Post-Newday2012. Yes, miracles happen.

Well then, last week was an eye opener.
From last Monday afternoon, until Sunday morning I was camping at the christian festival Newday. Last year as I mentioned before was my first time going, and this time I knew what to expect and knew the people around me on my site, making the whole week considerably more entertaining than last. Don't get me wrong, I love meeting new people, its just easier when you already know said people and can joke about more from the first day.

This year, I had the better mindset and insentive to wake up earlier whatever/wherever i am waking up to, therefore made it to the 9am prayer meetings, which really set me for the day. Up until recently I found it somewhat uncomfortable praying aloud, as unless I have suffiicient time to think of how to explain what I mean, as I am hopeless at using my words in a verbal context. However, the prayer meetings allowed me to practice and thus I have considerably improved.

I squeezed every last drop of what I could out of the event. I attended numerous seminars on topics from suffering to sex. It has to be said, the relationships seminar was most interesting. As you would expect, the notion of sexual relations outside of a marriage was discouraged, but did not make me feel regretful of anything I have done, or indeed plan to do. I feel bad that I don't feel bad.

The biggest and most significant evening for me personally was the healing evening. For over the past three years I had been suffering with tendon damage to my right thumb, and had severely weakened my ulnar collateral ligament due to repetitively snapping it.

The injury originated from a skiing accident on a dry skii slope, when I failed to perform a parallel turn. My left skii caught on my right and threw me to the ground. In the process, in a feeble attempt to stop myself tumbling down to the base of the decent my thumb was caught in one of the hexagonal holes between the brisles. It was wrenched backwards, ripping and snapping everything besides the bones.
As time went on, my tendons healed. However, where they welded themselves back together with a slight overlap, they had made themselves shorter, reducing motion and making them prone to tear under pressure. As an accidednt prone person, it created a vicious circle, until I had to give up my career as an amateur wicket keeper for the Norfolk Under 15s Cricket Team.
From then on I was unable to perform basic tasks without pain, such as hold a pen properly or open a bottle. I adapted, but continuously grew frustrated with myself. I am passionate about art, and I couldnt draw without my arm being in burning pain if I was drawing for prolonged periods of time. I wasn't going to give up something I love so dearly, so I prayed every day for over a half a year in desperation.
Finally, on the Friday evening, I gave it one last try. One last burning sesnation shot up my entire hand, then it went extremely cold. I opened my eyes. I walked over to Annabel, and held out my hand to her. We played a thumb-war, and I won. I writhed my thumb in every directon - no pain. I reached out for my boyfriends hand and pressed the back of his palm with it tightly, indicating to him what had just happened - and still no pain. I think that was the first time I've ever cried with happieness before. That evening I was also witness to a deaf man being given back his hearing, and one of my best friends giving himself to Christ.

Now I am home again, I have a new.perspective on things. It was one hell of a week, and as a result, I am perfectly content right about now. I am no longer anxious or scared of anything, and relish the idea of the next challenge that is thrust upon me.

Sorry this was an extremely long-winded one.

Signing off with a smile,
Pinchh

Ten somewhat rather convenient things.

Every so often, i dont know about you, but i realise how really utterly privilaged i am to have been born in the western world. As part of the culture, convenience is everywhere. Yes, it's technology based. I love it. I made an appreciative list of my favorites and everything.

1) Google.
This one may be somewhat obvious. Before google (b.g), if one wanted to know something, one had to either walk to the local library and whip out a book, or crack open one beastly-large encyclopedia. Now, you turn on your computer/phone/other smarte-arse device and punch in some keywords, then an overly-large amount of information from across the globe from throught time is bestowed upon you. Magic.

2) Smartphones
It's a computer in my pocket. Admittedly the majority of their battery-lives is abysmal, but oh so wonderfully available whenever i need it

3) Shazam
Hand-in-hand with the above, "Shazam" is an application that you can download onto your smartphone to listen to a snippet of a song, and through a wifi connection tell you what it is, being redicliuously accurate, and it takes a mere few seconds. Brilliant for discovering bands/musicians that have been used in adverts or soundtracks.

4 ) Spotify
After finding the name of a band referenced by a friend or that you have indeed "shazammed", Spotify enables you to find their music easily. The adverts inbetween songs are tedious, but for free it isnt half bad.

5) Microwave cooking.
Ovens? Gas rings? Sod that. I want some pasta, therefore shall empty a sachet into a plastic bowl, add some liquid of sorts, set the time to something under ten minutes, "beep" - done. Minimal effort required.

6) Dishwashers
I hate soggy food. It can even make me want to gag. Shove plates and that in a dishwasher and you dont have to bother with scrubbing at pastery slop from a previous meal. Job done.

7) Money
Again, pretty obvious. Money lets you buy things you want and need. It may be the "route of all evil" but you can at least drive a nice car whilst you're at it.

8) Facebook
Yeah, its time consuming and pointless in some respects, but you can't honestly tell me you haven't used it to stalk someone at somepoint.

9) The postal system
The nearest shop to where i live is four miles away. Via the internet i can order stuff from the comfort of my own home. Also, i can send/receive mail which is rather nice, and postcards are pretty.

10) Cameras
Enables you to capture a memory, beautiful scene, whatever you would like, and be able to share/show it to the world. Just, amazing.

Time keeps running away.

Suddenly the end of my long post-high school summer days are on the horizon. Seriously.. WHAT?!

So anyway, I've been productive. Not my usual "lets-plan-and-do-nothing" productiveness in my mind, nor my "work-hard-at-my-education" productive, i mean my until recent months somewhat neglected form of productive - my "creative-outburst-of-awesome" productive.

You see, at the begining of this summer after i had completed my overly infuriating GCSE examinations, i made a concious desicion to not waste the most possible longest summer holiday of my life in which i have the oppertunity to do (within certain boundaries) whatever i would like with little imput from my parents. Therefore, i've been socializing, planning, creating, exploring, practicing, and generally enjoying the absence of utter boredom my new-found motivation has unlocked.

After my last exam, i was slightly at a lose end. I had spent so long focusing on nothing but trying to do my damned hardest to achive the best results possible, that when they were over i didn't know what to do with myself. Therefore i figured, i would do all the things that i had to sacrifice due to my exams. I've let my mind roam free and it's been brilliant.

I've mentioned before about my dyslexia and my tint glasses. Technically speaking, the glasses are for Meares Irlen Syndrome (of which is easier to refer to as MIS, because abreviating it makes it less real and menacing to me), but this "disability" isn't a disability at all for me. I mean yes, my RGB balance of this very computer screen is 50/55/65 but it causes me to think in an entirely different way to the majority of the population. My mind is physically structured to do so, and one of those ways is through creativity, thus i have been producing depictions of emotions and memories in order to both practice and hopefully improve my skills, but also to draw/paint pretty things i can show people and go "look at the prettyness i made!". I may find it difficult to explain things without being able to have time to find the right adjectives to use or gesticulating with my hands but you need only look at a photograph or painting i have produced to illustrate what i mean, how i feel, or indeed in recent months whom i feel for in that inevitably smushy and pheremone-fuelled way.

That's another thing that came about this summer. I've emotionlly attatched myself to another human being, in a way that both scares me and leads me into more over-thinking, yet fascinates me that i physically have the ability to have these emotions that come with. It's quite funny really - precisely a year ago I met the unfortunate induvidual to now be stuck with me, and back then i was oblivious to the outcome of meeting his aquaintance (at Newday infact). I always knew of him, and wanted to talk to him, but never knew quite.. how. Newday gave the perfect environment and excuse. It went from there really.

Speaking of Newday, 2012's starts THIS MONDAY. Monday eve is also a peak for a beautiful meteor shower. Its predicted it'll rain, which by definition SUCKS, but i'll pray for clear deep blue peppered skies, preferably not "pissing it down".

Apologies for the leangthy post. I just had a lot to say this time. I need to pack.