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mercredi 29 octobre 2008

This is a really cool meme I picked up from over at Busted's place... Just have to give this a whirl!

Here's what you have to do: A.) Go to Music Outfitters. B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year. C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you REALLY hate (Can't do this, so I've put them in italics instead). This, of course, is an American list so the songs without comment either left me indifferent or I've never heard of...

And here's the famous list of songs from 1987 (yes, yes, you read that right... I'm a dinosaur!)

1. Walk Like An Egyptian, Bangles My father really, really liked their lead singer though!
2. Alone, Heart
3. Shake You Down, Gregory Abbott
4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Whitney Houston She was a huge star in the 1980s, but I just couldn't get "into" Whitney somehow...
5. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Starship The favourite song of a high school friend of mine who died of pneumonia at the age of 22... Always remembering you, Felicity!
6. C'est La Vie, Robbie Nevil
7. Here I Go Again, Whitesnake Horrible, just horrible
8. The Way It Is, Bruce Hornsby and the Range Beautiful melody, and I loved this guy's voice
9. Shakedown, Bob Seger
10. Livin' On A Prayer, Bon Jovi I might know all the words to many of their songs, but I never, ever liked Bon Jovi!
11. La Bamba, Los Lobos Don't think I can actually say I LOVED this song, but I have excellent memories of crazy dancing to this, so it has great connotations...
12. Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
13. Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House
14. Always, Atlantic Starr
15. With Or Without You, U2 This one still gives me goosebumps even today...
16. Looking For A New Love, Jody Watley
17. Head To Toe, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
18. I Think We're Alone Now, Tiffany One of the ultimate braindead bimbo songs of all time
19. Mony Mony, Billy Idol He may have been a fake "hard man", but God, was he sexy to me when I was 18 (and living in a terrifyingly middle class, conservative part of southern England)
20. At This Moment, Billy Vera and The Beaters
21. Lady In Red, Chris De Burgh One of the most vomit-inducing songs I can think of, ever
22. Didn't We Almost Have It All, Whitney Houston
23. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2 See #15
24. I Want Your Sex, George Michael OK, we all know he's gay NOW, but we (or at least I) didn't then and I thought he was sex on toast!
25. Notorious, Duran Duran The whole Duranie thing left me cold - apart from "Rio" and "the Chauffeur"
26. Only In My Dreams, Debbie Gibson Bleurch
27. (I've Had) The Time Of My Life, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
28. The Next Time I Fall, Peter Cetera and Amy Grant
29. Lean On Me, Club Nouveau
30. Open Your Heart, Madonna
31. Lost In Emotion, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
32. (I Just) Died In Your Arms, Cutting Crew Oh God, one of my first ever "slows"... oh, the memories, the memories!
33. Heart And Soul, T'pau The singer from T'Pau had RED HAIR which made me feel like less of a freak...
34. You Keep Me Hangin' On, Kim Wilde Definitely no match for the fabulous "Cambodia" and "Kids in America", but I'll always have a soft spot for KW (plus she babysat the daughter of my parents' best friends, how's that for cool?!)
35. Keep Your Hands To Yourself, Georgia Satellites
36. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), Aretha Franklin and George Michael
37. Control, Janet Jackson
38. Somewhere Out There, Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram Vomit, vomit, vomit
39. U Got The Look, Prince He may be a total twat (my opinion), but this was great
40. Land Of Confusion, Genesis
41. Jacob's Ladder, Huey Lewis and The News
42. Who's That Girl, Madonna I've really only "bolded" Madonna because she epitomises the 1980s for me (but yeah, I bopped around to this too)
43. You Got It All, Jets
44. Touch Me (I Want Your Body), Samantha Fox Is there anyone on the planet who can actually say they like this (not to mention love it)?
45. I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
46. Causing A Commotion, Madonna
47. In Too Deep, Genesis Pure schmaltz. Early Genesis was quite good, but it just got worse and worse
48. Let's Wait Awhile, Janet Jackson
49. Hip To Be Square, Huey Lewis and the News
50. Will You Still Love Me?, Chicago
51. Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac
52. Luka, Suzanne Vega Achingly, heartbreakingly good
53. I Heard A Rumour, Bananarama
54. Don't Mean Nothing, Richard Marx Another song so sickly sweet it makes you want to barf
55. Songbird, Kenny G
56. Carrie, Europe
57. Don't Disturb This Groove, System
58. La Isla Bonita, Madonna
59. Bad, Michael Jackson I think I've only ever liked Billie Jean (and the Jackson 5)
60. Sign 'O' The Times, Prince
61. Change Of Heart, Cyndi Lauper If I'd been less of a wimp, I would have loved to have dressed like Cyndi Lauper! And I just love her voice (even now - bought her greatest hits a while ago and have several CDs)
62. Come Go With Me, Expose
63. Can't We Try, Dan Hill
64. To Be A Lover, Billy Idol
65. Mandolin Rain, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
66. Breakout, Swing Out Sister
67. Stand By Me, Ben E. King Love the song, love the film, still get goosebumps seeing River Phoenix...
68. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Genesis
69. Someday, Glass Tiger
70. When Smokey Sings, ABC Great British group, now long forgotten I suspect
71. Casanova, Levert
72. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine This is what I call MTV music (and it's not a compliment!)
73. Rock Steady, Whispers
74. Wanted Dead Or Alive, Bon Jovi
75. Big Time, Peter Gabriel
76. The Finer Things, Steve Winwood
77. Let Me Be The One, Expose
78. Is This Love, Survivor
79. Diamonds, Herb Alpert
80. Point Of No Return, Expose
81. Big Love, Fleetwood Mac
82. Midnight Blue, Lou Gramm
83. Something So Strong, Crowded House
84. Heat Of The Night, Bryan Adams
85. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, Glenn Medeiros Barf, barf, barf
86. Brilliant Disguise, Bruce Springsteen Loved Bruce, but don't know this one
87. Just To See Her, Smokey Robinson
88. Who Will You Run Too, Heart
89. Respect Yourself, Bruce Willis Are you serious?
90. Cross My Broken Heart, Jets
91. Victory, Kool and The Gang
92. Don't Get Me Wrong, Pretenders Oh, this brings back great memories too! Just love Chrissie Hynds' voice...
93. Doing It All For My Baby, Huey Lewis and The News
94. Right On Track, Breakfast Club
95. Ballerina Girl, Lionel Richie Possibly one of my least favourite songs ever. Topped by "Hello", of course, and its vomit-inducing video
96. Meet Me Half Way, Kenny Loggins
97. I've Been In Love Before, Cutting Crew
98. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party, Beastie Boys Yeah, I liked songs "with attitude", but this seemed too put on and I hated it
99. Funkytown, Pseudo Echo
100. Love You Down, Ready For The World

OK, over to you now!

samedi 25 octobre 2008


So, after blogging even less than sporadically for the last 6 months or so, I've now decided to sign up for NaBloPoMo and 30 posts in 30 days... A real challenge for me!
I'm not actually very sure how I'll manage, but I've launched myself (very, very cautiously) into a "New Me" programme, so perhaps a little bloggy discipline will do me good.
And this "New Me" programme? Well, I've taken up Tai Chi Chuan, once a week. Absolutely hopeless at it, as I guessed I would be, but I'm hoping it'll "tone" my few remaining muscles before I collapse into a heap of blubber and jelly... I've also promised to start eating better (haven't actually started yet, but I will), get the flat looking presentable enough for us to invite people round, get my Christmas shopping done early (ha! ha! famous last words)... Really, a New Me is on the horizon.
So, wish me luck for NaBloPoMo - I'll do my best!

vendredi 10 octobre 2008

Good vibes

So, people, this one's not about me (makes a change!).
I read a LOT of blogs - probably too many, in fact, but hey, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs... - but one of the very first I started reading is one written by a cool chick in Illinois called Moreena. You can find her at http://moreena.typepad.com/falling_down_is_also_a_gi/
I don't know her at all (apart from what she writes on her blog), and we'll almost certainly never meet, but she has been in my thoughts an awful lot these last few days. She, like me, has two daughters (one who turned 5 yesterday, one who'll be 8 at the end of the month God willing). She and her husband are of different nationalities (she's American, he's German). So there are similarities between us. But the big difference is that her elder daughter, Annika, is, as I write, undergoing repeat surgery less than 24 hours after her THIRD (yes, people, you read that right) liver transplant. Annika is one amazing little girl. She's been through so much, yet she remains funny, crazy, beautiful through it all.
I'm not one for prayers and stuff, but please, send good vibes to Annika tonight. Send good vibes, too, to her maman, Moreena, her papa, Jörg, and her little sister, Frankie, who had to spend her 5th birthday without her family, knowing that her adored big sister was going through life-threatening surgery.
They are all in my heart tonight, they are all in my thoughts.
I just hope that this is the liver that will give Annika the "normal" life she so surely deserves.
Life really sucks big time for some people.

jeudi 9 octobre 2008

Crunch

All this talk of the credit crunch is pretty scary - the "experts" (ho ho) are spouting forth, all doom and gloom, the end of the world is nigh, bla, bla, bla.
But what does all this really mean? I've never understood the stock exchange - it's not "real" and I can't figure out why, if share prices drop, a company is on the verge of bankruptcy... No, it's not my world, and I just don't get it.
I have money in my bank (though never very much, despite working like a slave most of the time), and as far as I know it's still there.
The only crunch I'm really interested in is the one in my mouth - like when I "crunch" into a yummy little biscuit, or "cronch" on to a tasty cheese and onion flavour crisp.
But you all know me and my midnight munchies.
As for my penchant for Zac Efron, well, I still find him unbelievably cute, but going to see "Mamma Mia" (another fabulous, happy, feel-good film that will get you singing and dancing) has reconciled me with the older generation (Pierce Brosnan! Singing!).
That said, I am feeling mighty old these days. I look like some kind of witch (my hair! yegads, my hair!) and, despite my attempts to dress like a trendy, young working mother (!), I still somehow look like a freak.
And I'm going to Lisbon NEXT WEEK for a translators' conference for two whole days and will need to look at least moderately human. Don't have the least idea how I'm going to manage that. Plus, I'm stressed at the thought of being away from my little girls for so long (yes, I know, it's less than a week, but I've never been away from either of them so long). But I'm also desperately excited at the prospect of staying in a hotel, having no childcare duties to perform, being me, not just a maman...
I'm sorry, I'm jumping from subject to subject like a distracted 4 year old (hmm, sounds familiar), but my mind is buzzing with all the crap I have to deal with and my almost total lack of motivation for any of it. I make endless lists of all the stuff I have to do in a given day and then wind up not even doing half of it...
Oh, and apparently I'm deeply allergic to something (I suspect it's work...) because the SNEEZING, people, oh, the SNEEZING, it is driving me INSANE... Whole body sneezes, dozens at a time, no obvious trigger (can be inside, outside, in bed, at work...).
Sweet dreams, one and all!

vendredi 3 octobre 2008

Back from the dead

Wow. Not bad, as hiatuses go.
But I'm back now, you can all breath easy again.
No, seriously, I never meant to take such a long break, but things have been hectic, and I'm a lazy cow at heart and... and... oh, you know how it is...
Anyway, quick catch-up:
Great holiday in Italy (not shacked up with either George or Brad, unfortunately, but very close, at least geographically), OK summer, C and L changed schools, my father came for 3 weeks (as did D's mother, at the same time of course), I've been working and well, that's it, really.
Ah yes. The girls.
Oh, people. I'm in a dark place right now. The change of school has gone fine, essentially. For C, I thought it would be harder than it was and I'm really proud of how she's coped with the change from a class of 8 to a class of 25. For L, it was tougher, with lots of wailing in the mornings. But she's fine when I go to collect her in the afternoon, and she's made friends, and her teacher says all is going well.
BUT.
L is being sooooo difficult at home - she won't help out, she won't do anything she's asked to do, she has tantrums... I'm at the end of my proverbial tether (any further off the end and I'd fall off, in fact) and spend much time either screeching like a Harpy (and making my beautiful girls cry) or crying myself (which also makes them cry). I feel like shit, I feel like such a failure as it's obvious that L is desperately SOMETHING (unhappy, disturbed, insane, stroppy... I just don't know) and I don't know what to do.
This week hasn't helped, with D away in England since Tuesday and not due back till tomorrow. I have a new-found respect for single parents - this gig is TOUGH!
I'm exhausted, desperate and prone to long bouts of sobbing.
I love my little girls, I love them more than anything on earth. But I'm failing them, I'm not making them happy, I'm screwing up their childhood and I'm terrified they're going to grow up hating me, never remembering the good times we've had together (yes, unlikely as it seems, there ARE good times).
I feel wretched and terribly, horribly alone - the friends I want to see the most are in another country and I just don't have the same friendships here.
Tears are streaming down my face, my sweet little L was sobbing when I left her, all I want to do is run to school and scoop her into my arms. But when she IS here, she bugs me to death at the moment, doing everything she can to press all my buttons. It's the ultimate lose-lose situation. I ache to see my girls when I can't, and yearn for them to be elsewhere when they're here. Not all the time, not all the time, I swear. But this week. And lots of times all the same.
I don't deserve them, my angels. They're sweet and kind and bright and beautiful, and I love them, really, really love them.
But I'm no good. No good for them.
The only thing I'm fit for is work.
I often feel like I should just walk out and never come back. They'd probably be happier without me. But I don't do it, and will never do it.
What's gone wrong? Why is my life such a fuck-up? Why are my girls so difficult?
Help me, someone, please.