tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20603266774493350832024-03-08T12:54:02.918+00:00Modal Corpusm4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.comBlogger357125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-13667556193205908502016-01-24T08:00:00.000+00:002016-01-24T08:00:15.420+00:00A Song A Day: Ghost - "He Is"I don't know about you, but I seem to go through massive shifts in what I listen to every now and then. I'm not sure whether it is that as I age, my ear hears differently, or whether I am just in a different place and more ready to accept things, or whether bands themselves are changing. Probably a bit of everything. In the last year I have started listening to bands and artists that I have m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-76129120654461032552016-01-23T08:00:00.000+00:002016-01-23T08:00:06.460+00:00A Song A Day: Holman Climax Male Voice Choir - "Brightly Beams"There is just something about male voice choirs that stirs something deep in the soul. A tradition that sprung out of Methodist communities that were often dominated by mining and rugby, the future of male voice choirs faces significant challenges.
In Wales and Cornwall, two areas particularly famous for their male voice choirs, average choir ages are rising, and the pressures of modern life m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-90876858104087982892016-01-22T08:00:00.000+00:002016-01-22T08:00:03.529+00:00A Song A Day: "Sound of Silence"This whole blogging thing was going so well, until I came down with a cold. Cue feeling like death warmed up for a few days, but I'm finally back to working order. On with the show!
This song is a double header, hence there being no band in the title. The song means so much to so many people, myself included. The original, by Simon and Garfunkel, is probably one of the defining songs of the 20thm4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-4052242377060156682016-01-13T17:39:00.002+00:002016-01-13T17:39:49.072+00:00A Song A Day: Gloryhammer "Rise of the Chaos Wizards"Gloryhammer were recommended to me by a couple of friends last year and I only really got round to giving them more attention just before Christmas when I put a couple of their songs one my current listens playlist on YouTube. Then this morning when I woke up I read SteffMetal's post on her Top 10 albums of 2015 and "Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards" made her cut. That was it. Since 7am thism4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-2467518344895770352016-01-12T18:00:00.000+00:002016-01-12T18:00:18.633+00:00A Song A Day: Queen ft. David Bowie - "Under Pressure"After what feels like forever, I have the urge to start writing again. I listen to music all the time, and my musical taste is varied and very broad. So I thought I'd write about a song or piece of music I have listened to each day. It might be something that gets stuck in my head, it might be something that I listen to repeatedly. It could be a classic song, a new song, or a piece of classical m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-79956991088934465152014-11-09T16:32:00.000+00:002014-11-09T16:32:14.956+00:00Places to find your expat food in ViennaI saw an article on The Local last week about the price of expat (predominantly Anglophone country expat) food, compared across the key cities where the website operates. Vienna ranked somewhat high on the cost of buying your favourite expat foods, which is no surprise considering that their research was apparently a trip to Bobby's (which I keep trying to type as Boobz's for some reason). I havem4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-48120710286649781772014-10-23T19:17:00.000+01:002014-10-23T19:25:54.589+01:00Twenty-four photos in twelve hours?
At the end of September, on the spur of the moment, The Beard and I
decided to join the Vienna Photo Marathon. The idea is that you have 24
themes, and you have to take a photo for each theme, in order. And you
have 12 hours to do it in.
There is no editing, no
post processing, and everything has to be shot in JPG. The only things
you are allowed to do to your photos are the m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-62152744530680523552014-10-03T16:02:00.002+01:002014-10-03T16:02:47.658+01:00Project 333I was going to try Project 333 for the next three months. The idea is that you pick 33 items to wear for 3 months, no more, no less. That has to include jewellery, outerwear and shoes, but doesn't include underwear, work out wear or sentimental jewellery that you never take off (like a wedding ring, or in my case 2 treasured rings and a bracelet plus all the studs in my multiple piercings).
I m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-54284436325956281742014-09-21T11:01:00.001+01:002014-09-21T11:01:14.514+01:00Body AcceptanceThis has been a post that I have part-written, deleted, rinse and repeat, many times. I sort of know what I want to say, but somehow I can't make the words sit together nicely.
Three years ago this week I decided to join Slimming World. I had reached nigh on 15 stone in weight, and felt I needed to do something about it. I lost 2 stone in 3 months. And I kept it off mostly, a few fluctuations upm4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-69121264893694981972014-09-06T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-06T07:00:03.311+01:00Trip to the UK - Cornwall Part 4After my couple of days in London and Cardiff, I headed to Cornwall with
my dad. I hadn't been home since just before we left the UK, so it was
really nice to spend a whole week in Cornwall. Luckily the weather was
excellent and I spent most of the time on the beach with my mum.
Friday
Another gloomy day, and this time it was gloomy over the north coast as well. After a trip into town to m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-53519364033679374952014-09-05T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-05T07:00:03.838+01:00Trip to the UK - Cornwall Part 3After my couple of days in London and Cardiff, I headed to Cornwall with
my dad. I hadn't been home since just before we left the UK, so it was
really nice to spend a whole week in Cornwall. Luckily the weather was
excellent and I spent most of the time on the beach with my mum.
Wednesday
On Wednesday I met up with an old school friend who I hadn't seen for over a decade - we sat and caught m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-76709797268420437362014-09-04T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-04T07:00:04.906+01:00Trip to the UK - Cornwall Part 2After my couple of days in London and Cardiff, I headed to Cornwall with
my dad. I hadn't been home since just before we left the UK, so it was
really nice to spend a whole week in Cornwall. Luckily the weather was
excellent and I spent most of the time on the beach with my mum.
Monday
Monday was a relaxed day. Mum and I headed into Truro to have a look around and do some shopping. I m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-91235436414185714012014-09-03T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-03T07:00:05.751+01:00Trip to the UK - Cornwall Part 1After my couple of days in London and Cardiff, I headed to Cornwall with my dad. I hadn't been home since just before we left the UK, so it was really nice to spend a whole week in Cornwall. Luckily the weather was excellent and I spent most of the time on the beach with my mum.
Sunday
Sunday started with relaxation and cooked breakfast courtesy of my dad (he cooks the best bacon!). As the m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-48907745940215605942014-09-02T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-02T07:00:03.500+01:00Trip to the UK - London and CardiffAfter our main holiday to the USA in April, The Beard and I had no major holiday plans. I took a trip home alone, to spend a week with my family. For the most part I was in Cornwall, but the week started with trips to London and Cardiff.
I have a love/hate relationship with London. Well, probably mostly hate, although every time I go there I seem to find something that I like. This time I had am4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-82343314501111679312014-09-01T07:00:00.000+01:002014-09-01T07:00:07.249+01:00All you need are a few simple ingredients...And your washbag is complete.
I have really pared back what I use on my skin and hair to a few simple things.
1. Khadi Hair Washing Powder.
This ayurvedic hair washing powder blends cleansing reetha (soap nut) powder, conditioning amla (indian gooseberry) powder and clarifying herbs like fenugreek and bay. You mix with hot water, apply to damp hair and leave for 10-15 minutes. Rinse well m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-44797746208562637012014-08-31T12:46:00.000+01:002014-08-31T12:46:21.518+01:00Skincare made simple
Ah back to my old favourite, talking about skincare. But this time I'm done. No further adjustments necessary. I have found the holy grail of skincare and I want to tell you all about it.
Remember I talked about linoleic acid and how important it is to acne prone skin? Well after a bit of trial and error, I decided that the only way forward for me was to ditch all oils that aren't highm4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-38292420057987495682014-08-24T09:41:00.002+01:002014-08-24T09:41:35.982+01:00We do still need feminismJust recently it seems as if there has been an explosion of debate about whether feminism is still relevant or not. Coupled with an increase in visibility by men's rights groups and 'anti feminists', the movement is facing tough times.
Quite frankly, these so called men's rights groups can just do one. Most of them are made up of white men who sit at the top of the priviledge pyramid, therefore m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-47972279843593447242014-08-23T18:44:00.000+01:002014-08-23T18:44:02.604+01:00Overcoming that lost feelingI thought I was going to be able to come back and blog just like that. But in reality, I have written 10 posts and not published a single one of them. With some it is because I need to take some photographs to go with them, but haven't gotten round to it yet, and others because self-doubt has prevented me from pressing publish.
Self-doubt is a funny thing. In most walks of my life I'm a fairly m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-12673734490622489562014-08-10T13:12:00.000+01:002014-08-10T13:12:37.377+01:00Hello again?I'm sort of tentatively putting my foot back in the water again. I didn't think I'd feel the urge to blog again, but a colleague told me this past week that it would be great if I had a blog. Seeing as I already do have one....
Anyways. I just returned from a week long trip to Ethiopia for work, where I ate a lot of amazing food, took part in a fantastic training workshop that will really help m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-67478103731638679142014-06-23T12:25:00.002+01:002014-06-23T12:25:23.383+01:00Goodbye bloggingI never really got my groove on with this blogging thing. I could never find a good place between writing about what I have come to consider quite superficial things, and being much more serious.
In the last two years my life has changed inordinately and I no longer really feel the need to blog. I occasionally get the urge to write something, but I usually get halfway through a post and give up,m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-13088534106139167102014-06-22T19:19:00.002+01:002014-06-22T19:19:56.316+01:00Everything must go! I'm having a clear out of stuff!Spurred on by a minor brainwave about my next tattoo last night, I am having a bit of a clear out of things. I have gotten rid of a huge bag of rubbish, and I am giving away the stuff that still has some life in it.
So... all I want for any of the remaining items is the postage money. I can either post from Austria or if you are in the UK and fancy something, I will be back there in 3 weeks, so m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-37646950556774880892014-06-20T17:14:00.002+01:002014-06-20T17:14:55.934+01:00Trials in the oil field... more skin stuffI feel like I've become a bit of a one trick pony, but I guess after 10 years of crappy skin, when you finally find the answers you want to share them with everyone!
I've been trying out some different oils with the oil cleansing method lately.
I liked the pumpkin/grapeseed/EPO combo I was using, but it wasn't quite right. I was still getting the odd little spot in places, particularly around m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-19344837876400795782014-05-19T09:00:00.000+01:002014-05-19T09:00:02.318+01:00Being somewhat introverted
via http://silouanthompson.net
I recently got myself a new job, which I start in 6 weeks. In the second interview I had, the interviewer asked me whether I would consider myself an introvert or an extrovert, and how I felt I could work with people who were the opposite to me.
I paused for a moment, reflecting on my tendencies. My answer was thus: I am predominantly an introvert, but I havem4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-65613085833420881092014-05-17T09:38:00.001+01:002014-05-17T09:38:42.215+01:00REVIEW: MD Solar Sciences Mineral Creme SPF 50
MD Solar Sciences Mineral Creme SPF 50 is a sunscreen designed by dermatologists with skins prone to acne and rosacea in mind. Which is pretty much why I bought this.
It is a completely mineral sunscreen, with 17% Zinc Oxide and 2% Titanium Dioxide. It is very difficult to get a pure mineral sunscreen at this level of protection unless you go for the Australian brands, which are difficult to m4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060326677449335083.post-35334468531682231952014-05-16T09:00:00.000+01:002014-05-16T09:00:02.052+01:00REVIEW: Murad Acne Fast Fix
I grabbed the Murad Acne Fast Fix at the till in Sephora in New York, on a little bit of a whim. I'm really glad I did, because this product is absolutely amazing!
I've always been a little reluctant to use chemical warfare on my skin because it is so sensitive - even too much salicylic acid will actually make my skin worse than better. So as this product contains benzoyl peroxide, it was am4dswinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09961988734521117417noreply@blogger.com0