Monday 16 March 2009

My Weekend...

I have had the most ridiculous weekend, mostly in a good way, but ridiculous none-the-less. Here is a recount, more for me than you, so I can remember just how epic the last three days have been.

I suppose it started on Friday; I had just had lunch with a friend and didn't have anything to do for a few hours so decided to start on my trip to Derby, where I would be partaking in a BlogTV show aimed at raising money for Comic Relief with Iain, Dave, Tom, Charlie and Johnny - sausage-fest I know.

Now, I knew very well that the aforementioned friends would not be in Derby until at least 8 o'clock, but I thought I would be able to stop off at Sheffield maybe see the Laura of all that is Bubbly chill out with her for a bit before completing my journey. So, I get on the train, call her up, but alas, she is unable to entertain me today. A shame - I miss her.
This was mishap number one.

I therefore arrived in Derby at 4 o'clock, a full four hours earlier than my beautiful friends would be here - totally my fault, I will admit.
I therefore did the following in the four hours; sat in a shop to plan the lesson I was meant to teach on Sunday morning, wandered round countless coffee shops in the shopping centre, bought a present for Alex, fell asleep on a chair in the centre to be rudely awoken by an angry security guard telling me I couldn't sleep in here. I think I refered to him in a tweet as a fascist.

This took me to about 6.30pm. I then wandered into the centre on Derby where a man was playing a free gig outside the town hall (it was very good but I couldn't remember him name; sad times) watched a bit of the BBC Comic Relief show on a giant screen outside the information centre and killed the last hour by translating 'All My Loving' by The Beatles into French in my head:

"Tout mon amour, je t'enverrai!"

I was then picked up by the boys and we then proceeded to the house of Bullas where we watched a lot of television and played a bit of Mario Cart; on the original N64, none of that Wii rubbish.

The next day watching re-runs of the early 90's version of The Crystal Maze took up a lot of time as well as very little planning for the fast approaching BlogTV show. We eventually managed to upload a couple of promotional videos an hour before hand and everything was hunkydory.
The show went great; lots of money raised (over £1, 600), many lemons eaten and a few songs destroyed by ukulele versions performed by me.
Here however, begins the drama:

I had booked my ticket back home to Manchester for about a 1040 departure from Derby railway station. We realised this at about half ten. Dave was then beautiful and said he would give me a lift to Stoke (a 40 minute drive away) to catch the train that my ticket said would leave at 1150.

I forgot one thing; train times go my 24 hour clock.

We got to the station and it was closed, locked, abandoned. Was genuinely close to tears and I felt like a shit for making Dave take me. I was in a state because I have a class on Sunday mornings - not the kind you might/ might not turn up to, I was teaching it. I was scared I was going to loose my job (a silly thought now I know, but I was in a panic).

Dave drove us back to Derby and I looked for the first train that would take me home - 1020, leaving from Stoke (this would get me into Manchester one and a bit hours after the class started). I had to ask Dave to get up early for me and drive me there again. I love him for saying yes and will be eternally grateful. I still owe you money btw, keep reminding me.

Whist I was panicking and running round like a headless chicken Dave said that I was being quite funny - so maybe I should start getting stressed more often and film it on Blog TV! we could earn millions!

I get to Manchester, an hour or so late and my assistant (I had forgotten I had one of those, thank fuck he exists!) had done an amazing job at keeping the class occupied (I had phoned ahead several times so it wasn't like they didn't know I wasn't coming). I finish the lesson - unharmed, no getting fired, fine.
Still I was really annoyed at myself. This is the first proper job I have had, with proper responsibility and I had thought I had let myself down. Sunday, I was a grumpy zombie all day. Today, however, I have a bit more perspective and I feel better.

Regardless I had an amazing weekend, despite the stress. It is experiences like that that make me really grateful that I started YouTube and surrounded myself with a group of such fantastic people.
Viva La Tube!
Keep Safe
Jaz
:)

4 comments:

cindra said...

The BlogTv show was epic!
I watched the whole 12 hours of it. I literally never left the computer screen.
I felt for you when you didn't make the train, but I'm glad everything worked out ok.
Thank you for being awesome!

Anonymous said...

Haha I think we're both keen to overreact in situations with simple solutions. Even I'm relieved that you managed to work things out and keep your job. <3

That Really Cool Girl Often Known As (CG) said...

Aww haha! Well, at least it turned out well in the end. :)

I watched a couple hours of the blogTV show and it really was great! I'd originally planned to only watch a couple of minutes but I just couldn't turn it off. :P

Nicholas said...

I watched some hours of your show and kept wondering why I was so fascinated by people trying to eat a dry slice of bread in under 30s. :) I loved it.