Watch where you're going

A bird crashed into my bedroom window yesterday evening. I know this because there's a distinct imprint on the glass. I can clearly make out a wing and a fat body and a head. Personally, I hope it was a pigeon. Whatever it was, it looks like it hurt.

I'm glad I wasn't in the room at the time because it would have scared the bejeezus out of me. It probably happened while I was downstairs watching The Prince of Egypt and weeping into my Ben & Jerry's (it's a very emotional movie). After I saw the evidence I checked outside to see if I had a dead bird on the patio, but there was nothing there, so I assume the daft creature still lives.

It made me think of  a really old Alan Davies stand-up. He did a bit about his cats and there's a really funny bit involving a pigeon. I tracked it down on Youtube. You're welcome.



Song of the Day: Please Please Please by Shout Out Louds (It's getting darker and I know this time wasn't meant for us/ So won't you please, please, please come back to me)

Just keep swimming

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm currently feeling very anxious and uneasy about the current state of the world. During the last week, practically every day has been a bad news day, filled with events that I just can't wrap my head around. It's times like these when it really is incredibly easy to just lose all faith in humanity, at least if you've been paying attention.

But here's the thing: you have to go through life believing that people, in general and at heart, are inherently good. You have to. Because otherwise, what's the point in anything?

Anyway.

If you don't like what's going on in the real world, dive into an imaginary one instead! That's what I've been doing. I think I said on here way back at the start of the year that I was aiming to read 30 books in 2016. I set it up as an official goal on Goodreads so it was easier for me to keep track of how I was doing, and I actually started off really well. It didn't take me long to get ahead of schedule and I was feeling incredibly chuffed with myself. It didn't last, however, and I ended up in a gigantic reading slump and didn't even go on Goodreads for the longest time. When I finally did log back in it informed me that I was 5 books behind schedule, and I was like, "Whatever, Goodreads, I don't need this kind of negativity in my life," and promptly logged back out again.

For my birthday (I'm 27 now. I'm not all that psyched about it), Jack got me - among other things - 3 comic books. Or graphic novels, whatever you want to call them (I don't care). I read all of these in one day which took me to just 2 books behind schedule. Then I finally finished I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak, which is fantastic, and then I read The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness which I bought with some birthday money. I think my dad might have recommended it to me. He definitely recommended something by Patrick Ness. Either way, I really enjoyed it. But my point is that I am now back on track according to Goodreads! Hallelujah.

I'm currently making my way through the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo (I'm on book 2) which I initially had no interest in reading, but they were only 99p each on Kindle and I'm a sucker for a bargain, because I am my mother's daughter. I'm actually enjoying them more than I thought I would, although Six of Crows is much, much better. I read very quickly when I'm in the right mood for it, and lately I've been in the right mood, so I'm going to ride the wave while it lasts and see how far ahead of schedule I can get, which will be handy for when I inevitably fall into another slump.

Chins up, everyone. Stay safe.

Song of the Day: Midway by Bad Bad Hats (Midway between the end and the start/ I cried like a baby, I tore you apart)


When Emma met Jophie

I met Joe on my very first day of university back in September 2007. We lived on the same floor of the same halls of residence. I walked into the kitchen and there he was, drinking a beer already (or at least I think he was - in my memory there's definitely a bottle in his hand). He was funny and friendly (still is) and I liked him immediately.

Sophie, I didn't meet until the second semester. I was out on the town with my flatmates, and my friend Lydia had come with us. We were about to leave whatever bar or pub we were in and head to Pier Pressure (a club) when Lydia said she was going to head back because of the early morning lecture, which I had already decided I wasn't going to attend. Disappointed to lose Lydia's company, I pleaded with her to come with us, and she looked me dead in the eye with the air of a seasoned negotiator and said, "Okay then, Emma. If you come with me to the lecture at 9am tomorrow morning, I'll go to Pier with you." I agreed easily, satisfied that I had managed to get my own way and not worrying about my side of the bargain because that was a problem for future-me. I couldn't even get out of it either, as Lydia came by bright and early to personally escort me to my fate. So there I was, hungover, tired and irritable, being led into a lecture about medieval Germany or something by an annoyingly chipper Lydia, and she introduced me to Sophie, the friendliest person I have ever met.

As it happened, Sophie already knew Joe as they had some of the same classes, and to say that she was rather fond of him is putting it mildly. I'm not sure when exactly it came up that I not only knew Joe, but I lived with him - regardless, it was a happy coincidence, and Sophie and I gradually began to see more and more of each other as the year progressed.

I had a few people over to my house during the summer holidays for my birthday, Sophie and Joe included, and I can still remember standing in the kitchen in the morning making pancakes (or attempting to - I seem to recall some disagreements over how many eggs go in pancake batter), while Sophie, never one to hold back, gushed to me about Joe.

That was eight years ago. And on Saturday, I got to watch them get married.

There was a moment later on in the night, when I was on the dance floor surrounded by people I had gone to university with, and the band started to play Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, a song synonymous with our old Student Union, and it was like being hit by wave after wave of nostalgia. Dancing around in a big circle, singing our hearts out at the top of our lungs, and it was so bittersweet because uni feels like it was a lifetime ago, but at the same time it feels like it could have been last week. We were dancing to Journey at the union, then we blinked and we were dancing to Journey at Joe and Sophie's wedding. Time, man. It flies.

So this post is for Joe and Sophie. I've known them separately, and I've known them together, and I've never seen either as happy as they were on Saturday. I wish them all the love in the world.

Song of the Day: When You Were Young by The Killers (And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live/ When you were young)


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