Super Belated Newquay Photos

I promised they'd be coming, and here they are. Just a few, mind. I don't want to bore anyone too much. They might be the kind of thing only my mum would be interested in (hi mum).

Look, look, it's the hotel from The Witches!

The water must have been freezing; those people were very brave. Also, I managed to get sunburnt on my face despite it being cold enough for me to have to wear a cardigan and a waterproof. So, there's that.

On the way home we went to the Eden Centre which was cool and I have photos from that too. If I don't post them on here, I'll put some on my Flickr stream at some point.

Finally, as a bonus picture, here is me elegantly maneuvering around a puddle with the grace of a mountain goat.

Many thanks to Jack for capturing this moment

Adios.

Song of the day: Hello by Adele (Hello from the outside, at least I can say that I've tried/To tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart/But it don't matter it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore) Ohhh man, this song, it just gets to me.

Currently reading: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

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Little Updates

I had a visitor yesterday.

He kindly stuck around long enough for me to grab my camera and sneak outside to take a couple of pictures, and then when I looked up from my camera display, he had vanished. So long, friend.

In getting my camera to photograph my little fox pal, I finally got around to moving photos onto my laptop, which means a select few of the Newquay ones will be up at some point. There's some great ones, Newquay is beautiful. So watch this space for those. Or don't, whatever. I'm not the boss of you.

I recently read the entire Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor and I loved it so much (excellent recommendation, thank you Lydia). Here's some mini extracts (non-spoilery).

  "Where I come from, old man, a soul's as useless as teeth to the dead."

  "Spoken, I think, by one who still remembers what it was like to have one."

   Akiva did remember. His memories were knives, and he was not pleased to have them turned against him. "You should worry about your own soul, not mine."

  "My soul is clean. I've never killed anyone. But you, oh you. Look at your hands."

- Daughter of Smoke and Bone

  "Mercy breeds mercy as slaughter breeds slaughter. We can't expect the world to be better than we make it."

- Days of Blood and Starlight

  The two of them were stoic and stone-faced and ten feet apart, currently not even looking at each other, but Zuzanna had the impression of a pair of magnets pretending not to be magnets.

  Which, you know, only works until it doesn't.

- Dreams of Gods and Monsters

They were right up my street, I really enjoyed them. Also they have what is maybe my new favourite fictional friendship in Karou and Zuzanna, I loved their dynamic.

In other news, I've seen a few new (to me - two of them are actually old) films. I watched Love, Rosie on Netflix which is your standard predictable romance, but fairly enjoyable nonetheless. The other two are both Studio Ghibli ones. Firstly, Laputa Castle in the Sky which is adorable and I really loved. The second one was Grave of the Fireflies which I knew enough about to know that it was going to be sad, but holy hell, it is potentially the most upsetting movie I have ever seen. I sobbed. And I am not known for sobbing.  

Music wise, I have been listening to a lot of soundtracks, namely from Princess Mononoke and Braveheart. But also, Stevie Wonder and Adam Lambert (I can't get Another Lonely Night out of my head.)

Song of the Day: Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie (And I do believe it's true/That there are roads left in both of our shoes/But if the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too)

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Woeful Wednesday

I'm having one of those days.

Dark clouds have gathered in a manner that has me peering out of the window every two minutes, scrutinising the sky with increasing suspicion, just waiting for the rain to fall. It's not supposed to rain; I have checked and re-checked the weather forecast, and when I put my washing out to dry earlier on the sun was shining. But not now. It's going to rain, I can feel it, but my washing isn't quite dry yet so I don't want to bring it in until I absolutely have to. So I'm waiting. Waiting for it to start to rain so that I can say, "I told you so," to no one in particular - to myself, I guess, there's no one else here. I could just get it in now and hang it inside to finish drying, but I know if I do that it won't rain, and I'll wish I had left it alone. It's Sod's law.

It took me ages to get to sleep last night because I had the theme song from Red Dwarf stuck in my head (it's a song I enjoy, but it's not exactly a lullaby), and as a result I woke up in a bad mood with a headache. There was nothing in particular I fancied for breakfast and so I didn't have any, and besides, I wasn't all that hungry. I had to wait in for a delivery which always sets me on edge, I don't know why, and it turned out I needn't have bothered because it ended up fitting through the letterbox anyway.

I'm cold but I don't want to put the heating on, not yet, and I want to make a cup of tea even though I only just had one. I don't know what I'm going to have for my dinner; I don't even know what my options are, I haven't checked the fridge or cupboards. So I'll probably just have whatever requires the least amount of effort because I'm tired and grumpy and seriously considering putting on some pyjamas and giving up this day as a complete and utter write-off.

So yeah, I'm having one of those days. And I'm still waiting on the rain.

Song of the Day: For What It's Worth by The Cardigans (A four letter word got stuck in my head/The dirtiest word that I've ever said/It's making me feel alright)

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I'm a grown-up, and grown-ups go to the dentist

I've been meaning to post some of the photos I took in Newquay up here, but truth be told they're still on my camera. I'll get round to it. I will.

In other news, I went to the dentist this morning for my annual check-up. Normally when I go to the dentist all that happens is I sit in a chair, Mr. Dentist asks me if I've had any problems, I say no, he counts my teeth, charges me £18 for the privilege and then sends me on my merry way. Easy.

Today, after counting my teeth Mr. Dentist decided to give them a little extra clean for me and then take an X-ray. He said that he didn't suspect there were any problems but it couldn't hurt to make sure. In all honesty I think he was a bit bored and felt like playing with some of his dentist toys. 

This is the first time ever in my life that I have had anything done at the dentist other than getting my teeth counted, so I know I'm one of those lucky people who doesn't have any dentist horror stories (so far at least, touch wood!). But getting my teeth cleaned was horrible; I hated it. It didn't hurt exactly, it was just incredibly uncomfortable and made my entire head vibrate and the sounds it made were horrendous. Also I did not enjoy having two people (Mr. Dentist and his lovely assistant) looking inside my mouth. I felt like saying, "Look, I know you're only doing your jobs and everything, but can you just sort of piss off?" Of course it's hard to say that with a suction thingymabob in your mouth, but I tried to express the sentiment through my eyes.

Immediately following the torture, it was time for my X-ray. We had the following exchange:

Mr. Dentist - "We'll do your right side first."
Me - "My right or your right?"
Mr. Dentist - "Your right."
Me - "So my right?"
Mr. Dentist - "...yes."
Me - "OK."
Mr. Dentist - tries to put the thingymabob in my mouth and says "Could you relax your tongue for me?"
Me - pushes my tongue into my cheek.
Mr. Dentist - "Relax your tongue."
Me - nods and does no such thing.
Mr. Very Patient Dentist - "No, just relax your tongue."
Me - finally relaxes my tongue.
Mr. Dentist - audible sigh of relief.

After that, I was all finished and got to pay and leave, somewhat traumatised from my ordeal but at least I got my moneys worth this time. In fairness, it can't exactly be a barrel of laughs, being a dentist. I mean, I know they get paid pretty well but god, at what cost?

Currently reading: I cheated and read Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas before I'd finished Ready Player One so I'm back to that now. I think I was disappointed. I enjoyed it but some of the characters seemed a bit out of character compared to the previous books and it made it a bit infuriating to read.

Song of the Day: Grow by Frances

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BANK HOLIDAY

So it's bank holiday, it's raining (naturally), and on the Eden channel there are back to back shark documentaries on alllllll day.

In other words, it's pretty much the perfect day.

Tomorrow, Jack and I are off to Newquay for a couple of days and I have spent a ridiculously long time making a roadtrip playlist for the journey. It's mostly stuff I know Jack will enjoy but I may have sneaked some Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne in there. Maybe. It will be a lovely surprise for him, I'm sure. I'm hoping the weather will hold out but this is England after all so I can't ask for too much. As long as it stays dry I'll be happy. The hotel we're staying at is right next to the one where they filmed The Witches. Jack asked if I wanted to stay there and I said, "Are you crazy? What if the Grand High Witch is there?" He's lucky I'm here to think these things through.

I'll be back when I'm back. Obviously.

Song of the Day: Jump Into The Fog by The Wombats 

Currently reading: Ready Player One. Still. I sort of accidentally haven't picked it up in ages.

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It's nice to be looked after

I love having my parents in the same country as me again because it means I never really have to worry about meals - they will always feed me. That's not to say that when they're not here I don't eat, because that would be silly. I just mean that when teatime creeps up on me, I don't have to suddenly decide what to cook, because someone is already doing the cooking for me. 

Yesterday, my parents went to meet friends during the day and so had their 'main-meal' at lunch time, so come the evening they were just going to have something small, leaving me to fend for myself (how selfish of them). But I discovered something new: if I stand in front of the fridge looking sad and pathetic for long enough, my dad will make me cauliflower cheese for my dinner. With chorizo, because I'm fancy.

Don't get me wrong; I'm an adult, I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself. It's just nice when someone else offers.

Also, a few weeks ago when I wrote about wanting to read The Martian, my dad came back from town with a copy of it for me, which is why it's sometimes useful to have parents who read your blog; surprise gifts. I finished it yesterday by they way, and it's really good, I would definitely recommend it. I've never rooted for a character so much in my entire life. Admittedly, it's hard not to root for someone who's been stranded alone on Mars, but still. Next up I'm reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and then after that I think I'm going to start the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor because it was recommended to me by my lovely friend Lydia. Yay, books! 

Song of the Day: Alive by Empire of the Sun

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Shut Up and Dance

If you're suffering from the Monday blues, or even if you're not, you must watch this video immediately. It made me SO happy.

Enjoy.

Song of the Day: Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon

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