Saturday, December 25, 2010

One Step Ahead of Myself

Bonjour, mes amis. Merry Christmas!

It's that time of year again; time for reflective entries where I think about the type of person I'd like to become and ways I plan to get there. On the plane on the way home from Edinburgh, in a bid to distract myself from my fear of falling out of the sky, I made a list of resolutions. Not one of my resolutions is weight related. I think that's progress. My healthy eating and positive habits are just life now, I will continue to lose weight because I've changed. I don't need to put unnecessary focus on it.

It's mostly career-related, this list. That's fairly amazing when you consider that this time last year I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I thought event manager. Funnily, that's still part of the package.

I'm not sure if I've written about it here yet, but I've decided to pursue being a singer/songwriter. My core of family and 2 Cork friends have been just really supportive. As in, no one has tried to talk me out of it. When I told Martha she very calmly said, "Yes. I think that's probably right." As if it'd been staring us all in the face. I suppose in a way it had?

So my resolutions are as follows:


__..::  Write and/or play music every day.

__..::  Record three albums.

__..::  Record one Wizard Rock album.

__..::  Become an inspirational performer. (Totes easy, guyz.)

__..::  Achieve the next grade in piano.

__..::  Spend time promoting myself.

__..::  PLAY AT LEAKYCON!!!!!!

__..::  Book at least one live show of my own music.

__..::  Write more letters.

__..::  Gain an acceptable level of French. (Be able to hold a conversation.)



Before the 16th December I honestly thought that the Snow Ball in Edinburgh would be my last Wizard Rock show. I thought I was finished writing music about Harry Potter. Being there, spending the weekend with my friends, meeting new friends, singing, drinking endless tea, singing, hugging, eating porridge and singing.... It's just reminded me what friendship can be. It's reminded me of why I got into it. It reminded me of how amazing people can be, how you can have a group of friends around you who look out for you and care for you the way you care for them. It's something that I encountered twice in America and something I don't think I've ever really encountered in my own Irish life. It's incredible. And so, I feel inspired to keep doing it. Until I have to stop...

I'm not the kind of person who will keep flogging a dead horse. When the time comes, I will stop. If I'm not inspired, I won't write. But the people in the community, especially here in Europe and Scandinavia just surprise me with their warmth, their support and their willingness to give of themselves. When I see someone come from Norway or Germany to come to a Wizard Rock show that I'm playing at, it really amazes me. And no one is horrible. We don't seem to have any drama over here.

Okay, I need to stop gushing. Long story short: ♥

Here are some photos of what I got up to...

sonic
SONIC SCREWDRIVER!!!

performers
Cathrin, Ellie, Laura, me, Lucy





Singin' at the Snow Ball.



Snowball fight with Kylie in the Tom Riddle Graveyard.



I wrote this.


I didn't write this.


My voice was fairly wrecked by the time I came to these two songs so please don't judge. D: