Wow.

Wow. I mean, Wow.
I am a very bad blogger.
Which, I must admit, is slightly disappointing: over the last few months, since I last updated, the problem has not been that I have been lacking in ideas, but lacking in time. The lead up to my GCSEs has meant that time for writing anything outside my academic studies has been virtually non-existent,  which I suppose is good, because it means that I might actually be working.
So lack of time is one thing. The other is the inconvenient time at which my blog updates itself. In my head. Usually just before I try to go to sleep. Or in the middle of the night. And that's just plain annoying.
So, I shall now give you a list of all the things I have been meaning to post about and haven't:

1. Music
2. How amazingly lucky I am 
3. Snow Patrol (I feel they deserve a different post entirely from no.1)
4. Friends
5. Knowledge
6. There was another one but I can't remember.
7. ah, yes, I remember: travelling

I think I might try and write about some of them now.

Yes.

I will.

Let's start with.....

SNOW PATROL.

Gary Lightbody, Paul 'Pablo' Wilson, Nathan Connelly, Tom Simpson, Jonny Quinn and Johnny McDaid.

So you've probably heard of them.

I went to see these fabulous boys on 3rd February 2012. I will admit that I have never been what one might call a 'devoted fan' of theirs. I have listened to their music in passing, as I suspect most people have, and one Christmas I was given their "Up To Now" album. I was probably a bigger fan than most, having listened to more of their music than just Chasing Cars and Run. I'm not discounting those songs, they're amazing, but if they are the only ones you have heard, I beg of you to listen to more, because that is really just the tip of the iceberg. But on that Friday night, I can honestly say that I think they might have changed me.

Gary Lightbody is probably one of my favourite musicians now. Ever. His connection with the audience, his seemingly boundless energy, his humour, his love for his band mates, his love for his music, his lyrics and not to mention his voice simply captured my heart and I haven't looked back since.

So. When my dad told me he was flying out to Miami to have dinner with the band, you might imagine how much I freaked out.

I literally had to fight back tears because I knew I couldn't go with him. But I think it was probably best that I didn't.

I suppose this leads me on to my post about how lucky I am.

I think it's reasonable to say that most people my age feel they have a difficult life and let's face it: compared to a lot of people, they have it pretty easy. These last few months has been, in one word, incredible for me. Sure, I've had a lot of school work to keep up with, but outside of that has been amazing. I am a massive music and theatre fan and since September, I feel like the luckiest person alive in relation to that.

1. 24/09/11 Molotov Jukebox

2. 31/01/12 An Inspector Calls at the Lowry

3. 01/02/12 Katherine Jenkins at The Bridgewater Hall

4. 03/02/12 Snow Patrol at the MEN

5. 09/02/12 All New People at the Royal Opera House

6. 11/02/12 Meeting Zach Braff and Eve Myles (after the All New People Matinee)

7. I've started singing lessons (finally)

8. Next Friday I will be on stage singing my heart out at my school's cabaret evening.

So really, it's been a pretty damn good year so far.

Every time I see a live event like a concert or a play, or I sing, I feel alive.

That sounds incredibly cheesy.

But I do. Every time, I am simply astounded by the emotion that the energy of other people brings to the surface, how much we feel due to lyrics or music or words written by the playwright, and it makes me want that. I want to inspire other people to write, I want to give people emotion and an experience that they will remember, whether it be in a room in a dingy backstreet converted mill in Salford (the venue of the Molotov Jukebox gig) or in an arena full of people (Snow Patrol or Katherine Jenkins) screaming lyrics at me (more at Snow Patrol, considerably less of that at Katherine Jenkins) because they can relate to the music.

And I suppose that covers music too, doesn't it?

I'm probably boring you (if anyone is actually reading my bumbling, fangirling mess of words) so I'll stop babbling and leave you to do something constructive with your day. I have 2 English essays and 3 maths papers to finish, so I should probably get on with that...

Anyway, the original purpose of this post was actually to say sorry for not posting, and if you're reading this thank you for your patience, and to say that I probably (though not definitely. But probably. Almost definitely.) won't be posting anything again until after my exams.

Thank you for reading! :)

Hannah x

p.s. if you do research Snow Patrol a bit, I will warn you that there will be a lot of Gary fondling both Nathan and Pablo on stage. You may find it odd at first, but it's actually hilarious. 

And also Gary is a complete goofball.

E.g. at the concert, he suddenly turned round during the first song and no one could see what he was doing. He then apologised. "I just sang half a song with my fly open. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to expose myself. Can we still be friends? I didn't come on stage with my fly open on purpose, I'm not that guy! I guess this means it's going to be a good night..."

Also, we went into the crowd and high fived everyone on the front row. "You nearly got my shirt. Nearly. You really must try harder. As an Irishman, we don't generally high-5 people. I think that might be a  world record for the most people an Irish bloke has high-fived at once. Congratulations!"

He also dedicated Run to all of the babies of their crew. "None of the band have any kids yet, but the crew have been busy. I think they have about 6 babies between them. So I'd like to dedicate this to those babies. They're not actually here...they're, you know, like, seven months old so, I don't think they are here..."

Anyway, I'm going now.

Leaving.

Bye! x

Inspiration.

Inspiration.




It's a word we use all the time.

But what really is it?




By the dictionary?

In·spi·ra·tion

noun
1.an inspiring or animating action or influence: I cannot write poetry without inspiration.


2.something inspired, as an idea.

3.a result of inspired activity.


4.a thing or person that inspires.


5.Theology .


a) a divine influence directly and immediately exerted upon the mind or soul.


b) the divine quality of the writings or words of a person so influenced.


To me, inspiration is people, places, words, music, experiences, dreams, art and so so much more. Inspiration is everything: everywhere and anywhere. That is why I haven't written a blog post for a while: my head has been forcibly crammed full of technical information, lost in the world of school and exams and stress, so I have been entirely blind to everything that surrounds me. But today, I stopped. I just stopped and I thought and I looked.

For those of you who don't know who Julia Albain is, she is a member of Team Starkid and, if you read her blog, you'll see that she's an incredible writer. Today is her 25th birthday, and I was reading back through some of her blog posts to find some quotes to spam my tumblr followers with, and I realised, and I mean really realised, just how much of an inspiration she is to me.

Every single word she writes is so full of meaning that I find it impossible not to find myself thinking: what if it were me writing those words?


Because, really, inspiration is what urges us to change ourselves. I believe that if I can live my life having inspired even just one person the way that she has inspired me, then I have achieved something, but I know to do that I have to change. At this present time, I am lazy. I always wait for inspiration to come to me. But true inspiration is everywhere, if only we all had the perseverance to look for it.

Which is why, I think, everyone has a different mentality: we all have different depths to our perception. But we all have the same capabilities to really see what is around us. It's just that some people think that they are above it, or they can't be bothered to try. They do what is needed and, to them, that is sufficient. Fair enough.

But I'm the sort of person who needs to be inspired. I'm constantly searching for something new to think about, because, to be honest? If I didn't have anything or anyone around me that I could look to for inspiration, I really don't know what or who I would be. Which is why that I'm making a vow to myself that, no matter how busy I am, or how little I can think to write, I'm going to at least try to write at least 2 blog posts every month. Because I'm sick and tired of my own laziness. I am, from now on, going to look for inspiration, instead of just waiting for it to miraculously and spontaneously appear before me.

Because inspiration is what forms us. Inspiration is what moulds our minds and stimulates the creativity that we all have. We just have to see it. It is true inspiration that changes us entirely, that we must somehow learn to shape ourselves with. Inspiration is everyone and everything.

So, here's to inspiration. Here's to friends, words, colour, light, shade, emotion, art, love, buildings, laughter, and, perhaps most importantly, here's to each other. Because I believe that we all have a duty not only to ourselves but to each other, to help each other see the true potential in ourselves, because without inspiration, we are nothing.







Also, as a footnote, a very very happy birthday to the wonderful Julia Albain, who is the person who inspired me to even start this blog in the first place, in the hope that one day, I might inspire someone the way that she has inspired me.


Hannah x

Okay, so I was told that for my R.S homework, I had to write about Natural and Man-made suffering, so I took the opportunity to write about the most incredible experience I have ever had.

This summer (July '11) I got the opportunity to go to India. For two years, I and a group of students from my mum's school, had worked to fund the trip. We worked (and still are working) alongside India Direct, a charity improving the lives of the children in the Bethel and Joy children's homes in TamilNadu in the East of India. You may be wondering why you have never heard of the charity, and I will tell you why. Charities who advertise get the money that the need to do so from the donations they receive. India Direct wastes no money: every single penny of the donations that they get goes directly to the people who need it most, and to do that, they must cut out the cost of advertising.

The next part is the homework that I wrote:

Natural Suffering

Natural suffering is suffering which is caused by an unavoidable natural event, such as an earthquake or volcano erupting.

On December 26^th 2004, a massive Earthquake occurred under the sea of the west coast of Sumatra. The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (98 ft) high.

With a magnitude of M_w 9.1–9.3, it is the third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes.

We visited a village  that was struck by the disaster: the wave washed away all of the palm leaf huts that the local fishermen had built as their homes along the beach. Having visited the beach this summer, 7 years after the disaster, I still saw the effects of the Tsunami. There is little left of the village, still, because the Tsunami swept away any source of income that the local people had. Their fishing boats, which many of the people were using at the time the Tsunami struck, consisted simply of two planks of wood tied together with a piece of rope.

David and Karen Armstrong, and their three children were in Madras (Chennai) in South India over the 2004 Christmas holidays. On Boxing day morning, Karen felt the house move and a few hours later, on the coast just 20 miles away the Tsunami struck, killing thousands.

When the true enormity of the disaster became apparent, it was decided that Dave and two locals would buy 150 sets of clothes, blankets and bed mats, and drive 300km south to visit remote coastal villages near Nagalpattinam that would be much less  able to help themselves than the nearby coastal areas of Madras.  It was 3 days after the disaster when they arrived and the air was filled with the smell of death.  They distributed their aid through local churches and invited people to tell their stories.  They filmed these interviews to help fund raising back home in the UK. They spoke to a lady who was caught in the branches of a tree as she clung to her two children but fainted, and lost the children to the floods. A 17 year old girl left with seven brothers and sisters, asked “What should I do?” One of many fishermen had lost his boat and source of income. All had lost their homes. Dave realised that with so many children orphaned, perhaps their best contribution would be to use their knowledge of orphanages, and to rent some houses further from the coast. Each one could house, feed, school and care for 20 children with two staff, for the cost of about £100 per week.   Annie, Pastor Martin and Omega, the Trustees of the ‘Love and Care Charitable Trust’ (the Indian Christian partner charity to India Direct) and other Pastors in the local area would supervise them.

Annie started Joy Children’s Home as a direct result of seeing the devastation caused by this horrific event.

Man Made Suffering

Man Made Suffering is suffering caused by humans.

While in India, I also participated in a Medical Camp in one of the local villages. The aim was to provide basic medical care and attention for the 360 desperate people. Many were literally starving, and there were a number of elderly and widowed people who were living on the streets. The Indian government has recently reduced the amount at which it believes people can live on. This causes even more desperation and distress when people are sick. 

These people had nothing because of their class: they are seen as ‘untouchables’ and so ignored despite the desperate poverty they live in. Some villagers also suffer because of their own families:  they cannot afford to feed everybody in their house, so many of the elderly have been thrown out of their own homes by their children and left on the streets.

This suffering is a direct result of humans treating members of their own species like animals because of society’s views and because of class divide. Side note: This was almost definitely the most difficult part of the trip: one elderly woman, with whom I had nothing in common, sat with me for hours. We didn't talk. She just wanted to hold my hand. I was the only source of human contact she had. No one deserves that.

The poverty in India is also visible in the less rural areas of the country: right in the centre of Chennai, it is obvious too. You can drive through the city, seeing huge buildings, massive shopping malls and elaborately dressed temples, and right next door or across the road there is a tiny palm-leaf hut or a child looking through the rubbish on the street.

After going to India, we gave a presentation evening at my Mum's school for all of the people who had helped us along the way, and for the Mayor of East Cheshire. We all had to speak about one part of the trip, and I chose to speak about Joy Children's home.

My Speech:

Joy

Joy is, in the truest sense of the word, a home: safe, secure. Bethel, at times, still seemed slightly institutionalised due to the lack of open spaces. That is not to say that the children were unhappy, quite the opposite, in fact. But at Joy, the open space and freedom that the children have there is what makes it a home.

To have witnessed the evolution of this place is an incredible thing. The garden, which was once just a tiny patch of land, has now become a life source, producing incredible amounts of food in what relatively little time there has been since the first India trip.

Also, the play park. The fact that this place is the same age as Hotel Mano and is used by so many children and yet is still in perfect condition astounds me. These people, both the children and the staff at Joy, are obviously very proud of their home, and with good reason.

Little could be added to Joy to make it better, but somehow, as a team, we managed it. The addition of the cow and calf to the gradually growing menagerie there will surely be nothing but beneficial to the children and staff of Joy.

Taking the Joy children to the beach showed, I think, everyone on the team what joy really is. It is safe to say that most of us felt some reservation about the beach. To us it was dirty and an uncomfortable place to be. But the children didn’t care. I think that, at that moment, those children were the ones helping us. They showed use that something doesn’t need to be perfect, in fact few thing are, for you to enjoy it. Seeing things simply is the easiest way to enjoy something, it is up to you whether you choose to make the most of it or not. And that is what Joy Home is about: it is basic, but each individual person there, children and adults alike, has made it a home.

Whilst in India, I realised that people have to change. It disgusts me that during fundraising events, like bag packing, some people don't give money because they think that "India has a big enough economy - they don't need our money."

They have not seen it.

In reality, in India, the rich only get richer and the poor only get poorer.

I have also realised that I have changed. I had dreams and aspirations. I still do. But now, I see that, if I am going to be someone memorable, then it should not just be about acting or singing. I have to use that as a way of helping other people. We all have our idols, and I bet that most of them are all rich and famous: I must admit I am the same. But I have 5 new idols who mean more to me than any actor or musician ever will:

Annie, Omega and Martin:

These people amaze me. Entirely. Especially Annie, she is just the most inspiring and amazing woman I have ever had the joy to meet. They, completely selflessly, started a charity from nothing. They help over 150 children every single day. They gave them a home.

Grace + Paul Nadin-Salter:

They run India Direct, and believe me, if it weren't for them, the charity would be nothing.

Here are some pictures from India:

                                          'Poynton Play Park' at Joy Home

                                  The village which the Tsunami hit

This sounds so cheesy, but if you give just £10 pounds this Christmas, you can give one of the children, who are all incredible, or one of the widows that the charity also supports:

New outfit or sari
Christmas meal of chicken biryani served on a banana leaf (special treat in India!)
A small gift
Large sack of rice for a widow
Travel expenses for family to visit
Entertainment
A visit from Santa

Think about it. £10 gives a child the opportunity to spend Christmas with their family.

You can also get pictures of whoever your money goes to.

Imagine looking at that postcard.

Imagine knowing that you have helped someone.

Here goes nothing...

I'm 16.
I'm at school.
I'm stressed.


I know, these things are normal. But I need to find some way to not be stressed. If I'm stressed I can't be me, whoever 'me' is. That is why I've started this blog. I have no idea what direction my life is heading in and that scares me a little. If don't find some sense of direction pretty soon I know the only way my life will be going is downhill: I have my GCSE mocks after Christmas, then my GCSE's and then at the same time I'm expected to start 'thinking about' i.e. choosing pretty much for definite what my A-level choices are going to be.
So, if you'll excuse my ramblings, this is my way of getting to know myself, inspired by the blog posts of the amazing Miss Julia Marie Albain, although I'm pretty darn sure that I can't write anyway near as well as she does, and I doubt I'll end up inspiring anyone but myself.
Hannah x