10 things I've learnt in the last three months.

*waves*
Look, I still exist!
I'm not reviving this blog, but it's nice to post here occasionally! Just as an update. Plus, I handed in my last essay yesterday and I only have feedback tutorials next week, so it's pretty much the Christmas holidays and the official end of my first term at uni! Let's flashback to a quote from a few months ago:

"My life so far has been fab, but eighteen years doing the same thing in the same place has made me lazy and comfortable and I need to change it up and challenge myself! I don't doubt moving on to uni will be terrifying and there will be scary moments and awkward moments and moments where I want to jack it in and go home and snuggle up with my mom. But I cannot wait."

Well...it's safe to say that things have been changed up! Moving to uni was a terrifying prospect...there were scary moments, there were awkward moments, there were moments when I wanted to jack it in and snuggle up my mom: turns out I have freakishly accurate powers of prediction. It's been amazing though: meeting new people, learning nothing but English Lit, (bliss.) cooking for myself, ignoring my laundry pile build up, locking myself in my room to get an essay done in time to go out. 

GPO: home

Anyway, here's a list of things I've learnt over the last term! 

1. The best essays are written slightly drunk. The worst essays are written incredibly hungover.
2. It's acceptable to use the same cutlery for two meals in a row without washing up.
3. Nerds. Are. Everywhere.
4. Ignore those letters from TV licensing. All 44 of them. Trust me, there is no investigation into your TV usage undergoing.
5. Who holds the Cheesy Puffs on the way back from the supermarket holds the power.
6. Time yourself so that you're taking home a suitcase of dirty clothes. Laundry is always easier when it's free.
7. Stock up on Ben and Jerry's when it's on special offer, in preparation for essay deadlines, mental breakdowns and bonding sessions.
8. Make friends with a music student and attend their concerts, so you'll have something cultured to tell your parents about on Skype.
9. Always have alcohol in case of casual drinks or unexpected nights out.
10. It doesn't matter how bloody terrible your essays are.
     i) Because first year doesn't count towards your degree
     ii) Because even when you do get a degree, it'll be in English Literature anyway, rendering you basically     unemployable.

Future home?

I have a sudden urge to blog again, so there may or may not be some posts in the future...until then, I have to tidy my room for when my sister visits :/

It's going to be a long day.

Auf wiedersehen, folks!
Emma x

STILL ALIVE!

This is a hideous photo but look! I'm at uni! My room is a mess! I've spent the last five days in a drunken haze! I love it!

No really, there has been massive neglect for you guys on my part, for which I can only apologise profusely. Things will most definitely calm down soon, and then I'll be able to give you posts longer than a few sentences and with more content than just apologies.

Until then, I hope everyone's good  and I'll be back soon :)

Emma x

I is for "I have another ten minutes and I PROMISED but it's half four"

Yo.

H is for...hideous hideous geese.

I'm at uni! It's exciting! I promised if I found ten minutes I'd update and...I just found ten minutes but I have to unpack. Huzzah! That's what H can stand for now.

Emma

G is for GOOD LORD I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE.

The issue with daily blogging? Things don't change much on a daily basis.
All I can really tell you is that I have a massive, ridiculous case of cabin fever. I literally cannot WAIT to get out of this house (which I've barely left over the last couple of weeks due to people leaving for university and reading and packing and things)

See how free these birds are in the sky. I am not these birds. 

Anyway, today is G! Gold or silver?
Well...I sort of love both equally. I like gold and silver in general, because they're both a little bit more than just colours...they're the colours of precious metals. They're special. And they're both um...starry colours. I've always had a bit of a weird thing for celestial bodies so yeah, I like gold AND silver! Good colours!*

Emma x

*Edit: I think I've just realised this question is talking about jewellry. Never mind. This has been an "Emma likes weird things weirdly" post.

F is for fuck the internet. Seriously, fuck it.

I have one word regarding today: wertrfcvghnmkl;AIOyQpHalkjdefgwaljbssdahegqwwa;osai!

Um...it hasn't actually been that bad, but my internet has been dead all day unless you refresh it 54,000 times. Which, when you're trying to apply to an internship where the deadlines are tomorrow. 

Dell, Dell, Dell. PLEASE MAKE A COMPUTER THAT WORKS. 

Luckily, thank goodness, I'm back online now. I've sent off my application (it's 15 hours a week, though...I'm a bit worried it'll be too much on top of university studies but fingers crossed!) and now I'm here, once again, to blog your brains out. 

Today is F! For which the inspiring title is "favourite colour."

Well...it's purple. So, because i'm really exciting and whatnot, I've made this whole post purple in purple's honour. Also remember when tumblr went purple? That was a really good, important, good day. I only reblogged purple things that day. It was like seeing through purple tinted spectacles.

SO YEAH PURPLE.

Also on a completely non-purple related note, I dyed my hair back to bright red today. It feels good.

Thanks everybody,
Emma x

E is for EXCEEDINGLY good cakes and also for Emma.

Hello everybody! I left work today which means I'm officially a poor, unemployed student :( but they gave me chocolate so that's good! I have a few possible jobs in the pipeline at uni as well so fingers crossed!

Today is Day 5 of the ABCs of Me challenge, which means it's the letter E...

Essential start to your day. 


A lot of people probably say coffee here, don't they?

 OH GOD I HAVE FOUR MINUTES TO FINISH THIS POST AND NO IDEA WHAT TO WRITE.

To be quite honest with you, my essential start to the day involves having more than half an hour before I go anywhere...otherwise I'll still be asleep! Other than that I'm pretty low-maintenance.

Okay day 5 is boring, sorry everybody, but I open the question out to you: what's your essential start to the day?

D is for DFTBA!

Happy Sunday everybody! Sunday, like Saturday, is currently a full working day for me...bleurgh. And today we were a ridiculous THREE staff down (out of six) on the second busiest day of the week. So we didn't get our breaks properly and I'm kind of ill anyway and essentially...yech, shitty day.

HOWEVER tomorrow is my last ever shift at Tesco! Unless I can get a few shifts over Christmas. But hurrah, freedom!

Goodbye, £7 an hour! *laments* I'm officially a poor student now.

Anyway, what day are we on? D which according to The List of Power is dogs. 

Oh look here's another gpoy of my dog, hoorah.

For the first 16.5 years of my life, I was actually really scared of dogs. Like, "see a dog, cross the street and try not to scream" levels of scared. Admittedly towards the end I was better: I'd be okay with a dog in the same room as me as long as there was someone close by to stop it attacking me in a sudden wild rage. Or something.

But then something really illogical happened: my parents bought home a little, yappy, insane, bitey bundle of dog called Dusty. And even though there were always scratches on my hands where I'd let her chew me, and even though wearing tights around the house was a no-no for the first month or so because she'd rip them to shreds, I wasn't scared of her.

Why? Because the reason I was scared of dogs before was because I couldn't work out how they thought and thus I was constantly scared of what they'd do next. Now that I have a dog, I get what they think! Which is mostly food, food, food.

So there ya go.

D for Dogs.

Emma x

C is for...coming close to forgetting because there's so much good TV on today.

But I didn't forget!

(As a side-note, my general reaction to both the finale of Doctor Who and the opener of Merlin is FLAIL ALL IS GOOD. I might do DW for D and Merlin for M and Harry Potter for H and things...would that be cheating?)
Anyhoo! Today is Day 3, which is C and the chore you hate.
I hate nearly all chores.
Let me get this straight for you: I am a very lazy person. If I'm being very honest, it's my biggest character flaw and the thing I loathe the most about myself. (Except maybe the shyness thing, but I digress.) If I know the dishwasher needs loading, I'll ignore it until someone tells me to.

kirainet

I do like washing up in the winter, with hot soapy sudsy warm water up to my elbows and some healthy elbow grease, but other than that I am essentially chore-useless. It helps that my mom pays my sister £10 a week to clean the house, of course, so I don't really need to.

But er...guys? I'm moving AWAY in a week. On my OWN. Which means I'm gonna have to start doing some cleaning.

Will this move? I hope so.

I'm kind of hoping that moving away will signal a new era for me...that I'm going to become suddenly efficient and grown-up, and empty the bins, and clean as I go, and cook healthy food even though it takes more time.

This may or may not happen, jsyk.

Emma x

B is for "Been only a day and I'm already struggling."

Hey everybody! Today is day two of my ABCs of me challenge...and I'll be honest, I should probably have read through the challenge before I took it up.

Because of all the riveting, exciting options for the letter B...well, it's bed size.

BED SIZE.

Who cares?!

Um...I have a single bed. And whilst I could probably spin this out into some kind of discourse on the benefits and drawbacks of being a singleton...yeah, that would be boring.

In other news

I AM SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDD :D

ABCs of me!

Hey everybody! I know I've been appalling at posting recently. I'm averaging something like once every three weeks, which is SHOCKING. So in an attempt to keep the ball moving, I'm going to blog every day for the next 26 days.

Well no, I might not. I'm moving away to uni next weekend so chances are I won't have the time for that hefty I commitment, but I hereby promise you this: if I have ten minutes to spare, I will attempt to use that time to churn out a blog post.

But why 26, I hear you cry! Well, because I'm going to do the ABCs of me tag, which I nicked from Amy's blog (which by the way you should all check out.) It's supposed to be a one-post deal but I figured I'd spin it into something more substantial, so without further ado, I present you...the letter A.


Age


I turned 18 in June, it's honestly been my favourite age so far, for a few reasons: eighteen means I can legally drink, which is pretty cool and which has definitely increased the range of things I can do on a Friday or Saturday night. I also was able to do work experience at HarperCollins (which I blogged about here and has a minimum age limit of 18)

I love you.

There are a few legal downsides, too: I have to pay adult price for basically everything now...which sucks. But really, that's by the by. Whilst the legalities of being eighteen have been novel, it's really the things I've done whilst 18 (ish...) that have made it my favourite age: holidays, free periods at sixth form (FOOD!) and leaving school which was sad but also made me realise how much I loved everyone...and then starting university which is going to be a MASSIVE step. It's a really...big...year.

And I love it! My life so far has been fab, but eighteen years doing the same thing in the same place has made me lonely and comfortable and I need to change it up and challenge myself! I don't doubt moving on to uni will be terrifying and there will be scary moments and awkward moments and moments where I want to jack it in and go home and snuggle up with my mom. But I cannot wait.

Eighteen has basically been a year of change. Huzzah for eighteen.



For reference, here's the list I'll be blogging on for the next month or so:
A. Age
B.Bed size
C.Chore that you hate
D.Dogs
E. Essential start to your day
F. Favorite Colour
G. Gold or Silver?
H. Height
I. Instruments you play
J. Job title
K. Kids
L. Live
M. Mother's name
N. Nicknames
O. Overnight hospital stays
P. Pet peeves
Q. Quote from a movie
R. Right or left handed
S. Siblings
T. Time you wake up
U. Underwear?
V. Vegetable you hate
W. What makes you run late?
X. X-rays you've had
Y. Yummy food that you make
Z. Zoo animal

After that it should just about be time for NaNoWriMo...at which point I'll probably drop off the radar again. Sorry in advance for that :)

So um...obligatory end of blog question-time! How old are you? What's been your favourite age so far! Zoo!


Emma x

So where the bloody hell have you been?

EVERYWHERE.

Well, no, that is untrue. For the last week, however, I've been away on work experience at the publishers Harper Collins in LANDAN...and whilst I've had internet access I've been knackered and gone to bed at like half 9 every night, so there ya go :)

Seriously the least overwhelming angle of their lobby. It was MASSIVE. 

Here is a general bullet pointed list of my stay:

• London transport is brilliant. If you're a Londoner who doesn't agree, I suggest you try getting around Birmingham. I LOVE THE TUBE.
  
• The place I was working in was so big that it had SQUASH COURTS in the basement.
  SQUASH COURTS.
  
• I went to the Harper Awards (not particularly exciting) but Fern Britton was hosting! That was pretty cool.
  
  

• I bought loads of books from the staff bookstore at a bargain 25p each! Brand new! I nearly cried with happiness. Although I had to limit myself to 8 because of carrying it all to the station...but I still bagged Looking for Alaska and the third volume of A Song of Ice and Fire so I'm pretty chuffed with myself :)

Er...so that's about it! Except you should probably all go follow my friend Heather @ Love-Laugh-Read

because she's cool.

Okay, that's about it. I'll check in sooner next time :)

Emma x

A cheeky FITBF

Courtesy, as always, of Lauren...for some reason my HTML keeps deleting itself but you can find her at http://thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com!

Anyway, on to business! I finally got my Pottermore email today! I'm a proud Hufflepuff and I've already worked my way through Philosopher's Stone...which leaves me at a bit of a loose end, to be honest. So whilst my Antidote to Common Poisons is brewing, I'll fill in a quick one of these to pass the time...and fill that ever increasing blank space on this poor excuse for a blog :/

1.One of life's most simple pleasures is : a square of dairy milk. Any more than one and the sensation is different but just having one, straight from the fridge, is like some kind of religious experience. Seriously. I worship at the altar of George Cadbury and his brethren.

2.Racists and homophobes make me want to punch someone. (I actually wrote homophones there at first and it's still making me laugh thinking about it. GODDAMN YOU, WORDS THAT SOUNDS THE SAME BUT ARE SPELT DIFFERENTLY. I WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE METAPHORICAL FACE FOR YOUR CONFUSING SPELLING VARIATIONS.

Ahem...anyway.

3. I like food because, it tastes good. 

4. Discombobulation is a funny word.

5. If I had to choose one beauty product to use for the rest of eternity it would be...toothpaste? Deodorant? Shampoo?

I am not a hair and beauty type of girl :P

6. I'm happy that I'm going to uni!! *mini-flail* I'm just so excited to strike out on my own and do new things and asdfghklfsldks!

7. I would never...say never :) There are a lot of things I would never do...necrophilia...mass genocide...but in general I don't want to close my mind to anything. Life is full of opportunities :P

Well, wasn't that exciting? Enjoy your chocolate and your life, everybody, until next time!

Emma x

General updates and stuff!

The Big News

After results day on Thursday, I am officially going to uni! I got A* A B which is a pretty respectable score, meaning that in October I'll be heading up to York, where the geese outnumber people three to one. Which is very exciting.

GOOD TIMES.

Emma, where on earth have you been for the last MONTH?

(I'm really shocked it's been that long.)

Well...I went to Menorca...and France...and before that I went to Zante but I couldn't be bothered to post about it...

(This is absolutely not a bragging post)

 

It won't let me put them all in a row, so enjoy this jazzy layout.

Other than that, I've mostly been working (three days a week!) volunteering at my local library, pub quizzing, and enjoying the longest summer of my entire life!

Even though it's raining.

...so that's an update. Not much of one, there's so much more! But for now, my abject apologies for being such a useless blogger.

Are you all having nice summers?

I'm going on holiday in a couple of hours, but for now...

Think on this...you don't have to comment, but think it to yourself: if you had to cast a Patronus Charm, right now, what memory would you choose?

It's a nice thing to think about.

Long time no speak :)

HI GUYS,

How are we all? Good? I'm glad.
Now, we know all the best blog posts start with excuses, right? Sorry it's been a while, once again I've found myself busy busy busy, and when I'm not busy I'm too tired to even think straight, let alone compose some kind of coherent blog post.

Possibly I'm also just lazy, ANYWAY. I turned 18 just under a month ago, which means I'm legally allowed to get a tattoo. Which is something I've wanted to do for SO LONG. My only problem now is deciding what to get :/ for any of you who might be interested though, here are some of the front-runners...

The tattoo: Well that's basically it. A lyric from Florence + The Machine - Raise It Up in vaguely typerwriter-y font. I'm toying with the idea of having "the" at the front as well.

The location: Probably the inside of my wrist.

The meaning: Twofold. Number one, I freaking love Florence + The Machine. Number two, the full sentence of the lyric is "I must become the lion-hearted girl," which is sort of true. It's kind of a reminder in life to stay brave even when things get tough.

Pros: It's small and easily hide-able. And super cool.

Cons: On the wrist is supposed to be really painful. Song lyrics might date. Typewriter font is a bit of a hipster retard thing.

The tattoo: "Le monde est a nous." A quote from La Haine, probably in the exact same font. 

The location: Again, probably wrist. 

The meaning: Translates literally to "the world is ours." For me it kind of speaks of the idea that the world is ours to grab, ours to hold, ours to live in, and not ours to just exist in. Also it's in French and I love French. And France.

Pros: Again, easily hide-able. 

Cons: Will probably have a million people asking what it means. Another language is maybe a bit pretentious.  Sounds a bit environmentalist eco-friendly hippy-dippy which is definitely not my style.

The tattoo: A daisy. With yellow in the middle but basically like this one.
The location: Wrist? Foot?
The meaning: It's a pretty flower. Okay no, I've always been a daisy person and that's the only way I can describe it.
Pros: ...small and easily hide-able?
Cons: Foot tattoos and colour tattoos hurt like a bitch. And pictures might date faster because of the way they're drawn.

And I'm maybe considering getting something vaguely Beauty and the Beast related but that sounds so tacky when I say it out loud so I'll leave it at that!

Basically, for any of you who've read this far...which one would you pick if you were me? And indeed, would you ever consider getting a tattoo yourself? Or do you already have one? Talk tattoos to me people! 

I just realised it isn't Friday.

However, I wanted to do Fill in the Blank Friday so let's pretend it is.

BUT BEFORE WE DO THAT, I want to say a big hi to some new followers I have...I'm not sure exactly how many I've gained because I can't remember numbers and I don't check that often, but HI ANYWAY if you're relatively new.

So now I will proceed to fill in the blanks, as always, courtesy of Lauren @ The Little Things We Do

1.   The last thing I ate was: um...a Chinese takeaway. HEALTHY I KNOW, BRING ON THAT BIKINI BEACH BOD. Mmmm, there's nothing better than a decent chinese after a long shift at work. Nom.

2.  The next thing I'd like to eat is: quiche quiche quiche. I love quiche. Quiche Lorraine. I can't get over how fabulous it tastes.

3.  The best things : are the best. What? I need more words to understand this question.

4.  Something that makes me supremely and utterly happy is: realising bang in the middle of something that you're living a memory that you'll remember for the rest of your life.

5.  Sports are:  lolsports. No thankyou :) I can't see the point, either in watching or playing. Although 50% of my famalam are avid Blues fans so it's unavoidable at some points of the year.

Three fifths if you count my dog...

6.  I miss: SCHOOL. SO MUCH. I miss structured sessions and frees (unexpected or otherwise) and miscellaneous lunchtime activities and female solidarity and avoiding doing work and the impending (but somehow ever so distant) threat of exams and the smell of the canteen and arguing with Mr Clear and never doing History coursework and complaining about the length of the drive and the bus being shit and eeeeeeeeeverything.

7.  Right now I am: feeling nostalgic, clearly. Also wondering if my feet will ever stop aching and contemplating whether or not to go get another coke.

MMMMMM.
BYE EVERYONE.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WEEKENDS OKAY? COOL THANKS.

Takes Romione and turns it into a rant.

Let me start off this post by saying I ship Ron and Hermione as much as the next person. MORE IN FACT, I worship the ground Romione walks on; it was probably my first ever OTP...and it still is my OTP. So there ya go. I don't want anybody to hate me for what I say next.

One of my favourite pieces of fanart ever. I lost the credit some time ago though :(

Don't you think it's a little bit...sad, that the part of the Deathly Hallows people are most excited about is the Romione kiss?

No, okay, that's fine. I'm okay with that. It's more that people don't want the Romione kiss spoiled for them, and I mean really don't want it spoiled. In the trailers, we saw Harry being killed, that heart-wrenching scene with the resurrection stone, Fred dead; essentially all the most important parts of the book for me, but no-one particularly kicks up a fuss, whereas if WB dared to reveal even a hint of "The Kiss" there would be UPROAR. Riots in the street. Organised book burnings. Sacrifices to the devil. Probably (and stop me if I'm exaggerating) the downright end of the world.

Fangirls gone wild.

Let me clarify, I truly have no beef with people anticipating The Kiss. I can't wait for it. I just think it's very sad that in a series of complex, intricate, well-written, action-filled novels that feature plotlines that are nearly entirely unrelated to romance, the thing we care about the most is a kiss.

A kiss.

Maybe it's a comment on society that, at the end of the day, what we're interested in the most is the romance, the love. You see it in the vast swathes of fandoms on the internet - they're all concerned mostly with ships. I know that's over-simplifying, but I do think it's true. Whilst we appreciate beautiful writing and fabulous characters, it's the relationships between characters that is the most...not interesting, exactly; maybe intriguing. The most intriguing for us. A good ship is what reels us in. Let's make that even more abstract: what kind of primeval instinct does romance...or even anti-romance (Dramione shippers, I'm looking at you) appeal to? Is it just the internal need to love and be loved?

Okay cool, that's far too deep and I sound like an extra from Moulin Rouge so I leave you with this profound thought: DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 IS RELEASED IN APPROX 3 WEEKS DEPENDING ON YOUR EXACT LOCATION WOOOOOP :D

(Also, I'm really sorry if you aren't a Harry Potter fan and you're following me. At the moment, it's all you're getting. The hype is too great for me to ignore I'm afraid :P)

HI GUYS :D

I'm back!
And when I say back...well technically I was back last Friday, but I've been busy working and turning 18 and whatnot..also I'm very lazy, and if you don't know this by now then you probably never will.

So what has changed in my absence?

For me personally: well, I'm an adult now if nothing else! My birthday was yesterday...and that's that. I've also done a fuck-ton of exams (okay...three...) and watched a lot, a LOT of TV...I got into Game of Thrones, which is absolutely fabulous, and Sanctuary, which is trashy and therefore perfect, and of course there was the new series of Doctor Who (flaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil!!sdafghjdskfdlg! Opinions in the comment box please!)

As you can tell, I got lots of revision done.

I actually did but that's not an interesting subject at all.

Anyway, can I have a secondary flail for all the Deathly Hallows hype?! A REALLY BIG FLAIL!? Between the final trailer (which I watched and regretted, SO MANY SPOILERS!) and the TV spots (which I didn't watch but I've been unable to avoid seeing caps of) and the whole Pottermore thing (my single incentive for getting up before midday tomorrow), SO MUCH HYPE. I am so painfully excited for this film; it represents the culmination of a very long journey for me (and uh, most of the world too) , it's such a big deal and it makes my heart go just to think about how much I bloody love the Potter universe, and its fandom, and its millions of tiny details. Bleurgh, my heart is full again.

So yeah, now that I'm done being a recluse, my life can finally begin again! My prom is on Tuesday and after that I'm jetting off to Greece for a week with my friends which will be super fab...argh, in general my life is now looking up, here's to the summer!

Going here. Flailylail.

Cool. I'll try and get some more quality posts up in the week, but for now, update me! How have your lives been during my lengthy absence? Are you going away this year? 

Putting my studies first I guess :(

HI EVERYBODY! I have sad news :( I'm leaving the blogosphere for a while...not just updating this blog but I'm changing the password to my google reader account so I can't even read or comment on everyone's blogs D: There is a very good reason for this: its name is A LEVELS and it wants to kill me. I spent last weekend in France with no internet and, even though I was on holiday, I still got LOADS more done than usual.

So I'm giving up the internet! Which is mental. But there you have it. My exams end on

JUNE 17th

Which, if all goes to plan, is when I'm coming back.

See ya later, alligators! Miss me!

Emma x

Irrelevant picture is irrelevant. Except that it's a beagle. Wearing an alligator costume. I'm sorry but what's not to love?!

Je n'ai rien a dire,

HELLO FOLKS, long time no speaky!!

The reason why? Well, to be blatantly honest with you, there's not *that* much going on in my life. The usual: lot's of schoolwork, friends, family, walk dog, sleep, eat...blah.

Oh, except they released this:

Which is a) good because I love me a bit of Blaise, b) exciting because hey, it's only like, 80-odd days to go! and c) oddly homo-erotic, dontcha think?

Er...my oddly-coloured hair cravings are back!! Someone at school dyed her hair sort of turquoise and it looks EPIC. Here is a cropped picture because I don't know her that well:

Makes me wish I had the balls to do the same really :/ that and the fact certain people would "defriendify" me. And yes, I am aware that that's not a real word.

I do sort of want to go dark-dark green though. Sort of like Katy Perry's green but darker.

Nom.

Well, there's your occasional ramble from me. Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter holidays...or Spring Break...or whatever :):)

Lost: one jacket.

My jacket and I in happier times :(

So today I lost my favouritest jacket :( one moment it was there, and the next...gone!

This is not blog-worthy material. BUT it seemed quite significant because it's my dance jacket...and this weekend, I did my last dance exam. Which means technically I don't even need to go to dance any more.  I still do, because I'll be fat and bored otherwise but NEVERTHELESS everything is ending!

And our year got approached to join the Old Girls Association yesterday, which is like a club for people who've left my school.

What. The. Hell. WHEN DID I GET SO OLD?!

Why literature matters.

I was reading an article...I've lost it now, but it was about why literature matters. So, in a semi-boring and mildly interesting post, I'm going to explain not why literature, is important in the big scheme of things but why it matters to ME.

I should warn you this post is wordy and there aren't many pictures. But I like to think it's worth the read :)

This exciting picture by me.

The thing is, literature fires the imagination. It's no coincidence that nearly all writers were readers first - the more you read, the more you think and the more you think, the more you create. I had a lot of imaginary friends as a young child, and it was only when I started writing them down that the floodgates really opened.

Know what else? Literature teaches you to appreciate more than one viewpoint. You rarely see good fiction in which the villain doesn't have some kind of back-story, some kind of reason for acting the way they do. Remember reading Noughts and Crosses when you were little? Remember how Jude was evil...but we cared about him? That kind of grey area between good and evil helps us appreciate in real life that not everything is black and white. I know it's taught me to look at situations from different angles.

Actually, that semi-brings me on to another issue - literature educates. Read a Jane Austen novel? Begin to understand society in the early 1800s. I can tell you now, I knew nothing about Belgian rule in the Congo until I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. And you know what else? It educates us in such a way that it doesn't really feel like education at all: because we're learning everything from the flipside, the little people at the bottom, all the historical detail kind of filters in and suddenly we're knowledgeable. And that insight into other people's lives is so important: history isn't copy and pasted directly into an index we can use in the future, it fades unevenly and sometimes it gets lost. When a book captures one scenario, it shows us a bunch of thing about the time it was written that are absolutely invaluable.

Image courtesy of the BBC

It helps us communicate better, too. Here's a fun fact: in primary school, I used to get nicknamed "The Dictionary" because...well, because I knew how to spell words, basically. Except rhinoceros, never can get that one right. Anyway, when you're continually taking in proof-read, constructed prose you learn, instinctively, how to write well and construct a decent sentence. Which, coincidentally, leads to a well-written CV/personal statement...which is a ticket to a successful life. Note how that's not even an abstract "save literature becoz it's good" reason. That is an actual, bona-fide way that reading lots enriches your life.

That pretty much sums up why I believe reading, especially in children, is incredibly, crucially important.
(Warning: politics upcoming.)
Which is why the issues facing Britain's libraries at the moment are so tragic. Are the cuts necessary? I'm not an economist, and I can't tell. I wish they weren't though.

Truly. Libraries are my childhood. And I've spent a fair proportion of my teenagerdom there as well.

/end post.

Widgets and cupcakes and trailers.

1) Have you noticed my new little thingy in the corner? The one that says currently reading? Just drawing it to your attention. Enjoy.

2) I made Pottercakes! Our House Fair tomorrow is Harry Potter themed (apparently. I have very little to do with it this year) and I figured I'd dig in and lend a hand...they're not exactly gourmet but they were fun to make :P

Hedwigs and lightening bolts!

3) DOCTOR WHO TRAILER.
I have three words for you.
ASDF
GHJK
L;'#

Any questions? No. Good. Watch it now.

EE BAH GUM. That will be all.

IT'S ALL ENDING D:

So you know how it's my last year in school, right?
All of our end of year plans are starting to be put in place now: end-of-year assembly plans, yearbook profiles, hoodies, plans for end of year prank-type thing, EVERYTHING.

And today I was just watching this video. And now it's kind of hitting me that it's all coming to an end and it's so weird :(

Seriously though, watch the video. It's epic.

And to round off this slightly pointless post, here is a picture of me and my friends in Y7 hugging a tree. That will be all.

I told you it was summer!

 Look! All the flowers are out!

 I'm told my dog has spent literally the whole day basking in the sunshine.

 

And you can't really see from the photo, but the catkins that come out every spring are here, so nice!

 I kind of wanted to do something to match the summer mood...so I painted my nails :)

...Dusty says bye!

It's Thursday and I'm a very bad person :(

I wanted to post about how sunny it is! But when I get home, the sun has always gone down behind the trees which sucks. So here is a picture of the sun behind some trees with my abject apologies attatched.

Pathetic, isn't it? Anyway, the weather's been glorious which is a pretty successful turn of events, seeing as I swear a few weeks ago it was that bone-freezing, ear-numbing sharp nasty cold weather that makes you want to stay in bed and hibernate until July.


Anyway, now nice and sunny and I'm celebrating by A CHANGE. AKA THE CHOP. So...now I have lots less hair and it's kind of ginger...here are some GPOYs to demonstrate the length/colour:

The amusing thing is, my little sister cut it...basically she just went bonkers with the scissors and I was left with les resultats. Oh and I should really point out that the second picture isn't me posing, it's me getting pissed off with my sister pointing a camera in my face :)

OTHER THAN THAT, all I can really add is that my college life has just EXPLODED which is why I'm getting a little bit lazy with this blog. I'm sorry. It's not like I don't love blogging. I just get BUSY.

(Oh, and this blog is two and a half years old today! Cake all round!)