X Factor Live Shows

It's a Saturday evening in late September, which means it's X Factor season.

So, last year I wrote weekly bloglets about X Factor. Some of you may remember this. Most of you probably won't. Anyway, it's that time of year again.

This time round I toyed with the idea of creating a separate, new blog dedicated solely to the X Factor recapping but decided that I wasn't sure that I would continue doing it every year and seeing as I usually ramble and rant a lot in them, they would probably fit quite nicely into Inane Ramblings anyway.

That being said, unless you watch the UK X Factor, these bloglets probably won't make much sense to you, so I will not be offended if you skip reading them (look out for the give away 'X Factor' in the bloglet title).

For anyone who is still interested, the first recap will be up sometime after the first live show. There is a slight problem in that I don't actually know when the first live show will be (haven't been paying much attention to the series this year) so maybe give me a shout if you know? Ta!

Vancouver Is Awesome

My family and I just got back from our summer holiday. We went to Vancouver. Vancouver, by the way, is a FREAKING LONG WAY from the UK. It's about 7500km (a fun 'technical problem' with the 'blade system' meant that we were treated to the information channel on the plane for half an hour before take-off, so I became well acquainted with the statistics).

Aside from being a long way from home though, Vancouver is also a very cool place to visit, and here's why.

1. It has an aquarium which somehow manages to care (like really, actually, properly care) about conservation projects without ramming it down your throat every two minutes or guilt-tripping you into making donations and immediately turning vegan.

2. It has a museum which has such a high percentage of its artefacts actually on display, and not hidden away in storage, that it's practically impossible to see them all (you can take a look at them online if you're worried about missing something, though).

3. It is beautiful. Just amazingly, stunningly, effortlessly beautiful. Rather like me, actually.

4. The wildlife is way cooler than anything we have here in the UK. Don't get me wrong, I love badgers and hedgehogs as much as the next person, but you're not going to convince me that this...

...is anywhere near as cool as this...

5. It has English chocolate but better versions of it. Cadbury's is pretty much the yummiest chocolate around (that's non-debatable by the way) but while on holiday we discovered that the Vancouverites ... Vancouverans ... Vancouverish ... Canadians get even more interesting versions of it than we do. Like pretzel and peanut butter. Whoever thought of that combination should just retire immediately. There's no way they can better that one.

How about you? How was your summer? Did you visit any cool, new places?

A Birthday Message

Hello Hannah (and anyone else who may be reading, but specifically you, Hannah). Today, as you are probably aware, is your 24th birthday. Unfortunately I am on holiday at the moment and therefore unable to wish you a happy birthday in person.

But do not fear.

Your ever loyal and wonderfully organised Grover has prepared for this by scheduling this bloglet and by making a video message for you. If everything goes according to plan you will be able to watch this video by clicking here. (The video has annotations which won't be visible on a phone, so please watch on a computer!)

If things are not going to plan, you won't ... but I hope you have a fantastic day, get lots of presents and eat lots of cake.

Happy birthday, lovely!

I'm Still Here

Just a quick one to let you know that I'm still alive and just being lazy with bloglets at the moment (plus the Olympics have been a HUGE distraction and I haven't strayed far from a TV).

Normal service will hopefully be resumed towards the end of summer (family holiday to Vancouver first), but until then, what's been going on that I might have missed?

New Year's Resolutions - A Second Revisit

Believe it or not it's now July.

A few months ago I wrote about how my new year's resolutions were going and I said I'd be back around May/June to see if I was still sticking to them.

So, as a quick recap, my three resolutions this year were to:

1. Keep a weekly blog.

2. Learn 12 new songs on the ukulele.

3. Learn how to knit.

Number 1 is going very well, largely due to the A to Z challenge which added an extra 26 bloglets to my count (I'm mostly sticking to at least one new bloglet a week, but as long as I've written 52 more at the end of the year than at the start, I'll be happy).

Number 2 is going pretty badly. I do play my ukulele quite a lot, but I'm not learning lots of new songs. Must try harder, I know.

Number 3 is just not 'going' at all. I probably haven't picked up a pair of knitting needles since I wrote my first resolution revisit back in March.

How are your resolutions going?

Do you even remember them or have you already completed them by the half-way point in the year?