Wednesday 30 September 2009

Crab Shaped Harvest Box

This is around the 5th time I have tried to write this blog today.
My hands are cold and typing is a good way in which to warm them up, so I will update you on my hands at the end of the blog.

Yesterday just before I was about to go to bed I received an email from a person called David, this is what it said:

Hey Blogger - My name is David,

I have been searching the Internet for the most well-written blogs and was impressed by yours. I wanted to invite you to become a paid blogger at Blog Distributor. (please understand that I do not send this invitation to every blogger I come across.)

Here is a link that describes how it all works in a little more detail:

https://www.blogdistributor.com/bloggers.php

Our system is set up so that bloggers can make more money with us than with any other blog-for-pay firm. In short, we are the middle man between you and the advertiser. We match the correct blogs with the correct advertisers, who pay us to do so. And then we pay you, the blogger on behalf of the advertiser. You only take the advertisements that you want and are comfortable with. In no way does this alter the owersship of your blog. You simply get paid to write postings on your blog that you choose to write. You do what you want, when you want.


I thought this was pretty odd, seeing as hardly anyone reads my blog and it is mainly for my purpose to log my days in a diary format rather than for anyone else (keep reading if you are! I LOVE YOU). So I have a feeling that ignoring this email is the best option for me because (1) I don't really want to advertise randomly in my blog (2) if I actually have any readers you will not want to see BUY THIS ITEM in my writing (3) I just want to blog for that sake of it, because I think it is fun and the internet is a place where things never die, so this is documented, will never be lost, may never be found, and something I can look back on in years to come. Almost like the room of requirement. :)
It was quite nice to receive an email like this though, and it made me happy to think that (if it is actually genuine) this person thought I was a good writer. So thank you person.

I had awkwardness today wasn't the nicest thing, but what can you do.

I did buy Alex Day's album yesterday and I am REALLY excited about getting it. Yey, plus, this is the first time I will have bought a REAL CD in a long time rather than downloading it from itunes. Happy times. I am actually very happy at the moment, although I have an English presentation which I can't actually remember what to say about. If I fail, I fail and what can be done. I am okay with making things up on the spot, but when it has to be about a certain topic and you get penalized for saying "um" and "err" and "like" or any colloquial saying, I am not too confident, because I want to talk to my class friends as if I am talking to them just generally... which is not what my teacher wants me to do.

I have to remember my harvest food tomorrow, because my form tutor is about to go crazy about me not having bought anything in for our form's Crab shaped harvest box that we have decorated. Harvest is so late in England.

I made a vlog today as well as it is Wednesday, so head on over to the emeraldsandstuff YouTube channel here if you want to watch it, and some of our other vlogs as well.

Don't you hate it when people say "Oh my gosh, I have a secret, but I can't tell you!"
I do.

Tuesday 29 September 2009

Plus Books

My friend also wrote a book, which she is allowing me to read through :)
I wish I had the ability to write books.
It's just not a power I possess.

Strange blogging...

I did actually write a blog on Sunday, but the thing is, is that I wrote it on word, and now I can't find it. Chances are that I have saved it in some stupid idiotic place and now I will never see the light and the words of that blog ever. So according to you the past 3 days of my life have not existed, as you do not know that even I exist and therefore your knowledge is incorrigible, and this is what TOK does to you. Theory Of Knowledge seeps into my everyday life more than I want it to. I find myself asking my biology teacher how we know that fossils are actually imprints of animals left millions of years ago, and how we know that red blood cells carry oxygen around the body if we can't actually see oxygen how to we even know it's there? Despite this "subject" getting into my brain and messing it up I generally enjoy it quite a lot. A lot of the time we just have huge discussions and debates which are fun to argue against, or if I don't feel like saying anything I can just sit back and listen, and if I am feeling exceptionally lazy I can just turn off. TOK is fun, it's a bit different from all my other lessons which are just "learn this fact" subjects.

I bought the 'Hunger Games' after much recommendation. By much I MEAN A LOT! Okay, first of all the fiveawesomegirls have been raving about it, so I thought I might as well see if they have it in a British book store (doubtful as they didn't stock John Green's book - or know who he was for that matter) and they did. On the recommended titles shelf. So I bought it and went up to the cash desk, and the women serving me said "OH MY GOSH! I love this book, it's so amazing!" So I looked at her strangely and then the next day at school I was about to start it and my friend shouted at me from the other side of the room "I LOVE THAT BOOK! I READ IT IN ONE GO!" So there again is a person in love with this book. Is it the undiscovered 'Harry Potter'? Well, I haven't actually got round to reading it as I have to read 'The Bloody Chamber' by Angela Carter and 'So Long A Letter' by Mariama Ba, which is a whole book of a letter. I hate reading letters, that's where I got stuck in 'Pride and Prejudice' Darcy's REALLY long letter to Elizabeth. So I have a huge list of books I need to read, most of which will not impress my English teachers.

It's 5:35 in the afternoon and I still haven't started my homework. I will probably just look in my planner, see what I have to do, figure out when I have a free lesson and when I can do it then because I really cannot be bothered to do any homework. It's just so much hard work and I know this isn't really the ideal thing to say for someone whose ambition is to get to Cambridge or UCL or Edinburgh for that matter, but I just can't be bothered to pick up a pen and write when I come home from school, but I suppose what has to be done has to be done. I also have to play clarinet and saxophone which I cannot be bothered with either because I just don't have the time or the effort to want to. Do you suspect an especially lazy mood from me. I really do, and I didn't even realise it. I had double biology today as well. It's not even a double lesson which is stupid. It's biology, English, Biology. Which is practically pointless. This is seriously just turning into a rant about work now and emphasising on my laziness.

I may just go and buy Alex Day's album 10% off later today to make myself feel better. Then again I will feel bad because I don't have any money. Eurgh! I may also get out my winter thick duvet so I can snuggle up in that tonight. It's getting a bit chilly, which is bad, because... it's cold, but good because it reminds me of Christmas and I love how happy everyone is at Christmas. Teacher allow us to slack a bit, we have entertainment, Christmas trees, secrect santa, cards, snow! AH SNOW! I LOVE THEE!

Okay, I realise that this blog is not really about what has happened in my life these past few days and I shall now list what I have done in a very boring fashion as I really do have to do my homework.

1. Saw 500 days of Summer (<3)
2. Went to Bluewater and bought some new shoes and a skirt (for school :\)
3. Went to music and played 2nd clarinet again
4. Went to bed at around 8:30 because I wanted to read my book
5. Did my philosophy presentation - which was a flop because I had notes that I "read of"
6. that is it, see what a great life I lead with social events and such things :\

wonderful

okay, this is starting to get sarcastic and such things, and as you can tell I am in quite an odd mood. I don't know how long this blog is, so I apologise either way.

Goodbye friends, until tomorrow (maybe)

Saturday 26 September 2009

WE WON.

I ficking won debate on Friday!
The motion was: "Students should not have to pay for University" and I was against the motion, so Anisha and I were arguing that you should pay for university. We got all set up and there was a vote to see initially who thought what on the floor. The votes were against us. It was ridiculous, there were 27 votes for, and 6 against. We got a bit nervous, but we had gathered loads of information had a block of paper and were already scribbling points for each other to say on it. I got through almost all my points by the time I had to stop so that was good. Anisha did the rebuttal, and it was awesome! She picked up on every little point that the opposing team had said, it was great. :)
So finally after both teams had summed up and the floor had spoken the votes were taken once again, and somehow, SOMEHOW we had convinced almost everyone in the room that you should have to pay for university. I think the final count was 28 for and 5 against. We were so happy, and even more so as we basically had the harder side to fight, and although it wasn't through all that we said that changed people's minds, I like to think we had an important role in that choice.

I missed badminton today, I really need to make more of a commitment to it, but anyway I spent the whole morning at music, which was nice as I haven't spoken to rather a lot of my musical buddies in a very long time! We played a really nice piece in force 10, though I can't remember the name of it. We also played a Coldplay medley and some Jedi theme tune! HA. I really don't like that one. It's bitty, doesn't seem full enough, or how a real "force 10" piece you sound. If I can find it I'll post a link to 'I'm so Excited' that we played at the last Christmas concert. It was amazing, I'm telling you now.

I am about to go to the cinema to see 500 Days of Summer, which I have heard good things about and also that the sound track is really lovely, so I am looking forward to that, I just don't hope I fall asleep in the middle of it, seeing as I got up at 8am again today to go to music. It seems I never have a lie in, as on Sunday I seem to get up at a ridiculous time for the weekend anyway. grrr.

I have been writing another philosophy essay about my perfect Utopia and how equality would be sufficient and necessary for humanity. It seriously sounds like I am writing some presidential speech about how I can abolish equality and how it will make the world so much better in many ways. It says write a persuasive argument, so that is what I am doing.

Do you notice that I always end my paragraphs with a really short one or two word sentence in all my blogs. I was about to make the last sentence of my last paragraph half the length of what it actually is now, but I decided not to, to add some variation. I have such an urge to do it again. I just did. Dammit. I have decided to carry on with this paragraph so as not to end it there and to have a long sentence at the end of it. My clarinet and saxophone teachers were so incredibly nice to me both of my lessons this week, despite my lack of practising that I have done. I could play everything perfectly and all my scales went well. See, not practising make perfect. :P

I have a dilemma. What Johnny Durham T-shirt should I get Emily for her birthday, she says she likes the big robot one, but Vikki already has this one, so Charlotte and I thought about getting the muffin top/raincloud one. What do you think, we can't make choices make them for us please.
Talking about YouTubers, I am totally and utterly in love with Alex Day's song 'Hearts'. It's so lovely, and even though it's not perfect, it's the imperfectness that makes it so incredibly lovely to listen to. His lyrics are so genuine as well, and it's not like the clichéd love song. So I officially cannot wait to own this song on the 1st October.

That is all world.

Thursday 24 September 2009

UBERMENSCH!

I have about 3 lots of philosophy homework to get through, and I am sitting at the computer. This does not bode well. Argh, I can't be asked to go and start it! Might do my German instead.

I'm having really good conversations with my friends at the moment. Today, at lunch we talked about how it we absolutely have to stay friends until we die (ha) so we can all go on huge holidays with all our families and each other, and how weird our children will think we are when we are together and talk about YouTube, Oliver Tompsett, crazy books, ideal boys, and all that. Of course we won't be like that when we are older, but I really do hope we will be as close as we are now. :) I think that YouTube helps a lot, and especially in two years when we all go off to uni around or even (Vikki) OUT of the country, it will be a good way to keep in contact and tell them about what is happening in my life.

I don't feel like I have a whole load of friends, I'm kind of the one who is friends with everyone and has a few close friends. Without them there I think I really would feel truly lost. I just love how similar we all are in the way we think, we don't want to throw away our childhood and be fully fledged adults now that we are 16, we want to do crazy stuff, be a bit embarrassing and have fun without thinking of what will follow. I also love how different we all are, like our cultures and families are completely different, which in turn creates amazing conversations and exciting for me to be around them. <3

The dress code at school is actually ridiculous, I wore a checked blouse today and got told I can't wear it. Who are they kidding?! This is like a prison, not a nice work environment! It really does make my blood boil! My clarinet teacher and I (who actually was REALLY nice to me today) had a big discussion about it, she got so annoyed that she said she would tell the newspaper. HAHA!

Anyway, philosophy homework beckons, must go do a plan for this timed essay I have tomorrow. Great...

On the plus side I got "ubermensch of the week" (super-person of the week) (yeah it's weird) in my class, and people voted for me. So I feel loved yey. :)

Today was good :)

Wednesday 23 September 2009

Lunch times

I love how random and stupid our lunch hour was today. We went out of school hoping to meet someone, desperately tried to phone that person, who didn't show, got stood up by that person, decided we couldn't be bothered to go and sign back in after about 15 minutes and so went a little down the road and sat on a patch of grass whilst eating lunch, which we so easily could have done within the boundaries of our own school.

Today was funny, we had a free, and Jay my friend has recently got a boyfriend. Sophie another of my friends was interrogating her all of the free lesson, all in hushed voices as we were in the silent study area. It was funny to listen to, though I would not have liked to be put through all the questions and comments for an hour.

I really do not have a lot to say today, it was a more than average day where nothing out of the ordinary happened. Tomorrow I have an English presentation in which I shall make up on the spot, I have actually written something to say, but I'm aiming not to use notes, so if I have the main points in my head I can improvise around that.

I realised that this was a quite boring update, but it wasn't a particularly thrilling day and words are making my eyes feel like stones. So before I unexpected fall asleep on the keyboard and a load of random letters come up from where my head has hit it I shall now leave thee.

Tuesday 22 September 2009

Man Flu

So I have just finished a mountain of maths homework. I'm not even joking a slightest bit! It was ridiculous, I have two maths lessons a week and somehow that equates to me having about 20 maths problems to solve. It's not even as if they were hard. They were easy and the same thing over and over and over and over. Argh. Never mind, it is not done. So that is good and I feel refreshed and ready to start other homework. Including a philosophy essay and presentation, Theory of Knowledge article work, musical phrasing of Mozart’s Symphony 41 and a German exercise and translation activity. Oh the joys of school.

I felt horrible all day. Philosophy, first period, was awful. No one was feeling well and there are about 7 people in my class, so it’s a class where you can’t just sit back and listen to other people for a whole lesson. So everything I said, started off just fine and then kind of carried on into nonsense language as I slowly realized what I was saying had no point or was just a very poorly constructed sentence. I have the “back to school” illness, which is completely pointless. It’s just a cold, and a sore throat, yet it makes you feel so incredibly weak and bleurgh. It’s the only way to describe it.

I encountered something not very nice today between two people. Basically person A had told a teacher something about person B, as a friend, as a person who is concerned over person B, and therefore acting as a good person. Person B, however, did not see it in this way and when person found out about what person A had done, she came up to person A and had a massive go at her. It was in front of loads of people, and I had just been talking to A so I was right by, and even for me it was embarrassing to watch. I could just see how humiliated A was by this confrontation, and although I understand both sides of what the people were thinking, I did not think that person B had the right to talk to person A like that. Also seeing as person A is the single most caring and loving person I have ever encountered. So erm, yeah, I know it’s not right, but I do not like person B.

I am actually in LOVE with Wednesdays. I only have two “real” lessons tomorrow. I have TOK first. Which is just fake. Then I have philosophy, and biology, then CAS in which I have a free, as I only have it alternating weeks, and then I have home study, where I get to go home period 5. YEY!

I was talking to the two new girls who are doing IB and who are in some of my lessons today about their old schools, and how different it was to theirs. Our school is tame! The things they told about their schools sound like something out of some weird book about school. Our school is a grammar school and so it is selective for the top 20% of the area in academic subjects. People who are not in this top percentage go to a comprehensive school, unless they pay for a public school. They talked about how so many people in their year got pregnant in year 10, how there were fights almost everyday, and it was just normal. How people came in high on drugs, and how many of the people in their classes are now young offenders. It sounds crazy to me, because our school is so strict on these things, there was a 6th former a while back who got asked to leave the school because she had become pregnant, and she was over 16. It just makes me realize that I know nothing about the outside world. I am just in my capsule with all my “nerdy” friends, who study, go out to the occasional party, don’t smoke, and don’t sleep around with random strangers, don’t deal with drugs or get into trouble with the police. I know it sounds weird, but it would have been good to experience these things, so I didn’t take my own school for granted as much as I do. I don’t think about how lucky I am compared to others. Yet saying that just makes me sound big headed. I’m sure I would not be the person I am today if I wasn’t friends with the people I am friends with, or if I went to a different school or lived in a different area. I certainly would not be writing a blog right now that’s for sure.

Sunday 20 September 2009

Today I have done lots and now I am bored

It's one of those days where I do loads, and then I stop doing loads of stuff, and then I am bored. But you know, out of my own choice, because there are a number of things I could do and want to do, but just can't be bothered to do.
Ever felt like that?

I'll take you through my day:
1. I got up at 7 AM. Because the cat was making her "I'm lonely, come down" mieow.
2. I sat at and did my essay whilst everyone else was still in bed.
3. I read the Bell Jar for a while.
4. Everyone else woke up.
5. Had a shower.
6. Ate breakfast, with pastries hmmmmm.
7. Finally finished my essay.
8. Read some more.
9. Planned, made and edited a video.
10. Played clarinet.
11. Ate lunch.
12. Went on internet.
13. Baked a carrot cake.
14. Washed up.
15. Went on msn
16. Made pre-dinner snacks
17. WRITING MY BLOG!

And this is where I have reached, I am sure I will reach 20 by the time I go to bed, maybe even 30, 30 things to do in a day is a lot. And though some of them are not at all exciting. I don't care. That is what I have done today, so far. I have also realised that that was quite a boring to way to blog my day. But what the hell, today I did it. It was easy and didn't take a lot of my brain power.

My carrot cake looks pretty flat, despite the two teaspoons of baking powder I put in it. Ah well, the tops all nice a crispy, which makes it all the more appealing to eat. Like a muffin top. yum! Dinner is not ready for another two hours, and I'm pretty hunger, hence the pre-dinner snacks I made. But sigh, I shall probably not even be hungry by the time dinner come around. Always the same isn't it.

My dad has put another photo of his in a frame next to the laptop. It's wonky. It is seriously driving me insane knowing that right next to me there is a picture which is wonky inside the frame. I can't change it, because I don't know how, and it's one of those things which I should do to keep my boredness at bay, but I can't be bothered to do it. Nevermind. I have to learn Mozart's symphony number 41, I haven't even listened to any of it, HA. Let's not worry about that now.

My Father has returned from the army barracks open day, HURRAH! He has seriously been there all day, taking photos most likely.

These are things I could do:
1. Tidy my room
2. Play saxophone
3. Pack my bag ready for tomorrow
4. Get everything ready for tomorrow
5. Read my book
6. Go outside

But unfortunately I cannot be bothered, and most of these things will probably be done in a mad rush at around 9 tonight.

Saturday 19 September 2009

3 days later

NEW BLOG! I seem to have ceased the everyday update of my life. Well here is one today. I am in a typing mood seeing as I have just written an essay on Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamer which I don’t happen to like a hell of a lot. But what can you do, when you want to please the IB examiner people. Nothing, so you sit back and read a book full of twisted disgusting graphic adaptations of fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard (Which is already kind of vile). Fun times indeed. I also have to do a presentation on it. Well actually teach the class about another short twisted fairy tale, which too, shall be joyous. Oh you can just hear the joy in my voice can’t you.

Thursday was a bad day compared to Wednesday. I think this was partly because I had my clarinet lesson, where I forgot all my music books, and so my teacher made me to some grade 7 sight reading, which is a little out of my comfort AND playing zone. It was awful. I come out of my lessons feeling like I want to cry every time, and feeling somewhat angry at my teacher, but more at myself for not being such an able player as I probably should be. I practise like a freak, but nothing can ever please her. She acts pleased or, you know, as if it doesn’t matter that I messed up a little. But inside I can hear her thinking, “What does it take to teach that girl!” Yeah she’s lovely. Ah well, what can be done.

Friday was good. I sort of wormed my way into getting a philosophy presentation and also signing up to do the debate next week. I’m sure it will be fine though, I should take these things upon me now that I am in 6th form. It’s what the universities like to see. “Member of Debate club.” Yeah it looks good. So what the hell, I’m doing a debate about something that I don’t know yet. HA!

I didn’t get stuck to my seat as around the whole of the country didn’t. I don’t usually watch Derren Brown, but all the facebook status’ were “Oooo ready to get stuck to my seat my Derren Brown” so I was intrigued and turned it on. It clearly didn’t work as many angry facebookers logged on and told me that, with the odd one saying “I GOT STUCK” and hundreds of comments below saying really, and then the last comment reading “no, I didn’t really, just wanted to see everyone’s reactions.” So that was fun. I didn’t get stuck, and I shall probably never what one of Derren Brown’s shows again.

I also made a new YouTube account, solely for the fact that I wanted a new username, because mine was boring and unoriginal. Not that mine now is any more so, but then all my accounts match, so go to www.youtube.com/user/iamjuliayesiam to check out my stuff. There is not a lot on there at the moment, but I have a few videos in pre-production currently, which I will probably film tomorrow if I have enough time in the day.

I GOT PROMOTED TO FIRST CLARINET (not solo) IN FORCE 10 (an orchestra that I got to) YEY! Feel joy for me.

Wednesday 16 September 2009

My biggest goal is to become a butterfly

Today was interesting and really good :) I got a lift to school with Ellen, and they came a tad too early, so I forgot my cardigan and my pencil case, but all's well that ends well. So I got to school and we had assembly which was fun because we got to sit on the STAGE and stare at the whole of the lower school with our wise old eyes. I like trying to spot people in the seating who I know and whoa re my friends and try to grab their attention using only eye contact. It strangely seems to work on some people. I love strange happenings and coincidences.
After that, I had philosophy, where we just had to invent our own Utopia, which is harder than I initially thought it would be. Everything we said had a down point, for example keeping it fair and harmonious, but then banishing wrong doers would be unfair and unjust. It was fun all the same, arguing our point of why the world we had created would be perfect and being caught out on little things that would not work in my little world. My group decided that everyone was entitled to an education, and although it would be selective and streamed in to capability, the teaching standards would be the same and everyone could take their exams when they, and the teacher felt that, that person was ready to sit the exam. Universities would also be free, but selective as well. The world would be carbon neutral and there would be no pollution as everything would be in walking or cycling proximity, and basically it would have amazing architecture and such things.

Last lesson I had a "Asprirint" meeting, which I have been selected for as the Oxbridge group. I AM SO HAPPY! But the meeting itself was a bit boring, it was just about tutoring the lower apex students and setting them challenges to try and achieve their long term goals. We were given a set of questions that we had to try out on each other. The questions were pretty simple: "What is your biggest goal?" "How will your homework help you to this goal?" "What are you going to do to challenge yourself?" but it's last lesson, no one can be bothered to take it seriously and so we made up ridiculous answers for all the questions. My goal was to become a butterfly and I was a kinaesthetic learner, so in my biology lessons about evolution, I would just build myself a cocoon and evolve into a butterfly, that way I would really learn what evolution was, by actually doing it.

Making my vlog is always a highlight of my week so I made it as soon as I came in and put it on YouTube.

Emily, Vikki, Jemma, Charlotte and I all left the school today at lunch, it feels to great to think that now we have the power to go out of the school at lunch and stuff. I might sound weird to you. But ah well. Freedom is bliss.


I LOVED TODAY!

Monday 14 September 2009

Finally

I finally changed my option to music. Ms Stanley didn't eat my head, she said I should do whatever I wanted to do, and that I should still carry on with acting and such outside school :) so happy times. I really would like to know what the school show is going to be this year! Rumour is there is no musical this year! Which I find hard to grasp the concept of. For my whole school life there has always been a musical and they have always been AMAZING! Singing in the Rain, Girlfriends, The Secret Garden, Little Women and A Winter's Tale. Though I have never actually been in one, seeing as I cannot for the life of me dance, which is what brings me down every blooming year. I have, however been in the orchestra and would love to do that again. But no. I can't.
I do want to audition for the play, and I am hoping for something like Alice in Wonderland, because I think that could be fantastic!

I also do this lesson called Theory of Knowledge (TOK) as a part of the IB course, and I swear to God, it drives you insane. I also take philosophy, but TOK is something else. Every little thing we say e.g. "I am sitting on a chair" - How do you know you are sitting on a chair? - How do you know it is a chair? - How can you feel it with your senses? - What if your senses are fake?
AARRGH. You leave the class thinking you know nothing and it never fails to destroy any hope you have in the world. You learn you can't trust anyone or anything, because there is no proof and always doubt that what they tell you is "false". OH the joys of TOK.

I haven't watched TV in about a month. I blame YouTube. Speaking of YouTube, Charlotte just went out into the village in her pjs as a punishment for something or other rule breaking. Oh, the things we do for the pleasure of our friends.

English people tend to talk about the weather a lot, not even in awkward situations, just as general conversation with friends and such. So, now I am going to talk about the weather. It started off really nice, really really really nice. Then it got to break, I stepped outside and it was raining but it was also really humid. I hate this type of weather. It's the worst type. There is nothing suitable you can wear to be prepared for this weather. It's hot, chilly, and rainy all at the same time. It should legitimately not be possible.

And with that note of the weather I shall be off.
Toodeldoo

Sunday 13 September 2009

Long loading times...

I made a video today about pencils, it was pretty random, but now I am annoyed at it! For a number of reasons.
Number 1: It was an absolute pain to film!
Number 2: It was really noisy when I filmed it
Number 3: It took around 2 hours to edit
Number 4: I was really proud of it
Number 5: For that reason I am annoyed that it never could upload to YouTube!

Aarrrgh! I have tried multiple times during the day, and it takes forever, gets half way, with half an hour left and then an error occurs and it stops. Serious annoyance.
I never did my English essay and I doubt I will actually start it today seeing as I really can't be bothered. So here I am blogging, for my own benefit more than anyone else.

Right now I can smell brownies! :) They smell so good, in fact I may go down and get one in 5 minutes . hmmm warm brownies. I have also ordered Looking for Alaska by John Green from amazon.co.uk today after looking in about a million bookshops in town and in London and failing to find it anywhere. Which might I add, is disgraceful. So that's something to look forward to, and I WILL make time to read it on top of all my school reading.

I am also currently uploading Itunes 9.0 on to the laptop, which, too is taking an age.
I also got tagged in a vlog game, to describe how you use an item in your room. Fun times, I've never been tagged before, and I believe that it is a true YouTube right of passage. :P
Okay, Itunes just closed down for unexpected reasons.
I THINK IT'S BROWNIE TIME...








YUM! Just the right amount of chewiness :)
Tomorrow is MONDAY! This is bad, I have to tell my drama teacher that I am dropping the subject in replacement on music and I am scared!
I have overused exclamation points so much in this blog, and for that I apologise.

Saturday 12 September 2009

Mother Courage

"I won't let you spoil my war for me."
I saw Mother Courage and her Children last night at the National Theatre in London. I was quite surprised by it. For quite an old play it had a mostly modern script and the characters where also modernly presented.
Fiona Shaw played the part of Mother Courage, and I think she played the role wonderfully. The role in itself is incredibly demanding, with the character hardly off the stage in the long 3 and a half hours running time of the play. Her portrayal had so much deep emotion, which I know was not the point that Brecht wanted to make, but you could do nothing but empathise with her. Her development and understanding of the character was strong and there wasn't a moment during the play when I thought, "is that really how Mother Courage would react to that?"
Having never seen the play before I have nothing to compare it to and so I don't know whether what the production showed as in the set was out of the ordinary for that play. The set, however was pretty peculiar. As we were getting in our seats, it looked as if they were setting up for the show, with no curtains drawn and random people testing out the sounds and dancing crazily around on stage. Mother Courage's wagon came up from under the stage on a platform and the whole staging looked quite industrial.
I suppose it did sort of follow the Brechtian style of reminding you that you actually were sitting in a theatre and that the people on stage were only actors, and not real as costume changes were done on stage, with people coming on with extra coats to give the actors and the stage hands just walking on randomly in full light to change the sets. There were cloth hangings telling us where we were in the play, and a person saying what scene we were currently on.
I really enjoyed all the songs in it as well and I thought that they all sang really well.

I'm not sure it was to everyone's taste though as after the interval, I saw that many of the seats which were taken in the first act had been vacated when we returned. In some ways I was disappointed with the end as well. It was as if the story kind of just stopped and the fate of the last and oldest son was never uncovered and the applause at the end was stifled before everyone realised that the really was the end, but then the applause was great, and the cast thoroughly deserved the noise the audience created as the cast it was clear was hugely talented.


Two people from Harry Potter as well, Fiona Shaw, who played the title role, and the guy who plays Dudley Dursley, though I can't remember his actual name, played Swiss Cheese. Yes Swiss Cheese.


Anyway, I have just finished my first philosophy essay, and after thinking my brain would explode after yesterday's lesson I think I have done quite well in discussing the Mind-Body Problem. And I have also decided to do Music, because I LOVE Music.
I suddenly got an insane amount of homework on Friday, 2 essays, a biology experiment write up, maths graded assessment and a presentation. All in on Monday or Tuesday, which sucks, because the weather is nice, and I have to sit inside and do my homework. :(

On the plus side, I got the Little Women DVD, which = LOVE. It's beautiful, and it's so nice to remember how it was all those months ago when we performed it, though it doesn't seem that long ago at all.
Today, I have decided to download some Wrock, because I love Harry Potter, I am going to have completed, one of my essays, my maths, my biology, and maybe some of my presentation, so wish me luck with all my work. I have nothing planned this weekend, so I suppose it's as good as any time to get some of the work load away!

Until next time.

Okay the internet just failed, good job blogger has AUTOSAVE! :)

Thursday 10 September 2009

Blah

I think I am going to swap drama for geography. Call me a bore. But at the end of the day I want to go to Uni....

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Stressful Friendships

I do realise that this entry is directly after my previous one, but I am annoyed and I need to write down my feelings towards this certain subject.
I have a friend, who for the reason that this is a public blog shall be called "friend X"
Friend X is part of a project that we have going with 3 other people on YouTube. The project aim is to do a video once a week, each having our own individual day. Like fiveawesomegirls. The project has been going for around 1 and a half months now and despite being on holidays and such 4 of us have posted videos around 6 or 7 times. X, however has posted 2. First of all, it was that she didn't have a camera, then it was that her computer didn't have sound, now it's she doesn't have time. Today I said to X that she had a punishment because X hadn't posted a video, X replied and said, I am not doing a punishment because I didn't know there were rules and you don't make them up Julia. I said no one had objected against the rules and that if there was an objection she could have voiced her opinion on the videos comments. She said she never saw this video or the others where the rules have been published.

I know it sounds petty and everything, but it just annoys me how everyone else in the project MAKES time and effort to get out a video on their day, they enjoy watching the other videos and don't make a huge deal about something like a silly punishment. I have told X before that she needs to make a video, leading her to a cheap camera which would be good and suggest ways she can view, edit and record the videos. She just makes excuses constantly for everything. I don't want to shout at her, because she's my friend and it's no use being annoyed at people. But it's so damn irritating and annoying. She agreed the the project, why is she just making excuses now?

AAARRGGH!

2:10

To make up for my extra class yesterday, I had one less today which was lovely, seeing as I had done all my homework in my frees earlier that day :)
So I came home in record time: 20 minutes; and made a video for emeraldsandstuff channel on YouTube, just about life.

Lunch time was so nice today as well. The weather at the moment is beautiful and so, Charlotte, Emily, Vikki and I sat out on the field and ate lunch. I don't really know how we came onto the subject, but we started talking about religions and philosophical questions. It was really interesting and deep, and seeing as we all believe different things according to religions and own opinions the conversation was really enlightening and intelligent as well as fun. It was one of those conversations where a one hour lunch break is not enough to discuss the whole world and the meaning of life! I really did enjoy it. It's just such a warm feeling that I can talk about these things freely and confidently, have a bit of fun with my friends. They truly are amazing and the first people I would go to, if I need to say something. We just have complete confidence in each other and trust one another not to go and be a bitch about it, if they don't agree with something I have said. Our headteacher walked past us whilst we were talking and look positively beaming that we were talking about something intelligent. hahaha. I hate her.

I told you about that boy the other day that couldn't do his options because of his GCSE grades, well he's now left the school. He walked out this morning in registration, and this other girl has also left because of subject clashes and grades. It just makes me mad, that they were accepted into the school and were given permission to take their subjects and now they are being turned away, when every other school has aready started and probably won't take them 2 weeks into the school year. ARGHH!

Tomorrow I have my clarinet lessons. I don't want to go, I know my teacher will scratch my eyes out and eat me because I haven't practised in the summer as much as I should have done and I can't do my scales, or sightread, or rhythm or high notes! She makes me mad and I just feel like I am getting no where no matter how much I work and try to improve.

I also have my first theatre lesson tomorrow, which I hope I like and do not feel too scared in a class with only two other people.

Tuesday 8 September 2009

Stats

Today someone told me IB stats compared to A level ones:

Maddy White:
IB stats were scary today...Macauley brought a sheet of stats into history, and it said that 58% of IBers got in to their first choice uni, compared to about 24% for a-levels or something stupid, 8% a levelers got into Oxbridge and 14% IBers...it was seriously crazy stuff =/

That was copied and pasted from facebook, but that is MENTAL! I'm glad I am doing the IB now despite there being a constant battle against us and the A levelers about which qualification is best and why. But I think the answer is clear. I didn't follow the crowd. Good came from it.
Tomorrow we get to go home in period 5, because we have home study every other week, which I like, A LOT.
I really like all my lessons at the moment they are fun, though I do have this teacher for philosophy called Mr Hartley and he is senior staff. He mumbles. I HATE people who mumble.
Drives me insane!

Today also marked the day where the school when completely crazy in regards to dress code. WE CAN'T WEAR DRESSES! What is with this? Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of the people running the school. Also another thing which really made me angry today was that this new guy in our school from a comprehensive up the road and he got B's in his science GCSEs. He want to become a doctor or surgeon. He is taking biology and chemistry. The school has told him that he can't take sciences. Now his whole life plan is down the drain. They have given him the option of taking maths and buisness studies. Or dropping out of school. AAARGHGHDOIFKLAP;LSFKGNLD.,B
Makes me mad.

I also had 6 periods today. There are usually only 5 in a day, which meant staying an extra hour after school.
Friend: where are you going Julia? The way out is this way...
Me: I'm going to my next lesson
Friend: 6 LESSONS?!
Me: Yes. Every Tuesday.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. WOOPIE. Expect a video soon. Although somehow I have featured in the last 2.

Monday 7 September 2009

It's not only me who can't make decisions.

My parents are now not getting a wood burning stove.

Maths Problem

So I find maths reasonably hard, sometimes I have to work feverishly to try and understand something completely, other times I just get annoyed that no one else in my class understands it.
So when choosing a maths class to be in (Standard or studies) I have to decide very carefully. If I choose standard I risk looking really stupid when I don't understand something and receiving a bad grade for my exam in the end. However if I did well it would benefit me greatly to have this qualification as it is the standard of A level maths.
Studies on the other hand would be easy. It's the standard of around AS maths and would be easy to score points in and therefore, in turn it would give me a higher mark in the IB, which again would benefit me greatly, but the maths qualification would not be as highly looked upon.
THEN there is the question about the teachers I would have. Standard I would have Mrs. Skew, a meanish, sly, cunning, mean, detention seeking, you-have-to-work-in-silence kind of teacher. OR studies I would have Mr. Poon, who is new to the school and the IB, sounds and looks really nice, but has doubtful teaching skills and also Miss. Scates who is like my favourite teacher and who got me an A last year for my GCSE maths.


AAAAARRRGGGHH! I don't know what to do. I have a maths problem which I cannot solve.

Sunday 6 September 2009

Dress Code

The dress code at school 6th from is SMART
They say this repetitively: "You should wear a suit, by this we mean matching jacket and trousers"

Am I allowed to wear a pinkish/greyish dress?
Should I wear it, or shouldn't I?
Yes or no?
It's going to rain tomorrow, maybe I should wear my grey suit to match the clouds and the colour of the sky.
Maybe I should wear the dress and brighten up my day.


Sometimes being a girl is hard!

Saturday 5 September 2009

Confusion

I had a bad night last night. I thought way too hard about what I wanted to do in the future and how I didn't have a plan, I didn't know what course I want to study at uni, I don't know what I want to be when I am older and how I wouldn't get into a good university and how I would fail at life. It all got a bit too much for me and I think that even if I talked to someone about it now I would burst out into tears and last night and this morning all over again.

I have decided to stick with theatre studies, not because it's the right decision or because it will benefit or help me in anyway when applying to university, but because it's my passion and what I really love doing. I still want to do the higher level of maths, because that will help me so much! I think I was just a bit jaded about everything, now that I am in 6th form and I just feel like I am not ready to grow up, that it's all going too fast and I don't know where I am going. I feel like I'm walking around in think smog and I can't see what's ahead of me or where I am going. It just seems like everyone else around me knows what they want to do with their life and what they are going to do to make sure they achieve what they want out of their life and career.

Today was good though, after having a little cry again this morning the day ahead was very nice and it was lovely to think of something else other than school for a while. Music centre started up again where I play clarinet in two bands, one an orchestra in which we play film music and stuff like that. And then a wind band called force 10, which is just so much fun! I really enjoy playing in an ensemble, because the sound is so different to when you play on your own, it's so nice to come together with others like me and play music we all love and are familiar with. :)

MY PARENTS ARE FINALLY GETTING A WOOD BURNING STOVE! After about 3 years of talking about getting one, they have finally got someone to come on Monday and assess how much it is going to cost to get a chimney fixed in. My house has NO heating, this may seem weird to some people, and we do have underfloor heating, but that is it. I don't know why, our house is wooden and it was built in the 60's. Maybe it was stylish to be cold? :S

We went to Canterbury as well where Charlotte got a new mouthpiece for her clarinet and we also met one of our friends from the Benenden summer school which I attended earlier this year. It was really nice to see her again, because I mean I don't know when I will see her again seeing as she boards at Kings.

Right now we are watching Pirate of the Caribbean, and I am just singing along to the music because I have played it in my summer music school course. I am sad, that I sing along to the music rather than speak the lines of the film like any other person would. hehe. I do the same with Little Women the musical!

Today has been a pretty musical day, or well everything I have done or seen has had something which reminds me of something musically.

Friday 4 September 2009

Hey, I'm 1619 years old

I just realised this: On my profile page where you had to type in your birthday I wrote 3/4/93 because that's what I usually write. Turns out it takes 93 to literally mean year 93! So for about a year my blog has said that I am 1618-9 years old! THIS MADE ME LAUGH SO MUCH! I changed it. Too bad if you didn't see.

Speaking of changing, I had a good day at school today :) but I think I am going to change from Theatre to Geography, just because it would be so much more beneficial to me when applying to Uni's and also help me a lot more in my studies. I really don't want to tell my theatre teacher though! SHE'S GOING TO EAT ME! so erm, yes, I'm not entirely sure what exactly I am going to do right now, also the fact that there was originally only 3 people in my theatre class does not help me in changing it. THEY NEEDED THREE PEOPLE TO DO THE COURSE! aaarrrgh, so right now I am kind of in a state of panic. Wish me luck in my asking to change.

Other than that my day was good. I had English which I really enjoyed and I really like my teacher. German, which was okay, I suppose, though we did have to do presentations, and then I had maths, WHICH ACTUALLY WASN'T OKAY! (I do realise I am talking in caps quite a lot btw, it's just my emotions, and I'm not talking I am typing, but that's a different story) I put down to do standard level Maths, but apparently because my higher level subjects are mostly English/essay subjects they "assumed" that we wanted to do maths STUDIES! Which is what you do if you're not very good at maths (maths is compulsory). I thought this was incredibly rude of our teachers to un-inform us of this "change" that they had put in place. I plan on writing a letter or asking them if I can do standard level as well as changing my option. I had Biology in first period, which I really enjoyed, we're starting to study neurobiology, which I just find fascinating :)

Anyway, enough geekiness. Today is FRIDAY! I am going to read, play music, play badminton and RELAX this weekend in preparation for a FULL week at school.

Thursday 3 September 2009

First day of school...

So today was the first day of school and so, it was also my first day of 6th form... which is slightly daunting thinking of how fast all these years have flown by. I remember by first day at secondary school when I was 11. Now I'm practically a grown up. Scares me a bit.

We have to wear smart clothing and I quite liked what I was wearing if I say so myself, and everyone else seemed to like it too. But lets face it jeans and tshirt would be SOOOOOO much easier to work in. They also made this "bistro" for the 6th formers, it's meant to be all great and stuff with wi-fi and a cool atmosphere. It was cool for the first 5 minutes. Then we realised you had to have a password for the wi-fi. Then it was a bit small, and a bit silly really. AND MY LOCKER HAS SOMEONE ELSE'S CRAP FROM LAST YEAR IN IT! Filled with food and drinks. I'm never going in there.

I'm doing the IB diploma over the next 2 years and I'm kind of looking forward to it but kind of not. There are about 10 people in each of my classes. I'm used to about 30! No one talks, so it seems like it's just me giving the teacher information and it's just a bit annoying. None of my close friends are in any of my classes, but then again hardly any of them are doing the IB. This sucks. I suppose it will get better in due course, but the day was just kind of crappy really. I got a ton of homework including read a book by next week and do a presentation for tomorrow. asdjghiornksjdnb,!

Anyway! I got home and read 'The Catcher in the Rye' and finished it. It's quite a heart warming book I felt. So that was enjoyable. THEN the water stopped flowing through the taps. GREAT.