'All Right'

 

I’ve been listening to a lot of Kelly Clarkson – whose inspirational lyrics have inspired me to write this. I think it’s a relatable lyric but that is your call! I hope you like it!

 

It’s called: ‘All Right’

 

V1:

Do you ever feel like you lost a chance?

There’s no way to heal a romance

Once the opportunity’s gone hey

Do you ever wanna run away?

Just scream out to the words they say?

I’m on your side I’ve been there

 

Chorus:

I can’t say I know what goes on in your life

Or in your pretty little mind

But I know things will work out all right

If they don’t you can blame me

But for now let’s just wait and see

Cos you know when the world feels like your enemy

It’s simply taking it’s time

To make everything all right

 

V2:

Do you ever feel like you can’t go on?

Can’t get five miles in this storm

Let me shelter you from the rain hey

Do you ever wish for things to change?

Then things start to happen and it feels so strange

Just open your heart and I will be with you

(Repeat Chorus)

M8:

Doesn’t it sound funny?

But if there’s one thing honey

I would say you can’t be afraid

To make your move in this life

Cos soon it’ll be too late

And you’ll be reminiscing one night

Saying if only

I don’t want you to end up lonely

Take my advice

Just know it’ll be all right

(Repeat Chorus)

 

Copyright © 2013 Stephanie Carfrae. All Rights Reserved.

If you'd like to put music to this, please tweet me (@steph_carfrae) or email me at stephcarfrae@yahoo.co.uk.
Thank you.
You can contact me at the same addresses to let me know what you think of it or you can below. Email me at the given address if you want a 'Lyric Your Name' quick turnaround.
And tweet me/email me if you'd like me to discuss anything in future blogs. Thank you for reading. 'd love to know what YOU think!

Steph

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Zandvoort!!

I’ve had a few requests to do this…so now I’m doing it! Every Sunday I intend to post about a past memory (be it recent or ages ago) and Wednesday I am going to go back to posting my lyrics again. For a few weeks anyway! We’ll see how it goes. So for my first (recent) memory I am going to tell you about the time I went to Zandvoort with my brother to visit my grand-parents.

We went early morning with humungous colds so I can’t remember much of the flight. But we were there in no time (it’s only a half-hour 45 minute flight!) and there were only steps to get off of the easyjet flight then a bus to pick up luggage. So I got down the stairs in a new way I’d never tried before! Now they’d taken a mechanism that carries pianos up and down stairs and put a chair on it. So I sat on it, was strapped in and it carried me down the stairs! Nobody had to lift me or anything. It costs 5000 euros, we were later informed. We didn’t have any luggage to pick up because we’d packed our clothes and necessities into hand luggage. We were only there for three days! So we went inside the airport and had to wait around for a while to get the train to Zandvoort. We had to get off at Sloterdijk and wait about 10 minutes for a train to Zandvoort.  The trains in The Netherlands are double-decker, so that was a different experience! We had to stay on lower decks with the wheelchair though. So we got to Zandvoort and had people waiting for us with ramps (so much better than in England. Even when you ring up for assistance off the train in England, they are hardly ever there.) because the trains are a lot higher than the ones in England. So we had arrived! We went to our hotel room and put our stuff down. We were there! We walked across the promenade and to our grandparent’s block of flats. They live in a flat overlooking the sea. My brother hauled me in my wheelchair up the stairs to see our grandparents. They live on the first floor. So we saw them for a while, then went to the high street in Zandvoort. We had a drink in a Tapas Bar:

Then we went back to the hotel and were in bed by 8.30. I was still bunged up so I needed an early night. And after all that travelling! Then the next day we went to my grandparents again and we had tea and coffee there. We stayed for most of the day, and it was so lovely getting to know and spending time with Nanni and Granddad. There was a funny incident with one of the TV programmes that came on. Thinking it’d be a show like ‘Top Of The Pops’ we imagined that once this awful song was over, it’d go to someone else but Boy were we mistaken! The act kept coming back, and we saw how her image had changed over the years. Apparently she’s still going today! And by the end of the half hour show my brother and I were joining in with her! Then after saying goodbye to the grandparents we went back to the high street and walked up the other side, where we found an Irish bar and so we spent about two hours there!:

 

 It was now well past the time we had gone to bed the previous night and I was up for more! So when we got back to hotel we went to the hotel’s complex to go bowling. We couldn’t go bowling cos they didn’t have the metal frameworks that meant I could bowl from my wheelchair so we settled down to have a drink and I had a cocktail. It was called Blue Ocean. I’d never had it before and it had foreign alcohol in it. It was nice though I had a blue tongue for the rest of the night:

 

We finally decided to go to bed. The air is heavier in Holland so it’s always easy to drop off when you’re tired! Then the next day, we were going to be leaving, and what was nice was my grandparents made their way downstairs to meet us in the lobby. Nanni gave me a book ‘Silence and Solitude’ which is fascinating! We chatted for a long time and then we had to go. We made our way to train station and it was much the same procedure as before, though I nearly gave a woman a heart attack because my wheelchair has stabilisers so that when I tip back I can’t go too far, well the train stopped and the momentum tipped me back and I was sitting just a few centimetres from the stairs leading down. So I was very close to going A over T down the stairs! So if that lady ever reads this, I am sorry! We got to the Airport after meeting Luigi the train assistance guy. Well, I thought he looked like Luigi anyway! We had time to kill at the airport so after shopping, we had a pizza and went to board our plane. But they didn’t tell us that we had to have someone who worked there to assist us down the lift! So we waited for a while getting more sure that we’d miss our plane, until two men came to take us down the lift and to the plane. Now, why they had to send cute brown eyes to help me I’ll never know but believe me, I didn’t mind being man-handled by him! I sat in the chair that took me up the stairs again and it was a bit weird going backwards but I had cute eyes to keep me company so I wasn’t freaking out too much! I honestly felt I was going to fall out quite a few times, but his eyes calmed me down. We were the last two on the plane and two minutes after we arrived they shut the doors. We were flying back at about 9.30pm from Holland and arriving back in the UK at about 9.15pm. They are an hour ahead in the Netherlands. Thngs ran smoothly from there, and we got home in one piece!

I hope you liked that! Thank you for reading, if you have any things you’d like me to discuss in future tweet me (@steph_carfrae) or email me (stephcarfrae@yahoo.co.uk) . Also if you want a ‘Lyric Your Name’ email me at the same address leaving me your name, their name (if you’re doing it for someone else) and a paragraph about them (or yourself). Thanks. Quick turnaround. Thank you for reading.

 

Steph

 

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I now have a video on youtube! & Carrie Hope Fletcher!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeHM14zhRSI
The first is a demo I had done for Carrie Hope Fletcher!!! Tweet her the link (@CarrieHFletcher) and if she watches or comments 'll let you know here!! I really want her to see it, the time I did meet her I talked about the London Book Festival!!

I met her in the downstairs bar of the Reading Hexagon at one of McFLY's Keep Calm and Play Louder tour in 2012!! I was pretty lucky cos  I’d noticed her on my way back into the venue and convinced my friend to come out to the lobby with me again “because I’d seen Harry.” No, I actually said Carrie, but my friend heard it as Harry! While I was talking to Carrie, who unbelievably recognised me (!!!!????) I could hear my friend telling Tom’s dad (Carrie & Tom = brother and sister) that she wasn’t a McFLY fan and had only come since I dragged her along! Saying goodbye and dying of shame I told my friend who ‘that old man’ had been! Something I’ll never forget! I loved meeting Carrie, and thanking her for her well-wishes when I was in hospital when I was 14, but I didn’t get a photo with her, which is one of my only regrets now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlcfemERXnk Is a version of 'Because' that I put in a blog a long tme ago, finally recorded!!

Tweet me (@Steph_Carfrae) or email me (stephcarfrae@yahoo.co.uk) withf  suggestions for next week or you want a 'Lyric Your Name' for yourself or anyone - you know what to do! (Send me a paragraph about your/their life struggles/how strong they are/how they mean so much to you etc. and I will write a lyric for this particular someone =D)

Thank you for reading!

Steph

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Just Thinking & 'Natural'

 

I’ve been writing a lot of lyrics about being yourself lately. That is a really important part of life. You’ve got to love yourself before you can let anyone else love you. It’s something I’ve been learning for most of my life and my lesson hasn’t finished yet.

 

One I wrote a few days ago: It’s called ‘Natural’ :

 

V1:

You’ve really been there

Been to hell and back on a rollercoaster

And you are so much stronger

Than I have ever seen you

So keep smiling and let others wonder why

You don’t even got to try

To be awe-inspiring

Cos you do that already

 

Chorus:

It just comes natural

Naturally beautiful

You are it’s so wonderful

To find a star

Here where the pickings are rare

My superstar shining way up there

 

V2:

You’ve really been through it

All and if you fell you just got right back up

And you are now blessed with love

So it all works out in the end

So be happy that’s all anyone can ask

Don’t look back to shadows of the past

Just be you

And nothing is impossible I trust you knew

(Repeat Chorus)

M8:

You are incredible

So beautiful

Don’t ever let someone tell ya you’re not

Cos you are

My one superstar

It all comes natural

And that is what’s wonderful

About you.

 

Copyright © 2013 Stephanie Carfrae. All Rights Reserved.

 

I hope you like it! Because everyone’s been through the worst, the worst that their life can get. And there are different levels of ‘worst’, what might be the ‘worst’ day for you may be a walk in the park for someone else. And no way am I trying to envelope pain into this, I know the ‘worst’ day can be intensified by pain for anyone, and pain can occur at any time and is not just heartache. But it is easier to write lyrics about heartache because everyone can relate to some form of it. That is just a byline for the future.

 

If you want to be the focus of a lyric - email me a paragraph about  yourself or loved one (stephcafrae@yahoo.co.uk), have a topic you'd like me to discuss? (@steph_carfrae)

Steph

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A Review Of The Age Of Miracles

Thanks for sticking with me! I'm actually going through a hard time with my legs...I woke up yesterday feeling weak and could hardly get out of bed...but today I feel totally back to normal....an odd 24 hours! I thought I'd post a review I wrote a little while ago...but never published. I think it's about time! I hope you like it and go out and buy it because 'The Age Of Miracles' is a decent read!

Review of ‘The Age Of Miracles’ by Karen Thompson Walker

 It’s an intense read and you’ve got to be fearless going into it because there are things that will scare you. It’s not a horror story or anything, it’s based on real life in the time of a great struggle which is as relevant now as it will be fifty years into the future. The only thing I found confusing about it was the tense changes. I understand that it’s Julia recounting her life through that time now she is twenty three but I did find the jumps a little unsettling. Either do it all in past tense or present tense; I understand why Karen did this; to express the things that had changed in the time we had spent away from Julia, that weren’t in the story.

                I didn’t care about Seth Moreno at first, he was just a passing character in a crowd, but by the end of the story I was sobbing for him. I guess that’s like everyone you don’t know. Until you strike up that close bond with them, you never know who can touch your heart. Their love story is cut short by the catastrophe. The little time they get to spend together makes you grateful for the time you get to spend with the ones you love. It’s a meaningful and powerful book. Lines such as ‘They say that humans can read each other in a hundred subtle ways, that we can detect messages in the subtlest movements, in the briefest expressions of a face…’ are the type of lines that keep this book going. They make you eager for more. As if the plot isn’t enough to keep you going, these lines are thought provoking and really make you stop and think. The blurb reads:

 ‘For eleven-year-old Julia, it is the age of miracles; the age where kids shoot up three inches over the summer; that rough crossing, from childhood to the next life.

 But it’s not just her own world that has turned on its head. Julia and her parents wake one ordinary Saturday to discover that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. No one knows why, no one knows how to deal with it. Their 24-hour day grows longer, first in minutes, then in hours, until day becomes night and night becomes day. As Julia’s family, then her community, fragments, she must navigate both the normal disasters of everyday day, and an ever-terrifying new world.’

 I think fear takes precedence as you get more wrapped up in the story of Julia’s normal yet unstable life. It is remarkable to think of how little we actually need in this life, and this book might bring it to the forefront of your mind for the first time.

The Truth

‘Downplaying a tough reality is unfair to us.  It’s confusing to our insides.  And it takes away any opportunity for genuine connection, helpfulness, understanding, relationship and CHANGE.’ – Marianne Richmond.

 

Due to an undiagnosed disability I am left in a wheelchair. I find it Ok that I can’t do some stuff. It is hard to accept but I’m thankful for the things I can do and nowadays anything’s possible. I always feel like I’m putting a lot of pressure on my family etc. whenever I ask to go anywhere because it takes a lot of time, planning and effort on their part. It really means a lot to me and I am thankful every day that they’re there for me when and if I need them. I don’t mind going through hard times – like my legs misbehaving (as they do a lot  lately – waking me up at night and such things) because I know they have to get better – although from time to time I do get cynical. I didn’t want to flag up my disability before – because well, I didn’t want anyone to feel bad for me. Because I’m not different from anybody. We’ve all got dramas going on in our lives. This is real life. Not a movie set. We’ve got to be happy with what we’ve been given. I didn’t see point in telling people on here until it was relevant. I’ve just been away to Zandvoort with my brother and I was convinced that the time was right. My life is challenging every day, but isn’t everybody’s? There I go again, making everything general. I guess I’m a little shy when talking about myself. You wouldn’t think it, I know some people who know me would be thinking right now, but that’s the only explanation I can conjure. If you’ve got another, feel free to email me (stephcarfrae@yahoo.co.uk ), tweet me (@steph_carfrae) or leave a comment below!

                It was a great trip and I really learned a lot about myself in a short space of time. I was confident to do more on my own – a sign (surely) that I’m growing up! Reading the top quote the day I got back I decided to write this as it is unfair to YOU not to know the truth and I don’t know what good I thought hiding this would do. I guess I only wanted people to know if they had to or knew me already. It’s different when I’m writing, because I can pretend that this isn’t happening to me and get lost in my character’s little world or mind. I am so thankful when people accept me the way I am for who I am because it means they don’t see my disability as an obstacle.

                I hope you want to know me and see how I attempt to fly.

                Thank you for reading, and if you have any comments, questions, suggestions for Room 101 or want a ‘lyric your name’ please email me at stephcarfrae@yahoo.co.uk , tweet me @steph_carfrae or leave me a comment below.

Trial Period

Last night I found I have a pessimistic nature. Now I strive to stay away from it and I am optimistic on the front of most things. Or I pretend to be. I think it is working and I am slowly becoming more optimistic in myself. Sometimes though, when I’m really worn down I will feel myself slipping back into the pessimistic viewpoint.

I am feeling a bit under the weather this week but last night I realised how selfish I was being. And we’re all guilty of this at some point or another. For instance, if I have a bad day I’d just weigh other people down with my downheartedness and/or wouldn’t ask how their day had been. It becomes all about you from the moment that you walk through the door and rage at someone. Something that happened in someone else’s day may have been worse than yours but because you’re so wrapped up in your head, other people just have to take the wrap for your bad day. As a writer, I should be taking inspiration from other people’s experience, and I am appalled that I am not. Because this is real life and not a movie set, bad things do happen every day if not to you than someone else. So I am going to try my best to not let myself get into such a state that I’m not able to ask how another’s day has gone. It won’t be easy sometimes, and people might not tell you everything, because they don’t want to bring you down but I am going to try this and my trial will not be without its faults, I may forget, there may be too much going on that I can’t even comprehend but I’m going to give it a go. If you never give it a go, you’ll never know.

 

Thank you for reading! If you want a 'lyric your name' please email me at: stephcarfrae@yahoo.co.uk
Similarly you can let me know what you think of this post either in a comment below or tweet me (@steph_carfrae) Thank you!

Steph

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