That girl can bounce

I was born to bounce. The trampoline is an extension of me. A rather heavy and awkward to walk with extension of me. Which is why I leave it in the industrial estate warehouse where my trampoline club is based.

One of the things I love most about trampolining is that people are surprised I’m good at it. Yeah, that’s right, I’m blowing my own horn, but I am good. Those of you who have spent more than 5 minutes in my company know that I’m a chubby blonde who struggles to go a day without accidental self harm or wardrobe malfunctions. So the fact that I can bounce over 10 ft in the air and not die comes as a surprise. Not that I haven’t come close to death, just the other week I was trying a half twist to back drop half twist out and I landed on someone elses trampoline. Then In tonights sessions I tried to see if I could cartwheel on a trampoline… I can’t.

But what’s a hobby without a little risk. Last week it was papercuts and frustration. While injuring myself by falling ungraciously is a risk I take every time I touch gin, so I'm used to it. Besides, I love trampolining and due to even more unforeseeable circumstances the Lego man has had to cancel on me again. Which is why I thought I would write about my passion instead of someone else’s. Now some of you may be sceptical about me calling trampolining a passion as opposed to a fad. I have proven my love of fads and ability to get bored quickly, so what makes trampolining different? Well trampolining is a return hobby, like going back to your first love after you’ve had time to grow and mature. This makes it different and more than a fad, so there.

I first started trampolining when I was 8 years old and a member of the Hitler Youth. Or Westcroft Gymanstics Club to give it its proper name. I was doing what we did at the end of every session, sitting with my legs as far apart as they can go with my forehead resting on the floor for 1 minute. (There was a time when that stretch was more than a drunken pipe dream and I could do it no problem). But it wasn’t enough that I could do it, everyone in the club had to be able to do it. So if one girl lifted her head before the minute was up we had to stay there for another minute. This one session I had been resting my head on the floor for nearly 5 minutes and it was starting to hurt. And it was at this point that I turned my head slightly looked through the double doors and saw a girl bouncing on the trampoline. I saw freedom. Even now I associate trampolining with feeling free. Cheesy, I know. But sometimes I honestly feel like I’m flying (or at least falling with style) and I love that sensation.

I need to thank Aire Trampoline Club for bringing trampolining back into my life and for supporting me so much with it. Not only am I learning to somersault safely, I’m learning how to teach others. Every Tuesday from 6.30 – 7.30 I help to coach 9 – 11 years old trampolining. This is not just a hobby to put down on the C.V or whip out to impress the fellas. It’s something that I genuinely enjoy doing it, it’s like teaching, but with kids who actually want to be there and with no marking. I even have a G.C.S.E P.E book so I can brush up on my anatomy (insert own joke here) for the Level 1 coaching qualification course. Aire Trampoline Club is also looking into putting me on a judging course so I can judge at the local competitions. How cool is that? I also need to thank Lorna Harris for being the photographer on my trampolining photo shoot. An odd and difficult experience for both of us. Trying to smile with my eyes while pulling my legs in two different directions is as hard as it sounds. While trying to capture a photo of someone landing in a front drop without a blurred cleavage shot is as difficult as it sounds. I’ll get to find out more about the trickiness of photography next week though, as Lorna will be sharing her hobby with me.

So I’m in the trampolining circle (like the magic circle apart from the magic and the fact that it doesn't actually exist). I’m a card carrying member of the British Gymanstic Federation (yeah that’s right – just check my purse.) After next weeks session I should have completed my level 1 – 5 and got trampolining badges for my efforts. (Yeah that’s right – 5 actual badges that I will sew onto my actual clothes) All that’s next is the leotard and short shorts. Hmmm….not sure if I can pull of a look designed for prepubescent girls and Olympians. Maybe this will have to be a fad after all.

Many Thanks

Mumf xxxxx

A doodle dabble

This week I have learnt that comic book writing is hard, drinking in the day is fun and that I have a domestic violence relationship with my car. The first lesson I learnt by having to dedicate a whole weekend to just one page of A4 stickwomen. The second lesson I knew anyway but I do love a refresher course. The third lesson was taught rather painfully when Foxy (my car) finally fought back. In the last year I haven given him a rear bump, a broken seat and knocked off both his wing mirrors. On Saturday Foxy fought back though when I hit my head on the car door frame on my way to Body Groove. Then two days later, after I had realised I had been driving for 5 minutes with the car boot open, I went to shut said door but instead shut it on my head.

This has nothing to do with fads I admit. Unless swearing loudly at the inanimate object you have given a personality to is now considered a hobby. But Foxy got such sweet revenge on me that even washing my hair hurts. So I feel the need to share my pain and Facebook status’s just aren’t enough anymore. Drinking in the day wasn’t my fad either, a gin is not just for fad, gin is for life. But it was fun and it did help with my actual fad of the week, comic book writing. This fad was introduced to me by the very talented comic book artist and friend Sophie Dean. Now, Sophie has always been extremely artistic, at University her Halloween costumes were incredible feats of ingenious paper maches inventions. Such as George the giant monster head with bin bag hair and eye holes in the nostrils.

She also loves a good doodle and has taken a way to pass the time and turned it in to a professional hobby. Sophie works in publishing rights and in 2008 was at the Frankfurt Book Fair. She did what all bored people with a pen and company time to waste do, she doodled. What flowed from that biro ended up being “The Guide to the Frankfurt Book Fair”, a comic piece of comic writing that won praise from friends and colleagues alike. It was so good that even Sophie’s boss loved it when she handed it in as her official report on the Book Fair (Yes, she’s that cool.) From there it just grew and grew, and now Sophie has her own website www.bitbookish.com dedicated to her comics. A site I really recommend you visit as she has a real witty, clever writing voice, and her drawings are much better than mine.

So who better to mentor me in my new fad of comic book writing? All I needed now was an idea. Hmmmm… usually I’m not short of ideas. Though they are mainly wooing or werewolf focused. Sometimes they get combined and it's about a wooing werewolf – they’re the best. But I was struggling to think of something that could be expressed in an A4 page or less as I knew I wouldn't be able to produce more than that. This wasn’t the time for a saga about a young girl in love with a time traveller or a bunch of prankster superhero friends; they would have to wait till creative writing class. I knew that it had to be short, funny and simple – so I considered a self portrait (see what I did there?) As I mulled this over I couldn’t tell if it was the wine I had been drinking since 12pm. Or because my housemate Rhiannon and I felt like the naughty kids banished to her room during a Belleville practise. Well naughty kids that are banished with a bottle of wine. But I was finding everything really funny and couldn't stop laughing, and that’s when it hit me. I’ll write about this, about all the funny times I have with my housemates aka my wives.

The fact that it was valentines weekend as well, made the decision to write a comic book dedicated to my wives all the more fated. I won’t go into the detail about these funny moments and the things I love and enjoy slightly less about my housemates. As that’s detailed in the ‘Good Wife Life – The pros and cons of having wives (i.e. my amazing housemates)’ comic strip.

So please appreciate my comic strip as it took me so bloody long to make. Firstly I had to get into my cuddle monkey (my brand of slanket/snuggie – the blanket with arms). Then I worked out what I wanted to say and how many boxes that would take. I then had to work out how to draw stick people, oh you may chuckle but it took me a long time to get to thIS standard of stick people drawing. Then I had to make sure that all the little stick people and their little stick accessories could fit in their little stick boxes. I then traced it all on a new page so I didn’t have the marks from old pencil lines that I had rubbed out. Next, I went over this pencil drawing in black pen so it would show up more when I scanned it. I then had to find someone with a scanner to scan it and email it to me – Thank You Lorna. Then I put the scanned image in a word document, finalised my dialogue and wrote my text boxes. Lastly, I got it spell checked and proof read by said wives before turning into a jpeg by copying it into paint. I admit that it may have been quicker if I used computer programmes more advanced then word and paint, but I knows what I likes and I likes what I know. But if that comic book writing process felt long to read then try living it.

Comic book writing is hard. It’s not the creative output for me. I feel I can get more across and in less time with just plain old writing. I’m sure they’ll be times in my life that can only be properly expressed through stick people. I’m just not so sure I’ll have another free weekend to dedicate to it. But I’ll probably dabble from time to time, I do get so bored so very easily. I’ll leave the full time comic book hobbying to the professionals such as Sophie. Whose dabble in doodling has taken her to a place both professionally and personally that she never imagined 2 years ago.

So another week over and a new fad to be had. Now, the eagle eyed among you may be wondering why I haven’t spent the last few minutes talking about lego modelling as that’s what I said I’d be doing at the end of my last blog. Well due to a back injury lego modelling had to be rescheduled to this weeks fad. So you’ll have to wait to find out why a back injury had delayed the lego modelling fun and what exactly is so fun about it. What a blog cliffhanger.

Hope you enjoyed reading and please become a fan of the shesbeenfad fan page if you haven’t already.

Look forward to talking to you next week

Many Thanks

Much love Mumf xxxx

One girl and her rainmaker

This week I have learnt that it takes more to be in a band than a pretty dress, some knock off Lion bars and an annoyingly excitable attitude. Which is a sad fact as I also realised that’s all I have to offer.

I like music but I don’t understand it, I don’t know how to tell a G from an F, a tom from a snare or how to be part of a three part harmony. For years my musical influences were just Britney and Bublé, till my housemate Emily Yates started to introduce me to new musical styles and proper gigs. Then came the unearthing of a band named after me that I knew I had to see, if not for the novelty value alone. But it ended up being more than that, it was the discovery of a new favourite band, a style of foot stomping and a calling in life as a follower of Folk. Mumford and Sons weren’t the first band to change my musical life though, that honour goes to Belleville, my said housemate’s band. From their early days as a three piece band whose rehearsals were often interrupted by my appearance in a pink towel. (Those readers who have also witnessed this look can confirm that this was in no way an attempt for groupie status, due to band members’ Christian status and my looking like a shapeless marshmellow.) Right up to my baking of 80 cupcakes for their The First Dance EP launch in 2009 (that’s right 80 cupcakes – 3 different flavours) my position as number one fan has been secured.

Therefore, it seemed a very fitting start to ‘She’s Been Fad’ that for my first week I would share in my housemate’s hobby nay passion for the band Belleville. The experience began with a lyric writing session late Tuesday evening where I wrote a line that will hopefully make the final cut of their song “All the promises I’ve heard”. I won’t spoil it by telling you which line, you’ll have to come to a gig and wait for the moment that I jump up and point at myself repeatedly to find that out. As the week progressed so did my lessons in three part harmonising, thanks to my “wives” patience and persistence, till I felt I was as ready as I was going to be for the Belleville band rehearsal on Saturday.

Now, I’m no fool and I know that to be allowed to interrupt an important band rehearsal on a weekend I needed to come armed with more than just my charm. Which luckily one quick trip to Aldi, for some flapjacks, brownies and second rate Lion bars called ‘Roar’ solved. I also knew that I had to come prepared with something more than the ability to distract Karaoke fans with some well timed thrusts. (Those readers who have witnessed my Big Spender number know just what thrusts I’m talking about.) I therefore turned up with the one musical instrument I was trusted with in Music Class – The Rainmaker. A miniature version of course, brought as part of an amazing novelty birthday present for Emily.

So there I stood and there I shook. Sometimes in rhythm, sometimes not, mostly not. I tried to shake along as the band jammed, trying to perfect a new song and I can honestly say I have never felt more out of my depth. It’s just something I don’t understand, it must be like a non trekey listening to the classic why Deep Space Nine can never compare to Voyager argument. They can understand the words but not why they’re in a sentence together. I don’t know how people can create music out of nothing, put notes in an order that didn’t exist before, it’s incredible and a talent I wished I had. After speaking in more depth to Emily about being in the band and her love of music, I came to understand that to play music is in her and if she wasn’t in Belleville she’d be making music somewhere, somehow. Though Emily may have been faddy with her short-lived violin lessons and time as a bass player, making music is no fad, but part of her. Which is a beautiful thing.

Music is not part of me, which is fine. One can’t be good at everything and when one can’t even master a rainmaker one should really give up. But I want to thank Belleville for letting me share their passion with them, for playing my favourite song for me when they wanted to go home, for Justice patiently trying to teach me the drums and for Emily for making it happen. So please find out more about Belleville and listen to their music at http://www.myspace.com/bellevillemusic and join me in the fan club.

I must say that all in all, week one has been a success, and week two is looking rosy. As I started the week with an appearance on Radio One – oh yeah!!! Today I was on Fearne Cotton’s Music Generator and it was amazing, not only did I get my 15 minutes of fame but I was given the present of a beautiful song. The Music Generator did its job, it mixed up Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine and Laura Marling and came up with Stornoway, ‘I Saw you Blink’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfI_dcH1d9U) The only low point was that the researcher asked me not to mention the blog because it would get a bit messy legally, as they can’t be seen to promote websites such as blogspots. Boo!!! Oh well, I did manage to sneak in a Belleville shout out and as honorary member and number one fan that’s all that matters

Thanks for reading and continue to leave your comments, suggestions and invites here or on my Facebook Fan Page shesbeenfad fan page

Next week…Lego modelling

Hi friends

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Many Thanks

Becky Mumford

Dear Diary ...

I love a good fad. I love becoming obsessed with a new hobby, toy or boy until something brighter and more sparkly comes along. I’m like a cat with a piece of shiny wrapping paper; I’ll play with it fanatically till I notice the ball with fidgety ferret attached hiding in the corner. Basically I have the attention span of a cat, which also explains my love life and how I’m always drawn to the one person in the room doing their best to avoid me out of dislike, or fear. Mmmmmm. Self analysis is not my friend.

However the point is this, I love taking up new hobbies and filling my life with extra curricular activities. In 2009 alone I’ve enjoyed salsa, trampolining, body jam, fitness ballet, British Military Fitness, a sci-fi book club and creative writing classes. I’ve researched how to use my various skills to become a freelance writer, magician, party organiser, Blue Peter presenter and member of Mumford and Sons. On top of all of this I’m committed to a full time job, the amazing Mumford family, my wives (my housemates – lesbian bigamist is a fad I have yet to experience) and a fab bunch of friends. Not forgetting my dedication to gin and serious dance floor 'shape throwing'.

But as 2010 arrived I was starting to feel a bit fadless. I had my new gym membership, trampolining and creative writing course, but I wanted more (note/warning: I always want more.) So I thought, why not make my new fad an exploration of fads, to look into the reasons why we fill our lives with these weird and wonderful hobbies? Why do people get up at 6am to run when nothings chasing them? How does one attend a live art class and not laugh at the willies and boobies? Why do people collect stamps? There’s no joke here, I just really want to know why!

So I’ll spend the next few weeks enjoying these hobbies by experiencing them with my friends and then blogging about them in a hilarious and intelligent manner. For instance this week I’m sharing my housemate’s passion for her band Belleville (www.myspace.com/bellevillemusic) which I will tell you more about next week. Thus far I have written some emo lyrics and started my search for a tambourine.

This project will only work if people invite me to share their hobbies with them (thank you Belleville). So whatever your passions, interests and hobbies let me know and let me join you. There are of course some things that even I won’t to do, so if you count piercings, tattoos or threesomes as your hobbies then maybe you should keep it to yourself and investigate the effects of hepatitis. Otherwise, for the most part, I’m game.

I also have six days annual leave to take before April so am able to enjoy hobbies outside of the Canterbury area. I only require an invite, accommodation, food and cuddles. I really am as easily please as a household pet.

Please get involved with your suggestion, comments and invites

Much Love Mumf