A lil bit of luurve...from The Shantaram

Whilst reading my book, The Shantaram (yes, I am STILL reading it!), last night, I read this quote and thought it was H-amazing. The narrator and the woman he is absolutely head over heels in love with, have just had an incredibly difficult few days after an outbreak of cholera in the slum he is living in. They have only kissed at this stage. Karla is a very private woman and on this night she shares some of her past with him before falling asleep in his arms. The quote below are his thoughts:

"Lovers find their way by such insights and confidences: they're the stars we use to navigate the ocean of desire. And the brightest of those stars are the heartbreaks and sorrows. The most precious gift you can bring to your lover is your suffering. So I took each sadness she confessed to me, and pinned it to the sky..........

....Heaped up on the blankets, out bodies bound by weariness and her deep slumber, surrounded by sickness and hope, death and defiance. I touched the soft surrendered curl of Karla's sleeping finger to my lips, and I pledged my heart to her forever."

Utterly beautiful !!

Luc xxx

Image from www.unix1987.wordpress.com

Result!

You'll have seen my post about the Sunday Indo article (if not, check it oot below!) and I was saying that a few things came of it. Well, in the article I mention that I overcame an eating disorder and the week after it was published, Stellar magazine and TV3 were on the phone to me asking me if I'd feel comfortable doing interviews with them.

Normally shying away from any kind of media (!!), this time I decided I'd be very happy to meet both Stellar and TV3. On a more serious note, one thing I have always said to myself since I overcame my eating disorder is that I would absolutely LOVE to be able to help others who are going through what I went through because it is such a lonely, hellish place and if I can help one person, well then that's better than none!

So I met the gorgeous Rosie of Stellar magazine and we had an interview in their offices which in fact, felt more like a chat!! I haven't seen the article yet as it will be in their April 2010 issue which should be on the shelves in March :) Have a look out for it!! I've no idea what it will turn out like as I won't see it before it is published so it I come across like an feckin' eejit, then it's all Rosie's fault!!!

Then I went into TV3 to meet Martin and Sybil from The Morning Show. We had a little chat about the type of questions they'd ask me and in fairness to them both, they seemed genuinely interested in what I was saying. We then met Harriet Parsons who is from Bodywhys (an incredible support group for eating disorders, check out http://www.bodywhys.ie/) and she was just a dote. We got the maquillage topped up and then hit the studio where we went straight to recording. It all went very smoothly and none of us made any cock-ups (at least I didn't think so anyway!).

You can check out the interview on www.tv3.ie/themorningshow and in the archive videos, mine is the 25th January. You'll see they took a very morose still to use as a picture of me! (above!)

I have always been really open about my eating disorder because I feel that everyone knows someone or is someone who is suffering from one. Some people find it strange but it's such a secretive disorder that part of the healing process is to be open. I have to say though, I felt a bit strange speaking so openly in the media about it at first. I am still chasing my dream of becoming a full-time TV presenter and I didn't know if this would damage my chances of achieving my goal or would I always be known as "the girl who had bulimia" ??

Now, I don't regret any of it. Bodywhys have asked me to be on their media panel so I am now achieving something else I've always wanted to do: to be involved with an organisation that reaches out a hand to those who sometimes feel like they are all alone in our massive world.

:) Luc xxx

A special tribute to my AMAZING friends

Friends come and go in your life but there are a handful who are always there, even when they're not there. I am exceptionally lucky to have the most wonderful friends in the world. I'm am certainly not going to name them but you all know who you are...............

They've picked up the pieces of manys a broken heart, kicked me up the arse when needed and listened to me even when I am talking a load of shite!! When I'm down (which is seldom, hopefully!) they tell me the most lovely things and I know they're not saying it because it's what they think I want to hear (well, maybe they are but it doesn't feel like that!) and give me the most worldly advice anyone could ever wish for. They've seen me at my worst and they still love me. No matter what role/job/adventure I decide I'm going to venture into next, they not only support me 110% but they tell me I'll be "brilliant" at it..........

To all my gorgeous friends, I want to say a huge THANK YOU for absolutely everything. I just hope that I am half the friend to you that you are to me. I love you all so much

Luc xxx

Picture from http://images.paraorkut.com/

Thought for today / Book of the moment....

Yes, I'm still reading the Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (it is REALLY big and has really small writing!!) but thanks to my lovely flatmate, Heather, I now have a high-lighter and there are flashes of illuminous orange splattered all over almost ever second page instead of dirty, bug, dog-ears!!.

The way this guy writes is just so beautiful and I wish I could claim the quotes as my own but who knows, maybe one day I'll be quoting myself?!?

I couldn't put the book down last night (and as a result ended up falling asleep on top of my book and with the light still on...DOH!) and here is one of the quotes that just stuck in my head. I've read over it about 5 times since then and I just think it's so thought-provoking and so honest. Let me know what you think!

"Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope. Sometimes we cry with everything except tears. In the end that's all there is: love and its duty, sorrow and its truth. In the end that's all we have - to hold on tight until the dawn."

WOW

Luc xxx

Sunday Indo Life Mag Article

www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/lucianne-white-2007251.html.

My very talented, up-and-coming journo-friend, Joyce Fegan, asked me would I mind if she wrote an article about me a few months back. Obviously, extremely flattered, I had no problem with her writing it at all. So she banged over a few questions to me, I answered them and she wrote the nicest article I have ever read and to be honest, whilst reading it I thought I was reading about someone else.

She sent it to some of our national papers and unfortunately they wouldn't publish unsolicited work but the wonderful Brendan O'Connor emailed me to say that he would get one of the Sunday Indo Life Magazine journalists to do an article on me. Next thing I knew, Julia Molony was on the phone to me asking when I'd be available for a phone interview.

I did the phone interview with Julia in December standing outside the Pavillion in Swords as it was my nieces birthday - the joys of the mobile world! About 2 minutes into the interview I kind of forgot that it was actually an interview. I was chatting away as if I'd know this girl for years. She just made me feel so comfortable talking about everything. At the end of the phone call, Julia told me that the article would be published on the 10th of January. When I hung up, I went back in to my mum, sister and friend and was both excited and nervous. I was chatting away to this journalist who was going to publish an article about ME (??) in a newspaper that has one of the biggest readerships in Ireland but then I realised that I was talking about some really difficult times in my life. "What angle was Julia going to take from our conversation? How will I come across? Will I be labelled with this issue forever?"....all these questions and more were racing through my head!

In the end, I had to just trust in Julia and wait (very impatiently) for the 10th of January! Eventually, it came around and I saw the article and even though I knew it was going to be there, I was still a bit shocked seeing it (as odd as that may sound!!). I was shaking reading it but once I got to the end (and read it a second time!!) I was delighted. I have to say, Julia wrote such a gorgeous article about me, using everything I had said on the phone that day in such a positive way. I want to say a HUGE "Thank you" to Julia and also to Brendan. I really appreciate it.

If you didn't get to see it, you can check out the article here: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/lucianne-white-2007251.html The image above is the one that they used and was taken by the AMAZING Peter Buckley of PB photographs. Check out www.pbphotographs.com to check out some of the other pics he took of me - he is a legend!!

A few other things have come up since the article and I'll do another post on those because I will go into more detail about them!

Thanks again to Joyce, Brendan, Julia and of course to Peter Buckley of PB photographs for the picture!!:)

Luc xxx

Magners League Profan

The Magners Rugby league were running a competition before Christmas searching for someone to be a "Professional Fan" and be a reporter/correspondent for all matches in the league. I knew nothing about it until I got a call from my hockey captain asking me had I heard the ad for this competition and she insisted that they were describing me!! I checked out the details and really, it did sound like my dream job!

I filled in the 2 page application form (isn't it so hard to write about yourself when you're really trying to 'sell yourself' - not in THAT way - you know what I mean!?) which took me about 2 days to finish, reading over it again and again, trying to answer the questions in a manner I would if my friends were asking me and avoid sounding like a complete a$$ !! I sent in the application not really knowing what to expect:- the rugby world is very much a man's world so I wasn't really sure how lil' oul' me would fit into it and I would never claim to know everything about rugby, I don't............BUT I love watching rugby, not just for the men (honestly!) it really is such an exciting game to watch. So it really would've been my ideal job!

When I got a call to say I was through to the second round with 17 others, I couldn't believe it!!! I was called in for an 'informal' interview which was with a table of 4 judges sitting in front of me, firing questions at me!! Ah no, I have to say they were lovely and once we started the interview it was more like a chat! Normally leaving auditions/interviews like that, you can't really tell how you came across or what they thought of you but it was weird, I had a really good feeling when I left:)

A week later, I got another call to say that I was down to the last 3 of the competition!!! I couldn't believe it! We all had 1.5hrs with a Setanta sports cameraman to record 15mins of footage on 'anything' we wanted and then we had to edit it all down to 1min! It was major panic stations because I got the call on a Friday and the shooting was on the Monday!! I had to get my thinking cap on pronto!! Luckily, the amazing, legendary Shane Byrne is a good friend of mine and he agreed to help me out with the agreement that I owe him, basically, forever! Really, he is so, so good and I do owe him big time - THANKS A MIL Shane:) Check it out on my videos! It was great craic to film with Heather and Laura and all the lads!!

Then it was down to a public, email vote so we all had to push it, pu-push it REAL good!! It seemed like weeks before we got the final result and unfortunately, I didn't win. Before the result came out, I was telling people that if I didn't win, I wouldn't mind because I had great fun making the video and everything happens for a reason. I know that "winning is just a bonus" and "it's the taking part that counts" ...................Call me competitive but I'm afraid I don't buy that rubbish............I'd be more of the mindset "I'm in it to win it". I am always 100% honest so to be honest, when I got that call I was devastated. I really did think I was going to win. So after cursing Conor Galvin, who won, for a little bit and some much needed sympathy from my lovely friends and family, I got over it!

The other day I got a lovely email from Conor wishing me luck which was so nice of him and then I checked out some of the stuff he's been doing as the Profan and hand on my heart, I think the best man won! So well done Conor and best of luck with the rest of the season.

Now I really do mean it when I say I had so much fun making that video and even though I didn't win the competition I felt very honoured to be in the last 3 AND the only female....doing it for the ladies :)