Erin insights

Hugo - my 3D epiphany

2012-02-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

I can't remember when I last cried SO much during a film! I saw Hugo (in 3D) for the first time earlier today and totally fell in love with it. I had to stay for the whole of the end credits because my eyes were still leaking so much (quite glad I went on my own to be free to indulge the catharsis!) I am so glad I got to see this film in 3D: I'm not usually a fan of this fad, but Hugo is 3D at its very best.

Now busily researching the extraordinary early history of cinema, referenced so wonderfully in the film, as well as the rather interesting children's novel upon which the film was based. There may well be purchases ahead!

This film now ranks very VERY high among my all time favourite films. Others include Le Balon Rouge, The Princess Bride and Night of the Hunter. None of those others made me cry - only Up did that (although I wouldn't, in other respects, rank Up as highly as the others I've listed).

Camping in the rain!

2011-08-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Jeez! So much for the BBC weather forecast! Supposed to be just a light shower at about 4pm today. There was indeed a shower earlier, at about 6pm - and it wasn't tooo heavy, although I wouldn't have called it light as such (we hung around at the Farmhouse Tea House for a while after we'd finished eating simply to dodge the heaviest bit.... and then just got a bit wet on the walk back to the campsite. But THIS?? No mention in the forecast of torrential rain at 10pm! The new tent is certainly being put to the test - and to be honest I'm a tad nervous. We're in the inner sleeping tent, Bob has settled down for the night, and so has the dog, it would appear - but I'd planned on trudging over to the loo block in a bit - leaving it till as late as possible in hope of not being woken up needing to go in the early hours of the morning. I just hope the rain eases off soon - no way am I venturing out in this downpour!

I woke up before 5am this morning - it was feeling cold that woke me - I'd made the rookie mistake of only wearing a t shirt and a jumper - should've worned my hoodie as well! Tonight I will be wearing all 3 necessary layers.

Rain is easing off a bit now. I'm listening to some Edinburgh Comedy previews, on my laptop, streaming via BBC iplayer website. Earlier we both listened to a Mitchell and Webb episode, but I've put the headphones on now (seriously couldn't hear the speakers at all when the rain was hammering down just then!) Bob is asleep now, which is another good reason for the headphones.

Here's hoping for a water-tight night!

Camping

2011-08-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in a reasonably comfortable folding camp-chair, typing by the light of an electric camp-lantern. I can hear Radio 4 on the little radio Bob is listening to in the sleeping tent as he drifts off to sleep (it's only 10.15pm, but camping makes early bedtimes more inevitable). I can also hear the wind in the trees outside the tent - a very pleasant and soothing sound. I am sitting here in my anorak, as well as the usual layers under it - cos tents don't have heating. But it's no hardship - I've totally relaxed, what with the Crabbies alcoholic ginger beer I've just finished. Mind you, that means I'll soon have to trek across the campsite to the toilet blocks: certainly the main disadvantage of a tent sans en suite.

The dog is cosy on my airbed and my sleeping bag (I will turf her off shortly when I take her out for a last widdle before settling down for the night.)

It rained quite heavily earlier - thankfully not while we were putting the new tent up (that went remarkably smoothly without a blazing row!) No leaks, and a pleasant, if rather loud, drumming sound. Less pleasant was the noise of the nearby raucous group of campers - glad they've quietened down now!

Camping is wonderfully relaxing and companionable, more so even than our preceding week in a cottage (which was also lovely and relaxing). A week in a tent really is the 'get away from it all' option - with no Telly and (hence) evenings spent so differently from usual as we play cards or scrabble (Rummy this evening - which I won, due to one big 'catch')

On the other hand, the reason I am able to sit here and type this is that (unlike the cottage last week) I have been able to pay to have wireless internet. Not very old school, but even Bob didn't begrudge me it, with the advantage of googling bird identifications and weather forecasts and other bits of useful info.

Our main (joint) journal of the holiday is - as usual - hand-written in an exercise book. This is just an extra - the 'late night special'.

I am, however, trying to restrict my use of Facebook and Twitter (and I haven't been on AF at all) - part of the holiday ethos and keeping it more as 'our' holiday, just me and Bob. Hence I haven't updated my status or tweeted at all while I've been away (yet).

Last week I only had my phone to contact the internet (and I have a feeling my bill next month may be a bit of a corker, due to the amount of data downloading without wireless!!); this week I have good wireless connection via my laptop. I wonder if I can maintain my self-discipline or if I will secumb to the temptation and start going mad on Facebook and Twitter. Bob has even asked me to upload a particular photo of a bird, which (if it's what we think it is) is quite an unusual spot at this time of year! It looks like a Water Pipit, but such birds are only supposed to be in the UK in the winter. Have posted the photo on a bird-watcher website, so we'll see if anyone can help.

Right, time to sign off and trek over to the loo block. Goodbye from tent-world. xx

Dictation is beguiling!

2011-07-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

I got a new App for my iphone today - in fact i got 3! One creates handwritten notes from your finger-written scrawls on the screen - just a picture, and a bit messy, but quick. The 2nd transforms cursive handwritten words (again using index finger on screen) to produce typed text. Impressive but rather slow and (so far) v prone to errors) The 3rd is called Dragon Dictation, it was a free App and I must say, I'm impressed! (what follows was all typed by the dictation App as i spoke it)

I can use the keyboard to correct the text after I dictate the bulk of it - to add punctuation etc - and that's much quicker than typing it all using my finger on the tiny screen on the iPhone.

Obviously I have to be in a quiet room without the TV on in the background and I have to be in a place where it is acceptable to be speaking out loud like this. But honestly I am absolutely amazed at how accurate the voice recognition is when I've only just started using it and it has absolutely no problem with my accent at all - or with making out which words I am speaking.

Once I dictate the text I can either copy it and paste it into any application I wish or I can send it directly to Facebook or twitter. I can also put it straight into an e-mail and send it to anyone in my contact list or indeed to myself so that I can then use it on my laptop.

I can see this becoming a very useful way of blogging. I can also see myself using it when I want to create to-do lists or shopping lists more quickly than I have been able to in the past. Another useful thing would be to read out the text of something rather than trying to use an OCR scan which can often be irritatingly inaccurate. This method would only require me to read out the section of text and voilà I would have it in an editable form ready to use in any way.

Granted speaking (rather than composing what one wants to say on the page) does make it more difficult to keep track of the shape of sentences and does perhaps lead to a less eloquent form of communication. However, on the other hand, it is a lot of fun!
Now to experiment with the punctuation that the application may be able to recognise! I wonder, if the signs I am speaking – will turn out to be correct? Yes! Every single one! I really am totally amazed!

New Prometheus

2011-05-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

I've now seen Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein twice, once live in the theatre and once - today - in the cinema with the reverse casting. It's a remarkable piece, with bravura central performances by both Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller as Frankenstein & Creature, alternating. For the live theatre experience, I had JLM as the Creature and BC as Victor Frankenstein. As many reviewers have remarked, the Victor part provides much slimmer pickings for the actor - but nevertheless I thought BC greatly enhanced the role, and I had a strong preference for his portrayal. Creature-wise, it was less clear-cut for me. In some ways I preferred JLM, in others BC. Just very glad I got to see both. I certainly got more from it the second time, noticing more of the thematic elements and pondering the issues raised.

Some aspects of the staging were wonderfully effective and memorable, although the train did seem a little odd: a fabulous bit of theatre but it seemed somehow 'stuck on' and unnecessary. Stylistically it was so much more impressionistic than the rest. I 'got' the evocation of the industrial age, the power of steam, the clamour of modernity, the monstrous-ness and strangeness, as seen through the frightened creature's eyes, seeing a train - and the seamy, teaming urban streets (of where?) for the first time. But despite all that it still seemed gimmicky.

I loved the use of the revolve, and the huge bits of scenery that rose while rotating - reminding me of Windy Miller et al emerging from the musical box in Camberwick Green

I must read the original novel to get a sense of how the adaptation remained true to it or shifted towards the playwright's own concerns.

I think it's from the book - the oddly 'anti-science' / daring to take on God's role slant - odd since Mary's lover / soon to be husband Shelley was staunchly atheistic, and Mary herself was certainly enlightened - the daughter of two radical and exceptional parents, who taught her to be a free-thinker.

Victor in the play (and novel?) seems deeply unsympathetic and flawed. Driven by pride, unable to foster normal loving relationships. The beginning of the play is also frustrating because Victor isn't 'active' in the creation of the creature - it happens in his absence - almost as if the lever clicked accidentally when he wasn't intending it, and lo, the creature emerges, solo, birthing itself. In terms of the drama it's an uncomfortable compromise - a fabulous un-worded sequence of him learning to use his body. But at the cost of a crucial aspect - Victor's agency, his responsibility, his creatorship (which is later asserted over and over again) And his momentary appearance, just to throw a cloak and exit, is clumsy dramatically. Didn't like that either.

The theme I found very interesting was the nature/nurture one: a blank slate of a human treated appallingly and becoming a murderer as a result. The burning of the cottage with the family inside, was linked to his reading of what heroes of old do when they are wronged - he seeks violent revenge, following their model (this was clearer with BC as the creature)

Another aspect that popped out for me was the treatment of disabled/disfigured people. We may like to think we are so much better now - that the reactions to the creature's appearance were backward and intemperate - scarcely believeable even. But I wonder. Those who look odd, different, ugly - they do experience terrible rejection. The child, Victor's brother, isn't innocently immune from this - he is just as repulsed.

Elizabeth is the only sighted person who tries to be more accepting. Ironically, her very 'right on' attempt proves to be too late, too naive...too dangerous!

The arguments about slavery versus freedom, mastery with or without responsibility, rights, and about choice or lack of choice, about designing a person to fulfill the needs of another person - these are all fascinating to me. The (voiceless) female creature - created and then, at the last moment, destroyed by Victor: would she have loved the creature back or rejected him? Would they have bred? And if they had, why did Victor assume that this would be abhorrent - and why call them a new species - why not just reanimated humans, producing normal human babies? Why assume the female would be fertile anyway? - presumably because the knowledge of the time did not include such details of how the conception process comes about, and how sterilisation works.

I particularly like the bit when Elizabeth challenges Victor when he explains that he had made a man - asking him why he hadn't married her years ago and created a human the normal way, by giving her a baby!

I found the scene between the creature and Elizabeth shocking and upsetting - properly so.

(this piece is somewhat unfinished but I'm going to post it as it is)

I'm not a muso, musings (Part 1 & 2)

2011-01-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

PART 1
Minchin is an absolute waltzer! I mean it - he just loves that funky 3:4 time.

Several times recently I have been struck by the growing number of his songs which are in that time signature. I have been swept away by fantasy-visions of ballrooms full of ladies in cinderella-style voluminous skirts twirling, viennese style, as the 1-2-3, 1-2-3 swirls and weaves its spell.

I want to dance to Minchin-music. I want a vast extravaganza of theatrical gorgeousness, with me in the middle of it all. (Maybe, if Tim gets to create his own dream musical, it might be one featuring one of those amazing set-piece full scale dance numbers - a great big beautiful waltz
- the kind that no-one can afford to stage any more.)

As it is, I have already experienced a sense of being stifled when at his recent live gigs - having to sit, rather than being able to stand up and bop around to the funky bits. The waltzing-urge just takes it a stage further.

Lullaby is the one which Tim overtly refers to as a waltz, but there are quite a few others that you could just as easily waltz to, cos definitely 3:4. White Wine in the Sun (and Drowned - I think?) are the other key ballads that are in waltz-time. Even bits of Cheese (and Tim waltzes around himself at that point in the song).

What about Teenage Years - it sounds syncopated, but I think it's possibly also 3:4??

What else? I may need help identifying them (looks silly if I can't make a decent sized list: not much of a thesis if I can't come up with at least a few!)

Matilda? Any waltzes in that? There's the 'don't cry little girl' song by the escapologist (later it's sung at the same time as My house, but can't really remember the latter or its time sig). Then there's the strange little song Trunchbull sings, about the dwarf folding paper hats with his mind ...and horses - I think that's in waltz time. But I thought I had spotted one or two others. Hmm - further pondering required.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PART 2
I also want to write about the song Beauty (not in terms of its time signature, but rather its lyrics and melody - it's oddly haunting and elusive while at the same time niggly. It's not a hugely popular number - and I can see why, but I'm driven to delve into it further: at the point I thought I'd worked out what it meant, I suddenly realised that Tim knew only too well the inadequacy of what the song 'seems' to be saying, and that the critique is itself part of the intention - the listener isn't supposed to unquestioningly agree with the singer-persona. Superficial beauty isn't true beauty, surely? The deliberate irony of it being a song against beauty/ the ease of 'beauty', in music, which is itself beautiful, ( although sung by a man whose voice - while suitable for a rock god - is by no means a 'beautiful' one: I am left wondering what the song would be like if sung by someone like, say, Josh Groban? I would love to hear that.) yet it's at the same time jarring lyrically - and musically, although I'm not quite sure how - so that the emotional attachment to the song doesn't happen - hence the bemusement of audiences - how are we supposed to react? It enacts its thesis!

But he does do beauty, of course he does - he certainly moves people with songs like Not Perfect and White Wine in the Sun, both of which are songs with lovely melodies, plus quirkiness, lyrical beauty, integrity and depth: in a word, truth (while avoiding those dreaded cliches). Humour and Beauty need not be mutually exclusive: beauty need not be uber-sombre and serious, surely? Is it about sincerity? True Beauty should be sincere, perhaps? Is that the problem?

The problem, perhaps, is that of the 'Meta'-view mode of thinking - which has a distancing effect, rather than allowing oneself to be fully and wholeheartedly swept away by the thing itself. I detect a suspicion of profundity too.

But why is beauty described as a harlot? Harlotry to me implies a form of (self?) deception for an easy (no-strings) contractually-based emotional/sexual release.

So, is it about the economic rewards of the songs that Mr Sony would've preferred?

(to be continued)

Looking back and summing up (Sept-Dec 2010)

2011-01-12T09:56:00.001-08:00

(This honestly isn't of interest to anyone except me - only posting it as a blog so I have it safely out there in the ether - it's just a summing up - in boring diary fashion - of my Sept-Dec 2010. I haven't done a proper TYSIC review of the year yet - will do a separate blog about that in due course.)

After posting my last blog about the trip to Stratford with Bob, I was surprised to notice the long gap prior to that - I hadn't blogged between late July 2010 and January 2011. I guess I must be unbloggy in the Autumn for some reason. So, for the sake of my own future curiosity about the rear end of 2010, I will attempt to dredge up some memories to prove that I was alive and doing stuff between September and December 2010. My diary is no help, unfortunately: a much regretted synch-error obliterated ALL my iphone calendar info, past and future, not long ago. That was annoying, to say the least! I have mainly used Facebook to reconstruct a diary of the period in question for myself.

JULY
25th (?) Went to see Mark Watson - see previous blog about that
26th - term finished, so finished work for the summer!
28th - Went to see Gutted, a Musical at the Lyric Riverside. Loved it! (got a free ticket from Michael Legge via Twitter!)

AUGUST
2 week holiday (1st-14th?) wth Bob & Cadi in Dorset. First week in a lovely little cottage, 2nd week in our tent. Did no sketching, except for Minchin related stuff (the top trump cards); also writing out & photo for the lyrics competition. Holiday was happy throughout, barring the stress of getting the tent down on final day, which led to a bit of a vegetable oil related row! There is a full holiday diary in hand-writtn form.

16th - Wynn fell & cut his shin v badly - ended up in Hampstead A&E - I drove over to be there for him, and to bring him home again; then took him back on 18th to have the wound properly stitched by plastic surgeon.

17th Went to see Warhorse with Jooles & Emma (Vikki working on it of course) - a fantastic show!!

19th - Gethin's A level results: he did pretty well (a tad better than Wynn, in fact!)
21st Trip to Cliveden with Bob & Cadi - a lovely walk in a NT place new to us
22nd - trip to Hitchin to see Caroline
? 24-25th Lewisham 1st trip to see Jooles, then 2nd trip (the next day?) to New Cross to take Wynn's stuff to his new flat
26th - Went to see Toy Story 3 (3D) on my own (cos Bob wasn't too keen)
28th - Went for family anniv meal with Bob & both boys - think we went to Charlotte's? (Bob & I also went blackberry picking, apparently)
29th Went to see Inception with Bob in the 'posh' cinema (Screen Vue in Westfield) - our first experience of the difference. Sooooo nice!

SEPTEMBER
2nd Sept - Bob and I went to Lisa's for a celebratory Anniversary meal (21 years)
4th-5th Sept - Scout Family Camp - fun, despite feeling unwell: Campfire went pretty well, despite me feeling iffy.
8th - Dreadful play at Richmond theatre with Ian H (a Morse travesty) So bad it was fun!
Bob away for a week at a conference in Germany (returned 11th) - came back with a yearning to possess an expensive set of replica fossil models - I granted his wish in due course, despite the high price!
12th - met up with Caroline and Diane (who was over in London for a course)
15th - got to be a 'cover supervisor' with the class for an afternoon
21st Sept - went to see Dara O'Briain at Hammersmith Apollo- with my son Wynn. Very much enjoyed that.
22nd Sept - conclusion of extensive cosmetic dental treatment (started early Aug): very happy with the results! : well worth the money!
25-26 Sept: went to visit my Dad in Belfast cos he was in hospital. My brother also popped up for a quick visit on the Sunday.
Mon 26th - Live at the Apollo recording with Emma

OCTOBER
2-3rd Oct: 2 dogs came to stay
10th - Hyde Park to view the half-marathon, with Emma & Jooles (met a certain runner)
? - 1st Jason Byrne radio recording - with Gethin & Lida
13th - Jason Byrne radio recording (on my own this time) - a much funnier show than last one
15th - Minchin & others at Union Chapel
16th - Storm premiere at TAM
23rd - great shopping trip for clothes with Bob (outfit for the wedding)
23rd (evening) Wynn was home for a visit - had a lovely long natter that evening.
26th Oct - Minchin preview gig at 100 Club (I think?): involved hanging around outside on pavement afterwards, rather than going to the pub....but quite good fun, with the other Feeters.

30th - went to see Burke & Hare with Bob, and really liked it (not sure which cinema - may just have been VIP seats in normal one, rather than Westfield Screen one)

31st - Went to see Minchin (along with others) at Lyric Hammersmith.

NOVEMBER
2nd - First there was a problem with the central heating (engineer came & fixed) and then the Dishwasher stopped working - engineer came, but took a while to get the needed part.
Sat 7th Nov - went to Stoke Poges (with Sandra) to see the Scout District's fireworks

Went to my niece's wedding in Cardiff on 20/11- with the whole family. Fell and fractured my arm while trying to have a shower in the (horrible) Travelodge the night before. Knew it was VERY sore, and very difficult to drive, but didn't realise there was a hairline fracture (cos I could wiggle my fingers). Wedding was lovely, despite my arm. The Hotel on the night of the wedding - the reception venue - was absolutely lovely. Drove us all home from Cardiff to London on the Sunday

Infinite Monkey Cage recording - 22/11 (the one with Minchin: I had also been to another IMC recording a couple of weeks before this - also v enjoyable)

27th - Cinema outing with Bob - the posh one again. Harry Potter

Frost Fair (with arm in a cast) - Fri 29th Nov
A week off work (while arm was in back-slab cast)
Back to work when arm in a full (pink!) cast.

DECEMBER
Masterminded the Beavers (and Cubs presentation at Church Parade early in Dec. For once, I pre-cast and handed out scripts in advance - which made things a lot easier!

Masterminded Beaver & Cub Xmas show - rehearsal on 3rd, performance on 17th. It went pretty well, in the end!

11th December Went to see Matilda in Stratford-upon-Avon (by train, with Emma) cos unable to drive due to dodgy arm)

Went to see Tim Minchin at the O2 on 14th Dec, and then saw him again in Nottingham on Sat 18th Dec.

Jess (Wynn's girlfriend) joined us for Christmas, arriving on Christmas Eve. Had a nice Xmas eve meal that night (ham etc) - and then both Jess & Wynn came to Midnight Mass with me (Anglican, although Jess is RC).

Christmas Day was my happiest day of the whole year - and the best Christmas for many, many years! Cuddles were enjoyed! Gifts opened in suitable frenzy! Board games were played! TV was watched (Dr Who, new Bill Bailey DVD)! Vast amounts of delicious food was eaten! Sweets & chocs were consumed. Boxing Day was also delightful - particularly the walk (and sledging) up on Horsenden Hill in the snow with Jess & Wynn (Gethin was working so couldn't come along)

Jess attempted to leave on 27th, but 'bounced back' for an extra couple of days.

Mum and Dad arrived evening of 30th - and stayed with us till morning of 2nd Jan. A lovely visit. Included visit to Nat Hist Museum on 31st, to see the Wildlife Photography Exhib (both W & G came as well) Also a trip to Chiswick Park on 1st without the boys). Also watched all the Eric & Ernie progs on evening of 31st

Bob's birthday on 2nd Jan - after I got back from taking my parents to the airport, Bob, Wynn and I went up to the British Museum and had an amazing lunch at the restaurant there. Didn't got to any exhibitions in the end - instead did a spot of window & real shopping - mobile phone for Bob, visit to his favourite book shop, HMV, researching guitars for Wynn.... A really lovely day together.

Monday 3rd Jan - final day of holiday for me. No idea what we did: just lazing at home I think.
(Bob was off longer and went to Malvern with Wynn for a couple of days 4th/5th)

What a very fine week-end!

2011-01-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

Bob and I went to Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday (Sat 8th Jan 2011); we delivered Cadi to our friends, Nigel & Jill, then hit the road by 11am. A very quick drive up the M40 - with lots of happy nattering along the way - meant we got there by about 12.30. We left the car at our B&B in Shipston Rd, then took a rather a long - and BITTERLY cold - walk into town along the route of the old tramway.

First stop, the new RSC theatre, in search of lunch at the restaurant on the top floor, hoping for fine views while dining. Despite the best efforts of an annoying v large group of wrinklies, who seemed intent on 'bumping' us, we got a table (whereas they were turned away - ha!).

Sadly our table was sans view (there's an outer and inner circle and we had a wall between us and the windows (but I went a few steps to take in the INNER view - on the other side of us - of the sheer drop right down to the foyer - yikes! Bob chose not to look....) Nonetheless, it proved a good choice of eaterie. For starters Bob had sophisticated leek with blue cheese soup and I had a delectable salmon salad, then for main course I had an amazing vegetarian pearl barley risotto, while Bob had faggots (!) which he said were delicious. Couldn't resist dessert as well - I had a very modern version of lemon meringue with honeycomb mess (all in a little glass tumbler) whereas Bob just had vanilla icecream. Coffees to finish ofcourse.

We went to try to buy tickets to go up the theatre's tower, but I overheard someone in front of me in the long queue at the box office being told that the next timed ticket for the tower wasn't for at least 90 minutes, so we scrapped that idea and headed into town for a wander around instead.

I've been to Stratford many times, but it was Bob's first time. We didn't want to pay to go into any of the Shakespeare properties, but enjoyed seeing the many elizabethan buildings from the outside. Window shopping soon turned into actual shopping - and then some!

It's quite a haul:
First I got a lovely new necklace of polished stones (not cheap but reasonable) plus a pair of inexpensive silver celtic knot earrings in Past Times. Due to the cold, we then bought a hat for me - in Fat Tuesday I think. Next Bob bought a couple of books in Waterstones (one on unusual places in London, the other about the diet of early homo sapiens. We browsed the street market but managed not to buy anything there. Later, we sought a thank you gift (and a few souvenirs for ourselves) in the shop attached to Shakespeare's birthplace: I bought a fridge magnet, a thimble, several greeting cards, a Shakespearean canvas bag (!), souvenir sweets BUT DIDN'T BUY the cheesy Romeo & Juliet snowglobe: I thought Bob was joking, but he's been going on about not being allowed to get it ever since (although that may still be him teasing me, I'm not sure..)

A few doors up, we bought some typically touristy biscuits to take back for our dog-sitting friends. On the same (pedestrianised) street, a busking juggler's pet rabbit - called (predictably I suppose) Thumper - was roaming rather further than he was supposed to, but without ill effect.

Heading back down the main street, the gravitational pull of a couple of clothes shops advertising their January sales proved too strong. In the end, (after a trying on session, with Bob in traditional position sitting at the changing room entrance, giving his verdict on each item) we bought me: an embroidered cardigan, 2 tops and a long scarf. Like a child with new shoes, I switched as soon as having paid and wore the cardigan and scarf for the rest of the day.

Cup of tea and a bit of a rest in an ok tea room (the elizabethan building itself was lovely, with sloping floorboards, but the victoria sponge was horrid, unfortunately). This was followed by a browse in a fantastic second hand book shop - Bob found a very reasonably priced 1st edition of some book he knew, while I bought quite an expensive book about Morcembe and Wise (Bring me Sunshine).

Next was the search for a pre-theatre light meal. Old Town House, and the place next to it, had no space, so we just headed straight for the Courtyard Theatre and ate in the little cafe there - didn't really want a big meal anyway, after our big meal at lunchtime- baked potatoes with filling (and a glass of wine for me) was just right.

Had a little look in the theatre's Matilda shop - I bought a Matilda fridge magnet and an RSC canvas bag - and then we found a chair (one between the two of us) to wait in the foyer.

The show itself was wonderful - we were sitting in the circle, although right round at the side. I liked seeing everything from above this time, although I wasn't crazy about the side-on angle, and it seemed much harder to make out the lyrics of the songs this time, which I thought was due to the sound being not so well balanced for that part of the auditorium. Bob was tired and feeling slightly under pressure, cos he was aware that I was really hoping he would like it. Nonetheless he did enjoy and like it - 'just not as much as you do', as he put it.

A quick icecream at the interval, but no chance of getting a drink from the bar (I'd forgotten to order anything beforehand). By the end, Bob and I were both swelteringly hot and rather thirsty. Narrowly avoiding Bob's tiredness-tetchiness turning into out-and-out grumpiness, we rather enjoyed the quite long walk back to the B&B in the cold night air, with a totally clear sky filled with stars, pausing only to identify a few constellations, and to pick up a couple of soft drinks from an all-night garage.

To sleep, perchance to dream.... Nice comfy bed in a perfectly adequate B&B - but Bob had been spoilt by his (discounted) night in a lovely hotel (The MountPleasant) in Malvern last week (which I had also booked for him & Wynn, I might add!), so he was intent on teasing me for my penny-watching ways. Next week-end away, he says, we must go for the posh hotel option (yikes!)

The next morning, we enjoyed a nice leisurely start to the day, and had a full English breakfast, to set us up for the day. We then had to do lots of ice-scrapping before setting off in the car by a different, more scenic, route home - via the Cotswolds. We hadn't planned on much of a stop, but when we saw the signs pointing towards the Cotswolds Wildlife Park, we decided to go & have a look. Not cheap to get in, but we went ahead - and I'm very glad we did - we thoroughly enjoyed our visit, and plan to go back sometime in the summer months as well. Despite the bright sun it was jolly cold, and Bob (in true gentlemanly fashion) lent me his hoodie as an extra layer. As a result he was barely warm enough (despite his 4 remaining layers!). I was cosy, except for my toes.

Can't begin to remember all the cute, the ugly, the fascinating and the bizarre creatures we saw. I was surprised by how active so many of the animals seemed to be - they seemed to be enjoying the sunshine as much as we were. I think our joint favourite was the group of Pallas Cats - an ancient species of wild cat that looks like a particularly cuddly but slightly grumpy domestic cat. But the Red Panda came a close 2nd. Oh and the penguins, the meerkats, the lemurs, the warty pig (!), the giant tapir, huge snakes, fruit bats, white rhino, cameleons.... The wolves were amazing too, but rather sad and disturbing, as they were pacing in a repetitive, institutionalised fashion - and were in an enclosure that didn't really seem large enough for them.

We had a spot of lunch in the little cafe - just soup and a roll was enough after such a big breakfast. Having indulged in a final bit of retail therapy (just another thimble, Cotswolds honey for our friends and some sweets for later) we took to the road and the drive back to London didn't take as long as we expected - we were back shortly before 3pm! Having helped Wynn to find his passport number, I collapsed and had a post-drive nap for an hour before going to collect the dog and then taking Wynn to the tube (too tired to drive him all the way to New Cross!)

Mark after hours - Do I know you? (yes, I do!)

2010-07-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

After Mark's show at the Riverside Studios on Saturday evening, a group of five of us (me, Emma, Aislinn, her sister and Simone) waited in the hope of saying hello to Mark. As Aislinn has already mentioned in her blog, a helpful theatre chap showed us the correct door, because we were waiting in the wrong place. When Mark came out, he saw me first (cos I was standing nearest the door) and immediately asked 'Are you Heather?' He had seen my photo in my ipod challenge blogs, hence he recognised me - and Aislinn and I had both tweeted him that we would be there, and were hoping to meet him afterwards, so he knew to look out for us. He also recognised Aislinn.

I'm not quite sure, but I think Aislinn & I mentioned having seen him at the Rhod Gilbert recording the previous week at this point(he hadn't been able to stay to say hello at the end that time) I must have mentioned my 20 year old son - because he was with me that night and had also loved Mark's set (I had previously tweeted this to Mark) cos it led to Mark saying (and I know it sounds cheesy, but it was really lovely and a real boost for me!) 'You don't look old enough to have a 20 year old son - no, seriously, you don't!'

I think, as Aislinn has mentioned, that Mark must have been the first to mention us all going to the bar for a drink, but I hadn't heard him say that, so I tentatively asked if he had time to have a drink with us, and was delighted when he said yes. When we got to the bar, I asked if I could get him a drink. He said 'Are you sure that's alright?' I assured him that it was (I was very pleased indeed to be able to buy him a drink) and even before I asked what he'd like, I could've guessed it would be a glass of red wine - and indeed it was.

I really enjoyed the chat, although I was sorry that we ended up talking about Tim Minchin for a while early on - I honestly don't know how that happened - I certainly didn't introduce the subject: probably Mark did, cos he knows I am a TIm fan, cos I'd included Tim in the ipod challenge. Much that I love Tim, I didn't want to talk about him then: I wanted the focus to be fully on Mark, not his Arena-filling flamboyant friend. It also led to a sticky-wicket bit in the conversation when Mark (possibly forgetting that, with a 20 year old son, I am one of those older ladies who is only 3 years away from turning 50) characterised some of the slightly sad older - in their late 40s/50s - obsessive (& oddly dressed) Tim fans/stalkers, not meaning to include me, but it was borderline....

Anyway, the conversation moved on, and we chatted about many things - touring, Kit, his novels, the possibility of including some singing in future shows, his earliest TV appearances (and strange clothes!), Tom Basden, the Watsonian picnic, the ipod challenge, TYSIC - and its pronunciation, etc, etc (I became a bit self-conscious that I was hogging most of the chatting for a period, which wasn't intentional - maybe just cos I was fairly relaxed around him, and just the geography of where we were each standing)

As the level of wine left in Mark's glass diminished, we moved from conversation to conventional fan requests for book signings and photographs. Emma had brought Crap at the Environment, I had brought A Lighthearted Look at Murder (my favourite of his 3 books, all of which I have). Aislinn, ofcourse, had her lovely sketch signed.

We all got lovely photos with Mark, although he looks a bit self-conscious in all of them, bless him. I was glad to be able to remove the red-eye from my photo, which improved it greatly!

After the photos, we were all standing in different places, which made it easier for Mark and Aislinn to have a good chat. They talked about her long sponsored walk, to raise money for MND, and Patrick Joyce, the inspiration for that. Also the odd coincidence at the Rhod Gilbert show, where she hadn't know Mark was performing when she wrote about wanting to befriend him on her audience participation sheet.

Several other people came up to Mark while we were in the bar, to congratulate him or to ask for an autograph. I liked seeing him get this validation from others.

Just before he left, I gave him a small box of Belgian chocolates to share with Emily - he said she loved belgian chocs, so I was glad I'd brought them.

I really wanted to give him a hug, but couldn't quite break the inhibition to do so. Ah well, maybe next time.

When Mark left, we hung back for a while, even though we would be needing to head in the same direction - cos we didn't want to look like we were following him!

As several of us have said, we all felt it was particularly nice of Mark to stay for such a long time that evening, despite being so tired, and with a poorly baby at home.

His mini-blog on the way home revealed his uncertainty about how the show had gone that night. Looking back on his reactions in the bar any time one of us said something complimentary about the show, it's clear in retrospect that he was unconvinced.

Poor tired, overly-perfectionist, loveable boy! To know him is to love him.

PS Aislinn's blog about meeting Mark can be found at http://fuckyeahnothingmuch.blogspot.com/2010/07/very-long-blog-about-mark-watson.html

Mark Watson makes a difference to me!

2010-07-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

I jotted down some notes last night after seeing Mark Watson’s Edinburgh preview show at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, and meeting him for a chat in the bar afterwards. But I’m starting fresh with this blog, just referring to yesterday's notes to jog my memory. I may, in fact, do two separate blogs – one about the show and then a separate one about the after-show bit.

So, first, here are my jottings about the Show. The problem is, I don’t want to include anything too revealing about the material in the show, as that would constitute ‘spoilers’ for anyone likely to be seeing the show in Edinburgh or on tour (or even on DVD as I believe it’s due to be filmed at some point!)

So more of an overall impression, then, plus the one-time-only unique bits, due to certain audience members.

The show takes its inspiration from Mark’s difficult year last year, and stops short of the TYSIC initiative. He does, however, incorporate some stuff from Kit’s earliest days, so it does include some stuff about being a Dad – and harks back to experience of his own Dad fathering him. There is a lot of self-deprecation, some quite dark stuff, plenty of silliness and feel-good stuff too.

I am always baffled by the feat of memory that a stand-up show is. Does he always do the various segments in the same order? How does he remember them all? Does the ‘thread’ work the same way each night?

The biggest surprise, for me, was how dark some of the dark bits were! The section on flirting with the idea of suicide in the face of life’s meaninglessness was somewhat resonant for me: like a very, very dark, bitter piece of chocolate which is enjoyable but almost too strong. Similarly dark was the bit about being very VERY careful to keep the baby safe (ie alive!), with a wryly dark reference to wanting to make sure that nothing went wrong ‘on my watch’ – not least because the consequences would make it the end of everything, including the marriage. The bit about the hurtful comment with bad swear word was also slightly on the darker side, where the grist to the comedy mill is genuine psychological hurt and pain.

Before the show started Mark was sitting typing stuff on his laptop which was projected up onto the screen – it was very effective and very funny. Then, at the start of the show ‘proper’ Mark had a bit about playing a prank on latecomers, which nearly worked – and was possibly all the funnier for its slight foxing by one audience member (or was it all a double-bluff set-up?) It certainly seemed like a freshly improvised bit, but it may be a standard element, for all I know. Mind you, it did make it hard for him to get the show going, hankering for a latecomer to come along.

The oddest thing was about 10 minutes in, when an audience member (among a group of about 5, who had arrived just ‘under the wire’ but slightly late for all that. Mark reacted with a split-second decision when the guy got up and left. He put down his mike (with an echoing ‘donk’) and legged it out the door to catch the guy and make him come back. He then politely but pointedly interrogated him to find out what the heck was going on. It was very funny. Turned out this guy was supposed to be at a BBQ in Streattham – under pain of wifely displeasure, so why the heck had he even come in for the first bit? Who had bought the tickets? Etc etc. In the end, Mark let the chap go, or rather indicated that he didn’t actually want him to stay (and there was a little bit of sotte voce booing as he left (which reminded me of similarly instigated audience noise in MWMTWSB).

This episode did side-track the show for quite a while, and also seemed to throw Mark a little, although he got back into his stride after a while (later on, he asked an audience member what the time was and was surprised that it was already 8.50pm, with a third of the material still to go. But it was fine (as with most things, he talked it through aloud and came to this conclusion)
At the start Mark did some preamble about what the show would be like and that he was too psychologically fragile to risk doing a bad show (even as a preview/ work in progress). He mentioned that there would be jokes and then also some anecdotes where the laugh-rate might dip, but not to worry, cos it was all heading somewhere. (Later he mentioned how fast he talks and the good value of words per show he offered.) He talked about himself as a shy person, oddly choosing to do stand-up, and yet not regarding it as ‘brave’ or any big deal to talk to lots of strangers like this. One key line, which I’ve heard get a big laugh in the past, fell strangely flat this time – somehow the mood or the timing had been put off, by the preceding nonsense with BBQ man I think. And of course Mark commented on this. At one point there was also a line that got a much BIGGER reaction than usual, but I can’t recall now which one it was: again Mark commented on this. It all gets a bit post-modernist at times – ‘look what we’re doing here’ – which becomes part of the fun.

There were also 2 men who (at the same time) decided their bladders just couldn’t make it through – one was unfortunately seated in the middle of the front row and was wearing a bright pink T shirt. Mark had fun with the ridiculous ‘don’t mind me’ hunched over funny walk that he and other such people tend to use when going out. He got the guy’s name from his girlfriend, so he could go ‘Right, Robbie?’ as the guy came back in and sat down. (and he referred to Rob several times during the rest of the show)

Mark assured us that such unexpected bits were all good practise for dealing with audience happenstances in Edinburgh (he didn’t use the word happenstance, mind you, that’s just me)

Another improvised bit (well, I think it was off the cuff) was about the show Cats – can’t for the life of me recall how it fitted in, but it may have been around the time of the Dog’s life stuff (also one of my top favourite bits), or part of him dealing with the ‘going out for a wee men’. Mark revealed he’d never seen Cats, but postulated a show where lots of cats would just sit around ignoring the audience for 3 hours and then, just as they were leaving, would come and rub up against the audience’s legs. Loved that!

Oh, and I loved the bit about being taught not to get into cars with strangers (must remember to take some of a certain type of biscuit next time I get the chance to meet him!)

And the bit about the fat man getting into the lift.

And other instances of reacting to annoying people by saying things aloud

And the bad Bank Holiday in Aberystwyth

And the miserable, jilted man on the train

And the sausage roll

And the re-appropriation of genital swear words.

(Am trying to avoid spoilers, but I can’t help mentioning these little hints, cos I want to remember my favourite bits)

I felt that the tension in the thread of the show went a bit floppy just towards the end, and I wasn’t quite sure the final wrapping up, referring back to an earlier bit, quite worked as a suitable summing up. The logic didn’t quite do it for me – may just be a matter of wording rather than anything being wrong with the conceit. But although it’s a show with an overall ‘arc’ it’s got many off-shoots from that central thrust, and I lost the shape a bit along the way.

He talks about making a difference and being important to people - that HE wants to do this/be this, but his final example is not of him being important to someone else/ making a difference to someone else (or, for comic effect, failing to do so?),but rather of someone’s importance TO him in achieving a - presumably deliberately – bathetic goal (ie his work being known and liked by someone he admires, a somewhat more famous performer whom he has been to see many times and whose show he eventually managed to be in)

I risked saying something about this slight unease about the ending of the show in a comment on his blog – and quickly regretted doing so. I was really worried that I might've upset or offended Mark, or just made myself look presumptuous, and I tweeted him about my concern. He was lovely about it, and tweeted back to reassure me that it had been a useful comment.

In the midst of all this, I realised why I had posted the comment - and was ryely amused: obviously I just wanted to be important to him - just wanted to make a difference!

Change the world while Mark is in Portugal

2010-07-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, as part of my changing the world for the better challenge this week, I want to invite as many people as possible to have a quick look at this lovely little youtube video, animated by the South Park boys (playing nice for once).

It's a short bit of a lecture by a British philosopher I've never heard of - Alan Watts - and it's about the importance of experiencing the beauty of life as you go along. Inspirational!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoTmNU_5A0&feature=player_embedded

If you watch it, please post a comment here or in the forum, or on my TYSIC posting, or in the comments to Mark's blog launching the challenge) to let me know (cos otherwise I won't know if I've managed to change the world at all)

The (not-so-missing) ipod link

2010-07-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Mark Watson's ipod has been champing at the bit recently, having been languishing in Ealing with me for a boring couple of weeks. But today the ipod's joy knew no bounds! Off again for another jaunt, to meet another new person. Having no legs of its own, the ipod resigned itself to letting me come along for the ride.

The ipod and I caught the tube from Ealing to South Kensington and made our way through the sub-way to the beautiful, fossil-filled Natural History Museum: the agreed location for our rendez-vous with Stephanie and her 'riding shot-gun' friend, Ridhi (benign I may be, but I'm still a stranger off the internet).

We met inside, as arranged, in the little cafe just behind the main staircase (is it them?.... yes it is). We all shook hands (you can't really go up to complete strangers and hug them, can you? - well, not unless they're celebrities) and then, thanks to the talisman of friendship, the Watson-ipod, we quickly broke the ice and found plenty to chat about - including Mark himself (of course) and how we had each discovered him/ his work/his comedy/his novels/his blogging, etc.

It was very hot in the Museum, so I compromised and instead of a hot coffee opted for a chilled latte - not sure it was quite my 'cup of tea' though (I had to push from my mind its similarlity to drinking the dregs of a mug of coffee that has gone cold) While I drank my iffy latte, the three of us chatted and laughed (meanwhile the ipod had gone all shy, and just smiled in silence as Stephanie admired both it and its accompanying team-mates: the booklet and memory 'key')

Eventually, after a nice long chat and, in my case, a not-so-nice latte, we decided to move to a more suitably photogenic location for the actual hand-over. Steph's friend kindly offered to do the honours with the cameras (both mine and Steph's).

To the puzzlement of several tourists, a certain Mr Charles Darwin became the not-so-missing link between myself and Steph for the passing of the ipod. (I wonder what piece of music Charles himself would've chosen to add, if he hadn't been so.... 'stoned'!)

And so, dear friends, the ipod is now basking in the attentions of its new guardian, Steph, who has until Saturday (and the Watsonian picnic in Hyde Park) to decide exactly which music track she is going to add. I look forward to hearing all about it!

We parted with hugs rather than hand-shakes (that's the friendly power of the Watsonian ipod challenge)

Farewell, sweet little ipod, I wish you well as you travel ever onward towards your final destination - never complaining, never tiring, never ceasing in your quest to better yourself and to inspire friendship between all who meet on your account.

PS: For more on the hand-over experience, and the rest of that day from Stephanie's angle, scoot over and have a look at her blog:

http://stephdoestysic.blogspot.com/2010/07/mp3-challenge-handover-nhm.html

The Mark Watson ipod Challenge - Northern Irish leg

2010-06-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Northern Irish leg of the TYSIC ipod challenge had been a long time a-brewing, with flurries of emails for weeks and weeks. The window of opportunity was narrow but in the end we rose to the challenge, synchronised our watches and all managed to gather at the same place (the café in the Ulster Museum) at the same time (4.30pm on Sunday 20th June) and pass around an ipod, memory stick and booklet while posing for photos.

As Simon has previously reported, I had taken custody of the ipod from his fair hands (and Kate’s and Hannah’s) on Monday 7th June, becoming Link 7 of the ongoing chain. That same evening, I went straight from the ipod Hand-over to a comedy gig in aid of the charity

‘Reprieve’. The headline act was Tim Minchin and after the show I was fortunate enough to meet him at the stage door. I was therefore able to include Tim in the challenge, in a small way, by trying to explain what his friend Watson had set in motion and asking him to autograph the ipod’s accompanying booklet. Here I am with Tim - in the rain (sorry, but the ipod isn’t in the pic).

The choice of music for my addition to the memory stick was simple – obviously it had to be some Minchin-music, but which track? In the end I picked ‘If I didn’t have you’ …and also ‘Not Perfect’ (yes, cheekily I added two tracks – if I need an excuse, I’ll just say that one choice is for me and one is for Tim himself….even though he wasn’t ‘officially’ a link in the chain).

The next official link-up takes us across the Irish Sea. . I travelled over from London to Belfast on Friday evening to spend the week-end with my family - in honour of my father’s 80th birthday – so the ipod simply hitched a ride on an existing travel arrangement. I spent a lovely couple of days in Portaferry enjoying the glorious weather and beautiful scenery with my parents, one of my sons, my brother , his wife and their 3 children. My Dad thoroughly enjoyed our special week-end together and then very kindly brought me back from Portaferry an hour or so early on Sunday - just to let me carry out my TYSIC duties (he and the rest of my family found it all somewhat bemusing to be honest!)

As the ‘custodian’ linking person for this leg, I was keen not to be late for our get-together. Thanks to my Dad, I managed to get there a few minutes early and was the first to arrive. I stationed myself in the Museum café within clear sight of the front entrance.

Tara was the next to arrive, having only a short way to come, as luck would have it. We exchanged texts like radar signals ('I’m here – where are you?') and then finally we ‘locked-on’ and bingo! Link 8 successful made! Greetings, friendly chat and ipod business all underway within minutes.

Only a short while later Kathryn and her friend arrived, adding our 9th and final Northern Irish Link to the ipod chain. Kathryn had driven to Belfast from her home-town of Bangor specially for the link-up (with a friend to protect her from meeting strange, unknown people off the internet – wise girl!). Kathryn had had a very busy week-end already and had only just time to zoom up to Belfast for our meeting before heading straight back to Bangor again for a further commitment that evening! She had also kindly brought along her laptop (in the funkiest, shiniest, purplest laptop bag I have ever seen – I want one!) so music copying was soon underway. As the laptop fired up I was delighted to see Kathryn’s desktop pic – a very fine photo of herself with Mr Tim Minchin after his Belfast gig last year.

Tara had picked Arcade Fire’s Black Waves/Bad Vibrations and soon added her explanatory message to the notebook. Kathryn had several possible tracks in mind and only made her final decision once she’d had a glance at the choices already in the book, in conjunction with weighing up the importance of having a Northern Irish musician (or two) included as part of the TYSIC NI-leg choices. I’m delighted that her final decision was in favour of Duke Special and Neil Hammon’s rendition of ‘Our Love Goes Deeper’

And here we all are – the 3 Northern Irish ones.

By the way, Mark, you just HAVE TO add Belfast to your tour now! Tara is counting on you! (Meanwhile Kathryn is waiting for results to see where she will be at University before booking, whereas I am trying to decide which show I can travel to, since I can’t manage the one and only London date - grrr).

We only had about 30 minutes before the Museum closed and Kathryn had to get away. We all said our farewells, and I headed back to my parents house, just up the road, for a bite to eat before flying back to London later that evening. So, Mission Accomplished! The ipod now restlessly awaits its next adventure, and I await my instructions – who will be the next link, I wonder?

Following the trail

2010-06-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

A thought popped into my mind the other day and it amused me: it was the idea of Tim Minchin being the Hansel character in the famous fairy tale 'Hansel and Gretel', in the sense of him laying a trail of breadcrumbs (or pebbles) for me to follow. In the early part of the story, the trail of pebbles leads the children from attempted abandonment in the wood to safety whereas the trail of breadcrumbs subsequently fails because it is eaten by birds (and it's after that, while lost in the woods, that they become trapped by the witch in the gingerbread house). Granted, the analogy isn't all that great, but 'following a trail of breadcrumbs' has become a well-enough known image in its own right, denoting the attractiveness of some kind of a treat leading you from one morsel to the next, and so on. Certainly the Tim Minchin trail I've been following has led to many wonderful and magical things, some of them away from home and some of them initially scarey.

. . . . . .First and foremost along the trail I discovered the wonderful Duke Special. I found my countryman Duke while trawling through all the Minchin clips I could find on Youtube. The clip in question features a duet by Duke and Tim of the fabulous Duke song 'Our Love goes deeper than this'. Since making this discovery I have bought lots of Duke's music on itunes and have managed to see him playing live at the Shaw Theatre, performing his 'Silent world of Hector Mann' and 'Mother Courage' material. It was fab!. . . . .

. . . . . Further along the path, I made some lovely new friends - Jooles, Emma & Vikki (I first met all 3 of these, and other friendly 'Angry Feeters', at the Australian film festival - attended because Tim was introducing the 2 films that evening). . . . . .

. . . . . And, just round the corner, that same day at the Barbican, I found the beguiling and enchanting art installation in the Curve, featuring free-flying finches plucking electric guitars. . . . .

. . . . . . . On we go, and next I found Mark Watson (discovered because Tim had been involved in 'Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better' in the 1st series (made for radio 4) - so I bought the audiobook of that series online, to listen to Tim's bits, and then started following Mark himself on twitter, reading his blog and finally - very significantly - became drawn in to the whole TYSIC thing!) This has in turn influenced the routes I've been exploring, leading me into even more interesting territories . . . . .

. . . . . . Tim next led me to the Big Libel Gig and there I discovered just how good Marcus Brigstock is as a stand-up (I definitely hope to see him do a full-length gig someday and (although less of a surprise) I also re-confirmed that Dara O'Briain is one of my favourite stand-ups (I've now booked to see him in September). In fact, the Big Libel Gig was a big turning point in many ways, showing me that going to live stand-up comedy shows - something I hadn't done for years, if ever, was something I really enjoyed and wanted to do more . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . Along the road, some considerable distance away, I discovered 'The Hay Festival'. As with all the stops along this trail, Tim was the 'draw', but once more the side-benefits were terrific. Not only did it involve my lovely new friends Emma and Vikki, the event itself was a revelation! Having seen the pleasures to be had, I'm definitely planning to go back next year - hopefully with my husband this time - and to stay longer so that we can go to lots of the talks and events, and explore the town and surrounding area a bit more. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . Continuing down the Timmy-trail, the next 'find' was at the Reprieve gig when Tim was headlining. My favourite side-benefit that night was getting to see Phil Jupitus doing stand-up (and singing!): I'd only previously seen his TV panel-game work. He was terrific - another I'd like to see do a full-length show. His accompanying group of acapella singers called (I think) 'The La de Das' were also fantastic!. . . . .

. . . . .And so we reach the current 'trail-head', a spot to which Tim's tweeted plugs, and my new friends' encouragement took me - reached after travelling way down south, alone by tube and through the streets of Stockwell, to find a bit of back-room comedy and small-venue music in a pub: 'The Junior Ministers' . . . . . . and Jukebox Collective. . . . . . Excellent stuff - made all the more enjoyable by further friendly mingling with new friends, many of them now twitter-mates. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .No idea where I'm heading next - looking forward to spotting the next bread-crumb, whenever and where-ever it may appear.

TYSIC UPDATE - a month later...

2010-06-09T15:00:00.001-07:00

A quick update on everything (To coin a familiar sounding phrase: 'it's been a month since my last 'confession')

1. Emotional well-being: good, although half-term 'chill out' took me into a state of lethargy which wasn't actually that great by the end. Still haven't quite got back into gear, although the thrills of my fangirl exploits have been delightful - in a brittle, 'high' sort of a way. Am currently reading 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman and it's excellent on practical ways to enhance happiness. Definitely going to put some of the ideas into action!

2. Be less lazy & more productive & stop procrastinating. - Big dip on the graph, I'm afraid. The effect of half-term week, as mentioned above. Laundry is piling up again, although I did manage a few other chores this morning. Oh, and I did get around to going to the dentist on Monday, which I'd been putting off for AGES! Oh, and twice recently I've met up for a drink with old friends I hadn't seen for ages (arranged before the half-term dip drained me of all 'getting on with things' gusto) On the other hand, I am writing this when I really ought to be getting on with at least two other fairly urgent tasks!)

3. Relationship with my Sons. Good stuff generally. Older son (aged 20) came over to me earlier today, just before going out to claim his 'daily hug'. I am very lucky. And the younger boy (now 18), with whom I have a somewhat stormier relationship at times, was able to share some of his favourite 'Dub step' & other music with me via my iphone link to Youtube, as I drove him a very long way - and back again - to collect his ebay-purchased new DJ 'decks'. Even though the traffic jams were horrendous, the sat nav a bit unreliable at times, and my son didn't like the Tim Minchin stuff I played him - despite all that, overall we got on pretty well. At one point, he found my video footage (on the iphone) of our dog playfighting with a friend's younger dog, and loved it, so linked to it on his facebook page.

4. Stay open to opportunities/ take risks etc. My recent outings to gigs will come up under separate category, but also relevant here. Similarly going to Junior Ministers this Friday (a complete departure for me - not sure what I'll make of it). But probably my recent (and ongoing) participation in the TYSIC ipod challenge is my highest scoring thing under this category! Met up with Simon, Kate, Hannah on Monday - I just went up to these complete strangers in the pub....and it was lovely!

5. Enjoy time with my parents. Have mostly been keeping up my new resolution to ring my mum more frequently - seems to be fortnightly rather than weekly, but that's still much better than it used to be (having said which, I think I owe a call this week...)

6. Nurture relationship with husband. Despite my dalliances in Hay and Lyceum, getting all fangirlish over Tim Minchin, things are good with the REAL man in my life. Nice bits of 'quality time' most week-ends. (Relieved that he didn't give me a hard time yesterday about my late night on Monday. He was so tired from lack of a good night's sleep he didn't even have the engergy to be grumpy, poor dear.)

7. Go out to live entertainment more. Well that's such an easy one now! At some point I may have to set myself a compensatory TYSIC - 'to go out to live entertainment LESS'!! Have now booked Dara O'Briain for September (am going with older son in fact), but nothing booked for July or Aug yet (no Edinburgh for me, sadly)

Meeting Tim Minchin at the Stage Door – Lyceum, 07-06-2010

2010-06-08T08:10:00.000-07:00

(How I overcame tongue-tied nerves and gained a new nick-name)

After my experience in Hay, I was determined not to be tongue-tied this time. I had actual things I was hoping to say.

Delighted that Vikki appeared just as I found the stage door! (She’d just finished work, so seemed silly not to come along) Nice to be able to chat during the long wait in the rain - we both became very bedraggled, having no umbrellas. (to be honest, Vikki was also a delightful sight for my sore eyes for another reason - since she was bearing a working camera: my camera battery was stupidly dead so I’d only got my iphone camera– which has no flash). Others I recall being at the stage door - and whose forum names I know - were Aims - plus her v patient dad - and Jellybean (not sure of others’ names ).

So, there I was - I had a (Hay Festival) canvas bag – but no sharpie; I had a Watsonian notebook; I had a bag of jellybags. I had no umbrella, no proper camera & was sporting the ugliest anorak in the entire universe. I had, however, remembered to put on some eyeliner.

Ok, so eventually Tim came out, all lovely and saying ‘Aww, you guys’ cos there we were, standing in the rain. There were quite a few of us, but not toooo many. Aims’ dad was so indulgent and lovely. (although when the moment came to take the photo, he had real trouble with the camera – I think the flash hadn’t had time to recharge or something. I do hope the photos came out ok, Aims?)

As he joined us, Tim ducked under various umbrellas, one after the other, all held by much shorter female people, so they kept forgetting to hold the umbrella high enough for him, and Tim’s long mane-like hair kept getting caught in umbrella spokes, which he jokingly complained about ( Vikki’s hair also got tangled in a spoke at one point – while having her photo taken with Tim I think). I managed – this time – to operate Vikki’s camera correctly, I think, and (hopefully) got a photo for her ok. (hope you can reassure me on that point, Vikki?)

I can’t really quite remember the order of my attempted banter to engage Tim in something like a normal conversation (determined not to be tongue-tied this time, after Hay embarrassment), but here goes, although not necessarily quite in this order:

I borrowed someone else’s sharpie (huge thank you for that!) and got Tim to sign my Hay Festival canvas bag (although I didn’t get/take the chance to mention that I’d seen him in Hay – he probably didn’t even notice it was a Hay bag – nor did I mention that I had also been a ‘Hi…Bye’ tongue-tied idiot then – but why would I want to remind him of that!)

I did, however, remind him that it had been me, @Joneshs, who had recently tweeted him the link to the ‘mr whippy fallacy’ 21st floor blog featuring a critique of Peter Hichens’ bizarre observations on anti-depressants and serial killers. Thankfully, he remembered it. I then tried to reference the latin name for that causal correlation fallacy (which he quoted in the Hay show, but which I can never remember), mentioning along the way that my son had studied Philosophy A level, but that the latin name ‘was all greek to me’ – and then, catching his eye, did the old ‘did you see what I did there?’ comment. He laughed and made some quip in reply, which (sadly) I can’t recall (but I do recall that I could see the cogs of his mind whirring at that point, which was fun)

I then offered him a Jellybaby (‘don’t know if you like these, but would you like a jellybaby?’. He initially responded 'I love jelly babies' but then went on to ask me, slightly suspiciously, 'you haven't poisoned them, have you?' (I hadn’t, and fortunately he was trusting enough to believe me) He took a couple – and later came back and grabbed quite a few more, saying he was really hungry.

Ok, so what else? Oh yes, I asked him, as a favour, to sign the booklet accompanying the ipod for the Mark Watson TYSIC ipod challenge. (I’d only just met up with some other Watsonians earlier that evening and received the ipod & booklet for my leg of its journey around the country) It was hard to explain this to him when I didn’t want to monopolise his time too much –I just mentioned his friend Mark Watson and gave the briefest gist of what was going on, although I’m pretty sure he didn’t really get it. ‘Ok, so what do I need to do? ‘ he asked ‘ Just sign the booklet, really’; - so he did – a nice wee autograph, which is great – I do hope the eventual recipient appreciates this addition! (In hindsight, I suppose I should have asked him for a recommendation of a music track really - something he likes to listen to. Oh well – will just stick with my original plan to include a Minchin track as my addition to the ipod – not sure which song yet)

At one point, a bloke who was a drummer put a note of his contact details into Tim’s hand, offering his services, any services– if he should ever happen to need a drummer …(at which point Vikki pipes up, offering to do Tim’s lighting – go girl!: between us all we could probably source and service every aspect of his forthcoming tour, I’m sure – although I couldn’t think, at the time, of a single thing I could offer to do..) ‘So, are you a good drummer? An ace drummer…?’ asks Tim – but bless him the bloke wasn’t arrogant or self-confident enough to say an up-front ‘Yes’ to that .

Oh, just remembered, at one point, seeing other people getting hugs (including the drummer), I was brazen enough to outright ask ‘Can I have a hug?’ And of course I got one, bless him (probably not too pleasant for him, cos my anorak was soaking wet; and, to be honest, lovely as it was, I didn’t get quite as much of a thrill from it myself, as I had from my hand-round-waist cuddle at Hay, cos there were just so many layers of wet-weather gear this time!)

Also, a bit later, after other people had had lots of photos, I suddenly realised I hadn’t had my photo taken with him at all this time. SO, again I was brazen – but polite of course – and asked if I could also have a photo too. ‘Aw, Jonesy’ he said (YAY for getting a nickname from Tim!)

As he put his arm round me for the photo (taken by Vikki on her camera – what a star she is!), I expanded on the reason for my request for a photo: ‘I haven’t had my wet photo yet’
‘A Woto’ he quipped.

SO, that was about it. I did ask if he’d like to keep the whole bag of jelly babies and he was obviously tempted, but In the end he said ‘No, I’d only eat them all’ So now I’m eating them. Ah well, I’ll be the fat one and he can stay skinny, I don’t mind.

So there you have it: lots of happy memories.BUT do you know the one important thing I forgot to do: I bloody well forgot to tell him how fantastic his performance had been that night (I guess we all assume he knows that we love what he does - and that it’s been amazing - hence the standing in the rain - but it wouldn't hurt to tell the fella!) Am kicking myself.

It was so hard to leave while he was still there, with a few other patient people at last getting their turn, but Vikki and I pulled ourselves away and off we went in the rain, in search of a way home (so glad I made the last tube and didn’t have to resort to night buses!)

But as we walked away, glancing back at Tim with the others still around him, I couldn’t help wish I could just linger till the very last moment when he himself would have to say goodbye and head for home…

Tim Minchin in Hay

2010-06-05T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first time trying to include pics in my blog - fingers crossed. Live entertainment TYSIC - and then some!

Here he is, in all his lushious quizzicalness - the very lovely Mr Minchin. 'If I didn't have you, someone else would do'
....me perhaps? Well, no harm in wishful thinking.

Here's another favourite shot - note the hand resting on thigh of what were very skinny black jeans (sadly I didn't get any shots of his bum, with monkey-skeleton hand prints on each pert cheek)

The next one captures the moment when Tim, during Rock and Roll Nerd, broke off momentarily, saying 'Oh fuck, I forgot the words' - much to the great delight of the crowd. Even better, once back into the song - without losing a single beat, I might add - he riffed on the usual 'You've either got it or you don't', in the next section changing it to 'You either forget the lyrics or you don't'. It was a real treat - the real 'you had to be there' moment of the night, our very own unique version of RARN.
Of course, the bare-chested flamboy-ance of Canvas Bags, with its 'having your cake and eating' it approach to the spoofing of rock-God posturing, was a particular highlight. So first here's a bit of Tim's self-deprecation.....

.....and then the Messianic posturing (a bit blurry and psychedelic, but it's the best shot I have, and I love the - ahem - belt area....)

Then, finally, giving a good excuse for an arty shot, the Black-out moment... Fuck Yeah!

So, there you go: a few glimpses of Tim on stage at Hay. But ofcourse this blog wouldn't be complete without recording the thrill of getting to put my arm around the man himself for a photo....(I was all jangly - and hence I look a tad crazy in the pic. Ah well, His Minchinness looks fab, doesn't he....

.....Fuck, yeah!

PS For a full review of Tim's performance, follow this link to the Angry Feet forum's review section:

http://www.angry-feet.com/reviews.php?mode=view&id=90

and this one

http://www.angry-feet.com/reviews.php?mode=view&id=91

PPS And for a great blog on the whole experience of going to Hay to see Tim, visit my good friend Noodle's blog at the address below

http://noodlesnoggin.blogspot.com/2010/06/hay-fever.html<>

TYSIC - Update (Tues 4th May)

2010-05-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

SUMMING UP MY PROGRESS OVER LAST WEEK OR SO

1. A good week for emotional well-being generally. (except last Tuesday, which was a difficult, moody day) As a result of a recent museum trip, I am now pondering ways to be become more creative – drawing? Painting? Writing?

2. Some productivity this week - quite positive generally, especially booking part of our summer holiday and getting on with a few chores I’d been putting off (in particular, buying a cheap vacuum cleaner, keeping up with the laundry and banking cheques ) On the other hand, yesterday was a very lazy day, and today I took a ‘siesta’. I do love afternoon naps, but they’re a bit of an indulgence.

3. Sons - nothing of note to report (neutral: nothing bad but nothing good either).

4. Trying new things/being proactive. Yes, a good week: went to Oxford on Sunday for example. I also tried a new idea to help a particular child at work last week and have been encouraged by the results so far.

5. My parents – up until today = a big fat fail BUT I just rang and had longish chat with my mum this evening (mind you, I must acknowledge that I had left it rather too long since our last chat: must get into the habit of ringing them more frequently - once a week or so)

6. Husband - a very VERY good week! Lots of quality time and cuddles, especially Saturday and Sunday, what with our theatre trip (to see Moby Dick) and our day-outing to Oxford.

7. Live entertainment - yes: went to Spymonkey’s version of Moby Dick on Saturday. Very enjoyable indeed.

A Review of ‘Jesus Hopped the A Train’

2010-04-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

(a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis*, performed by Synergy** at the Trafalgar Studios, London, on Thursday 22nd April 2010)

I want to write a review of the wonderful play I saw last Thursday – ‘Jesus Hopped the A Train’ by Stephen Adly Guirgis . The tricky thing is how to do so without giving away the story completely. I just want to talk about the whole thing without worrying about spoilers. It makes me realise how tricky it is for reviewers in ‘Time Out’ and the like: a review which mustn’t spoil the experience for someone who will be going to see the play or film for themselves. I am (or was) more used to writing essays for English Literature exams ( over 25 years ago, mind you) – and that’s quite a different approach.

‘Jesus Hopped the A Train’ is an extraordinary play. I laughed a lot, I gasped, I winced, I pondered and, at the end, I almost cried. The language is vigorous and full of expletives, but at the same time subtle and multi-layered, with a great deal of sub-text going on below the words. The play’s critique of religion, of moral absolutes and of the justice system is searing and thought-provokingly complex.

The play is set in Riker’s Island, New York in the protective custody wing. There are 5 characters: Lucius, a convicted serial killer who has found the Lord and is hoping to avoid extradition to Florida for execution. The other prisoner, Angel, is on remand, having shot a cult leader. He explains to his lawyer, Mary Jane, that the self-proclaimed ‘son of God’, Rev Kim, had brainwashed his best friend, and , having failed to rescue his friend, Angel - in a frustrated gesture of protest - had shot the Rev Kim ‘in the ass’. The initial charge of attempted murder is changed to 1st degree felony murder when Rev Kim later dies of unexpected complications. It is Mary Jane who tells us that Angel has been transferred to the protective custody wing following his brutal beating and rape, at the hands of other prisoners, and his subsequent suicide attempt. She becomes determined to find some way to ‘save’ Angel, even if that means risking her career by suborning perjury, since the only way for him to be acquitted is to lie.

The two remaining characters are a friendly prison warden, D’Amico, who has a soft spot for Lucius – and loses his job as a result, but who reappears towards the end of the play to describe Lucius’ fate, and a loathsome, bullying warden, Valdez, who treats Lucius with contempt, but seems to pity Angel.

The name of the central characters, Lucius and Angel, indicate that the story, while very particular and concrete, can also be taken as an everyman parable of good versus evil (‘a modern morality play’ as the programme puts it) – but with myriad shades of grey rather than black and white moral absolutes. As the review in ‘Time Out’ put it: “The extraordinary script has you switching allegiance from character to character as the story evolves. Lucius, the serial killer, who has found God, is so charismatic that you can’t help liking him in the early stages, despite the horrific nature of his crimes.”

So, Lucius is likeable yet (surely?) evil – a serial killer who smugly spouts about God, forgiveness and taking responsibility for one’s crimes. There’s a well known cliché that cynical convicts claim conversion to enhance their prospects and (like Valdez) we cannot help but wonder about this other possibility, even though Lucius seems convincing. He claims that he pleaded guilty because he was/is willing to take responsibility for his crimes: he would just rather serve a life sentence in New York than be executed in Florida.

In one heated exchange, Angel challenges Lucius and eventually seems to hit home: surely, as punishment for his horrendous crimes, he (Lucius) will go to hell. No, Lucius counters, he is confident that he is ‘right with God’ and will be going to heaven. Angel then asks why, in that case, Lucius is trying to avoid extradition to Florida – why avoid execution if he’s so sure he’ll be going to heaven? Lucius falls silent and seems angry. Later, possibly as revenge (although played disingenuously so it’s hard to know if there is malice afoot or just wrong-headed self-righteousness) Lucius infects Angel’s thinking, with disastrous results. I find it a poignant and significant inversion – that traditional morality and Bible-bashing are used by Lucius to ‘tempt’ Angel and lead to his undoing. I am left questioning the moral framework of traditional Christianity, particularly the value it places on truth.

Another fascinating sequence hints at Lucius’ damaged past – did he really have free choice when he started to kill? Is he a product of his abused childhood? Do white wealthy people get more sympathy when they explain the reasons behind their crimes than a poor black man ever does? And yet, and yet….one short phrase late on in the play brings us up short as we discover just how appalling and sadistic Lucius’ murders had been.

The title of the play is explained when Angel recounts a childhood game of ‘chicken’ with his friend down on the railway tracks. When they both find themselves stuck with a train bearing down on them, and then are mysteriously thrown out of the way at the last minute, his friend suggests they were saved because ‘Jesus must’ve hopped the A train that night’. Poignantly, this is the same friend who later becomes ensnared by pseudo-son-of-god Rev Kim.

The play begins and ends with Angel attempting to pray. At the start, Angel stumbles fearfully yet comically through the Lord’s Prayer, unable to remember the correct words (‘Howard is thy name’), with mocking voices coming at him from unseen fellow prisoners offstage. At the end of the play, Angel’s final prayer almost broke my heart. Angel is in pieces, crying and rocking backwards and forwards on his knees as he prays obsessively and pathetically for forgiveness - not for killing Rev Kim, but instead for a trivial childhood wrongdoing. Such regression into an infantilised and guilt-ridden version of faith speaks volumes about Angel’s psychological fragility and the fatal naivety that has been his undoing.

Mary Jane’s career lies in tatters; Lucius has long since gone – without undue drama (to meet his maker? Or not.) and the play closes with a convicted yet relatively (but not absolutely) 'innocent’ tied up in knots of guilt, babbling in his fear that God’s judgement on him may be as harsh as the secular ‘justice’ system has been.

And what an even sicker joke it all is if that (or any) God doesn’t even exist.

FOOTNOTES
* Stephen Adly Guirgis is a New Yorker of Egyptian and Irish American parents. He started as an actor and founder member of LAByrinth but ended up writing and directing as well. So far he has written three full-length plays: ‘In Arabia We’d All Be Kings’, ‘Jesus Hopped the A Train’, and ‘The Last Days of Judas Iscariot ‘(the last of which I saw two years ago and loved)

From the programme (extract from an interview by Philip Fisher):
‘The story behind ‘Jesus’ is interesting. Guirgis had a close friend who “joined a cult and together with his brother and father we tried to kidnap and deprogramme him. He’s still in the cult today. I had to let go of this, and start facing beginning my own adult life. I had anger!” It was this anger, together with a reconsideration of his attitude to God as a lapsed Catholic that led him to write ‘Jesus’. He added to this his experiences as a violence prevention specialist and HIV officer working in a prison.’

** From the programme:’ Synergy Theatre Project, established in 1999, works with prisoners and ex-prisoners through theatre towards resettlement and rehabilitation, whilst placing the wider issues surrounding imprisonment in the public arena.’ The team assembled for this production included ex-offenders, professional actors, an ex-prison officer and a serving lifer on licence.

TYSIC Update - A week-and-a-half

2010-04-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Didn't do an end of week TYSIC review last Wednesday evening. Not many highlights in the week ending Wednesday 21st April, so I am rolling it forward into a week-and-a-half summary to date. (Thursday 15th-Saturday 24th)

1: Improvement in my emotional wellbeing. A pretty good week-and-a-half, all in all.
I enjoyed spending most of the final few days of my holiday (Fri 16th-Sun 18th) relaxing and reading a couple of novels. On Friday 16th I also met up with an old friend for a final coffee and chat before she moves away to Cornwall. Being back at work from Monday onwards has been positive too - the kids are great and I felt much fresher and able to enjoy my work with them after having had a good break; there's also been a more relaxed atmosphere in the school than usual because some senior staff have been away all week, marooned by grounded flights.

2: Be less lazy & more productive daily and STOP PROCRASTINATING

Not a good start to the week,(I knew I was putting off things till the last minute) but it improved. Getting back into my normal work-routine seemed to co-incide with more productivity outside work hours as well. A big achievement was to accept a quote for some major work on the house exterior and roof - sofits and guttering etc. So I've been dealing with workmen for the last 4 days. On Thursday 22nd I was really pleased with myself for finally getting on with a sewing job I had been putting off for AGES. It took a long time, but it was very satisfying when I finished it.

3: Sons & their future happiness The usual ups and downs. Just a couple of points which were out of the ordinary. My older son surprised me by cleaning up the 'den' without me nagging him. My younger son was pleased when I helped him to sort out his phone upgrade earlier this week. Unfortunately, today - just a few days after getting him the new phone he wanted - I also had to help him report the theft (at knife-point) of that same phone. We had to speak to both the phone company and the police (who came round in person). Thankfully neither he nor his girlfriend were hurt.

4: Stay open to opportunities & take risks/ try new things, AND Be more proactive Well, I'd certainly count the house-project mentioned above. I also booked a Geodome tent to share with 3 others at the Hay Festival (we're going to see Tim Minchin on Monday 31st May)

5: Enjoy time with my parents - Nothing this week. Must ring them soon!!!

6: Nurture relationship with my husband We went to see Rufus Wainwright's opera Prima Donna together on Friday 16th. Although the opera was enjoyable, the evening as a whole wasn't an unalloyed success as we had a somewhat discordant time on the journey there (when we got a bit lost when trying to walk from Kings Cross to Angel).

7: Go out to live entertainment more
See above - Prima Donna on Friday 16th. Then, on Thurs 22nd, I went (on my own this time) to see 'Jesus Hopped the A Train'. It was an excellent production of a very powerful play. I plan to write a longer review of it at some point. I have also now booked a ticket for Matilda in December

Going to Live Entertainment more

2010-04-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

This is just a mini-blog to keep track of all the shows n stuff I've been to/ have booked as a direct result of the TYSIC since it started. It's been a bit crazy - like a dam bursting. Will have to start thinking a bit more about the cost and being slightly more selective I think - but it's been a real joy over the last few weeks!

1. 14th March - LIVE SHOW - The Big Libel Gig (lots of great stand-up sets) - with my son.

2. 25th March - 2 films as part of the Australian Film Festival at the Barbican (cinema doesn't usually count, but the 2 films were introduced by Tim Minchin 'live') Also met Tim himself and some friendly Minchin fans, AND went to an excellent Art installation with birds twanging guitars in the Curve

3.1st April - Went to Digital Art exhibition at V&A

4. 10th April - Went to Art galleries & more at Ulster Museum (but would have done this anyway without TYSIC, to be honest)

5. 12th April - LIVE SHOW - 'Rock Doves' at Waterfront Hall in Belfast - with parents & husband

6. 16th April - LIVE SHOW - Prima Donna (Opera by Rufus Wainwright at Sadlers Wells) - with husband

7. 22nd April - LIVE SHOW - 'Jesus Hopped the A Train' at Trafalgar Studios - review posted on blog (on my own)

8. 1st May - LIVE SHOW - Spymonkey's Moby Dick at Lyric Hammersmith (with husband)

9. 13th May - LIVE SHOW - Duke Special gig at Shaw Theatre (on my own)

10. 31st May - LIVE SHOW Hay Festival - Tim Minchin (with other AngryFeeters)

11. Monday 7th June - LIVE SHOW - Laughter/Pain: A Comedy Night for Reprieve at Lyceum Theatre (on my own)

12. Friday 11th June - LIVE SHOW - Junior Ministers et al, at Cavendish Arms (with AFs)

Went to other stuff in June, July, Aug and early Sept, but haven't got all the info to hand

Rhod Gilbert radio recordings x 2 with Wynn

Mark Watson at Hammersmith Riverside - late June
Gutted at Hammersmith Riverside - July
(trips to Cinema)

13. Monday 20th September - LIVE SHOW - Dara O'Briain (with my son)

Radio recordings - Jason Byrne x 2, Infinite Monkey Cage x 2

Various Minchin preview shows - Union Chapel, 100 Club, Lyric Hammersmith

14. Saturday 11th December - LIVE SHOW - Matilda, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon (with AFs)

15. Tim Minchin - at O2, 14th Dec

16. Tim Minchin - in Nottingham, 18th Dec

(Into Jan 2011 - Matilda again, with Bob)

TYSIC - Weekly Review

2010-04-14T09:09:00.001-07:00

This is just a direct copy of what I've just pasted in the TYSIC forum. So for anyone following both, apologies. I normally do a full version here and then a summary for the forum page and a link to here, but this time I just did one version.

This is supposed to be a summary for Mark but it's turned out longer than it should be - sorry Mark. Can't face editing it down now, so I am just going to post it in full(and tick the summary box) as it is. If pushed for time, just read point 5 as that's the main focus of this last week. But please also read the initial preface immediately below.

(This introductory preface is a slightly modified version of an earlier blog posting)
I can't tell you how amazingly helpful this whole project has been/continues to be to me (I have outlined some background to my intermittent problems with depression over recent years in an earlier blog). The approach of spring is always a good time for me anyway, but this year I feel so much more motivated and on top of things, due to the TYSIC kick up the bum. It really has been transformative! The most positive thing (linked with my overarching TYSIC of 'Improving my emotional wellbeing' has been writing a mini diary every day (just for me - a dull series of bullet points listing every single little achievement/ ways I've spent my waking hours, including the most banal and boring things, like 'went & filled the car with diesel' I can now prove to myself that I do manage to do (some) stuff and bizarrely that really helps to ward off my guilt and self-loathing. The process of looking back each week and reviewing things has also been very therapeutic. So thank you Mark: thank you for launching the TYSIC project and associated blogs and forum. It's great!

1. Improve my emotional well-being Going well. When I told my husband about all my TYSICs (shared this project with him for the first time - part of challenge 6: even told him about challenge 6!), he identified this number 1 challenge as THE challenge. I agree, but it's the one I can't really work on directly - it happens as a consequence of progress on the others - oh, and the spring weather helps hugely too!

2. Be less lazy/more productive/procrastinate less. Hmmm. This is the hardest one. It's mainly to do with chores - the boring minutiae of life - which I am supremely good at putting off. Last Friday (having put everything off on Thursday), I did manage to do quite a lot of the household tasks I needed to do (but mainly because I had an non-negotiable deadline) Even so, I didn't do any 'deep cleaning' or real sorting out - just stuffing things into corners again. **Sigh**

3. My sons. A good week since they came to visit my parents with me and we all had a really lovely time together. (no real opportunities to be nice to their respective girlfriends, apart from tolerating the boys' incessant texting & facebooking & phoning of/to them while in Belfast!)

4. Try new things & be proactive. I was a lot more positive in my approach to planning stuff to do while visiting my parents in Belfast. The anxiety that (as a result) any of our family outings or activities which proved unpopular would be all my fault was considerable - but fortunately that didn't really happen. A few sticky moments, but overall everything was enjoyed by everyone - phew!

5. Enjoy time with my parents. Well obviously that was the main success this week, since I was staying with them for 4 days. My Dad is nearly 80 so (without wanting to seem morbid) I am conscious of wanting to really make the most of all the time I have left with them. Maybe they'll both still be around in 10 years or more (after all, both my grandmothers lived until their early 90s) - and if so I want to enjoy ALL of those 10+ years. But I'm also conscious it could be less. My parents are amazing - so vigorous and living life to the full. My mum and I could talk the hind leg off a donkey when we get together (phone calls often last upwards of 2 hours!). My Dad is 'the quiet man' and we seldom talk on the phone. It was therefore particularly nice to have time to chat with him in person - just him and me, when no-one else was around.

6. Nurture my relationship with my husband. A couple of hiccups (inevitably) but generally a good week, particularly as we had more time together due to our family trip to Belfast. And (as mentioned above) I shared my TYSIC project with him for the first time. This 6th TYSIC remains a very important one for ongoing attention - doesn't mean we don't fall out or row from time to time. And we don't like all the same things either, so we continue to plough our own furrows - and that's fine, as long as I/we can keep a happy balance so we don't drift too far apart. I know I take him for granted sometimes - not least the financial security that his income gives us (he's not v happy in his job, so needs a lot of support and appreciation to be able to tolerate it until he can make a change OR retire)

7. Go out to live entertainment more. Yes - I went to see a new play - 'Rock Doves' - while in Belfast. Took my parents as a treat, hoping they would enjoy it... and fortunately they did - very much indeed! It turned out to be a very good play, in fact, with excellent actors - even my husband was positive about the fine acting (inevitably the play itself was less accessible to him since it was about Northern Irish issues). My sons were treated to seeing Derren Brown instead of the play (in the main auditorium of the same venue) and greatly enjoyed this alternative.

Well, that it then: another week of TYSIC reviewed. Good therapy!

TYSIC Progress - end of Week 5 (Thurs 1st - Wed 7th April)

2010-04-07T14:41:00.000-07:00

Too tired to do a proper blog, so will just summarise briefly.

Most of the good bits of this week were to do with spending quality time with my husband and/or nurturing our relationship.

On Friday we rented a DVD and greatly enjoyed watching it together - 'Bunny and the Bull'. We also booked tickets to go to see Rufus Wainwright's new Opera in a couple of weeks: at last I'd managed to find something we BOTH want to go to!

On Saturday we watched the new Doctor Who episode together (this and the above DVD watching may sound like a fairly low-level kind of 'achievement', but it really was a step up from the norm, which has recently often consisted of him watching football in one room while I mess around on my laptop in the other all evening)

On Saturday, I curried further favour by sorting out my husband's new annual season ticket online and by ordering a book he wanted on amazon.

On Sunday afternoon we went for a lovely long walk with the dog in Denham Country Park.

On Monday we enjoyed a day-trip to the South coast and discovered beaches we'd never known were there. We got a bit lost on the way down, (and got a bit shirty with each other for a short while) but it all worked out for the best since we passed through some much more interesting places as a result.

The other highlights this week were successfully obtaining my new passport last Thursday, and (to make use of the 4 hours while waiting for the passport to be processed) discovering an interesting little exhibition of digital art at the V&A. I've already posted a review of the exhibition in my previous blog.

In a similar vein, I met up with some new friends this afternoon (and extending on into the early evening) - and had a very enjoyable time chatting and chomping and drinking and laughing together.

SOME chores were done this week - in particular a first assault on the laundry mountain yesterday. Mind you, I can't really pretend I was all that industrious: I did use my newly acquired chest infection as an excuse for a fairly hefty amount of procrastination.

That's about the shape of week 5 then.

Decode:Digital Design Sensation at the V&A

2010-04-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Unexpectedly I had a few hours to kill today while up in central London (thanks to the much appreciated upgrade of my passport processing from 1 week to four hours - a great relief after all my worrying!). I didn't really know what to do with this lump of 4 hours, so I sneakily went into WHSmith's in Victoria Station and browsed a Time Out to suss out some options. I leafed through various sections and finally hit upon an interesting sounding exhibiton at the V&A which finishes on 11th April - so it was/is very much a 'now or never' opportunity.

I'm very glad I plumped for this odd little gem (which only cost £5 to see). I very much like quirky and amusing interactive art - and judging by how crowded the place was, there are plenty of others who share this preference (the throng included lots of children, a number of teenagers and, less expectedly, a large group of traditionally dressed hasidic jews).

The exhibition is divided into three themes: Code, Network and Interactivity.

The Network pieces turned recorded data (from blogs, aircraft flights, motion-sensors etc) into visualisations - with spidery threads and twirling mulit-coloured lines dancing across the screens. The speeded-up criss-crossing animation of flight-paths across America over a 24 hour period on a specific date in 2008 was mesmerising- and very wriggly!

Among the Code pieces, my favourite was a randomly generated series of arcs, starting as a series of single lines on the brightly lit white screen, which then repeatedly replicated and intensified in dark blood-red, until reminiscent of some cross between a biology text-book and an abstract painting. The intensification would reach maximum after a few minutes and then 'reset' with another blank white screen and a new sent of single arc-lines... Many people were photographing these transcient images, to capture them before they vanished forever. If I'd had a camera with me, I would have done just the same I'm sure - although the movement and transformation from one second to the next was a vital part of it, rather than any one frozen image.

Among the many Interactive pieces, I particularly liked the giant slow-developing photo-sensitive screen. When you sat on the stool, or stood next to it, your portrait would slowly appear as a giant black and white image on the wall in front, with huge jagged-shaped mirror-fragments surrounding it. You had to stay very still for quite a while to achieve a clear image, or you could move and create a blurred image instead. I also discovered that I could 'fix' a first image of myself, sitting on the stool, then move and stand beside the stool to create a second image. My first 'self' still remained visible as the second image emerged from the misty grey background. It was quite a spooky effect - like haunting myself!

The motion-sensitive 'body paint' piece was particularly popular with children: waving an arm across the screen created a huge splatter of virtual paint, and it was great fun to over-lay splat upon splat of randomly generated colours. Next to it was a virtual dandelion with a real (infared) 'hairdryer' to blow away the feathery individual seeds by directing it at different parts of the image on the screen (fun but superficial I felt: it was just a bit too video-game-ish for me). Elsewhere, on another screen, virtual raindrops appeared to bounce off my shadow-head or arm. More intriguing - and vaguely sinister - were the semi-transparent digital creaures seeming to swim and swarm like real living organisms in a stark white world under a glass table-top covered with (real) black sand.

I ended up with sore feet and an aching back - but it was very much worth it. And I still had time to explore some other parts of the V&A, which is not a museum I had expected to like so much! In particular I was in awe as I passed through the 'Cast Courts' - it was like walking through a giant's horde of holiday souvenirs, plucked from the whole of antiquity. There were so many huge pieces, all crowded together higgledy-piggledly, with two towers (one called the Trajan tower) which stretched right up through two floors to the curved glazing of the gallery's roof. And it was jaw-droppingly wonderful to gaze up at the plaster-cast of Michaelangelo's beautiful marble statue of David: I hadn't realised quite how ENORMOUS the work is, in all its (ahem) rude splendour.

My Ten Year Self-Improvement Challenges - End of Week 4

2010-03-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

So, where are we now?

TYSIC highlights this week (Thursday 25th - Wednesday 31st March) include:
At the risk of being repetitive, the biggest highlight for me over the last week has been within my 'going to more live entertainment' challenge. Last Thursday I went to the Barbican to see 2 films as part of the Australian film festival. I got to meet a number of other very lovely Tim Minchin fans, saw 2 interesting (and very different) films, both of which I enjoyed, got to listen to Tim's interesting and funny introductions to both films AND also got to chat with Tim himself during the interval between the two films. I am a very happy (albeit lightly 'sad', middle-aged) fan-girl!

While at the Barbican I also had time to have a look at the current installation in the Curve - the amusing and quirky free-flying birds one, which I'd seen featured on the TV recently. The space (shared by humans and birda alike) has a flock of pretty little finches flitting around and hoppiong here and there, twanging electric guitars as they perch on them and peck at them. I really loved this exhibit - it made me laugh out loud several times as the birds squabbled or snuggled, gathered nesting material or took a bath in the cymbal. (I hasten to add that the birds seemed to be very well looked after and not in the least mistreated - they seemed, rather, to be having a very happy time).

As a result of the above, I hereby decree that going to art exhibitions shall henceforth be deemed part of my 'going to live entertainment TYSIC', although I may need to rename the challenge slightly - maybe just 'Go out more' Or I could perhaps expand it to read 'Go out more - see more stuff, especially live theatre/stand-up, plus art exhibitions. Oh, and meeting people, going out for meals, seeing old friends more often, etc' Concise eh?

Another highlight this week was sorting out aspects of my forthcoming visit to Belfast to see my parents PLUS sorting out a further visit in June for my father's 80th birthday. I had a lovely long phonecall with my mum one evening this week, plus a number of other short calls to and from her, sorting out this and that about the trips. All in all a nice big 'tick' for my TYSIC about enjoying time with my parents. Oh, and included in the plan for the forthcoming trip to see my parents is a theatre outing I've planned for all 6 of us (more live entertainment - hooray!). I rang and booked the tickets today.

Moving on to my challenge about productivity, combatting laziness and getting on with things rather than putting them off, I'm afraid I procrastinated on something important last week, and lived to rue it. I knew last Wednesday that I couldn't find my passport and that my driving licence was (and remains) mislaid somewhere in the house as well. I realised I would need photographic id for the flight to Belfast (despite it just being a domestic flight) and had decided I would need to ring and get an appointment at the passport office for a fast track passport replacement, but I didn't ring right away. In fact I didn't ring until Saturday and the earliest appointment I could then get was this coming Thursday. I can't help thinking that if I'd rung earlier I would have got an appointment earlier this week. It is now nip and tuck whether I will get the new passport in time for the trip to Belfast, and I'm really not sure WHAT I will do if I don't have any photo id by the date of the flight. But, without being ostrich-like, I am trying to be optimistic. I have explored various back-up plans, and I also rang the passport advice-line again today to see if I could go back next week to collect the passport in person rather than them posting it to me (which, if posted, would reach me just one day too late!) Seems this may well be an option - which would solve the problem. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I will continue exploring the nooks and crannies of my house in the vain hope that one or other of the missing documents will miraculously emerge from their hiding places. I have decided to use this as a way of motivating a thorough bout of spring-cleaning, to really set the house to rights and purge the many tucked away piles of paperwork and unsorted dross of various kinds. I aim to start as soon as term finishes this Thursday and spent good chunks of time on it evey day for a whole week.

My challenge to enhance my relationship with my husband hasn't been a great success this week. I spent far too long on Saturday planning a children's activity session I was due to run on Sunday, which meant we didn't go out together or even spend any quality time together, as I had originally intended. Sunday and the rest of the week have been no better, although we have now made a definite plan to enjoy some kind of special outing together this coming Saturday. Oh, and if I do make good progress with my spring-cleaning plans next week, I know that this will make my fastidiously tidy husband very much happier (I don't know how he copes with being married to as untidy and chaotic a person as me!)

My challenge concerning my relationship with my two sons hasn't gone too well this week. A particular low point was on Friday evening when I got very very cross, having been woken up in the wee small hours by my 17 year old's noisy friends. I vented my anger by shouting at him (within earshot of his friends - the big taboo) - when I should have dealt with the situation calmly. My older son also had a big (verbal) conflict with his dad on Saturday about several things, and I was caught in the middle since they were both being rather unreasonable and stubborn.

I feel that I ought to clarify that this challenge is not supposed to be about how my sons behave or act either in general, or towards me or my husband (I don't want to seem to be criticising them - they are both lovely young men in the making) Instead, the focus is supposed to be on me doing more to find practical and communication-orientated ways to improve my parenting towards them, always keeping in mind the long-range perspective of their future well-being and happiness. My God, it's a tricky one!

Well, barring anything major happening over the course of this afternoon or this evening, that's my progress report for TYSIC week 4. Signing off.

Let's get real

2010-03-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's the rub. I'm a good little swot - always was, still am (even though I'm now 47 years 'young' and haven't had to hand in an essay or sit an exam for 20 or more years!)

I realised this when pondering my last two TYSIC progress report blogs (end of week 2, end of week 3). I tend to approach writing such progress reports like some kind of job application, to show how well I'm doing - 'look at me, aren't I clever'. Not very appealing.

Mind you, this approach does help me to look on the positive side and emphasis what I've achieved rather than what I've failed to do. The danger is that I find myself wanting to twist and shoe-horn anything I'm doing into the TYSIC categories. It probably goes without saying, but a great deal of what I do in any given week doesn't contribute towards any of my TYSICs, but that doesn't mean I should skew my priorities and stop doing the other stuff. Presumably this mismatch is because the areas of my life that are going ok don't need a challenge attached to them. I'm sure I'll need to review and update my Challenges as time goes on, but for now they feel like the right ones.

I am at risk of sounding swotty again, but I can't tell you how amazingly helpful this whole project has been to me. I have outlined some background to my problems with depression over recent years in a separate blog 'Erin's other bits'. The approach of spring is always a good time for me anyway, but this year I feel so much more motivated and on top of things, due to the TYSIC kick up the bum. It really has been transformative! The most postive thing (linked with my overarching TYSIC of 'Improving my emotional wellbeing' has been writing a mini diary every day (just for me - a dull series of bullet points listing every single little achievement/ ways I've spent my waking hours, including the most banal and boring things, like 'went & filled the car with diesel' I can now prove to myself that I do manage to do (some) stuff

Bullet points are functional but rather a boring way to structure a blog, I now realise. Now that the TYSIC part of markwatsonfans forum is up and running, I think that this blog may become more random and discursive - maybe it will even include mention of some other aspects of my life, interests and views without need of a shoehorn.

TYSIC - Week 3: The tale of the little lost puppy, the husband and the humdrum

2010-03-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Time to review things as I approach the end of week 3 of my own Mark Watson inspired 'Ten Year Self Improvement Challenge' (TYSIC).

1. Improvement in my emotional wellbeing.
Generally up this week, particularly yesterday when I saw an old friend for lunch, and today when I got quite a lot done and felt happy and pleased with myself as a result. I think the spring-like weather is helping to lift my mood and energy-level overall. On the other hand I experienced some odd hints of paranoia while among scouting colleagues 0ver the week-end, and also with colleagues at work. I don't feel that I fit in, and I'm not sure how to get on better with the other people.... Hmmmm.

2. Sons & their future happiness (my role in their lives & helping towards their happy futures)
(a) Mother/Sons relationship
Nothing much to report. Managed (twice) to avoid shouting match with 'grumpy-in-the-morning boy' when giving him a lift to the station for college (takes quite a bit of self-restraint on my part as very little sets him off!) Also managed not to remonstrate with older son who had left extended essay to very last minute. No point in saying anything, frustrating as it is.
(b) Positive approach to Girls in their lives
Spoke a bit more to younger son's girlfriend (easier just to chat about my own stuff rather than ask her things - don't want to seem to be grilling her)

THE TALE OF THE LITTLE LOST PUPPY

3. & 4 (Combined) Staying open to opportunities & taking risks/ trying new things, AND to be more proactive generally.
Not sure if this fits under 3 or 4, so I'm combining the two together.

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself because I rescued a puppy who was roaming around out on the street with no collar. He came over to say hello to my dog and there was no sign of an owner. I then saw him nearly get knocked down by a passing car, so I decided I couldn't just leave him there (especially since our previous dog was killed in similar circumstances - and I wouldn't have been able to bear it if I'd walked away and then this puppy had been killed!) In the end - due to lack of collar - I picked him up and carried him back to my house, which fortunately wasn't too far (quite difficult and awkward though, because my own dog was pulling on her lead at the same time!) Once home, I swapped my dog's collar and lead onto the puppy and went out again to see if I could find which house he'd come from. Luckily, just as I was starting to knock on each door in the street, I heard someone calling and saw two boys (about 10 or 12 years old I'd guess) coming out from the side-street. I shouted across to ask if they were looking for their dog, and it turned out that the puppy was indeed theirs. I walked back to their house with them before removing the collar and lead. They were sheepish and very relieved. (I'm assuming the pup - whose name I never discovered - had managed to sneak out of the house somehow)

5.Enjoy time with my parents. No progress this week - I meant to ring my mum but haven't done so yet.

6.Go out to live entertainment more.
Well, I'm repeating myself a bit here, cos I've mentioned this before, but I am very excited to be going to see 2 Aussie films at the Barbican tomorrow, particularly as they are both due to be introduced by Tim Minchin - so although I've said that cinema doesn't count for this TYSIC, I'm thinking this is live and special enough to count!

Looking ahead, I haven't booked anything for April yet, nor while we'll be in Belfast (husband had been quite down on the idea of going to a play in Belfast, due to the poor choice on offer: need to give it further thought.)

THE HUSBAND

7. Relationship with husband – put a bit more effort in & nurture this
A bit of a mixed bag this week.

I was away all week-end helping to run a Beaver Scout Sleepover, so that's on the negative side in a sense, because it prevented us from doing anything together (sadly he doesn't share or participate in my scouting voluntary stuff, unlike my parents who are both involved in scouting together).

On the positive side, I knew it would please him if I did a couple of chores that he'd been nagging me about, so I made a deliberate start today by sorting out a locksmith to fix our back-door lock. We also had a really nice evening together yesterday when we decided to watch 'Invention of Lying' on Sky Box Office (this may not sound like much, but usually he watches tv programmes I'm not interested in while I'm on my laptop the whole evening, so it was much nicer to watch something together, even if the film was a bit of a parson's egg...)

Big Negative - earlier today I was asking my husband if he'd be interested in us going to Camp Bestival together this summer- he was initially quite positve about the idea, but eventually he discovered that Tim Minchin was appearing and he then got very cross and immediately vetoed the notion of going as he thinks I'm being too obsessive. Obviously it was initally because of Tim that I got the idea for going to this Festival, but I also thought it would be a fun thing to do overall (I'm not mad enough to spend £155 just to see Tim, believe me!)- ie go to a festival together for the very first time ever. Hey ho.

THE HUMDRUM

8. & 9. Be less lazy & more productive daily (establish a sustainable level, not frenetic, but more than now!!!) AND Stop Procrastinating
Thurs last week was quite good in this regard - At long last I tried to take the vacuum cleaner somewhere to get its cable fixed (dog chewed through it ages ago). I was unsuccessful (grrr), but at least I tried, and I've now left it in the boot of my car to be ready to try somewhere else in due course. That day I also went and got refilled ink cartridges for the printer - another thing I'd been meaning to do for ages.

Intensely busy Fri-Sun due to Beaver Scout sleep-over. Productive in a different way ofcourse(and fun - although intensely tiring) , but that is not exactly the kind of productivity I'm trying to improve upon for this challenge - My focus for TYSIC is more the humdrum stuff and tedious chores of life which I need to stop endlessly putting off. (I don't plan to stop doing those other more appealing things, but not use them as an excuse to keep putting off the chores. I DO have time to do the chores, I just need to motivate myself - hence this TYSIC and blog)

Although it may seem strange to focus on the need to do tedious, humdrum stuff, the problem is that when I don't keep up with such things, I continually feel them hanging over me, and I feel really bad about myself. When depressed, I can become overwhelmed by how much I'm shoving under the metaphorical carpet (it's a vicious cycle - depression making it harder to act, and failure to act in turn feeding the depression).

It's all very well to ignore a semi-blocked drain in favour of the more interesting and rewarding aspects of life - but it won't go away on its own, and will just get worse and worse (this is both a metaphor and a literal example!) But it's only now that I'm beginning to feel the black clouds of winter lifting that I can even contemplate such matters rationally, without self-loathing and overwhelming panic.

I was incredibly tired after the Sleepover, so not a surprise that Monday was pretty much a wash-out - but I needed to recover first. Tuesday was reasonably productive, however (and seeing my friend for lunch counts as a blow against procrastination as we'd been meaning to meet up for ages! But today was probably my best day this week for TYSIC 8&9, what with locksmith, chasing up delivery of car tax disc, cleaning & tidying, etc.

Mind you, my backlog of chaos-creation is revealing further problems -ones I didn't even know about and therefore hadn't even put on my Things to Do list. Today's major example: I spent ages hunting high and low for both my passport and my driving licence. I know they must both be in the house somewhere, but I can't find either anywhere, because the house is in a terrible mess with stashes o unsorted 'stuff' shoved into corners left right and cenre. I will need a form of photo i.d. for my (domestic) flight to Belfast in a few weeks time - so now I'm going to have to make a fast-track passport application (I will spend one more day hunting but I can't afford to wait much longer ).

Looking at the situation positively, my passport was due to run out in a few months anyway, so not such a bad thing to get it sorted now. (but I'll probably have to get a replacement driving licence too - sigh)
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Oh goodness! What a long posting! I may need to do a summary version for Mark (the TYSIC bit of the markwatsonfans website looks like it will be fully functional quite soon)

End of Week 2

2010-03-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

My TYSIC Progress report (at end of Week 2) – Have I made any progress THIS week?
(I didn't do anything 'above and beyond' so am not entering Mark's challenge as such)

1. Improvement in my emotional wellbeing. Progress? Yes, apart from the odd wobble. I've started to record each day's series of tiny achievements as a way of bolstering this (including all the humdrum things like 'went to work', 'walked the dog' ) and it has helped quite a bit. Mind you, they are very boring lists!

2. Sons & their future happiness (my role in their lives & helping towards their happy futures)
(a) Mother/Sons relationship: Progress: BIG Yes (Actual!!) Lovely lunch out with both sons & husband on Saturday (I described this in a bit more detail in a previous blog posting). I've also enjoyed several days of less grumpy interaction with my younger son, particularly on Monday when his girlfriend was round - he was polite and helpful to me in front of her.

PLUS 2 BIG HIGHLIGHTs!!
1. Big Libel Gig - went with eldest son on Sunday evening (see 6 below) - we both really enjoyed the gig and had a great long chat all the way there and back again on the tube.

2. A very special poem Not something I did, rather something I received = My Mother's Day present from eldest son. It was a poem he'd written about my role in his life over the years, using the extended metaphor of 'Mrs Greenfingers' I feel very fortunate to have such a great relationship with my 19 year old - I'll certainly miss him next year when moves into student digs. (My 17 year old is also great, but he's in the middle of the 'rebel-without-a-cause' phase and all I can do is enjoy the odd glimpse from time to time, and just wait it out....)

(b) Positive approach to Girls in their lives: Progress: Yes (but tiny) – Spoke to younger son's girlfriend v briefly on Monday - offered her food cos we were about to eat our evening meal (she declined).

3. Staying open to opportunities & taking risks/ trying new things:
Progress: Planned well, I suppose offering to take part in the chain to transport the mp3 player to Anna may count?
Planned: Although I'm a bit nervous about it, I'm going to go to Barbican a bit earlier on 25th March so I can meet up with some other Angry Feeters (= name for Tim Minchin fans)

4. Be more proactive generally. What? You mean actually make something happen - yeah, right! Move along, move along - nothing to see here.

Oddly, my nearest relevant progress on this score was to decide NOT to do something! A job advert at my current workplace seemed like something I OUGHT to apply for. I am currently on a temporary contract of 18 hours per week, so in theory I don't know for sure that I will still have a job there next September. But although this advertised job was a permanent one, with a bit of extra money cos more hours per week, out of the 25 hours per week, all 7 of the extra hours would be doing stuff I don't particularly like. And to be honest I don't think I have enough experience for what they're wanting. SO, after considerable agonising, I've decided to risk the uncertainty and NOT apply!

5.Enjoy time with my parents. Progress:
YES (ACTUAL) Sent my mum an interflora growing basket of spring flowers for Mother's Day and she loved it (got it delivered on Saturday). We had a lovely long long chat on the phone on Saturday pm....and I sent her a card which arrived on Monday, and I emailed her today about our forthcoming trip in April.

PLANNING I am also trying to plan an outing to go to some live entertainment with my parents while in Belfast in April, (all 6 of us, sons included, despite husband's curled lip at the idea) - So I spent a few hours on the internet this afternoon researching possibilities for the dates in question.

I am also looking at whether I will be able to get back over to Belfast in June cos it's my Dad's 80th birthday then - but it's hard cos I can't take days off during termtime: would have to fly late Fri eve/early Sat a.m. and return Sunday eve (his actual birthday doesn't fall at the w/e, but my brother & family will be going up to Belfast for that week-end so best time to celebrate it)

6.Go out to live entertainment more. Progress:
Yes(ACTUAL)– The Big Libel Gig was absolutely great! Particularly loved Tim Minchin, Dara O'Briain and Marcus Brigstocke - plus (among the scientists) Ben Goldacre.

Yes PLANNING - Have been looking at listings for possible comedy gigs or plays to go to next month and beyond. This includes possible theatre outing with my parents (and sons and husband when in Belfast (10-13 April). Not sure if it will work out - cos options are a bit limited - we may end up just going out for a meal instead, but we will see. Towards end of April there's 'The Rover' on at Questor's Theatre in Ealing. I'm also thinking of maybe trying to get to a Dara O'Briain gig in April or May (within travelling distance) rather than waiting till his London gig in the autumn. Thanks to a tweet by Mark, I've also found a play on at end of June & in July that I definitely want to go to (= at Comedy Theatre: La Bete)

7. Relationship with husband – put a bit more effort in & nurture this
Progress: Errr.... Well he was really nice to me (made me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day, and I...errr.....let him watch all the rugby he wanted to watch at the w/e. (Note to self: must try harder next week)

8. Be less lazy & more productive daily (establish a sustainable level, not frenetic, but more than now!!!) Progress.
A bit: Have restarted a new 'Things to Do' list on Computer with short-term and longer-term items on it - and I've been trying to do a bit more...but it's still pretty pathetic to be honest (see Item 1 above -imminent end of winter & its associated blues will hopefully enable me to make more progress on such things)

9. STOP PROCRASTINATING – Progress: Only a teeny tiny bit (see 8 above) Unfortunately my time spent blogging and on forums could be viewed as part of my procrastination habit, and it is in danger of turning into an addiction - it eats up the hours in a frightening way! Need to work out what to do about this!

Live entertainment - and teenage sons

2010-03-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

This is going to be an upbeat posting! I have had a really good week-end, with some progress on a number of aspects of my TYSIC without really having to try too hard - but it still counts, right?

On Saturday we had a family lunch together at a really nice restaurant, in honour of UK Mother's Day, albeit a day early - husband plus both sons plus me (I was particularly impressed that my 17 year old son managed to get up in time after his obligatory late, late Friday night: we pretty much left when we'd said we needed to leave in order to get to the restaurant in time!) The lunch turned out to be a very friendly and chatty family gathering, and with excellent food which didn't break the bank. Oh, and my 17 yr old son managed not to throw a hissy-fit when his starter salad turned out to have anchovies in it, which he hates: with only an occasional grimace, he managed to eat around them, despite some flavour impingement.

On Saturday late afternoon and evening I went out to see 2 films at a local cinema club on my own (but that doesn't really count towards TYSIC as I'm not counting cinema as live entertainment). The films were Howl's Castle and The Soloist - I really enjoyed both (wth a quick trip up the road for a bag of chips from the local chippy in beween - that's 'fries' if you're american: in UK we call what you call chips 'crisps'). I'm not going to review the films but they were both excellent and thought-provoking . I partly went to the screenings to support my friends who are running the club: it's early days and they're not quite breaking even yet, so every ticket sale helps. I've been to at least one film for each of their 3 monthly screenings so far.

Sunday morning I treated myself to a long lie-in and my lovely husband brought me breakfast in bed! My best present for Mother's Day, however, was a poem written for (and about) me by my 19 year old son - it was so touching that I shed a couple of tears.

Sunday evening was the Big Libel Gig up in London which I'd been looking forward to for weeks, particularly as it was my first ever chance to see Tim Minchin on stage (rather than on DVD).

So, re TYSIC about Live entertainment at least once a month = checked off for March! (now, what shall I book for April?)

I really enjoyed the show - at time I laughed so much I cried! My elder son came along with me because he really likes Tim Minchin too (another Mother's Day thing - his company, not the cost of the tickets, I hasten to add!) And even the journey there and back was a great part of the evening cos we were chatting away the whole time.

And there I will leave it for now.

Keeping track - the start of my TYSIC

2010-03-14T05:44:00.000-07:00

Again, just for the sake of keeping it all together, am pasting in my original submission posted to Mark's blog, setting up my TYSIC . I was certainly reluctant to set myself targets to begin with - because I felt so sure it would just become a hostage to fortune - didn't want to fall short and feed a sense of inadequacy and failure.

But by the end of week one I felt I could take that original discursive posting and break it down into clearer bullet points in order to address them more directly. My remaining concern is trying to make progress on too many fronts at once! And I'm still a bit worried about setting myself up to fail..... (where's that Watson-esque optimism, eh?)

The resonance of the song lyric quoted below remains significant to me - planning an agenda of self-improvement is all very well, but real life will always throw curved balls our way.

Ten Year Self-Improvement Challenge - 1st March 2010
Have been pondering for a long time whether to join in or not. Feel a bit on the old side, for a start (am currently 47), and my first reaction to the challenge was a bit bleak – along the lines ‘just hope I’m still around/ still want to be around’: gave me pause for thought though!

I have HOPES for 10 years from now, but they’re not really within my control – so not suitable for this challenge – eg would love it if my sons (currently 17 & 19) were happily settled with loving partners by 2020 (a grandchild in or around 2020 would also be lovely but don’t want to get carried away!)

My favourite line from John Lennon’s song ‘Beautiful Boy’ (written for his then baby son Sean) has a sad tinge given his untimely death, but it is ‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans’ (not sure if this line originated with JL or if he got it from an earlier source)

This line reminds me not to get too hung up on my own agenda. Instead I’m keen to stay flexible, to remain open to opportunities as they arise – to be willing to try new things, take risks etc.For example, I changed my career last January (hadn’t expected that to happen!) – love what I do now.

So, although I don’t want to have a list of things to try to tick off by 2020, I do want to be a bit more proactive AND to take a positive approach to whatever crops up unexpectedly.

Like another earlier poster, I am growing aware of the limited time left to enjoy time with my lovely parents (currently approaching 80) – so I’ll definitely add that to my own personal challenge.

And one other tiny little concrete challenge – to start gong to live entertainment again: theatre, stand-up comedy etc. (to quantify this with an achievable target, let’s make it ‘once a month’) That one will be easier to monitor.

Catch-up info: Week 1 of TYSIC Progress report

2010-03-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

This is the progress report I already posted as a comment on one of Mark's blogs (blog called Up with People, dated Thurs 11th March 2010)

1. This is my report on Week 1 (if I manage anything ‘above and beyond’ during this coming week to enter in the competition I will post again separately towards end of next week)
(By the way, sorry posting below is a bit long – I don’t currently have a blog to link to: may need to set one up)

My TYSIC Progress report (at end of Week 1) – Have I made any progress?

1. Improvement in my emotional wellbeing. Neutral week – not upward on imaginary graph BUT not downward either (keeping black dog days at bay & avoiding need for anti-depressants this year & beyond is part of the aim) Am therefore regarding it as a successful week. Working on rest of challenges below over next weeks/months/years will hopefully help with this challenge.

2. Sons & their future happiness (my role in their lives & helping towards their happy futures)
(a) Mother/Sons relationship: Progress: Yes (planned) Hoping to go out with both sons & husband for family lunch on Sat – although not yet confirmed with younger son; PLUS Comedy Gig booked – going with eldest son on Sunday evening (see 6 below); PLUS all 4 of us are going on trip together at Easter – to visit my parents (see 5 below).
(b) Positive approach to Girls in their lives: Progress: No – Failed to chat to younger son’s current girlfriend when she came round; But also Yes: some nice chats with elder son about relationships & female psychology.

3. Staying open to opportunities & taking risks/ trying new things:
Progress: Yes (planned) – Booked Australian Film Festival tickets for next week, despite nervousness about going on my own & coming home late on my own (haven’t been into central London on my own late at night for a v long time!)

4. Be more proactive generally. Not quite sure what I mean by this – ergo, nothing to report

5.Enjoy time with my parents.
Progress: Yes (planned) – Have Booked trip to see parents after Easter (whole family going over) Still to do: must also ring my mum soon – want to increase frequency of my phonecalls & haven’t done this yet

6.Go out to live entertainment more. Progress: Yes(planned) – booking made: going to gig with son on 14/3

7. NEW TYSIC – Relationship with husband – put a bit more effort in & nurture this
Progress: Yes (planned & actual) Husband now also being proactive – has suggested we go out for meals (etc) more frequently. Had enjoyable walks with dog together twice this week.

8. NEW TYSIC – Be less lazy & more productive daily (establish a sustainable level, not frenetic, but more than now!!!) – No progress. A few good days but still far too much laziness this week!

9. NEW TYSIC – STOP PROCRASTINATING – No progress Still far too much procrastinating this week!

TYSIC

2010-03-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

I'd forgotten I had this blog - may as well make use of it now, what with the Ten Year Self Improvement Challenge n' all!

No longer feeling the need to be quite so paranoid about keeping my identity secret I think - Erin = me = joneshs = Heather Jones. Originally the idea of anonymity was cos I'd planned to use this blog to say things which I wouldn't want anyone to know were by/about me, but now I'm just brazen and out there saying what the heck! Or maybe I'm assuming no-one who knows me will read this. Hmmm. Here's a test case - lots of my friends are christian and I'm supposed to be one too, but I'm actually pretty agnostic at the moment - just going through the motions. So I may get 'outed' as a closet hypocrite.

It's too late to make a real start on TYSIC blogging (I posted a major progress update as comment on Mark's blog on Thursday, but I may paste it in here at some point as a point of reference. )

But just before I go to bed - since this is of more interest to me as a diary and record of what I'm up to, rather than a crafted piece of writing designed to attract readers from the far reaches of the internet - key points about it being rather a good day today: lovely lunch out at a 'posh'-ish restaurant as an early Mother's Day thing - all 4 of us. And both sons were on good form and very chatty.

Another positive thing today - discovered that husband's annual bonus has already been paid in to bank - will make it possible to get some necessary work done on the house (boring but very necessary - gutters etc)

Also good aspect of today = seeing 2 good films: Howl's Castle and The Soloist.

2009-04-26T15:01:00.001-07:00

A month! A whole month has gone by! Time is weird, isn't it? Moods are weird, aren't they? I mean, I've had a reasonably productive and enjoyable day today, and yet, and yet... The black mood is hovering - and I don't know why! Not the expected monthly low spell (that should have been last week) So, what then? I find myself flirting with the attraction of mortality - the blinking out of life can seem morbidly attractive in such a mood. No, no, not really (really?)

I wonder what tomorrow will bring (This too shall pass....)

The Shack - bit of a parson's egg (ie good in parts)

2009-03-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

Just finished reading 'The Shack'. Found it powerful and thought-provoking - in parts. Didn't agree with certain bits - but that's not the point surely (books can be at their most stimulating when you DON'T agree with them!) Certain bits were verging on the emotionally manipulative, but I couldn't - didn't want to - keep detached from its narrative hook, so inevitably shed quite a few tears at various points.

Don't like the hype surrounding this book; don't like the overly enthusiastic reviews, nor the prissy evangelical critiques of it as heretical (!), nor the slightly snotty superior reviews of it by certain blogs (mustard seed shavings may slightly fall into that category?) - the latter of which had somewhat put me off ithe book before I even started reading it.

So where does that leave me? What can/should I say about it? I'm inevitably going to fall into the category of 'slightly snotty superior reviews' I'm afraid.

Dodgey as it may be to criticise a book for what it is not, or what it omits, here are my two most abiding grumbles about it:
1. the book does not tackle the position of someone who doesn't believe in God at all (may I just clarify that, for the most part, I do believe in God - but I struggle with it) or someone whose experience of a tragedy leads them to a loss of faith - ie 'Right, well there's clearly no God (never mind a Good God) if such things happen in the world' The book engages with the problem of suffering and of evil, but its starting point is not God proving his existence to the protagonist, but rather the nature of that existence and its relationship with (and to) humanity. So basically what I'm saying is - don't give this book to an atheist and expect it to persuade them that God really does exist! (But if you're an agnostic it might help.....)

2. The question of God intervening vs not intervening (including answering our prayers in miraculous ways) leaves me with lots of hanging questions. While it gives narrative satisfaction, I am uneasy about the book's ending - almost too kind, too easy. It is a HUGE intervention, but not a life-saving one (except, one can surmise, for future victims...)

I have read criticism of the book that this one (fictional) protagonist gets more from God (in terms of Him making himself fully and palpably available) than is the experience of lots of people who have suffered even more terribly (sort of 'what makes him so special, to get this special treatment'). That's a misunderstanding of how the story should be taken, I feel - the comparision with Pilgrim's Progress is helpful - Mack is an 'everyman'. The 'faux' Forward, which understandably leads some readers to want to take the fiction as a 'true story' - and to lose faith in it when they discover it's not - is perhaps unfortunate in this regard. (The forward contains some important back-story about Mack, but in some ways I'm quite glad I skipped it and didn't go back and read it till after I'd finished the book!)

I am glad I had a quick look at the author's blog site. Makes it easier to understand how he came to write the book as it is. Anyone who puts words into God's mouth will inevitably seem to be rather bold - 'How dare he!' And by the same token, when reading it, it's perhaps a good corrective to remember that when 'God' says something in the book, you need not accept it as truly the word(s) of God. It's a human being using a device in a work of fiction. But by the same token, as some enthusiasts have claimed, the integrity of the author and the possibility that God is genuinely helping him, through this book, to reach people in an accessible form and to shake up some of our complacencies, should also be seriously considered. What is this book saying to me? What can I take from it that will help me to grow?

2009-03-20T15:19:00.001-07:00

Hello universe! Here's a dot among dots, a carbon concoction. A wisp of thought in a frame of bones. And it's all good. The meaning of it all? Who knows. A gorilla blogger says "God sucks" Interesting....

I'm supposed to be a Christian - regular church goer n' all that. But here's the rub - some days I'm content to believe both that God exists and that God is Good; some days I find myself leaning to the view that God is a useful concept but one which probably doesn't have an objective reality (whatever that might mean); and then, finally, there are the days when I agree that "God sucks" (in which case He exists... but that's not really a good thing cos he totally sucks)

Oh yeah - there's a fourth category of days (probably the most numerous in fact) - the days when I just hover above the whole question and don't bother to land on ANY view at all.

Sunday 15th March

2009-03-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

It's a strange thing, this blogging - don't you think? I don't really know how much to reveal and how much to keep private. At the moment I feel too apprehensive to be identifiable by my real name, location etc. (is my email address revealed on this blog site? If it is, I am so busted! At least I haven't written anything problematic yet...) But the irony is that no-one is going to read this - so what am I worrying about? And surely I wouldn't be bothering to do this at all if I didn't actually want other people to read it. Yes, that's true. But it's also true that some of what I'd like to write I can only write if I keep myself anonymous!

Now here's a confession - I have never even read anyone else's blog! Occasionally a google search has thrown up a blog reference to the keyword I was after (sometime quite helpful, sometimes a complete red herring) But I don't even know how to go about finding blogs to read. Must find out.

Twitter doesn't appeal. I like the idea of slightly longer posts. Anyway - hello big empty world of internet indifference - here I am!