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 (: