Rules for Living, by Olivia Joules

Inspired by Kats blog I have decided to write out all 15 of Olivia's rules for living for humour value and because alot of them make some sense! (Impressive if like me you know the book and Olivia's personality!) If you haven't read the book (Olivia Joules and her Overactive imagination by Helen Fielding) I suggest you do, I really like it and feel I have alot in common with Olivia - mainly her overactive imagination, which my family will no doubt agree with.
So without further waffle, here are the rules for living...Olivia style!

1. Never panic. Stop, breathe, think.
2. No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.
3. Never change haircut or color before an important event.
4. Nothing is either as bad or as good as it seems.
5. Do as you would be done by, eg. thou shall not kill.
6. It is better to buy one expensive thing that you really like than several cheap ones that you only quite like.
7. Hardly anything matters: if you get upset, ask yourself, "Does it really matter?"
8: The key to success lies in how you pick yourself up from failure.
9. Be kind and honest.
10. Only buy clothes that make you feel like doing a small dance.
11. Trust your instincts (not your overactive imagination).
12. When overwhelmed by disaster, check if it's really a disaster by doing the following: a) think, "Oh, fuck it," (b) look on the bright side, and if that doesn't work, look on the funny side. (If niether of the above works then mabybe it is a disaster so turn to items 1 and 4.)
13. Don't expect the world to be safe or life to be fair.
14. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
15. Don't regret anything. Remember there wasn't anything else that could have happened, given who you were and the state of the world at that moment. The only think you can change is the present, so learn from the past.

I don't necessarily agree with all of those, she is a bit pesimistic at times Olivia, but all round I like that list, even just for the humor factor!

Ffi xxx

My list...

Ok so joining the Helens in this craze of listing of older beautiful people I shall proceed to list my own (ps: some are dead which worries me slightly!) .
Now some are very similar to miss coads so I apologise here!






So far --> Johnny Depp, Colin Firth, Nathanial Parker, Liam Neeson



David Tennant! (These are in no particular order by the way, if they were he'd be in the top 5!)


Sean Connery....don't say it I know he truly is ancient but just look at him...!


Rupert Graves! Now I truely think he is hot! best when younger but such a Byronic figure!

Bond, James Bond - The one and only for me! I love a bit of pierce!

James Dean, who is infact dead but oh so iconic and gorgeous!

Now I haven't looked up their individual ages but I know they are all in their 40s (appart from David of course! there is hope yet!) or more or dead!which is worrying when you stop and think!
But anyway, as figures of men they are, to put it simply, all hot!!

Love xxxx

The Joy of my world is in Zion

This is a song from the album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. It's a song she wrote for two reasons, firstly its about her son Zion but its also about how when pregnant with him, she became a christian and now how the joy of her life is in Zion (heaven). I love this song so thought I'd share the lyrics but you should definatly listen to the whole album because it is awesome, all about her life and mistakes and how she is now forgiven and saved through Christ! Its awesome!

To Zion:

Unsure of what the balance held
I touched my belly overwhelmed
By what I had been chosen to perform
But then an angel came one day
Told me to kneel down and pray
For unto me a man child would be born
Woe this crazy circumstance
I knew his life deserved a chance
But everybody told me to be smart
Look at your career they said,
"Lauryn, baby use your head"
But instead I chose to use my heart

Now the joy of my world is in Zion
Now the joy of my world is in Zion

How beautiful if nothing more
Than to wait at Zion's door
I've never been in love like this before
Now let me pray to keep you from
The perils that will surely come
See life for you my prince has just begun
And I thank you for choosing me
To come through unto life to be
A beautiful reflection of his grace
For I know that a gift so great
Is only one God could create
And I'm reminded every time I see your face

That the joy of my world is in Zion
Now the joy of my world is in Zion
Now the joy of my world is in Zion
Now the joy of my world is in Zion

Marching, marching, marching to Zion
Marching, marching
Marching, marching, marching to Zion
Beautiful, beautiful Zion.

xxx

A Room With A View

Sitting here attempting to write my essay I have just witnessed a particularly beautiful sunset. The view from my window is really quite spectacular - if you ignore the road and the rushing traffic - kat is the only other person in the house to get a similar view to me. On a clear day you can see down into the valley* below and over to the hills beyond. These hills are my favorite part of this view as I have a fantasy of one day just dropping everything and running over to those hills and the unknown beyond. I get this feeling alot and not just with this view. Kat always says when she is high up somewhere she has an urge to jump off, well I suppose this is something similar (and less dangerous I feel) - a feeling of wanting to know, visit unseen places and explore the unknown. I want to know what is beyond those hills. The only thing I have ever been able to find that has explained this feeling is a poem in The Lord of the Rings (the book) some of you may know it if you have read it and possibly even if you haven't.

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known".

(The last paragraph gets a bit dramatic but then it is from Lord of the Rings!) I do think that poem no matter how mystical really does sums up how horizons make me feel. There is a line in Chicken Run as well that kind of sums up what I mean - Ginger and Rocky are talking on the Hen House roof:

"You know I come up here every night, look out at that hill and imagine what it must be like on the other side."

To her those hills are freedom, an adventure, just something better, different - the unknown! One of my all time favorite books is all about "Views" it is a book by E.M.Forster called "A Room with a View", it would take too long to go into all the symbolism of the "views" in the book but one meaning of the "View" is essentially about this feeling. I would definatly recommend this book if you have never read it, it had a big impact on me when I read it first and still does - it's truely brilliant.
Maybe I am over analysing this feeling but it is one I have had for as long as I can remember, may be that does make me a dreamer but I love the feeling. I love views and how they give me a soaring feeling when I look out at them, a sense of the enormity of the world, a sense that anything is possible if I only reach out and take it. OK now I am defiantly over analysing but I hope you get a sense of what I mean - next time you see a view, you see how it makes you feel!

Sorry about the length of this. Well done if you reached the end!
xxxFfixxx


* Valley is used for convienience....it's more like a dip in the land.*

The New Blog!

So as you can probably see things have changed a bit here, its all new and terribly elegant daaarling! I prefer this layout to any I've had before - which is good cos I designed it myself, which is actually very easy - they give you the template and then you just play on the customiser thingy! great fun...so have an explore...you may even find some secret new things hidden over my new page!
love and squishy hugs
Ffi xxx

Sonnet 129

This is one of my very favorite sonnets by Mr Shakespeare, I have typed out the notes aswell cos they often help me understand what he was driving at.

Sonnet 129:
Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action lust
Is purjur'd, murd'rous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and sooner had
Past reason hated as a swallowed bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows, yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads man to this hell.

1) expense - using up, paying out; in a waste of shame - in the course of shameful extravagance, in a wasteland created by shame,
3) purjur'd - lying; full of blame - greatly to be blamed, very ready to blame others
7) bait - like rat poison or a fish taking the bait.
9) Mad - possibly should be 'Made' - ie: "made....extreme"
11) in proof - in the experiencing; prov'd - once experienced.

A blog with no direction...

A story should always have a beginning middle and an end...so they say.
But how often in life do we get this?

A beginning - can we ever really tell when a new chapter in our life begins? Some beginnings are very obvious; School, Uni, Marriage, Jobs. Other beginnings we may only recognise when we are in the middle...

The middle - often the worst part of any story. Things are uncertain, things can go wrong and plans go askew. Or the other extreme; things can be perfect, better than we ever anticipated and we dread the end...

The End; Inevitable. Final. Often not even witnessed by the players in the story.
As with the beginning do we ever know when a chapter in our life has fully ended? The repercussions, consequences and memories of the event can be much longer lasting than we sometimes even witness.

The idea of a story having A beginning. A middle. An end - a nice concept but life is much messier in reality...thank goodness!!

I started this blog with no idea...this is what emerged from the darkness of my mind - I apologise for the randomness!