Hi again guys, you must feel truly blessed to be inundated with so many updates... My pondering this week looks at how great it is to be compared to a beloved childhood character.
One of the perks of being a Cub Leader has been choosing my own name, although it's not been made as public as it eventually will be. For those of you who don't know, the tradition for Cub leaders is for them to take the name of a character from the Jungle Book. There is a long history behind this, but basically it stems from the friendship between Rudyard Kipling (the author of the Jungle Book) and Lord Baden Powell (founder of Scouts.) The idea behind leaders having names is, I think, to create the distance between the leaders and the children which would be suitable in such a situation. This is a similar way of doing things to how teachers are only known by "Mr" or "Mrs" at school, except less formal.
As I think I said on this blog about two years ago, I decided upon Baloo. This is almost entirely because he's good at singing, and is loveable in the Disney film of The Jungle Book. However, when I started my Assistant Leader training about this time last year, I decided that I should read the Jungle Book (as in, the actual book), in order to properly educate myself as to what it was really all about. I'm assuming that most of you haven't actually read the Jungle Book; it's really weird. It's split into shorter stories - some are about Mowgli and his adventures in the jungle, there's one about a mongoose called Rikki Tikki Tavi, and one about a seal called Sea Catch (I think - there's lots of seals.) For a children's book, I wouldn't really recommend it for children, to be honest.
I'm just glad they don't call me Rikki Tikki Tavi.
Having read the book now, I do agree that I made the right choice with Baloo. He's not as fun-loving and easygoing as he is in the Disney film, and I like that. I like that there's two sides of the character which work together or separately. It makes it seem more real, more... Like me. Maybe.
The first time one of my Cubs called me Baloo was at camp the other weekend. It was one of the best feelings I've ever had. Like, for once, I was more than just another person; I had a specific role in this child's life and it made me feel important. It made me feel grown up.
I guess that must be what being a parent feels like.
Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 May 2014
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
The Explorer Expedition
So, I said I'd fill you in on what's going on in my massively busy and stressful life. As I'm not sure where I stand on the whole talking-about-things-at-work thing, based on the Official Secrets Act and MI5 and whatever, I think I'll start by pondering the Splorer Expedition.
It was AMAZING!!! We spent a lot of time walking and using buses and some time on the train. The idea was that we would plan and arrange everything ourselves; transport, route, time-keeping and accounting and set up a Geocache route around the Cinque Ports at the same time. (By the way Jack, have you sorted that yet?)
(Can't remember if I've said this on here before but for those of you who haven't heard of Geocaching, it's a worldwide treasure hunt set up using GPS systems to find little caches, or boxes, which have notebooks in to allow people to sign to say they've been there. Some of the caches also have little presents or toys in them, but the rule is "if you take something, leave something of equal value." If you'd like more info on Geocaching, you can check out www.geocaching.com - the official website for this stuff.)
Anyhoo, where was I?... Oh yes, the Expedition. Well there was a lot of walking, which we actually quite enjoyed (except MatT) and also a fair amount of being filmed and pretending to be intelligent by saying big words. And half of us were French for a bit. But that can wait until after the first official showing at the AGM in a couple of weeks.
Another integral part of the Expedition was using the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch light railway. It's a small railway, unsurprisingly, which runs through from Dungeness to Hythe and back. We all managed to squeeze into a tiny carriage with all our massive kits. Then we sang "the wheels on the train go round and round", followed by "the wheels on the Pip go up and down" (don't ask, just don't.) The journey from Dymchurch to Hate, the bit we did, was through some lovely countryside and went past some interesting sheep. However, the best part of the journey for me was definitely being told to "stop the church music" by MatT and having to explain to him that it was actually ABBA...
Of course, other stuff did happen; Pip tried to kill us all in a huge explosion, Jess's legs became hugely stripy like... Well, like a very stripy thing and, between them, Greg and Rachel managed to drag us up a hill, through some bushes and into a barbed wire fence. We also made friends with some nice people in McDonalds and watched as Greg, Rachel and James tried to freeze themselves to death by paddling. However, I really don't have space to write about all these things here.
As you can see, it was a really great couple of days and we are going back to Dymchurch for the Beach Weekend in September because we loved the area so much.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Friday, 13 July 2012
Rain
Hey guys, I don't know how many people are still reading this, it seems to have been a bit of a five-minute wonder. But, in true Scoutist fashion, I shall continue regardless. As the weather has been (as Peter Andre/Jason described it) "hormonal" recently, it has been raining patchily for the last several months. Some much for summer! And therefore my ponderances have been mostly water-based.
Rain may not be the first choice of weather for fishermen, campers, festival goers, lovers of shorts, naturists etc. however, I have come to believe that it is wonderfully good for the natural world (flora, not fauna - obviously it has affected the migration patterns and breeding seasons for loads of animals). I am convinced that this summer there is even more plant growth than normal; trees are greener, grass is higher and thicker (and less dead) and because of the rain, there is a lot less pollen around, which means that hay fever sufferers such as myself are free to explore and discover nature without exploding every three seconds.
Secondly, there's the Gemütlichkeit of it all. Sorry, but there really isn't a word in English that's suitable; if you type it into Google Translate, it'll come up as "cosy", but I think it's more than that. To me, Gemütlichkeit is more like that feeling you have when you're inside (probably snuggled up in bed, or by a fire with a blanket) and it's chucking it down with rain outside and you feel so snug, like you never want to move again. That's the wonderful thing about rain, you feel safe (as long as your not out in it). This still happens at camp, because the rain is really loud on the tent (as long as your tent doesn't leak, it's fine), but it's colder in the morning. And, as anyone who was at Gilwell24 last weekend will testify (Pencil Guy, Liz, Sammi, MatT, Josh, Ollie, Martha etc), the actual participating in activities, unless that activity is mud-sliding, becomes a lot less possible...
You just don't get the same feeling of snug-cosiness when it's boiling hot in the summer - lying on top of your duvet, failing to sleep and needing to get up for a drink every twenty minutes doesn't exactly give you that same experience...
![]()
And yes, there is an element of Schadenfreude in there [for those of you who've never come across the most fantastic word Schadenfreude, it's the concept of "pleasure from the pain of others", the Germans have a word for it :-)] - the idea of being cacooned inside, wrapped up with your big thick book and a cup of tea whilst the rest of the world is experiencing this torrential downpour on their heads, makes you feel quite good (unless you have a Tom and Jerry Christmas moment...)
Rain may not be the first choice of weather for fishermen, campers, festival goers, lovers of shorts, naturists etc. however, I have come to believe that it is wonderfully good for the natural world (flora, not fauna - obviously it has affected the migration patterns and breeding seasons for loads of animals). I am convinced that this summer there is even more plant growth than normal; trees are greener, grass is higher and thicker (and less dead) and because of the rain, there is a lot less pollen around, which means that hay fever sufferers such as myself are free to explore and discover nature without exploding every three seconds.
Secondly, there's the Gemütlichkeit of it all. Sorry, but there really isn't a word in English that's suitable; if you type it into Google Translate, it'll come up as "cosy", but I think it's more than that. To me, Gemütlichkeit is more like that feeling you have when you're inside (probably snuggled up in bed, or by a fire with a blanket) and it's chucking it down with rain outside and you feel so snug, like you never want to move again. That's the wonderful thing about rain, you feel safe (as long as your not out in it). This still happens at camp, because the rain is really loud on the tent (as long as your tent doesn't leak, it's fine), but it's colder in the morning. And, as anyone who was at Gilwell24 last weekend will testify (Pencil Guy, Liz, Sammi, MatT, Josh, Ollie, Martha etc), the actual participating in activities, unless that activity is mud-sliding, becomes a lot less possible...
You just don't get the same feeling of snug-cosiness when it's boiling hot in the summer - lying on top of your duvet, failing to sleep and needing to get up for a drink every twenty minutes doesn't exactly give you that same experience...
And yes, there is an element of Schadenfreude in there [for those of you who've never come across the most fantastic word Schadenfreude, it's the concept of "pleasure from the pain of others", the Germans have a word for it :-)] - the idea of being cacooned inside, wrapped up with your big thick book and a cup of tea whilst the rest of the world is experiencing this torrential downpour on their heads, makes you feel quite good (unless you have a Tom and Jerry Christmas moment...)
Don't tell me you've not seen "Tom and Jerry; The Night Before Christmas"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Right! Next post...
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Cubs - An Advancement Of Ponderances
OK, I have thought about this long and hard (yes, I am aware how funny you find the words "long" and "hard" to be when put together. Grow up) about the whole Cub Leader thing and I think I might like to be a Cub leader actually. Think about it; you get super powers (see previous post about Cub Camp), and Cubs always do exactly what you ask them to (unlike Scouts, who are total beaches once they reach about twelve). Plus, you get to do all sorts of awesome crafts and nature walks and schtuff which, if you tried that with Scouts, they'd get bored. But you can still do awesome games and activities such as Wide Games, because they're old enough to understand and appreciate them.
My other plan is to help with Explorers, because (let's face it) Explorers are the reason for living; they're practically adults when they get to that age and they've (normally) got over the argumentative, rude streak (well, OK, no. But they've learnt to control it by that time). Plus, you can be so much more adventurous with their activities, such as Gilwell24 and random nights away, which is awesome. Plus, you can treat them like people and become almost like proper friends with them.
And by that time I'll be living with the rest of the current Splorers, minus Andrew probably - he's not overly liberal - and I'll need something fun to do with them. Somehow I highly doubt that I will ever get married in this hypothetical world; who'd want to live with me when I spend all my free time Scouting, apart from other Scoutists? Unless I marry another Scout/Cub/Splorer/Beaver Leader, which would solve a lot of problems, as I hope that, if I get married, I can have children and raise them in the Scouting religion (I'm pretty sure this is what happened in my family; my parents married and "what happened in the tent (i.e. me) stayed in the tent"). This is a lovely image.
Plus, you know, I don't have a career plan at the moment, so doing something like this will make me feel good. Volunteering makes everyone happy, right?
My other plan is to help with Explorers, because (let's face it) Explorers are the reason for living; they're practically adults when they get to that age and they've (normally) got over the argumentative, rude streak (well, OK, no. But they've learnt to control it by that time). Plus, you can be so much more adventurous with their activities, such as Gilwell24 and random nights away, which is awesome. Plus, you can treat them like people and become almost like proper friends with them.
And by that time I'll be living with the rest of the current Splorers, minus Andrew probably - he's not overly liberal - and I'll need something fun to do with them. Somehow I highly doubt that I will ever get married in this hypothetical world; who'd want to live with me when I spend all my free time Scouting, apart from other Scoutists? Unless I marry another Scout/Cub/Splorer/Beaver Leader, which would solve a lot of problems, as I hope that, if I get married, I can have children and raise them in the Scouting religion (I'm pretty sure this is what happened in my family; my parents married and "what happened in the tent (i.e. me) stayed in the tent"). This is a lovely image.
Plus, you know, I don't have a career plan at the moment, so doing something like this will make me feel good. Volunteering makes everyone happy, right?
Thursday, 28 June 2012
Ross
Apparently, I have received some complaints from a certain goat-breaker that he was not included in yesterday's blog post. So here is a ponderance all about Ross (selfish person).
There's not really that much to say, Ross is awesome; he likes construction and has some weird obsession with triangles, which did help us win the pioneering challenge at Splorers recently but, apart from that, is just odd. He likes watching weird videos (no, not like that) on YouTube, mostly about crazy french men and llamas, and he likes Lego, because it's like big person bricks, but smaller and eaiser to manipulate.
Ross has become famous throughout the imaginary realm of Cuffley for his immense goat-breaking skillage (just, just don't ask) and for finding sand on the beach. He has affiliations with the wonderful Becky (BT) and Philip (Gorgeous, who doesn't read this, so I can get away with calling him Philip), who are both pretty cool.
When I was younger, we used to visit Ross and his family for Christmas, or they would come to us. This led to such events as "the Tutu Incident", which I don't remember, but Ross's parents have a video of. More recently, he has become one of our Splorers and has been involved in several camps, hikes and teapotting experiences, most of which involve him repeatedly saying "erm..."
So yeah, that's all there is to say about Ross, apart from that really awkward time he invited us to the cinema with his mates and then didn't talk to us for the ENTIRE TIME. But I already wrote about that. (Rude!)
Thanks for reading, guys. If you like my blog (or even if you don't) please try to read this blog:
http://shirleynomates.blogspot.co.uk/
It might be interestring, you never know! (more likely not though, because Emily writes it...)
And, if you feel like it, you can follow me on Twitter at @EmPernilla. Thanks :D
There's not really that much to say, Ross is awesome; he likes construction and has some weird obsession with triangles, which did help us win the pioneering challenge at Splorers recently but, apart from that, is just odd. He likes watching weird videos (no, not like that) on YouTube, mostly about crazy french men and llamas, and he likes Lego, because it's like big person bricks, but smaller and eaiser to manipulate.
Ross has become famous throughout the imaginary realm of Cuffley for his immense goat-breaking skillage (just, just don't ask) and for finding sand on the beach. He has affiliations with the wonderful Becky (BT) and Philip (Gorgeous, who doesn't read this, so I can get away with calling him Philip), who are both pretty cool.
When I was younger, we used to visit Ross and his family for Christmas, or they would come to us. This led to such events as "the Tutu Incident", which I don't remember, but Ross's parents have a video of. More recently, he has become one of our Splorers and has been involved in several camps, hikes and teapotting experiences, most of which involve him repeatedly saying "erm..."
So yeah, that's all there is to say about Ross, apart from that really awkward time he invited us to the cinema with his mates and then didn't talk to us for the ENTIRE TIME. But I already wrote about that. (Rude!)
Thanks for reading, guys. If you like my blog (or even if you don't) please try to read this blog:
http://shirleynomates.blogspot.co.uk/
It might be interestring, you never know! (more likely not though, because Emily writes it...)
And, if you feel like it, you can follow me on Twitter at @EmPernilla. Thanks :D
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
Cub Camp
So, as many of you may know, I have been helping at the District Cub Camp this weekend with a fantastic group of people. Therefore I have been pondering the joys of Cubs, camping and the general topic of Scoutists. So basically, I have decided that I really don't want to be a Cub Leader! I don't know how they do it! The first night, the majority of them were awake until two am chatting and generally being awesome, yet several of them were awake again at four thirty, yelling at the Cubs to shut up and go back to sleep (but more politely, obviously). How do they do it?!?!?! It's amazing. The second night was almost the same, we were up until at least quarter to two, and yet everyone was awake and functioning properly fairly early the next morning. I swear, Cub Leaders have super-human powers.
Finally, this weekend, I have decided that, in the highly unlikely case that I actually become a Cub Leader, I would like to be Baloo, as he is awesome. Also, I think I would suit Baloo more than, for example, Bagheera or Kaa, and Rikki Tikki Tavi is just really really long...
At this point it may be useful to introduce the leaders, although we didn't actually learn their real names until the last night, as the Cubs tended to call them all by names such as "Akela". We invented our own nicknames, some of which I shall explain. Firstly, there was (of course) Jean (the Cuffley Akela) and Maureen (Hathi). Then there was Rolf Harris, who I think was really called Dave, who appeared to be the Akela-In-Charge, and his sons Beer Guy (Baloo - also Grant) and Steve-the-Two (not sure of his Cub name, but he was really Ian). Finally there was BeardyWeirdy (Miles, we also heard him called "Teenage Mutant Ginger Turtle") and Pencil Guy (Rikki Tikki Tavi - definitely pronounced Tar-vi, not Tay-vi - who was also known as Paul). I shan't go into the whole double-alias thing as it begins to get confusing.
There was also Other Ian, Bagheera (whose real name we don't know), Juan, Julio, GuythatlookslikePip and various people who didn't get nicknames as they didn't do anything awesome enough to warrant one. Or spend enough time with us for us to get to know them.
Anyway, these guys were cool.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
List Of Things One May Feel Inclined To Buy Cards For
- Birthdays
- Christmas
- Easter
- Eid
- Hannuhak
- Diwali
- Valentine's Day
- Mother's/Mothers' Day
- Father's/Fathers' Day
- Anniversary
- Engagement
- Wedding
- Wedding Acceptance (Sender)
- Sorry, We Can't Come To Your Wedding/Soiree (Sender)
- Grievances/With Sympathy
- New Baby
- Christening/Batism/Whatever
- Good Luck
- Passing Exams
- General Congratulations
- New Home
- Getting A New Address (Sender)
- We're Moving! (Sender)
- Apology
- Late Birthday
- Thank You
- New Job
- New School
- Leaving An Old Job
- Retirement
- Get Well Soon
- Justin Bieber Day. (It's actually a thing. Today. If you send me a card for this, I will disassociate myself from you permanently.)
Sunday, 17 June 2012
You Know You're Sad When...
Shalom, as Phoebe would say, my darlings. My ponderances since I last write have been minimal, although my working-ness has been much. Today I have been pondering how very, very sad I am. I really am very, very sad.
I thought to myself, as I cleaned my saxophone, wearing a shirt with a colourful message about Jesus after finishing playing music nobody had listened to and thinking about Scouts.
Yes, I am about six walking stereotypes.
So, here is a list of things which I, the Queen of Sad, have deemed "You know you're sad when..." If more than half apply to you, then you need to take a serious look at your life.
I thought to myself, as I cleaned my saxophone, wearing a shirt with a colourful message about Jesus after finishing playing music nobody had listened to and thinking about Scouts.
Yes, I am about six walking stereotypes.
So, here is a list of things which I, the Queen of Sad, have deemed "You know you're sad when..." If more than half apply to you, then you need to take a serious look at your life.
- You have never looked at a wall and thought "I could run through that!"
- Your one true love is a saxophone named Alfonz
- One of your top goals in life is to achieve the Silver Acorn
- You know what the Silver Acorn is
- Your best friend is a dog called Bertrandt
- You wish you had a dog called Bertrandt
- You are part of a society or organisation in which you have less than three friends and you only turn up for the free food and/or drink.
- You can recite the first chapter of the first Artemis Fowl book
- You read this blog regularly
- You write this blog regularly
- You watch more than 1 hour worth of programmes on "Dave" per day
- You watch more than 1 hour worth of YouTube videos per day
- You are overly pernickety about both spelling and grammar, especially on social network sites and in Greetings cards
- You know all the words to The Garo Song
- You've never been camping. No, PGL doesn't count. I mean PROPER camping
- You don't know what proper camping is
- You broke a goat
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Splorers: My Real Homies (Or Something)
'Allo Darleeengs. Today I am pondering the Splorers, who are perhaps my homies, besties, and the coolest people I know who I don't share the Common Room, or the lounge room at Church, with (Sorry guys, I have to put in that disclaimer).
Currently, our Explorer Scout Unit consists of:
Currently, our Explorer Scout Unit consists of:
- Andrew Wilhem Nigel Marshall
- Elizabeth Gillaaay Concertina Sartori
- Emily Rupertia Alfonz Young
- Me
- Jacktopher Arnold Maria Coleman
- Jessiqua Juan Wendy Kraushaar
- Joshua Irene Callum Roper
- MatThew Icecreamcone Raccoon Weller
- Oliver Nancy Margaret Brossi
- Philip Pippin Gorgeous Collis
- Phoebekins Noel Philanthropist Neal
- Rebecca Jayne (BJ) Tyrannosaurus (BT) Harvey
- Rossington Goatbreaker Toasteroven Staunton III
- Samantha Post Office Theodora Watts
And the Leaders consist of:
- Beardy McBeardson Bedwell
- Special Steve Bicyclist Motorcop Rowsell
- Pete von Petey Pete Pete Slugdance Cracknell
- Lovely Likeable Leedley Leeeeeee
- Diane and Pam, The Logical errr, Man(?)
They are beautiful, and I very love them much. They should all be awarded with awards and shiz for recognition. And we recently got a reverse TARDIS. It says "Blue Box" on it and it's bigger on the outside. We're gonna put mirrors on the ceiling for Becky and Ross...
Monday, 30 April 2012
The Warped Minds of Children
Hello. These last few days I have been holding a competition of "Who can come up with the most inventive thing to do to a traitor?" with the Splorer girls (minus Sammi who doesn't know the person), therefore I have been pondering this. This is the list so far (Any personal details have been omitted, making them a little less funny, but I can't be seen to be offensive or bullying):
- Pull out his insides and stuff him with love and rainbows, making a giant teddy (Phoebe)
- Insert a Bible somewhere... private. (Emily)
- Shove a Crout inside him (confusingly) (Emily)
- Shave him. Then he'd completely malfunction. (Phoebe)
- Stand him up then knock him down. (Phoebe)
- Break him in half (Phoebe)
- Drown him in a barrel of water and ferment him, then he'd be beer (Phoebe)
- Roll him out, cut him out, flavour, bake in the oven at 210 degrees for 20 minutes, then he would be a Ginger Bread. (Phoebe)
- Mush him up and put him in a bakery oven, then he'd be bread (Emily, somewhat uninventively)
- Scrub him into your hair, then he'd be shampoo (Emily)
- Crumble him over apple crumble. (Emily/Miranda)
- Hollow him out and use him as a canoe (Liz)
- Fill him with jelly (Liz)
- Tap him with a wooden mallet (Becky)
- Lock him in a room with me and Liz. Let's watch what happens (Jess, somewhat rudely)
As you can see, it is quite disturbing how strange my wonderful friends are. Add to this the fact that Maria said she liked rearranging faces (we knew she was a good serial killer) and it is quite horrifying how my friends think. I'd better start keeping a closer eye on them, in case they decide to leave me in a hole to die or something. It has been threatened on many an occasion...
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
What Am I?
As you can see, my ponderances this week have been mostly philosophical, on a personal level. I have been trying to decide what I am, based on what I know and what had been said about me in the past.
Well, to start with, I'm a girl, although some people say I'm now a woman (hahaha), and Mr Bean (bless 'im) called me a "lady". But I'll stick to girl. According to one person, I'm "a lovely girl with a special personality", but, as someone else said, I'm a "weirdo". They're probably just two ways of saying the same thing...
I'm a rocker, a student, a tea-totalist (shhh, it's a thing...) and a member of a generation which is in the process of ruining the planet for all those who come after us, whilst trying to clear up the mess left behind by the last lot. I've been labelled an anarchist, a communist and fascist (all in the same conversation, by the same person), but only the first two of these are true.
I'm sober, legal, underage, overage, conscientious, stressed, overworked, underworked, tired and confused. I'm a Scout and a Guide (please don't take offence Martha, I did it alphabetically) and I always will be. Apparently, I'm a "musician", but I have very little sense of rhythm, I'm an alto in most of the choirs, I'm the only girl in the school Soul Band who's not a singer and I'm the only person in the school crazy enough to own a barington (baritone) saxophone.
According to recent surveys - or some other unreliable source - I'm broken-hearted, which I suppose answers the question "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?"; they write stupid blogs nobody except Oliver cares about. I'm used and abused, forgotten, remembered, lead, followed, thanked, ignored, asked and answered, Armenian (but not really, it just sounded good. I like alliteration) and apparently, I'm opinionated, but I think otherwise...
I'm a daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter and a cousin to name but a few. I'm also - hopefully - a friend, I very love you all much, and a provider of Vegan Cake twice a term for my RS Class ( It's you guys).
I'm many other things too; in the depths of the internet somewhere I'm a little teapot, but the less said about that, the better. Seeing as this post is one of the longest yet, we can also assume I'm quite arrogant, but I promise I'm not usually. I'd write a post about my friends, but I'm sure I'd miss someone out, so I'll play it safe and not... None of this really answers the question, but it's a start. If you feel like if (If anyone's reading this) you can comment with stuff that you are and I can agree / disagree as I see fit.
Well, to start with, I'm a girl, although some people say I'm now a woman (hahaha), and Mr Bean (bless 'im) called me a "lady". But I'll stick to girl. According to one person, I'm "a lovely girl with a special personality", but, as someone else said, I'm a "weirdo". They're probably just two ways of saying the same thing...
I'm a rocker, a student, a tea-totalist (shhh, it's a thing...) and a member of a generation which is in the process of ruining the planet for all those who come after us, whilst trying to clear up the mess left behind by the last lot. I've been labelled an anarchist, a communist and fascist (all in the same conversation, by the same person), but only the first two of these are true.
I'm sober, legal, underage, overage, conscientious, stressed, overworked, underworked, tired and confused. I'm a Scout and a Guide (please don't take offence Martha, I did it alphabetically) and I always will be. Apparently, I'm a "musician", but I have very little sense of rhythm, I'm an alto in most of the choirs, I'm the only girl in the school Soul Band who's not a singer and I'm the only person in the school crazy enough to own a barington (baritone) saxophone.
According to recent surveys - or some other unreliable source - I'm broken-hearted, which I suppose answers the question "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?"; they write stupid blogs nobody except Oliver cares about. I'm used and abused, forgotten, remembered, lead, followed, thanked, ignored, asked and answered, Armenian (but not really, it just sounded good. I like alliteration) and apparently, I'm opinionated, but I think otherwise...
I'm a daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter and a cousin to name but a few. I'm also - hopefully - a friend, I very love you all much, and a provider of Vegan Cake twice a term for my RS Class ( It's you guys).
I'm many other things too; in the depths of the internet somewhere I'm a little teapot, but the less said about that, the better. Seeing as this post is one of the longest yet, we can also assume I'm quite arrogant, but I promise I'm not usually. I'd write a post about my friends, but I'm sure I'd miss someone out, so I'll play it safe and not... None of this really answers the question, but it's a start. If you feel like if (If anyone's reading this) you can comment with stuff that you are and I can agree / disagree as I see fit.
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Ice Cream Guy
By popular demand, I have been pondering Ice Cream Guy recently. This was the guy at Butlin's, whose name was Aiden, who was serving ice cream in the restaurant.
On the first night of Jesus Camp, three of us (Lois, Louise and I) went to get pudding together. Being the old fashioned person I am, I had proper pudding, with custard, but Lois and Louise got ice cream. This led to a short, polite conversation with the Ice Cream Guy, in which I also became involved. After we went back to our table, the other girl who went to Jesus Camp with us (Adele), went up to get her ice cream and presently started a conversation with Ice Cream Guy, which she related to us as:
Adele: Did you see my friends just now?
Ice Cream Guy: The three lasses? Yeah, some of them were fit.
A: Which ones?
ICG: The one with the glasses, and the other one.
A: How old are you?
ICG: Seventeen.
A: The girl with the glasses is thirteen.
*awkward pause* Adele walks off.
We then spent a lot of time talking about this and Adele went up for ice cream at least six more times to talk to Aiden. On the last time I went with her, to stop her from doing anything stupid. She then asked Aiden "What about her?", pointing at me, to which he replied "No, I prefer the other one". Thanks. It's not like I'm a PERSON with EARS or anything... (Although, I'm neither surprised nor bothered, I don't like rude people.)
The next day, when we went to get pudding, Aiden was there again. Louise started an argument with him about how inappropriate it was for him to comment on her cousin in such a way. She was standing in what i have come to call the "fight position", legs apart, hands on hips, leaning slightly forward. I, jokingly, said "Lou, it doesn't help your point if you stand like this *copying her*", Aiden replied with "It does if she leans forward".
...
That's not even remotely funny. Plus Louise has a boyfriend. (Hi Craig!!)
Although, Aiden had one redeeming quality. He referred to Adele as "the pain". This made us laugh. A lot. We did have other encounters with aiden, but they weren't as funny, or worth writing about. Oh, except that time he followed us...
On the first night of Jesus Camp, three of us (Lois, Louise and I) went to get pudding together. Being the old fashioned person I am, I had proper pudding, with custard, but Lois and Louise got ice cream. This led to a short, polite conversation with the Ice Cream Guy, in which I also became involved. After we went back to our table, the other girl who went to Jesus Camp with us (Adele), went up to get her ice cream and presently started a conversation with Ice Cream Guy, which she related to us as:
Adele: Did you see my friends just now?
Ice Cream Guy: The three lasses? Yeah, some of them were fit.
A: Which ones?
ICG: The one with the glasses, and the other one.
A: How old are you?
ICG: Seventeen.
A: The girl with the glasses is thirteen.
*awkward pause* Adele walks off.
We then spent a lot of time talking about this and Adele went up for ice cream at least six more times to talk to Aiden. On the last time I went with her, to stop her from doing anything stupid. She then asked Aiden "What about her?", pointing at me, to which he replied "No, I prefer the other one". Thanks. It's not like I'm a PERSON with EARS or anything... (Although, I'm neither surprised nor bothered, I don't like rude people.)
The next day, when we went to get pudding, Aiden was there again. Louise started an argument with him about how inappropriate it was for him to comment on her cousin in such a way. She was standing in what i have come to call the "fight position", legs apart, hands on hips, leaning slightly forward. I, jokingly, said "Lou, it doesn't help your point if you stand like this *copying her*", Aiden replied with "It does if she leans forward".
...
That's not even remotely funny. Plus Louise has a boyfriend. (Hi Craig!!)
Although, Aiden had one redeeming quality. He referred to Adele as "the pain". This made us laugh. A lot. We did have other encounters with aiden, but they weren't as funny, or worth writing about. Oh, except that time he followed us...
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Jesus Camp (Spring Harvest) 2012
My pondering for the last week has pretty much all been about "Jesus Camp", which is what we nicknamed Spring Harvest. For those of you who have never heard of Jesus Camp, it's a gathering of roughly 7000 Christians, all together at Butlin's for one fun filled week. They run four of these throughout the Easter Holidays, three at Minehead and one at Skegness, so I was at the Skegness one, which was EPIC.
I have many things to say about this. Firstly, ONESIE!!!!!!!! This guy was a God. He wore the most AMAZING Onesie on several days of Jesus Camp, which led me to leaning out of our window of our apartment and shouting "Excuse me sir! In the Onesie! You look Excellent!" and my friend Adele yelling "Like a sexy baby grow!!" We thought, as any normal person would, that this would make him incredibly embarrassed and that he'd think we were freaks. But NO! This was Jesus Camp, therefore, we became friends with Onesie (who's actually called Will), who said we had actually helped him convince his friends that the Onesie (which wasn't his) had been a good idea. What a nice man...
Secondly, the amazing feeling that you got from the whole experience; everyone there was Christian (obviously) , which meant that you could talk openly about your faith and ask questions that my parents would complain about me asking at home, such as "What does a religious Experience actually feel like?" It also meant that you could trust everyone; if you left your bag somewhere, you could be pretty certain that it would still be there, complete with contents, when you returned. The other religious aspect of this was personal; I was able to truly find and know God through group prayer and other activities. I'm sorry for those of you who are non-believers, but I have come back from Skegness believing more strongly than ever that, even if the Bible isn't quite right all the time, there has to be a God who loves us and, in some way, created us and this Universe.
As many of you know, I have a thing for tents. Over the last week at Jesus Camp, I have discovered the Tabernacle. It is like the mother of all tents; bigger than a yurt and without the yaks. There are about six chapters of the book of Exodus designated to giving Moses the exact measurements and design for this tent of worship, including what the lamps should be made of and the size of the offertory box.
Finally, there are so many stories of Ice Cream men, Power Balls, Crazy Golf, hats, Ant and Dec and beehives that I can't even begin to tell you. Although I will quickly mention the Free Hugs, with which we somehow managed to raise more than £50 for children in Haiti. this was an excellent scheme and we made everyone feel better for it (especially when I shouted "You sir, you look like a man who likes a cuddle!" at an Emo). For anyone Christian who hasn't yet had this wonderful experience, or for those of you who are curious agnostics, I highly recommend, in fact I almost demand, that you go to Spring Harvest / Jesus Camp next year! It's a beautiful thing :)
I have many things to say about this. Firstly, ONESIE!!!!!!!! This guy was a God. He wore the most AMAZING Onesie on several days of Jesus Camp, which led me to leaning out of our window of our apartment and shouting "Excuse me sir! In the Onesie! You look Excellent!" and my friend Adele yelling "Like a sexy baby grow!!" We thought, as any normal person would, that this would make him incredibly embarrassed and that he'd think we were freaks. But NO! This was Jesus Camp, therefore, we became friends with Onesie (who's actually called Will), who said we had actually helped him convince his friends that the Onesie (which wasn't his) had been a good idea. What a nice man...
Secondly, the amazing feeling that you got from the whole experience; everyone there was Christian (obviously) , which meant that you could talk openly about your faith and ask questions that my parents would complain about me asking at home, such as "What does a religious Experience actually feel like?" It also meant that you could trust everyone; if you left your bag somewhere, you could be pretty certain that it would still be there, complete with contents, when you returned. The other religious aspect of this was personal; I was able to truly find and know God through group prayer and other activities. I'm sorry for those of you who are non-believers, but I have come back from Skegness believing more strongly than ever that, even if the Bible isn't quite right all the time, there has to be a God who loves us and, in some way, created us and this Universe.
As many of you know, I have a thing for tents. Over the last week at Jesus Camp, I have discovered the Tabernacle. It is like the mother of all tents; bigger than a yurt and without the yaks. There are about six chapters of the book of Exodus designated to giving Moses the exact measurements and design for this tent of worship, including what the lamps should be made of and the size of the offertory box.
Finally, there are so many stories of Ice Cream men, Power Balls, Crazy Golf, hats, Ant and Dec and beehives that I can't even begin to tell you. Although I will quickly mention the Free Hugs, with which we somehow managed to raise more than £50 for children in Haiti. this was an excellent scheme and we made everyone feel better for it (especially when I shouted "You sir, you look like a man who likes a cuddle!" at an Emo). For anyone Christian who hasn't yet had this wonderful experience, or for those of you who are curious agnostics, I highly recommend, in fact I almost demand, that you go to Spring Harvest / Jesus Camp next year! It's a beautiful thing :)
Thursday, 5 April 2012
You Tube
Hello again,
Today I have pondered why on Earth do people put videos of themselves doing funny things on You Tube?? I mean, look at these fools for example; they look so stupid...
Why would you do this?
(That's clearly not me shouting "Do it again!" on this one)
It's ridiculous that people would allow themselves to be filmed and have these funny videos put up on the internet for the world to see. I mean, honestly. And clearly I'm not the cameraman and the person who put them up on the internet or anything...
Sorry. This post had nothing to do with anything, but you chose to read it. It's not my fault.
Today I have pondered why on Earth do people put videos of themselves doing funny things on You Tube?? I mean, look at these fools for example; they look so stupid...
Why would you do this?
(That's clearly not me shouting "Do it again!" on this one)
It's ridiculous that people would allow themselves to be filmed and have these funny videos put up on the internet for the world to see. I mean, honestly. And clearly I'm not the cameraman and the person who put them up on the internet or anything...
Sorry. This post had nothing to do with anything, but you chose to read it. It's not my fault.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Hiking
Welcome Back,
Today I got bored of revising and I have reverted to pondering Hiking. Seriously, it's fun, but is there really a point to it? Yesterday I arranged a hike, just because I could, starting and ending at the Scout Hut. We walked, erm, not very far. When we stopped for lunch at... somewhere, I got the map out to discuss the next part of the route. The response from one member of the group surprised me. She said "which way is quickest?", a fair enough question had we been hiking somewhere for a reason, but seeing as how we were hiking in a circle because we wanted to it seemed a totally pointless comment. We ended up walking a completely pointless route, which turned out to be shorter than we thought anyway.
And I know walking (especially whilst laughing that hard) is really healthy and all that, but seriously, we ate so many sweets it must've cancelled out anyway. So basically, what we did is walk in a circle and hide in some guy's rape seed for no real reason, apart from to chat and because Cuffley, Northaw (and the M25) is such a beautiful place...
Although we did have some fun: Sammi broke the countryside by leaning on it; Jack hid in a river while Jess jumped over him; Emily... Well, Emily was just Emily. Then it rained, and we hid under a tree. That was quite fun, until it started hailing. Oh yeah, and we stood on a bridge over the M25 and waved at the traffic; several lorry driver beeped at us. I felt so loved :') So perhaps I've answered my own question here somewhat; maybe we do just hike for the hell of it. Like camping - there's no real reason for camping but we still do it, because it's fun. And we get to set stuff on fire. And buy copies of "Practical Pigs". And laugh at each other.
So, to continue the laughing-at-each-other-ness, here is a picture of Jess the Ninja Monkey.
Today I got bored of revising and I have reverted to pondering Hiking. Seriously, it's fun, but is there really a point to it? Yesterday I arranged a hike, just because I could, starting and ending at the Scout Hut. We walked, erm, not very far. When we stopped for lunch at... somewhere, I got the map out to discuss the next part of the route. The response from one member of the group surprised me. She said "which way is quickest?", a fair enough question had we been hiking somewhere for a reason, but seeing as how we were hiking in a circle because we wanted to it seemed a totally pointless comment. We ended up walking a completely pointless route, which turned out to be shorter than we thought anyway.
And I know walking (especially whilst laughing that hard) is really healthy and all that, but seriously, we ate so many sweets it must've cancelled out anyway. So basically, what we did is walk in a circle and hide in some guy's rape seed for no real reason, apart from to chat and because Cuffley, Northaw (and the M25) is such a beautiful place...
Although we did have some fun: Sammi broke the countryside by leaning on it; Jack hid in a river while Jess jumped over him; Emily... Well, Emily was just Emily. Then it rained, and we hid under a tree. That was quite fun, until it started hailing. Oh yeah, and we stood on a bridge over the M25 and waved at the traffic; several lorry driver beeped at us. I felt so loved :') So perhaps I've answered my own question here somewhat; maybe we do just hike for the hell of it. Like camping - there's no real reason for camping but we still do it, because it's fun. And we get to set stuff on fire. And buy copies of "Practical Pigs". And laugh at each other.
So, to continue the laughing-at-each-other-ness, here is a picture of Jess the Ninja Monkey.
Monday, 2 April 2012
Yurts
Hello again,
Today I have been pondering yurts. For those of you who are clearly undereducated, a yurt is a massive tent, a bit like a teepee, with a bendy Woden frame and a canvas. They're really big, bigger than my bedroom (although that isn't hard) and you can live in them all year round. Which is good. If you can get a stove or a heater, they're really cozy in the winter. So, if you're a student who still lives with their parents like the cool person you are, you can just erect (laugh if you must) a "bitching' yurt" (as John Niven calls it) in their garden and just live in it and play music and stuff. I think we should get one for Explorers, which is going to be my new project; Project Yurt.
There is, however, one problem with Project Yurt; to get a yurt big enough to fit an entire Scout Troop would be about £5000 ish. Fortunately, I am only looking to buy an 18 foot yurt, which will hopefully sleep fifteen people in sleeping bags with kit (still waiting for confirmation). Hopefully. I think we might have a problem with the funding, it'll be a lot of jumble sales.
At this point, I was going to get some other people (my parents) to give me opinions on the everyday use of the yurt. However, they've told me, in no uncertain terms, that there are more important things to do with my time than write about the everyday uses of the yurt. And that they, as everyday people, have more everyday tasks to do (such as making sure all the Lego's there before selling it) than tell me what they think about the everyday use of the yurt. I feel disappointed and betrayed.
So yeah, I want to launch Project Yurt. It'll be really good if we can at least a time share of a yurt, if not a whole one. That's another point. If anyone wants to share a yurt on a six months either side basis, please message me, it'll be awesome. It might be easier if you live in England, or the UK, but if you're somewhere else internationally, that could be really cool too; we could do joint international yurt camps and make some twin towns to go yurting with. It could be epic.
Thanks for listening, now go do some yurt research! :) You know you want to...
Today I have been pondering yurts. For those of you who are clearly undereducated, a yurt is a massive tent, a bit like a teepee, with a bendy Woden frame and a canvas. They're really big, bigger than my bedroom (although that isn't hard) and you can live in them all year round. Which is good. If you can get a stove or a heater, they're really cozy in the winter. So, if you're a student who still lives with their parents like the cool person you are, you can just erect (laugh if you must) a "bitching' yurt" (as John Niven calls it) in their garden and just live in it and play music and stuff. I think we should get one for Explorers, which is going to be my new project; Project Yurt.
There is, however, one problem with Project Yurt; to get a yurt big enough to fit an entire Scout Troop would be about £5000 ish. Fortunately, I am only looking to buy an 18 foot yurt, which will hopefully sleep fifteen people in sleeping bags with kit (still waiting for confirmation). Hopefully. I think we might have a problem with the funding, it'll be a lot of jumble sales.
At this point, I was going to get some other people (my parents) to give me opinions on the everyday use of the yurt. However, they've told me, in no uncertain terms, that there are more important things to do with my time than write about the everyday uses of the yurt. And that they, as everyday people, have more everyday tasks to do (such as making sure all the Lego's there before selling it) than tell me what they think about the everyday use of the yurt. I feel disappointed and betrayed.
So yeah, I want to launch Project Yurt. It'll be really good if we can at least a time share of a yurt, if not a whole one. That's another point. If anyone wants to share a yurt on a six months either side basis, please message me, it'll be awesome. It might be easier if you live in England, or the UK, but if you're somewhere else internationally, that could be really cool too; we could do joint international yurt camps and make some twin towns to go yurting with. It could be epic.
Thanks for listening, now go do some yurt research! :) You know you want to...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)