I've been feeling a bit down today due to yesterday's sad news. I haven't really been able to bring myself to do much except sit around and play Minecraft for hours just to take my mind off things.

Tomorrow I'm staying over at Jason's as usual, and I told him I'd like to go to the funeral, because I was really fond of his gran and I'd like to be there for him, and for his mum. It's still bugging me that I couldn't really do much yesterday, but he did say he'd rather be alone and try to get some sleep.

Jason went to bed at around 10 last night, just after our phone call, and finally fell asleep at half three. I went to bed at nearly four o'clock myself because I was just so tired, and even then it was hard to get to sleep.

I think I'll be okay, given time. This is different to my usual depressive episodes. I'm just sad that Irene passed away and regretful that I wasn't able to get to know her better, as well as worried about Jason, his Mum and, of course, his grandad.

So I haven't written at all today, though yesterday before Jason's text I managed four pages, and typed up about the same. In days to come I'm going to have to get cracking again on some serious work, but for now, definitely until the funeral, I won't be writing at all when I'm with Jason. I want to focus for a while on supporting him.

Right now, Jason, Nathan and Ashley are still in bed, Dad and I are the only ones up, and Thelma is bruxing and boggling at me from her cage. The New Year's celebrations last night were short-lived and rather peaceful. Obviously there were fireworks, but the bulk of them only lasted about fifteen minutes.

( Yesterday was one of those days which started out pretty poorly but ended on a high note... )

It's been a busy weekend so far!

On Friday, Jason and I went to Liverpool so that I could take some photos around Liverpool One and Albert Dock. Waking up in the morning to a clear blue sky, completely cloudless, was an excellent start – better lighting, after all, means better shooting conditions. We got ready to go, played Skyrim a bit to pass the time, and when it was time to set off, the day was suddenly overcast.

We'd originally planned to go on Thursday, but that had been called off due to poor lighting, so I decided we'd take a risk and go regardless; we needed to get some shopping done anyway so it wouldn't be an entirely wasted trip. On the way there, the sun came out again – it would turn out to be one of those days where it was in and out of the clouds all day long.

( Liverpool, Family Visits and Other Stories... )

Yesterday I was up at the miraculously early time of 9:30am, but only because I'd asked Dad to wake me up for the Saturday flea market. It had been ages since I'd gone, so I thought I'd have a gander and see what was on offer, maybe pick up a few records.

All four of us went; Dad because he needs a crowbar to complete his Gordon Freeman Halloween costume sort out the fence (he's still planning on getting a German Shepherd, but as you'll recall the rescue people who did the home visit said our fence wasn't secure enough on Crazy Dope Guy's side), Nathan for the walk, and Ashley because he's still got a tenner burning a hole in his pocket since his 17th birthday last month.

Dad got his crowbar, Ashley had an embarrassing incident in which he bought a full-face bike helmet for 50p, tried it on, it was too small and he had to take it back. Lesson learned: try before you buy, if possible. As for me, I found three records quite to my liking, which came home with me...

( But because I'm a dreadful person, they're under the cut... )

Okay, I hope this will be the very last in the long lime of 'O Hai, I'm Back Again *Swiftly Disappears For Another Month*' posts. I basically went through a very tough time over the last three or four months and didn't really update much as I didn't feel much like ranting... I didn't want to remind myself about how difficult things were.

If things are so bad that I can't even bring myself to rant, said things must be mind-bogglingly bad.

So, what's happened on Planet Kelza since my last post?

( Some tidbits of very important news under the cut... )

Okay, I haven't been the best at updating my journal. When was my last post? Early November, it must have been, when I had a chance of actually finishing NaNoWriMo on time!

Things are as usual here, only I'm not going to be finishing NaNoWriMo (the novels, however, I'll keep in mind), I'm taking as many days off as possible in order to save journeys (and therefore money) on my travel card until Christmas because QUB have charged everyone £85 for the semester's tuition fees and I hadn't known about it in advance, and - well, that's it, really. Oh - I'm playing Minecraft again. Probably not a good thing, seeing as I have essays and stuff to do, but oh well. I'll be alright!

I woke up at the record-breaking time of 2:50pm, today. This is partly because I was up until stupid o'clock watching the truly horrific 'The Legend of the Titanic', which NostalgiaCritic does a glorious review of here and then here. Then, I couldn't get to sleep - presumably because the animated film was so nightmarishly fucked up that it kept me awake for fear of the terrors it may have spawned in the Land of Nod. And then, my phone died during the night. It was a long, drawn out and probably very painful process in which I basically forgot to charge my phone for about a week and you know the rest. So no alarm, either.

Since 'end result' is a redundant expression, I shall say the result was my sleeping in until nearly 3pm. I can't imagine how many brain cells have been killed off by my new, weird sleeping pattern. Since my head hurts a little I can guess that I'm about 30% more stupid now that when I went to sleep.

ANYWAY. It's 18 days until I go back to England and Jason, and news from home isn't good. My Auntie Sue, who went into hospital in about June/July to have a brain tumour removed, hasn't been responding to cancer treatment. Last week she went into a coma and doctors haven't given her long to live. When I checked up with Dad yesterday, she was drifting in and out of consciousness and she knew that she was surrounded by the people she cared about - all Dad's siblings bar Graham and Clive have been to see her already. Graham's stuck in Europe because of the bad weather cancelling the ferries and Clive hasn't been able to get up from Devon yet. Even though she's been awake, I don't think the prognosis for Sue is any better - Dad says it's only a matter of time.

To make up for my horrendous lack of activity, I'll be posting a couple of picspams - one of my room here in Ireland, and another of my Minecraft antics.

There goes the last shreds of my productivity! I discovered Minecraft last night, and I'm positively addicted to it.

I started a new world called 'The People's Republic of Swedonia', and the seed from which it was generated? 'Seeds are pretty damn sexy!'. This landed me on what appeared to be a land full of just sand with a rather bizarre topping of snow - what a combination!

( Minecraft shenanigans, a busy day ahead and counting others' blessings... )

I'm going to be working really hard these next few days to get some stories done and dusted in the hope that they'll get into either this week's or next week's paper. Like I've mentioned in a previous entry, I've got some good ones going on. It's great to be able to get my teeth into some of the more intriguing stories.

This week is set to be a fairly interesting one, actually. It got off to a good start in that I was able to stay over at Jason's - more on my use of the word 'able' in that sentence later. Tonight I'm going to be giving blood and on Friday I'll be going to a charity paranormal night, getting in free as I'm a reporter. I'll be live tweeting from the night itself and writing an extensive account of the freaky goings-on. If you're a fan of that kind of thing, watch this space!

The event will be run by UK Ghost Tours, and Para-Project will also be attending; if you've ever seen 'Spooks School' on the telly you'll be familiar with them. All funds raised will be donated to Cheshire Search and Rescue, who cover a vast area - despite their title, I believe they attend incidents all over the North West, St Helens included, and are a vital service to whom many owe their lives.

I'll be doing this event on my own. Jason, at first, grudgingly (and I mean really grudgingly; he took some persuasion!) agreed to come with me, but it was obvious that he really wasn't happy with it - he did confess that he wasn't a fan of the paranormal. At first I'll admit that I thought it was a bit silly. I didn't think he was the type to even believe in that kind of stuff. But it turns out it runs a wee bit deeper than that.

Okay, I'll warn you now. I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent here. Just so you know.

( Said tangent is under the cut... )

I had a good auld chinwag with Laura before. We were on the phone for 47 minutes and now I have a really bad case of phone arm. It hurts quite a bit! Anyway, we've arranged to go out about St. Helens on Wednesday, so my era of boredom may not last for much longer.

This means I've only the gap of Tuesday to fill in. What to do on Tuesday... there's the usual, I suppose; take a bath, read, write, practise guitar and paint, but I could always go for a walk as well, drop in at the library ad finally apply for a card, sit and read a book in the grass at a park. If I took a flask and some food, I could stay out a little while, maybe write a bit as well.

There's my plan, then! Library, then walk to the park and have a little picnic while I read, write and get out of this bloody house.

I've set my alarm to 7AM, anyway, so I'll be up in plenty of time. For now, though, the main order of business is my novel.

I'd like to mention before I go that I've had a bit of a texting session with my Irish family:

( Said session follows, beneath the cut... )