Those Nights

'I remember when We used to laugh About nothing at all, It was better than going mad. From trying to solve all the problems we're going through, Forget 'em all. Cause on those nights we would stand and never fall. Together we faced it all. Remember when we'd;
[Chorus:]
Stay up late and we'd talk all night, In a dark room lit by the TV light, Through all the hard times in my life, Those nights kept me alive'

These lyrics are by Skillet – Those nights. Coincidently, this is a song that I sang when I was in year 10 (15 years old) on stage in front of my friends and family along with a school band for my Music Diploma. I could relate to it then and I can relate to it now.  I’ve not listened to this song since I performed it, until tonight. And it’s started to make me think back to the nights that have really kept me strong. Just thinking about ‘those nights’ really does make me feel blessed.

I wanted to take this opportunity to write about some seen as I no longer keep a written journal/diary for numerous reasons.

My first memory will be one of my most recent. Trampoline-ing at 3am in the pouring down rain. Given that I was slightly drunk, I’ve never really experienced something like it. I was with the people I’ve only met once before - That in it’s self is enough to make me smile ; that people I had never met before would talk to me and make me feel involved and comfortable…and I could then hang out with the same people again and feel as though we've gone back years. (I don’t know, I don’t make friends often so everything excites me I guess.) But the night grew later and I was feeling like a little social butterfly as I fluttered between crowd to crowd and talked about life. It got until 3am where I found myself out side in the middle of a thunderstorm with a cigarette, looking up into the sky and getting truly drenched. That was lovely. I was gathering my thoughts and sobering up to the sound of raindrops hitting the glass table top – bliss. But out came a guy that I get on incredibly well with, let’s call him ‘Dylan’. ‘Dylan’ grabbed me by the hand and pulled me across the wet lawn (I wasn’t wearing shoes mind, so my socks clung to my feet like mad) and up onto the trampoline. And we bounced. I don’t know how long for, it felt like forever, but it also felt like it was over too soon. But, hand in hand, we bounced. And bounded. And bounced. We laughed like hell and got soaked through under the early morning rain clouds. Right then is when I could say I felt truly happy. There’s something just so exhilarating about being out in the rain. We fell at one point and just laid there, flat on hour backs, laughing like we had lost all sanity as the rain began to fall on our faces. Yea, I like that memory.

My second will be another late night story with, let’s call him ‘Zack’. We ate curry with my family and sat and talked until it was time for him to get the last bus to the next town along. Long story short, we missed it. Lucky enough, my mother actually likes ‘Zack’ so offered him our spare room for the night. Though instead of going to bed, we stayed up in my downstairs living room with the TV on, talking until 5am. I got excited cause I found that I actually had SkyDisney so all I remember is being sat side by side, completely engrossed in Cinderella. How cute. After that, I fell asleep on his shoulder, and he was too much of a gentleman to wake me up or shove me away. But when I did wake, it was to The Descent where we sat and laughed and made ridiculous running commentaries. The best thing about that night was staying up and talking about anything, everything until the early hours - Just being completely comfortable in someone else’s company.

 A third will be something that’s hard to explain why it was so brilliant. It’s nothing out of the ordinary but it meant the world to me anyway. My parents recently went away for two weeks and left the house and cats for me to look after. I absolutely hate being alone. I don’t know what it is but it just makes me panic-ey and emotional. And my wonderful friend knows this all too well. I love him to bits – let’s call him Alex. He came over numerous days and cooked for me after work…chicken…brisket…you name it. Such a good little cook he is. But some nights, practically for a whole week I think, he stopped over and just kept me company. Being a couple of introverts, it was up our street to sit in with a Chinese, watch films and do nothing all night. One night we sat up and made Cookie Dough Pizza while we watched the amazing Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I will cherish my lazy nights with him for always.

Writing these stories has really brought to light the amazing people in my life. I could never thank my friends enough for being there when I need them. I always make myself think that I have to stand by myself and go through things alone, but when I think back on all my amazing memories and past experiences, it’s really not the case. I’m so blessed and so thankful that I’ve met the people I have and have experienced all these events to date. It’s nights like this that make me take a step back and slap myself for being so closed minded about my problems and issues, because I know I’ve got it a lot better than some people. So if anyone I know does actually read this, I just want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart and that I cherish you beyond belief. 

Comic-con!

Seen as I’ve been a little bit slack on the posting front just lately, I thought I’d ease my way back in with something that’s a tad bit more visual (I TOOK LOTS OF PHOTOSSSSS). On Saturday the 20^th , I went to MCM Expo - Manchester Comic-con.  So yea, that means picture, upon picture, upon picture. I’ll have a wonder through my favourites and post them up here.

                This would be a good opportunity to do ‘a day in the life of’ so here’s how my day went. It started off with a 4:30am start in a friend’s apartment in Leeds  - I was stupid enough to go out the night before, forget my key, miss my train and have to end up sleeping over. Clever Carys! In order to get home in time to get showered, grab my stuff and get in my cosplay…I’d have to reach home by seven, latest. I didn’t fancy showering where I was seen as sleeping beauty (aka: friend) hadn’t been sleeping well so I didn’t want to keep him up longer than I had to.

                The journey to the train station was an interesting one. It’s a 10-15 minute walk away from the apartment building so I set off in good time to have a nice leisurely wonder through the cool early morning (it’s been roasting in England just lately, so the cool morning was much appreciated). On my way I met a few people, obviously still up from the night before with the girls in short dresses and the guys all suited and booted. I remember one set of people carrying a large bakers tray and offering me fresh bread… and another dancing in the street just outside the train station, insisting on high fiving every person that walked past. Only in Leeds, eh?

                The train ride home was un-eventful other than meeting a guy, who I think said his name was Callum from Pudsey, who gave me a red fabric flower and talked to me about tattoos all the way home. What a nice guy. I hopped in a taxi once reaching the train station and got home, only to be locked out for a further hour. I expected someone to be up and about for work at 7 but no such luck. So I sat on the doorstep, staring at my open bedroom window and fantasised about how nice it would be to be able to scale the side of buildings, or be agile enough to climb the drainpipe that was a meter or so away from my room. After contemplation, I decided to take the leap and do something that I knew would only infuriate my mother...I rang the house phone *dramatic music*

                After a passing the thunderous expression of my tired mother, I got a quick shower, gathered my stuff and shoved on my onsie – it was far too late to get my cosplay sorted out now, I’ll get ready with Axis (who I was going to comicon with). Bless the guy, he had straighteners and a mirror all set out for me, ready for me to do a quick change and sort out my make-up. And after the dash to get us both somewhat ready, off back to the trainstation where I had been a few hours earlier, to get the train to Manchester.

                Arriving at the Comic-con location was unreal. I remember sitting in Starbucks as we waited for Chibbi to get her joker cosplay together and just having all my childhood hero’s wonder in and grab a latte. First came The Doctor – doctor who, then in came Cloud  -  FFVii and past the window were ridiculous amounts of games characters that I used to play as from the ages of  5 – 17. It was fantastic! I basically spent the whole day pointing and squeaking excitedly every now and again. That’s enough writing I think, the rest of my day included a two hour queuing session to get into the hall, jumping on well-made cosplayers, and  snapping away with my camera.