I was the girl sitting in front of you wearing the black coat. You were the girl sitting behind me in the atrocious yellow jumper, purple skirt and black tight combination, complaining like an ungrateful bitch to the long suffering friend on the other end of your phone call,  that “like my mom and Dad have only got me a laptop for christmas yeah, and I like sooo wanted a laptop last year but not now!!” and coughing every two minutes without a thought of placing at the very least your hand in front of you hole you were hacking out of.

Thank you,

Thank you for coughing down the back of my neck and sharing your germs. I really loved waking this morning with the start of a cough of my very own and a heavy head, It was so much fun to know that this festive season people were so into the whole sharing thing they’ve extended it to strangers on buses even if it wasn’t required or even really wanted.

I’m going to really enjoy spending the first Christmas in 5 years I’ll actually be at home with my son instead of stuck in work, feeling like shit, wrapped up with an hot water bottle and having to watch the festivities go on around me as the flu you shared has sapped me of all energy. Thanks a whole lot!

To anyone who knows this caring sharing person, The one with an annoying habit of holding conversations at the phone at the top of her voice over the phone whie on the bus, please pass on my gratitude, and if you know her parents may I suggest that you go and offer them an alternative to the laptop they were going to buy for her that she blatently isn’t bothered baout getting …

…ask them to buy her some fucking tissues!!

Each blogger has been given $6000 (£4022) worth of HP equipment and they get to give it away to whomever they choose, and they get to set their own rules!

I first read about it over on Moosh in Indy who’s only stipulation to enter is “you have to share” and have since then been thinking what would I do with it? What would I do with all that “stuff”?Could I be selfless enough to give it all away, keeping nothing for myself?

As much as I’d like to think I could in this particular instance I know I couldn’t, I mean, Hey, how could I give the HP Photosmart C6380 All-in-One printer away after I’ve been coveting a new photo printer for months and then of course the HP 564 Photo Value Pack would have to stay with it.

Naturally I’d have to have something to process all those lovely photos on as my my desktop just about crashes every time I turn it on hanging 9 times out of 10 on the start up screen until I hit restart and begin all over again. Once it’s switched on it screams blue murder if I open anything intensive i.e photoshop and if I try to do something clever like, oh I dont know check my email and open a word document at the same time the computer says no and the whole thing freezes, so that’s why I’d keep this for myself too. The HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC.

But then what would I do with the rest of the booty? The HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC, The • HP MediaSmart Connect, and the HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live) oh and not forgetting the HP Mini 1000 (with XP) all loaded with either Windows Vista or XP depending on their spec.

Who would be deserving of it? Who would make the most of it? Was there anyone person that would benefit more than anyone else? Could I get away with keeping it all myself (only kidding as tempting as it may be).

I work for a non for profit organisation, could they make use of it?

I used to work for a Youth Club could they use?

My family and friends would they want it?

Of course they all would but none of these people NEEDED it. Work has, as hard as it is to come by sometimes, funding from different arts councils and organisations for IT equipment relevant to the different projects we run. The youth club has a computer suite for the young people to use, they may WANT upgrades but they don’t NEED them. Then my family and friends who I’m sure would all love me if I started handing out computers like Santa does presents at Christmas don’t really need them either, they’ve all in some capacity have computers which are fit for purpose.

So I thought further, what would do if I received all that beautiful booty? I couldn’t decide and as the spirit of the giveaway was to share i thought about not entering.

Then I remembered, It IS nearly Christmas and the season of goodwill to all men and lets face it is all about the children. What if I could help children who really deserved the help and put a smile on someone face, someone who is facing hard times that I can only imagine as an adult, let alone face them as a child. And then I realised the answer was with me all along….

Promise Dreams, This local charity launched in 2001. They “raise money for children who are seriously or terminally ill and provide treatment, help and support for both them and their families. Whether the child would like a holiday, a toy, medical treatment or equipment, or even the chance to meet their favourite celebrity, Promise Dreams is dedicated and committed to help.”

The charity is run by 4 people in an office in Wolverhampton town centre and rely soley on fund raising and donations to help make these children’s worlds a nicer place. They hold events in the building I work in, so I have seen how much work they do and one of my friends sisters received a new motorized wheelchair through them so I’ve seen first hand what a difference it makes to the people they help.

Thats who the rest of the booty could go to, Someone I think truly deserving.

So now I’m cutting it fine, I have no idea when the deadline is in relation to where I am in the world, I just know its in the next day or two so I’m rushing to finish this post and get it in one time. Maybe It’ll be me that’s picked, maybe it wont but at least I tried!!

]]> http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2008/12/08/make-a-promise-deliver-a-dream/feed/ http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2008/12/04/tis-the-season-to-become-obsessive-compulsive/ http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/2008/12/04/tis-the-season-to-become-obsessive-compulsive/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:54:18 +0000 Steph http://www.weirdbutinagoodway.co.uk/blog/?p=194 Christmas is once again upon us and amid the annual rush to the shops and the seasonal sense of having to enjoy yourself, a madness creeps upon me that I am desperately seeking a cure.

Mid Novenber right through til mid December I become the worlds WORST obsessive compulsive. Christmas without fail brings out the perfectionist in me!

The tree has to go up at the first available opportunity in December - allowing for TBK feelings about having the tree up on his birthday which differs from year to year. Then the decorations HAVE to go on in order, lights first, then ribbons, pine cones, plain baubles, glitter baubles, and finally depending how I’m feeling either the star or the angel is sat on the top. We have one of each as I couldn’t make up my mind which I preferred so now every year I agonise over which one should go up as once the decision is made it has to stay that way! Everything has its “proper” place and I have redecorated whole trees if they don’t look just right.

James and TBK have learned not to be offended if they put something on the tree to later find it’s moved, after all there has to be and equal spread of decorations and colours or it wouldn’t look right! Right? At the same time as doing this I’ll also decorate the matching swag which sits on my fire surround in place of the family photographs which sit there for the rest of the year and all my candles etc get removed and replaced with nativity scenes, sana claus figurines and snowmen because Christmas supersedes EVERYTHING including family photos!

I wish it ended there but it gets worse…

I am relentless in my pursuit of the “perfect presents”, I beat myself up about them searching endlessly for just the right thing for each person. I make repeatative lists of WHO to buy for, then other lists of WHAT I should buy. Then once a purchase has been made I spend hours deliberating whether I’ve made the right choice and “will they like it?”.  It takes James ages to talk me round but then once he’s finally convinced me that the gifts are fine and nobody really cares what they’ve receive, they have to be wrapped….

…For this I save a special kind of neurosis…

…All my presents have to be wrapped to a colour scheme - complimentary to, but different from that of my tree (which is gold and ivory) and it’s one scheme for the adults presents and one for the childrens but everything gets wrapped with matching ribbons and tags and if they aren’t wrapped just so they WILL be unwrapped to start all over again!!

Once finished they go under my tree and have to stay there unless I move them to put other presents people bring around behind them that don’t match my colour scheme!

My wrapping compulsion is such that two Christmases ago my manager at the time bought me all her Christmas gifts from home to wrap in work and it has been known for my sister to deliver her entire christmas booty to my house complete with wrapping paper and sticky tape to wrap all her presents for her as “You’ll do a much better job than me”.

I’m such loser!

This Christmas I’m striving to be more relaxed and well, less anal about the whole thing.

The christmas tree still went up the first chance I got (last night) but get this I let James choose whether the star or the angel went on the top, I let him hang some of the baulbles AND I’ve left them where he put them(Kind of). I made a conscience desicion to buy wrapping paper so the adults and kids do NOT match and I haven’t finished putting all the decorations up, even though in previous years I’ve insisted i all go up in one night!

Now if you’ll excuse me as I have to go sit on my hands to stop me returning the lights I bought for the window that are just the wrong shade of white, adjusting those two red baubles which are much to close together (one should really be in the miiddle of those gold ones to distribute the colours) and moving Santa to the other side of teh fireplace beacase he just looks so much better there….

Since getting home Steve has had a birthday which resulted in a good night out, Sigur Ros played at the hall - which resulted in a good night out, Halloween happened, which resulted in a good night in, Bonfire Night happened, which resulted in a good night in somebody else’s house. Work has been hectic and home has been more so…

But I’ve still found time to have fun with TBk

It was the Flip Animation Festival last weekend and one of eh workshops at the art gallery resulted in this, our first attempt at stop motion animation

15 mins work for a rather rough 9 second clip - but we’re proud of it!!

Stop Motion Animation by The Blonde Kid from James D Clarke on Vimeo.

It has opened doors that criminals have been hiding behind. It has opened boxes where treasures are held. It has been the ignition key for a space rocket, a motor bike and a racing car and it has been used to lock up things only the imaination of an eight year old could think of and, it’s been used to release captives of things only eight year olds can think of.

Sunday morning on our way to Artsfest sitting on the train the key was produced from his uber cool R2D2 bag and it became a mystic key - it unlocked peoples head so TBK could see inside. He opened mine and I asked him what he could see.

“You have two doors mom, one with a heart on it and a big metal one”

“Oh whats behind them?”

“Well the metal one has a long corridor to another big door with a lock on it and behind that is all the things you don’t like, like teenagers and other things that annoy you and the heart has me and James and all our family inside.”

I thought about this for a minute then asked.

“So whats in James’ head then?” expecting teh same answer as the logic was sound 2 doors = 2 opposite emotions

“He has three doors but two of his has hearts on”

This confused me.

“Why does James have three?”

“Well Mom, James has three becaue one has his family Stat and Al and Penny and Rob and one has the things that annoy him, just the same as you, but the other one has just you and me in there because he chooses to love us!”

Yesterday was a rough day.

To end it I took TBK to my parents he needed cheering up. Nannies have special magic powers don’t you know, they make everything less raw, a little brighter and the hurt fuzzier around the edges, easier to swallow - well Jordan’s Nan does, she’s special.

So we went had a cup of tea, had a few cuddles, rolled around the floor with the psycho dog and the even more psychotic “Little Big Uncle” John (and instructed Grandad on the ins and outs of facebook (TBK knew more than he did) and it worked, by the time we left TBK was begining to act more like his normal self.

On the short walk home we were kicking stones along the pavement and discussing the stars, TBK was pointing out the two brightest ones in the sky and explaining to me that the one was my Dad and the other was his Great Grandad looking down on us when we both saw a shooting star.

“WOAH Mom, did you see that!?! Quick make a wish we saw the same star so we can share it …. Have you made it?”

I said I had, and had he? To which he replied

“Yes I wished that there were these scientists who wanted to do an experiment on me yeah and I said yes but then when they came to do it it was a different experiment than the one they said they were going to do so I said no but then they did it anyway they slipped something into my hot chocolate which I drank and it made me into stitch like from lilo and stitch but still human and it was AWESOME!”

*Deep Breathe*

“What did you wish for?”

“I wished that you’d always be happy” he looked at me sideways and I caught THAT glint in his eye - that look that every parent knows to be suspicious of,

“You know what WOULD make me happy, Mom…. Still giving me THAT look….

….presents!!”

This week was my turn and here’s my entry:

An old picture but one that sums me up, Converse and my family!

*Where does this find you? Tell us the story of how you got there.*

Well right now as I’m writing this it’s Thursday evening and I’m at home, But
by the time it’s posted it shall be Friday morning so I’ll be at work in
Wolverhampton City Centre and I shall have arrived here on the bus from my
home 20 minutes away in the area I grew up in. I’m a yam yam born and bred,
I have lived in other places (Lichfield (too pretentious)and Wigan (Too
Rough)) but I returned “home” when I realised there really is no place
like it!

* Why do you moblog?*

I started moblogging as a way to pass the time when I was a poor lonely
single girl living alone with no one but the blonde kid for company.

James introduced me to it before “we” were “us” taking me into Birmingham
with a selection of Spied cards and I was hooked straight away, It’s so much
fun, kinda combining social networking with a hobby! Along with TBK telling
everyone we were getting married before we’d even smiled at each other in
THAT way maybe moblog was party responsible for the creating of James and me
as “us”?

* What were you hoping not to be asked for interview52?*

The typical Interview question used in lots of job interviews, Describe
yourself in 3 words….

* Now answer it!*

DOH! shoulda seen this coming. I’ll use the answer i gave in my last job
interview

LOUD, TALKATIVE and TENACIOUS - and they still gave me the job!

* What question would you like to ask the next moblog interviewee?*

I’m not going say now as with the new interview 52 rules I’m going to get
the chance to ask what I want! -

oh new rules everyone says what are they??

WELL:
The week after the last interview with FF when there was no interview I
though hmm thats strange, then the week after that when again there was
still no interview i though hmm even stranger It’s not like Nige to start
something and not finish it, so I emailed him something along the line of
“Oi you, giving up already?” and it transpires that Nige is a busy busy bee
and time had just ran away with him.
Organising questions and participants whilst running around the Notting Hill
Festival and generally having much fun was a time consuming thing so with
revised rules and with me being next on the “hit list” and silly enough to
wonder why he’d stopped he sent them to me….

From hence forward the interviewee will become the interviewer for the next
willing victim….So once you’ve read this today I will be on a hunt to find
someone to take part next . Then I will forward the list of questions and
instructions how to post on BUT

I will have to CHANGE AT LEAST ONE of the questions in the list

And so it will go on - my interviewee will become the interviewer, finding
the next participant and again changing AT LEAST ONE of the questions before
they forward it on. So taking the onus off Nige, continuing the project and
giving it a life of it’s own!

So who want to be next use email/text/contact button to get in touch

* What do you think your job was in your previous life? Tell us why..*.

I think I must have been a psychologist/guidance counselor in a previous
life, for some reason I’m usually the Agony Aunt, Dishing out advise to all
and sundry my friend Nicky seems to seek my advise on everything and even my
local shop keeper stops me in the shop and asks for marriage counseling -
And I’ve never even been married.

James reckons I was Pippa from Home and Away. I love kids and we’ve usually
got a houseful of TBK friends, I’ve worked as a youth worker, I’ve helped
out at school, taking part in sleep overs, & going on trips, He thinks
(quite rightly) that I’d have a horde of my own given the opportunity

*Whats the story behind your moblog username? Why did you choose it?*

Oh everyone knows this as I answered it on spikes moblog ages ago:

Essitam is Matisse backwards, It’s been my online name since school when in
an IT class the teaches asked us to think of a username.All the “cool kids”
were calling themselves “Sexygal1994″ or “hotchick” and as I was neither a
cool kid, sexy girl or an hot chick I wanted something different.
Inspiration was at hand with a huge Matisse display on the wall i was
sitting next to. I wrote it down, I then rewrote it backwards and is stuck!

* What was your childhood obsession? What happened to it?*

I didn’t have one - seriously. I even called my mom when I read this
question to find out if she could remember something I’d forgotten, The only
thing she could come up with was I used to like emptying ashtrays into the
dustbin, Which apparently amused her no end as neither of my parents smoked
and my dad only ever threw loose change in there and according to her I just
one day stopped doing it aged around 3.

*Where do you go to my lovely, when you’re alone in your head? (Filbert
Fox’ question)*

I try not to spend too much time alone in my head I find it a pretty
worrying place at times!

That’s not avoidance either, I’m being serious. I suffer autophobia
(J.F.G.I.) as a symptom of stress/depression caused (according to the people
in the know) by the sudden death of my Dad when I was just a little Steph.
So I avoid being left alone for too long when I can help it. I’m better now
than I used to be. At one point the panic attacks were so bad I would be
physically sick - now I just sulk lots and get snappy if I’m left alone for
too long!

*If you had to draw a moblog family (and friend) tree, who would you be
linked to, and how?*

Oh now this could be quite interesting, If i were to be literal about this
then there is:

James
TBK
Goonflower
NickyC
Miguel Sanchez
Stato
HippyJack

Who are all really (or via James) related to me in some way and registered
mobloggers and then real life friends (as in people I see in the flesh with
the family mobloggers)

Dicko - although I’m sure he should fall under family
highwirer
aj1905
Rich (not the one with Elvis)
shrontthebaron
baronshubby
GhostMonk08
Spongvid

Then there are the mobloggers who I’ve met in person purely through moblog,
at meets, if cafes (Dhamaka) in shopping centres (Nige) etc. I’m not going
to list them all as I’ve already rambled on too much but my ultimate moblog
family are my ultimate real life family:

Me + James + The Blonde Kid

–
Steph xxx

I can’t quite out my finger on what was wrong. I’d blame it on PMT but it’s not quite that time of the month. I’d blame it on lack of sleep, but I slept just fine. I would even try to say it was over work if it wasn’t so stupidly quiet around here today I just don’t know what it was. I do however know what cheered me up.

THIS blog post over on Moosh in Indy.

It got me thinking, I’ll never be a lot of  things but for everything I can say I’ve missed the oppurtunity to do I’ve opened up doors to other posibilities so much more rewarding

Here’s mine to add to Moosh in Indy’s list

I will never win a nobel peace prize                                                                                                                      But I can always make peace between warring 8 year olds!

A characteristic that comes in very handy some days when the blonde kid and his friends start!

I was on the barrier, It was fairly easy to shoot and it was before the rain had started in earnest and I was scared to take my beloved camera out of its bag. The rest of the day it didn’t really come out of teh safety of it’s carrying case for fear the wind would somehow snatch it away from me and fill its vital parts with rain or it would get dripped on in the tents from the spray coming from the soggy masses.

You can visit my flickr for more photos of Jack (link over there on the left) and photos of other stuff too!

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