Sunday Shout Out: 2 Online Things That Make Me Smile

Happy Easter, Happy Chocolate Day, Happy Springtime, and Happy Sunday.

I guess I could write about how much I love chocolate - but I'm fairly certain you already know that.  This Sunday Shout Out is including two things that I have been watching/reading a lot over the past week or so.  They both make me smile (and sometimes laugh), and I figured that everyone can do with more smiles in their life, hence the sharing.

The first is 'A Very Potter Musical'.  Now, I'm sure I'm late to the party on this one, but that doesn't really bother me as it's better late than never.  So far I've only watched the original one (there are now 3 in total, and they are quite long as they are full-length stage productions that have been videoed and uploaded to YouTube in small bites), but I'm definitely going to be watching the rest as this is one of the few online comedies that has actually made me laugh out loud, and really appreciate how creativity can produce.  Therefore, I strongly suggest you watch it, though if you're haven't read or watched Harry Potter then most of the jokes will probably be lost on you.  If you don't have the time to watch it all, my favourite clip is here.

The second is a very unusual web comic that I stumbled across via the wonders of Twitter, only a few days ago, and already I have spent a lot of time going through the posts starting at the beginning (you know it's good if you decide you want to see every single comic that's been put up).  Admittedly, Poly in Pictures may not be everyone's cup of tea, but as someone who appreciates that not all relationships are monogamous, straight, and vanilla, I love it and think it's well worth a look as it sometimes helps to see things from someone else's point of view, and that's much more fun when there's a bit of humor in there.

Are there any websites/videos/comics you visit time and again to make yourself smile?  Share the happy and leave them in the comments.

The Man Who Smiled: Memories That Have Made Me

I am so super excited today as I am starting a new series on this blog called 'Memories That Have Made Me'.  

So much has happened in my life already, and a lot of those experiences have stayed with me.  They are not all monumentous, nor are they all life changing.  But every single one of them (and the countless more that are buried deep within me) have made me who I am.  

I hope others will join in with me and post their own memories on their blogs (or write about them in their diaries).  I will be posting mine every Friday, but it doesn’t matter when you write yours or if you wish to do them fortnightly or monthly – your writing should fit with your schedule.  If you do join I ask that you link to my blog with this link: http://emptythoughtsrewritten.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Memories%20That%20Have%20Made%20Me (until I’ve worked out how to create a button for you to display) and that you will link your POST (not just your blog link please) in the comments each week (until I’ve worked out how to make a linky thing for you to add your links to – I’m really not very tech-savvy!).

I'm kicking off this series with the memory that actually kicked off the idea in the first place.  I really hope you'll enjoy it and I look forward to hearing your feedback and reading your 'Memories That Have Made Me' posts:

For the seven years I went to High School (this includes 2 years of Sixth Form), I walked there and back almost every day.  It wasn’t a particularly difficult walk (for me back then, now I can’t walk down the drive most of the time!) and I found I really enjoyed the time it gave me to just be in my imagination.

But when I think back to those walks, I very rarely think of what it was like, I just remember a certain man.  I never knew his name, and to be honest, I can’t actually remember what he looked like.  But I remember him as the man who smiled.  I would see him almost every morning; as I turned out of my close, he would be going in the other direction on his way home from his morning walk.  And every morning he would stop and smile at me and say ‘good morning’, and I would do the same.

One year we came across his house while trick-or-treating, they called me Buffy – they had a china doll with this name and they thought I looked like her, I remember the name simply because I was horrified that they’d named me after the character Buffy the Vampire Slayer (this was before I liked the show and actually hated it).  After that I would pop a Christmas card through their door every year.

I was shocked that he recognized me and had told his wife about me.  Even more so when he thanked me for cheering his mornings.  Now I wish I could say the same to him.  Back then I was too shy to say hello to most strangers, but he taught me that a smile from a stranger can totally change a day from awful to wonderful.  Since leaving High School, I have made an effort to smile at every single person I pass on the street, no matter how bad my day is.

So thank you stranger who smiled at me as I walked to school, you literally changed my life and I hope I am creating a ripple effect by following your lead.  I will always remember the effect you’ve had on me, and I hope that you are still smiling wherever you are.

Living in a Different World

I don’t live in the same world you do.  I guess, technically, no one lives in the same world as anyone else as we all perceive things differently and have different experiences and different friends and so on and so on. 

What I mean is, I don’t live in the real world.  And I haven’t for almost two years now. 

Two years of my social contact being limited to whomever I’m living with and carers.  Two years of not going shopping whenever I feel like it.  Two years of hardly ever seeing my friends.  Two years of not walking to the corner shop or chippy three minutes away.

Since my M.E. got worse, I have lived in my own world.  I’m connected to the rest of the world online.  I forget that other people don’t read blogs or watch Youtube videos.  I forget that you haven’t been following the #ESAendgame on Twitter (which you should by the way).  Even if you are chronically disabled and housebound like me, the chances are we still don’t inhabit the same online space as the interwebs is an incredibly large place.  I forget that my world is vastly different from yours.  And when I go back into your world, the real world, for a moment, I am struck by how out of the world I am.

When I’m alone in my room I am reading and resting and writing and resting and watching TV and resting and playing Sims and resting and going online and resting.  This is my reality and I pretend I’m okay with that, because it’s not like I have a choice.

But I’m not. 

I still dream of getting a part-time job; of being able to meet up with friends at the pub; to go clubbing and dancing; to walk around the grocery store (I’m too short to reach the top, but in a wheelchair I’m too short to even see the top).  In general I just dream of living the same as everyone else.

I’m finding it difficult to know what to write about on this blog.  I know that this is my space to do whatever I want in, but I just don’t know what I want to do with it.  I don’t want to end up whining and complaining about my life as that would only have a negative effect on me.  But I struggle to stay positive all the time because the truth is that I’m not.  I’m depressed. I am lonely.  And I constantly wonder ‘Why me? What did I do wrong?’  And the fact that I don’t live in your world just makes it even harder as I no longer know what the real world is like.

Perhaps one day I will be able to see the world you live in once again.  Until then I’ll do what I’ve always done; I’ll keep writing and I’ll keep hoping.

Sunday Shout Out - Yogurt and Granola

Those of you who have followed me from the beginning will probably remember my Sunday Shout Out posts where I highlighted a blog I loved.  I have decided to bring the Sunday Shout Out meme back, with the difference that from now on it won't just be about blogs. The new Sunday Shout Outs can include literally anything that I am loving at the minute, and I hope you will join in with your own Shout Outs.

This week I am going to talk about my latest craze - yogurt and granola.

For the past few weeks I have been eating this for either breakfast or lunch - yogurt (I buy Yeorganic Natural), granola, whatever fruit I happen to have, and a spoonful of honey (though I've started skipping this now).  It tastes so good, and I am just upset that I never thought to try it earlier. I've even started using the yogurt on my museli every now and again, which is something I've always resisted in the past but I have no idea why, and have found I need to buy the 1kg pots to satisfy my cravings.  I will point out that I do not buy non-fat yogurts, as I believe that the kind of fat found in natural yogurt is good for you, and I much prefer this way of receiving my calcium to milk (I've never really been a milk person).

Of course I know that everything should be taken in moderation, so I am trying not to eat it every day, but now that I've found how much I love this mix, I am certain I will be continuing to eat it for a very long time.

If you do a Shout Out post, be sure to link it in the comments below so I can visit, and please give your comment love on any food concoctions I should try.

(By the way, this isn't a sponsored post, and I have no affiliations with Yeo Valley - I simply love the product.)