So this is the new year...

This will not be the first New Year post I've submitted to this blog. I'm sure it will not be the last. Because as much as you try to fight against it, the 31st December makes you a little bit more pensive than usual. All that happens, of course, is that the time ticks over from 00:00 hours to 00:01 and we are in a new year. The 31st becomes the 1st and we're off again. This same series of events happens at the end of every month (except where the final day is the 30th, 29th or 28th) and yet it is only this one occasion when we all have parties, drink alcohol, dance, play games, kiss and make resolutions.

The school year starts in September, not January. The tax year starts in April. So why do we not celebrate then? What resolution is there that is so bound by time, the calendar and seasons that means we can only make in on January 1st and not...today, or yesterday? Nonsense. Make resolutions every day. Resolve to be a better friend, laugh more, drink a little less, use less petrol, visit people, smile at work, work hard, grant yourself a little free time, speak about yourself less, give away more, moan less, allow yourself to fail, move slower, think faster, spend less on clothes and more on stamps, talk to God, forgive and move on. A diet can start on March 13th. A chocolate detox will not be set up to fail just because you start in mid-June.

So tomorrow is January 1st 2009. Think of it as one digit changing at the end of the date as we write it. No big deal. If you can't think of a big life changing resolution, chill out - there's plenty of other things to be getting on with. If you are reading this on some random date in the middle of the year, there's no better time to stop yourself and start over. Get better. Be changed. Be liberated. Do not be confined.

Sermon over. Happy New Year.

A brief rant...about Leona Lewis.

I'm sorry, perhaps I'm picky, but what right does Leona Lewis have to knock Take That off the number1 spot?! She has done a fairly mediocre cover of an amazing Snow Patrol track, and subsequently destroyed all hopes of a Take That Christmas number one! I am angered!

Leona is young lady who has 'conquered' the US, won the X-Factor, and invaded radio waves. She uses vibrato like she's being punched in the oesophagus, and yes, she has an unimaginable vocal range. At first I thought I was just jealous. But I'm really not. I don't like her voice. I don't like her music. And I don't like the way everyone is obsessed with her.

Take That, on the other hand, are a totally respectable man band who had huge success, broke away and lived some real lives and then returned with some solid gold hits. Gary Barlow is a song writing guru (yes, they write and perform their own material, Leona) and they've been there and done it. They're not about breaking digital download records, or conquering any countries. They're just bloody good musicians.

I used to hate Take That. At least, in my younger days, I was not their biggest fan. But now, I cannot fault them. Absolute brilliance. Leona...well she's just a British Whitney. Good set of pipes, a certain amount of interview-likeability and a 'history.' But for me it takes a killer song, written and performed by a killer musician to warrant number one acclaim.

So I don't know about you but if Christmas 2008 is going to be tarnished by yet another X-Factor winner, or an ex-X-factor winner (and to vocalise how much I despise that show would take at least another blog!)...I'm hopping on board the Rick Roll and doing everything in my ability to get Rick Astley to number one!!

A Fairytale Situation?

We have a problem. It has taken me twenty-two years to realise the following, but I hope that I can spare you the same amount of time. Join me, won't you, on an exploration of the moral cloudiness and general evils of...Cinderella. I know, it seems petty. But just you wait.

If by some freak possibility you are not familiar with the story, here it is in short: Cinderella is a beautiful, young lady who is forced into working like a servant by her 'evil' stepmother and three ugly and bitter stepsisters. One night, her fairy godmother appears, turns her rags into a ball-gown and Cinders dances the night away with the Prince at his grand ball. They fall in love, she has to scarper just before midnight and leaves a single slipper at the party. The Prince scours the land for a lady who fits the slipper, finds Cinders and whisks her off to live happily ever after. Aww.

Here's what's wrong with this story. It basically asserts the idea that youth and beauty are desirable and ugliness is essentially bad. Likewise, half-parents. Cinderella's godmother comes to her rescue (whipping up some other 'normal' things into 'beautiful, new' things) and she gets to the ball, where people are shocked by her sharp wit, intelligence, gentleness and caring? Nope. By her beauty. When the prince finally finds her again (because none of the women in the kingdom have the same size shoe as Cinderella), she gets her happily ever after. I'm not sure how happy I am teaching my kids that beauty will eventually get them wealth and position. Because those things aren't the most important. Especially if it means you have to put pumpkins out of their day-job!

Which way?

There are lots of routes I could have taken in my life.

If I’d worked a little harder, I could have achieved the grades I needed to go to Sheffield university (my first choice) and study. If I hadn’t decided, at the last minute, to take an A-level in French rather than Music, I would not have been doing a French specialism PGCE. In fact, I’d probably have gone into something to do with music, English or drama. If I’d gotten over myself sooner, I might have started playing music in 1^st year, cajoled a few band members and played a few low-key gigs. If I’d learnt to be more comfortable in my own skin sooner, I might have made a real go of the relationships and friendships I have allowed to slide past.

But I didn’t take these routes. At the time at which I decided which way to go, I was either too scared, or convinced of the alternative. And that’s ok.

It's ok because nothing I choose to do is a shock to God. God knows exactly and in detail everything I have ever done and will ever do in my life. There is no panic in Heaven. They’re not running around saying, “Aargh!! That girl shouldn’t be doing that there/now/in that way!!”

What if’s and if only’s really get us nowhere. It is not too late for me to write more music, learn more languages, speak more confidently to more people, draw more pictures, and try my hardest at whatever I do. I just have to want it.

And I do.

Welcome to the New Year

2008.

What? It's 6.30 on January 1st 2008 and I don't feel any different. I didn't make any resoultions. I saw the new year in with friends. I slept in 'til 10. I watched a great movie. I thought a bit too much. I started planning a lesson. Now i'm going out for dinner.

If the year started on January 2nd, this would be new years eve. It's really nothing special, a new year. So how about just being grateful for a new 24hours. A new 5 minutes?