Mud and Stars

Revision? LOLOLOLOL

2009-03-29T15:38:42Z

I absolutely cannot concentrate on geography revision at the moment.

Here's what I'm doing instead:

1) Obsessively checking NewMoonMovie.org every time I get a little bit bored of making notes on managing tropical cyclone hazards (so about every 5 minutes basically). I'm so happy I discovered this site; they update all the time, and there's always pictures of the actors in Vancouver (mm I am liking Alex Meraz for Paul, good choice...also, Taylor is now 17 - only one year younger than me - so I can fancy him without feeling like a perv, and I now officially fancy Kellan Lutz more than Robert Pattinson - but only a fraction I promise!), interviews with just about everyone associated with Twilight (including the hand model who did the cover of the first book, haha), and all news related to the books and the film. I am so obsessed with this website that I actually check it before Facebook whenever I log onto my laptop, and that is saying something (probably that I have no life...).

2) Looking up the meanings of songs I like on Songfacts.com! I'm taking the advice of Stephenie Meyer herself with my writing and using songs to inspire me, and I've been listening to lyrics really closely recently and trying to come up with a big fat Itunes playlist of inspiration. I keep getting distracted though and searching for songs that have nothing to do with my writing, for example did you know that Fidelity by Regina Spektor is about the film (and book) High Fidelity? No, neither did I. But I looked at the lyrics and I totally see it now. 'By protecting my heart truly, I got lost in the sounds.' I don't really remember much about that book other than that it was about a guy who worked in a record shop who always listened to love songs but was really crap at relationships, and that not a lot happened in it. Good song though.

3) Looking up things to do in Barcelona because ME AND SAM JUST BOOKED A HOLIDAY THERE :) Squee!! I am finally going to see some sunshinez :D

4) WorldWideWords.com - because everybody enjoys finding out what words like boondoggle, yaffle, tufthunter, smouch, swazzle, quocker-wodger, mugwump, jobbernowl, hugger-mugger, ishkabibble, gongoozler, ginglyform, and gowk mean (or maybe that's just people like me - who type 'words' into google when they have writer's block, rather than the much more acceptable reason for spending about 2 hours on this website - of having a genuine interest in etymology..)!

Of course all this is very interesting, but what's even more interesting is that in the US government-funded National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami, Florida, data from geostationary satellites and land- and sea-based recording centres are constantly provided so that meteoroligists can look for developing circulations between 0 degrees and 140 degrees W. (someone like to tell me wtf degrees W are?! :S)

So you see, I really must get back to reading all about that. Or maybe I'll just watch some more fan made New Moon trailers on youtube. You know, one or the other...

x

They'll call me The Girl in the Denny and George Scarf.

2009-02-21T18:04:53Z

'The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic' is one of my favourite books in the world. I've probably read it more times than I've ever read any other book. And I've read all the other books in the series a ton of times as well. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a die hard Sophie Kinsella fan. Plus Becky Bloomwood is literally me. I've been absolutely in love with this book for the longest time, so I was naturally excited by rumours that it was being turned into a film.

And then I was naturally horrified when I found out they'd made Becky American and saw trailers of her twirling through a department store in one of the most hideous outfits I've ever seen.

So, understandably, I had my reservations about the film. In fact, when I first saw the trailer I was so annoyed that I decided I didn't even want to see it. But then, a combination of curiosity, loyalty to Sophie Kinsella and a closer look at Hugh Dancy's (rather yummy) face, got the better of me, and I ended up going to see it on opening night!

I genuinely thought that I wouldn't like the film, because the Becky in the trailer did not seem like the Becky from the books. But after having watched the movie, I've changed my mind. Here are my thoughts on the film...

The Plot:
The plot didn't stick entirely to the book (for example Becky was American, Becky lived in America, Luke was the editor of Successful Saving rather than an incredibly rich entrepeneur... Tarquin wasn't posh or stoaty, etc.) But I think they got in the important stuff. Plus although they didn't put in everything from the first book, they included some of the good parts from Shopaholic Abroad (like where she gets mistaken for a waitress, and the bit with the auction, where Luke bids for her Denny and George scarf...) So all in all I think it was a good adaptation of Sophie's story.

The Characters:
Becky: Perfect perfect. The portrayal of her doesn't come off well in the trailer, but she really IS Becky Bloomwood in the film.

Luke: Very well cast. The amusement that flashes across his face every time Becky says something, like he can see right through her. JUST how I imagined it.

Suze: She was well cast too, although I think this Suze was a bit quirkier than the Suze in the book. Plus Suze doesn't tell Becky off as much in the book; she's actually quite squealy at some of the things Becky buys, especially the Denny and George scarf.

Tarquin: I can understand why they left his role out, because it was quite a short film and it would have detracted from the plot, but I did miss him in it. He's a really funny character, and all the scenes with him and Becky in the book are hilarous. I know they did have a Tarquin in the film, but he was just Suze's boyfriend (rather than being her cousin as well), and he wasn't bony and weird looking, or English, or posh, or into Wagner. I don't think he even had any lines. Not cool!

Derek Smeath: Well, he was no 'Smeathie Sweetie', but he was pretty funny. I think they just took the whole idea of Becky being really scared of his calls and letters, and made his character all scary. But it definately worked, and was tres amusant, so I didn't mind this adaptation of him.

Becky's parents: They were the worst thing about this film. Becky's parents in the book are SOOOO typically British, and their banter is one of the funniest aspects of the book. So, quite frankly, what they did to these characters IS JUST CRIMINAL. Magic tricks? Camper van? What the ACTUAL fuck?!

In conclusion...

I REALLY enjoyed the film; I thought it was really funny (Isla is a great comedic actress) and Isla and Hugh had great chemistry :) But I wasn't overly keen on the talking manequins, and I will NEVER get over what they did to Jane and Graham.

But yeah, overall, GREAT FILM. Looking forward to the DVD! x

'I love you John Paul McQueen.' 'Why wouldn't you?'

2009-02-21T16:57:24Z

OMG I was just re-reading all the entries I've posted on here, and my first post inspired me to do some Craig and John Paul 'fangirling!' So instead of reading Measure for Measure, I've been watching videos like this all afternoon:

SQUEAL. 5:51 broke my heart, and 8:50 mended it :) awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

My week

2009-02-20T13:24:23Z

Friday 13th - Bad luck affected me in the following ways:

1) In English Literature, we found out that Edward II (which we've spent over a term studying and I was JUST starting to get to grips with) has been REMOVED from the syllabus, and the school have only just realised because they somehow MISPLACED THE LETTER from AQA telling them which came BEFORE CHRISTMAS... So now we have to learn Measure for Measure instead, and we don't have an awfully long time to do this. GRRRR!
2) On the way to London I accidentally put my Thorntons bag of Valentine's chocolate for Sam on a heater by my seat and melted all the hearts :(
3) Spent an awful lot of time and money traveling to Hammersmith with Rose, only to discover that Russell Brand's show was CANCELLED (and really last minute too, about 2 hours before the show) because he had a throat infection :'(
4) Coach home was missed out and we had to wait about 40 minutues in the freezing cold for the next one! Again, grrrr!

Valentine's Day - Was nice, me and Sam went to Pizza Express in Oxford (we wanted ASK, but it was fully booked). I spent a bit too much money and drank a bit too much wine (which wasn't my fault because I didn't ask for a big glass, but they bought me one anyway, which was a bit annoying because I deliberately chose that wine because it was the cheapest, but it ended up being quite expensive...) Anyway, we neither had any money left afterwards, so we went for a walk instead of to the pub (probably better for both our livers.) And it was nice and romantic :)

Sunday - Went to see Slumdog Millionare. AMAZING. Will review in another post.

Monday - Wednesday - Me and Alex went to visit Lottie in Portsmouth (she's at uni there). Was nice to see her and it felt a bit like a holiday because we were by the sea and it was quite warm (for February I mean). Things we did while we were there:

1) Went out for her friend Becca's birthday dressed as builders (in flourescent builder jackets and £1 yellow plastic builder hats from Centre Stage in Abingdon). We looked hot stuff, obviously. Went to a club in Gunwharf Quays called Tiger Tiger which has big glass windows so you could look out onto the sea and was really really cheap (£2 for a double, lethal...). Lottie told me I wouldn't need much money so I only took a tenner, and that was all I needed. Very impressive. Lots of boys tried to steal our builder hats, but I grabbed mine back every time I felt it being lifted off my head, and said no every time somebody asked if they could try it on, so I still had it when we rolled out of the club at 2am singing the Bob the Builder theme tune. Result.

2) Explored Portsmouth. Lottie mainly stays in the student parts, so she said it made a nice change to see the sea and the funfair and stuff. And we got some hot chocolate and sat on the big wall by the sea and watched the boats which was nice. We walked around a lot and got a bit lost but we all had a good gossip whilst doing so, so it wasn't too much of an issue, and we got home eventually.

3) Bought all our own food from Tesco and successfully cooked our own meals (i.e. they were edible). So I now have some idea as to what living as a student is going to be like.

4) Went out for breakfast at a pub on our last day, but had to wait AGES for them to open the kitchen, despite their claims on the breakfast menu that it is served from 9... We got there at half past, and had to wait till about quarter to 11! We all bought orange juice to keep us going while we waited, and all got asked for ID. Even though it was half 9 in the morning, and it was orange juice. Ha. You'd be surprised how many old men are in the pub drinking pints of beer at that time though. Gross.

Last night - Went to see Confessions of a Shopaholic with mum. Soooo good, will review in another post :)

Today - Today I am really happy. It is a nice day, quite sunny, and not actually cold at all, FOR ONCE. I went for a nice walk this morning to get a prescription from the chemist, and I didn't even need to wear a coat. So I'm actually feeling quite happy and contented and it almost feels like Spring is coming. At least, in my head it is. :)

I ain't afraid of no ghost.

2009-02-08T19:00:55Z

Matt: Mum, can I ring up the talking clock?

Talking clock: Gary Barlow here for Comic Relief! The time is 6.57 and 30 seconds.

Me: *SQUEAL*

Mum: LOOK LOOK HAVE YOU SEEN THE RED NOSES THIS YEAR?!!! AWWW AREN'T THEY SWEET??!!!111!!!

*So many lols, so little time.*

A whole heap of nothing

2009-02-08T18:20:59Z

I have had the most DISGUSTINGLY lazy weekend imaginable. Yesterday I had the day off work as I was supposed to be going to the UWE open day, but because of weather conditons in the South West, it was cancelled. I was totally planning to get up bright and early and make productive use of my spare time (how many times have I pledged that before?!), but through no fault of my own, ended up sleeping through until 1 in the afternoon. When I woke up, I went downstairs in my nightie, made myself some toast, ate it, and then went back to bed and slept all afternoon. And I didn't wake up until half past 5. I must have been completely shattered because I'm never normally able to sleep for that many hours at a time.

I did go out in the evening (though honestly I felt so ill when I woke up that I'd really rather have stayed in and slept some more), although it was incredibly hard to walk to the bus stop wihout falling over (all the snow has frozen over and it's literally like walking on a thick sheet of ice.) Went to NANDOS with my girlies which was quite nice because we hardly ever do things all together any more. Different time-tables at school, and weekend jobs always seem to prevent this. I am sure I ate far too much, and probably spent too much too (95p for haloumi cheese in my chicken breast fillet burger is kind of pushing it for somebody trying to save for university during a recession, but I have ZERO willpower...) but for the first night out in about a year - let's face it - I did not get drunk. I didn't actually drink anything alcoholic. I figure if I get drunk too often now, I won't have the money to get drunk at college. Ha ha. No, the main reason is that I'm trying to give my liver a bit of a break. I might even have a tee-total month. But I'll have to start that in March, because I've already sinned this month.

We were planning on coming back quite early because we're all tired, and/or have tons of work to be getting on with, but we got stuck in Oxford for ages because there was some sort of accident and road work related traffic hold up. We were literally sat in a stationary bus in St. Aldates for about 40 minutes.

I really ache this morning from trying to walk on the ice last night (you don't walk normally when you're trying not to die, you generally are fairly tensed, limbs skidding all over the place...) My head really aches too, and I'm so tired. I don't know how that can be, considering all the sleep I've had this weekend.

Anyway, I've also been incredibly lazy today and done nothing but sit on my laptop all day (literally), reading various of blogs that were nominated for or won Weblog awards, Bloggies, etc. I got bored of that though, so I started reading Twilight fan-fiction instead. I'm so cool.

I've barely moved all day, all I've eaten is chocolate and pizza, I haven't washed my hair, I haven't done anything intellectually stimulating.

Also think I might have square eyes from staring at the screen all day. But still can't bring myself to turn it off.

I'm.such.a.big.fat.lump.of.LAZY. :(

Big plans

2009-02-06T15:14:42Z

I had such big plans for this snow day.

* I was going to finish my English essay on the significance of Edward II's homosexuality in Christopher Marlowe's representation of him.
* I was going to write some more of my novel. I got a few pages done yesterday, but nada today.
* I was going to do fucktons of geography revision.
* I was going to do some exercize.
* I was going to finish reading 'The Edible Woman' by Margaret Atwood,.

Despite all my intentions, it turns out all I have to show for my day is THIS:

Cute hat, right?!?! :):) I'm gonna name him Edward because he's cold and white and sparkles in the sunlight!

- EDIT -

OH NOES. Looks like Edward isn't planning on sticking around forever(!) Both of his eyes and his nose have now fallen off. :( Think he's popped his bottom button too...

OMGZ!1!REBEL!!!!

2009-02-06T11:04:49Z

MORE SNOW!!!!

So, despite the snow and ice on the roads actually being MUCH WORSE than it was yesterday, AND the fact that it's been snowing all morning, and hasn't really stopped, school is OPEN this morning, albeit 50 minutes later than it should have been. But nobody seems to be going (ooooh, rebellious!), and my mum told me and my brother we could stay off, because she's not going into work, and she thinks it's too dangerous to walk or drive. All the other schools in Abingdon are closed apart from mine, and the one my mum works at, which is a bit ridiculous. My school is sandwiched between a college, and a primary school (they are literally either side of it, next door...), both of which are shut, yet our school is STILL open. RIDICULARSE. To be honest, I'm doubting that the teacher of the ONE lesson I have today will even be in today, because she lives quite a long way away in Witney, and on the radio they pretty much said that Witney is at a standstill and nobody can really get out of there. Soooo I think it would have been pretty pointless me going in anway. Plus, there will most likely be about 100 kids out of 1000 who actually show up, IF THAT...

I cannot believe how much snow there is. I didn't think the sky could actually hold that much. Crazyyyy.

Global warming anyone?!

Didn't think so.

Snow is my new best friend. XD

2009-02-05T08:03:19Z

Okay, forget all the whining I did about the snow yesterday. And I'm definately NOT 'Moderately Depressed' because I managed to WILLINGLY LEAP out of bed at HALF PAST 7 this morning, with a combination of utter JOY and ECSTASY, after being shaken awake from a very nice dream involving Robert Pattinson, simply because the first words I heard when I woke up were;

'It's alright, you don't have to get up. School is closed because of the snow!'

And then I literally leapt up and started jumping up and down on my bed. ~~And I'm eighteen-years old, oh dear.~~

I can't believe how DEEP the snow is; I don't think we've ever had snow this deep in Abingdon! My mum says it reminds her of the proper snow they used to get when she was little. It looks so perfect and untouched in our garden right now; I want to take some pictures before my brother and his friends mess it all up.

- EDIT -

Aww, I love how the garden lights have little snow hats :)

At least I haven't lost the will to complain;

2009-02-04T17:17:22Z

And the thing I want to complain about is... THE FUCKING WEATHER!!!! Oh my God, how ridiculously cold can it get? I don't know if I can handle another day of wearing tights AND trackie bottoms underneath my jeans (I take these precautions because I'm terrified that my legs might freeze and snap off whilst walking to school), and wrapping myself up like an eskimo in a coat I ordered from one of my mum's catalogues (which is long, blue and puffy and makes me resemble a walking sleeping bag - TTLY STYLSH), and then despite the copious amount of layers I'm wearing... STILL BEING FUCKING FREEZING.

It's going to snow heavily tomorrow, and maybe I'm turning into a ~~big fat cynic~~ old lady, but I seriously can't remember what joy and elation I once derived from it... It's cold, it's wet, it goes all sludgy, muddy and gross when people start walking/driving in it, and it makes people (13-year-old boys in particular) start behaving like TWATS (i.e. throwing it at peopletheydon'tknow in the streets.) But at least if the weather forecast is right then there is a good chance that the school will be closed tomorrow. And maybe, just maybe, I'll get ~~lucky~~ snowed in, and not have to got work. So maybe, just maybe there will be an upside after-all... x

Did a quiz in my Psychology lesson yesterday, and apparently I am 'Moderately Depressed'. Happy times.

Ten out of ten

2009-01-12T19:59:16Z

*PLEASE DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE A UNIVERSITY I HAVE APPLIED TO!*

Kthnx.

Is it INCREDIBLY lame that I want to read the tenth Princess Diaries book? I know they're for like... 13 year olds, but still... those books made my teenage years complete! Mia and Michael were my favourite fictional couple (until Edward and Bella came along, obviously), soooo you see - I just HAVE to find out if she gets back together with him! If she doesn't, I'll completely fall out of love with Meg Cabot. I may even cry. So anyway, I started re-reading the other nine in preparation yesterday, and I'm already nearing the end of the second one.

Sam text me last night, and he was like 'What are you doing?' and I said 'Umm, reading a book.'; usually he never expresses any interest in what I'm reading, but the one time I'm reading something embarassing he decides to ask me! So I told him, and he said I was a 'saddo'; both for reading The Princess Diaries, and for using some of my university fund to buy a Twilight hoodie from Hot Topic. I'm sure he's just jealous though. He wishes he was as cool as me, but he never will be. x

Can't sleep

2009-01-11T01:42:03Z

Well, it's 1.35am and I'm being rebellious and turning on my laptop, despite having turned my light out indending to go to sleep. Decided I might be well advised to stay up for a few more hours and drink as much water as possible so I don't have a nasty, scratchy, hangover-related headache tomorrow morning!

Am absolutely freezing, as depsite wearing at least a hundred layers this evening, the cold has actually done it's best to kill me, and very nearly succeeded! I was like a block of ice when I got back from Oxford; so cold that I simply HAD to have some more alcohol, JUST to warm myself up.

I did my best sober act when I arrived home - I find this pans out successfully if you don't give your parents too many insignificant details about your evening, don't even mention how much alcohol you have consumed, and blame your being a little spaced out on tiredness/coldness. I'd already had three glasses of wine (Jacob's Creek, my favourite because it sounds like a euphamism and I'm really immature(!), at Pizza Hut, and a couple of Pinot Grigio's at the Red Lion, which is incredibly cheap, and very rowdy - due to pissed students) - but as a result of my STELLAR PERFORMANCE when I returned home, was offered several BIG glasses of South Africa's ~~finest~~ cheapest(!). Have had the equivalent of at least a bottle and a half of wine. Am suprised I'm not dead to be honest, as I'm a very small person, and am an incredibly lightweight drunk. Maybe it's because I ATE so much this evening. Three courses, £17 bill (not including tip, and this is Pizza McCheap Hut ffs, so the credit crunch really shat all over me there :S), and GOD only knows how many calories.

Never mind, am going on a healthy eating drive next week. Am setting myself a budget, and am going to go 'healthy eating shopping' on Monday morning, with the resolution of only consuming the healthy foodstuffs I have bought with that money. I mega need to do some exercise as well. I was planning on starting this week; I never start new year's resolutions from January the 1st because it's still the holidays; I usually start them when I go back to school, but that didn't really happen this week as I've had too many temptation situations... I've been to the pub four times, had two meals out, a chinese takeaway plus cake for my mum's birthday, and lots of leftover Christmas chocolate, which I'm desperately trying to get rid of - feels like a chore now - but there's STILL SO MUCH of!

So, despite the mountain of chocolate I've got stashed on the bottom shelf of my bookcase (which I'm sure I help myself to in my sleep, if my pound and/or extra tyre gainage is anything to go by), I am actually going to diet next week (even if I have to chain myself to the bed all week). And hopefully it will last for more than a few days.

I may even exercize; althought most of the time, when I get home from school, the last thing I want to do is ~~move about~~ anything! Usually I just get into my pajamas, heat up my microwavable sheep hot water bottle thingy (whose name, according to the website it was ordered from, is Sheryl the Sheep, although I didn't think that was cutesy enough, so I renamed it Larry Lamb - in tribute to Mick from Gavin and Stacey not EVIL ARCHIE MITCHELL!), cuddleup to it, and go to sleep for a couple of hours before I have to go to crappy-old-work.

I don't understand why I need so much sleep at the moment. It's not like I'm going through a growth spurt or anything. Maybe, like Alex and I have theorised on many a freezing cold walkhome after double Psychology, human beings are actually supposed to hybernate during the winter! It's not like we've actually adapted to the cold weather in an evolutionary way; wearing clothes is a man-made thing, sure, but if hybernation wasn't the natural thing to do in winter, I swear we would be a LOT more hairy than we are nowadays. I don't think I'm NEARLY hairy enough to endure these conditions!

I really wish I could go to sleep for a couple of months. Or go somewhere where it's always sunny! Anything to combat my severe case of SAD. :(

January Blooze

2009-01-09T18:44:34Z

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nuff said.

x

I hear voices in my mind...

2009-01-05T21:38:38Z

The Basics

Name: Annabel* not my real name because I don't use that on here, but it is my middle name

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Your Weaknesses: I'm quite ditzy, VERY clumsy, sometimes I'm really vain - but other times I don't think that much of myself, I complain A LOT - mainly about being cold or tired or hungry, and I'm really hot-headed with a VERY short temper. Oh and sometimes I'm quite bitchy, and sarcastic. Oh, that's quite a lot of negatives :S

Your Strengths: I think I'm friendly to everyone, I try to see the best in people, and I'm loyal to the people I love

Your Talents: Don't think I've got any really :S

Favourites

Favourite Colour(s) and why?: Red because it reminds me of autumn leaves :)

Favourite Twilight Character(s) and why?: Jacob, because he's like sunshine, and Alice, because she is too! Jacob is also the funniest character; he's got some great lines, especially in Breaking Dawn.

Favourite Animal(s) and why?: Dogs, because they're loyal and loveable :) and Arctic seals because they are reeeeally cute and fluffy :)

Favourite Place(s) and why?: My bed, God I could stay there all day! Especially in winter; I wish I could hybernate!

Favourite Movie(s) and why?: Titanic because it's beautiful and heartbreaking and makes me cry EVERYTIME. I also love Bridget Jones' Diary (my mum says I remind her of Bridget Jones but I really don't see how :S). Oooh and Harry Potter (especially number 4, eh? ;] ), but the books are better than the films...

Favourite Book(s) and why?: I love New Moon; it's full of Jacob, and at the same time, when I get Edward back at the end, I'm ecstatic :D But I would probably have to say that Twilight is my favourite, just because it's the most exciting Edward and Bella-wise, and marks the beginning of my OBSESSION. Other books I love are... the Harry Potter books - J.K. Rowling (I wish I'd written them!), The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffeneger (I love the way it's written, and it's just really lovely really), and Tess of the D'urbervilles -Thomas Hardy (because Tess is awesome!).

Favourite Television Show(s) and why?: I love Hollyoaks because it's trashy but addictive :) Ditto Desperate Housewives.

Favourite Food(s) and why?: Nandos. I just love it! Mango and lime sauce = love.

Twilight Related

Which character would you like to be your best friend? Why? I think Alice or Jacob would be great to have around; Jacob because he's got a great sense of humour (and he'd keep me warm, which would be nice seeing as I'm ALWAYS cold), and Alice because she's lovely; she's really excitable and bouncy and she loves shopping!

Which character would you like to be involved with romantically? Why? It's between Edward and Emmett; Edward because he's beautiful, romantic and possessive (which is strangely attractive, although probably only in him), and Emmett because he's a nice big strong man ;) he'd make me laugh (he's got a dirtier mind than I have!), and he could handle my mood swings just fine (well he puts up with Rosalie, doesn't he?!)

If it was between becoming a vampire or a werewolf, which would you become? Vampire... I'm kinda pale so I'd fit in just fine :)

Digging Deeper

If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do? Make sure I told everyone I love how much they mean to me

Put the following words in order according to your priorities : Self, Money, Love, Power, Family

Family, Love, Self, Money, Power

Anything else?

Stephenie Meyer rocks xx

OOOH I learned how to do LJ cuts today :) And joined my first LJ community! Very exciting.

- EDIT -

Apparently I'm Alice, with a sprinkle of Rosalie and a hint of Bella. :)

The perfect English Literature applicant

2008-12-28T23:37:19Z

Oooh, forgot to say
Have had 4 UCAS offers
:)
Reading, Southampton, Cardiff and Bristol UWE...

and I've got an interview at Oxford Brookes.

Wise move that I have kept this blog anonymous; I've eradicated the possibility of all four universities taking back their offers on discovery of my frequent use of words that don't exist in the English language, my unliterary taste in books and my hatred of Wuthering Heights. THEY'LL NEVER KNOW, muahahahaha!

Fluey Christmas

2008-12-28T23:09:02Z

My Christmas was literal crap. I had THAT flu bug, so I've pretty much spent the last seven days in bed sleeping, weeping, coughing and sweating it up... GORGEOUS. Despite not feeling like eating, somehow still managed to stuff my face full of saturated fat on the actual day, so if you think having the flu will have made me all skinny and pale and stuff then THINK AGAIN. I am FAT just like EVERYBODY ELSE. Will have to get on the unwanted 'holiday rolls'(!) as soon as I can be bothered to actually move. But for now, I'm quite happy where I am, snuggled up in bed, eating truffles and/or Terry's chocolate orange and/or leftover mince pies and/or leftover cheescake (ignore the 'or's, they don't actually exist) and ~~reading~~ analysing every word of Breaking Dawn - DIE CRITICS, I BLOODY LOVE IT :)

Anyway, I FINALLY managed to drag myself off my death bed the other day to see Twilight at the cinema. I wanted to go before Christmas, but despite begging, was not allowed as I was too ill.:( Anyway, I was very, very squealy and excited; possibly more sequealy and excited than all of the squealy and excitable fourteen-year old girls in the cinema, put together. I should be embarassed by that fact, but for some reason I'm not.

Was very, very satisfied with the film anyway :) Better than Christmas, with or without the flu, by a mile. I don't often like films of books; generally because they tend to be very different from the book, and pants compared to it (Princess Diaries, grrr!), but Twilight actually stuck pretty closely to the book, although I wish they'd put in the biology blood-typing scene... and the meadow scene SERIOUSLY could have lasted a whole lot longer than it did. But , those minor complaints aside, it was awesome :)

All the characters were really well cast, Charlie, Alice and Carlisle especially! And, of course, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were brilliant; great chemistry, and despite some people's criticism, I think Kristen made a perfect Bella. And Rob, seriously, NO WORDS ARE NEEDED. mm. His acting was good too, of course :P Also, loved Taylor Lautner, despite how little you saw of him; I'm really hoping they keep him on for New Moon; he's genuinely into the part, whereas that stupid Copon ~~guy~~ idiot thinks the film is called 'Twilight 2', and didn't even realise Rob was Edward when he spoke to him. WTH? I know he was quite a lot of a hottie in One Tree Hill, but NO. Just no. TEAM TAYLOR! :)

So, Twilight gushing over (till next time), I'll move onto some Boyfriend gushing... Sam and I will have been going out for a whole year tomorrow! I can't actually believe I've stayed in a relationship for this long; must be special. We have DEFINATELY had some ups and downs, but we've come through all the downs, and probably learnt quite a lot about ourselves in the process. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, because we're going on a date, and to be honest... we never go on dates anymore, and I miss that. Will be a change; we've kind of got ourselves into a bit of a routine, so I think we need to bring a bit of excitement back into our relationships.

Gosh, I am making us sound like an old married couple.

Anyway, this time last year was so exciting, because we'd found out that we both liked each other at the work Christmas party (well, I found out the next day, considering I was too drunk to stand up, let alone process any information - that must have been attractive!), but didn't know that each other knew. I was desperate for him to tell me he liked me to my face, because I was too shy to make the first move, but unfortunately so was he. He told a friend of mine that he was going to talk to me about it before I left work on Christmas eve (year 8 much?), but again, we were both too shy to mention it.

When I left the shop at 4, despite being immensely relieved to get away from the ailse-long queues of customers full of ~~Christmas joy~~ last-mintute-scary-panic-illness, I was furious with myself for not saying anything, knowing that I'd have to spend Christmas day in anguish, not even knowing if it was actually true that he felt that way about me. I ended up telling my mum (embarassing), and she told me I should write my number in a Christmas card and go back to give it to him.

This being a very embarassing idea, I cringed writing the card, cringed all the way through the Christingle service which I went to with my family at our local church (as could not concentrate, knowing what I was about to do), and cringed some more in the car as my dad drove us to Budgens at a not entirely legal speed in order to get there before the shop closed, so that I could give Sam the card. Oh, and obviously I cringed when I gave him the card.

The shop was literally dead and about to close; it was a bout 5.59pm, and EVERYBODY was stood around the tills chatting. So, deciding to pretend that I urgently needed to buy something at 5.59pm on Christmas eve, I ran into the shop, all flustered, blonde hair and woolly pom pom scarf flying all over the place, blushing furiously, and grabbed the first thing I could think of - malteasers hot chocolate. I also cringed whilst I paid for the malteasers hot chocolate. I must have looked like a bit of a dick. Because everybody was there, I almost chickened out of giving him the card, but then I realised how annoyed I would be at myself if I didn't give it to him, so I did.

And he text me later that evening and asked me out on a date. :) Which we went on on 29th December 2007. And I'm very much looking forward to reliving it tomorrow! Despite our frequent (and ferocious) arguments, and the way we wind each other up, I do actually love him to bits, so much. :)

Wuthering Shite

2008-12-11T23:25:22Z

Emily Brontë, please don't haunt me tonight, but I have to say; I'm struggling to find anything I like about Wuthering Heights.

Usually when I read a book, it's the characters that make it for me; there has to be at least one character that I like, or can relate to; otherwise, I'm unlikely to enjoy the book. This absence of likeable characters often occurs in trashy holiday reads that I buy special offer from Tesco, but not usually the classics.

Wuthering Heights does not contain a SINGLE character that I like in any way. Heathcliff is a complete PSYCHO and Cathy is a selfish, spoiled little girl who never grows out of being petulant and whiney. They are both ghastly. Ugh. I don't even like the narrator; her tone is irritating, and she's really judgemental. And JOSEPH annoys the hell out of me (this hatred is 1 part 'because he's really stuck up and self righteous' to 2 parts 'because I don't understand a word he says'!) Edgar's a stand-up bloke, but he dies all weak and wronged by Cathy, so bang goes that gun.

Heathcliff and Cathy are my main gripe with this novel. They're both really evil people (don't even get me STARTED on the dog-hanging business, WHAT.THE.HELL?), yet they both get what they want in the end (even if it is only in death.) And this is supposed to be their love story, yet their idea of love is so warped, I find it virtually impossible to believe that they actually care for one another.

The only person I have the remotest SPECK of sympathy for in this is the poor man lying in bed ill, who has to listen to Nelly wax lyrical about all these horrible people for about 300 odd pages. Seriously, I am suprised he doesn't just give up and die. He's pretty much got the worst deal of them all.

I completely get the idea that Heathcliff is this wild, passionate character (this is reflected in the WILDNESS of the moors - well, so says Pheobe from Friends, at any rate), and yes I suppose he is an interesting creation, psychologically at least, but I don't agree with the idea that Wuthering Heights is some masterpiece, some art-form 'hewn in a wild workshop' as Charlotte B seems to think (although I think there's some SERIOUS sisterly bias going down there...) Instead, I think it resembles a load of jagged (and seriously distrubing) edges that are thrown together and passed off as meaning something; if it were a painting, it would be in the Tate Modern, fo sho.

So, sorry Emz, no fan-fiction for you...

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2008-12-10T19:17:26Z

I think things are starting to be okay again between me and Sam. We had a long talk yesterday, on the way to London. I explained how I feel, and I think he understood, and he explained how he feels, and I think I understood. I said I was finding it hard to believe that he still loved me, and he said he was going to try everything he could to convince me that he did.

We went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, and we tried to forget about everything that's happened, and have a laugh like we used to.

It almost felt like a first date; we just messed around, went ice skating, went on some rides, had some hot chocolate with Baileys (which is gorgeous) and had lots of cuddles. :)

Wasn't feeling Christmassy before, but now I really do.

**Under the tree, under the tree, I'll be with you, and you'll be with me** Cutest song lyric in the world, ever. :) Hope it comes true.

Things that have made me cry in the last 48 hours

2008-12-10T19:05:41Z

The song 'If I were a boy' by Beyonce Knowles.
Beyonce is a girl after my own heart. SHE UNDERSTANDS exactly how I feel.

The front cover of Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer; the ribbon which is almost completely severed, only held together by a few threads.

The line 'Scream until your heart stops' in 'Rooftops' by LostProphets. It gets me, I'm not sure why.

The billboard advert on one of the roads leading into London that says 'God? Father Christmas? Some young people don't even believe in themselves'. And then the realisation that Santa is the easiest one to believe in right now.

Maybe I've got depression.
Maybe I'm being melodramatic and haven't grown out of being an angst filled teenager.

Or maybe it's my time of the month.

Whichever of those three it is, ignore me, because I'm ok now. :) Just wanted to write those things down, for record.

I feel an obsession coming on

2008-12-07T22:51:41Z

A few weeks ago, my mum (who is a librarian at a local secondary school), brought home a book she had ordered for the library and asked me to road test it for her. She has to label all books with age restrictions, and wasn't sure what age range the book would be suitable for (a little worried because it had been described as 'passionate' and 'seductive', not wanting to aggravate any prudish parents). She's a really slow reader (she'd been reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins for about 4 months now, and was still nowhere near the end, although I can understand her lack of motivation as it's got a really boring cover, and I judge books by their covers, ironically). Anyway, being such a slow reader, she didn't feel like she'd have time to read it, so she made me do it instead. When I read the blurb, I was all 'Do I HAVE to?' because the idea of a high school girl falling in love with a sparkley vampire didn't desperately appeal to me... In fact, I thought it sounded a bit pants.

Anyway, once upon a free period, I couldn't be bothered to do any of my school work... so I decided to start reading TWILIGHT instead.

AND I FELL UNCONDITIONALLY AND IRREVOCABLY IN LOVE WITH IT.

My mum was telling me about some squealy year seven girls who came charging into the library when they heard the Twilight books had arrived, standing in front of the books in awe, one of them commenting 'Shall we just stand here and DROOL?!' To this, my response was to raise one skeptical eyebrow, and have a little laugh about how geeky some people can be about fantasy books, vowing to never behave in such a fashion.

But, now I've read the book, I can COMPLETELY understand (and get behind) the fangirl hype.

The squealy fangirl in ME has been REAWAKENED! I read the whole thing in pretty much one sitting, and then rushed to Borders the next day to buy New Moon, and Eclipse, mentally adding Breaking Dawn to my Christmas wishlist.

I think the reason I love this book so much is because of the characters. Being Bella's age, I find it easy to relate to her, and her emotions, thoughts and the way she feels about Edward are very familar to me, as I've been through them (without the Vampire thing, obviously.) Stephenie Meyer has described almost exactly how I felt falling in love for the first time, and reminded me of how significant and exciting all the little moments, looks, and touches are.

Also, Edward Cullen is VERY easy to fall in love with, and I can see why so many people have. And I came to this conclusion BEFORE I found out Robert Pattinson was playing Edward in the film! So, naturally, my obsession is now SOARING to new heights! mm

When I started reading the book, I was a bit wary of the fact that I was outside the target age bracket, but am now completely unashamed, after reading a ton of reviews on Amazon, written by gushing 37-year-old mums all trying to justify their 13-year-old-style crushes on a fictional 17-year-old vampire...

Have just finished New Moon, am just starting Eclipse, and have already read the unfinished Midnight Sun on Stephenie's website (told you I was getting obsessive), so I'm getting there in terms of catching up on what I appear to have missed out on for so long! I forced Twilight upon my mum (who has FINALLY finished The Woman in White), commanding her not to resurface until she'd read the enitre book, and she's already read about 60 pages in one day, which is DEFINITELY a testament to the book, as it is being devoured by the SLOWEST READER IN THE WORLD! She's hooked, and yesterday morning, when she knew how upset I was about my argument with Sam, she sent me a text saying 'Keep smiling, think about Edward instead'.

So she DEFINITELY gets it! :)

Propane Nightmares

2008-12-07T22:15:21Z

Last Saturday was awesome. Me and Amber went to see Pendulum in Swindon, and from what I remember (which is very little), it was very good! I'm not quite sure how we got home because we were completely plastered, and a two-day hangover ensued, but at least we had a good night :) (I think!) We really painted Swindon red, and by this I mean we drunkenly spilled red wine all over it whilst being crushed to death in a moshpit full of scary-crazy-HARDCORE-Pendulum-fans, which somehow we ended up in the middle of! My only stand out memories are falling over with excitement (or alcohol intoxication, one or the other...) when they started to play Slam, and people throwing glow sticks at the stage (despite glow sticks being forbidden, and confiscated if found upon your person by the GLOW-STICK-POLICE who were wandering around the Oasis Leisure Centre with torches trying to spoil everyone's fun. Did a hell of a lot of frantic, don't-really-care-how-ridiculous-I-look-because-I'm drunk dancing and jumping ('Dad dancing', we calls it!), so hopefully managed to burn off most of the wine calories :)

Have kept myself to myself this weekend, and have spent most of my time in my room...in bed... at my laptop... on youtube... like the cool ~~social retard~~ person that I am. Haven't really seen the light of day, but haven't really wanted to. I didn't go out last night, and it was the first Saturday night this year that I have stayed in, hence the first X Factor of the series I've actually watched live! I decided I should stay in, and get an early night, because I had a lot of coursework to do, and didn't want to be good for nothing at all the next day, which is my general recognized state on Sunday mornings.

The early night thing didn't really happen though. I'd had an argument with Sam on Friday, for reasons I really don't want to write about (they are much too personal and I've talked about them way too much this weekend anyway), which I was and still am very upset about. So, when I tumbled into bed last night, full of Pinot Grigio (which always brings out the emotional side of me), I sobbed my litte heart out for about an hour or so. I was too upset to sleep, and I wanted something to take my mind off everything, so I decided, what better time than midnight to start doing my Psychology coursework?! The amazing thing was, despite being desperately sleepy (another knock on effect of the wine I consumed alone whilst watching the X factor), and desperately upset, I actually had a very productive 5 hours. I finished the Psychology coursework, made all necessary adjustments to my English coursework, and finally crawled into bed at 5 in the morning, feeling quite pleased with myself.

Probably wrote a RIGHT LOAD OF CRAP but I don't care.

Don't know how I managed to keep going, but might have been something to do with the sugar boost via advent calander chocolates (for dates that haven't actually happened yet - OH THE SHAME) that I kept helping myself to. Oopssss.

I am speaking to Sam... because I don't want to throw away what we've got... but I am still really pissed off and upset with him, and will probably try to make him feel really, really guilty for as long as I possibly can.

Culture

2008-11-29T01:25:08Z

have had a reasonably lovely week
Went to see The Sound of Music at the London Palladium which was quite lovely, albeit the slight irritation I endured due to the musical buff sat behind me who kept relating to his friend how surpised he was to see so many young people in the audience, and that he suspsected none of them had ever even heard of the Sound of Music, and had just come to see Summer Strallen, because they'd seen her on 'the Hollyoaks'. Hahahaha. Ok I was more amused than annoyed. Even more so when he moved swifly on from this conversation to talk about how he thinks Rebcecca from Neighbours has had a boob job, to somebody who clearly doesn't watch Neighbours and had no idea what he was talking about.

Summer was a great; she's got a lovely voice and she had the clumsiness of Maria down pat. Can't say Captain Von Trapp was as fanciable as Christopher Plummer, but he had a certain something. I guess I'm completely biased by the film, and will probably compare everything to it, but it is wonderful, therefore I can't help it :)

Am feeling awfully sophisticated this evening as have just written my first letter to a newspaper! The Daily Telegraph printed some poorly researched article about how GCSEs are awfully easy these days, which majorly fucks me off because GCSEs ALMOST KILLED ME.

Regardéz...

SIR – Having read ‘Dumbed down science is failing a generation’ I felt compelled to write defending the qualifications I have achieved. I am an A2 student, who received A*/A grades at GCSE. I thoroughly believe I worked hard to achieve these results, and resent the belittling of the qualifications my generation have received, and the way in which GCSEs are misrepresented in the media. The examples printed in your article are typical of a foundation paper (for those unfamiliar with the qualification, you are able to achieve only between grades G and C on this paper). If you are printing these questions (which I myself was able to answer after several glasses of wine, having not studied a scientific subject since June 2007), then you are obviously going to deceive the general public into believing that GCSEs are teaching this generation nothing of scientific value. These questions are simply not representative of the questions I, as a higher tier student, had to answer in my GCSE science papers. Also, research comparing GCSEs and O levels can be misleading, as it seems irrelevant that GCSE students could not answer O level questions. Curricula from both eras were clearly taught in different ways. I feel offended by the attitudes represented in articles such as this, because GCSE students work very hard to get the grades they achieve, no matter the level for which they are entered.

Yours faithfully,

------- --------

hah, bet they won't print it. But still, feel invigorated by the sending process alone! OH THE EXCITEMENT OF THE LIFE I LEAD

UGLYBETTYBRACEFACE

2008-11-24T23:33:00Z

So, I now have braces. I am an eighteen year old. With braces. And what a barell of laughs they're turning out to be. And by 'barell of laughs' I am of course sarcastically refering to pain, discomfort and general eww. At least they are white, ceramic ones, instead of fuckoff massive metal ones, and I therefore don't look remotely like Ugly Betty or that BraceFace girl. :) Am beginning to get used to them now, but seriously, they are the least fun way to spend £2000 I can possibly think of.

"Take it! Take it like you take other people's ideas, you plagiaristic, yellow wanker!"

2008-11-04T07:41:42Z

The Mighty Boosh - Oxford New Theatre, Monday 3rd November 2008

anyone else's memories of the evening marred by the fact that they (and about 40 others, though this number dramatically increased after the first hour when people sensibly gave up hope and/or the chance of catching hyperthermia) waited in the rain outside the stage door for 2 hours in manner of Stan and Eminem, after being informed that The Mighty Boosh would come out to sign autographs?

Anyone else feel slightly irritated that after waiting in the rain for two hours, they were then informed that The Mighty Boosh had already left and gone to a club called 'Mood' across the road, then, being informed by the bouncers that none of us would be allowed in because we were scruffy and wet, and some of us (not me) were dressed up as Mighty Boosh characters?

Anyone else feel ever so slightly tempted to consume a MASSIVE bowl of Sugapuffs just to spite Noel and his perfect face?!

BUT

The show was TRES AMUSANT, I must say :) DVD pretty please, Julian and Noel?!

Austin Austin Austin

2008-11-02T20:38:14Z

Am dying an excess coursework/lack of sunlight related death. Thought I'd ~~procrastinate~~ cheer myself up.

He's actually beautiful. And so is his voice.

I THINK I LOVE HIM.

Louis is a tactical-voting, Simon-Cowell-hating prat, so his decision was to be expected, but WTF IS WRONG WITH THE BRITISH PUBLIC?! Are they deaf? Blind? Stupid? ALL THREE? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Austin was robbed, let's face it. I really wanted to see him on the X Factor tour, but I seem to remember from the 2007 one that it was only the final eight that were there :( :( :( :(

A list of positive things to get me through 3,000 word essay and rest of ~~week~~ life:

Me and Amber got Take That tickets!!!!
Am going to see the Mighty Boosh tomorrow!!!!
Am going to see The Feeling on Saturday!!!!
Am having a nice, big, fat, juicy, gorgeous... glass of wine(!) later!!!!

Still fucking depressed though.

Mud and *Stars*