SONGS!!!

Here is some new year fun.  As we come to the end of 2010 and begin 2011, have a go at working out what songs are in this passage of text, and if you can tell me who sang them!

A new billboard went up the other day, it was all about change, the tag line said 'Come with us, run with us, we're gonna change the world, you'll be amazed, so full of praise when we've re-arrange your world.  We're gonna change your world'.  I stood there so amazed at something incredible cos it's common place knowledge that everybody wants to change the world, everybody wants to change the world, but no one, no one wants to die. 

I turned my back and walked down the street.  Tonight, out on the street, out in the moonlight, and dammit this feels too right, it's just like deja vu as the world won't change.  The world doesn't want to change.  I know that I will never be anything today, I'm tried to give, I don't want to try, I'm afraid to live, I'm afraid to die.  I walk into a church, wanting to pray, wanting to pray because I just wanna feel real love, fill the home that I live in, I've got too much life running through these veins, going to waste, I don't wanna die but I'm not keen on living either.

As I sit there, silence is all around me, drowning me, taking over and I know that the game of life is hard to play, I'm gonna loose it anyway, the loosing card of some delay so this al all I have to say 'Open up the gaes of the church and let me out of here! Too many people have lied in the name of Christ for anyone to heed the call, so many people have died in the name of Christ that I can't believe it all.  I run to leave, then I heard it, the small calm voice whispering in my sould 'I love you to death, I love you to death, I love you to death, 'til there's nothing left, I'll love you to death, I love you.'

My soul jumps for joy, singing at the top of it's voice, 'this isn't me' I used to say 'all the love was so gone, it feels so good to be alive I've been dead for so long'.  Walking home I feel as though my whole body is alive sing it for the world, sing it from the heart, sing ti 'til you're nuts, sing it out for the ones that'll hate your guts.  The world is alive, the world is amazing, and I feel great. 

I stop as something in the tv shop catches my eye. I am drawn to the subtitles 'Johnny won't you come back home, cos every one knows that you don't want to give yourself up tell the truth and God will save you'.  There a a poor boy in trouble, needing our help.... you'll get a five second warning for divine intervention with the satellites falling, prepare for ascension, as the earth looks on. 

I get to my knees knowing that the whole world is in trouble.  If I had got this news only a few hours earlier I would not have cared.  As it stands I have found a new lease of life, cutting down my Christmas list this year, I'm gone, I'm out, I'm in a penthouse in the basement, trying to make my life better.  Wanting to make things better.  Instead the soft lips are open, them knuckles in pale, feels like you're dying, your dying... I head for the light.

emotions

We've had an emotional day in community today.  One of our team members left, and it's brought on a lot of tears by people, baring me.  I haven't cried once.  In fact I don't feel anything.  It's part of life that people come and go. I accept that so I feel nothing, however I have made some flippant comments that have upset a number of people on community.  I have been more flippant that I would have normally been, and I think that's my way of showing my feelings.

I'm upset that this person has left, and it will leave a huge hole in community, and I will miss my head nuggles, however I don't want to cry about it as I know that she will go on to live a wonderful life.  Better than my life will ever be.  Why should I be upset that she's left?  Why should I cry because everyone else is?  However interestingly because I'm not crying no one is checking to see if I'm okay, they are all coming to me for comfort.  So I am taking comfort in the pills and the alcohol and the karaoke tonight!!

dang!

I suspect that last night has become the beginning of the end for me.  Last night I did something I am not proud of, but still it was something that I needed to do.  Last night I started to cry, I don't know what brought the tears, but they came from the depth of my soul.  They came from a place where the darkness lives.  I cried like I haven't done in a very long time.  Tears of pain, tears of utter sadness.  It was uncontrollable and unstoppable.  I don't know what triggered it.  The only reason I stopped though is because I started scratching.  The joy and comfort that offered me was unreal.  It was amazing!  I kept going until my hand started weeping.

This morning, as you can imagine, my hand is swollen and very sore.  The weeping sections of my hand have started to scab over.  Which means I need to cover up which is annoying.  It's so painful this morning, it's unreal.  I don't ever remember the pain being this bad.

I hate the fact that I did it, but it was the only way the tears were going to stop!!!!

Darkness

Those who have joined me on this blog from blog city, might have noticed that with my blogs now I try and include part or all of a song which speaks to me and about the subject in hand.  However for this entry I wish to do something slightly different.  I was to share a youtube video.

Robert Shaw

It's a canny few small films joined to make a larger film.  However I am going to to share with you the part of the entry that is called 'Prisoner'.

Darkness

It's all I see any more

My grandfather once told me 

That God will shine His light on us

When we've hit rock bottom.

That He'll give us an opportunity

To turn it around

But you're only given one shot

And if you don't take it

If you don't grab hold of that moment

..... Then darkness takes over.

For a while now I have recognised that the darkness is coming.  It's not all I see at the moment but it definitely is coming.  The signs are there, the feelings are returning, old habits have crept in, someone without my noticing (for example I'm covering mirrors again!)  I know that whilst I am where I am, I can not be fully apart of the work I'm doing or the community I am living in.  I know, from past experience, that I can not be part of life when that darkness comes.  I am not nice to be around, I do not want to be around people.  Something else I have noticed that I'm doing, I'm spending more and more time in my room and I'm not sleeping.  I am also writing again, which feels good, but I know I only write when things start getting bad.  Not great really.

The words though really spoke out to me.  I wrote them out a few days ago and have been thinking long and hard about why they speak to me.  I have come to this conclusion.  I believe that these words speak to me because my current situation is that God has shined that light on me, and that being here is my opportunity to turn it all around.  If I don't do it here, I'll never do it.  I want to be different, but I don't know how.  I know I can't keep pulling away from everyone, I know I can't keep hiding so I don't have to develop those personal relationships.  I know that I have to take that step and start talking to someone, but I don't know who I can trust.  I know I have started talking to B, but she is my boss' wife, so it feels a little odd being honest and open with her.  She is however the only person who comes to mind about who I can start trying to develop that trust.

What if I can't take this opportunity? What if the darkness takes over?  I'm not sure I have the strength to fight again.  When you're fighting in darkness, you have no idea if what you are doing is right or wrong, you have to trust that those you've put your trust in the right people so that they can bring you out of the darkness and towards the light.

"This guy's walkin' down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep he can't get out. A doctor passes by and the guy shouts up, "Hey you! Can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole, and moves on. Then a priest comes along and the guy shouts up, "Father, I'm down in this hole; can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey, Joe, it's me. Can ya help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are ya stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before and I know the way out."

Leo McGarry: The West Wing

 I just wish I knew who in my life is the doctor, the priest and who is the friend.  I keep looking at the people around me, but for various reasons I don't think there are any of them are appropriate for me to talk to.  They are either people who are volunteers, who are dealing with their own mental health issues, people who dislike me, or people who are just around for a few months.  I just don't know who there is around that I can talk to, or even start testing the waters with.

Someone can up to me today asking if I was already, I told them I was but inquired to the nature of their question.  They said that for some reason they felt that they needed to pray for me for some reason.  They didn't know why or what is going on, but they just have this feeling they need to pray for me.  Now this person is having many issues of their own, and I'm keeping  a careful eye on them, so I don't know if they are asking me this in hope that I will back off, or because they are worried.  However I told them that I didn't know where they get that idea from, but I thanked them for their prayers.

What worried me though is the subconscious signals that I am sending out.  At the moment, I'm very much faking it until I'm making it.... not just work but with everything.  I would really like at the moment in time to curl up in a ball under my desk and just forget that the world exists, but I know I can't do that.  At the moment, on the whole, I'm managing, however I'm not convinced at just how long I can keep this up.  I don't want to break down, but I don't want to talk to anyone.... I can't talk to anyone.

Sleep is being rather elusive as well, which isn't helping matters at all.  When I don't sleep everything seams so much worse that it is.  I don't know how much longer I can go with this sort of no sleep.  When I've had insomnia in the past I've not got tired with it.  I just didn't sleep or got very little sleep.  Now though I struggle with staying alert.  I want to sleep it just keeps eluding me.

".... your given only one shot, and if you don't take it, if you don't grab hold of that moment.... then the darkness takes over."

I just don't know how to stop the darkness, this time. 

Stupid, stupid me!!!!

How stupid could I be
A simpleton could see
That you're no good for me
But you're the only one I see
Stupid: Sarah McLachlan

So I'm not exactly proud of myself, but at the same time I am.  I haven't been coping at all well lately and I know that.  However, last night I drank a fair bit and I took three of my painkillers.  Not enough for me to get completely off my face but just enough that I could buzz away quite happily for the night.  I know I'm on a dangerous path here, but I don't know what else to do.  I don't trust anyone to talk to, I don't want to go back for counselling because I just don't have anything to talk about.  I don't know what's going on in my head and why I'm feeling like this.  I just know that last  night I felt quite happy for a while.

Still need to sleep though.

Doctor

So doctor, doctor won't you please prescribe me something?

A day in the life of someone else

'Cause I'm a hazard to myself

Don't le me get me

I'm my own worst enemy

It's bad when you annoy yourself

So irritating

Don't wanna be my friend no more

I wanna be somebody else.

Pink: Don't let me get me!

I have had some fun today.  I went to the doctors today to see if I can get a diagnosis of hyperactivity, ADD or ADHD as I can't take prayer for much more at work.  So I explained to the doctor what was being asked of me which is basically a letter  or a diagnosis of what's wrong with me so I don't need to sit in silence for such a long period of time.

When I explained to the doctor what was being asked of me, the doctor, tried and failed, not to laugh.  He thought it was insane that I needed a letter to be able to pray with some music in the background.  So he is going to talk to the psychiatrist to get his opinion and will be talking to my boss on Monday, and call me to let me know what is going on.  He thinks it's ridiculous that I am not being excepted for who I am within a Catholic community!!! He could not stop himself from sniggering.

I felt like a lemon for asking, but I also feel the same way.  It's insane that I need a piece of paper to say that I'm allowed to work and pray in a way that is conducive for myself and doesn't not do me harm.  What century are we in!!!

Creaper

"I may seem crazy
Or painfully shy
And these scars wouldn't be so hidden
If you would just look me in the eye
I feel alone here and cold here
Though I don't want to die
But the only anaesthetic that makes me feel anything kills inside."

Cut: Plumb

As part of my new job I must sit though half hour to an hour of silent prayer.  Anyone who has known me since my birth knows that trying to sit still for that long is not good for me.  I brought this up with my boss' and they were unsympathetic.  I told them that I boarder on having hyperactivity/ADHD/ADD, as a result I don't sit still for long and I can't concentrate on one thing at a time.  I have to be doing a number of things at once, so I wondered if it was possible for me to take in some music during this time to help me out with this and allow me to pray in a way that I know works for me.  I was rejected.  So I told them there would be a price to pay and as long as their willing to deal with that so be it.

Well the price has come.  I am once again dealing with Insomnia, which isn't too bad really, I'm getting a lot more writing done which is nice.  The bad part though is that my depression is trying to worm itself back into my life.  I have found myself drinking more, and taking my pain medication (even though I don't need it) with a bit of alcohol just so I can get a bit of a buzz.  I'm not getting high, not really, just enough so I can make it through the night.  I haven't started cutting though which is nice.  I find more and more though that I struggle to be happy and nice to people.  Most days I would be quite happy to kill most people I'm around, which is never good when you live and work within community.  I have also found that the only way I can be 'calm' during silent prayer is to start banging my head against the wall.  I didn't realise I was doing it to begin with but now I find it most comforting.  I know it's not a good sign though.

I also find myself pulling away from people, and spending more and more time on my own.  I don't want to be around people.  I recognise the road I am on but really not sure what I need to do to stop this.  I tried talking to someone about what's going on in my head, but she freaked out and found it hard to deal with so I'm not going to be talking to her again.  Not like the way she thinks I will be.

I know the road I'm on, how do I get off thought?

Proud

I look into the window of my mind
Reflections of the fears I know I've left behind
I step out of the ordinary, I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way, can't stop me now and you can do the same

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It's never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people if you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Still so many answers I don't know
Realize that to question is how we grow
So I step out of the ordinary, I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way, can't stop me now and you can do the same

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It's never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people if you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?

We need a change, do it today
I can feel my spirit rising
We need a change, so do it today
'Cause I can see a clear horizon

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
'Cause you could be so many people if you make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?

What have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today?
You could be so many people just make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?

I am so unbelievably proud of myself at the moment.  We had our first retreat this week, 98 seventeen year olds.  It was a brilliant two days, except for the two other staff members who, out of kindness ended up pissing me off and making me angry, because they would not allow me to lead the retreat.  By the end of the retreat I really did dislike them.  However the day after the retreat we sat down and talked about it all.  I explained my feelings and how they made me feel, but also that I know that they didn't mean anything malicious by it. They listened to what I had to say, and apologised as that was not what they meant to happen.  We talked open and honestly about our feelings from each of our view points.  It was very refreshing.  I am so proud that I actually spoke up about my feelings and actually did something about it, rather than getting depressed about it.

What have you done today to be proud?

Karaoke

There is this little bikers place down the road, that runs as a cafe during the day but an 25 and overs pub during the night.  It looks seedy and I've always been warned off it.  However when I saw a sign that said that there would be karaoke on Friday night, I put a notice up for the community and we went down there.  We were a little hesitant  on walking in, but I took the lead and just went for it.  To say that we out numbered the locals is no word of a lie. 

We all got ourselves drink, technically only two of us should have been able to buy drinks there, but instead we all manage to buy drinks... which I thought was funny.  Then the Karaoke DJ put some background noise on whilst he got set up, us being us, we got up to dance.  The locals just watched us not sure what to make of it.  When he put a song on we didn't like and sat down, he would change it and we'd get up and dance again.

We did do some singing, one girl in our group who is extremely shy shocked us all by doing a song by herself and rocking out.  She was amazing.  Never, ever judge a book by it's cover... I don't tend to but she just blew me away, I never thought she would be that amazing.  I also for the first time in a LONG time got up and sang a few songs.

It was really nice to get out of work and let off some steam, have a few drinks and just let my hair down.  I danced, I sang, I had a really enjoyable night.  When everyone started going home at 11.30pm I was quite disappointed as I could have carried on going, singing and dancing and certainly drinking.

Towards the end of the night, the DJ put on songs like Macarana, Saturday night and YMCA and our lot danced and even some of the locals joined in.  I could have just stayed in that moment for a long while, it felt good to be normal for a change.

Although I do love my new job, and I don't even mind that I've got a smaller room and the fact that most of my stuff is in my mother's loft, I get so tired because I feel like I have to put on a mask.  I have to tone down who I am and how active I am.  I can't stay up late at night which is what I want to do naturally as we have 8am prayer.  On top of that I sit through prayer in the afternoon (which is too bad per say) but the half hour of personal prayer in the chapel altogether is killing me.  I could quite happily strangle someone when I come out of it.

On the whole though it's going well, I do wish my family where a little more behind me in my decision, but I suppose it's just not meant to be.  I'm meant to be arranging for a time for my mother to come and stay one weekend to see what we do here, and have a proper look around, although I'm worried that if she did, she'll be even more against the idea of me staying here.

Oops I'm doing it again

I had a review yesterday of my performance in my two weeks in my new job.  It wasn't good.  They don't like the fact I know my limitations and will voice something I know, from experience I can't do.  However they want me to ignore all of this and attempt to see through my limitations and go a head and do these things anyway.  It's crazy.  It's not like they've even asked me, they just demand it.

They pointed out that in my interview I said that I would never ask someone to do something I wasn't prepared to do myself... which is true, but the flip side of that is the fact that you have to understand people's limitations and adapt around those limitations.  You can not ask someone to flourish in a place where they concentrate only on limitations! Can you?

Until this point I was more than happy, I felt I was doing okay, knew I was struggling in some areas but didn't know that they were so unhappy with me.  I have been struggling with their prayer.  They have turned very, very, very traditional!!! Unbelievably so.... to the point I have to more or less sit in silence for the best part of an hour..... it's so hard!!!  I don't get a lot out of it, even their praise and worship is slow and quiet which is no so nice.

So once again I feel as though I have made the wrong decision and am fucking up my life again!!! When will I find somewhere that works, that is right.  I want to find somewhere that will except me as me and not as they expect people to be or their idea of what someone should be.

It's been so long since I've felt like I have a home, where I can be me completely and utterly, where I can feel so comfortable that I don't need my walls or my barriers any more.  I can feel them going up again, I can feel me pulling away from people.  I can feel myself not wanting to be part of the world again.  After fighting so hard to try and be part of it, I know want to run away again.

I'm tired of having to suppress so much of me to fit in, for people to except me, just so I can be a stereotype.  Am I wrong to want to be myself? Am I wrong to want to be comfortable with people around me? Why am I always in the wrong?

All and complete change.

Anyone who has been reading my blog for many years when it started over at blog-city, knows that for a number of reasons, one of which is my dyslexia, is that I do not handle change very well.

Over the past eighteen months I have had a lot of change, I changed jobs twice, I've moved three times.... it's been quite a ride.  I had hoped that when I moved into my current house and started my current job I could stay put for a while I get my equilibrium back again.  However this wasn't to be.  Here I am sitting on my third to alst shift at work, knowing that on Monday not only do I move but I also get to change jobs.

My new job is going to be awesome it's what I want in a job.  I will be working in a retreat centre for young people to explore their Catholic faith.  In one year we will see 18,000 young people.  I'm going to be working as senior retreat leader.  It's going to be great.  This is what I'm convinced that the good Lord wants me to do with my life.  The sticky point is the fact that I have to live in community.  I really want my own place but it's just not meant to be.  In it's own time.

However the point of this post is the fact that on Monday I have yet another big change in my life and I'm not sure how well I'm dealing with it.  My sleeping is all over the place, my eating is all over the place, at night when I can't sleep I can feel myself on the edge of a panic attack and I can feel myself starting to cry and shake.  As much as I want my job, and I'm uber excited about it and I truly believe this is right for me I'm not sure I'm strong enough to deal with yet another change in my life in such a short period.

It's been a long time since I've felt settled.  It's a long time since I've really felt safe. When I was in Berkshire, I lived in a house for two and a half years, I did a job for three years.  It felt good even when I was stressed to high hell and my depression was really bad.

All I want is to feel like everything  is safe and secure.

Moving day

I have another blog and it's based over at Blog-City, but it's closing down.  I've been there for eight years but now it's not to be.

So since I already have this blog up and running I'm going to keep this as my main blog, and let blog-city just disappear.  However what I have to do over the next 18 months is get a copy of my blog as I don't want to loose all my post.  It's a long old hall.