Hey, I’m still alive!
Well, I didn’t mean for that to come out so surprised, but I am. Had a lot of people complaining about my lack of posts- but a few people said they’ve been really good lately. Mixed messages, no? Less posts + more news = better, I think.

Mainly it’s because I have a *life* now, as dismal and grim as it may be! These days there’s a lot of things to be done that prevent me blogging, mainly the bottles of cider I mean to drink in the park, the work thing I do sometimes (I’m ‘working’ at the hostel on reception at the moment), and planning my super mega awesome summer!

So, where were we?

Ah, my birthday. Was a rather fun night, messy, as birthdays should be. I had work the next day at an Muslim Wedding (temping can be odd at times) and the trek to the toilets was through a giant hall of bright colours, curry smells, BO (some Muslims don’t believe in deo), rather tightly packed. Predicting when you need to puke 5 minutes in advance and then enduring that was pretty rough. I survived, oddly.

Things kind of went downhill though- I’ve not had much work lately, I wasn’t going to be able to do anything I wanted to do for summer, my flat was getting a bit rough with bills- more the management of the bills than the fee itself- all the responsibilty was falling on me. When things start to get a bit grim like that, I miss home, I sleep in, I get despondent and lazy. Started to almost dread the weekend- well, i’ll call it apprehensive- more than I looked forward to it. I was looking for a better job with more reliable hours, but was all feeling a bit hopeless and irrelevant.

I was moaning to my Diary, as we shall call him, in an email, and he gave me a piece of rather obvious, yet invaluble advice:

 get a focus so that the crazy glasgow nights seem more like a release than an inevitability.

Which was a peice of solid advice. I determined to try harder to look for a better job, and move out of the flat, which is doing me more bad than good.
A few days after that, I had a rather sterling bit of luck: a month’s full time work at a M&S, through the same company I’ve been with all winter- and the owners of the hostel also offered me a job on reception. All of a sudden, I’ve got tons of work- last week I worked nearly 70 hours. Getting up at 5.30 to catch the bus, going to bed at 2am after all the check ins are done. So sleep is falling by the wayside, to put it lightly, but I now have some money to do all the things I want to do this summer!  Which is a bunch of festivals  like Leeds, Sunshine, T in the Park, Rockness, Glade, Secret garden Party, Glastonbury, Big Green Gathering.. I’m working at all of them, either volunteering (6 hours a day) for a free ticket, or getting paid (12 hour shifts) and getting a free ticket. Woot! In between there’s loads of other events, Truck Racing, Boat Shows, Horse Shows etc, for extra money, and I’ll be touristing around a bit, and doing a bit of HelpXing, (working on farms/smallholdings for food and board), and visiting friends around the place. Should be rather wonderful!

Last week I got a scary text from home: something about spinal units, movement in arms and legs, and please keep in touch. I finally got hold of my Dad after half an hour of freaking out, trying to get hold of home: noone was dying, or paralyzed, or in a coma. That information gathered, I found out my poor little brother is in Hospital having gone over the handlebars and has broken his spine. He will be okay, and probably recover with full movement- in a najor stroke of luck his spinal cord is fine. It sucks that I can’t be there with them to deal with it, I felt a long way away that day.

Other things that have happened lately:

We went bowling for M’s au revoir partay recently. On the way home my chums/roomies C & A decided to adopt a couple of road signs. They decided to take a shortcut home through the park, M and I walked P & K halfway home. When M & I arrived back home to the hostel, the other girls still weren’t there- they’d been arrested for stealing road signs. They weren’t locked up, just thoroughly yelled at, and now they’re on record, which kind of sucks. But was also kind of funny.

I bought a tent from Amazon, it’s pretty sweet, supposedly two man but will basically fit me and my bag comfortably. We pitched it in the lounge and told ghost stories. It’s my last week in Gla before I begin my travels- I’ll still be back quite a lot to refuel and crash and stuff. I’ve made the most amazing spreadsheet you’ve ever seen, with all my festivals and plans in it.

I now like coleslaw. This is awesome. In fact, I love it, when I used to hate it. I remember it containing weird stuff like cheese, raisins and onion when I was younger, and it was made with that awful tasting mayo, not the nice stuff. Also like potatoes, I didn’t like potatoes much either before. This is getting weird.

Large chunks of my hair are blue again.. and going to also be purple & red too, and later on perhaps some turquoise and green- yeah I know, most object to green, but beside blue and dark purple it can look good. We shall see. I’m being a bit messier with it this time, doing it in the bathroom sink rather than a salon.

There has been what I assumed was just a big chunk of gib board or something in our flat’s close since I moved in, leaning against the wall. Recently, after coming home from Gramophone at something like 1am, curiosity seized me and I took a closer look: it was a big photo frame, 2 metres high. I turned it over as stealthily as I could, and was delighted to find a huge, epic bit of prose. Desiderata, it declared in curly writing. And it said this:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, Desiderata
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

My sentiments exactly.

I was quite well pleased with that and wrote it in my book.

Have now obviously moved out of the flat, back at the hostel. Has made life easier I have to say, although I’ll miss the huge, private space my room allowed.

You can probably tell I’m not really in a blog writing mood lately, too distracted. Too sleepy.. cuppa tea time.