Tuesday 24 June 2008

I'm famous! Well kind of ;-)

Hello,
Apologies for it being yet another mention of Boyzone! But it’s just a couple of newspaper clippings this time ;-)
I was in Glasgow on Sunday night at a very last minute gig with one of my best friends, Karen, who lives there. Karen and I met six years ago now, through one Mr Ronan Keating, and have been great mates ever since.
Karen wishes to remain anonymous (she’s funny like that!) although anyone that knows us both will spot her right away once you know where I am in the picture ;-)
Perhaps more on our past exploits together in another blog…But for now, my brief appearance in the Scottish press ;-) (2nd photo)




Larger versions can be found here
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/Alimac71/BoyzoneGG1.jpg?t=1214303001

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v397/Alimac71/BoyzoneGG2a.jpg?t=1214303043

Friday 13 June 2008

Lucky George!

Well it’s Friday the 13th – unlucky for some?
That is if you believe in all that superstitious stuff…
Four leaf clovers, horseshoes, rabbits feet, and so on are all supposed to bring you luck, but why, and who on earth decided that they were lucky? Or for that fact that Friday the 13th was unlucky?

Well speaking from my own point of view (and that’s what writing a blog is all about) my luck definitely changed recently when I bought a monkey. Yes you read that right a monkey! Not a real one I hasten to add, but a toy one.
I had no intention when I went into a Cambridge gift shop with my two children a few weeks ago of buying a stuffed toy animal, but there was just something about George (more as to why he’s called that in a moment) that said buy me – and so I did.



I mentioned in my last blog that I would explain a bit more about the lack of blog posts recently. Well without going into too much boring detail, over the past few years I’ve had some health problems – in which I’ve managed to baffle much of the medical profession. But just recently after being referred yet again to another neurologist - I was diagnosed as having a condition that’s like a cross between Epilepsy without the fits, and Migraine without the headaches! Trust me to be awkward!
Well the Neurologist suggested I try a new Epileptic medication and surprisingly –because nothing else ever has – it seems be helping right now. The great thing about having lots of hospital tests over the last few years is having them tell me how fit and healthy I am! Which is great, but wasn’t actually getting to the root of my problem!
But finally something seems to be helping me – and I’m starting for the first time in a long while to feel just like the old me again.


But as I’ve said on here before, everything happens for a reason, and before I started to feel ill I was working almost full time in fitness and hardly had anytime for writing. Now as result of my problems, I’ve slowly cut down on much of the personal training, and concentrated more and more on my writing. As a result of this extra time my writing has definitely improved.

Anyhow, back to George. George named after the George Sampson who recently won ‘Britain’s got Talent’ because I saw George perform on the show for the first time the day I bought my George, and dancing George with his arms and legs flaying about to ‘Singing in the Rain’ looked just like my monkey George, with his own rather gangly limbs.
George Samson of course went on to win the show – nothing to do with his namesake of course…



But what has happened in my own life since George the monkey came into it?
The main things of course is the vast and sudden improvement in my health – after having four years of specialists and tests and ‘not knowing.’
The second lucky thing was having yet another agent take an interest in my novel – when I hadn’t heard from anyone in ages.
The third; I got the free VIP tickets to see Boyzone (see last entry)
Fourth; the next night I caught one of the Boyz hats in a stadium of 20,000 people four hats where thrown, and I caught one of them.
Then this week, in addition to already having great seats to see Boyzone again (yes I’ve got the bug now!) which a friend had got for me for one of their Birmingham shows. I managed on the morning of the second Birmingham show to get a front row centre seat for that evening! I guess some people would think that seeing Boyzone in concert four times in a fortnight bad luck – but not me ;-)
So many other things have happened too – that we keep saying ‘That’ll be George’ in our house when anything out of the ordinary happens now.
If only George could pick our lottery numbers...
Superstitious – no, not us ;-)



Tuesday 3 June 2008

Don’t 'scream' until you see the whites of their eyes!

Hi, first apologies for not blogging for so long. I know when you start blogging the first thing they tell you is DO IT REGULARLY! But sometimes other more important things just have to come first… (More on that slightly serious note another time.)

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to witness for myself the return of Boyzone to the stage. As previous readers of this blog will know, I became quite a fan of one Mr Ronan Keating some time ago, after discovering quite late the glory of this Irish charmer both in person, and on stage.
I was never a Boyzone fan as such, I knew of their music obviously, but at the time they were around Boybands weren’t really my ‘thing’. So it was with mixed emotions that I approached the forthcoming reunion tour between Ronan and the other four members of the band – was it just about the money? Or was it really, as they kept telling us in carefully prepared pre tour interviews, because they’d put all the bad feeling of the past eight years behind them now, and were ready to give the fans what they’d always promised them - a final reunion tour?

Well the crowds at the O2 arena on Friday and Saturday night didn’t seem to care what the Boyz true motives were – they were there to enjoy themselves and have a ball ‘No matter what!’
I was lucky enough to witness the show from two very different perspectives. On Friday night I was given two VIP passes (Many thanks to those who shall remain nameless, but know who they are...) and as much as I enjoyed being backstage with my husband, and then watching the show from both the wings, and in the so called VIP area reserved for family and friends (one of the better tiered side blocks,) it was nothing compared to the atmosphere of being up close and personal with the Boyz on Saturday night, in my genuine 2nd row centre seats, that I had bought myself from being online at 9am the day tickets went on sale – it was just fantastic!




Ok, I didn’t quite scream when I saw the whites of their eyes, but I sung and danced, and thoroughly enjoyed myself on Saturday night – particularly enjoying the section of the show from a personal trainer's point of view, when the Boyz sang half naked on treadmills, while doing a workout to ‘When the going gets tough!’
I also think being fit (or is that tall?!) helped when the Boyz threw their hats into the crowd after a medley of Michael Jackson songs. It was like one of those slow motion shots you get in a movie, of a bride throwing her bouquet into a gang of desperate single women, as I sailed across the heads of the two ladies (my apologies to you if you happen to read this) next to me, to grab one of the Boyz hats and claim it as my own unique souvenir of the night!
If you’re going to see the Boyz be prepared for a great two hours of tunes and lyrics that will be familiar to you even if you weren’t a true fan ‘back in the day.’
But perhaps anyone with an allergy to dairy, should be pre warned that treatment from the St Johns Ambulance team may be needed during the show, as it was mice heaven as far as the costumes and some of the dance routines were concerned – but that was what I enjoyed about it all, it was just so different from what I’d been used to seeing Ronan do as a solo artist. You needed to take your cheese along with a pinch of salt – I guess a taste many a Ronan fan won’t be able to stomach. But, as with all rich foods – a little of what you fancy does you good once in a while, and as long as Ronan’s new cheddar rich diet doesn’t continue for ever, I can’t see it can do him, or us as fans too much harm – just for the time being…