Take Time To Shine

Game, Set & Match

Megs — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:24:12 +0000

99% of the time I have no interest whatsoever in sport. This changes for about two weeks in June, the Wimbledon fortnight and I get very excited indeed about tennis. I’ll have the BBC Sport news feed open all day on my work computer and random people from all over the office call the switchboard to simply ask the score/s of certain match/es. I even recall actually ‘borrowing’ a meeting room that had a television in to watch the Mahut and Isner match – and wasn’t that amazing?

This year, I seem to have been sucked into the French Open. I’ve been on the edge of my seat watching Andy Murray play. I had the video feed of his match against Chela playing most of the day – and of course was then complaining about how slow my computer was. Rather than turning it off though, what did I do? Simply stopped working for a while and enjoyed the tennis.
Yes, I’m a naughty girl but it’s not like my manager (and his manager) aren’t among those who use the ‘Megs Wimbledon Hotline’ on an annual basis.

My heart has however sunk with the realisation that Murray’s semi-final is going to be against Nadal. And oh how I’m looking forward to Federer vs Djokovic!
I’m genuinely not sure if I want a Nadal vs Federer or Nadal vs Djokovic final – I think either way is going to be amazing!
Tomorrow I’m looking forward to Li vs Sharapova.

I’m wondering if maybe I’m more of a tennis fan than I ever actually realised!

Happy Easter

Megs — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:13:28 +0000

I was going to write a blog post about the concept of role models, something I’ve thought about for a while but then I looked at the date of my last entry and oh my, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? It’s also been a long time since I’ve even been on the internet as well.

I don’t even have a good excuse… just… well, life, I suppose. I’ve been busy with work and school, and really the last thing I’ve wanted to do when I finally got time to relax was boot up my computer and do what felt like more of the same. As a result, I’ve done a lot of reading which is always good.

My plans for the second quarter is definitely to get back into blogging – both here and on my livejournal, as well as to continue working on book reviews and short stories… at least if I get a chance to. I’m also painfully, embarrassingly, far behind on all of the television shows I watch. I’ve seen very little of my friends. Just call me Megs The Hermit!

I did however get down to London last weekend to see Steve Carlson play at the Halfmoon Putney and can I just say that he completely blew me away. His CDs simply do not do him justice. He made mention of the show being recorded so I’m going to sit here with my fingers crossed for a full band live album. That would be incredible.

That’s really it from me.
So, how have you been?

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book

Megs — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:56:54 +0000

I seem to have a huge pile of books to read gathered on the floor, piles of them in front of my bookcase. I dread to think how many of them there are. A good couple of hundred I’m sure. They’re taunting me. I’ve had very little time to read for pleasure lately and these books… I swear they know it and are multiplying. Or maybe I just need to keep clear of ebay, amazon and waterstone’s sales hah!

One thing I would like to accomplish this year is one of those 50 books challenges.. the 50 books in a year. Normally it wouldn’t seem such a daunting task, that’s less than a book a week. Maybe I should just worry about the first few weeks?
OK, the top of my pile consists of:
A. N. Roquelaure – The Sleeping Beauty Trilogy (yes technically this is 3 books!)
Stephen Donaldson – Against All Things Ending
Maria Landon – Daddy’s Little Earner
Michael Jecks – The Death Ship of Dartmouth
Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees – Come Together.
I aim to have read these – and posted reviews – by the end of February.

That certainly sounds doable… any one have a time turner I can borrow?

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Megs — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:53:23 +0000

Kant said that we require three things by which to measure happiness: someone to love, something we like to do, and something to look forward to.

I’m not in a relationship so I don’t love anyone in a romantic sense. That’s not to say I don’t love people in a familial or platonic way. My friends and family are incredibly important to me. I also love my cat, Cookie, who is my constant companion when I’m home.
I know there are people who believe that I couldn’t possibly be happy without ‘someone to love’ but I don’t feel I’m missing anything in that respect.

One of the things I love doing the most is simply curling up on my couch with a good book and losing myself for a few hours. It’s something that in an ideal world I would do everyday but in reality only have chance to do 3-4 hours a week. Cookie usually curls up with me too.

I’m failing at having something to look forward to. I pretty much live in the today, I take each day at a time rather than wishing my life away waiting for something. You could say I look forward to tomorrow to see what it will bring.

There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.

Megs — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:49:55 +0000

I’ve always described myself as a ‘writer’ but as 2010 rolled into 2011 I’m starting to wonder if that’s really such an accurate description. Surely, in order to be a writer one must actually… write something. Writing is something I’ve done very little of over the last year. I know a lot of that is due to going back to school and having a lot of time taken up by studies. I was expecting my muse to still be telling me stories, to still be having lots and lots of ideas with no time to write but apparently this is not the case. I’ve not even been having ideas of things to write. I cannot remember a time since childhood that I’ve had no creative ideas. It’s quite distressing, actually.

I tried my hand at fanfiction but it all seems to be a very cliquey and sexually driven place that I’m not sure I belong in. I’m asexual so the focus on sex isn’t something I can understand.

But again, even with fanfiction, in order to write, you must have ideas. Which, as I just mentioned, I’m greatly lacking. I’ve looked at some of the prompting communities. I think I rather bit off more than I can chew with regards to the bingo cards and ended up writing nothing. No, I wrote one fanfiction and did have some wonderful reviews on it so that was nice. But I’ve had no more ideas. Possibly because I knew I’d taken on too much and didn’t know where to start. I’d like to find another one starting anew, for the new year, just take on the one challenge and see where that leads me. I’m not completely sure where to start but at least I know such communities exist on livejournal.

Ideally I’d like to get back to writing something every day, even if its just 100-250 words. I’ve looked at sites like 750words.com but the lack of ideas and this… big empty white space with a flashy cursor and that little note telling me I’ve written 0 words became a little daunting.

I know I’m probably overthinking this. I’m probably getting stressed over nothing and that is what is stopping me from writing. I used to be able to just open up Word and start typing and then I would have lost a couple of hours. I miss it. And I need to stop thinking about the past and start thinking not even about the future of my writing, but about the now of my writing. I was hoping that blogging about it might help me get it straight in my head but I seem to be chasing my own tail.

What I need is inspiration. Some kind of daily prompt to give my muse the proverbial kick up the backside. Preferably not sexually oriented like too many fandom livejournal communities tend to be. I liked the bingo card/prompting communities, although I do think that’s contradicting myself since its fandom and is therefore sexually oriented. But just something to make me think, to make me write.

I’m hesitant to make it a new years resolution because I’d be too nervous of breaking it, and therefore feeling like I’ve let myself down. But my aim for 2011 is definitely to get back into writing – whether its original or fanfiction – and to try to write something every day, even if its just 100 words.

If you know of any inspiration/prompting sites/communities that you think I would be able to make use of, please link me to them as it would be much appreciated. Thank you.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today

Megs — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:33:45 +0000

Responsibility is defined by http://dictionary.reference.com as the state or fact of being responsible; an instance of being responsible.
To be responsible is defined, again by the same website as answerable or accountable, as for something within one’s power, control, or management

A person’s responsibilities in life are those things they are answerable or accountable for.
For me, and for most people, basic responsibilities would include attending work on a daily basis and performing my duties, payment of mortgage/rent and utility bills. Attending my lectures, studying, completing assignments and sitting exams.

Obviously, the main priority for most people – and indeed myself – is the payment of bills. Working to ensure you have a roof over your head and to pay gas, electricity, water and other essentials, followed then, if financially viable, luxuries.

One thing about the internet that I both love and hate is that I’m finding myself exposed to lots of different people; people who I wouldn’t normally have met without it. Yet some of the people I meet completely baffle me. People who’s priorities in life seem to revolve not around their responsibilities, but instead around what I would class as luxuries. There are people out there who continually talk about how they cannot afford to make a rent payment, or get a boiler fixed, or who have no heating because the meter has run out and they have no more money for another week. Yet these same people travel all around the country attending concerts and conventions.

I have been to one convention. I had an amazing time. But they’re not cheap. For a basic ticket you’re looking at £90. On top of that, you have hotel room expenses, which again circa £90p/n, and 3-4 nights. Then you have travel expenses, subsistence costs, spending money…. One weekend can easily cost well over £500. My one convention I attended instead of having a holiday, because that was all I could afford.

Yet there are people who go to 5+ times a year, as well as go on holiday. Yet cannot manage their responsibilities, their bills.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand why people want to attend these events. They’re great fun and God knows everyone needs to kick back and enjoy themselves, get away from real life, from our responsibilities for a time. I just cannot fathom putting them before my responsibilities.

The House Rules

Megs — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:24:48 +0000

I’m the first person to tell you that I’m not a huge music fan. I don’t have favourite songs or artists. I don’t listen to music for the sake of listening to music, but I do like to have it on in the background when I’m reading, gardening or doing housework etc. For the last week, however, I’ve had Christian Kane’s new CD The House Rules playing pretty much on repeat. I am completely in love with the album yet I’ve seen/heard/read so much animosity, so much negativity regarding it in the Kane fandom. I am simultaneously appalled and disgusted by some of his so called ‘fans’

Some of the complaints I’ve heard have been bordering on the ridiculous.

It’s Too Country
Christian always has been a country artist. He’s been performing country music for the last 12 years at least. What exactly were people expecting – a hip hop album?
~~Of course, typing that has made me very sillyly want Christian to release his own brand of country/hip-hop fusion haha~~

There’s not enough Steve
This is Christian’s solo work.
And, oddly enough, Steve Carlson and Christian Kane are two individual people who aren’t actually joined at the hip.
It’s funny how you never hear the Christian fans complaining that he’s not featured on Steve’s solo work, but as soon as Christian releases solo material, the Steve fans are up in arms

It’s the same old stuff we’ve been listening to for years
Not legally, it isn’t.
I know some people have illegally downloaded the Sony Sessions. I’m not one of them, so I can’t comment on what’s featured on that. But yes, if you’ve been acquiring his music prior to it being released then you will have been listening to the same stuff. You also have to realise that the album isn’t just for his existing fandom fans, but it’s also for any new fans that he may be getting from Leverage, from Thinking Of You, from The House Rules video being played on CMT and the song on various country stations across the US
And yes, the songs featured on the EP are all on the album. That’s because an EP is an ‘extended preview’, it’s a preview of the album, so yes, everything on the EP is on the album. Nearly all the songs on the album are new to me, and I’m in love with all of them.

I’m a pretty new fan to Kane’s music. I’ve been a fan of Christian as an actor since he played Lindsey McDonald in Angel but I didn’t have any interest in his music, simply because I don’t like country. A friend of mine, without telling me what she was playing me, played me the demo version of The House Rules when it was on his myspace a couple of years ago and I pretty much full in love with the song. She then played me a few more songs from his myspace, followed by the Kane and Acoustic Live In London CDs. I’ve not been able to purchase either of those as they have been discontinued but I have purchased both the EP and The House Rules

I love the progression from the self-titled Kane CD to this one. The difference in Christian’s voice is so apparent. If nothing else, he’s SO much clearer – you can actually hear what he’s saying, he doesn’t mumble. I’m guessing this is a combination of a decent producer like Bob Ezrin and plain experience in playing/performing/recording music.

It’s certainly not down to confidence. I saw Christian and Steve performing acoustically in London twice recently. Once at a concert of theirs at a venue called McQueen and once as part of the Vampire Ball (although sadly that performance was cut short due to Christian being ill) and I’ve never seen anyone look as unsure or uncertain of themselves performing music on stage as Christian did. He was almost constantly looking to Steve, almost as though for reassurance. It was very sweet but such a difference to the fandom view of him being this larger than life ‘Christian Fucking Kane’ personality. It was incredibly endearing, in fact.

Christmas TV

Megs — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 13:53:54 +0000

In my newspaper today was the Christmas TV listings and there are so many wonderful films that are on this year. There’s the usual Christmas specials of TV shows as well, such as Doctor Who that I’m really looking forward to as well.

It’s one of my favourite things about the season: Christmas decorations, Christmas music and all the films that get shown. I love curling up on my couch with my blanket, a mug of hot drink, my cat and losing myself in a good movie.

Taking another look over the guide, I think I need more than one television/set of eyes to watch them all! I’m pretty sure my season will look something a little like this:

Weds December 22
The Nativity – BBC 1 – 7pm
Batman Begins – ITV 1 – 10:35pm

Thurs December 23
How Science changed Our World – BBC 1 – 8pm
300 – Five – 9pm
(I want to watch Shrek and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe but I’m still at work during the day)

Christmas Eve
Prince Caspian – BBC 1 – 5:15pm
(I want to watch Cars but again, I’m at work still)

Christmas Day
The Muppet Christmas Carol – C4 – 08:50am
Singing In The Rain – BBC 2 – 11:15 am
Scrooged – C4 – 1pm
Shrek The Third – BBC 1 – 3:10pm
Doctor Who – BBC 1 – 6pm
Edward Scissorhands – C4 – 7pm
Come Fly With Me – BBC 1 – 10pm

Boxing Day
Who Framed Roger Rabbit – BBC 1 – 9:45am
The Railway Children – ITV 1 – 12:15am
High Society – Five – 3pm
Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Five – 5:10pm
Love Actually – ITV 1 – 10:15pm

Mon December 27
The Incredibles – BBC 1 – 3:25pm
There’s Something About Mary – C4 – 10:35pm

Tue December 28
Just William – BBC 1 – 12:30
ET – ITV 1 – 2:40pm
Miss Potter – BBC 2 – 6:30pm
I Am Legend – ITV 1 – 9pm
Blades Of Glory – BBC 1 – 11:10pm

Weds December 29
Les Mis At 25 – BBC 2 – 8pm
(I want to watch Zulu and Mary Poppins, but I’m back at work)

Thurs December 30
X2 – ITV 1 – 10:35pm
(I want to watch Antz, Bridge To Terabitha, Dances With Wolves and Lemony Snickets A Series Of Unfortunate Events but that pesky work thing is in the way)

New Years Eve
The Sound Of Music – BBC 1 – 3:30pm
Just Like Heaven – BBC 2 – 6:30pm
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – ITV 1 – 9:10pm

And now I’m really looking forward to it… Is it Christmas yet?

The difference between try and triumph is a little umph

Megs — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:59:21 +0000

I've never particularly been a very career orientated person. As long as I have a job, I'm able to pay my bills and put some aside into savings and I'm happy then that is all I've ever wanted from life.

There is a little voice that things it would be wonderful to be a published author, a famous one… able to not hold a 9-5 job and just concentrate on writing.

I don't know if I'd get bored doing that. I probably would because I'm used to working all day, coming home, making my dinner then settling down for the evening. I'm very much a creature of habit

To be perfectly honest, if it wasn't for the current stress situation I'm in with trying to do to much, I have the perfect job.

I'm a part-time student and a part-time receptionist. My work are being really good about the fact I've gone back to school this year and are letting me work my hours around my lectures. With it being a relatively quiet reception as well – not a huge volume of phone calls or visitors – I do a lot of administration work for the managers but there is still plenty of time where I have nothing to do.

I used to use this time to write.. I write a lot of fiction, young adult/urban fantasy/horror as well as short stories in any genre that appeals. I've also started looking in to reading and writing a little bit of fan fiction as well but I'm not sure how much of a long love affair that will be.

This time of year, especially, with NaNoWriMo I would be using my 'free' work time very productively.

I'm currently using that time in work to make headway on assignments and reading for school. It's not the easiest way to study, and it can get frustrating when you get interrupted but its definitely helping me to get on with my course.

It does, of course, mean I'm behind on my NaNoWriMo wordcount… and as I'm sure you remember from previous blog posts, everything was causing me a lot of stress last week. Taking that four day break from absolutely everything was just what I needed.

OK so two days of that I literally just sat and wrote my NaNo which was a wonderful feeling and now I'm 'only' 8k words behind 'schedule'

Taking that break also made me realise that despite everything I've got on my plate that I still need some 'me' time. I've therefore decreed that I will have an hour every evening where I'm not studying, thinking about studying, working on my Nano.

Last night I watched Zombieland. I'm not the biggest movie fan in the world and I'm usually the last person to see pretty much every movie. It was the first time I'd seen Zombieland -at recommendations of friends – and it was brilliant. I really enjoyed it.

If there's been a zombie apocalypse and you're road-tripping alone though the wasteland, you could do worse than run into Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a bourbon-swilling bad-boy butt-kicker with a really cool car. This is where the careful hero of Zombieland, a kid nicknamed Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), finds himself early in the film, and you can hardly blame him for hitching a ride with this swaggering Alpha Male. Still, they have their hands full not only with gibbering zombies but also with two sisters (Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin) who will stop at nothing to reach a Disneyland-like amusement park in L.A. Although Zombieland gets off to a rocky start with Columbus's overly-cute narration (he's got a list of rules for surviving in the zombie world), it settles into an amusing comedy, regularly interrupted by bouts of blood-letting. The road-trip stuff is enough fun that when the movie does arrive at its version of Disneyland, the air goes out of it a little; sure, there's a giant zombie blowout, with entrails flying, but it's not quite the same. Director Ruben Fleischer keeps the gags coming, although the movie is often funnier in its odd little asides (both Eisenberg and Harrelson are expert at this) than in its official jokes. Comic high point: an interlude at the home of a very famous movie star, who plays himself–and I'll leave the spoiler unspoiled, in case anybody hasn't heard about this funny extended cameo

It's left me in the mood to watch more zombie movies as well, so if you have any recommendations (or zombie themed books as well) please let me know!

Take A Break

Megs — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:52:52 +0000

Due to the amount of stress I’ve found myself under over the last week or so, and a slight breakdown because of it, I’ve taken today and tomorrow off work. I’m also not going to think about work, or university, or even nanowrimo until Monday. I don’t have any lectures to attend, I have no assignments due or reading to complete.

I feel very decadent and incredibly naughty but I think I need a chance to calm down and relax, which I can’t do while I’m in that situation that’s stressing me out.

I had a lay in this morning, not getting out of bed until gone 10am. I can’t remember the last time I did that, just turn the alarm off and sleep until I woke up.
I’m still in my pyjamas and robe, and big fluffy socks, curled up on my couch with my kitty and a mug of coffee. I have a copy of Black Hills by Dan Simmons to read and a pile of DVDs to watch

I’m taking a holiday in my own life and it’s heavenly. Just what the doctor ordered