Five Minute Fridays-Visit

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts but I had a few moments to spare today, and the prompt sparked a flash of inspiration in my head, so I've joined in today-hurrah!

A reminder-5MF is a kind of writing flash mob-people write for five minutes on a prompt word given on the 5MF blog page. The idea is to focus on the writing and leave it unedited, as it falls out of your head and onto the page in the five minutes you're given. It's kinda fun, and makes your brain work =)

Visit

I don’t like the fact that my city is no longer my own, that I can only visit it and it’s not my home. It feels weird knowing so many streets and houses and places in somewhere that you don’t live in, even though you feel like you should do. Every time I step out of the train station and see the shining fountains and the soaring buildings around me, I feel my heart lift a little, knowing I’m home again, and I always hate having to say goodbye. Getting on a train and pulling away from a place I love so well means I always leave a little bit of me behind with me, because I never want to go. I have been trying to move back there since September and have had door after door (sometimes quite literally) close in my face. I thought I’d found somewhere in early December, a nice room in a nice house in a nice area sharing with nice people, and I was elated to think my city was finally going to be mine again. Three weeks later I found out the nice room had already gone to some other nice person, and no matter how nice the people were they could no longer help me. Honestly, I was pretty heartbroken as I watched my home slip further away from me, and it makes | you think like you’re never going to get back, like you’re asking for something unobtainable, like you should give up and try and love the somewhere else you currently live as much, as if you ever could. But I keep visiting, and my city always welcomes me back, and I keep leaving pieces of me behind myself when I do. Maybe if I leave enough then somehow by osmosis I’ll get there again someday. I can always keep hoping, and always keep visiting.

| denotes where my 5 minute alarm went off

If you want to know what Five Minute Fridays are all about/take part yourself then more information can be found here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/

My posts are all here: Five Minute Fridays

Five Minute Friday-Song

At the moment I keep getting stuck on a single song that I feel the need to play over and over again. The other day it was 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Bonnie Tyler-I just kept playing it on repeat and singing along ALL DAY. Then came the turn of 'Let’s Fall In Love' by Ella Fitzgerald-again it got put on repeat and I couldn't stop singing it. More recently when I was feeling miserable it was Poison's 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'* because it has words that I can relate to almost too well. I don't know why I keep getting taken over with the urge to listen to only one song for an entire day, but it keeps happening, so I just go with it.

I love singing, I've always sung things-whether it's bursting into song because someone said a phrase that's also a song lyric or just generally singing along to my music late at night so my parents come and tell me off because they can hear me downstairs. It's probably annoying as hell if you're one of my friends and I interrupt our conversation with random music, but I love it. It always makes me sad when I have a cold because I can't sing all the time. I'm not really a very musical person-I don't have (as my bass tutor put it) an internal metronome and I couldn't tell you what a note was if someone played it to me if I tried. But song lyrics stay with me forever-once I've learned them, whether it was for a show or just by listening to them on repeat hundreds of times, I know them for good. I might not get the tune spot on but I will know the words!

Source: Open Clip Art Library

I am someone who connects to songs completely-there's so many songs that speak to me, and have done throughout my life. Whatever the situation, whether I'm feeling happy or sad, there's a song lyric that reflects this. Songs that make me cry, songs that make me happy, songs that just make me go “YES. This person understands.” I love them all! In a way I collect them-I remember | all the songs that have held significance to me over the years, even if they don't any more. There's songs that will always remind me of people and will invoke memories in me, both happy and sad. There's songs that I can't listen to any more without giggling because me and a friend have either turned them into a personal joke, or misheard the lyrics, or just had a good time whilst they was playing. Similarly, there's songs which I actively avoid listening to because I know they'll just make me feel upset. I guess I have a kind of Pavlovian response to songs-they will always make me feel the same emotions that I have subconsciously attached to them as when I first discovered them. I wouldn't change it though, wouldn't go back and have those lyrics mean nothing to me again, because they're all significant for so many reasons, so many events in my life. My songs are important to me, and always will have a hold over me, and I wouldn't be without that for anything.

-Jenni-

*My music taste is nothing if not eclectic!

| denotes where my 5 minute alarm went off

For more details about Five Minute Fridays or to read more entries/take part yourself, visit http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/

To read more of my 5MF pieces, click here.

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Five Minute Fridays: Friend

For a while after graduation I felt really lonely-I felt like I’d left all my friends behind in Sheffield and didn’t really have many people here in Nottingham. I’m glad to say that this has now changed, and that I have people in both cities (as well as scattered around the country) that I can call my friend and I feel really lucky for that. I’ve got people who I don’t see very often but when I do it’s like we’ve not been apart at all. I’ve got friends who let me kip on their floor when I need to, or who always offer me their spare room if I want it. I’ve got friends who make me laugh until my sides hurt like I’ve just done 20 sit ups and friends who are there when I need a shoulder to cry on. I’ve got friends who I miss, friends who I don’t realise how much I’ve missed until I see them again, friends who I really wish I saw more of. There’s this whole network of people stretched across the country (and in some cases across continents) that I know I could call on if I needed it-if I wanted someone to talk to at stupid AM when I can’t sleep or just wanted a hug, or if I wanted to spend a day pulling stupid faces at all the cameras at a theme park. I’ve got pen friends, and blogger friends too-people I’ve never met but who comment on my blogs, or tweets,  or write me | letters telling me about their lives and all the things they love. I’ve got so many people who care about me that I don’t know how I ever felt lonely-in this age of technology no-one is more than a text, email or Facebook poke away. And you know what? That’s BRILLIANT.

To all my friends. You’re wonderful. You give me a million reasons to smile, laugh, and wince when you’re telling cringey stories that come with actions.  I’m so bloody grateful for you all.

THANKS.

| denotes where my 5 minute alarm went off.

To find out more about what Five Minute Fridays are all about/read more/take part yourself then all the appropriate information can be found here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/

Five Minute Fridays: Ordinary

I never wanted to be ordinary when I was a teenager-I went out of my way to buy things that were unique, were different, I never wanted to be one of the crowd. I’d loudly and obnoxiously proclaim my dislike of anything that everyone else was buying just because everyone else was buying it, and I’d get mad at my friends if they copied me because it meant I couldn't wear that thing any more. Yeah, I was a bit of an arse.

I've never owned Converse shoes because when I was about 15 everyone had Converse. I stubbornly resisted even when they brought out nice ones, and when I was 17 I bought my first pair of Doc Martens in luminous neon green because no-one else had them-ironically I got into Doc Martens before all the hipsters thought they were cool.

Seriously, it's awesome.
This photo is so me-I love it!
Taken by Michael Lau

And now? Now I am more content to be ordinary, as ordinary as any one person can be at least. Sometimes I'm happier blending into the crowd than standing out against it vibrantly and obviously. And sometimes I wear amazing things that I know are going to make everyone who I pass notice me, because I want to be different that day, I want to be extra-ordinary. I've learned to relax a little, I share the same clothes as some of my friends and we make jokes about not wearing them on the same day as each other. I don’t get cross with people any more if they tell me they really want to own something I have because I take it as a complement-it means they think I'm cool, I'm trendy, | or at the very least awesome enough to emulate. And yeah, I know I have my own kinda ‘look’ sometimes, and I love it-wearing a mini skirt with a big pair of clumpy Docs will never not make me feel amazing. At the start of each day I can choose to be as ordinary or as un-ordinary as I like, and that, as far as I am concerned is an excellent thing.

The site link to this blog is www.ordinaryextraordinarylife.com and that is because it expresses my opinions exactly-everyone is an entirely ordinary human being, same as all the rest but everyone is also entirely extraordinary too and we’re all different in a million trillion brilliant ways. It’s pretty awesome.

NB:  |  denotes where my 5 minute alarm went off.

If you want to know what Five Minute Fridays are all about/take part yourself/read posts from other bloggers, more information can be found here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/

My posts are all here: Five Minute Fridays

Five Minute Fridays: Beloved

I realised something yesterday-that Valentine’s Day shouldn’t just be all about romance, it shouldn’t just be viewed as a day to spend in a couple reminding each other why you love each other, but it should be celebrated with everyone you love. It’s a day where you should take a little time to tell everyone that you love that they matter to you, that you think they’re amazing and that you care about them. I really enjoyed my Valentine’s Day and I didn’t do anything romantic or especially love-centric. I went to see 4:48 Psychosis with my friends-a play that is definitely not themed around Valentine’s subjects-it’s very dark and tells a tale of very severe depression. But it was very good, and I enjoyed the fact that I got to spend time in good company watching some theatre (one of my favourite things to do.)

 My best friend gave me flowers and came around to my house just to hang out with me-we didn’t do anything other than lie on my bed and veg out with each other but it was really nice to see her. People posted nice things on my Facebook wall, on my blog post, sent me texts that made me giggle. A lady commented on how fabulous my new Doc Martens were (let’s face it, she’s right there) and it really made me smile. | I discovered this website and it made me feel wonderful.

So to all my friends reading this, if I didn’t tell you yesterday; I love you. You’re brilliant. You matter. You’re absofuckinglutely amazing. You make me smile, make me laugh and fill my life with awesome things and I’m so glad that I know each and every one of you. And I hope you all had fantastic Valentine’s Days, whatever you did. 

NB:  |  denotes where my 5 minute alarm went off.

If you want to know what Five Minute Fridays are all about/take part yourself, more information can be found here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/

Five Minute Fridays

In my insomniac madness the other night when I was searching the corners of the internet for solace in the blog of a stranger or two I happened upon something wonderful-the Five Minute Friday project. Described (rather accurately) as a 'writing flash mob' by the person who came up with the idea, the challenge is to write for 5 minutes only, unedited, unscripted, inspired only by a prompt word posted at midnight on Friday mornings (which is unfortunately 5AM for us Brits!), simply for the joy of writing. Then everyone who's participated link all their efforts to a post and take the time to read and comment on at least one other person's. I think it's lovely-it really unites people in blogging together regardless of the wildly different topics their blogs may normally be on, and there's so many different and interesting posts all inspired by a single word. Some are fictional, some are true to life and some are beautiful, and this is something I want to get involved with. I'm not going to stay up until 5AM every Friday morning so I can do it live with the other participants but I am going to try and devote five minutes of my life every Friday to writing 200 words or so. I'll post some of them, not others, depending on what the prompt is and the post that results from it.

This week, for example, the prompt word is 'Bare'. I've read a few-there's a lot of religious posts about laying yourself bare before God etc etc, there's some about the bare trees of winter, some just about feeling bare without a certain person/object in their lives. Me? I wrote 215 words about being naked, in my usual uncompromisingly honest way. I wonder what they're going to make of me? I definitely don't fit into this community made of mothers and religious folk, I am neither of those things and I am unlikely to ever be. I've read a lot of the 'Bare' entries and not read a single swear word yet-I can only imagine that my posts are going to be heavily disapproved of. But I still want to do it, more because I really like the idea than anything else, it's fresh and it's different and a tiny bit wonderful. Whether my posts go down like a lead balloon or are enjoyed with the humour they're intended to have, it's going to be interesting, that's for sure.

-Jenni-

NB If you want to take part in Five Minute Fridays then all the details are here: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/
The prompts are updated every Friday morning at 12:01 EST/5:01 GMT but the link stays open for the whole week, so you can complete it at any time. If you do, send me a link, I'd love to read your take on it.