Fun Stuff

OK, so serious stuff is over and done with now it's time for the lighter side.

First, I am now inhumanly excited about the new Star Trek movie. I remained so sceptical for so long but now I simply can't wait. Simon Pegg was on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross last night, which only served to inflame my quiet hysteria. I think I might have to book us some tickets for the premiere - preferrably on IMAX! Oddly, after watching Friday Night... I also have a strange compulsion to go and see the Hannah Montana movie. I think Miley Cyrus has been exercising so sort of new hypnosis technique on me: The clue was probably the repeated shouts of "See my movie!" in hilarious fashion throughout Ross' show.

I recently found (or rather, was alerted to) a 'new' TV channel which I have been enjoying recently. Rocks & Co (Sky Channel 642) are modelled on the long running Gems TV (broadcasting on Sky, V irgin and Freesat) in that they offer a range of gemset jewellery in 'Reverse Auctions'. Basically they start at a ridiculous price and 'crash' to a lower, more realistic price and generally keep dropping until they hit the lowest price that they want to sell that item for. It's essentially a game of chicken: which viewer will 'blink' first and buy? If interested in something, the longer you wait the lower the price, but also the greater the chance that someone else will get there first. You can almost hear the masses reaching for the phone with one hand and the 'plastic' with the other! Whether you buy anything at any given time is up to you - I rarely purchase this sort of thing for myself, but tend to buy jewellery for my Mum - but what I'm loving at the moment is the 'window shopping'experience. Rocks & Co have some fabulous gemstones in sizes, quality and varieties that most people will rarely get the chance to see. I highly recommend it but make sure you lock the credit card away first. They have a ring resizing service, but much to my dismay have thus far been unable to resize my credit card! That 27ct Rubellite will have to wait.

Finally, Thursday nights is now music night for me. I have my piano lesson straight after work and then from there I head straight out to Bolton for choir practice! After careful consideration I decided to join SingLiveUK, who recruit amatuer singers for events that they organise all over the UK, and sometimes overseas too. (There is a group at the Vatican this weekend!) I'll be taking part in the performance of Sing The Music of the Big Bands at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on June 28th. Tickets are available online from https://www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk or direct from SingLiveUK. Personally, I am very excited and can't wait to get back into singing after 12 years of musical silence! We'll be performing some of my personal favourites made famous by the likes of the Rat Pack and, more recently for the younger generation, Michael Buble and Robbie Williams. Incidentally, I will also be the third person in my immediate family to give a musical performance to a public audience: My Granny was a violinist for the Halle Orchestra many years ago and my Dad performed a few years ago at the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness.