'Home' alone: the charms of limbo land, aka Summer...

Hello fair friends,

Much apologies for missing last week, but every now and then a girl just needs a little time to get her (well earned) rest. So, after a lovely holiday joining my parents in North Wales, I'm back to the life of limbo land, staying at Lancaster for work in the week and travelling/ spending free time doing things and talking to my friends.
It's odd to be in a town you know so well but not seeing anyone around. Clear of the forest of students usually populating this small place, people you never noticed before seem to suddenly appear in town.

I walk to work every day and on my way I see the commuters at the bus stop further out of town, waiting until they settle themselves into that train seat before their transformation into professional selves (or indeed just the process of damage control) is complete. I see the parents and the children, now tiring of the long school break, waiting for school to start. The builders and decorators, white vans at the ready, fitting out houses ready for the returning student hoarde this October....
Right now it all feels slightly... charmed, unreal.

Summer is that time of limbo land for most people in education, that place of elastic time that seems to stretch and never end only to hit you straight in the face as you realise you've forgotten how to... well... learn anything really. However, in this one-horse city (yes people, it's actually a city) that sort of is and isn't my home, it's an even weirder time for me, working here but not being in Uni, living here but not with any students. I think this summer's an education of it's own kind. So, like the things you have to learn in Uni courses, I'll only know what exactly I've learnt and why after I've finished it. 

Being on my tod makes me all philosophical... toodlepip ladies and gents xx

The difficult second...blog?

Hello ladies and gents,

So, reading back to my last post, it kinda sounded like I was giving an English talk with my definitions of 'sassy' and stuff, but in my defence, like essays, really long sentences, uni and most forms of exercise involving coordination (snore), beginning this blog was pretty hard, in terms of trying to set out the way the blog sounds and to try not come across like a complete idiot.
I look at this post as the 'difficult second album' phase, where I try to follow on from my previous post, keeping it sounding like me, but er, not just the same thing. Hmm... tricky.

Ok, so the thing with the second album, as Kaiser Chiefs, Duffy, Gnarls Barkley and most recently MGMT will tell you, is that it tends to either do really well, keeping you on the path to success, fame. maybe even money if your record company didn't screw you over.

Or as is the case with all the above, set you on a downward spiral to that place where people who are less famous than they used to be go... (I don't know where that is, although I suspect it's halfway between an 'alternative' stage at Glastonbury that they never show on tv and appearing in a Lindsey Lohan movie. I'm looking at you McFly and your terrible acting, yes you). The sad thing about all of the above, is that they started out good. Maybe just even kind of good. Then they just... dropped out of the spotlight a bit.

But, looking at it another way, lots of creative people let their work go wherever it takes them. From the Beatles, to Picasso, most pop culture references had an 'experimental period', when they really weren't popular. But, throughout all of their creative lives, they let their ideas shine through, even if it wasn't what everyone wanted to hear, see, read etc.
 I can let how my 'blog voice' progresses just go with the flow because you can't control that, but if I let what I have to say be influenced entirely by what is cool in the weird world of the internet, it'll just sound plain...boring. Sasspatch out.

Hello internet, this is Sasspatch

Hello ladies and gents of the fair internet,
I'm Hannah, aka The SassPatch. 
This stupid name was suggested to me by someone who has admittedly had more than their fair share of sass served to them whenever they decided to say something vaguely sarcastic/rude/plain stupid in my direction.

sassy

Pronunciation: /ˈsasi/

adjective (sassier, sassiest), informal

• lively, bold, and full of spirit; cheeky:Toni was smart and sassy and liked to pretend she was a hard nutDerivatives: sassily, adverb; sassiness, noun  (OED)Urban Dictionary defines it as :

  possessing the attitude of someone endowed with an ungodly amount of cool OR Someone who is full of themselves but in a good way. They're cheeky, lively, smart, saucy, slightly impudent, mouthy, cocky, energetic, loud and extremely talkative. There's a load of other definitions, but I'm guessing what most of my friends are meaning when they say I have 'the Sass', are those things (maybe not the ungodly amount of cool bit- but that is on urban dictionary, I kid you not). I think it's a pretty cool thing I guess to be considered straight-talking and sarcastic, but I kind of hope this blog isn't just me making 'sassy' (read overconfident and under-researched) comments about life in general, but just me typing in my normal 'voice' I guess. However, it suits me and to be honest I can't think of anything else to call the blog, being hopeless when it comes to trying to be catchy and spontaneous and all. SassPatch it is.