Don't Give Up Until You're Dead

 Ah, The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. If you haven't heard of it, you've been living somewhere without WiFi for the last month. When I did mine, I had only heard a little bit about the "ice water challenge" and I woke up to a nomination and wasn't aware of who I was supposed to donate to or that I was  actually supposed to have ice in the bucket! I used extremely cold tap water and donated my money to Macmillan Cancer Support, which was who the UK seemed to be giving to. Then I started looking up other challenges and seeing that it was actually the "ALS Challenge." I had no idea what ALS was. I had heard of Lou Gehrig's disease, but again didn't have a clue what it was, so it was time to do  some research . It was then I discovered that ALS is actually a form of MND (Motor Neurone Disease)  - or vice versa - which I  had heard of, and had known people who had suffered from it. In fact, you probably  all know someone who has a form of it - a ve...

 If someone asks me years from now, "What's the best piece of advice you've been given?", I will definitely have an answer for them. Up until six months ago, I'd always heard things that are useful, or seen people I admire in interviews say things that can be noted down, but nobody had every said anything directly to me that had impacted me or my life to any degree. However, last October, after one of 16 nights of a run of a city play, I was sitting in a pub with some of my cast members having a fairly angry (text) argument with someone. Obviously I couldn't see it, but I expect my face looked like a wet weekend and one of my cast mates leaned over and asked me what was wrong. I explained and he offered me these words of wisdom: "Don't waste time caring about people who don't care about you." At which point I put my phone down and haven't spoken to that person since. I don't think I can express how much healthier things have be...

  "Shameless" episode 404 "Strangers on a Train" Photos .

 January 1st saw the VERY highly anticipated return of BBC original drama series Sherlock . Now before we start, for those of you who don't watch/haven't watched/are considering watching  Sherlock,  let me tell you a few things about it. Each of the three seasons contains only three episodes, but the episodes are all 90 minutes. Each one is loosely based on an original Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes story, but set in the present decade, i.e. use of mobile phones, t'internet etc. The series is co-created by Steven Moffat (of Doctor Who writing fame) and Mark Gatiss (who has also written a few Doctor Who episodes, but is also a very great actor and co-creator of The League of Gentlemen ) who also stars as Sherlock's older brother, Mycroft. They are both terrible because they make us wait a loooooooong time between seasons, so if you start watching now, you're lucky because you can watch all three seasons back to back - no waiting! Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) w...

 SPOILER WARNING: A rant. I live in the UK, so with a great number of movies/TV shows etc... the release dates over here are a long way behind those in the USA, but sometimes even when we are just a week behind with a show, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a spoiler warning on a review or when someone is about to start live-tweeting about something so people like me who don't want to see spoilers (I know some don't mind being spoiled) at least have the  option  to look away. I have only just seen a spoiler for a show that I watch less than 24 hours after it has been aired. And not just a little scene, but a HUGE character development. And with absolutely no spoiler warning whatsoever. And before all you social network people say "you should have muted the tags" - it wasn't tagged, so that wasn't possible. Also, web twitter doesn't allow you to do that does it? (If it does without an unofficial add-on that would be GREAT) I co-run a fan-...

 So we're five months into the year... let's have a quick check in on how we're doing with these: Resolutions: FINISH the fanfic I started writing.  YES!! I finished it just yesterday! It's FINISHED and I wrote a couple of others too! DO NOT GET ANY MORE BOOKS until my to-read shelf (and to-read folder on Kindle) are both empty! FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL. I have read a couple from both shelves but also bought several books. DOH. Get a good mark on my first year at Uni. My marks for the first semester were good! Just waiting on the second semester now! Try not to get sucked into fandom nonsense: um... can I just... many fandoms. Much nonsense. I can't help it! Think before I speak/type/tweet.  I think this is going okay? Except maybe when drunk. Three out of five. Not bad. Let's see how I'm doing a couple more months down the line!

 I didn't do a round up of the year at ALL, I just realised! And after this  post, so much is different, I really think I should! For starters, I quit my job at WeightWatchers. Our house (and car and every available space basically) was completely overrun with stock, there was no room to move, and since becoming employed - as opposed to self-employed - the previous year, it had all been about the numbers and not so much about the members any more and that wasn't how I wanted to work. so in March 2012, I resigned. And my weight hasn't been the same since! HA! The holidays. Ah the holidays. The Chicago/NYC trip was amazing :D I saw my friends and we had an amazing night in Chi-town, followed by me making my way in New York City and indeed getting the lovely Andrew Garfield's autograph on my  Death of a Salesman playbill :D :D :D Having never seen or read that play before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I loved it. Whilst at the theatre, I also managed to  liter...