The Farro Brothers Leave Paramore

 (Note: This is taken straight from my Tumblr)

 For those who have yet to hear the news, Zac and Josh Farro have officially left Paramore. Yesterday, the remaining three band members posted a blog on their official website about the brothers’ departure from the band, which you can read here.

I’ve been a massive fan of Paramore for quite a few years now and I’ve supported them for such a long time that it only seems natural for me to be affected by this news.

However, I wish people would stop acting like it’s the end of the world. Yes, it’s really sad for us Paramore fans — I nearly cried in front of my best friend and her brother when I found out — but it’s not like Paramore are breaking up.

Paramore is a band, and people seem to forget that. Most people think it’s all about Hayley, while a lot of rabid fangirls have eyes only for Josh. Paramore isn’t just about one or two people — they are a group, a band; they create music together. Paramore are not ending. Hayley, Jeremy, and Taylor are still going strong. They will probably recruit a new member or two as well.

Jeremy Davis left the band once. All We Know was written about him leaving and he was replaced by John Hembree. After five months, Jeremy returned, taking back his place in the band.

Jason Bynum was originally on rhythm guitar, though he was replaced by Hunter Lamb.

Hunter Lamb left in 2007 to get married, and the band went on as a quartet  — Hayley, Josh, Zac, and Jeremy — and recorded their second album, Riot!

Taylor York replaced Hunter after the recording of Riot! and the band became what we are so familiar with today. The five of them, four boys and a girl, just like it was at the start.

Now, the Farro brothers left, and honestly, I’m not letting myself get worked up about it. Yes, it’s sad for the band, but Zac and Josh weren’t happy in Paramore anymore and they needed to break away.

They can, and most likely will, be replaced in the near future. And maybe, after some time, they may come back — just like Jeremy did. We can’t be sure, and we can’t get our hopes up, but you never know.

In the words of Hayley, Jeremy, and Taylor: “We want Josh and Zac to do something that makes them happy and if that isn’t here with us, then we support them finding happiness elsewhere.” I would rather the brothers leave and be happy than be a part of something they no longer want to participate in.

We shouldn’t be angry at them, we should be supporting them on finding happiness elsewhere. We should support Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor, too, as they come to adapt as a trio.

We should be cherishing the time we did get with the brothers, from Paramore’s beginning to the present. We should feel lucky that we had the chance to see them in Paramore at all, and thankful for everything they gave us.
Losing members is always tough for any band to deal with, on both an emotional and professional level, and we should be standing by them every step of the way.

Paramore is a band, and even with the Farro brothers gone, they still are.

Abandonment

Hiiiii. Yeah. This is awkward. It's like seeing an old friend after a really long time without contact, and you have no idea what to say because you've both changed so much and you know instantly that the friendship you used to have is, like, extinct. But anyway, on a happier note, I'M BACK.

It's been exactly a month since I last blogged, which is a really weird coincidence. I signed in, originally, to update my (neglected) Book Count blog. I have to add three books to it. Then I realised it had been so long since I last updated and decided it was time I came back.

I still haven't edited the footage from the Paramore concert, or uploaded the photos anywhere (except Tumblr). I think I may just create another blog post altogether some time soon, consisting of photographs from the concert. There aren't a lot because I was mostly recording, but whatever. There are some.

I saw Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 on the nineteenth, and I am dying to see it again. It was absolutely fantastic. The actors really upped their game for this movie -- there's such raw emotion and they put so much effort into making this their most inspiring, powerful performance yet. I really do love this one. It's so unbelievably amazing. And the comic relief is spread out so perfectly, and comes at times right when you need to lighten up a bit. Excellence. Part One of Deathly Hallows is pure excellence.

I completely failed NaNoWriMo, only just getting past 10k when my goal was 25k. November kind of threw a lot of crap on my shoulders all at once, so writing kind of flew down my list of priorities and out the window. I tried my best, I suppose, considering the pressure I was under.

Currently, I'm ill with tonsillitis, in my last week of school before the winter break, and studying for a Biology exam coming up in January. It's the official, actual, proper Biology GCSE, so I really cannot screw this up.

I, surprisingly, am kind of looking forward to Christmas. Christmas is one of those holidays that doesn't faze me much. It's just a day where I spend half of it enjoying myself, and the other just wanting to go to sleep or escape from the family. Because I'm socially awkward, I find it hard being forced to stay in the living room the entire day and talk with fifty bajillion people. I'm a really fussy eater, so I don't enjoy Christmas dinners because I only ever pick at the food on my plate. So I'm not really one for Christmas but I'm looking forward to it this year. That's probably because (a)my cousin is visiting*, (b)I'm getting Disney DVDs, (c)Doctor Who special!

So. That's what's going on in my life. Thrilling, I know. I'll try to update sooner next time.

*He's twenty, lives two hours south, I haven't seen him in over a year, and he likes anime/manga and Starkid!

Post-Concert Depression

NOTE: My brain is completely muddled and still blown-away and I'm writing as I think, so this isn't at all in chronological order.

The concert last night was amazing. That's genuinely the only word I can think of, because I'm still completely speechless. But amazing doesn't even start to cover it. I got a load of footage which, after doing my homework, I'm going to start editing together. I'll upload it to YouTube and post it here whenever I finish it. Throughout most of it, you can hear me screaming and singing along. And it's kind of blurry because I had to zoom in. Even though I could see them pretty clearly on the stage, they look like specs through the camera. It was weird.

Fun and B.o.B were the support acts, and while Fun was pretty good, B.o.B was absolutely awful. But whatever. Hayley came on to sing Airplanes, dressed in a thick winter coat. I love her pink hair, and it looks even more amazing in person than it does in photographs.

When Paramore officially started, there was a curtain in front of the stage, and you could only see the silhouettes, but when it was time for Hayley to start singing, the curtain dropped. It was really effective.

She loved how we all screamed after pretty much every sentence when she was talking, and said it was one of the biggest concerts they'd ever held. She also loved how co-operative we were when she asked us to do stuff (stand up and dance, sway, get our phones out, etc.), and the last time anything as big as this happened was in December '09 in the same place (London 02 Arena).

She made us all stand up and dance for crushcrushcrush and spent about five minutes making sure the majority of people were standing up. Apparently, it usually takes a good fifteen minutes or so. And then we all got our phones out and waved them in the air to The Only Exception and I got a lot of footage of the crowd swaying their phones because it was really amazing (it's slightly jolty, though, because I kept switching the phone and the camera between hands).

When she introduced the band members, Jeremy and Josh easily got the loudest cheers (until Josh introduced Hayley), and I managed to record her saying "WE. ARE. PAAARAAAMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEE!" which I'm really proud of. She says it at every concert, and I knew that more than anything, I wanted to record her saying that. AND I DID.

The last song they sang was Misery Business, and she led into it like this: "Before tonight ends, we have some business to take care of. And there is only one kind of business at a Paramore concert." And then the music started. It was so amazing. Josh from You Me At Six came on stage and started singing, too, and while I'm not a fan (I haven't really paid them much attention, to be honest) of You Me At Six, I can't deny that he has an amazing voice.

Jess and I both got Paramore hoodies with "Paramore" written in small, red letters on the front and "PARAMORE" written across the entire back. There's a fountain pen/injection needle between the PARA and MORE, and under neath it says "We wrote our names in blood." (a line from Ignorance) which I think is really creative and I love it to pieces.

When they started playing Decode, nearly everyone started cheering loudly ... and I just sunk into my seat and silently watched them perform. It's not a terrible song, I suppose, but (a) it's overplayed, (b) it's Twilight, (c) the cheers proved to me just how many Paramore fans like Twilight, and (d) I'm really not-at-all keen on it. It's the only Paramore song I don't like.

I really wish they had played Decoy and Swim in Silence (two demo songs), along with For a Pessimist I'm Pretty Optimistic and Careful. But I know they have to limit themselves, and the songs they did choose to play were wonderful, too.

Now, I could go on and on about that marvelous concert, but I have homework to get on with and things to catch up on online. So, suffering from Post-Concert Depression, I bid you farewell.

In brief, other news:

• I have tickets booked to see Deathly Hallows on the 19th at 5PM.
• Darren Criss was absolutely amazing in Glee (This deserves it's own blog post ... I'll write one up after I watch next week's episode).
• I'm doing terribly with NaNoWriMo. I'm a fair few thousand words behind.

Such Little Time

I am fully aware that I haven't blogged in an entire month, but I'm not going to apologise for it, because it genuinely isn't my fault. For the past three and a half weeks (since Friday 9th), I've been stuck in my bedroom with the lights off and (new, black, thick) curtains drawn, unable to do anything but watch movies and sleep. I only left my room to get more water, eat, and go to the loo.

Because I've had the worst migraine ever.

I was up crying with my mum one night during the first week, and a little while later, I actually went into A+E. That's how bad it was. The slightest noise or sliver of light made my hands instinctively fly up to cover my eyes and let out a whimper of pain. It was awful. Eventually, I started spending a few minutes on the computer, but I couldn't read more than a couple of sentences at a time, and I had to set it aside every ten minutes. Therefore, I wasn't up for being on the interwebs, let alone writing a blog.

It's been gradually easing, and it's nearly completely gone now, but having been sheltered from noise/light for so long, I'm still rather sensitive towards it. I've missed two weeks of school, and this week is half-term, but I'll be going to back on Monday.

But that's not the only thing I'm doing on Monday. Throughout November, I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo. For those of you who don't know, that stands for National Novel Writing Month. As it sounds, you have to write a novel in one month. Specifically, a novel with at least 50,000 words in it. Now, I'm not actually doing that ... I'm doing the NaNoWriMo Young Writers' Project, which is for people up to the age of seventeen who don't feel capable of doing the entire 50k. Unlike the original site, you can set your own goal -- I'm going for 25,000 words. So you probably won't be hearing much from me throughout November, either. AND in December, I'm going to be editing, studying, AND reading my friends' novels.

But I'll try to blog as much as I can.

I'm really worried about my Book Count. I know it's just a fun challenge that I've been partaking in all year, but I still have to read eight books before 31st December, at 11:59pm. I can almost hear you now: "What are you on about? You still have two months!" But with November pretty much cramped, and December I'm pretty busy, I don't know how many books I'll manage to read. (I will, however, be counting my friends' novels towards it). But even more importantly than my Book Count, is my English teacher's. He wants everyone in our class to read ten books before the end of term. That means that the few days before the New Year (which is when I generally get a lot of reading done) won't count towards his ... manga doesn't count in his mind, and 10 poems can equal "one book" in our book logs -- but I still don't know how I'm going to manage.

I'm thinking that maybe I'll let him know about NaNoWriMo, and see if he'll let me read a lower book count/let my friends' novels count towards it.

Anyway, I have to go and eat dinner now. I have another blog in the works that I started while I was ill (wrote about three paragraphs before it got too much), and I'll probably finish that while procrastinating next month. Heh.

Asthma Attack

This is copied straight from my dA journal, because I can't be bothered to write it out again. Note that "today" actually means Thursday, because that's when it happened ...

I had an asthma attack in PE today. It was so freaking scary O_O

We were doing cross-country relay, and I had to throw the baton to the next person in my group 'cos I was too weak to go any further. I collapsed on the floor, my breathing worse than a seventy-year-old smoker's, in so much pain (in my lungs) that I started crying (I don't cry. Today was the first time that my best friend of two years saw me cry). My friend, who was in a different group, got to the same station as me a few seconds after I collapsed, and sat with me and cuddled me and tried to calm me down, while panicking herself ("Deep breaths, Steph. Ohmygod, ohmygod. Come on, it's alright. Deeeeeep breaths. Ohmygod." Because she's a sweetheart.

Someone got the teacher, who literally sprinted across the field (She was near the changing rooms, and I was at the opposite end of the field ... it's a BIG field) to me. I tried to get my inhalor out of my pocket, but I was shaking so badly that my hand kept falling away from the zip.

Eventually, I took my inhalor, and I sat there for a good five minutes, on the soaking wet grass, shaking, crying, gasping for breath. And then, after I started recovering, the teacher made me walk across the field. I nearly fell over at least five times, because I felt really unstable, and she ended up supporting me half the way. And then I sat (again, on the soaking wet ground) and stared at the grass until the end of the lesson.

I've been in a zombie-like state all day. PE was first period, and the rest of the day, I just walked around blankly, almost completley unresponsive. It felt like someone was stabbing my lungs every time I breathed, and when I spoke, it was like they were twisting the knife. I nearly started crying again a couple of times, but I managed to fight back the tears. It was awful.

I got a lot of hugs and arm rubs, too ... I don't like attention, but it was interesting to see who cared and who didn't. Jess was clearly the one who cared the most.

It's still painful when I breathe, but it's not as bad. More of a pin-prick. Compared to the pain I felt all day, this is nothing.

But I'm still shaken. This was my first proper asthma attack. Asthma has given all kinds of pains in PE, the most popular being what I describe as "someone sticking a knife down my throat and twisting it." ... basically, when the cold air gets down my throat, my asthma kicks in, and causes agony. But that is NOTHING now, after today. I've had small asthma attacks before, but this one hit me so strongly and so suddenly, it was so much worse.

Worst. Experience. Ever.

DEVIN, I LOVE YOU. DEVIN, I DO!

WHEN WE'RE APART, MY HEART BEATS ONLY FOR YOUUUU.

Uhm. Yeah. Hi.

This morning, on top of the amazing things Devin Lytle did yesterday, I woke up to this message:

And I went completely beserk. Sitting on my bed, in my school uniform, completely forgetting about getting ready for school ... I went "SQUEEEEEEEE!!!" and flapped my arms around like a spazzed-up seal. And it took me forever to think of a reply. I typed one thing, thought "No." and backspaced, typed another - "No" - backspaced, typed another - "No" - ... I think you get the point.

I was so ecstatic. I'm still internally fangirling now, to be honest. I get all giddy at the thought of this XD

Steph Here With An Update

After a nudge from my friend, Megha, I decided to blog again. I was going to blog every day on the first week, but (a)I was too exhausted, and (b)nothing particularly interesting happened. I'm in Set One for all of my lessons except Maths (Set Two, by choice) and Music (Set Three, because I suck), and the lessons are all pretty damn easy. However, I've received twenty-three pieces of homework so far, and that's the draining part. Not because it's hard, but because it's cutting into my free time and I don't want to do it.

My timetable is this:

Monday: Tutor/Assembly. Maths. Break. Science. RS. Lunch. Drama.
Tuesday: French. PE. Break. English. Geography. Lunch. History.
Wednesday: PE. Art. Break. English. Maths. Lunch. Science.
Thursday: Maths. French. Break. English. Science. Lunch. Tech.
Friday: History. Music. Break. ICT. Tech. Lunch. Geography.

The underlined classes are those I share with my best friend, Jess. It's not fair.

And this is more for me, than for you, because I doubt you care. This is a "see if I can get it to actually stay in my brain this time." Because in June last year, I was STILL asking my friends what lesson we had next XD

Today has been a mixture of boring, bad, and absolutely amazing. In that order. It's been really dull.

After assembly (which was on cyber-bullying, a subject that really bugs me), we went to the fire alarm meeting point, where we go and line up in register order in our forms whenever a fire alarm rings. Cora, a girl in my form who is before me in the register, stood on my toe. Then Rosie hugged me because she thought it was her fault, and then Cora hugged me, too. Lots of hugs to around.

In tutor (which is an hour with our form and form teacher, where we usually have discussions and learn about things that affect us and stuff, like smoking, drinking, litter, ASBOs, etc.), I'm in a group with Jess and Owen for a project we have to do, and our group name is Nameless. I came up with it. Aren't I just so witty? No. Anyway, our subject, which I also came up with, is prejudice & judgement / bullying. This is mainly because I hate it when they all judge me and laugh at me when I show the nerdier side of myself. I'm secretly snapping back. Yeah.

Before Maths, we had SCHOOL PICTURES. Dundundun. We had no warning for this, so all the other girls were like "WTF?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US?! I LOOK LIKE A FREAKING MESS!" Which was hilarious. And while they were fussing over that, I was chanting "I'm not going to show my teeth in this one. No matter what, I'm not going to show my teeth." I'm pleased to say that I did, indeed, not have to smile with my mouth open.

In Maths, we had a "test", which was actually five easy, two-minute-max problems on Pythagoras' Theorem. She gave us twenty entire minutes, and Pythagoras' Theorem is so damn easy, I finished it in ten. The other ten minutes were the most boring, stretched out ten minutes of my life. When walking out of Maths block, I tripped as I walked through the door and hurt my ankle. Boohoo.

In Science, we were talking about the menstrual cycle and fertility treatment, which was actually kind of fun because the girl I sit next to is pretty funny. There was this one part where we, working with the person next to us, had to draw a picture of the process of IVF (In vicro(glass) fertility ... test tube babies). Only, the person drawing it had to have their backs to the board, and was completely clueless as to what we had to draw, and the other person had to describe it, but couldn't tell their partner if they were doing it wrong. I was drawing. It was hilarious.

In RS, we had a cover teacher, who is really nice, and we were talking about how Martin Luther King ended suffering, and what he went through to succeed. That was dull. And then in Drama, we're creating a documentary-like performance about homelessness, and I'm in a group with Deckel, Ellie, James, and Jake. This group is great, except for Jake. I can't work with him, AT ALL. We used to sit together in Maths, and it got so bad that the teacher moved me next to Kelly because Jake wasn't letting me work. He kept stealing my things, poking me, closing the textbook and not giving it to me, hiding my Maths books. Being a general pain in the backside. So, we got hardly any work done because of him, and I just KNOW my score is going to be low when we perform next week because HE affects how I work. I'm going to speak with my Drama teacher next lesson, or maybe I'll go and see him at some point this week, and ask him not to put Jake and I in a group together again because he affects my work and I don't think it's fair.

I'm going to go to a meeting at Wednesday lunchtime about the DofE, because it's a great opportunity. I'll probably blog about the meeting, and whether or not I'm going to go ahead and do it.

In other, so much more exciting, news, I created a second Tumblr yesterday, called EffYeahDevinLytle, because Devin is so amazing deserves more love. I made it YESTERDAY. One of my followers told Devin about it, and she's following me. Devin. Lytle. Is. Following. Me. On. Tumblr. I fangirled for an hour straight.

Squee, much? I think so.

 Also, less exciting but still amazing, I've been watching Ouran High School Host Club, an anime about a girl who gets mistaken for a boy and is forced into joining the Ouran High School Host Club, continuing to pose as a boy as the members of the Host Club slowly become a second family. It's really amazing, and I'm really enjoying it. I watched it on the recommendation/bothering/harrassing of a girl in my year, who I used to be really good friends with, and wouldn't leave me alone until I watched it. And my friends online were, of course, fully supportive of this (I'm looking at you, Allie and Rhaps). But, yeah, anyway. Excellent series. I only have a few more episodes left until I've watched them all ^.^

Now, I'm tired, my ankles are starting to hurt (and if that turns into what it was like last time they both started hurting at the same time, then I'm in for a hell load of pain), and I just want to snuggle up and watch Ouran High School Host Club for the rest of the night. So, see ya!

Day Two!

First period, I had PE, and I was worried 'cos I left my note at home and I don't have the school jogging bottoms, but we didn't actually DO PE today. We just got sorted into our groups and got our levels from last year and stuff. Afterwards, I was talking about it with one of my friends, Owen, and he was saying how he has basketball next term. I have netball next term. I think that's COMPLETELY sexist. I love basketball, but I hate netball. Basketball is the only sport I like, and it's not on the girl's PE curriculum. Hmph.

Second period, I had French in a class of thirteen. Yes. Thirteen. Most classes are around thirty, but a lot of my classes seem to be especially tiny this year. My French is the smallest so far. I sit between Owen and this guy named Elijah, and then Kelly sits the other side of him. So I kinda like my place there. The only downside is that Owen is right-handed and sits to my left, while I'm left-handed. So our elbows are constantly bumping as we write. So we're probably going to rip each other's throats out by the time Miss gives us new places.

Third period, English. Until the lesson actually started, I thought I was alone in this class. As in, no friends. It didn't bother me much because English is the one class where I don't mind being by myself. For at least five minutes, I was standing outside the classroom completely by myself. My friends down the hall were mocking me. But then people started showing up, and there are couple of girls in my class who (a) don't try and (b) can't be smart enough for top set. Which is what my class is. I'm in top set, with a couple of the dumbest girls in my year. I mean, MOST of the people in the class are smart. But I want to know how those girls got into my English class. ANYWAY, in the end, Sam and Mitch are in the class, so I do have friends with me. The teacher is pretty awesome, but we only have him once a week, and we have a different teacher for the other two lessons this week.

Fourth period, Geography. Somehow, I scraped Top Set for this lesson. Seriously, though, I am so bad at Geography that I should be in Set Five ... the special needs class. I am so terrible. Later on, in History, we had a Geography-like task to do (about WWI), and I managed to label, like, six countries on a map of Europe. I SUCK. But I got in Top Set, so ... yeah. We're studying America.

Fifth period, History. I love my table. A girl with frizzy hair called Hannah sits opposite me, and we get along pretty well. Next to her is Sam, my wonderful, ginger friend since forever. And next to ME is Kelky. His name is Sam, too, so to save confusion, I call him Kelky. It's from his last name. I'm not going to tell you what his last name is, but I call him Kelky because of his last name. Similarly, there's another Sam in most of our classes, and I call Pudde (pronounced Pudd-ee, spelt Pudde because of his last name). Again, it's from his last name, but it's not his last name exactly. ANYWAY. The teacher went through the curriculum this year with us, and it sounds like it's gonna be pretty boring. But I have an interesting table.

We worked it out and I'm with Jess in five classes. Six including tutor/assembly on a Monday. Kelly and I are in eighteen together. And they're the only specific numbers I know.

So far, I'm Set One in every lesson except Maths and PE. For Maths, my teacher last year said I could move up to Top Set if I wanted to, but I chose to stay in Set Two because that's where I'm comfortable. And I suck at PE, so I'm in Girls Class B.

I'm going to go and sleep now. Bai.

New. Freaking. Headmistress.

The new head? She's so uptight, she has a pole up her backside. Seriously, guys. I hate her. Can't stand her. She's overdramatic, pathetic, and downright stupid. Also, from the frown she gave us on her pinched, wrinkled face while introducing herself, I doubt she's ever smiled in her life.

She put two of my friends in isolation for an hour and then sent them home because they had their noses pierced and refused to take them out. The thing is, they only got them pierced a couple of weeks ago and you have to keep them in for, like, twelve weeks. So they CAN'T take them out or the hole will close up, and they even run the risk of getting an infection. And their parents didn't pay £20 for nothing. You know what the head said? "Take them out or move schools." W ... T ... F?! So, what, they can't come back to school until they take them out? One of my friends actually took it out and came back to school a couple of hours afterwards, but still.

And a girl in my form, Lottie, she got sent home for MANY reasons, most of which I can understand. Nose piercing, dyed part of her hair bright purple, skirt too short, too many earrings (we're only allowed ONE stud in each ear; Lottie has about six XD), and - get this - black tights. What? That's so stupid. Apparently, we're only allowed to wear skin coloured tights. Even though it never mentioned that in the letter she sent us at the end of last year. Girls in my school wear thick, black tights when winter rolls around and I don't know about anywhere else, but where I live, thick, skin-colour tights don't exist. You can only get the thin ones.

And another of my friends, Mitch, got sent home for wearing trainers and having his shirt untucked. ALL the guys wear trainers and nearly everyone had their shirts untucked. So why should HE suffer for that? I should also point out that at the beginning of the day, another guy in my form was sent to reception to colour in a white design on his trainers (they have to be plain back), and HE didn't get sent home for wearing trainers. But Mitch, who's trainers were completely black, got sent home for it.

IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

*sigh*

So, long story short, we all hate her, and we all want to run her out of town and bring our old head back/replace her with someone better.

Sorry, ranting. I'm just really worked up about it.

Other than her, school is alright. I had Maths with the same teacher who taught me in Year Seven, and she's wonderful. Triple Science is with the same teacher I had last year, who is also rather wonderful (nothing special, this one, though. She gets her job done and has a sense of humour). RS is with the same teacher I had last year, and even though it's called Religious Studies, we learn more than just religion (we're learning about Evil and Suffering at the moment). Drama is the worst class on a Monday because I only have two friends and a handful of people I could "get along with" out of twenty-two, and the teacher is somewhat of a perv - but teaching-wise, he's really enthusiastic and gets us going.

We worked it out and, sadly, I only have four classes with my best friend, Jess. However, my timetable is VERY similar to Kelly's, so that's good. I'll probably be blogging every day, if I can find the energy, to tell you about my classes. Unlike America, each day on our timetables are different, so it'll be a new thing each day.

And now, I'm off! See ya.

School

The summer's only six weeks long

But I wish it was longer, wish it was longer, wish it was longer

-- Summer, Futures.

I've never hated school. In fact, I kind of like it. If someone said to me "Hey! We're giving you the opportunity to drop school! You can pack your bags and go home, and never come back!", I'd reject that opportunity.

Tomorrow, I go back, after six weeks summer holiday. During those six weeks, it felt like time was passing slowly, but now I sit here, knowing I'm going to be woken up at 7am and that I'm going to have to put clothes on as opposed to staying in my jimjams all day, I can't help but wonder where the time has gone. 

And I'm not dreading going back, I'm just not particularly looking forward to it, either. I want, like, another week off or something. But then, if I was given that, at the end of that week, I'd want another week off. But when tomorrow comes, and I'm at school, seeing all my friends and comparing timetables and wondering which teachers we have for each lesson*, I'm not going to think "I want it to be summer again!". Instead, I'll be thinking - in a very Darren Criss-like way - "Man I'm glad I'm back."

On the downside, we have a new headmistress and she's changed so much. Girls can't wear plimsolls (I live in plimsolls practically), trainers, sandals (that was already in place), or boots (I always wear boots in winter - my feet are going to freeze). We can either wear guy shoes or pumps (flats). Now, I have nothing against flats, but if I'd thought of it when shoe shopping, I seriously would have considered guy shoes. Because they're more comfortable and they'll keep my feet warm.

Also, girls can't wear fitted blouses (screw that - I'm wearing them) and girls have to tuck their shirts in. Top button must be done up, tie must be up to said top button (SHE'S TRYING TO KILL US - I can hardly breathe with my top button done up, it partially traps my airway). And we have to wear the school jogging bottoms for PE, even if we already have perfectly good jogging bottoms to wear. 

I hate her, and I haven't even met her.

But other than that, I'm not not looking forward to going back. I'm impartial. 

I'm sick of summer and this waiting around

Man it's September so I'm skipping this town

Hey it's no mystery

There's nothing here for me now

I gotta get back to Hogwarts!

I gotta get back to school!

I gotta get myself to Hogwarts

Where everyone thinks I'm cool.

-- Get Back To Hogwarts, Darren Criss, AVPM.

*On the timetable, they put the initals of the teacher beneath the lesson, so we try to guess who it is.

Eye Diary

For the next thirty days, I have to write a diary. An eye diary, specifically. Yes. An eye diary. Well, that's what I'm calling it. No one knows this, but I actually have a diary. A proper one. I haven't written in it about two years. It's light pink, with two sleeping labrador puppies on it. It's pretty cute. Okay, I just looked in it. The last time I wrote in it was December 09. But I haven't taken it seriously since I was about nine. The last time I wrote in it, it was notes for a new story I never got round to writing. And even when I took it seriously, I was hopeless with it. I'd think "I'm going to write in my diary when I get home", but I'd forget, and it'd sit in my drawer for a couple of weeks without me thinking about it.

Which is why I'm going to hopeless with this eye diary. I should probably explain what my eye diary is.

I went to the opticians today and I told him how things were starting to get slightly blurry even with my glasses on, but the blurriness is only periodically. And so, over the next month, he wants to me record the time and date every time my vision blurs, and include what I was doing/how I was feeling. I've already written in it.

September 2nd. 16:50.

Reading online.

And I actually need to write in it now because the screen is starting to blur. Grr.

Okay, written in it. "Typing. Kinda tired." was my doing/feeling description. Heh. So, I reckon I'm going to last a couple of days and then completely forget about it, because I have the memory of a seventy-year-old. However, if I remember by the 6th, I'll take the diary (a plain, black notebook we got from a Pound shop in my town XD) to school with me, and hopefully, having it with me will help me remember. And if I get into the habit, I might continue to record it. The optician said I only had to do it for a month, but I think it'd be easier to spot a pattern if I record throughout the six months between now and my next appointment.

Or I could do it for a month, stop, and do it again in February (appointment is in March), to get a more up-to-date record of how mucked up my eyesight is.

In other news, I got this awesome t-shirt, I've started reading Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (it's amazing), this competition I'm holding with a friend (Amy) on HPFC has ended and I'm going through the process of judging all the entries, I'm participating in my Dribble Drabble challenge for the second time, I'm ten books away from completing my 2010 Book Count challenge, and I'm going back to school on Monday. I'll post a back to school blog on Sunday, and my holiday blog is still in the works XD

Tiny Update

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in ages. I've been pre-occupied. I have a half-written draft of my holiday blog waiting to be finished and I really don't want to write it but a part of me does. Yeah.

So, I went out with Jess the Thursday before last, and while we were waiting at the bus stop to go home, this rather chavvy-looking guy in his late teens comes over from the next bus stop down and says "Ello ladies, my friend over there (he points to the taller one of two other chavvy guys) thinks you're fit and he was wondering if he could have your number. Oh, and how old are you?"

Instantly, I noticed how he didn't specify which one of us he was talking to, and he was looking at both of us, so presumably, if it was legit, his friend wanted BOTH of our numbers. The little player. "I'm thirteen," was all I said, and my nose was wrinkled slightly. He asked Jess how old she was, and she said "Thirteen", too. He nodded, and then as he was walking away, he cracked up and pointed at his friend. He called him something that I didn't quite catch, and yelled "They're thirteen!" for the entire world to hear.

From the look on his friend's face, it was a joke (and one that he had been left out of), and he started shaking his head at us and mouthing words that we couldn't lipread.

That's pretty much the only eventful thing that's happened recently.

BUT, on that same Thursday, someone I know committed suicide (I didn't find out until last Saturday), and Esther Earl lost her life to cancer during the early hours of the Thursday morning just passed. You're not to know this but Lisa, the person I know, had been mentally ill for a long time, and she'd had enough so she committed suicide. I'm not going into any more details because I'm not meant to tell anyone. She was the mother of an old friend, and she was an amazing person. Esther Earl was a sixteen-year-old nerdfighter who I didn't know personally, but I looked up to and respected. After a four-year-long battle to cancer, she passed away.

So it's been a very sad week for me. I can't wait to see what happens NEXT Thursday ... *sigh*

On the bright side, my best friend Katie lost a bet between us and wrote me this amazing fic that I think you should check out. AND I've decided that I'm going to be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, but not the official one. I'm doing the Young Writer's NaNoWriMo, because there's no way I can write 50k words in a month. Not now. The YWP, as I'll refer to it from here on in, is a flexible NaNoWriMo challenge that lets people of ages 17 and under set their own writing target, rather than aiming for 50k. I'm going for 25k, and each year, I'll raise it by 5k or whatever, until I feel confident enough for 50k.

Anyway - a holiday blog is on it's way, and I'm going to go and read some more of An Abundance of Katherines. Speaking of reading, I only have eleven more books to read until I reach my goal, and four months to do that in. It's going to be so easy. Also, once I hit my target, I'll continue recording the books I read. For the hell of it.

See ya!

I got back from my holiday yesterday. Well, actually, two days ago, since it's nearly one in the morning on the 12th. Tomorrow (or rather, later on today), I'm going to get the camera from my mum's room and upload the several hundred* pictures we took, then sift through them, deleting the bad ones, cropping/fixing the dodgy ones, and then posting them on Twitpic. I also took a couple of videos, which I'm going to post on Twitvid. So, yes.

With my blog about my holiday, I'd like to post pictures along the way, to make you jealous and give you a better idea of my experience (which was awesome), so I'm going to blog about my holiday later on today once I've got the pictures on my laptop.

Instead, I'll share with you something really, totally, completely awesome. The cherry on top of the cake. The perfect end to a perfect long weekend. When I got home, I found out I had a package. From DFTBA records. Containing my ALL CAPS t-shirt.

That would be me wearing it. And pulling it up so I could get it AND my face into the shot. Because my webcam is crap. ANYWAY.... I freaking love it.

*No joke. I counted.

Phone Conversations

All phone conversations, for me, are as awkward as hell. No matter who it's with - be it my family, my closest friends, or random strangers who call the wrong number - it's always an awkward experience for me. I like talking face-to-face, or typing/texting. I don't even mind video chats, because I can see the person. For some reason, and I have no idea why, phone conversations and I just don't get along. Take this, for example... Earlier, my friend Owen called me. It went like this.

S: Uhh, hi?
O: Hi. I was wondering if you want to come out tomorrow.
S: Uhh, uhm, uhh... *awkward silence* No, no, I can't. I, uh, have to babysit my baby cousin tomorrow.
O: Oh. I was thinking of going to *my town* tomorrow ... I was meant to be going with Kelly and a bunch of other people, but Kelly said she can't go. So now I have no one to go with.
S: Er ... oh. I'm sorry. As I said, uh, I have to uhm help my nan babysit my cousin 'cos my mum's at work .... and nan can't look after him by herself ... And my grandad's fishing.*
O: Oh, okay. *very awkward, very long silence*
S: *runs hand through hair and has an insane internal monologue*
O: Could I come to yours tomorrow, then? And help look after your baby cousin?
S: *hesitation* Errr... no, I don't think so. I have to, like, pack and everything, too, 'cos I go on holiday on Friday-
O: Yeah, I remember you talking about that.
S: Yeah, well ... anyway ... I don't think you can come round. Sorry.
O: That's fine. I'm going to be really bored tomorrow.
S: ... Read a book.
O: Read a book?
S: Yeah, you might, uhm, enjoy it? *is thinking END THIS CONVERSATION, OWEN, PLEASE!*
O: Like that'll happen.
S: Whatever. *awkward silence lasts several minutes, I'm dying*
O: Right, well *I'm thinking THANK YOU* ... I'll probably see you some other time, yeah?
S: *rushed, desperate* Yeah. Well, see ya!
O: See- *I hang up and hyperventilate*

Okay, so many I didn't hyperventilate, but I'm always so relieved when a phone conversation ends. Even if it's a nice, pleasant conversation. I just can't stand it.

BUT ON A WAY MORE EXCITING AND TOTALLY AWESOME NOTE:

I got my baby cousin, who turns two years old next month, to say Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and Hermon Granger. Yes. I did, indeed. I said to my mum not long ago that I was going to get him saying 'Harry Potter' by the end of the summer, and I've already done that, and it was so easy. I woke up to him roaring and running into my room, and I picked him up onto my bed. He pointed at my giant Doctor Who poster, and I said "That's Doctor Who."

He then said "Docta Whoooooooooooooooo." I squealed, kissed him, and then decided to test him.

"What about Harry Potter? Can you say Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potterrr."

My mum, who was down the hall, heard and was really happy, as was I. I'm still ecstatic about it. Later on, we were trying him with different Harry Potter character names, and he refused to say any of them.

"Can you say Hermione Granger?" my mum asked. A bit ambitious, I thought, and I told her that - however, I ate my words when moments later, he said:

"Hermon Grrranga!" If you've seen A Very Potter Sequel, you'll understand why I laughed at this. I'd be proud if he said anything resembling Hermione Granger, but the fact he called her Hermon made me so freaking happy.

I'm so proud of my little man (:

* I always feel like I have to explain myself when I'm on the phone. Again, not a clue why.

Failure

The month hasn't even started yet, and already, I fail BEDA. Not that it matters anyway, because if I really wanted, I could just say "Psht. Yeah. I didn't even want to do that, anyway. Heh." But then I'd be lying, and although I do lie sometimes, I don't wanna lie to you like that.

So yes. I forgot to blog yesterday. I don't even know why I forgot. There were moments yesterday when I was bored out of my mind, clueless as to what to do. But still, it didn't enter my head once that HEY, it's the 1st of April August and I should start blogging!

But anyway, after that slip-up, I've decided not to participate. I'd be a failure even if I had submitted yesterday, because from Friday to Tuesday, I will be without internet, without a computer. According to the B&B's site, there's an Internet Café nearby, which hints at the fact that they don't have Internet connection THERE. But honestly, at 8pm at night, after an exciting but exhausting day at Alnwick Castle and browsing the town, when I'm bored in my room, the last thing I'll want to do is leave and walk to this Internet Café, only to return to the room a couple of hours later.

So I'm just going to take lots of books to read during the evening, and come back to you on Wednesday with lots of exciting news, pictures, OMG's and SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE's to share with you. So instead of my participation in BEDA, you can look forward to that instead? Maybe? No? Okay.

Besides, I'll be Blogging Every Day in April next year (:

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, it's the birthday of three special people. Harry Potter, JKRowling, and Joey Richter (Ron in AVPM). I have my day (almost) completely planned out. It's going to be a day of celebration, in my own little way.

I'm going to download the free versions of the songs from AVPS (they're available tomorrow), and listen to them a lot, I'm going to edit and upload my entry for a HP fanfiction competition I'm participating in, read and write some HP fanfiction, watch AVPM (as much as I love AVPS, too, it's much too long, considering I DO want to get other stuff done tomorrow XD), make AVPM/S-related icons, and finish reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Hopefully, if I time it carefully, this should take up most of the day.

And you know what? I'm extremely excited for this.

All three of the people who are turning a year older are role models to me. Harry Potter tells me to keep going, JKRowling tells me not to rush into publishing (it'll pay off), and Joey Richter ... well ... he tells me that it's gonna be totally awesome.

Oh, and also... I'm thinking of doing Blog Every Day In August. A lot of it will probably consist of short stories and stuff, but I'm going to try! Wish me luck? Yay (:

Night!

A Very Potter Musical

Today, I discovered AVPM. I've heard of it before (lots), and I've seen a couple of scenes, but I never really put much though to it. However, as it's frequently being mentioned on AverageWizard, I decided to watch it. I understood nearly ever single joke, including "What the HELL is a Hufflepuff?" and "Only Harry likes that Hogshit.", and when Draco and Ron started singing about Hermione, I was like, "This is Granger Danger!" despite having never listened to it before in my life. Conclusion: I spend too much time on AverageWizard. Haha.

My only regret is that I didn't watch it sooner. And on Sunday, I'm going to watch AVPS (A Very Potter Sequel), which only just came out.

I really enjoyed it. Despite not being a fan of parodies and comedies of films and stuff, I really did find this hilarious. I loved the stupid characterisations, and it's so pathetically ridiculous, but that makes it so much more awesome. I love the way they wrap the entire series up into one plot line, changing things and making them funnier.

Draco, oh Draco. I would go gay for the girl who plays him. Lauren. She's just so damn amazing. Every time she threw herself across that stage, I automatically cracked up. At first, I was really iffy about a girl playing one of my favourite male characters, but she's earned my love.

Voldemort was freaking adorable. I couldn't bite back the giggles when he and Bellatrix were in the Minstry, and he wanted to "try something new" in their sex life. I laughed so hard. And then Bella's little temper tantrum. But when he was with Quirrel, jeez, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to laugh or cry. They're so adorable together.

The actors and actresses are awesome for not laughing at all, and staying in character, especially with the audience giggling all the way through it. And yet at the same time, I loved how they made it obvious that it was a production by saying "I was just hanging backstage with Hagrid" and "Come downstage, Hermione."

I loved it so much that I downloaded the soundtrack and I now have the songs on my phone (and I'm listening to them right this second). On the first day of school, I'm going to blast Get Back To Hogwarts at some point in the morning. Why?

I'm sick of summer and this waiting around

Man, it's September so I'm skipping this town

Hey it's no mystery

There's nothing here for me now

I gotta get back to Hogwarts!
I gotta get back to schooool!

I gotta get myself to Hogwarts

Where everyone thinks I'm cooooooooool.

Back to witches and wizards and magical beasts

To goblins and ghosts and to magical feasts

It's all that I love and it's all that I need

At Hogwarts

I think I'm going back.

Yeah. That's why ^.^

In other news, I'm meeting one of my old friends whom I haven't seen nor spoken to in two years, so that's exciting! 

Here's the first part of AVPM:

And the rest of it can be found here.

I'M FREAKING GOING TO HOGWARTS!

And no, I am not joking. I am seriously, honestly, truly going to Hogwarts. And Merlin, I'm so psyched about it.

No, I'm not going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There's no way on Earth I'd be able to afford that. And no, I'm not going to Kings Cross (well, we might have to in order to get there - I know we're taking the train). I'm going to Alnwick.

You may or may not be confused right now. I don't blame you.

Alnwick is a small town near Scotland, home to Alnwick castle. That castle, that glorious castle, is known by many who do not know that they know of it. You see it often enough if you're anything like me, in pictures and on screen.

Yes. Alnwick is the castle they used for the exterior design of Hogwarts! They digitally added bigger towers, sure, but still, it's HOGWARTS, and I'm going there! Dreams do come true.


I'm going from the sixth to the tenth of August, which is in seventeen days, and I'm staying, like, REALLY close to the castle. We're probably going to spend most of our time there, and Mum will literally have to drag me out of that place at the end of the day. Heh.

And considering this is my first holiday in, like, three years, I'm even MORE excited to be getting away from this place for a few days XD

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Oh, and also, I'm going to try and sweet talk my mum into letting me go to John Green's evening gathering thing on the 14th (the freaking Sons of Admirals are going to be there, too!) in London. I can only hope she'll let me.

And yes, I did just post this to brag. Squeee ^.^

Eclipse Movie Review

For my friend's birthday, we and two of our friends went to the cinema to see Eclipse yesterday. My present to her was paying for her ticket. I went in thinking it would be rubbish, and I was right. I mean, it wasn't completely terrible. It had it's good parts. But overall, like the past two movies, it sucked.

Now, before I start telling you the pros and cons, I just want to describe us for a moment. Me, Kelly, Shannon, Jess. I've been to the cinema with them all before (not all together, mind) and I got serious nostalgia when Shannon and I were alone (Kelly and Jess went to get drinks, then Shannon and I went to get drinks, then Kelly and Jess went to the loo). See, Shannon and I were best friends from my birth to half way through Year Seven, after which we started to go our different ways. Sitting there in the cinema before the movie started, talking to Shannon about old times was so amazing, it honestly made my day. Throughout the movie, we whispered to each other a lot, laughed at the cheesy scenes together, pointing things out.  We've even arranged to see "The Hole" together - just the two of us - when it comes out. It was just like old times, and I miss that so much.

But anyway. Let's start from the beginning.

The first three quarters of the film were so dull, they bored me to almost-tears. Seriously. When alone together, Bella and Edward talk in such monotone voices, it sounds like they're reading from a script when it shouldn't! Hell, I have more emotion in my voice when I'm half asleep, and that's saying something. However, I must admit, I loved the very first scene in which we see Riley getting changed into a vampire. When I first saw him, I lent over to Jess and whispered, "That's Riley, right?" And right I was.

In connection to that, I loved seeing snippets of Riley and the army throughout the entire movie. It was a really nice touch, because we don't (can't) see that in the book, when we should.

I was really disappointed with the re-casting of Victoria, though. Rachelle Lefevre pulled Victoria off stunningly well. She has the looks, the poise, the skill. She was the highlight of the first movie, I thought. This new girl, though, Bryce Dallas Howard, ruined it. She's not half as pretty as Rachelle, her acting wasn't as good (not saying it was awful, though), and she didn't have the snarky confidence that Victoria is supposed to have. That was such a disappointment because honestly, I was looking forward to seeing Rachelle again.*

One thing that made me super super happy though was the role Jasper played in it. Firstly, he is one of the four characters I like. Secondly, Jackson Rathbone is SO FREAKING CUTE. Thirdly, his screen time was far too short in Twilight and New Moon. Jasper is such an amazing character, and I was so pleased when I realised they'd decided to give him his moment in the spotlight. Also, the Alice/Jasper moments were unbearably adorable.

Emmett, as per usual, was freaking adorable. Taylor Lautner played Jacob really well this time (wasn't keen on him in New Moon), though when all the girls sighed at the sight of him topless, Jess and I yelled "ERRRGH!" really loudly. Which was fun. I still hate Dakota Fanning as Jane. Though I did love it when he said "We don't give second chances." That poor little newborn she killed (the one the Cullens were going to raise) was played really well. Riley wasn't cast well, but he was acted out well. Seth was freaking adorable, but Leah wasn't as pretty as I'd envisioned.

Kristen's acting has gotten better, though it's still not terrific. We cracked up when Bella was trying to "get it on" with Edward. E: "Stop trying to take your clothes off." B: "Do you wanna do it for me?" E: "Not tonight." B: *looks devastated* HA! I lovelovelovelove that scene. Purely because Bella got REJECTED. But then Edward asks for her hand in marriage. The whole proposal thing was so boring that I zoned out towards the end of it, but when he picks her up and twirls her around, I thought that was really cute. However, again, Bella sucked.

Rob's acting has also improved a lot. Edward is very, very cocky in this movie. Even more so than in the last ones. But Merlin ... his false American accent still fools no one. He should just stick with his normal accent, give the silly American fangirls something else to squeal over.

I enjoyed the film from the tent scene onwards. It was my favourite scene in the book (I'm Team Jacob, and Edward got pissed - how could I not like it?), and when I realised it was coming up, I was literally bouncing in my seat. It wasn't quite as good as I'd anticipated, but Merlin, it was fantastic. The look on Edward's face when Jacob climbed in was amazing. E: "If we weren't natural enemies and you weren't trying to steal my reason for existing, I could like you." J: "If you weren't going to suck the life out of the girl I love, I .... no ... not even that." Way to go, Jake. And the kiss (the second one, that is)! So much sweeter than any of Bella and Edward's kisses. They look like Edward's trying to eat Bella. Jacob and Bella's kiss was just *sigh* perfect.

The fight scene was pretty good. I loved the way the vampires smashed as if they were stone (which, well, they are, but you know...) - that's something we never really got to see in the first two movies. However the ending was such a snooze moment, with Bella and Edward talking in that damn field. I hate that field.

So, overall, the movie sucked. The first three quarters, my friends and I kept complaining to each other about being bored. And then it got decent.

*Seriously, just look at them: Rachelle | Bryce

Lists

So, I've done what I always do. Thought "I'll blog about that tomorrow", then tomorrow comes, and I put it off until the next day, and then the next, and then the next, and so on. Because I'm an awful person. So I'm going to forget about telling you everything I was going to, and I'm going to make Summer lists, 'cos I'm bored.

To Do:
- Finish Vampire Knight
- Wait eagerly for my ALL CAPS t-shirt to arrive (ships in August!!!)
- Wear my ALL CAPS t-shirt. As often as possible.
- Read more.
- Buy earphones (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
- Stay away from swimming pools and the ocean.
- Don't let anyone convince you into having a water fight.
- Get out of the house more.
- Create/get a better background for this blog.

To Read:
- Harry Potter1-7 by JKRowling
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
- Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
- Paper Towns by John Green
- The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins
- Size Matters Not by Warwick Davis
- Ooh! What A Lovely Pair by Ant&Dec
- The Van Allen Legacy by Melissa de la Cruz


To Listen To:
- California Dorks by Jason Munday
- Break Your Heart (Taio Cruz cover) by Tyler Ward
- I Know by Hank Green
- Airplanes by B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams
- Boxcar Blood by Luke Conard & Alan Lastufka
- Delete You by ALL CAPS
- Face Down by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
- Boy Who Cried Wolf by The Futures
- Georgia by Alex Day
- The World Is Mine (I Don't Know Anything) by Alex Day
- Here Comes My Baby by Sons of Admirals
- Summer of '09 by ALL CAPS
- Peeing in a Bottle by Armoured Bearcub
- The Time of Your Life by Alex Day
- Decoy by Paramore
- Where the Lines Overlap by Paramore
- Fences by Paramore
- Careful by Paramore.

That playlist will be listened to A LOT, trust me.

And, while we're listing things, I might as well list the things on my mind.

1. I know of three guys who fancy me, two of whom are good friends, while one I never really talk to. As for the good friends: I've been friends with one of them a couple of months, while I've been friends with the other for YEARS. Seriously. I remember skipping around the playground hand-in-hand with him in the winter to keep warm - when we were in Year 1 (like... nearly eight years ago XD). And I don't fancy any of them back. Awkward? Very.

2. I'm going to see Eclipse this weekend with my friend (I'm playing for her ticket as a birthday present), and I'm partially looking forward to it, partially dreading it. On the one hand, I'm curious, and I want to make fun of sparkly vampires. On the other, I hate Twilight, and Eclipse was - in my opinion - the worst (and most uneventful) book in the series. But I'll live.

3. I need earphonesssssssssss O_O

4. My ankle really hurts. Deckel pushed me not last Saturday, but the Saturday before, and my foot fell in a grate. This made me lose my balance, so I fell on top of the grate, and my ankle bent at a really dodgy angle. And then to top it all off, I went over on it on Friday, which made it worse. On the bright side, it gets me out of PE. On the down side, IT HURTS LIKE CRAP.

I'm tired. I cannot be bothered to write any more. Goodnight! XD

Favourite "Quotes" From Pink Concert

Forgot to mention these in the last blog post XD

After she'd sung two songs, she talked to us for a bit. The first thing she said? "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for bringing me to a place where I can ride rollercoasters!"

Soon after: "... and I slept in a submarine, that was weird, but ... it's all good now."

Before she sung I Don't Believe You: "Crying is underrated: It's one of my favourite things to do."

And after that: "So, yeah, if you wanna cry, remember, make out ... now's the time to do it."

When introducing Butch Walker, lead singer of Black Widows, onto the stage: "... my best friend, my songwriting pal, my drinking buddy..."

After finishing a song, holding a squishy frog: "Someone threw me this little frog. I love this frog."

"What does that say?" *squints to read banner someone's holding up. "Oh. Awwwww. I love you, too!"

*a group of people scream something at the front* "Did you guys just hear that? You *looks at the people who screamed* are awesome. I want to kiss you all. I love you."

Yes. Pink is infinitely awesome.

Adrenalin Junkies

I'm going to squeeze everything I've been putting off into one blog post to make it so much easier for myself.

Pink was unbelievably amazing. That woman is so fearless, so crazy, but so utterly incredible. She fell out of a box in the sky, really fast, after the supports acts had finished. She threw herself around the stage. She crowd-surfed in a giant hamster ball. She went up really high in two rings, throwing herself around the stage and over the fans, spinning and twisting. She did all this without missing a note once. And if you don't think I'm being legit, look it up - I'm sure there'll be pictures and videos somewhere on the net, despite the tickets saying "no cameras/recording equipment". It was at Alton Towers, if you want to search specifically. There were loads of gay and lesbian couples there, too, which I thought was really cute (Pink is a GAY PEOPLE ARE AWESOME type). There was this really gay, really camp, really drunk guy standing near us throughout the concert, and oh my god, he was absolutely hilarious. I love that guy. He was jumping around, screaming at the top of his lungs, dancing sexily with the girls he was with, talking to people around him - he was such a character. Entertainment for the night: double check.

The only downside was that we were sat in the car park for four hours waiting to get out. In that time, we moved about two metres in a couple of seconds, and stayed put for the rest. Why? Well, in Alton Towers resort, they have lettered car parks, and we were in 'J'. They were letting us out in alphabetical order, and apparently, it took four hours to clear A to I out. Honestly, it was ridiculous, but amusing at the same time. The cars were honking, people in the hotel were shouting out the windows (telling them to shut up), which made the cars honk more. We ended up getting home at 4am, so I had the day off school.

On Friday, I went to my Uncle's house for dinner with my mum and grandparents. My aunt and my mum were drinking together, so naturally, when we said we were going to leave, my aunt talked my mum and I into staying (happens every time they drink together). So my grandparents left, and we stayed, talking and watching movies and stuff. My baby cousin, Matthew, was round their next-door neighbour's house and ended up going to bed two later than he was supposed to because he didn't want to come back. I drunk home-made Smirnoff Ice which is delicious, and before you ask, no I didn't drink enough to get drunk. It had a little splash of vodka in, and then LOADS of lemonade. It's practically harmless XD

We went to bed at 1am, and woke up to Matthew screaming and crying at  6:30. I dread having children now, because I need my sleep. Heh. Anyway, after a few hours, we got a taxi back to my town, by which time it was 9:30. I planned to meet Jess at 10, so I didn't even have time to change out of the clothes I wore and slept it. I grabbed some money and a cardigan, brushed my hair and teeth, and then had to leave.

I bought a rubber duck rubber (a rubber/eraser, in the shape of a rubber duck!), and a pair of earphones with rubber ducks on the ears, but one earpiece doesn't work. Jess and I ended up meeting with Mitch, Deckel and Aaron because they were at the city, too, and we spent ages trying to find this park place. Mitch and I became "adrenalin junkies" (Jess's words, not mine) by running all the way around a busy roundabout, looking at the signs so we knew which way to go. Then we went back to the others, and I had to hold Jess's hand as we crossed roads and stuff. We hung around under a bridge for a while (which was so infinitely cool), before making our way to the park place. When we got there, I realised there was a much easier way there that could have taken us ten minutes. Lovely.

Basically, the place we were going is just this massive (and I mean massive) grassy area with a gigantic hill. There was a festival thing there, which we illegally walked through to get to the hill (sshh), and then we spent the next few hours just sitting around on the top of the hill, where it was so much cooler, mixing our drinks together, laughing, kicking a ball around, and stuff. I spent most of the time wearing Deckel's shirt as a jacket and sitting between Mitch's legs, leaning against him (he's seriously comfy, don't look at me like that). Aaron left early because he didn't feel well. While the guys were getting drinks, there was a guy biking around the hill quite a bit, and I asked him how old he was. Eleven! I swear, he looked thirteen. Jess thought he was fit, and secretly, I had to admit he wasn't too bad-looking.

We had to move down the bottom after a while, though, because Jess noticed cops walking around (and if you were on the hill, it was considered "concert area". I kicked the ball around with Mitch and Deckel halfheartedly, before we all went round Mitch's house. While walking there, we walked over this grate thing, which I was stepping on really carefully. To scare me, Deckel thought it would be funny to push me. My foot fell into the grate, and ever since, my ankle has been so damn painful. Screw you, Deckel, SCREW YOU. On the bright side, I managed to use my injury as an excuse for him to allow me to wear his shirt for the rest of the day. I have this obsession with wearing guy's clothes, especially if they're not mine XD

  Mitch has the cheekiest, most adorable, most annoying eight-year-old girl ever for a little sister. You have to walk through her room to get to his room, and his door isn't ... a door. It's kind of really thin pieces of wood that fold together when the door closes. She heard Mitch and I talking, poked her head through his door as she said "Ooooh, you've got a girlfriend here!". Great first impression.

Jess and I were late home, blah blah blah, but it was a great day.

I'm probably going to add a list of links, on the side of the blog, to my accounts in different places, because I feel like it. It'll take some time getting them altogether, though.

Keep blogging!

Listening to: I Write Sins Not Tragedies by Panic! At The Disco
Book Count: 35

Temptation

I found this test on Eternity's blog, and ... I couldn't resist. Look what I got! XD





I still have to blog about Pink, Friday night, and today's events, but I'll do that when I'm not half-asleep. Bleh.

Top Five

I'm tired, I'm lazy, but I want to blog about France before all the clear memories fade. However, I can't be bothered to give a detailed blog on France, so I'm going to bullet point the Top Five best things about France, and the Top Five worst things about France. Yes, it was an amazing experience; I'm just too exhausted to tell you all about it. I'll picture-spam you later, because I don't have enough time now.

Top Five Best Things
- The journey went a lot quicker than I expected it to, and the train was awesome.

- I sat in 3B on the coach, while a boy called Maxim sat in 4C. So he was diagonally behind me, making it easy for us to talk to each other. I heard him sing the line, "Wake up in the morning," and instinctively, I sing, "Feeling like Winehouse," expecting him to say "P Diddy" but not caring. But no. He said Winehouse, too. We looked at each other, grinned, and carried on singing. Grab my breezer, I'm out the door, I'm gonna be really loud. By this point, Jess heard us, and she joined in, too. I don't care who I piss off, yeah, I'm a real big sinner. Sometimes I eat my dessert before my dinner. We sung all the way to the end, I said "I love Midnight Beast!" and after one more grin, conversation/singing ended. TMB FTW!*

- Sam and I spent the journey from the train to St. Omer (the village we went to), trying to get pictures of the speed signs. You may think "What the hell?!" at this, but they measure in kmph, while we measure in mph. So instead of saying "60" on the signs, it was saying "110". We found this hilarious - imagine a speed limit of 110mph! Ha! ... Yeah, it was funnier at the time. We didn't manage to get a picture though.

- The church we went to and walked around and stuff was completely gorgeous.

- A woman insulted Abby in French, and we have no idea what she said. I only knew it was insult from her tone of voice. Excellence!

Top Five Worst Things

- Deckel couldn't come! He didn't have his NHIC, so he wouldn't have been able to get on the coach. Awhhh.

- The croissants taste better in the school canteen than they do in France. That makes no sense.

- Abby was there. Enough said.

- Rosie, Caitlin, and Hiral made us miss the train back to England, so we had to sit in a hot, stuffy coach for ages, waiting for the next one. Silly girls.

- St Omer is a relatively dull place, with nothing particularly special about it except the beautiful church.

And now I have to go. Keep blogging!

*The song was Tik Tok by The Midnight Beast, a parody of Ke$ha's Tik Tok. It's a brilliant song, and if you hadn't heard it, I highly suggest you check it out.

The Fans Who Waited

WARNING: DOCTOR WHO SPOILERS

I tried so hard not to cry because my grandparents were in the room, but I admit, I teared up a little. Thankfully, neither of them noticed. This episode was beautiful and imaginative and really something. It was really well-thought out, and it shows just how much thought went into the series, how it all tied together and everything. I loved how things from previous episodes linked into the last one, especially when the Doctor said "Gotcha" (this scene from the The Beast Below, anyone?), and this part.

 I love the way the Doctor jumped through time and told Roman Rory what to do, and then later on, we got to see what went on in the other end. I thought it was a really amazing touch. I also love how they managed to keep so much of it a secret until it was necessary to announce it.

The idea was generally one of their better ones, and a lot of the quotes made me smile, especially the one about Rory being "The Boy Who Waited" - I just loved how the Doctor made Amy and Rory sound connected, as Amy is already well-known as "The Girl Who Waited".

Amy is an amazing character, and I've expressed my love for her many times. When my friend asked "If you were gay, and you choose any girl to be your girlfriend, who would it be?" I didn't hesitate in replying Amy Pond. And I'm serious. She's an amazing companion, better than any I've seen so far. She's so quirky and arrogant, so smart and witty, so funny, so ginger. I love her to pieces. I don't think they could have casted her better, either. Karen Gillan is a gorgeous, intelligent, amazing actress.

Rory is adorable. I admit, I was iffy about him at first, but when I realised he was going to be around for more than one episode, he grew on me. He's that typical, clumsy, shy boy who has a heart too big for his body and never really knows what's going on. Adorable, utter adorable. I love how he waited an entire 2,000 years for Amy while she was in the Pandorica, saving her from harm, posing as a guard in the museum to keep an eye on her and everything. Amy/Rory is The Couple That Waited.

River, I'm not actually keen on. Maybe that's because I feel like she's trying to take the Doctor away from Amy, maybe because she's forcing the Doctor to know who she is before he's meant to meet her, maybe it's because she's just too damn interfering. But I'm not keen on her. Sure, if she waited until her time to meet the Doctor and become his companion, I'd probably like her. Maybe I will, in that near future she's always on about.

Now, onto the most important character of the series. Number Eleven. I had high hopes for the Raggedy Doctor, and he met them. When he joined Doctor Who, he had pretty big shoes to fill - David Tennant left a massive expectation amongst all Whovians, and Matt Smith had to meet that. I think he did. While he had Number Ten's eccentric attitude and witty remarks, he was clumsy and he didn't always know what to do. He made mistakes, his plans failed, he wasn't always cocky and arrogant, he didn't try to hide his fear. And I love that about him. Yes, I loved #10's arrogance and perfection, but I didn't want #11 to be a carbon copy of him. I wanted differences, but similarities, and that's exactly what I got. Matt Smith is an amazing actor, and I adore him to pieces.

At the end of the start of the finale (last week's episode), I was mind boggled. I had no idea how they'd continue it with Amy dead, the Doctor trapped, and River about to be blown up. But it all pieced together, and my theory was wrong (Churchill, the Bloody Queen, Van Gogh, and everyone, was going to band together to save them xD), but that's alright because the actual ending was better.

I love how they twisted the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." wedding rhyme to fit the TARDIS, and I honestly didn't make the connection until right before the TARDIS appeared, when Amy was screaming for him to come back because she remembered. It was genius.

So, another amazing series is over, and I'm glad that no one has left (although I'll be honest, I expected someone to die). And, as I just said to Ellen on Twitter, we will have to follow Amy and Rory's examples, and be The Fans Who Waited. No Doctor Who until Christmas!

Quickie.

This is just something I'm posting really quickly before Doctor Who (which I wouldn't miss for the world). Ellen posted this video in her blog, and I fell in love with it. I actually recognised more songs than I thought I would, and it's really creative.



In honour of the Doctor Who finale, I finally got round to putting up my massive Doctor Who poster, which I'll take a picture of and post later, along with a DW Series 5 blog. I'm going to be working on DW icons throughout the entire series for a fair bit of time over the next week, so expect updates on that.

I'm going to blog about my time in France with pictures in a seperate blog post tonight, as well, so keep an eye out for that.

And also, I've been completely neglecting my Book Count blog, so I need to go and update that ASAP.

I'm also going to create a Summer Playlist, which will be completely pointless, but I'll do it anyway. I also want to share with you stuff from AW, MLIA, FML, GMH, LMGH, and SBS, so ... yeah. I have a lot of things planned!

And, tomorrow, I'm going to the Pink concert, so you'll get pictures and a blog about that some time next week, too.

Like I said, just a quick update before Doctor Who, which I'm going downstairs to watch now. Excited? Very. Sad? Yes. Curious? Definitely.

Keep blogging!

Pointlessness.

Unless I somehow find the energy to pull myself out of bed on Saturday and type an entire blog about France, you won't get another blog from me until next week. Again, I have a fair few things to talk about, so I'll do the number thing. Again.

1. You should have already noticed ... I changed my header picture. I didn't like the old one, and I didn't expect to keep it for so long... so now you can have a picture of my eyes staring you down. My eyelashes look really long at the corners. Weird.

2. My #3 in my last blog told you I'd hurt my thumb in Tech last week. Yesterday, we were doing practical Tech, and I was close to tears in pain. In the end, my Tech teacher did most of my work. I love that woman. It doesn't hurt much now, though, so that's good.

3. I've been working my butt off today trying to solve this problem I have and finish a design for something I can't tell you about ... yet. You may or may not remember me mentioning a "secret project" quite a while back... yeah, I was working on that. Don't badger me into telling you - all will be revealed once it's complete. If I can get it to work. Stupid thing.

4. Besides that, I've been making a lot of signature banners. My favourites?

 Whoa, I just noticed this now, and I find it pretty freaky: Each one contains a different main character for the Nickelodeon show H20: Just Add Water (one of my favourite shows when I was younger). I knew I was using the actors, but I didn't realise my favourites included one of each. Heh. Coincidences = <3

5. I'm writing this at 11:20pm while concentrating on other things, so I keep forgetting what I was going to write. Hmph. Memory of a goldfish.

6. I've been getting better at posting on my Dailybooth. Not terrific, yet, but I posted yesterday and today, so it's going somewhere!

7. Speaking of pictures and stuff, I'm going to have loads of pictures from France and the Pink concert, so I might make two blogs: one of pictures, one of my rambling about what a great experience it was. Heh. ;D

8. I take up way too many challenges on HPFC, and I am way too addicted to drabble collabs. Doh.

Keep blogging!
... This was pointless.

Shush Girl, Shut Yo' Lips.

Note to self: Never ever ever put off a blog post because you're too tired. The pile of things to say just builds up and up and up, until it's ridiculous. Don't put off Dailybooth, either, because you're meant to post a picture a day. Not every four days, with pictures from three days ago that you were too damn lazy to upload. Understand? Good.

Since there are quite a few things I want to cover, I'm gonna use numbers.

1. I went on a Science trip on Wednesday, to Bradwell Abbey, for Chemistry at Work. It was exclusive to Science Set One, and there were only a dozen places or so, so we had to leave some of our friends behind at school. It was pretty good - some parts were boring, other parts were really interesting, and it was better than spending a day at school doing Science with The Viper* and Athletics in PE. We learned about several different things, experienced various explosions including a giant fireball that nearly hit my friends and I**, we found out how fingerprints/DNA tests work, and I held a piece of Mars in my hand. We watched eagerly and squeamishly as someone cut another staff member's arm open using only dyed bread dough and fake blood (click here to see picture). We screamed at loud explosions, and laughed over how one room smelled like dentists when we entered, and burnt crumpets when we left.

There were a few other schools there, too, and one of them made me squeal like the silly fangirl I am. They have four Houses, and each House has a different colour (their ties are striped that colour, and their school badge is in that colour) - Red, green, yellow and blue. I strongly believe they were Hogwarts students, pretending to be Muggles to mingle in with the Muggle world.

2. Yesterday, I went to the dentist. Now, before I start my story, I'm going to say straight out that I hate the dentist. My teeth are honestly more mucked up than anyone's I've ever met; even one of the many dentists I've seen said that some of my teeth are at angles he's never seen (and he's worked for years). I've been dragged all around the country to various dentists for various check-ups and examinations. I can't get braces until all of my stubborn baby teeth have fallen out. And then they lost my paperwork. All of it. So now we have to start from scratch. Idiots.

So, anyway, I went to dentist yesterday, and the lady - Anna - poked around in my mouth, as they do. I have a baby tooth that's extremely loose. and my adult tooth has grown beneath it, flattened by the baby tooth. The gum has gotten inside the baby tooth, making it impossible to pull out. Despite my protests, Anna said she could pull that out there and then by hand, and my mum urged her to do it. She put numbing cream on my gum, and then tugged at my tooth after a few minutes. It hurt like hell. Every part of my mouth was numb except for my gum, my tooth didn't come out, and I was in severe pain for at least an hour afterwards. I wouldn't open my mouth after that. I even cried, that's how bad it was.

"How long will the numbing cream last?" I asked after she'd finished examining my mum (we made a group appointment), and we were about to leave.

"Only an hour or so, darling," Anna replied. It lasted around three to four hours. Hmph.

3. On Tuesday (I know, jumping back in time), I hurt my thumb in Tech. We were doing woodwork, sawing to be exact, and we had to hold the block of wood against this thing to keep it straight while sawing. I pulled a muscle from that, somehow. It hurt on Tuesday, then I didn't really feel much on Wednesday, but since then, it's been killing me. I keep moving my thumb in ways it doesn't like, and the amount of times I've shouted "Ouch!" (more in surprise at the pain rather than the pain itself) in class over the past couple of days is ridiculous. It huuuurts.

4. I got super worried today. My phone is my baby*** - it's lasted two and a half years, and it only messed up once (within the first year of it's life, it was my fault, and it was easily fixed) since I got it. Today, a friend from school was trying to Bluetooth a song to me, and it wouldn't work. Bare in mind, this was in the middle of class, so we were being careful not to get caught. I gave her my phone so I could concentrate on the work while she messed around with Bluetooth and whatnot. When I got my phone back, it kept freezing and not working and stuff. I freaked out. I had pictures and songs on there that I haven't saved to my laptop! I didn't want them to disappear!

After spending the entire day sulking over "my poor baby's death", doing whatever I could think of to save it, I only realised what the problem could be once I'd gotten home. My phone has a very small memory, and I finally realised that the memory must have been getting full. So I deleted pictures I didn't want/need any more, songs I always skip over or grew bored of. And now it works! Yay me.

5. Next weekend is going to be a very stressful, sleep-deprived, time. On Thursday, I'm doing local fieldwork for Geography Shine Day at school. On Friday, I'm going to France for the other Shine Day. It's over five hours drive there, and another five+ hours back. The coach leaves at 5.45am. We get back at around 8pm. Saturday will be my "homework and nap frequently day", and then I'll sleep through most of Sunday, but I'm going to P!nk concert in the afternoon. It's an Alton Towers, which is two and a half hours drive from where I live, and another two and a half hours drive back. Lots of travelling, lots of screaming, lots of firsts. Friday will be my first time abroad, and Pink will be my first concert.

Now, in a previous blog, I said that I was disappointed because I wasn't going to France. As you can guess, things have changed. My friend, Kelly, couldn't go even though she was one of the people who got in, and so the teachers allowed me to take her place at last minute. So I'm in. I'm going to France! Expect a blog about that next Saturday, if I can find the energy. If not, you'll get one some time later that week.

6. "Shush girl, shut yo' lips. Do the hellerkeller and talk with yo' hips." I've had that line playing round and round in my head all day today, and it's driving me nuts. 3OH!3, I don't even like you - take your own advice and SHUT YO' LIPS!

I know there was more I wanted to cover, but I've gone blank. I've got a Dailybooth account now, so go check that out, yeah? And sign up, if you want. It's awesome (:

Keep blogging!

Pondering

Firstly, I am writing this on my new Netbook, and I love it! But anyway...

So, I have an idea. I'm thinking of starting a "Creative Writing Tips" blog, where - like the title suggests - I give tips on creative writing. I'm following a couple of blogs that do the same thing, but they hardly ever post and I get bored just waiting around. So I decided that, hey, I could start one! It would also save me having to explain speech tags and such when I'm giving concrit.

I can just say "look [here], [here], and [here] for more detailed information on these subjects!"

No, I won't. I'll still probably go into detailed explanations again and again and again. I always do. It's who I am.

But anyway... I'd love for your feedback. Do you like this idea? Would you follow the blog? Do you think, honestly now, that I'd be able to do it? Also, I'm unsure of what to call it.

It's not something I'm going to rush into and regret later; I'm going to think about it for a while before I consider making a move, but I do genuinely like the idea. I have to think over it, think of a decent name, create a decent design, consider how long I should wait between each post - things like that. It'll be fun, but depending on time, it could also feel like a chore. I know with the Dribble Drabble challenge, I enjoyed it so much but some days, I just couldn't be bothered. I don't want this to feel the same.

So, yeah. Leave a comment with your opinion; it'll be muchly appreciated.

Oh, and before I go.... I did this photomanipulation last night, and I'm really proud of it. The girls and the field were borrowed from here, and the noose from here.

Please note that the noose isn't stock. 

The photographer is a friend of mine (Hey Katie!) and she granted me permission to use it. If you wish to use it in your own photomanipulation, you'll have to ask her.

Keep blogging!