My New Blog

Just to let my (non-existent) readers know - I've relocated. This time to a blog where I actually post regular well written stuff :)

 http://thisizapen.wordpress.com/

Professions I've considered

When I was five, naturally, I wanted to be a princess. I don't think I ever really thought about it seriously, but it was something I dreamed about. As I grew older the fantasy sort of faded, and when I was about six or seven I wanted to be an air hostess. It just seemed so glamorous and exciting - wearing make-up and high heels and wearing the outfit with the bun and hat, I loved airplanes and it seemed all professional. But then I became worried about the plane crashing or blowing up. Which was really stupid because, yes there was a chance it would blow up, but there was also a chance that the tube station would blow up, and I had no problem with using the underground. But I was six, so it's kind of justified. Oh yeah, and another thing I considered aspiring to was becoming a train driver or pilot, but I rejected both ideas for the same reason.

Eventually I decided I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, and didn't really bother thinking about it.  I would get really annoyed when adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, because it was like the most boring question ever. Seriously. I mean, did they even care what I wanted to be?

Then, like five years later I realised I wanted to become an author.

Before, I'd liked writing, and I mean really liked, but I didn't want to become an author. Partly because it sounded boring and partly because it seemed stupid to decide to want to do something now, especially since I had so many hobbies, including drumming. But then, I got really into writing, probably because I discovered creative writing, which was about not fussing over grammar, and being... Creative.

At the same time, I also wanted to become a drummer/ drum teacher. Drum kit or djembe, I wasn't suRe which. Possibly both. But now I've decided drum kit player.

At some point I also wanted to run sushi making workshops.

Right now I want to be an author and a drum kit player.

What's been happening...

I've been Tweeting a lot lately, which might be a reason why I haven't been blogging as much. But I intend to blog more often (Yeah, I know, you've heard that one before.) It's just hard keeping track of all the stuff I have to do/ want to do/ should do. I know I've said that before but it's still true. There aren't as many drumming classes, but there's more stuff to do at home.

Sooo... I'm meant to be writing about what I've been doing lately, right?

I've been listening to Nirvana a lot. I have been making barbecues. I have been going to Westfield and eating Westfield pretzels. I have been listening to The Kaiser Chiefs and Skillet.

I've been getting really distracted from my work and going on Twitter, or googling life hacks instead.

Today I went to a home-ed group today in Regents Park. I had vege-mee for lunch.

I have been living :-)

How to make Moroccan tea

We recently had a guest from Morocco who showed me how to make Moroccan tea. Here's how :-)

Ingredients:

- 1 teaspoon of green tea
- 1 pinch of dried lavender
- 1 pinch of zatar
- 1 pinch of lavender + thyme mix
- About 2 cups water
- 5 small teaspoons sugar

I know it just looks like a list of ingredients but trust me, it is so easy once you've memorised them. I mean, it's not even hard to memorise! Just make it twice and you'll probably get it :-)

Directions:

Okay, so there are two ways - with a metal teapot (that has small holes in the spout so you don't need a strainer) and with a normal pot.

Metal teapot way:

1. So, first of all, you should boil the kettle otherwise the water is just gonna take AGES to boil on the stove. Remember, boil about two cups.
2. While it's boiling, put the herbs in the teapot and give them a quick rinse.
3. Next, add the water you've just boiled, to the teapot and leave to boil on the stove for like 4 minutes.
4. After 4 mins, and when you've got a gut feeling it's ready, turn off the stove and add the sugar. Then, mix by pouring into glasses and then back into the pot. When you pour, you should pour from high up so it gets mixed really well. A good sign is if there are big-ish bubbles on the top of the tea.


5. Pour into little glasses. It's quite strong so traditionally, you're not really meant to drink, like a full mug of it. But you can if you really like it :-)

Normal pot way:

It's basically the same way as the metal teapot way, except, without the teapot you can't really give the tea a rinse before you boil it. I think that's ok, though - it doesn't make a huge difference, it's just nice to be thorough. And when you pour the tea, you'll need a strainer.

This tea is traditionally drunk in the mornings and evenings, and is something you make for guests when they arrive, so I'd say in Morocco it takes the same place in as English tea does here.

Stuff I said but didn't do...

Okay... I'm aware that I have promised blog posts that I haven't posted. Here are some:

- I said I'd write a book review for, "Missing, Me."

- I said I'd do the BG - WG short weird challenge.

There are lots more (I know that was only two!) but I  can't think of them right now. Anyway, the reason I did this post was to say that I probably won't be doing those posts :-(... The reason I haven't done them so far is because I've lost interest/ haven't had time/ haven't been in the mood... and unfortunately I don't think I'll do them now. It is really annoying for me when that happens because I feel like I'm sort of not finishing something I started. Also, a lot of the time I intend to add photos but I forget/ don't have time/ can't find the photo/ can't upload it. So I'm sorry. From now on I'll try to keep my promises :-)

Most amazing vegan chocolate cake!

I've made this really delicious chocolate cake three times, and it is really moreish!! REALLY. So here's the recipe: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-BEST-chococlate-cake-ever...that-happens-to-be/

Also... it happens to be vegan. But it doesn't taste vegan! You wouldn't guess that it was. And it's SO easy. You can do it in like 20 mins.

Is it right to edit previous posts?

Occasionally when I'm looking back at previous posts I notice typos or mistakes. Or just stuff I wrote that sounds really lame. If it's a recent post I change it, but if it's from a while back, I feel wrong changing it, you know? Because I feel like I should preserve it - sort of... I won't write like that again. In fact, I won't even  change the font or colouring - and I know this sounds really stupid - but it's sort of for the same reason: I wrote it when I was younger and I feel like I'm faking it if I change it now. Because even if I edit it, it still comes up in the same order (As in, if you edit a post, it won't come up as the latest post) so it appears like I wrote like that a while ago. And I didn't. So it's like I'm lying. The problem is, sometimes the font or colour is Awful with a capital A.

Differences between Camden and Brick Lane market

I went to Brick lane market about a week ago, and at first thought it was quite like Camden; retro stalls, food stalls, graffiti, very-fashionable-clothes and... well, a generally cool atmosphere. But the more I thought about it, the more different they seemed from each other. At first I couldn't work out why; they were both markets, both, "arty" or, "city-ish." Now I can think of more reasons.

Firstly, to me Camden seems more concentrated; wherever you go there will be "Camden-ish" shops or, "cool," stalls/ stores. Whereas in Brick lane, the shops/ stalls seemed further away from each other, and there is a wider range of products on sale, different types of cafes and shops. In fact, Brick Lane almost seemed more real. There were more restaurants and corner shops, places where you can imagine locals going regularly - "useful" places; in Camden everything seems themed - all attention-catching and touristy, which isn't to say that it's all a, "poseur town," just that it seems like it has more tourists than locals.

I also noticed that Brick lane seemed more culturally diverse, with shops (Rather than mainly stalls) selling what I would call, "exotic," food. In Camden, although there are shops that sell, "exotic," food, they sell it as a highly  priced novelty, the food advertising itself as foreign and interesting; in Brick Lane, "exotic," food is sold like it just happens to be exotic. Also, (In Brick Lane) it's not competing so much with other shops to be more attention-catching - and it isn't expensive as in Camden. I'll admit, there were some stalls in Brick Lane where the main attraction was that they're selling (Highly priced?) global food, but there were many authentic-seeming shops on the streets to balance it out.

Another thing I thought was different about the two places was the age-appeal, Camden appears to be younger than Brick lane.

"Rough Trade," record shop in Brick Lane

T-shirt re-styling

Okay, I wanted to do a post on this a long time ago but I didn't have the time/ didn't get round to doing it. So I guess I'll just write now...

A few months ago, I found some videos showing you how to REALLY EASILY re-style your t-shirts. What makes it so easy is that you don't have to do ANY sewing/ glue-gunning and you don't need fabric paints/ special materials/ clothes studs/ sequins/ beads etc. yet it makes your shirts look so cool and new!

Here are some of the videos/ tutorials I found:
- For some of THESE ones you'll need to sew but there are a few here like I was talking about
- Eight ways to cut off-the-shoulder shirts
- http://www.cottonable.com/diy-t-shirts-ideas/#.UxHri14vEx8
- Video
- How to make an old band shirt cool again 
- Make an oversized shirt smaller - making the sides cool too!
- This is a GREAT video
 

You can also do your own stuff inspired by them/ have a look at Pinterest/ Google images for inspiration.

How to make shop-style bubble tea

The day before yesterday my mum took me to Camden to satisfy a bubble tea craving. Well, really, it was mainly to see Camden but buying bubble tea was part of the attraction. I tried honeydew melon flavour for the first time and was pleasantly surprised to find how real it tasted. I was a bit worried at first because I know it's always risky when you buy fruit-flavour items (As opposed to real fruit items) so it was cool that it tasted real.

Then, yesterday after my art class I persuaded my dad to stop by a bubble tea shop so I could spend my money on another one. It was a shop I'd never been to before so I went with what I call, "safe" : a hot taro flavour. I chose passionfruit flavour popping boba - one of my favourites. There was some kind of offer, but you couldn't have popping boba if you went with it, so I didn't buy it.

That's the first time I've ever had bubble tea two days in a row and I don't regret it since I really like the drink. Unfortunately, if I want REAL, "AUTHENTIC" bubble tea I always have to wait till we go out -  'cos when I try to make it at home it seldom tastes like the real thing. Here's why:

1. They use powdered milk, which I don't have.
2. They use powdered flavouring, which I don't have because you can only buy it in bulk - and you have to spend like twelve pounds.
3. I don't have popping boba. I don't know where to buy it.

SO I HAVE FOUND OUT A WAY TO MAKE IT TASTE MORE LIKE THE REAL THING. Without those ingredients.

Here's what you can use instead: Strawberry Nesquik.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1. Normal tea/ Rooibos
2. Water
3. Milk
4. Nesquik powder (Strawberry flavour)
5. Cooked boba
6. Wide straws (Optional)
7. Sugar

Directions:
Brew the tea in a mug/ cup for a minute or so (Not as long as usual because it's not meant to be strong.) Also don't fill it as high as usual because it's meant to be quite milky; you need to leave space for the milk. Next, pour in some... milk, enough to fill it to the top. Stir in two heaped teaspoons of strawberry Nesquik powder, and one or two of sugar - depending on how you like it. Add the boba and you're done!

This is as close to the real thing as I have ever got; it doesn't taste exactly the same - obviously but it's pretty good. The Nesquik is a good substitute for the powdered flavouring that you can only buy in bulk, and it also contains powdered milk, one of the ingredients for, "real," bubble tea.


Related posts:

- Mooboo
- Making bubble tea

Poffertjes - Part 2

Since we enjoyed our stall-bought poffertjes so much, my sister and I decided to make some at home. My dad had to find a recipe for us, since most of them required buckwheat flour and yeast, which we didn't have. In the end he found one that seemed similar to normal pancakes except it was thicker, the kind that forms bubbles and of course you needed the special mold.

Since we didn't have the mold-pan, my dad got out this really old kuih chara pan from the cupboard, which was egg-shaped, but worked anyway. We didn't fill it to the top since poffertjes are smaller than kuih chara.

The result was a lot like the real thing, but only when we kept the poffertjes small. They were maybe a bit more dense than the stall-bought ones, but tasty all the same. I think the best sweet topping for them is butter + icing sugar (Those are the essentials for all sweet poffs) + nutella + fruit. You need at least one fruit otherwise the nutella is just too sweet and smothers the other flavours. I haven't yet tried savoury poffs.

Though I haven't tried it, I'm pretty sure you can make poffertjes with a normal frying pan. They'll be a little flat, but they'll probably taste the same. And the bubbles will make them puff up anyway.

Poffertjes - Part 1

While I was strolling with my sister in Brick Lane yesterday, we walked past a stall selling poffertjes. We tried them, and my sister liked them so much ("They're so yummy! Daddy, please can we get some?") that we decided to buy some. I'd seen something similar in Camden Lock market, and also in Westfield, but they'd always been overpriced. I think they were about £5 for eight! I have to admit, the poffertjes did look a bit bigger in those places, but not so big that they should cost that much. In Brick lane they cost £3 for fifteen, with 50p added for each additional topping. I thought that wasn't so bad.



At this point I should probably explain what poffertjes are. A lot of people think say they're, "mini pancakes," which is actually a pretty good explanation, except if you make mini pancakes, they aren't automatically called, "poffertjes" because they're small. What I'm trying to say is, poffertjes are a kind of small pancake, but not all small pancakes are poffertjes. Got it?

A poffertje is a kind of Dutch mini pancake, with a circumference about the size of a watch's face. Or the size of an old-style penny coin. They're puffy - in fact, the guy at the stall told me that, "poffertjes," literally translate to, "little puffs." The puffiness is because of little holes in the pancakes. They're traditionally made with buckwheat flour  and yeast, and cooked on a pan with little pofferje-shaped holes/ moulds. The batter is poured into the moulds and turned after a few minutes, once it's solidified.

We had to wait a while for the poffertjes to cook, and then the guy at the stall put them on a plate with butter and icing sugar - which don't count as a topping, seeing as everyone has that. Then we chose nutella as our topping, and strawberries as our additional topping. There were these little toothpicks that we were given to eat with, which I think is quite cute.

After eating a full pofferje each, my sister and I concluded that they were "AMAZING." My parents tried them too, and didn't seem to think they were amazing, but they liked them too and my dad suggested we make some when we got home. So we're going to make some pofferttjes today.

Drumming update (For like the millionth time)

Still doing drumming - just three times a week now. As you know about why I quit Batala Why I stopped going to Batala, I don't have to explain about that. So I'll just give you an update about the rest of my drumming. 

Drum kit suddenly got harder. I'm learning more about actually reading the notes. I'm learning new symbols and how to read those. Obviously I can't play like Ginger Baker or Jen Ledger, but you know, I'm getting there... :-) ...

Djembe... I'm pretty sure I said this before, but I'm now doing teenage drumming on Wednesday, and also, "normal" drumming on Friday. "Teenage drumming," isn't really some special exclusive drumming group for adolescents! It's actually a really funny name, "Teenage drumming." It's just a small, focused drum group, mainly with 12 - 16 year-olds. But you learn a lot there, like a lot.

Right now in teenage drumming we're doing a rhythm called, "Macrou." You can google it for more info. I know that's really mean of me, like telling you abut this drum rhythm and then suddenly making you google it yourself, but the truth is, I don't know much about the rhythm myself! I mean I know how to play it, but I've forgotten the background story that my teacher told me about it! Also, if you want to hear how it sounds, you can google it.

ER... yeah, that's about it.

Seeya!

Why I didn't enter a Lucozade competition

I bought a bottle of Lucozade and was excited to see that on the bottle there was some kind of competition. I wanted to enter, and apparently you needed a code from the bottle so I peeled off the label to find it.

Then, obviously, I went onto their website to enter the code. Next, I had to enter my e-mail address - that was fine; they needed to email me to let me know if I'd won! After that I had to, "Confirm e-mail address," still fine. I clicked, "Next." But then, a whole list of other information that you had to give them appeared on the screen: title (miss, mr, mrs etc.) telephone number, first name, surname, gender, date of birth, what Lucozade flavour you bought and finally the, "Verification code," to make sure you're not a robot. Typical. They'd obviously made it appear after the e-mail address on purpose, so you wouldn't be put off by the long, "Form," you'd have to fill in. But, because you'd entered your e-mail address, you'd think, "I've already entered my e-mail address, I might as well carry on." Clever, but really irritating. Then, of course it refused to let me enter because I'm under sixteen. I'm not angry about that, because it had said that on the bottle (In small print though) and I had forgotten - that's why I'd tried to enter. At the bottom of the page were these two tiny tick boxes:

a) I agree to receive exciting news and offers via email from Lucozade and the Lucozade Shop.
b) I have read and accept Lucozade's Terms of use and Privacy policy*

*These bits are required.

So basically, it was all to get your e-mail address so they can send you adverts. I should have expected that, and I'm sure it's not just Lucozade who do that, it's most other companies too.

In case you want to enter the competition, here's my code: AHU F2M H9S

I won't be entering it.

An awkward moment

I often find that telling people about embarrassing moments makes them less embarrassing. I also find that other people usually find the moments less awkward than I do when they hear about them.

Anyway, here's an awkward moment that happened to me a few days ago in Camden. It's not that bad but at the time it made me cringe.

My sister and the other person I was in Camden with were queuing for the ATM. I was pretty bored and I didn't fancy pointlessly standing in a line, so I decided to check out this amber shop next to the ATM. Walked in, and it seemed really nice, you know, beautiful stones everywhere. I was looking around in the shop, admiring the amber necklaces and things, when the woman who probably owned it walked in. We greeted each other and then she said something that at first I thought was, "We've got lovely amber here." But she said it sort of quietly, so I wasn't sure. So I said, "Sorry?" and she said something that sounded like, "You've go lovely hair." But then it could have been, "We've got lovely amber here." The problem was, I wasn't sure which it was. It sounded more like,"You've got lovely hair," but it would be SO embarrassing if I had said, "Thanks," and she'd been talking about the amber. I knew I had to say something, or show some kind of reaction - soon. I couldn't ask because that would be awkward. There wasn't much time to think about how to react, and of course in a normal situation you don't think about how to react you, you just say what comes naturally. So at first I just smiled, and then I sort of let out a laugh that was a mixture between a grunt of, "Yes," (In case she was talking about the amber) and an appreciative smile (In case she was complimenting me on my hair.) I figured I couldn't go wrong with that, since it had many meanings and it was generally a positive reaction. She seemed a bit confused, as anyone would be, and said, "Yes, you know?" I just smiled again, sort of nodded slightly, in case she was talking about the amber. She just said, "You know? You already know this?" I shrugged, still smiling. By this point I was 80% sure she'd said she liked my hair but if I said,"Thanks," and it turned out that the other 20% was correct I'd feel like an idiot. So I said good bye with a smile still and walked hurriedly out the shop. I'm sure I left her pretty confused.

Now you should know that my hair wasn't particularly nice that day. In fact, it was a bit messy, but someone had recently told me I had nice hair so I wasn't sure. If it turns out she wasn't talking about my hair, this blog post is a lot more embarrassing than what happened then.

Skillet

I could probably do a really long post about Skillet, but it would be boring for both of us, so I'll try to keep it short.

The current members of the band are:

• Seth Morrison
• Korey Cooper
• Jen Ledger
• John Cooper

Seth is the lead guitarist. John Cooper is the lead singer and probably the most famous person in he band. He also plays guitar. Korey is John's wife. She plays the keyboard and sings in some of the songs too, but does keyboard more. Jen Ledger is the drummer, and she also sings in some of the songs. She did the drawings for the music video for, "Rise."

Skillet formed in 1996.

Everyone in Skillet is American except for Jen, who's British.
 

Music I like...

Here are some songs/ bands/ singers I would recommend to you :-)

•  I've just discovered, "The Glitch Mob." You've probably heard of them but (If you like them) you need to make sure you hear them. Their music is, "Glitch," as it's obvious from the title. The Glitch Mob is electronic, like a more energetic version of daft punk.
•  Skillet is my favourite band. Their music is really cool, but then of course everyone says that about their favourite band. So they might not be your idea of nice to listen to but I like them :-) Their music is CCM or Christian rock. My favourite albums are, "Rise," "Awake," and, "Comatose comes alive."
• Imagine Dragons. I don't listen to them that much, actually, but I like, "It's Time," and, "Radioactive."
• The Wanted. This band, I really don't listen to that much, but I've started listening to them lately and they're ok! My favourite song by them (Or the one I've listened to most) is, "Chasing The Sun."
• Nirvana (Even though I only know their three most famous songs)
• I really like some old rock/ heavy metal bands like, "Iron Maiden," "Metallica," and, "Black Sabbath."
• The Beatles. I'd heard their songs before but never  purposely listened to many of them, until recently. I actually think they're better than I thought they were a few years ago. Sort of calm and catchy.
• Speaking of calm and catchy, I used to really like, "Jason Mraz." I don't listen to him as much now but I still enjoy his songs.
• Also, George Barnett. I saw him singing at HESFES and I think I went to his music workshop (I think because I don't remember exactly who ran it but it was probably him.)
• Go West. It's a really sweet, catchy song and my mum likes it too.
• Smoke On The Water. It's the only song by Deep Purple that I like.
• Slipknot (Yeah, I know exactly what you're thinking but don't say it to my face.)
• Uptown Girl
• Eye Of The Tiger. Top motivational song.
• Daft punk
• Avicii

You can post your favourites in the comments section? :-)

Why I Stopped Going To Batala

Okay, so as you know, I stopped going to Batala drum classes a while ago. Here are the reasons why:

1. Limited number of drums
There weren't many drums/ knee pads/ drum straps/ drumsticks, so everyone was scrabbling to get there first. Some of the other people going there would help me, but sometimes if you didn't manage to get the equipment you'd just have to watch. Luckily that never happened to me; unluckily the other option was having to play the type of drum I hadn't been practicing the other weeks, so I ended up with a bunch of different drum parts in my head, not always being able to continue with what I'd done the previous week.

2. Disorganized
Well, I've already implied that it was disorganized in my last paragraph but I don't think you understand to what extent it was; one day, a potential solution to the drum shortage came: we tried assembling our own drums. Of course, I was pretty relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about not having a drum for the next few weeks, but it turned out that I didn't even get to assemble the kind of drum that I wanted! Okay, let me explain in more detail: So we - me and my mum - got there (Walked all the way from the station and through a complicated set of doors/ corridors like usual) and it turned out we were meant to make the drums outdoors. Most of us got there on time, but we still had to wait around 1 1/2 hours before we started; the drum pieces hadn't been set up properly. I knew which type of drum piece I wanted, and stood by it for a while to, "book," it. But when we didn't start for a long time I sat back down.

When we finally started, the teachers didn't properly explain how to make the drums, so me and my mum had to rely on help from people we asked. Also, as you know, I didn't get the right type of drum - the one I'd practiced the most, the one I could play the best, the one I'd wanted to get! I got a bigger drum (Hard to carry) that was meant to be covered in leather. Guess what? There was no leather to cover the plastic top with. So it sounded like the kind of drum I had wanted (Which wasn't how it was meant to sound) but it wasn't the right size/ shape to be the kind of drum I'd wanted. It took about two hours to make with no-one in charge telling me what to do. 

When I thought back, it wasn't just that day I hadn't been given adequate instruction.

3. A hassle
The drum was bloody bulky, and heavy too - and to have to carry it on the tube (Snagging on people's clothes) with no case all the way to Elephant & Castle... well, it just wasn't worth it. And what was irritating was that when I walked past with it people would stare/ get annoyed (Probably)/ ask what it was/ tap it as I walked past (This only happened to me twice but it made me so angry and apparently it wasn't just me it happened to. Once even when I tried to move away the drum they still insisted on tapping it; I'm talking grown men here not little kids.)

4. Irritating adults
Okay, I know I talk about a lot of people as, "Irritating," or, "Annoying," but I have a proper reason; I promise I wouldn't complain for the sake of it. There was this woman who came up to me after Batala and asked first, how old I was, next, whether my parents took me, and after that, to speak to my father. So, I got my dad to talk to her and found out she wanted to address the under-age issue (I was the only person under 18 and we were occasionally going to be playing in night clubs.) Now, when the woman was talking to my dad, she kept repeating herself, which was starting to get to my nerves but I wasn't that affected by it. The next week or maybe two weeks later my dad talked to the other teacher about it and they established that it was ok, you know, as long as my parents came along as well + I had their permission + I accepted that sometimes I wouldn't be able to play with them, like at strict clubs. So it was ok, sorted. I think the woman might have talked to my dad about it again, I'm not sure. But then a few weeks later, she went up to my mum to talk to her about it as well! So that's like two or three times we'd talked about it already and she still had to go up to my mum for a, "chat," again. And it wasn't a really quick talk with my mum.

So this woman wasn't a proper reason for leaving batala, but one of the benefits of leaving was that I wouldn't have to see her/ my parents wouldn't have to have endless talks with her.

5. My drum kit teacher left
My drum kit teacher also went to Batala for a while and he left after like three weeks. He didn't have a good feeling about it and that backed up my reasons for wanting to leave.



So I think I have covered most of my reasons. There are different Batala troupes, so who knows? Maybe I'll want to join another one some day. Although the leader of that troupe wasn't so organized, he was still pretty good at teaching the actual rhythms themselves. So it wasn't all bad. And I met some nice people there. Maybe I didn't feel it was the right place for me but that doesn't mean other people won't like it. You just have to choose the right place for yourself, and everyone is different.

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for not posting in a long time!

Just a quick update:

1. I stopped going to Batala a while ago
2. I still like sushi
3. I'm on Twitter (JamilaJJ)
4. I've started another blog with my sister (I'm not abandoning this one though.)
5. The Chaos Walking trilogy is still my favourite trilogy
6. Right now I'm listening to Gregorian chants

Satsang with Satyananda in Bristol

Last weekend my mum and I went to Bristol for Satsang with Satyananda. Satsang is where a group of people sit with a guru and discuss their questions or problems with him. Often questions or problems in Satsang are more about, "Finding one's self" and spiritual things like that rather than specific questions like, "I am studing for exams and I'm really stressed. What should I do?"

I had to wake up at six thirty in the morning to take the train to Bristol, which should have been fine, but I went to bed at eleven twenty or something, so I was really tired during the day. the morning was actually fine, but when we got to  Satsang later in the day I started to get really tired. Probably because we weren't walking around or rushing to get to places anymore, and we were sitting down in a really quiet room. It was so inconvenient that I was tired; I couldn't concentrate properly for some of the Satsang and I couldn't sleep either as the chairs weren't very comfortable. In the end I lay down half on the chair next to me and fell asleep. My mum had to wake me up when the first part (Which had lasted two hours) was over. We went to outside to the park across the road and ate our sandwiches. (BTW mine was fried salmon with chive Philadelphia cheese which I had been looking forward to for ages - and it was really tasty.)

I'm going to explain to you a bit about what Satyananda and other Satsang gurus teach. But I can only tell you what I understand.

Satsang is about finding yourself. Not the thinking, mind part, but the part that is actually YOU: The pure consciousness. The part that doesn't have a personality or judgements or a gender. That means really concentrating on YOURSELF - or rather, inside you. Finding the inner you. Which isn't finding a calm part of your mind, but finding something totally different from your mind. From what I understood, that means you have two parts: Your mind and your consciousness. You need to find the latter, be the latter. That might feel like leaving yourself behind, but what will happen is the two can fuse together - so you can still make decisions, but from a clear viewpoint, so you can see things neutrally. Maybe what you're thinking is, "But I am conscious - otherwise I wouldn't be able to think." But if you are conscious, that doesn't mean you are CONSCIOUSNESS. and this probably sounds really confusing, like I'm playing with language and not really helping you to get it. If you understand, great, but maybe a better way of explaining it is how Satyananda himself explained it; You do not find peace; you are peace.   That means that you're not with peace either, peace is you. and peace is not the mind because the mind is always busy - quite the opposite of peaceful. When you are peace you can make clear decisions because peace is not affected by the mind.

After the break we went back to Satsang, and I didn't fall asleep. Even if you don't go up to speak (I didn't) it's interesting to listen to what other people have to say. And sometimes funny too because Satyananda makes jokes.

Me and my mum couchsurfed that night, and the next morning went to the second half of Satsang.

The second part was better than the first (The chairs were comfier) especially when Satyananda talked about how you can change the past. You don't need a tardis. When you change your perception of the past, the past changes.

At the break I bought a cup of tea, then we sat drinking it for the second half.

When the Satsang was finished, we started making our way back to the train station.

The next Satsang with Satyananda will be in St Ives...