A Day to Remember....

I graduated today.  Yup, I am now officially a BA (Hons) in English Literature with Creative Writing type person.  I am qualified to read books and write sentences. Excellent!!

I'm not going to bore you with the day to day details about the last three years, but I will say I have spent them with a group of people who I can honestly say have made my whole university experience the most special and fantastic three years I could've wished for.  I have learnt so much from every single one of them...some of the things I've learnt would honestly make your hair curl and if the topics ever turned up in a pub quiz you can be a sure as eggs is eggs I'd be able to answer them....?!

I don't normally go in for huge declarations of sentimentality and smush but today I'm feeling emotional so I'm bucking my own trend.  I am proud that I've made my parents even more proud of me than they are already, because I've followed my dream and succeeded (with a lot of blood, sweat, tears, stress, hysteria, post-it flags, highlighters, tea and chocolate along the way).

Those who know me know that my love of an 80's mix tape quite literally is what gets my excitement level past shoes on the 'many things I like in life' scale and that's what this whole experience can be compared to, a mix tape.  I've read books that would never have given my bookshelf dust space before 2009, but I can now add to my top 10 best reads list are; The History Boys, Mrs Dalloway, Harriet Frean and Generation X to name but many. Ok, so it would be longer than a top 10 list but you get my drift.

I would like to make a special mention though to Lisa.  We met on our first day stood in the queue next to each other for enrollment and we were sat next to each other in graduation today, it's like the bread at either end of our degree sandwich - shit analogy I know, sorry.

So here it is, my choice of two songs which I think sums up everything.  I'm going to shut up now and just let the music speak for itself...turn it up loud, I insist ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z77hrg7pFN0

Burning bra's = fire hazard....

There was a bit of a twitter hoo-haa Thursday morning as the infamous foot-in-mouth journalist, Liz Jones was on This Morning discussing women, children, maternity leave et al and can us women have it all?

Anyway, having missed the original screening of this stunning insight from the self-confessed sperm smuggler, I watched the interview on iplayer and while I was stuffing my face with thickly buttered bread and jam - see Liz, we can have that love! - I pondered, can we have it all...life wise, not bread wise (I did have all the bread).

Well, yes we can.

Ok, I am the first one to hold my hands up and say I'm not a burn your bra feminist.  For a start off, my bra's are of such ample cuppage that if they were set alight they'd keep your average boy scout jamboree supplied with bonfire fodder for at least three rousing chorus's of Kum By Ya, BUT that is not to say I'm not an advocate of equal rights and shooting holes through that glass ceiling.

Women are designed so that they can have babies if they choose too, that's the way nature intended it, so why on earth is there such a backlash when women who work, decide to have babies?  I don't get it, I just don't.

Ms Jones said that she would be more likely to employ someone who was of more mature years rather than someone who was in her late 20's/early 30's and had a womb screaming to be let in on the action.  Well, I hate to break this to you Liz but as a 37 year old woman who, as of yet, doesn't have children, but who still has several more years left in her for having a baby, you're talking bollocks.  I am perfectly employable just like my younger counterparts who, like myself, have our reproductive capabilities still intact, so I don't appreciate being discriminated against for my gender let alone my ovaries.

I've worked for many years in a corporate environment where the battle for the top dog between men and women was more fierce than a bloody roman battle.  I've worked with many successful, powerful and influential women who are fantastic at their job and, wait for it....have kids!  All they did was adapt their life accordingly.  Just because you're doing the school run doesn't mean you can't negotiate a multi-million pound merger deal, does it Liz, come on admit it....

The question I now ask of you Liz is, what are you going to do when you eventually decide to start having babies? Will you be so vehement in your convictions that having twelve months maternity leave to bond with your child, is frankly an abomination and you'll be clocking into the office each week via skype (or in person) for meetings?  Or will you embrace the napisan with as much enthusiasm as you've employed when dragging the 'sisterhood' back twenty years and kicking sand in Emmeline Pankhurst's face, so it'll be a case of, office, what office? 

Liz, Liz, Liz, yes we're in the middle of a double-dip (in my case chocolate dipped) recession where finding and keeping a job is as rare as rocking horse shit at the moment but its just as hard work for both women AND men to find employment.  That obstacle should not take away a woman's right of choice about having a baby and we will not be scare mongered into thinking if we do, then we've bog all chance of finding and keeping a job.

Women can have a family and a career, ok, so it requires a bit of juggling but we can do it. We live in a progressive society not the dark ages though I am pretty sure women of the dark ages had kids and still went out to work.  I'm proud of the fact that as a woman I have these choices and I for one will be ready to accommodate play dates and work diary dates when the time is right.

Blimey Liz, next you'll be telling us we shouldn't have the vote.......

Burning Bridges.....

Well, what can I say, today has been a mixed bag all in all.  As one era comes to an end, a new one is going to start when I wake up tomorrow. 

I finished my degree today, last day of the past three years.  It's a bit surreal to be honest and I feel at a bit of a loss as to what to do with myself....other than clean my shit tip of a flat and let the cats know they do still have an owner who feeds them.  It's been a tough week or so to be honest with deadlines, lessons learned, stresses and running out of milk so I couldn't make any cuppa's for a few hours - we're talking major major issues here!  

As some of you may know, I use music to pretty much gauge my mood/be a soundtrack for my day - it can range from rock and roll all the way through to dodgy 80's mix tapes.  Just like my writing, it's a cathartic process and one which has served me well for the past 30 or so years, so hopefully will serve me for the next bunch of years to come along.  Today though, I think this song pretty much sums up stuff...

I adore this song and I think it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written.  In fact the whole album is one of the most seminal albums of our time and contains the most awe inspiring musical poetry which I never get tired of listening too.

So there you have it, quite literally one door has closed and another is about to open up after I've caught up with the latest episode of Gossip Girl and had eight hours sleep.

I shall leave you all in peace to enjoy yourselves in which ever way you deem appropriate.

P.S. I stupidly set fire to the velvet rope this week and I'm really sorry. 

A Sign of the Times....

As a conscientious observer to society's goings on within certain strands of life, I can honestly say, I have never been so shocked, as to be in work today and hear a six year old girl worry about the calorie content in a bag of chocolate whisper bites.  She was six, SIX and worried about calories.  I'm sorry, but WHY is a six year old worrying about calories?

This comes in the same week as it being reported that women are now going on a diet where they're drip fed a limited amount of calories per day for 10 days, in order to lose weight.  

Now, I am no racing snake when it comes to my own body and anyone who knows me will know that I love chocolate - I have a well proportioned arse to prove it.  But what sticks in my clack, is that women now feel that the only way for them to shed the pounds quickly is to have a drip tube inserted in your nose and carry around a bag full of liquid.  What the christ is this world coming too?

I am not denying we have a serious problem with obesity in this country but really, has it come to the point where we have to be drip fed in order to shed the pounds and squeeze into a wedding dress, and have six year old's counting calories!! Really, is this what society has come to?? I am saddened and dismayed.

Whatever happened to the idea of the body beautiful and appreciating what we've been blessed with whether it wobbles, wrinkles or works its way south.

And please don't even get me started on the Samantha Brick debacle of a few weeks ago.

I would like to say to any women who read this blog post, please for gods sake don't go to extreme measures in order to shed weight.  Do it sensibly and healthily.  You are gorgeous and should be proud of the fact that you are unique and are loved for who you are, not what your clothes size is.  Whilst I am hardly in a position to preach to anyone about losing weight or eating a healthy diet I certainly will not be reaching for a feeding tube at any point in order to decrease the size of my plentiful rump.

And as for the six year old worrying about the calorie content of food, why the bloody hell is your mother allowing you to concern yourself of such things...eat the chocolate (in moderation) and enjoy it.

Life Through My Mirror.....

Ok, so here it is....Dolly has gone into a retirement home for the socially befuddled and insane.  Bless her, the stress of not being able to talk to Liberace became too much for her, so she was carted off on a milk-float to a secure unit.

Anyway, it was time for a change, time for a different view and perspective, so here it is.  The blog name would take to long to explain (and you'd all just give me that 'wtf crazy lady??') expression, but trust me when I say, to a small select few, it is pissworthy funny.  I've been quiet for a while, I know, a mixture of too much to do, not much to say and a procrastination habit to equal any crack addict has seen me not blog for a while.

Because this is the first post, I'm not going to baffle you with science or impress you with my knowledge on all manner of things....mainly shoes and chocolate, however, I do know the cycle of a four stroke engine, impressed eh??

I will update the necessary profile bits and bobs shortly, but for now, I shall say hello and leave you to a soundtrack of 80's music compilations and tea.

P.S. I promise never to use 'wtf' again, I've shamed myself already....