead of typing the address in the top, (where it can be tracked) i did a google search on it. The first result it found was one of Lorianne's student's blogs. As part of their ongoing coursework, Lorianne had her students start and keep a blog. This one guy had found mine, and written about it! i was truly touched by this, and even those his post dated back to 2005, it made me want to start posting again! So here I am!

I WILL WILL WILL be getting some photos on here soon, and i will be finding that inspiration that I've lost!

Twenty5stories + Rich

I went out last night to watch my friends play in their bands...And it was amazing. When I listen to the music charts in this country it really bothers me that there is so much RUBBISH (Trash to you Americans!!! Tee hee) around. The amount of really pointless music is incredible. That's one of the reasons I love going to watch the various local bands around Derby...There is some really awesome talent about the place. Now, I've already told you about my friend and housemate daisyb, who if you haven't checked out YOU REALLY SHOULD. So now I'm going to hound with a couple more acts to listen to!

Twenty5stories are the other band I went to see last night, and also good friends of mine! I love their stuff so much..It so totally the kind of music that I would buy! I can't wait for them to get a CD together! They're kind of indie/alternative/rock, and at gigs they do a mixture of their own songs, which you can find on their websites, and amazing covers of things like Seal - Kiss from a Rose, Tracy Chapman - Fast Car, Alanis Morisette - Right Through You. Seriously......major plugging going on here....CHECK THEM OUT!

Then the last act for you is my other housemate Rich. He has a very unique style and voice which I love, because there's no one else who sounds like that really. His songs are very haunting, and beautiful and his deep voice carries the music through you. Not being biased in anyway (I mean it's not like I live with him or anything!!!) he is really good! So, now that I've given you all a little musical education...Please go and show your support for DECENT music and lets get rid of the rubbish in the charts!

Thanks!!

A little bit green

Everything about him you hate so much
Is exactly what I love
He's always there to make me smile
But to you he's talking double-dutch

You say he's childish, it gets on your nerves
Well that's perfect for me
Coz like him I don't want to grow up
But like always it's not me he loves

Maybe if I looked a little different
He'd see into the real me
And see together we're a perfect match
But it's to get to you that he's hell bent

I wonder if he'll ever be interested
To get to know me
We can always talk so easily
But it's you that's running through his head

Everything about him I like so much
Is exactly what you hate
So why do you go for him
When you're drunk and want his touch?

You asked me once if it's him I like
I told you the truth
But there's no point in hoping
As I know it's always you they like

EMPLOYMENT!!!!!

I have a job! This is gonna be a real quick post, just to say that as of yesterday I have a job! It's not a very glamourous job or anything, just an admin type thing. But the people are nice, and more importantly it will pay my bills! YEY! thank you for the comments guys, it really means a lot to me!

I'll write more soon about my awesome trip to London on sunday! Hope everyone's well!

take care...

Unemployment...

It's been about a week now, and I still don't have a job. I was working for a couple of days at the start of the week, through a temping agency. It was actually loads of fun, because I was working at the university where I attended. It was wicked strange though as to get to where I needed to be I had to walk through doors that said, "Authorised Staff Only". I kept thinking I was going to get in trouble for going in there, as I'm still a student! (in my head at least!!!!!) I was working in the department where the students hand in their assignments, sorting through them and making sure that the correct tutor picked up the correct pile of assignments. Watching the young students panic and rush to get their slaved-over projects in on time brought back so many memories...I remember it well. It was almost like looking into a mirror. Also, at the minute it's exam time, so there were a few people worried about what room the exam was in, and what time it started and all the usual things you worry about at stressful times like that. It was really nice to be able to help them out a little bit and pass on some of my experiences, which are all too close to memory to be called experiences in my mind, I mean it was only 18 months ago! I would like to work there again, but unfortunately it was only a two-day job.

Also this week, I went into town and bought myself a power suit! haha. I figured I needed some interview clothes, and a trouser suit and £40 later I feel I'm kitted out to knock the socks off what ever company decides they need to interview me! It was kinda fun going clothes shopping, which I'm normally not that much of a fan of! (is that normal? a girl not being a clothes shopping fan?) There's just too many people around, and I'm very fussy when it comes to the clothes I wear..I know whatIi like and I like what I know. Anyway, I digress...Now that I have the suit, all I need now are the interviews!!! haha

Ooh, I'm so excited, I booked my train tickets to go home for Easter this year. I haven't been home to Cornwall since August, and I'm long overdue a trip! I'm really looking forward to it, getting to catch up with old friends, sleep in my own bed, play with the cats, eat some good home cooked food, and of course see the parents!! This Easter weekend should be great!

And on that note I think I'll leave you....

Have an awesome Easter everyone..Eggs galore!!!!

Bye Bye

Well, today is my last day in my current job. Last Friday I was made redundant, and today I leave. As I walked into work this morning for the last time, I took more notice of the nameless faces that I pass at the same time in the same places everyday. It struck me that I'll more than likely never see them again, and although I never actually met them, I would make up stories about them and their lives. Some were on their way to work, some to college. One or two were heading home after a night shift. Of course it's all fictional, but it was the little stories like those that made the 40 minute walk into work bearable in the rain and snow! Those stories will now be forgotten, but new ones will be made as I trek to a different job somewhere else.

Another thing about being made redundant that sucks is I'm going to miss all my friends from work so much. I've been here for over a year now, and I've made some incredible friends. The work itself is pretty soul-destroying, so having people around you that you can get on with and have a laugh with is really important. I keep having reality checks that it's not going to happen anymore...No more throwing stuff around the office, no more making stupid comments and jokes with my section head, no more making countless cups of tea with Laura because we're bored. I'm not even sure when or even if I'm going see most of these people again. I'm sure I will if I (and they) make the effort to meet up.

Looking on the plus side I'm sure I'll have as much fun in whatever it is that I do next, and therefore have more friends than I do now! But either way, I'm just gonna see where life takes me, and what I end up doing now...

A Walk in the Woods

Way back in October I went to stay with an old uni friend in Norwich, Norfolk. It was such a beautiful weekend, so on the Sunday we went for a walk around a very picturesque lake. The only camera I had at the time was the one on my phone, but the photos are pretty good (if i may say so myself!). I particularly liked this one of Chris walking away down the boardwalk...I love the shadows on the ground, and the way I want to follow him to see where that path leads.

Along the way, we came across a bridge over a small part of the lake. The day was so clear and still, that the water was like a perfect mirror. We stood for a while contemplating the clouds reflected in the water, and our faceless images below us. There were all sorts of fish swimming around in there too that every now and then the surface would break into all kinds of patterns.

As we were nearing the end of the walk, we came back to the University of Norwich, where I was awestruck to come face to face(?) with this amazing wall of Ivy. Unfortunately the colour doesn't come through that well here, but the red splash was enough to catch my breath. Through all the autumnal colours we had passed along the way, none were as vivid as this, especially against the grey wall. I'm not sure how long the ivy would have lasted on that building, or even how long the building lasted with the ivy, but it makes you wonder, when it gets that far spread, which one relies on which one? Does the ivy need the wall to survive, or does the building need the ivy to stay in one piece? Maybe it's one of those situations where they need each other to survive; like all good relationships should be. May the both have a long and happy life together!

Scary Tree

Hi Guys...This is my fisrt attempt at putting a picture in here, and what do you know? It worked! I called this one scary Tree. It was taken last summer when I was walking down a random road with my friend. There was such atmosphere and feeling around this tree, and with it's branches gnarled and twisted, it had a very oppressive feel to it. I just HAD to take a picture, and have been meaning to post it!

Well...Now that I can do it, I shall be posting more here! YEY!

The Rest of my Weekend

Sorry this is a bit late...It's only been 2 weeks! haha. So the rest of my amazing weekend was spent with my sister, relaxing and doing not very much! She had subscribed to Sky Movies, so that we could stay up and watch the Oscars live! It's the first time in years that we've been able to watch them together. When we were younger we would camp out in the living room, or curl up in Liz's big double bed and try to stay awake all night. But then we both went to uni/school and they changed the channel showing it to one you had to pay for...But this year we got to do it all again! It was so much fun, we had a bowl of Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons, quilts to wrap up in, and numerous cups of coffee! The show started at 11.00pm our time and finished just before 5.00am! We made it though, we stayed awake all the way through. This year was pretty good, because I had a keen interest in the winners, for the first time in a while. I'd seen most of the Best Movie Nominee's, and was supporting Brokeback Mountain in all it's nominations! Needless to say we spent most of Monday morning sleeping! The rest of that day was spent watching TV and various movies, and again, just general chilling out. That night i was introduced to House, which is much better than i expected...And we also watched a few episodes of CSI, which is excellent! Then it was time for bed, as we all had early mornings! So it was back to work on Tuesday, and back to reality too I guess! It was a wicked weekend which I enjoyed thoroughly!

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Well, it's been 1 year exactly since I first set up these musings. So much has happened and changed in that 1 year! However, I'm ashamed to see the lack of posts here in 12 months, it really should be more, but I guess it's better than none! I would just like to take this time to thank everyone who stops by here to read and those who leave comments, it's really appreciated!

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say on that....So thanks, and I'll try to make this next year a better blogging one than the last!

How Rubbish Am I?

I've just had the best weekend! I went to Hemel Hempstead to stay with my friend Beck for a couple of days. We went to a show about/starring(?) Bill Hicks. It was a 1 man show about Bill Hicks coming back from the dead to do one last show. It was incredible. The guy playing Hicks had obviously done a great deal of research, as his mannerisms, his intonation and his stage presence was scarily similar to the man himself! It was so good that at times, I actually forgot I wasn't watching Bill Hicks! Then on the Saturday, we headed into London to have a look around the famous Camden Market. It is such a wonderful place, with such atmosphere, it almost felt like I was holiday! The market has different sections to it, the first part was mostly all clothes - trendy, unusual, funky clothes. So we sauntered and meandered our way around all the stalls, taking in the colours and sights, before heading over to a different section which contained more modern, but still funky and unusual (the only word I can think of right now is...) STUFF. All kinds of things, from jewellery to homemade leather bound notebooks, to candles to crystals..Oh I could go on and on. The colours here were just breathtaking, and I did take a few pictures, but I still have to hook my laptop to the internet so that I can post them. Another thing that amazed me about this part of the market was the smells. Many of the stalls were burning incense sticks, which smelled exactly the same as the Hostel in the Forest in Georgia that I've talked about a few times. The memories came flooding back, which is always a good thing when they're good memories! At this time we made a pit stop for some fabulous Moroccan Chicken. We were stood by the river, holding a bowl full of amazing warming food, which is just what we needed in the freeing cold. It was the only thing keeping the feeling in my fingers! Then finally in Camden we found the final section of the market. This is where all the second hand clothes 'arches' are. I don't know what they were before, but it was a series of tunnels filled with so many varieties of clothes, shoes hats and pretty much anything you can think of. Also, there were furniture shops, more 'stuff' shops. Now, if I had thought the colours were amazing before, this is where they really kicked in. Every arch and shop was a different colour, a different smell, and a different sight to behold. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take many photos of these shops because of copyright laws etc. But luckily for me, I have all the memories!

that day was finished off perfectly with a trip to the Maple Leaf, a Canadian Bar in Covent Garden. They serve Molson and Moosehead Beer in the Maple Leaf - the only bar that we've found to serve them! We used to drink a lot, and I mean A LOT of Molson at College in Keene, and I miss it a lot! So whenever we're in London, we have to make a stop for some Beer! While there we met a Scicilian couple who were in London for a few days. They were so funny, and we spent most of the night chatting to them, and giving them ideas of where to go and what to do with their time. Eventually we rushed to the train station to catch our ride home. It was just so much fun, and I can't wait to do it again.

Then on the Sunday, I left Beck and and went to stay with my sister in Letchworth. However, on the say there, we made a sidetrip to the Asda Walmart nearby. It was almost as good at the American Walmarts, but not quite. It just didn't have the same feel to it. But even so, we spent an hour or so in there perusing the shelves. Then we were bored of shopping (is that possible??!?!?!) so we headed home. The rest of that day was spent quite lazily, we watched Batman Begins, which I had never seen before, and was totally blown away by. I think it's the best of the new Batman movies, and Christian Bale makes a very good superhero. Just as a quick sidenote, I've come to the conclusion that Batman is the best superhero. He does everything all the other heroes do, but without any super powers! Amazing!

Anyway...I have to go now....People to meet, but I shall finish the rest of my weekend soon! I promise it will be soon! ;-)

Shameless Plug!

Hi everyone!

This is just a quick and shameless plug for my housemate Daisy. She's an up and coming singer/songwriter here in Derby, and elsewhere in the UK. I wanted to share her websites with you fine people, so that you can enjoy the greatness that is daisy b. Here is her Myspace Website. Then there is a Moonfruit site, and I'm fairly sure there is another one, but i can't remember that one right now. Anyway...EVERYBODY must go and check out her songs. Daisy has a wicked soulful voice, which, when mixed with an accoustic guitar, sends tingles down your spine. I'm not going to go into her sound too much here, i want you to see for yourselves....please please please just check it out. then you can say that you heard it before she got wicked famous!!!

Thanks guys!

Same old...

Recently, I have been feeling like my life is one long routine that never changes. From the order I do stuff, like getting up in the morning, taking a shower, getting dressed, eating breakfast...It's the same thing every day. I go to work, I do the same thing all day every day at work, then I come home, and usually do the same thing week in week out after work. There's no variety in there at all. Is that just part of growing up? Or am I stuck in a rut right now? Don't get me wrong, on the whole I'm pretty happy with my life, I'm surrounded by great friends, have a good laugh and other than keeping the rent and bills paid have very little responsibility. I just yearn for a life where I can wake up in the morning and not have a clue what's going to happen that day, where I'm going to go, what I'm going to do. I'm not a planner at all, I just figure it leaves more room for disappointment when things don't out how you planned...Leave it all up to the last minute, be spontaneous! That's the way to be, but unfortunately this isn't a secure way to be. I need my job to pay my bills. So for the time being I'll survive in my unchanging routine, and wait for the day when nothing is planned!

Shadow Of A Star

Have you ever felt so lonely

You thought your heart would implode

Upon itself, never to be remade

Never to be made whole?

That's the way you made me feel

Last night, whilst you left me there

All by myself, so small, so insignificant

Just a background noise there to fill the silences

I talk to people, they just talk to you

They do not see me, or even hear me

All they want to do is watch you play

Never have an interest in what I have to say

That's the way they made me feel

Last night whilst you left me there

All by myself, so small, so insignificant

Just a background noise there to fill the silences

What can I do to make myself heard?

I try so hard to no avail

To them I'm just a shadow

Of the one who shines so bright

I thought them nice, so open and caring

But that night I realised it was all a lie

As I sat there all alone, staring into space

They didn't even notice when I started to cry

That's the way you made me feel

Last night whilst you left me there
All by myself, so small, so insignificant
Just a background noise there to fill the silences

There I was so totally alone

I though my heart would implode

My soul was heavy I could hardly move

And still I stand among the shadows

Hi there!

Hi everyone, once again I'm so sorry for the delay in posting here. But I think I'll be able to post a bit more regularly now that we have a computer back in the house.

So, a quick recap on the Life of Rach, Christmas was amazing. Spent it with my family in my sister's house, it snowed which topped off the holidays. Then came back up to Derby for New Year, which was spent hanging out with friends, good food and good wine. Then the week after that was my birthday. It was a great weekend as I got to catch up with an old Uni friend who had been travelling around the world for 6 months before hand. I hadn't seen him for a year though. We just went out and about on the town for the evening, catching up, chatting, dancing and drinking. It was so much fun! Then the Sunday was spent on the sofa watching TV before heading off to the cinema to watch Brokeback Mountain. It was the most amazing film I have seen for the longest time. I don't know why, but it affected me a way that no other film has done. All the way through the movie I was trying to work out whether it really was a good film, or whether I just though it was because I like cowboys, the scenery and America in general. And I came to the conclusion that it was. Ang Lee did a great job of the direction, keeping the audiences (well my) attention all the way through the sparse script and slow story. His method of showing the passing of 20 years was pure genius, as his subtle changes of fashion and architecture say everything the script does not. But the acting was the thing that really blew me away. Both Heath Ledger and Jake Gylanhaal play characters you would not expect them to play, and they do it so well. I was totally sucked into the film and the time just flew by. I cried so much, it was untrue. I am a bit of a sap when it comes to films, and I cry at most of them, but this one was different, I could have cried all the way through the credits, all the way home and then some more at home! I immediately went about reading everything I could find about it, and even went out and bought the book it was based on. Because it was based on a short story, Ang Lee had a lot of scope with the movie and could expand on it a lot. I was so impressed when I read the story, because I hate it when I read books of movies, and it's been changed. Whereas this one was exactly the same.....Every bit of dialogue was in there, word for word.

right that's enough of that one for the time being. Lets just say I enjoyed the movie eh?!

Welcome back to Rach's blog people, I promise to update more often!

Hope everyone is well, Take Care!

Welcome to the New Year

I know, I know, I'm a little late on this one! I apologise for the lack of blogging here recently, I've been so busy at work, that when I get home, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer some more! I am thinking of buying a new computer (since my laptop died!!!) so that I can blog more regularly! I'll keep you posted on that one...

But really, I just wanted to say HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone's holiday celebrations were good, and that 2006 brings you all lots of happiness and good stuff!

Hope you're all well, and I apologise once again, I'll try to be more bloggy this year!

Have fun!