"Thou Mine Inheritance, Now and Always..."

Yesterday a dear friend of mine had her confirmation. The service was at our college chapel, which is an absolutely beautiful building where I attended a memorable Christmas service last year. This was, obviously, a private service so everyone there was her family or friends. While this is the first time I've been to a confirmation, I can say I found the service lovely; my friend gave a testimony about her journey, which was both interesting and a nice way to personalise the service, and the college choir sang. I love our college choir - they're a definite asset to the place! Afterwards we had dinner in hall, at which I found out that one of the other attendees was from the same part of Devon as me, was actually neighbours with a family I'm friends with, and we have at least fifteen mutual friends & acquaintances! Devon is such a big county that I never expect to meet people from my part of it, much less people who know the same people I do. We worked out that we had, if not actually talked to each other before meeting at Oxford, at least been in the same room a couple of times. Funny how that goes.

Unlike my friend, I am not religious. I was raised in an irreligious family, and you'd have to go back to my great-grandparents' generation to find genuine religious feeling on either side of the family (my mother's parents were raised Catholic, but have been lapsed for a very long time) and barring various superstitions regarding the saints - my mum always told us to pray to Saint Anthony whenever we lost something - religion has never been a part of my life, really. I went to a CofE school for a couple of years as a child, but all I took away from that was a deep resentment at being forced to pray before lunch. I was hungry! I didn't want to thank God for what he had given me, I wanted to eat!

Sometimes, I do think it would be nice to have a faith, but I think I was raised secular enough that belief in God... I'm not wired that way. I appreciate a lot of things about religion - I love visiting churches and cathedrals (and other religious buildings, but since I'm European and mostly travel in Europe, churches are overwhelmingly what I find) and I'm awestruck by the fierce love and dedication that went into constructing such amazing buildings. I also love a lot of religious music - hymns, psalms, carols, you name it. The few times I've attended a church service, I never fail to get a rush of overwhelming emotion when the singing starts. In that way, while I appreciate the ideas and sentiment behind sects like the Quakers, the closest thing I get to religious awe and passion has only ever been at very "high-church" services. Actually, I remember visiting a Serbian Orthodox cathedral (Saborna Crkva Rođenja Presvete Bogorodice in Sarajevo) and being so overwhelmed by it all that I left reeling, head spinning, almost unsure where my body was. I was visiting with a friend who said the feeling, leaving that cathedral, was like we had been "crushed by God", and we had to go for a strong cup of Bosnian coffee to get over the experience. So yes, religious grandeur definitely does it for me.

And because I might as well, here's the hymn I quoted from in the title. It's my friend's favourite hymn, and we sung it in her confirmation. I hadn't heard it before but I think it's beautiful.

What I'm Listening To

More music!

(Rapalje - Loch Lomond)

I saw Rapalje last year at a music festival in the Netherlands; I hadn't heard most of their stuff before, but my friend whom I went to visit is a huge fan and they were playing at Midwinter Archaeon Fair, so we went. This was one of the songs they were playing, and I liked it.

(La Plebe - Guerria Sucia)

I found La Plebe through another favourite band, Dubioza Kolektiv (an amaaazing Bosnian dub/ska/reggae band), since they were featured on one of the tracks on Dubioza's album Apsurdistan. I looked up the band on YT, was instantly hooked, and hope you realise that when I say "Guerria Sucia" I actually mean "the entirety of Brazo en Brazo".

(Dilek Koç - Dere Geliyor Dere)

This song is one I learnt during my time working on an EU cultural exchange programme in Turkey. I remembered it one day, and after a few Google searches found the name and searched for recorded versions on YouTube. And I found Dilek Koç! I've listened to a few of her other songs and I'm a fan, I love Turkish folk music.

(Flogging Molly - If I Ever Leave This World Alive)

Featured on one of my favourite TV shows, The Shield. I was doing a rewatch recently, this song was playing, and I... have not stopped listening since!

(Verka Serduchka - Ya Popola Na Lubov')

...There is really no excuse for this one. I admit, I love Verka Serduchka unironically. Also, I really hope the transliteration is correct!

Met in Thee Tonight.

It's Christmas Eve!

As a Proper Adult or something, I've been helping with the preparations a lot more than I used to. This has involved mostly cooking: so far I've made fudge, Christmas pudding, mince pies, and the Christmas Eve dinner (butternut squash tagine. YUM). I promised my younger siblings I'd make eggy bread for Christmas breakfast, too...

Since my last entry, I've finished uni for the term, gone to visit my good friend Havanah in Amsterdam where she studies, had a hellish time getting home to Devon from Oxford on the train, had to miss out on a party, gone shopping with my best friend, and not revised any of my Latin vocab. I'm very happy, really. I love spending time with my family, and I'm looking forward to seeing my friends from home after the Christmas mayhem.

I'm in a very Christmassy mood this year, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Oxford always gets going early for Oxmas and it gets you in the mood. Maybe I was jolted into it when I went to my college carol service, which was amazing. But I'm really looking forward to Christmas - I love Christmas - and everything in the lead up to it has been exciting. Our tree has been up since about the 16th, I think, and looks as gloriously tacky as ever, with the decorations I made when I was 2 years old and living in Edinburgh. They include yoghurt pots covered in tinfoil masquerading as bells, to give you an idea!

To anyone also looking forward to Christmas tomorrow: merry Christmas! To anyone who isn't: merry 25th of December!

What I'm Listening To

I have the habit of tending to listen to certain songs for ever and ever on repeat, and at the moment here's the songs which tend to get played most often.

(Frozen - Libérée, Délivrée (Let it Go - French ))

I missed the whole obsession with this song because I didn't see the film (I'm not a big Disney fan) and I am very good at ignoring certain trends. But I really like listening to versions of songs in different languages and Disney songs are good for this because of all the different dubs. I don't know, I really like the lyrics of the French version.

(Nolwenn Leroy - Juste Pour Me Souvenir)

I love Nolwenn Leroy, and this song is one of my favourites. I also love the video - I'm getting serious costume envy from it. Also, it includes model boats, crochet, and the sea; three of my favourite things!

(Dum Dum Girls - There is a Light That Never Goes Out)

I quite like the Smiths. I also like this cover, even more than the original if I'm being honest. The pop-punk sound actually goes very well with this, and I think it gives it a certain something. It's certainly an interesting cover.

(The Gothic Archies - The World is a Very Scary Place)

If you know of the Gothic Archies at all, it's probably as the opening songs to the A Series of Unfortunate Events audiobooks. I loved these songs and was delighted to find full versions of them on YouTube. I really enjoy the lyrics to this one!

And that's about it for songs I'm listening to on repeat. Eventually I'll get sick of them and move onto something else, it's the way of the world...