Save Tonight, Tomorrow I'll Be Gone

Ha ha yes those are Eagle Eye Cherry lyrics! All I will be doing tonight though is sleeping. The packing was a MAJOR challenge. Packing for six months in two totally different climates. I've been explaining the Global Xchange programme to anyone who will listen but I realised today that I haven't explained it here. So for anyone who's interested here we go...

Global Xchange's mission statement is -
"Global Xchange aims to support the development of active global citizens,
committed to working for positive change within communities."

But that doesn't tell you all that much.

Global Xchange is a youth exchange and volunteering programme. You take 18 young people aged 18-25. Nine from the UK and nine from the exchange country (GX works with a number of exchange countries across, Asia, Africa and the Middle East). The volunteers spend three months in the UK and three months in the exchange country. During this time the volunteers live in a cross-cultural pair (that is one UK volunteer and one from the exchange conutry) in host home (a family in the local community that opens up their home to two complete strangers!). Four days a week the volunteers work for a local charity project in a different counterpart pair (so you don't get competely sick of one person). Once a week the whole team takes part in Global Citizenship Days. These are an opportunity the team to engage in active learning about community development issues in the UK and in the exchange country. Each week the sessions are run by different home counterpart pairs. The topics covered should link to the Global Citizenship Framework (GX's learning framework). In the past GCDs have ranged from Fair Trade, Education, Climate Change, to Debt. During the programme the team will also come together to do larger-scale community projects to involve other people called Community Action Days. Some teams do one or two large scale CADs per phase, while others will do smaller ones on a more regular basis. Past examples have included cultural and global education days for local schools, community cleanups, Development Awareness Days, or fundraising with a local charity. Throughout the exchange the team is looked after by two programme supervisiors. Again one from the UK and one from the exchange country. In return for your time and commitment GX pay for your training, visas, travel, medical checks, injections, accommodation, food provide you with a small allowance. They only ask volunteers to fundraisee £600 towards the cost (a target I've reached by the way!).

So that is what I'm up to for the next six months! You can see why it takes a while to explain to people and thats without mentioning the Introductory Training Course, the Pre-Programme Course, the In Country Orientation, Mid-Phase Review, Debrief and Returned Volunteers Weekend!

If Global Xchange sounds like something you would be interested in please check out the website
http://www.vso.org.uk/globalxchange

p.s. I've also added a few more Myspace blogs and my facebook notes. I could leave them where they are but I like everything in the same place. I'm anal like that! I was going to post links but it seemed like alot of work. If you're interested you will have to search through the archives.

MySpace Archive - Shopping Sprees and Window Sills

Okay so I had a little shopping spree...

Shoes; slippers; (fake) leather jacket; tights; necklace; material, buttons, ribbon and elastic for sewing; waist belt; hiar clips and... black skinny jeans!

This is actually quite good for me. I wouldn't let myself have several things I wanted (including a gorgeous pair of black patent ankle boots in Next) until I get a job, and therefore some actual money!

And don't think that I spent ALL my money on silly expensive, will go out of fashion in 10 minutes, new clothes, no... (only most of it)

I got an oversized black and white top from the British Heart Foundation which I plan to shove a waist belt around and wear as a dress. It works pretty well until I lift my arms up, but has a hole in the side which I'm planning on fixing any day now. I have two other dresses that I got cheap in the sales because of faults that I'm going to fix, pictures when I get round to it. I also got these shoes -

For £3.50! I hardly ever find my size in charity shops probably because most of the stuff is donated by old ladys who have smaller feet than me.

I cut out a pattern for a new dress yesterday so sewing will resume shortly, if I don't get a job soon or anything silly like that! In the mean time for no reason in particular (except that now I know how to add pictures I can't stop) here are some pictures of a few of my favourite things, most of which live on my window sill.

Wooden roses, or flowers that never die.

Hematite, This gem stone is supposed to represent war and make warriors invincible, also meant to promote calm, confidence, strength, concentration and other crap like that. I just think it is pretty.

Poison bottle, found when digging up our old backgarden.

Music box, plays a song from Phantom of the Oprea.

Sad man figure.

My rather expensive but very pretty wallpaper.

And finally... my new shoes! and no don't be stupid, of course they aren't comfortable!

MySpace Archive - Skinny Jeans and Other Unflattering Things

While you will never catch me denying I'm interested in fashion, I'm rarely found rushing out to purchase the lastest trend. However I NEED a pair of black skinny jeans as they will probably, absolutely go with EVERYTHING in my wardrobe!

I'm also loving the harlequin/masquerade look. But I think I can save myself some pennies and create something with the sewing machine. It won't be nearly as elaborate of course.

Fail! Can't remember where this image is from but it's not mine. Sorry!

Image from TopShop

Moreover I love this dress from Topshop and am having a hard time accepting that it will NOT flatter my thighs!

Image from TopShop

MySpace Archive - Knitting

Had to spend some time at my grandmothers. There not being much to do in old people's houses I decided to try my hand at knitting. I was hoping I'd pick up the skills to make my self one of those big chunky scarfs in a bright colour to cheer up grey winter days. This is my third attempt after the first two fell off the needles and unravelled. I managed about 4 rows before my hands started cramping up.



I think I'll stick to sewing for now!

Myspace Archive - On Why Myspace Amuses Me Or Why My Profile Isn't Private But Probably Should Be

Before we start I'd like to say that I like MySpace, I also like facebook. I don't have a favourite. I don't believe that everyone is so disillusioned with the 'new' facebook that they are all going to switch MySpace. I changed to the new facebook layout a few months ago, I'm used to it. I can't remember what the old layout was like. I predict that soon the majority of other facebook users will go the same way. They may both be social network sites but they are in my opinion very different. MySpace is creative, individual and not terribly user friendly, facebook has more of my friends, easier for stalking people (come on you've all done it) but also generic, changes it's layout too often (just because I'm used to it doesn't mean I want it changing all the time), and has that irritating option to invite friends to groups (if I hate the new layout/care about puppies/whales/orphans/whatever I'll find the group myself okay?). Anyway point is they are different, I like change. I use both. Incidentally I'm not too sure why I choose to keep my blog on MySpace rather than facebook, maybe because facebook only has 'notes' rather than a specific blog function? Perhaps because a blog is pretty personal and MySpace is more personalised? I reckon it's because I didn't like the way a new note is advertised to all my 'friends' some of which I admit I have met once or twice but I'm too lazy to delete/don't want to look less popular. I know MySpace now has a newsfeed type function in 'friend updates' but can't be bothered to change anything now.

Anyhow this blog has gone rather off topic. What I wanted to highlight was the different social rules (for want of a better phrase) that govern interactions in the two social networks. Now it is very rarely that I get friend requests or messages from people I don't know on facebook, it's happened two or three times at the most. However on MySpace this occurs almost daily (an not just from bands or whatever, that I get), especially when I've been active maybe there is some kinda search function for people that are online/have been recently, or maybe my face comes up on the home page or whatever. I never reply to these people, though I admit to being tempted once or twice. Problem is, as much as I would like to share my oh so fascinating life with interested strangers, there is no way of telling if people are who they say they are, and being a naturally suspicious person I generally assume they are not. This is probably for the best. I suspect that some months ago a certain ex tried to get me to add them as a friend in order to read this very blog by posing as an attractive young male and/or girl.

N.B. anyone who asks if you have a webcam is not, in my opinion, a desirable friend.

Here are some of my favourite messages I've received from apparent strangers –

'good to see there is another norfolker at essex.'

My first message. At least this guy actually had an in, and, god I've just realised I actually know him though I didn't when I received this. Might actually message him 2 and a half years later.

'oh my got your pics are very good you are very beautiful i like u i want to recognize with you i want to speak friendly pls can you give me your hotmail adress or yahoo pls'

Intrigued to know what recognizing with me would involve…

'i am a boy from ghana who is interested in making friends acroos the world. so in my serch for friends in this site i went through your profile and i was catch up to pick you as my penpal friend. i hope you will be a loving friend to no. i also hope my request will meet your kindest and earliest consideration, till i hear from you take care and have a nice day'

Could have let down a genuine nice boy, could've been some kinda scam where they start asking for my bank details.

'.. so if someone came along and gave u £10,000 just like that, out of the blue ud not be happy .. and then 2 weeks later u won the lottery in excess of £1 mil it'd not make u happy for a long lng time ? lol ...'

This guy clearly didn't understand the amusing quote on my profile, considered explaining it to him, couldn't be bothered.

'hi
you are very sexy
i have cam and msn and you?'

From a girl, apparently…

'I bet you make an amazing lover!!! ?'

Well, thanks a lot, I do. Not that you will ever find out.

'Miss C,
Because you're so damn pretty, and because I'm sleepless, I've a quick but ridiculously cheeky question! Read on..

Shy people get nothing in this world..and if u don't ask u don't get. So would it be such a crime to ask for ur mobile number so that I text you a tad later and perhaps ask you for a damn good pic message of ur top totty self?? I could just twiddle my thumbs to sleep..but that'd just give me arthritis :(

Please don't be offended! I'm being totally inappropriate I know..but spontaneity is the spice of life..right? Make an exception for me.. PS - and I would like to get to know u, despite the message!'

My personal favourite, points for inventiveness/honesty.

There are two possible conclusions to draw from this.

One, there are a lot of strange/lonely/upfront people in the world.

Two, my profile is giving out a message I didn't intend it to.

If it's number two I would appreciate a shout telling me so, what with the job hunt in progress and all that.

xx

MySpace Archive - Photos and Sewing

I know I'm about 5 years behind everyone else on this but I finally bothered to find out how to add pictures to this blog, so here is some pictures of my sewing that I tried to add ages ago.

These are the first two dresses I made both from old curtains using a hand drawn pattern from the book 'Yeah! I made it myself'. I have since realised how unflattering they were and they are in the bin/spare fabric bag (I can't remember which). Nevertheless they weren't a bad start, I even wore the lilac one out of the house! I've cut my head of in these pictures so as not to distract from the brilliance of the clothes (and because I was looking bloody awful).

Next I made these two skirts using a pattern from Burda. The pink one has an elastic waistband, which isn't too flattering but it looks fine under a top. I have since cut the black netting to make it much shorter and I wore the skirt out one night. The netting is really itchy though. I really loved the fabric of the greenish skirt (it was also an old pair of curtains) but once made it didn't seem to suit me or go with anything else I had, so it too never made it into my wardrobe, which I kinda regret now.

Two more dresses I made without patterns, they are simply two trapezoids sewn together, with elastic sewn in round the top and a ribbon round the waist, volia! Have worn both out and about.

Another dress I tried to make without a pattern, really not a good idea unless there is elastic and ribbons/hefty waist belts involved to give some shape. Debated wearing this one day, then chickened out, which was probably for the best.

A top I made from nothing more than an old scarf from a charity shop and a few bits of ribbon. Doesn't look all that impressive in the photos, but it must be halfway decent as I wore it out too.

Dress made from a Burda pattern and that same curtain material (we had a lot of spare curtains okay). It used to have pockets but looked like a cleaning lady's uniform so I removed them. Haven't actually worn this due to lack of the sunny spring days I feel it deserves.

Skirt made from that same Burda pattern. Wore it out to a school disco.

My best piece yet, made from the Burda pattern again. I wore this out on my 21st birthday where I insisted on telling most people I met that I'd made it and got rather drunk, hence why I'm not adding a photo of me wearing it that night.

Some other random bits and bobs I've made.

Myspace Archive - Feeling Better

But I'm not over this stupid illness yet, I'm okay from about 10pm to 10am but in the hours inbetween I'm permanently blocked up with ones of those awful headaches you get from blocked sinuses, it is no fun and tres strange.

In other news, I actually applied for a job, shock horror! I must be crazy though, I'll let you know why if I get it.

And finially despite everyone saying they like my hair short I'm thinking about growing it long again and losing the fringe, mostly so I can leave it curly and not have to bother with the straighteners so much. Kinda like how it used to be.

MySpace Archive - Bored

Being currently unemployed and too ill to bother to look for employment at present I've been spending alot of time browsing the internet.

This amused me...

'Cider drinker, adult - from Norfolk.'

simply for its accurate description of yours truely.

MySpace Archive - Time to Show Off

Not going to repost my entire academic transcript here as I was being a massive show off. However I did work very hard and do very well myself, getting a first class honours degree! Woo for me!

MySpace Archive - The Lamest Government Secret Ever

Dubbed the ’lamest government secret ever’, by Barbara Ellen in The Observer, the "John Lewis" list, for those of you that don’t know, is the revelation that MPs are allowed to claim up to £23,000 of public money to furnish their second homes in London. It is called the John Lewis list because the allowances on what is a reasonable claim are based on the prices from that retailer. The list had been kept a secret, from both public and MPs, amid fears that they would always claim the maximum if they knew what it was, was published in response to a request under the freedom of information act.

This statement by Ellen just made me giggle, sad politics student that I am; ’This has to be the lamest government secret ever – "You are allowed £200 for a nest of tables." Watergate eat your heart out.’

MySpace Archive - Musical Reflections via Tescos

Listening to my generic MP3 player on the way to Tescos today I reflected on how depressing the majority of my music collection seems to be. But I don’t think it’s just my taste in music, I think the majority of songs are quite sad. Perhaps its easier to sing about heartache and such than happy things. I’m not saying that there aren’t any happy songs, of course they are, but I think they are in the miniority. Then of course there are songs that are a bit more ambiguious, and the ones that are just about sex (there’s quite a few of those).

Let’s do a quick test, open media player and let it select 10 songs at random, we’ll see what we get. Of course this will be biased by my music collection, but its pretty big and varied, and you can always do it yourselves.

1) Coldplay - Square One
Well its coldplay for a start and it contains the lyrics
’Is there anybody out there who is lost and hurt and lonely too But they’re bleeding all your colours into one And if you come undone as if you’d been run through Some catapult it fired you You wonder if your chance will ever come And if you’re stuck in square one’
Pretty depressing me thinks

2) Hell is for Heroes - Out of Sight
Starts with a man shouting the lyrics ’once more I get burned’, enough said

3) Lostprophets - Kobrakai
Lots of shouting about someone who has stabbed them in the back and thinks everything revolves around them, not a happy song.

4) Richard Cheese - Rock the casbah
First happy sounding song, about well... rocking the casbah, the shareef don’t like it though

5) Roy Orbison - Crying
It’s all in the title

6) Counting Crows - Rain King
Doesn’t necessarily sound depressing at the start, but this voice of this singer, as much as I like it, in my opinion manages to makes just about any song sound sad, then you here the lyrics
’I think of dyingLay me down in a field of flame and heather’

7) Editors - Bullets
Another man with a depressing sounding voice
’You don’t need this disease, Not right now’

8) Faithless - Muhammad Ali
More happy than sad, but its not exactly upbeat

9) Incubus - I Miss You
Depends on your perspective for this one, but especially sad for me

10) Lasgo - Alone
A dance song, pretty upbeat but still it’s about a girl leaving some man.

So what’s our total?
8 out of 10 songs from my collection were depressing, I think thats pretty conclusive evidence!

Myspace Archive - Awake

Well I'm awake and I don't know what to do with myself. I could start writing 3 of 4, I could try and get some sleep, but I've been doing that for the last 2 hours with no success. This is all going to come back to haunt me tomorrow when I'll need a nap. I think I might search 4OD and BBCiplayer for something to watch.

laterz x

Myspace Archive - Essay 2 of 4 (Part 2)

Finally finished!

I agree with Kate, despite what people think university is actually pretty hard. You never get a break (expect summer I guess), with a job you can just take few days off, you can't do that here, unless you want to miss an essay deadline or miss lecture that could come up in the exams and get behind on the reading. This easter I have 2 essays to write and about 6 weeks of reading to catch up with. No holiday there then.

Tomorrow I must make a good start of essay 3 of 4

MySpace Archive - Essay 2 of 4

I am behind schedule and over the word limit. Also someone ate my ham. Life Sucks!

MySpace Archive - Get Naked

Do you like the attention grapping title?

It’s time for one of those late night blogs, when I really should just go to sleep, but see something I connect with and need to highlight it. Having just completed the first of 4 essays I decided to wind down with some late night viewing. A programme 'Dawn gets Naked' caught my attention on the BBCi player, think it’s being repeated several times if you’re interested…

I’m not saying that I’m ready to strip off naked and drive around London on a bus (you have to watch it), but it caught my attention. I think I’m lucky in that I’ve never been particularly self-conscious about my body, yes there are bits I don’t like, in fact I could give you a list. But I’ve never been scared about running around the beach in a bikini or wearing skimpy summer clothes, I don’t feel the need to get a fake tan and spend months on a gruelling diet and exercise regime to get the 'beach body', which you know you’ll only give up after a week and just buy one of those swim suits that holds your stomach in. One bit of the program that really struck was a part on the air brushing of photos. I read a book once, think it was called ’On Beauty’, it was crap mostly but I remember one bit stuck out. One of the main characters, the mother, was portrayed as beautiful, overweight but beautiful, she had tried to protect her daughter by not allowing magazines in the house, but that it had seeped in anyway, through the crack in the door, under the floor and through the skin and had made her daughter hate her body. We all know that photos in magazines are air brushed but we aspire to them anyway, we might think we look good, but then you only need to pick up a magazine to think 'but I’ll never look like that'. Thing is the models don’t look like that either. I hardly buy magazines anymore, mostly because they made me want clothes I couldn’t afford, but now I have another reason, almost every photo in every magazine has been touched up. It makes us aspire to something that isn’t real. Why do we do this to ourselves? Okay just thought, total hypocrite, my profile picture is one that I edited, made it lighter to make my skin look better – changing it.

We’ve probably all seen this video of the Dove advert before, but I think it makes my point better than I do

MySpace Archive - One Little Lesson

I do not understand why men are not taught this little lesson when they reach puberty, or why they fail to learn from experience.

Firstly in my humble opinion dancing hopefully behind a girl in a club is not an ideal why to pull. I admit it can sometimes work but I would like to point out the occasions on which a man should count his loses and give up. If he has been dancing behind the girl for over two minutes or if she has looked him over more than once and is still not dancing with him or even given him a smile it is time for the man to give up or swap tactics. True she may just be shy, but still it should be acknowledged that continuation of the same tacit is not going to work and only make people both feel uncomfortable. If the girl leans over to one of her friends and starts laughing, or switches places, the man is definitely on to a loser and should leave immediately.

I deleted the second half of this post in which I bitched about people kissing in clubs as it now makes me look like a hypocrite.

MySpace Archive - Class on the Break Up of Czechoslovakia

'It was as if Meciar pounded at Klaus's door without really wanting to break it down; to Meciar's surprise, Klaus opened the door, and Meciar fell in'.
Given the naming of the break up Czechoslovakia (or the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic as it was officially known after 1989) as 'the velvet divorce' I found it amusing to view the whole thing in terms of a marriage. Meciar is like the depressed wife who gets upset during an argument and threatens divorce, after short consideration Klaus (the husband) decides this is a good idea, she is only taking his hard earned money and once free of her he will be able to pursue his policy of economic reform as fast as he likes without the wife constantly nagging about the effect it has on her. The wife calms down, realises her mistake and does her best to make him reconsider, but his mind is made up. She is then left alone in the world without his financial aid. A poll of their large number of children shows they see the divorce as inevitable, but their parents staying together would be their first preference.
Yep, I'm a geek!

MySpace Archive - Buses

I love buses. Not the mainstream virtual monopoly 'First' bus service, but the less well know 'Cedric's' buses. Their buses are old and battered, with peeling paint work, and on one or two a strong smell of fuel makes you feel slightly light headed if you sit at the back. They really are a joy. I should like to invent the term 'community buses' to describe them (this term has probably already been invented by someone else, and I claim no rights to it). These are buses where the drivers are friendly and make jokes; that acknowledge you when you say thank you as you get off. These are the buses that will stop at the unofficial bus stop outside the riding sables, they will even stop for random people that stick their hand out at the side of the road, perhaps having not quite made it to the stop in time (unlike first buses who will simply drive pass, sometimes even at official bus stops). Despite having time tables that are impossible to decipher, once you work out when they come they are surprisingly reliable (you can always rely on first buses to be late, sometimes not to turn up at all, and not to reply to angry e-mails relating to the above criticisms). Most importantly of all, they are cheap. £2.50 for a return from my campus to the riding stables (£1.50 if you get the driver who doesn't know the prices) compared to £3.70, I believe, for a single on a first bus.

MySpace Archive - OMRLP

Despite having only read one of the required election manifestos for my essay, I have cheered myself up immensely by finding one that did not bore my socks off...

The Official Monster Raving Looney Party 2005 Manicfesto

Some examples of their policies include -

'Meals will be served on plates not on wheels'
'We will replace the House of Lords with the House of Cards, to make it easier for the Government to deal with'
'Anyone caught breaking the law will be made to mend it'

Vote for insanity, you know it makes sense!

MySpace Archive - Manifestos

Election manifestos are boring! So far I've only managed to read Tony Blair's three page drivel at the start of the 2001 manifesto, which may explain the opinion I have currently formed; election manifestos are mostly meaningless rhetoric which gives little to no indication of what a government will actually do once in power. Unfortunately I can not as yet find a place for this opinion in my essay.