Sunday, January 14, 2007

A Mad day

Saturday morning, and it was the first day of a maths master class, my daughter Megs was going to. Both her sisters had done the maths master class, so Megan was chuffed when she was asked to go as well. It started in Truro at 9.30, so we woke up early, got in the car, and headed for the petrol station. I went to pay and my debit card was not in my purse. Luckily I had just enough money, so I paid and we rushed back home. We looked around, panicking. It was also Meg’s birthday, and we were meeting her friends after the class to go shopping. I was thinking I’ll have no access to money over the weekend. The birthday celebrations are over, we’ll have to cancel everything. Megs felt her birthday’s were jinxed, as three years ago on her birthday my purse was stolen. I then phoned the Co-op which was the last shop I had used the card in, and it was there. By the time I picked it up, and got on the way, it was 9.15.

Registration was from 9.30 to 10.00, so I drove like a bat out of hell, driving just at the speed limit all the way, and got there at 9.55. She was in time. Due to all the assignments due in next week, I waited to have a word with someone, to see if there was anywhere I could set up my laptop. Then I heard “Jacqui”, it was my good friend Jerusha. It was so lovely to see her, especially as I was supposed to meet her just before Christmas, but didn’t as I was feeling wobbly. She lives in Falmouth, and since I started at University, we still haven’t managed to catch up. Her son was also doing the master class, so we’re going to catch up next time.

The class was at Truro college, and they were really accommodating, when I asked about doing some writing. They let me use the staff room. In the couple of hours I had, I managed to finish two assignments that make up 3000 words for one unit. It was a very successful morning. I shared the room with one of Megan’s teachers at school with his little baby, Milly, who was 14 weeks old, and a really gorgeous bubbly baby. His Partner is Meg’s maths teacher and she was delivering the course that morning.

After, we headed into Truro to meet Meg’s friends. When they arrived, I gave Megs some money, as they wanted to go off on their own. I decided to do charity shops; I didn’t want to go into clothes shops, as I knew I would end up spending money I couldn’t afford. I visited 9 charity shops, I think I know them all in Truro, and brought 8 brilliant books.

For £11.25 I brought:

Story of O by Pauline Reage
The Zahir and Like a flowing river by Paulo Coello
The time travellers wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Living by the word by Alice Walker
The mirror within by Anne Dickson
Autobiography of a Geisha by Sayo Masuda
and
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The first book I brought was the Story of O. I brought this out of curiosity, as I have Damien Rice’s album ‘O’. In the song ‘Amie’ the lyrics go “Amie come sit on my wall, and read me the story of O.” It turns out to be a famous erotic novel that mysteriously turned up in the hands of publishers in Paris in 1954.

I also got a couple of Paulo Coelho books. I was really chuffed to find them, as I already have 7 of his books (mainly found in charity shops). It was unusual to find books of his that I didn’t have. At a very low point, about a year ago, I didn’t have the concentration to do anything, but amazingly I was able to read, and I immersed myself in books 24/7. Paulo Coelho was an author who made me think, and helped in my recovery.

I do have a bad book collecting habit and also have many Alice Walker books. Again it was great to find one I haven’t got. I love the way she writes, how she has an amazing ability to illustrate the feelings and emotions of the characters she writes about. I like to read about history, that’s generally not told in mainstream history. Alice Walker tells the history, and the struggles, of being a black woman in early 20th century America.

I was very pleased with my purchases. Now all I need is more time so I can read them. I was feeling a bit shopped out, when I meet the girls. We started off for home, and as a birthday treat, we stopped for dinner out on the way back. When I got back I was shattered, and still had to pick up another three of Meg’s friends for her birthday sleepover.

At about seven I was able to relax, well as much as you can relax, with seven excitable teenagers in the flat. I had brought them a couple of bottles of WKD, and double checked everyone was going to have some, so they only had a bit each. As I barricaded myself in my room, I was unaware that the other girls had also brought 2 bottles of Lambrini. At around nine, I went in and found they’d drunk all the WKD, and discovered one empty Lambrini bottle. They weren’t too bad, I chatted with them for a while, and they weren’t slurring their speech, so thinking there was no more alcohol left, I was relieved, as it would wear off soon.

It didn’t wear off; they were all extremely hyper till early in the morning. When I went in again, I confiscated the other bottle of Lambrini, which luckily they hadn’t drunk much of. It was a long night, luckily nobody was ill, but they were all very loud. I stayed awake until they all finally went quiet. So all in all it was a bit of a mad day.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Blooming Typical

Great, I get all the work done; I get back to University for one day, and then come down with a stinky virus. With only a week to go before seven assessed assignments have to be in, this is pretty disastrous. I can’t concentrate enough to work on any of them, so I am writing on my blog.
Yesterday I felt worse, but still managed to surf the net a bit. I made an important step as a writer. If you’ve read my previous postings, you’ll know sitting with a laptop on my knee, has caused a bad back. Yesterday I brought myself a desk, and it arrives tomorrow.
I’m not going to be able to get it up till Sunday though, as I’ve got a flat full on teenagers on Saturday night. It’s Megan’s (my daughters) birthday, and she’s got six friends staying, in my tiny little flat. I think I’m going to barricade myself in my room, with a bottle of red wine.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The internet's back

I don’t understand the mysteries of the technological age. The last few weeks, we have kept trying to get the internet, and have not been able to, but all of a sudden it’s back. Megan tried to get onto it on Thursday night, and that was it. It’s back.
I spent yesterday with a big smile on my face, and did the surfing I had wanted to do for ages. I ordered some books I needed, I checked out the professional writing notice board, and checked emails. The only trouble was I spent a couple of hours at it, when I could have been writing.
Also I don’t think looking at the notice board was such a good plan. There is so much to do. I knew how much there was to do, but looking at all the messages about legal issues when writing, MA proposals, word counts, spacing etc, I felt the panic rising.
Today I feel a bit better about it all. I am muddling on with it all, and writing every day.
I’ve rewritten a Scene from a classic story, in a different genre, and in the modern day. I did Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, which I rewrote as a murder mystery. The two charity worker’s who came into Scrooge’s office, became Police detective’s, investigating Marley’s murder. That was quite fun to do. I’ve also written 9 pages of a 12 page story, reworked a piece for assessment, written an essay explaining a method of constructing a good essay, and half completed my MA proposal.
Looking at the list it doesn’t seem very much to have written, in 4 weeks. Never mind, I’ll just keep muddling on. And I’d better get on with it.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Life without the internet.

Again, is this an excuse or not? My internets packed up. I manage to connect O.K and then when I try to open a page it says Server not found. My daughter Alice’s boyfriend, Mark, looked at it for me, but couldn’t sus it out. Any ideas about what’s up? Let me know.
So anyway that’s my excuse, or not, for not signing in recently.

I have missed the internet. It is very irritating not being able to look something up, whenever I need too. However I think I have done a lot more writing, as I've not spent hours looking at emails, websites, noticeboards etc. By borrowing someone elses's computer, I am able to focus, and get the information I need, in the time I have. I did my entire degree, hardly ever using the internet, and I got a first. Unfortunately on this course, and with the area of work I would like to enter, I know I need it. I will get it sorted.

I’ve not gone out, or seen many of my friends this holiday, as I’ve been worried about getting all my assignments done. So I’ve spent most of the time with the laptop on my knee, but still not managing to write as much as I would like.

Two days ago, I developed a really bad back, and could hardly move. Bending my knee in the night, woke me up, it’s not been good. I didn’t do any writing on the first day, as the pain was so bad I couldn’t focus. As my daughters been staying in the front room, I’ve done a lot of writing in bed, and on the second day I got the laptop out again. It was then I realised it was probably writing like this that had caused my backache. I noticed how heavy my laptop was.

Unfortunately being in a small flat, there is no room for a desk, but I definitely need one. Therefore I am now on the lookout to move. I do need a bigger place. Until then I went back to basics and got out a notepad. I was able to do one of my assignments with pen and paper, and it didn’t take very long to type it out. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.