Eurovision 2014: Chris's Grand Final Party

Conchita, Queen of Eurovision!

Held last night, Chris's 3rd Annual Eurovision Party was certainly the best ever! The twelve attendees cheered, squealed, grooved, joked, and sang our hearts out during the three-and-a-half hour extravaganza. Chris's decorations were second to none, with brightly coloured bunting, #TeamMolly posters and #JoinUs diamonds adorning the ceiling, walls and floor. When Austria's Conchita Wurst was announced as the victor, we were all delighted, especially Chris, who supported her from the start. We were also pleased with the UK's score, a respectable 40 points, which put us in 17th place. Here are the final standings in our group competition:

1. Chris - Austria - 1st place
2. Chelsea - Sweden - 3rd place
3. Jess - Armenia - 4th place
4. Wendy - Ukraine - 6th place
5. Steph - Denmark - 9th place
6. Jade - Finland -11th place
7. Emily - Romania - 12th place
8. Georgina - Switzerland - 13th place
9. Megan - United Kingdom - 17th place
10. Daisy - Azerbaijan - 22nd place
11. me - Malta - 23rd place
12. Rosie - Slovenia - 25th place

Yes, my beloved Firelight ended up four places above the bottom of the leaderboard, but I wasn't at all dispirited. Their performance was delightful, and I somehow managed to vote for them 50 times during the short interval. Amazingly, they were awarded 10 points by the UK, so the binge voting was well worth it! In total, they were given 32 points, which meant my pledge to eat one Malteser for each point they received was significant, yet easily doable.

32 maltesers

Daisy's tactical choice of Azerbaijan sadly failed to pay off; their 22nd place finish is the first time they've ever placed outside the top 8. After her win last year, Rosie was relegated to last place this time around. Chelsea and Chris both improved by 13 places on last year, and my first choice actually qualified this time around! The UK didn't do too badly, and the rest of the attendees' countries finished on the left hand side of the leaderboard. After the excitement of the contest, today I've felt rather melancholy, but I will look forward to Austria 2015!

Some of Chris's decoration

The artists we supported

Eurovision 2014: Country choices

Chris has continued his yearly tradition of getting each of us to choose a country to support, and this year, after much contemplation and soul-searching, I've gone for Malta! The song is called "Coming Home", and it's performed by the group Firelight, most of whom are siblings. I really like it's folky vibe and it reminds me of "Let Me Go" by Gary Barlow, a song I heard live at Gary's concert on the day we chose our countries. In truth, I can't see it winning, but I'm passionate about supporting it, which is ultimately the reason why I chose it, rather than one of the favourites like Armenia or Norway. I do think it deserves a spot in the final, and I shall definitely vote for it in the second semifinal on Thursday 8th May. However, as with last year, my choice will open the semifinal, which did not fare well for Austria's 2013 campaign, as the country did not qualify. Nonetheless, I believe Firelight has what it takes to earn a place in the 2014 final. I hope I'm correct!

Everyone else's choices are as follows:
Chris: Austria
Emily: Ireland
Georgina: Switzerland
Rosie: Slovenia
Chelsea: Sweden
Steph: Denmark
Wendy: Ukraine
Jade: Finland
Jess: Armenia
Megan: United Kingdom

May the best song win!

I could reminisce forever...

Yesterday the primary school group, Georgina, Gemma, Megan, Alex, Chris and I, met up for the first time since 23rd December last year. It didn't feel like 6 months had passed; conversation still flowed like a waterfall between us, even me, at times. Alex, Georgina, Chris and I had organised to meet by the pub at 12:15 to walk to the complex together, but Chris took an extra half an hour just to wake up, and we didn't leave till after 1, when we were due to arrive! Thankfully, Georgina and Alex's constant text updates meant that we didn't keep Gemma and Megan waiting.

By 2pm the whole group was ordering delicious meals in Nando's, including Chris's whole chicken (which he did eat). After finishing our meals, we eventually decided to go bowling, and were especially enthralled to discover that we could bowl and receive a meal for just £5.95 after 3:30pm! Megan and Gemma's eyes lit up at the promise of more food, and the game was fun too! I got off to an early lead with 2 spares and 2 strikes, but by the end Chris (a.k.a. Camp) had overtaken me; he won with 145, but I was still happy with my score of 126, because it's the best I've ever done!

Next we returned to the food court; I munched away on veggie nuggets while we chatted about random things and Chris keeked for the first time in a week. Eventually we decided to call it a day, and headed home. It was great to see everyone again, and we hope to meet up a little sooner next time.

How time flies...

Met up with some friends from Primary school today, which was kind of odd since I haven't been in contact with most of them since we left almost four years ago. It was great to catch up again, but I still wondered how different life might be if we hadn't lost touch. Would we still hang out together? Would I have even made new friends?

Anyway, they haven't changed much and were still recognisable as my old friends; Megan kept commenting on how mature we all are (her in particular) and much mickey was taken out of Alex's new "Oldfield Girls'" posh accent and Chris's deeper voice (he didn't spike his hair up though!). Georgina, Gemma, Chris, Megan, Alex and I were there; the whole group apart from Amy, who had to have a blood test today because she had a brain tumour a few months ago. It was strange her not being there, and I really hope all is now well for her.

We had a laugh playing Just Dance 1 & 2 on the wii, and we watched The Simpsons Movie until it froze (at a very cool point) by which time Gemma was leaving and offered me a lift home, which I gladly accepted.

It was nice to see them all again, and I'll look forward to possible meet-ups in the future!