Glorious.

We're having better weather now than what we did in the summer!

Its not as bad as a few years back though, I can remember paddling in the sea on the 24th and not losing my toes to the cold...

Merry Christmas!

Well, that is Christmas over for another yer - insane isnt it? Speaking of insane; my favourite gift 2008. Unusually, it was not one that I recieved this year, but rather one that I gave to someone else.

Now just to explain: we're all pretty big ABBA fans in our house. We've seen Mamma Mia on stage in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, ABBA Gold is perpetually aired in our cars and when the Mamma Mia came out on DVD, it immediately became a family favourite. (After going to see it in the theatre twice, of course.)

So when my granny happened to say that she would love to have an ABBA outfit to wear (another dream of hers is to walk the tightrope on her 100th birthday, she's a bit... eccentric to say the least ) my brother and I jumped at the opportunity to get one for her Christmas...



She hasn't stopped laughing yet.

And neither have we.

Ballgowns and Nail Varnish.

So, tonight is the Sna Ba - yep it IS that time of year already - or the Snowball for those of you who don't live in Stranraer. It's only half four but already the days got off to an awesome start, James passed his driving test! Awesomeness indeed!

So all is going well, fingers crossed things will keep going in that fashion and that James and I survive our parents meeting...

Will update later on what hilarity ensues from the Penikis/Dornan shindig, for now I've got my heels to figure out!

Oddly Similar...

I think they've been conversing, amidst the rabble of squeaks and barks, about how to appropriately pose for photos.

"Nose forward, chin up and wriggle!"

Frost!

I'm just documenting what might be the cloest thing to snow we get this year. Even if it was only frost, it was AWESOME!

December, JD Style.

26th November - Girvan Floral Art Demo.

27th - Wigtown Floral Art Demo.
- Make cake for Random Cake Friday

28th - Hand in Provisional Licence thing for driving
- Sort out Bank issues

30th - 4 essays for English due in
- Don't leave to last minute, very bad.
- The Master of Ballantrae - find!

1st December - Ayr Christmas shopping avec Hannah & peoples
- Presents:- Glen, Granny, Dad, James?!?

4th - KAYLEA'S BIRTHDAY!
- Get card!
- Snowball dress!?
- Make cake for Random Cake Friday

6th - Finish mums Christmas present
- Start and/or finish English dissertation

7th - Have mums Christmas present in for framing.

10th - ENGLISH DISSERTATION DUE!
- Moderately panic if no Snowball dress yet
- Find something to wear for 15th

11th - Collect mums present - wrap!
- Wrap as many other presents as possible
- Make cake for RCF!

14th - Survive family Christmas part 1.
- Look forward to family Christmas part 2.

15th - Meal out with friends, 7pm! (I think)
- Take Christmas cards if written
- Super panic if no Snowball dress yet

16th - Prepare for and help at Christmas Fair this week.

17th - Cake for RCF!

18th - SNOWBALL SCHINDIG!
- Survive Penikis/Dornan family meet-up beforehand..
- Get a group photo
- Start the conga, again!

22nd - BIRTHDAY!

25th - CHRISTMAS!
- Majorly enjoy Family Christmas #2.

27th - Enjoy mum being at home!
- Avoid all turkey from now on in.

30th - GIVE BLOOD!
- Enquire about bone marrow.

31st - Chill with family.


(There's also Carol singing, a church service, Glasgow trip and a few other things too - I just haven't got the dates for them yet.)

Actual [worrying] Conversations.

Jemma says:
haha well fair enough XD
I'll not bore you with I-Spy
James says:
haha XD
waaaaay too much concentration there
Jemma says:
Okay, maybe just one game because I'm loosing focus and singing this song too much
you can go first, that way you dont have to guess, you just have to go yay or nay :P
James says:
hang on
...
last time we played this I was eating sponge
...
and i'm eating sponge again
*suspicious eyes*
Jemma says:
LMAO!
*innocent whistle*
James says:
STAAAAAAAALKER!!
Jemma says:
my sponge senses were evidently tingling :P
James says:
haha
SPONGE WOMAN!
Jemma says:
TO THE RESCUE!!!
B)


*a little later*


Jemma says:
omg
a marshmallow
YAY
James says:
haha
just one?
Jemma says:
yeah XD
James says:
strange
*suspicious eyes*
they normally travel in packs....
Jemma says:
haha oh no, because I'm Sponge Woman, they're only allowed to legally sell me single marshmallows.
James says:
XD

Yesterday I predicted that I'd have a headache after PE - turns out I was so wrong! Due to a Blood Donor talk that took up half of our double PE period, we all headed out to the park for some fun and photo taking for the rest of the afternoon. Oh I know, we skived but whatever, according to the schools register system I've been missing for weeks.

Despite the fact that it was blowing a gale and totally freezing, it was one of the best firday afternoons I've had in ages. School's been kinda hard-going lately, for all of us I'd imagine but today really put me back on track, or at least made me feel back on track which is something I am really greatful for. So guys, thanks for one awesome afternoon. :)

Stolen From Stephen!

1. Your ex and you = I’m a lucky person so far.
2. I am listening to = Pink Floyd - Take It Back. Which is great!
3. Maybe I should = Listen to some Meatloaf to indirectly annoy James’s dad.
4. I love = James and watching Frasier. Unequally of course, I'll let you figure out which one goes first. ;P
5. Chocolate is = A nightmare. Darn sugar sensitive teeth!
6. I don't understand = A lot of things.
7. I've lost respect for = A certain few people.
8. I last ate = Ice cream.
9. The meaning of my display name is = My name is Jemma, with a J.
10. God = Is cool.
11. Someday = I will get write my English Disseratation..
12. I will always remember = My time at Stranraer Academy.
14. I never ever want to lose = The people I most care about.
16. Tomorrow I will = Have a headache after PE.
17. I get annoyed when = People forget who I am or forget I exist.
18. Parties = Are groovy.
20. Simple kisses = Are lovely indeeed.
21. Today I = Am slightly bored and severely confused.
22. I wish = I was a little stronger.

IS YOUR / ARE YOU...

23. Is your hair wet?: Nope.
24. Is your cell phone right by you?: Nope.
25. Do you miss someone?: Sort of.
26. Are you wearing chap stick?: Funnily enough, yeah.
27. Are you tired?: More like drained.
28. Are you wearing pyjamas?: Yup.
29. Are you mad?: My english teacher thinks I'm an emotionally unstable mental case, does that count?
30. Are you upset?: Nope.

HAVE YOU...

31. Recently done anything you regret?: Probably.
32. Ever stuck gum under a desk?: Ew no.
33. Ever kicked someone?: Not intentionally.
34. Ever tripped over your own feet?: Oh I do that all the time, I’m super clumsy. Don’t get me started on giant boxes…

TODAY HAVE YOU...

35. Have you cursed?: Yup..
36. Have you gotten mad at someone?: Not really no.
37. have you laughed really hard?: Yes - “Its ‘Vaaybehhrrr’ not ‘Webuhr.’” 38. Is there a person who is on your mind right now?: Yup.
39. Do you have any siblings?: Yup, my younger-but-way-taller brother Glen.
40: Do you smile often?: I have a chubby face, so its more of a constant grin.
41: Do you untie your shoes every time you take them off?: Most of my shoes don’t have laces but on the ones that do I don’t even tie them to start with..
42: Do you like your handwriting?: Yeah, but the fact that I use two different styles of S’s kinda freaks me out.
43: Are your toenails painted?: No.
44: Are you a friendly person?: I don’t think so, but I think I come across as being one.
45: What were you doing at 2pm yesterday?: If I remember rightly I was struggling to remember what Karl Marx’s name was in a massive mental block during a sociology NAB. “Richard Marx? NO! He’s a singer! Think Jemma! THINK!!!1!”

Moments I Dislike; #1

On a cold morning, you get into the shower only to notice that whomever was in it before you has used the last of the shampoo and not told you. You then have to leave the warmth and go downstairs wrapped in your towel to hunt for it, shivering because the heating hasn't reached the tiled floor yet. You return to the shower to find it has chosen to mimic some sort of arctic waterfall in the few minutes you took to located the shampoo. You sigh and happen to look down at your hand.

You notice you've picked up conditioner by mistake.

Spanish Umbrollies.

Okay, so I actually got back over a week ago from Majorca but my computer decided to give me The Blue Screen Of Death as a welcome home present so I've had no computer AT ALL for the past few days. That in itself is a very very painful experience for a person of my generation, trust me. Very very bad. :P

On the plus side though Majorca was lovely, but check out the photo above to see what kind of weather we had. Like home away from home really...


56 days to my birthday; 59 days to Christmas!

Happy October Hols!

I'll be back next Friday.
(Armed with stories and photos I hope)

Today was a Sloe day.

Something we do in the Dornan household is... actually I'm not sure what the right word for it is but I'm going to say forage; we use what grows around us locally in the hedgerows and woodland for preserves and such like things. Does that make sense?

We live in quite a rich area for the likes of blackberries, rosehips, sloes, crab apples and hazelnuts so we've always gone out picking them before turning them into jams, its like a family tradition. From our youngest years Glen and I can remember doing the same thing; a day would start out to be warm and dry so we'd all decide to don our oldest clothes, grab our tubs that had been used when our mum and dad were little, and head out to a quiet place somewhere to pick whatever particular fruit the season offered.

And no matter what fruit it was they were always on the highest, most inaccessible trees and bushes around, who's branches and leaves scratched any visible flesh they could reach.

On blackberry picking days we'd come home with our arms scratched and stung by brambles and giant nettles, our fingertips would be stained blue with the juice from the ripe berries, as were our mouths as we would eat more than we picked along the way - but we didn't notice. Oh no, we were far to excited to see how much we had picked and watch as the fruit bubbled and sloshed in our Granny's giant jam-making pan.

It was all great fun and the same fun we had as kids we still have now. Recently, we'd been trying to source Sloes as they're in season but many of the usual hedgerows had been cut back so there were none around. But thanks to a family friend we managed to find some on the hills over looking Stranraer before Cairn Ryan today.

One rock pile, one high broken fence, one drystone stone dyke and some sheep coupled with the fact that sloe bushes are the jaggiest bushes ever, meant they were pretty hard to get to but we eventually did and we collected 7 and a half pounds of them. Despite that my arms now look like they've been in a fight with a particularly angry cat, it was great. All that's left to do is to prick them all and follow my Gran's recipe to get the Sloe Gin we make every year. Even though I don't drink, its rather good stuff...

For more photos like the one on this post from today, go to the top album on my sidebar. :)

Wordless Wednesday - The Scar.

A Pleasent Afternoon.

I'm a fan, now.

Do you ever have those moments where the importance of what happened at the time didn't really become apparent til ages after? Turns out I have.

Months ago at school one of my everso-exciting PSE classes was covered. (I know, I know, I've not hooked you in on this one yet but bear with me.) It must have been quite a few months ago as it was a horrible, grey morning, (admittedly, that could apply to June...) the schools power had been flickering on and off for most of periods 1 & 2 and the building itself was shaking due to the wind battering against it's glass walls outside.

So, sitting in a dimly lit Admin class at one end of the street, the class was allowed free reign of the computers to look up medical facts a figures - which actually meant seeing who could be the first one on Bebo after getting around the school's banned site block.

However, typing with freezing fingers soon grew too much for many and we resorted to just sitting talking. Our cover teacher was milling around the tables that we were huddled round, engaging in various conversations as he did so. I remember wondering how on earth he hadn't caught hypothermia (he was only wearing a shirt) and trying to place his name - he was new, you see, but I'd seen him around the school in his distinctive white shirt.

The conversation moved on and so did the teacher. Sitting down on the edge of my desk he joined in the conversation about my epileptic Boxer dog - turned out that since moving here, he had a dog with Epilepsy too! We chatted up to the bell about it, he mentioned that he read on a Chinese website somewhere that feeding them chicken and fish helped, so he tried it and it actually was easing his dog's fits.

I left the room still mentally chuckling at the way he had of saying things, his accent and delivery amused me, but I still didn't know his name - something which I didn't find out until last week.

Turns out the teacher whom I'd sat and discussed my dog with was none other than Des Dillon. Yep, the very same Des Dillon who wrote the likes of 'Me and Ma Gal' and 'Picking Brambles', and who writes for BBC Scotland's River City.

As he was teaching at our school, the English Department and their powers of persuasion managed to get Mr Dillon to agree to bringing his new production "Singing I'm No a Billy, He's a Tim" to the town. Us lucky seniors got to go along and watch it this afternoon and to be honest, I'm not sure what I was thinking before it. Here's the description:


What happens when you lock up a Celtic fan?
What happens when you lock up a Celtic fan with a Rangers fan?
What happens when you lock up a Celtic fan with a Rangers fan on the day of the Old Firm match?

Fireworks! That's what!

Follow Billy and Tim, on their journey of discovery. Both have been steeped in bigotry since birth: is it possible for them to change their views? Des Dillon creates the situation, you watch the sparks fly as Billy and Tim clash in a rage of deep-seated sectarianism and hatred. Are you singing their tune?


Now, I'm not a football fan. I don't support Rangers or Celtic and I'm not totally 'clued up' on all of the songs or history of the teams, but the dialogue and story doesn't need you to; I totally enjoyed it. Dillon's writing and story comes across effortlessly to both the football-mad and the football-inept, and the actors involved are excellent. I wont bore you by mincing my words, so read about the play here, and an extract from it here.

So, all you out there, I highly recommend you all go see it if you get the chance! It makes a really good night out, but various places its going are already sold out, so I'm not sure about the avaiablity.

Oh and before I forget, back to my discussion with Mr Dillon about his epileptic dog. His newest book out [that I've ordered] is entitled "My Epileptic Lurcher" for which the synopsis is:

"Manny Riley is a recovering alcoholic and struggling scriptwriter with a serious anger management problem. Lately, though, things have started to change for the better. A happy marriage, a move away from Glasgow to an idyllic seaside village and the adoption of Bailey, a lurcher with epilepsy. He'll soon find that these things only open up a whole new world of problems he'll have to face up to. And he has to do it all without losing his temper."

Anyone else seeing any paralellisms? ;)

Eeek Indeed..

As Stephen has mentioned over on his blog, the past few weeks at school we've been talking about Universities and open days and everything between those two. Incidentally, due to going to the Open Days I missed my period of PSE so I've not yet been told much about the UCAS Applications and Personal Statements, or what they involve, but from what I have heard, I'm terrified.

Well, okay, not terrified as such; more... intimidated.

Intimidated [a bit like my Guinea Pig above] because a Personal Statement appears to involve having to make yourself sound interesting and worth while to the Uni you are applying to. Now, this may not come as a surprise to you, but my blog is called "Nothing Special" for a reason. I epically fail at talking myself up and at the moment, like Stephen, I'm having trouble thinking of interesting things to say about myself. I don't tend to do anything interesting, and even the things I sometimes do that I find interesting are totally NOT interesting to anyone else.

(This is the point where I stop typing, frown quizzically and the voice in my head asks "Why do you blog then, geek? I'm sure you can think of something.")

So yeah, I'm starting to think about what to write so that when I get to PSE, I'll have a few ideas. Luckily, the trusty Internet is at my fingertips and there are plenty of good examples to be found for helpful tips.

*thinks positively*

Flotsam and Jetsam.

One thing I really love about round here is all the beaches that surround the area. There are long, sprawling stretches of sand; small pebbly ones, rocky ones, seaweed-covered ones, wave battered ones... but by far my favourite has to be the ones on the western side. Due to the amount of ships and boats that pass between Ireland and our coast, the amount of debris that is washed up is great. Labrax -situated here- is the best example of this and one of my family's favourite beaches for walks. Flotsam and Jetsam [on occasions] make really good looking photos, the following are all from a walk last Sunday - they look better if you click on them. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great -no sun, grey skies, chilly wind - but it was still lovely.










And yes, that is vertabrae of some sort.

Decisions, decisions.

We've been back to school for a week now and its just hit me this is the beginning of the end. This will be my last year at school and as if that prospect wasn't scary enough; I'm not even sure what I want to do once I go.

At the moment the whole future thing seems really daunting. Is it just me or is this super big, life-dictating decision fairly difficult to make when you're a 16 year old who enjoys nothing more than obsessing over Thomas The Tank Engine, strawberry tarts and Wall-E?

Course it is. Everyone around me appears to have their idea or their plan or their career that they've always wanted ever since they were 5. Whereas I simply don't. At 5 I'm pretty sure I wanted to be a turtle and my career ideas have changed from week to week ever since. They're still changing right now.

At the start of this blog I wanted to be an Art teacher, I no longer have this inkling.
English teacher? That’s faded.
Journalist? I'd like that but probably not.
Paramedic? Good feelings gone.

I don’t specifically want to *be* anything, and I know that probably sounds odd of me but I cant help it, I am odd and making decisions has never been my thing- especially when its big important ones such as this. Though I am hoping that all this confusion and thinking will be worth it and that one day I’ll wake up and say, “OH THAT’S IT! I’M GOING TO BE A ______”

Pfft, who am I kidding.

Does anyone know how long it takes to become a professional turtle?

Late Wordless Wednesday

We decided to make Strawberry Tarts today.
I am in love with the sauce.

Wordless Wednesday.

(It is wednesday, right?)

"Arboreal imagery? I thought they were just poles.."

As I type, the first week of the summer holidays is coming to an end - quite a scary thought that there's only 5 weeks left until we're all back at school. Though when we go back to school I think its going to be looking rather different. The roof of "the Street" as its known to pupils (the main building of the three) is being taken down and replaced - in fact, they're probably removing panes of glass right now.

I think we've always rather liked the roof, in all its greenhouse-like glory. Despite the fact that it made the school easily confused with a shopping mall, was incredibly cold in winter and incredible warm in summer, it was pretty unique in the area and certainly stood out. As Stephen will tell you, it also looked great empty at night.

I'm not sure what it's being replaced with... Perhaps they payed attention to me after all?

24 Hours and Counting..

I learned on Monday of this week that every school in Scotland was officially off for their summer holidays, bar us and Fife. How lucky are we, Fife?! It sounds quite unfair and if I'm honest the school work we're doing now doesn't really validate going to school - we might as well be on holiday as for the past four weeks we've done barely any work. Hannah, James and I practically live in the Library where Free Periods are used to catch up with gossip, hunt for proxies, and eat cakes.

Come next year however, remind me how I wasted my free periods in the run up to summer. I'll appreciate it, especially when I leave my Advanced Higher Art Portfolio until the last week before the deadline, like I did at Higher. The portfolio this time being 18 A1 sheets - the equivalent of 72 A4 sheets of paper...

Doomed, much.

Though not much is happening in school, things are quite busy outside the Akademy. Though I didn't get an award this year (hahaha) I went to my younger brother's Award Ceremony on Tuesday; James and Shaun were there also cheering on their siblings and it was actually a fun night.

Shaun and I admired the fake-but-real plants outside the hall, we 'raved' to the music playing, James got chatted up by a policeman, we cheered the Bush-Baby, we cheered the Bush Foetus AKA Christopher, after it had finished Christopher's mum said we could keep him and his 2 little brothers! (I was keen, James not so much..), my family completely left without me - or disowned me as observed by James's mum, James's dad made me roffle with his story about James... and the list goes on.

Note that I'm now calling Glen my "younger brother" rather than my "little brother" as he is now 6 foot tall, making me the smallest of the family at a lowly 5 foot 8.

But things are looking up. Tomorrow is finally the last day of the longest term in history, and I've made a truck load of cakes alongside the army of marshmallow tophats in the picture.

Happy Holidays all!

Summer?

Orange Lily, originally uploaded by jemma.dornan.

I'm just testing out my new Flickr account with this post, I've been using Picassa Albums and they're great but I thought I'd join the Flickr band wagon for a wee while.

I took this photo tonight whilst there was a power cut (yes, okay, it takes a power cut to get my out into the garden sometimes...) and despite there being a bitterly cold wind bustling about, mum's flowers still managed to reaffirm my hopes that summer is in fact on its way.

You gotta love lilies.

The First BBQ Of 2008.

What can I say... I'm not actually sure anymore. A comment recently left on my blog has disjointed me a little - despite the fact that I have a fair idea who posted it. There really was no need, but never mind, I've more important things to care about. And I can type properly.

With reference to yesterdays BBQ: it was great! The weather was perfect, the food was good (I hope) and I'm not making any complaints against the guests because they really rock. Seriously you do guys, it was an amazing day so thank you!

Also, guess what?

I MET THE PENIKIS FAMILY!!

Oh yes readers, we got James out of his house and to a social event! Comment if you want to know how we managed it, the story is rather hilarious. I also got to shake Mrs Penikis's hand which was beyond awesome really- I'm sure Stephen can back me up on this.

We proved something yesterday too: Human Pyramids CAN be done by Amateurs. The above photograph on this blog proves such a fact. This next one however, is one of the more spectacularly failed attempts.


Perhaps the failed ones were funnier than the actually successful ones, but the making of them was extremely hilarious. However, neither of these photographs portray the pain the Human Pyramid-ees are feeling today. Our backs, shoulders, arms, wrists, knees, ankles, and goodness knows what else's are sore - but we're not really complaining. It was all great fun.

Oddly enough, the worse case scenario is the same as the best. When a Pyramid fails due to too much spacing or a misjudged jump, you don't want to be at the bottom. Oh no. When you're on the bottom tier and everyone topples on top of you - no one can get up for laughing so your stuck under a giant heap of sprawled limbs, usually in a funny and uncomfortable position.

I'm speaking from experience here, can you tell?

Never mind my thunder..

Whose stolen my sun?! The past few weeks have been gloriously bright and warm but as soon as I even thought of the word Barbecue the skies darkened and the heavens opened. Oh yes, its raining and has been since this afternoon. Sigh. Things better brighten up for Saturday. I'm just hoping that the marquee Dad and I put up in the garden holds. Seriously, you have not encountered problems until you try and build a marquee without instructions. The suggested number of constructors is 4, the actual number needed should be 16 and even then there would be more poles than hands.

There's a BBQ going on on Saturday you see. The exams are just about all over now for us and I don't know about everyone else, but I'm tired and in need of a change, so Saturday is looking to be a rather nice break. Provided the weather improves, I don't set myself on fire whilst lighting the BBQ and everyone gets here, of course.

In other news, my new 6th Year timetable (of three days) is already annoying me. The school is currently upside down due to builders taking over half of the Street so they can build the new blocks, so classrooms and their teachers have been shifted all over the place. As if this wasn't as confusing enough (trust me, there is nothing worse than turning up at a classroom to find no one there) the school has decided to rename all the rooms so even if I knew where I should be, I've no idea where it is. I hate that feeling, I'm a wee bit OCD on the matter.

Added to that my registration class is on the other side of the school grounds, furthest away from everywhere so I'm late for just about every class first thing. My art teacher has no faith in me. Someones lost the entire subject of RME. My Admin teacher appears to think the whole class is a bit simple - yesterday we learned how to type. With a touch-typing speed of 63 words a minute, it's driving me batty. Fair excited about tomorrow though, guess what we get to learn? How to put a table into a word document! Oh yes, the excitement is almost too much to bear...

Well ne'er heid. Roll on Saturday, and roll on summer.

Pre Maths Exam Terror.

Ah yes. Right now I'm panicking. I hate maths - with an undying passion. I've never been good at it, ever, and right now I'm running out of revision time. The thing is, the more I stress out about it the more I'll forget so I'm just trying to chill. She says, desperately... However, there is something reassuring about your friends having a group argument over MSN about whether Logarithms are called "logs" or "lins". My friends rock. Speaking of which, Stephen's started a blog! His link is on the sidebar so feel free to go check it out.

I'm off to do past papers now until my eyes fall out or I fall asleep; will report back tomorrow - when I will be 100% Maths free. I have waited 5 years for that. Excellent.

"The word is on the Street that the English paper was brutal."

Well. I meant to post this yesterday but there was a certain football game going on so I got sidetracked. The part I wrote yesterday is in blue, the rest is from today.

Okay. So here I am. Sat in front of my computer screen talking to a very dear friend who in fact managed to calm my nerves a little just by talking to me, waiting on the game to start with my English revision glaring at me from my bed. Okay, so what idiot put the final on the same eve of the Higher English exam?! Sigh. Could be worse; I could be in Manchester.

Anyway, here's the game plan: I'm going in tomorrow with The Darkness Out There, Infelice and A Streetcar Named Desire as a back up. I'd love it if TDOT came up, questions have been I've been assured its a fairish safe bet. Infelice is alright, I know it well enough to twist it to fit any question. ASCND will do as a back up, even though it wont be great. As for the Close Reading, I cant wait to get that out of the way and see how much I'm relying on the essays. I quite like Close Reading, just hoping its not a daft couple of passages...

I'd best be off., I'm 90 minutes away from making sure I'm all set. Sigh, not feeling good about this exam at all.

Hmmm. You know how when you've worked hard in an exam and then when you come out of it, you immediately forget everything that you wrote? Well I've got that going on. I cant tell whether I've done good or not.. The Close Reading went fine -despite there being a 5 marker stuck in right at the end- and the passages were actually quite good. As for the essay questions... Nightmare!

There were NO questions at all on The Darkness Out There! Thankfully, flicking frantically to the Poetry section, I found a vague question I could mould to Infelice. So without looking at the other questions I barreled into it and 7 pages later I looked at the Drama section. Only one question sounded remotely like something that would fit so I quickly started on that one.

A further Blanche DuBois style mental crisis and 7 pages later, time was up and we left the Dance studio. Funnily enough that was when I started panicking most but I soon calmed down when other said they found it as equally hard and that a few had done the same questions as me.

What I hate most about English exams? I often find that when I'm writing timed essays in class, I usually gauge on how much I have to write by a certain point of a page, ie bottom of the second page for the second factor to start. I can't do this in the exam because they give us booklets that have huge margins and equally huge lines. Its unnerving, if you get me and halfway through I've no idea where I'm supposed to be or how much I've written. Do the booklets need to be like the jotters you got in Primary One? No. It's no help.

And as for the game last night... Well done to St Petersburg.

This Week in Pictures.

Acrylics and Other Unhinged Things.

Its currently 22:47. I've just finished my Still Life final piece. I've still got an English essay to write, an art summary to write (or else I die), a physics past paper to do and I'm pretty sure there's something else but I cant think what, so please excuse the incoherency of this post but I felt like blogging. Mainly because of the lovely picture, partly because I want to rant and mostly because I'm pretty sure I'm going insane.

The past few days have been frenzied - well, frenzied for me anyway. In a fever of composition, I've spent my time staying til 5pm after school then working at home until 2am in the morning in a desperate bid to finish my art coursework. Oh yeah, Higher Art ain't all that fun folks. To top that off we got our reports out -two weeks late might I add- which I did promise I'd blog about and I will when I actually find the time to read the thing properly. I seriously want some bottled time off E-Bay. Methinks the general message of the report was that I should be okay with lots of revision and that I'm pleasant to teach. Pfft. Just don't get me started on PE...

On this feeling insane business. I've suddenly developed this thing where when I'm sitting in a class and I'm off in a wee world of my own, I suddenly stop what I'm thinking and panic because I sense that someone is reading my thoughts. It's a horrible feeling of fear. I then force myself to think of something else to throw the imaginary person off whatever I was thinking about in the first place, so I don't look suspicious. Can people read my thoughts? Is this what sleep deprivation results in? Or is this what Higher Art does to you? Who knows. If you do, forward your thoughts to the Inbox in my mind and I'll get back to you.

Possibly the Cutest Photo On This Blog.

Filler post here guys, just so you don't think I've gone and run off. Just a photograph today, I'm too tired/busy/snowed-under-with-revision to finish a cartoon I'm doing. Will post it when I can. Toodle pip for naoo.

One day, these kids will rule the world.

Scary thought, right?

Today saw the beginning of a thing we call Easter school. Every Easter from Fourth Year onwards we can give up our holidays to go in to school and catch up on work or pester teachers for exam prep. Personally, I use it to put the finishing touches on my art stuff as I'm always lagging behind this time or year. Luckily I have a great bunch of like minded friends who toddle in too, which makes it all the more fun. There really is something special about a school with barely any pupils in it. Its free and quiet and calm with no little first years running around your feet that you just want to trip up...

Its strange though, this week marks the first year I've been conscious of time. Like, the first year I've noticed go by from beginning to end, sorta like my own personal New Year. Its been a year since I hated English with a passion, a year since we were lazy fourth years, a year since I spilt permanent yellow paint on my arrow keys, a year since i last watched Night At The Museum, and year since I badly burnt my arm on a light bulb. Twice. The scars just starting to fade. Its also been a year since this photograpgh was taken. Its amazing how things change. I wonder if I'll look back on this post this time next year? Its odd to see how much I've changed over the course of this blog and it's not even been a year yet.

Looking at the photo taken today, its funny to think we're all going to grow up one day. There's potential for the worlds best Lawyer, Computer Genius, Astrophysicist, Cosplayer and teacher surrounding that tree. Perhaps come Easter School 2009, we will have taken over the world - one blog post at a time.

Sports Relief!

It was our schools Sport Relief Mile on Friday afternoon, and the best thing was we were allowed to dress up! Now, I'll let you into a not-so-secret secret, my group of friends belong in the lower, geekier side of popular. This is actually great because it gives us the drive and ability to excel in Fancy Dress competitions, so we were well prepared for Friday. Well, when I say well prepared I actually mean we had two days to find costumes and get everyone organised. I hate disorganisation.

Luckily, I had had my hair cut the weekend before hand so I had a ready made bob for my character. On the other hand, a pair of knee high orange socks were actually impossible to come by. I even went to a Mall just outside Bristol which has 131 shops in it and couldn't find a pair! I didn't go to Bristol specifically for the socks by the way, we were down in Taunton for two days to go to a family funeral. I did eventually a find a pair though- in my sock drawer, at home. Sods law, eh?

But we did it! Come Friday we paid our £1 and we half skipped, half ran our mile in our costumes. They were a success- even better as we actually made them ourselves (A big thank you to everyone who did! Guys, we were awesome!) It was a great afternoon despite all the running, mud and wind. Sports Relief was officially fun this year. What more of an incentive do you need than to be able to dress up?! I know for a fact us lot were willing to run even more, we should have got sponsorship. I hope the rest of the country have our mentalities and more schools get involved. It's a good cause.

See if you can guess who Stephen, Esme and I were from the photograph above. You should be able to, we won an Easter Egg for Best Dressed. (We look sad because James didn't turn up, I'll let you guess who he was.)

March: Bad Month.

If my memory serves me correctly, which it probably doesn't but lets just pretend it does for this blog post, I have a Careers Meeting with the school this month. Generally I fear any meetings with my teachers and parents - see this post - I'm not actually sure why, I just don't cope very well in those types of situations. Could be because my "With Family" persona has to collide with my "With Teacher" persona, which is a really bad thing as I become virtually silent. They usually go something like:

Teacher: "So, Emma.. how are you finding classes?"
Moi- "Uh...Fine.." *nervous shrug, total abandon of eye contact, nod*

Which commences the teacher/parent talk that I just listen intently to, nodding when I need to. I fear this career-themed meeting may be even worse as I don't actually know what I want to do for the rest of my life. I have a fair idea of what I don't want to do, but so far no inkling as to what I will do. I'm actually tempted to say I want to be a Private Detective Lollipop Woman...

This month also sees the delivery of our Reports with our prelim grades. Everyone hates reports, right? I imagine that teachers probably dislike writing them as much as we like reading them. I certainly don't want to this year. If they are particularly funny or in the case of a few subjects, bitchy, I will post snippets on here. So you can all laugh.

Whilst I remember, E-Reports came up in conversation the other day. Does anyone feel this would be a good idea? I think this is alright in theory but I don't know how well it would work. For pupils who knew their reports were terrible, I'd imagine the temptation of the Delete Button would be overwhelming, and also some parents don't have email addresses. However, just because I don't know how well something will work doesn't mean we shouldn't try said thing. Who knows, by the time my kids are in school I could be reading Report Blogs and Skyping Parents Nights...

A Drawing A Day.

I've been wanting to start a Picture a Day Blog for a while now but I know myself I'll never keep up with the schedule. So instead, I'm just going to start a blog where I'll post a picture or a drawing or even just a doodle as close to the One-A-Day limit as I can. I think it will be a useful for myself to look back and see how I've progressed- or more likely, not! ;) I'll stick the link in my link bar once I set it up.

I have been changing my mediums lately due to the fact I found myself stuck in the rut of pencil drawings. I like colour, so colour is back on top of my list. Ironically though, tonight's drawing was done on black paper with three sticks of chalk: Yellow, White and Brown. The shoe to the left is far better than the one to the right, don't know why like, but I do apologise. :)