Gypsy Firefly

Today's post isn't about a random song- the blog title relates to an image I love. When I was in Perth in August I bought a card titled 'Gypsy Firefly' (I took a photo of it, which you can see above. It's quite blurry but it gives you an idea of what I'm talking about). The image was created by artists called Angi Sullins and Silas Toball. There's something about this artwork that I find so mysterious and inspiring - I want to be able to step inside the picture and be transported into this girl's world. I think it was that kind of feeling that made me want to write in the first place; the desire to live inside any world, become any character and experience a bit of magic. I've got a few cards by these artists (as does my friend Lorna). I also just discovered this evening that they have website of art, inspiration and short films at www.duirwaigh.com. I'd recommend having a look if you want to step into an alternative little world for a while.

This is an example of one of the films they've created. It's called 'A Knock on the Door' (which I find kind of funny seeing as one of the lines of my Haiku I wrote last night was 'she comes knocking'. A nice little bit of synchronicity...)For me the music ruins it a bit so I prefer to view it with the sound off! Enjoy :) and hope it brings you all some inspiration...

No sound but the wind

Today's song is by the Editors. This would have been such an appropriate title for Monday when the gale force winds were blowing across the country. I was going to attempt to write something profound in my blog post today seeing as I’ve been a bit lazy with the whole random song a day thing but then I thought nah, I’d rather attempt another haiku. So here you go:

No sound but the wind

As night falls, she comes knocking
Whispers in the air:
Can you hear me, are you there?

Awful

Today's song is Awful, by Hole and this is a bit of stupid blog post because I'm really tired tonight and wanted to write something but my brain can't cope with anything too taxing...

So here's a list of things I think are awful:

Dark mornings

Butter

That new Haribos advert

Katie Price, Jordan, whatever the she devil calls herself these days

Ignorant people

Injustice

Always joining the wrong queue (you know, when you join the shorter queue only to have the old biddy in front of you take half an hour to count out the exact change)

Nightmares that are so vivid they leave you in a daze for the rest of the day (thankfully don’t have that many nightmares)

Having to deal with overly loud/happy people first thing in the morning

Accidently eating a bit of the foil paper from a Kit Kat wrapper – eeee- this is the equivalent of someone scraping their nails down a blackboard for me

Eating a packet of fruit gums and only finding one blackcurrant one (and way too many yellows)

The fact Smarties no longer have the answer, due to them now tasting of ‘natural colouring’ with no mood enhancing E numbers

The fact I can no longer tape anything on TV because I don’t have one of those fancy box things

The way old people always moan about young people being rude then proceed to ram you in the heels with their trolleys

As Dust Dances 2/15ths

The random song posts are back as I was needing some inspiration to kick start my writing again and this seems to work for me. The song is by Biffy Clyro (who seem to come on a lot when I have my MP3 player on random)and below is my poem. It's been a while since I've written proper poetry, and it could be said I'm still not, seeing as this breaks rules with erratic rhyming and bad punctuation. It's quite a melancholy poem for which I blame the weather.

As Dust Dances 2/15ths

I predicted your last goodbye
like watching time unfold and knowing it will be told
You can hold the moment, lock it in a memory
but you know and I know that soon
it will become a trace, soon the clocks will erase
and it will change, and we will become dust.
The mirror with a lost reflection, distorting the next direction
You cannot be followed, I cannot trail it back
The pictures and the words never capture
everything that was true, everything that was you.

My Boy Builds Coffins

Today's very random song is by Florence and the Machine . I think I'm going to make this my last random song themed blog post and seeing as I started with a Haiku I'm going to finish one. I also had no clue what else to write with that title as a theme! So here it is...

My Boy Builds Coffins

The last resting point
he carves in contemplation
of who will lie here.

Blank Page

Today's song is Blank Page by the Smashing Pumpkins. Missed a day so guess that is fitting in with the whole blank page theme...

When faced with a blank piece of paper I'm often tempted to doodle. I had a conversation with a friend yesterday about doodling and how it's a really good creative outlet/relaxer for when you feel like producing some art but can't quite be bothered to focus properly (or can't focus properly because you're in some 'important' meeting). It reminded me of a doodle I kept from years ago which turned into a bit of an elaborate drawing (which is above). I dated it on the back so I know I drew this when I was about 14 and I think I could actually draw a whole let better then than I can now! Supposidly you need to keep drawing to get better and I don't do enough these days. If I could go back to study something full time I'd love to go to Art School. I remember my art teacher encouraging me to think about applying but my bro was already there and I thought one art student in the family was enough (particularly because he is 110% more talented than moi!). I was also kind of worried that if I tried to formally 'study' art it would take the fun out of it.

I think doodling is probably the art equivalent of 'free writing' where you're supposed to just disengage your brain and let your pen form words. I've tried that before and it's quite hard to get into the 'zone' but once you stop overthinking it's quite cool to see the bizarre sentences it produces.

Sometimes...

...is today's song by My Bloody Valentine.

This is kind of a vague title which I guess makes this post easier in some ways. 'Sometimes' is a word which evokes feelings of wistfulness or nostalgia. Which is quite appropriate really as when I was in the Arches Cafe Bar this evening I noticed a woman (crazy woman) in a wheelchair who used to frequent the GFT Cafe Bar when I worked there many years ago. She used to come in with a tray attached to her wheelchair demanding cake in a very loud voice, always wearing a baseball cap and always telling staff members that they looked like some famous person who they had no resemblance to whatsoever. This evening in the Arches she had a massive pizza on her tray and was positioned at the bar while she ate. I also saw her (or more like heard her) in the audience at a play I went to one night in the Arches and she laughed really loudly at the most inappropriate bits.

Seeing her this evening made me feel a bit nostalgic for those days when I worked in a job where I had little responsibilities and got to meet lots of interesting people and sometimes lots of crazy people,and got to play my own CDs behind the bar. I still get to meet some interesting and crazy people in my present job (in fact the crazy is on a whole other level sometimes, with massive cuddly toy rabbits making appearances and I also had to interview a client right after he peed himself - an adult client, bleurgh). Sometimes I get bored with 9-5 routine though and I guess that's why it's important for me to do creative things outwith work to add some variety. Sometimes I think it would be great to be able to write full time, maybe go to some nice cafes, go to the cinema in the afternoon... but in reality I think I'd fritter away the day doing pointless things (and probably eat too much chocolate) I think sometimes the busier I am, the more I actually do (so the more I actually write).

That's what I'll tell myself anyway to feel better about those dark mornings that are approaching when it feels like I'm making the commute to work in the middle of the night and when I get home all I want to do is crawl into bed and forget the world, only for it to start all over again the next day... I hate winter, you'd never guess eh? Sometimes I wonder what it would be like living in a country which has no proper winter...