Ballad of Mona Lisa

Greetings one and all.
I have returned from holiday thus the ramblings continue. Holiday was great. Bet you're jel. 
I've decided that I need a little more direction to my eloquence, so henceforth I shall bring you my Top Five of the past week. Top Five things. Don't try to pin me down on this (haha 'pin') coz I'm just going with it.  Try really hard to do great things so I notice it and put it on here. I mean....that's like...real fame. You'll be on the Internet. Everybody knows that Internet=fame. 


ONE. 
Panic! At The Disco's (look, I even put the !) new album. I mean...I think I summed it up pretty succinctly when I experienced this album on holiday. Half way through a margarita with the album on in the background at "party volume", I suddenly announced "This is so good! I feel like I'm alive!" That's all the reviewing it needs. 

TWO.
I stumble about a lot on stumbleupon and I recently staggered onto this incred German advertising campaign.  I lold, and then showed it the boyf who also enjoyed it. 
Life's Too Short For The Wrong Job

THREE.
Holiday has to feature on here properly as it was a pretty major feature of the past week. We went to Salcombe with Great Mates Joel and Emily™. We played a lot of Cranium and drank a lot of cocktails. We did a big walk to a very disappointing location (involving a fictitious clifftop centre) and we went to see the final Harry Potter film. I am a ridiculous Harry Potter fan. I was mentally excited and cried an improbable volume of tears. Although the atmosphere at the end was somewhat ruined when someone fell over in the cinema. 
Here is a picture of the wondrous occasion. 

Note the lost lamb in the background 

FOUR. 
I had the pleasure of playing with an iPad 2 this week. It was very exciting, zipping your finger across the screen and things swooshing about. Then I had a dream about owning one. If I had loads of money I would totes get one for entertainment purposes.


FIVE. 
The above things perhaps seem a little flippant in a time when there have been so many horrible things in the news over the past few weeks and days. Maybs my last thing can be to point you in the direction of the news reports of the shootings in Norway and the terrible drought in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Read up, makes you realise how blessed we are. 


Until next time chums. 

Keys to the Lighthouse

In my first year at university, instead of reading my course text for that week, I read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which was absolutely brilliant, such an interesting plot, and very different to anything I'd read before. The protagonist is a young boy, and his character is fascinating. I felt he was really honestly written and y'know how sometimes you read a book and you're like 'yeah..I feel like I've read you a thousand times before'?  Well, Zafon's protagonist seemed to me to entirely different to the norm. 

However, maybe it's because he writes in Spanish, and his novels are translated so something is lost, or maybe it's just a difference from British characters, and I know I said I felt this protagonist is honestly written, but there's something about the protagonists that make you kind of dislike them. They're sometimes cowardly, or they're pervy, or they're self-deprecating, or they smoke like...a thousand cigarettes a minute and then complain about it, but I never read his books and warm to the characters. Having said that, the male role model is always great, whether it's the dad, the friendly shopkeeper, or the lighthouse keeper. 


So after The Shadow of the Wind, I thought 'wow yeah, I'm totes going to read more of this guy', so read The Angel's Game. It was one of the weirdest books I have EVER. READ. I got to the end and was like "say what!?"  There are like...3 storylines, but they don't overlap, they just come one after the other, and seem to be vaguely linked...sometimes...but then sometimes not...and you're not sure if the guy's died at one point coz he seems to die but then the book carries on as if he's alive...it is SO weird haha. Super enjoyable at the time, but maybe not the most fulfilling reading experience. 

SOOO, then I saw this really thin book, only 200 pages, written by the same guy, called The Prince of Mist - equally vague title, equally gothic feel. It's one of the first books he ever wrote, initially intended for a young adult audience.
Ominous.
I finished it today and it was actually much better than I was expecting. I kept having to take little breaks though coz I was getting so freaked out. It is SUPER gothic, but the terror is definitely worse than the horror; the build up is mental, but the perpetrator is a bit wet. 
There's this bit with a locked wardrobe...and then the key turns by itself....and then... a cat comes out haha. But behind it there are some creepy lit up eyes....and whispering voices...she turns to run but the front door has locked itself ...she feels an "icy wind"....the voices say her name... EEEE I'm getting freaked out just writing about it haha. I went to the cafe where I used to work and bought some cake to comfort me. 

So to sum up my ramblings about an author who wrote a book I read today, Carlos Ruiz Zafon's books are mentally gothic, highly compelling and also include very good descriptions of food and atmosphere. Just don't read The Angel's Game first. 


2. In other entertainment news, I watched The Killing last night - is anyone watching it? I saw the adverts on tv and thought it looked good - oh my days, it is soooo great. I love a good crime thriller haha. It follows a murder investigation of a teenage girl, but it's just so well made, the acting is flawless and the atmosphere is almost tangible in nearly every scene. PLUS, it's not too scary, and I get scared so easily, so it's grand to know I can watch terror-free. Super excited for the rest of the series. 

3. Also, I'm going on holiday tomorrow. EEP!

I Kiss You A Thousand Times

Greetings on Day 2. 


Today has been far less productive that yesterday. 


1. Pin woke me from a mental dream. I dreamt that the Archer women, Katie and I were all arguing over who Emily likes more. Then Neill had to get involved to calm us all down.  HA. Anyway, so Pin woke me up with this infernal scratching at my door, I don't know where she learnt how to do it. Now she's taught Lucy how to do it and if I don't answer in what they deem to be an acceptable length of time, they double team me until I freak out with anger. So then she's shouting at me to feed her, whining, running about shouting for food, trying to break into the food cupboard, assuring me she hasn't been fed for days, claiming she's wasting away, bemoaning her filmy skin dripping from mere bones. I put down her food, and minutes later was informed by our cleaner (lol, hello bourgeois) that Pin had already eaten all of her own and Lucy's food. PIN! 
She is supposed to be on a diet. Why give up now Pin?  

Who can deny this imploring face?

2. Then I went into Malmes to post a glowing CV for a job that will certainly turn me down. I'd figured this excursion would take up at least an hour of my day but I totes overestimated and was home again in like 10 minutes. And the cleaner was still getting all about the place, casting disapproving eyes over my attire; tutting as she glanced at the clock when I rolled out of bed, hollering at Pin; huffing as I sat on cushions she'd just plumped. I felt unwanted in my own home. 


3. I made this boy come and pick me up 

and then I got in the way while he tried to work and I wrote witty and insightful comments on his arm ("I love bums", "Also, I love men") hahaaaa. 


4. Then I read some books to keep my brain alive. I found a love poetry book in Oxfam ages and ages ago and I liked it because of the picture on the front. Usually I hate poetry, and I hated most of this book but there were some lovely bits. And a funny one called 'Song of the Fucked Duck' HAHA, but it wasn't as good as it sounds. It wasn't even about a duck. 
Here are some good extracts for your reading pleasure:

• "There is a strong wall about me to protect me:/ It is built of the words you have said to me"
• "Why do I love? Go, ask the Glorious Sun/Why every day it round the world doth run"
• "I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul as it leads"

5. Then I read a book that was mentioned in the Sex and the City Movie (shame) and it seemed super good so I googled it and it doesn't actually exist but is based on a book called Love Letters of Great Men and Women so I bought that. There are some super great bits from famous old people like Byron, Shelley, Mozart, Beethoven. I'm pretty sure no one reading this is that bothered about quotes from poetry or other people's love letters, so I'll just include one that is simple but lovely. 

I can only live, either altogether with you or not at all.

6. Then I started reading another book but got super sleepy so I watched Gilmore Girls and ate a horrid brazil nut that I found in my mum's room.

It was in a bag, not just like...on the floor. But it was still gross. 

7. Today's job applications total at 0. Hoping I'll somehow still become employed. TWO SLEEPS UNTIL HOLIDAY. 

Day One

Hello blog. 


I've decided to start writing this blog because I am unemployed and can feel my brain melting through lack of use. 


This week has been quite fun though...


1. My wonderful friends Sarah and Tom got married, with a beautiful country wedding. Lots of bunting and lots of rain. 

2. Having finished at the cafe, I served my final coffee with my final defiance being in the shape of a star. 

3. Last night I stayed up until 2.30am trying to finish The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton which had suddenly become super-gripping, but tiredness defeated me. I finally came to the end this afternoon. I've been reading it for weeks but haven't found time between depressing shifts to finish it. 
It was brilliant, albeit slightly slow to begin with. It's about a little girl found alone on a boat, with just a suitcase and no idea of her name or where she's come from. When she's an old woman, she spends her final years trying to discover her past, but when she dies, her granddaughter takes up the task. It's set in three different time periods so was quite confusing at the beginning, and there were quite a few characters all introduced at once but after settling into it, it was so compelling.  I read The House at Riverton before, which got going almost immediately, and was only set in two different periods, but both were equally dramatic and absorbing. 
I'm considering buying a Kindle....I think I would miss actual books way too much though. What a geek. 

4. Also today, I spent four hours applying for five jobs. PLEASE someone employ me.