fanbloomingtastic

Silent Sunday 2

 

(What is Silent Sunday? - find out more on the creator Mocha Beanie Mummy's blog)

 

 

(and yes, I'm working by a UK clock - it's Sunday in the UK, so ner!)

The top 10 best iPhone apps in the world...ok, maybe just my favourites then

I've wanted an iPhone for years but:

• in the UK they were only available with O2, and their coverage wasn't good enough for where we lived in the middle of nowhere;
• in the USA we had no credit when we 1st got here (despite having built years of good credit in the UK, but don't get me started on that again) so I had to have an un-user-friendly blackberry through Mr. D's work for a year.

But this Christmas we decided to bite the bullet and pay the $500 security deposit with AT&T so I could get an iPhone 4, and it's my pride and joy (well other than Mr. D and the girls...oh, and Hartley, my car).

It's taken me a while to find apps I love and I'm sure there are lots more out there that I'd like but I just haven't found yet, but here are my current top 10 in no particular order (btw 9 of these are free apps too, only one have I paid for, and yet they're still fantastic):

• Twitter - come on, you knew this was going to be my no.1 didn't you? I love Twitter at the best of times but I can't believe how this free app on the iPhone can be a zillion times better than the app on the blackberry was. Twitter on the iphone is even clearer than new Twitter on a pc - especially getting notifications of DMs (direct messages not seen by the world but between two tweeters). If you have no idea what Twitter is or what you do with it, here's a quick video: Twitter in Plain English. I'm still experimenting with other twitter apps such as tweetdeck etc but none of them have beaten my love for the real thing.

• PS Express - a fantastic little free app if you take photos using the iPhone and want to do some basic editing before perhaps posting them online using Twitpic, Shutterfly, Flickr or on your blog etc. You can crop, straighten, flip, adjust exposure, tint, contrast, etc as well as putting a few effects on the photos before publishing them. All very easy to use with just a swipe of your finger across the screen to make adjustments. (I've just downloaded Instagram too and am starting to love it).

• Daily Burn - I'm currently trying to eat better and move more. This app is superb for recording calories eaten, calories burnt from different forms of exercise and monitoring weight change. I'm using the free version but if you're very serious you can upgrade to a paid one with lots more functions. Remember when we used to have to look calories up in books?! Now you can type a food into the search and invariably Daily Burn has all the info. you need on it - calories, fat content etc. I haven't stumped it yet with UK or US foods. Plus it's backed up by a wonderful website with even more resources.

• Instapaper - so often when I'm scrolling through tweets I've missed during my night from UK peeps, I'd love to read loads of the blog posts, newspaper articles etc they link to - but I don't have the time right then. By using this app I can save up to 10 (with the free version, more if I buy the full app) of these links as 'read later' bookmarks in one place to peruse another time. Very useful.

 

• Google Earth - I love this on the iPhone, especially as we've been in the process of moving house and wanting to have a quick look at areas (and whether prospective houses have nice gardens (back yards) and/or swimming pools. I can't say I use it too much for navigation (I prefer Google Maps) but it's a wonderful waste of time if you want one (I confess to checking up on Shropshire when I've felt homesick and zooming into New York, Las Vegas, even the World Archipeligo in Dubai to have a nosey).

• Fast Food - I'm not sure if this one works/is that worthwhile outside the USA, but it's BRILLIANT in Arizona! I can't tell you how impressed I am with something that quickly lists all the cafes, restaurants etc near to wherever you happen to be at that moment and with a tap of the screen can then show you superb GPS/sat nav like directions on a map to your desired eatery. There are also links to each place on Google so you can find their websites for menus or read recommendations.

• IMDb - I'm a huge movie buff but I'm an even bigger nerd, and if I see someone I think I recognise on tv or in a movie I HAVE TO find out what else I've seen them in...I also have to check out the trivia about nearly every movie I watch (on tv obviously, I wouldn't dream of using my iPhone during a movie in a cinema). IMDb (Internet Movie Database) has been my friend for years (including when I was a research monkey on BBC radio) and is very user-friendly on the iPhone.

• iZenGarden2 - now this is the only one where I started with the free app and loved it so much I had to upgrade to the paid version. Goth Child and I LOVE having our own zen garden on the phone (she frequently nicks it to create a new garden I can look at during the day - she says she finds it calming creating it, putting in all different elements from stones, leaves, butterflies, water features etc and raking the sand with a sweep of her finger....and I find it calming looking at what she's created, watching the water bubble or the butterflies flutter and listening to any of the 10 different sounds (bells, windchimes, birds tweeting, waterfalls etc). There's also a zen saying or quote of wisdom every time you open the app and I've been using the sleep function to drift off into sleep. I love it.

 

• EW Must List - Entertainment Weekly’s The Must List as a user-friendly app! A guide to the best new movies, tv shows, books, music, apps etc. with mini reviews and lots of links to find out more. You'll never need to buy another entertainment magazine, and yet again it's free too.

• Yelp! - not only fab for finding reviews of restaurants, coffee shops, yoga classes etc but also highly amusing to read some of the extreme views of certain reviewers whilst waiting to pick up kids from school etc ;) Yelp was invaluable when I first moved to America in finding decent shops, services and places to eat but it's even better on an iPhone to have with you if you ever want to do something on impulse. There are also maps and directions and links to the reviewed places' websites. I must get better now I'm beginning to know places in leaving my own reviews to help others.

So that's my top 10 - what are some of your favourites that I could try out to? I'd love to hear your favourites!

IComLeavWe and infertility in the USA

See that blue button to the right with a dog on it? Scroll down a bit - yep, there it is!

It's because I'm currently taking part in something called IComLeavWe - or International Comment Leaving Week organised by Melissa who writes the blog Stirrup Queens. I signed up earlier in the month to say that for January (it actually runs each month) I would leave a minimum of 5 comments and reply to someone else's (so at least 6) from a list compiled of all the blogs also signed up for the week. Am I making sense? I sure Melissa's explanation is probably much easier to understand.

I decided to do this because I saw a post on BlogHer about leaving comments and IComLeavWe and thought it was a nice idea. Plus I've always had trouble picking up the confidence to comment on blogs, I always feel like I might be intruding, like the the blog might be written for a person's family and friends and the wouldn't want a complete stranger sticking her nose in. So this would give me the chance to have a go at commenting on blogs where bloggers were actively encouraging it!

So the day before the week was due to start (it's 21st-28th for January) we all got an email reminding us what we'd signed up to do and a link to the list of 211 participants.

And I checked it out, and was very surprised to see (I'm so dim) that the majority of participants blog about infertility and IVF. I know very little about this world. Although I did miscarry my first baby and took 5 years to become pregnant with my youngest, I know I am incredibly lucky that I've never had to deal with some of the things I'm reading about on fellow IComLeavWe'ers blogs.

I'm finding it both hard and enlightening. As I say, I really don't know much at all about infertility or IVF etc and a lot of the blog posts I'm reading are so full of medical terms and abbreviations that to be honest, at the moment, lots of it is lost on me (don't get me wrong, in no-way should they not be written like this, I just need to learn a bit of the lingo).

The other thing that worried me at first was that I have kids. I know from my very minor experience after miscarriage how I used to find it painful reading happy tales of friends and their babies and seeing jolly family photos. My blog is full of my kids... I suddenly felt awful that fellow bloggers might be clicking onto my blog and might be upset by my posts. I would hate to upset anyone. So for a day or two I felt incredibly guilty that I'd strayed into territory that perhaps I shouldn't have...

I also felt awful reading some of the posts on other IComLeaveWe blogs. There are lots of heart-wrenching stories that I couldn't read without crying for the pain people were going through. I wanted to leave a comment, a hug, a touch of the hand but I didn't know what to say, I didn't know if I had the right to say anything.

My instinct was to tell myself I'd wandered into territory I shouldn't really be in, I had no right to be there...to forget about IComLeavWe and find blogs elsewhere on topics I did have experience of to comment on.

But then I thought, nope - perhaps there's a reason I got here - perhaps it would do me good to find out more. So I've been reading as many of the 211, well 210 as I'm one, blogs as possible and trying to learn more. Sometimes I have no idea what I could possibly say so I say nothing but I carry on reading.

And I am learning great stuff. I'm from the UK, and SERIOUSLY we have no idea how lucky we have it over there. IVF treatment is available on the NHS and adoption rules seem to be totally different too. Reading the IComLeavWe blogs has been a real eye opener and I hope that perhaps they will help me learn what to say and what I can do in the future to help others affected by infertility, dealing with IVF, coping with miscarriage, organising adoptions. I hope so.

Ohh and I almost forgot - I found a link to this video by Keiko Zoll called What IF? A Portrait of Infertility on someone's blog (sorry I forget whose, I've been clicking from one to another so much). I'd have never found that and possibly wouldn't have watched it worrying I'd find it too sad if it hadn't been for IComLeavWe...so thank you everyone. And if I leave a comment that sounds crass or ignorant - please let me know so I can make amends.

Edit: working more through the list, I've found that the video is actually by ICLW participant no. 57 Keiko who writes Hannah Wept, Sarah Laughed...so I'm of to read more of her posts!

The King's Speech & being able to speak

Those of you who know me, know I love going to the movies. If you'd been watching my twitter feed last week, you'll have seen me 'camping out' (well, sitting on a wall really) waiting for my local cinema to open to get in to see The King's Speech. The night before Colin Firth had won a Golden Globe and as it's strongly tipped to do a lot at the BAFTAs and possibly something at the Oscars, I wanted to see it.

 

It looked a sturdy British historical piece, I hadn't really thought much about it's content.

It's a bit of history I don't think I knew about. Yes, you do all about George VI and the Queen Mum in history lessons, about how they stayed in London to be with their people, visiting streets destroyed during the Blitz...but when you're learning about World War II, Hitler, Churchill, Mussolini, Stalin and Roosevelt get a lot more focus. You forget, or aren't told about how massively important the Royals were at that time in leading their nations around the world.

I've heard recordings of George VI's speeches and although I remembered them as very stilting and that he had pronounced rhotacism (the trouble with his r's like Jonathan Ross or Frank Muir), I don't think it really struck me that he had a stammer.

The film is a classic. There are some outstanding performances by Helena Bonham-Carter, Michael Gambon, Claire Bloom and Derek Jacobi. I was seriously impressed by Guy Pearce as Edward VIII and Timothy Spall as Churchill, both of whom surprised me with their portrayals (and accents).

I cannot imagine the complexity of trying to put on a stammer as well as Colin Firth did to make it so incredibly believable. The fact that he can change it from the almost totally debilitating when the emotional stress ties him up in knots, to the slight occasional one when was comfortable with people etc. It is amazing acting and I found myself forgetting that he doesn't always speak this way and being blinded by the brilliance of Geoffrey Rush on the screen. And wow, Geoffrey Rush is brilliant. I can't put into words how good he is - you need to go and see the movie.

I know I'm biased. I've had and have problems with my speech and had to have speech therapy and vocal training to try and overcome my difficulties.

My problems are mainly linked to my lack of confidence.... we think. Because I often lack the confidence that anyone would want to hear what I say and have crippling social anxiety, most of the time I have an annoying habit of taking very shallow intakes of breath and not having sufficient breath to get me to the end of a sentence...so I'll trail off into a mumble virtually everytime I say something out loud. This made things hard in the UK, but here in Arizona it's terrible because they have such difficulty understanding my accent at the best of times.

 

 

None of this was ideal when I trained to be and worked as a broadcast journalist... and even worse when reading the news on the radio.

So I've been there, humming my words, doing numerous breathing exercises, projecting my voice out of open windows, across carparks whilst a vocal coach bear hugged all the air out of my diaphragm, lying on tables trying to lift bricks on my waist just by breathing in. I've done the tongue twisters (I do a mean Betty Botter bought some butter...and Plum buns, bun plums, buns without plums... but anything with a 's' or 'th' in it takes me ages of warming up and practice to get right), visualisations, exercises to loosen my vocal chords, my jaw, my tight shoulders...

I've also been there in a radio studio, watching the countdown on the clock, desperately rehearsing in my mind the tongue twister names of international tennis stars or doctors at the local hospital, cursing (again in my head - you NEVER swear in a studio even off-air) journos you thought were friends for shoving copy with the world's longest sentences into your hand only seconds before you're on air so you can't mark the script for pauses etc.

I know the crippling anxiety of standing looking at that microphone...sometimes alone in a darkened studio (but knowing your tutors, peers and an audience at home will be able to hear every stutter, stumble and fluff), sometimes seeing a whole room full of people who are actually good at this stuff looking at you through the studio window.

I know the fear, the sleepless nights, the times when my speech actually got worse because of the nerves inspite of all the training I'd received.

 

But I could walk away. I didn't have to become a broadcast journalist. There were plenty of other jobs I could do that didn't involve speaking outloud.

George VI didn't have this luxury of being able to walk away. His country needed him entering a period of great fear and turmoil. Wow, he was brave. I'd be hiding away utterly terrified in a cupboard not coming out to speak to anyone (yep, this is from personal experience).

I have to admit I did sit blubbing through most of the movie - I felt so much for him, I know how intensely painful my incredibly minor speech problems are, I cannot accurately imagine what he must have felt like tongue-tied in front of his disapproving father, rooms of dignitaries, stadiums full of his subjects.

But the tears were interspersed with an incredible amount of laughter and smiles too - the relationship that develops between George VI and Lionel Logue is lovely...I've heard Colin Firth since say the film as a bit of a buddy movie, and even though that sounds silly, it's true. He was a man so protected and isolated from the real world that he was pretty much alone and friendless. Logue appears to have changed that and I had to wonder whether the process enabled George VI and Queen Elizabeth to be one with their people during the Blitz.

So.... anyway...go and see the film.

Go and see the bravery of George VI, the unflinching love and support and down-to-earthness of his wife, Queen Elizabeth. Go see the genius and humanity of Lionel Logue, who went on to found the British Society of Speech Therapists. Go and see the gorgeous wallpaper in the staterooms and palaces ...and Queen Elizabeth's seriously fantastic hats (sorry, you know how I get distracted by pretty things).

I know I'm a tad biased, but it's blooming brilliant ;)

Silent Sunday 1

 

(find out what Silent Sunday is all about on the creator Moca beanie Mummy's blog)

 

(See more of today's Silent Sunday photos at: http://www.mochabeaniemummy.com/2011/01/silent-sunday-30/)