I actually do something

Wednesday is the day by Dad goes with my Granddad into a town called Poole for a coffee and to look in a few shops. Now I’ve finished my exams and have nothing better to do, I shall be joining them. Three generations together chatting about whatever subject comes up. It’s an amazing feeling.

I blogged a little while ago about said Granddad purchasing himself a computer and struggling to use the mouse, let alone do much else. Six weeks on though and he is asking me to set up a Youtube account! I love that he is now so computer literature. There are very few seventy-year olds who could do anywhere near as much as he can now do. But when I become seventy, all of us will know how to use a computer- in fact our entire homes may well run from one central computer. It’s weird how much the generations change from one to another.

Time to clear something up. My Granddad isn’t my granddad, in fact he’s not even a relation. He was actually my dad’s landlord when he first moved to the area and twenty year’s later they still see each other every week. To all intensive purposes he has been a granddad to me my whole life, taking me out to places, giving me money for no particular reason and the like.

So does this mean I have three Granddad's? No. My mum’s dad, my true grandfather, is actually in France at the moment. My dad’s mum and dad split up when my dad was six and my dad hasn’t seen him since then. My dad recently decided it was time to find out where he was and try and contacted him but discovered he died in 2007. So I never met my grandfather. It’s a weird feeling really. Despite never meeting him, I can’t help feeling sad for his death and in fact the never meeting him part is reason enough to be sad. The question to why he never came to meet me and my brother, or even re-find his own son, will never be answered.

I’ve kind of gone off on a tangent there but I have been planning to write about that for a few days but it’s not the sort of thing you can just through in. Back to today. We did the usual walk around Poole after having a coffee and I amused myself by looking at the bizarre DVD’s the charity shops house. Most of them I hadn’t even heard of. As I was in a hurry to get home to get to work experience, I was given the money to buy a Subway. I love that sandwich shop. Foot-long Subway Melt on Italian Bread, toasted, every time.

Barely ten minutes at home to get changed and I was out again, this time for work experience. I walked, along with a groups of kids, from the Junior School to the main town church which is a flipping long way in this heat. After the performance I have now seen about ten times I sat in the minibus in supervisor position as the remaining kids were ferried back to the school in two loads.

At the end of the school day I waited around whilst my dad organised the ordering of some new hockey sticks for the school- he does hockey there. I bumped into my Year 6 teacher who I made feel quite old by informing her I’m going to Uni in September. She taught me nearly eight years ago now, which is quite unbelievable actually. It feels like only yesterday. Year six was an awesome year. 

Going out and doing stuff put me in a really good mood by the time I got home. I sat in the conservatory and read some more of the classic novel “1984”. So far I think it will go down in my top five books ever read, possibly the top one. It is just amazing. I think I might even devote an entire blog post discussing the ideas in it once I’ve finished it. We’ll see.

Throughout the day I was getting random texts from Facebook where people had commented on my status saying “ewh” or something along those lines. I have tried out an app called “Dr Pepper Status Takeover”. It does the Dr Pepper what’s the worse that could happen thing and posts an embarrassing status. Unfortunately it does this at a random time, by which point your no longer online, so you can’t change or comment on the status. It is very funny though as my status is currently: “tried my own earwax last night. Never again.” Not as disgusting as I thought it might have been!

It’s turned into a rather long blog today hasn’t it. Oh well, well done for making it to the end. Tomorrow, the beach and a BBQ (there’s lots of cider apparently!).

Tuesday Stuff

As you may be able to tell from the title, not a lot happened today. However, I shall still attempt to write a blog for today seeing as though quite a lot of people actually visit this blog nowadays.

Pretty much the only thing I did do today was watch war film The Hurt Locker. It was enjoyable but two hours of drama was a bit much for a lazy afternoon. Lots of big explosions though, which was good. Full review on Monday of course!

My Mother’s annual trip to see some people in white clothes hit a ball around happened today as she went to Wimbledon. I received a text informing me she had seen Alexander Armstrong and Martin Offiah pretty much straight away. I wonder if they were together- odd combo. In fact she has just arrived home as I type this out. I shall head downstairs to meet her and receive the obligatory gift. I shall return shortly.

*

Back. The fact I even bothered to tell you that I didn’t write this blog in one go shows how mundane my day has been. Anyway, Mum was on Number 1 court and didn’t see many exciting matches other than Venus Williams being stuffed by a virtual unknown. I didn’t mean obligatory gift in an ungrateful way by the way. Mum has been going to Wimbledon every year for about 15 years and it has become tradition for her to by each of us a present. However in recent year’s the present has not been very exciting, often a keyring- but then what would you buy me from Wimbledon. This year however my present was pre-planned and I am now the proud owner of a Wimbledon towel- the same as the player’s use. I sense an unnecessary picture is due!

Today my Formspring has been a hive of activity as several random girls have decided they find me attractive. As much as I enjoy the banter no-one on there will be getting anything from me. Embarking on a relationship with a girl I met online seems weird to me and most of them are way too young anyway. Miss Anon has no doubt seen what’s been going on as I think she follows me on there. I am getting ever closer to finding out your identity and soon I will know who you are. Maybe.

Hmm, what to say next. The pen-paling has been going well after I had another attempt to find some people. I now have a few regular correspondents which is lovely. There are lovely people all over the country and indeed the world and it’s really enjoyable to be talking to some of them and having some brilliant conversations.

The trailer for the new Harry Potter film(s) came out today and it is amazing. It’s weird that the series is ending as I have grown up with Harry Potter. It’s one of the things our generation will always have. Another is the Toy Story series, the third and final film of which comes out here in a couple of weeks. This series has also followed my life what with Andy now going off to college, leaving his toys behind. That is scarily accurate to my life. I am really looking forward to Toy Story 3, movie event of the Summer!

I shall stop babbling irrelevant nonsense now. Tomorrow, believe it or not, I actually have plans so I will have something vaguely worthwhile to blog about. See you then!

Another Monday Review

TV Shows

Top Gear is a essentially a show about cars but you need no interest in such things to enjoy this show. Basically it is three middle-aged men pissing around. In the first episode of the new series James May drove up an active volcano, Jeremy Clarkson crashed a Reliant Robin lots of times and a load of celebs popped in to try and set a good time in the new reasonably priced car (normally a celebrity come in every week and tries to set a good time round the track in it). Some of the humour is an acquired taste but if you like cars, stunts or comedy in general it’s at least worth a try. Sundays at 8PM, BBC 2.

Doctor Who, Series Finale (Series 5, Episodes 12 and 13) I decided to review both episodes as once seeing as though they were one story. The finale is fantastic. There is plenty of emotions, plenty of Sci-Fi stuff, a bit of comedy and a generally satisfactory ending to the series. Pretty much all the loose ends have been tied up, except one which we expect to resolve in the Christmas Special. The only criticism I would have is the lack of enemies- OK a lot appear but none for very long. But overall, great ending. Fezzes are cool.

The Chaser’s War on Everything This is actually an Australian  TV show which is part sketch show and part prank show. Both parts are very amusing thanks to an amazing team. Some of the things they pull are really fun but quite risky- often someone nearly gets arrested. There have been three series so far, all of which are amazing and they get a bit better as they go on thanks to an increasing budget. Some jokes are difficult to understand if you’re not an Australian like me but generally it’s very accessible.

Games

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 (Wii version) Basically you play through the first four Harry Potter books but in a Lego world. Being set in a Lego world means there can be some interesting puzzles based on moving lego bricks around and building stuff. You can switch between several characters with different abilities at a time which also creates more puzzles. Personally one of the best features in this game is classic Harry Potter story being made of Lego and presented in a humorous tongue-in-cheek way. The problem with this game is that it’s the same gameplay that you may well have played in Lego Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones games so if you got bored of it then you might continue to here. Otherwise though it’s a decent enough game, especially all you Harry Potter geeks- like me.

Another review session is over. Usual nonsense returns tomorrow!

Neutron Star Collision

After the euphoria of the Leaver’s Ball I was in an excellent mood as I awoke yesterday morning. This was spoilt some what by discovering that my ex, Gemma, has moved on and has a new boyfriend. I’m not angry, nobody has done anything wrong. It’s just the whole broken promises thing. The song in the title, by Muse, is about a couple saying how their love will last forever and that if they die they will die together, but in an ironic way as the relationship had ended and it turned out to mean nothing. Could any song have any more meaning to me? The only reason the whole moving on thing upsets me is that everything that was said has turned out to mean absolutely nothing. I don’t really know how I’m supposed to feel about the whole thing but it’s someone's else’s life now. As I said the other day, I refuse to let others rule my life any more. I am going to stay happy and live my life and eventually meet the right person. And that’s what I have done since I found out the news yesterday morning.

Today began with the rare thing that is a family walk. We did this early so as to avoid the searing heat of the day. Walkies we went, along the seafront at the part of Bournemouth known as Southbourne. It was a pretty nice walk and hopefully I shall be spending more time on the beaches of Bournemouth in the coming weeks.

The big news today of course was England’s loss to Germany in the World Cup. The less said about that the better. You notice that I didn’t mention the match until today, because I was so sure Germany would win.I will be continuing to watch the World Cup though and shall be supporting Argentina (just to see them thrash Germany) and will be particularly against Uruguay (the officials of today’s match were from there). Let’s move on from this delicate subject. 

Here’s where I would like to say I had a fun afternoon doing something exciting, but sadly that is not the case. I did very little of any interest which is disappointing. Tomorrow so far looks much the same but if no other plans come up for Tuesday then I am going to go on a little adventure by myself, which could be fun. It would of course be better if I could go do something with someone but due to physics most people are still revising.

Time for a froglet update! There are still hundred of them in the pond but a few have ventured out into the big bad world. They’ll all have left within a few weeks!

The Formspring people are being unusually nice to be tonight. I have been called cute by several different people which is always nice. The new picture of me in a suit is clearly going down well. Ask me stuff by clicking on the word Formspring.

The Saga of Mystery Part Two

THIS IS A FICTIONAL BLOG. It continues from here and stems from having a mysterious anonymous commenter.

Angelo led me into another office but this one was fully furnished. There was a desk covered in paperwork and behind it a chair faced away from me. Angelo closed the door from the outside, leaving me alone in the room. At least I thought I was alone. The chair spun round to reveal a familiar face, but I couldn’t quite picture why it was familiar.

“Ah, Mr Hough, I’ve been expecting you,” said the woman on the chair. She was difficult to describe. Not old, not young, not fat, not thin. Just in the middle. She had short dark hair and still her face seemed familiar to me.

“Who are you, and what do you want from me?” I demanded

“My name, well my codename, is India,” the woman began. “I have been watching you for some time now. I am the “Miss Anon” who comments on your blog on a daily basis. I cycled past you every day when you walked to school.” Realisation dawned on me. That was why I recognised the face. I saw it on a daily basis but it was so insignificant that I paid little notice. So much for insignificant now.

I kept quiet and let India continue. “ I work for MI5,” she announced. “And we have seen the skills you possess and we want you to work for us. There is a mission that we think would suit you.”

This really wasn’t what I expected. Not that I knew what to expect. How could I possibly be suited to working for MI5. I’m not fit, I can only run a few metres before getting out of breath, I can’t swim, I can’t speak any other languages and I’m at best moderately intelligent. Besides, this “mission” was likely to be dangerous and that’s not me. For all I know I could just be the bait to catch someone with no concerns over my safety.

“What if I refuse?”

“Then we will have to kill you”.

A deadly mission or death. Not much of a choice. But I had an idea, the smallest of ideas but it might just have been enough. 

“May I have some time to think about it?”

“You have half an hour,” India answered. “Angelo, take him back to his cell”. The door opened and Angelo led me back to where I had come from.

I had half an hour to attempt to escape from one of the best intelligence forces in the world or face pretty much inevitable death. No pressure then…

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know what you thought and what do you think will happen next? Part 3 will be here next week!

My Last Exam and My Summer Begins

Up at a ridiculously early time in order to go to school and do my geology resit. After the entire class got two grades below their ability in January the pressure was on. Fortunatly it went OK. None of my exams have been a complete nightmare and this must be a good thing. I shall have to wait until my results to see whether I did as well as I hope but things are looking good. Fingers crossed.

I then took a small trip around the school one last time to hand back all my textbooks. Six of these were from history and one was from biology which is odd considering I haven't studied that since last June. The school was rather empty as it was a teacher training day so no kids were in and all the teachers were having a meeting. I deposited my textbooks at the various desks and left school. I only ever have to go back once now. That really is quite frightening.

Straight from school I went with my dad to purchase something to wear for our Leaver’s Ball tomorrow. This was done from Marks and Spencer. Whenever I shop for clothes I normally purchase the first thing that I like and fits me. Unfortunately my dad wasn’t so keen on this method and it took longer than I would have expected. The result is something not entirely usual but then I think that suits me, pardon the pun. I shall blog about the leaver’s ball on Saturday as I’ll probably be too tired/pissed/both tomorrow night and besides if I wait I can get some more photos off of Facebook.

The obligatory sports paragraph now. The epic tennis match at Wimbledon. between Isner and Mahut finally finished today when Isner won 70-68 games in the fifth set. It was the longest tennis match EVER. In other news I was rather pleased when Italy were knocked out of the World Cup meaning neither of the last competition’s finalists even qualified for the last 16. At least England weren’t that bad.

My Summer has begun. I am rather pleased with this. 10 weeks of being lazy, getting drunk and generally having a good time start here. Here is a brief(ish) list of all the things I ALREADY know I shall be doing: Leaver’s Ball, (possible) beach day, (possible) pool party, (possible) camping trip, Young Rangers campover, weekend in Center Parcs, one/several visits to Winchester, 3 18th birthday parties, a-level results, badminton coaching course and much, much more. Those are just things that have been planned or talked about so far. This is seriously going to be the best Summer of my life so far, possible ever.

I’m warn out thinking of all that. Tomorrow I shall post the next section of “The Saga of Mystery” and I shall be off to a posh hotel to celebrate the fact I’ve finished Sixth Form. How exciting!

We’re Through!

rediscovery: noun, the act, process or an instance of discovering (something) again.

The something? Me. I had some deep thoughts the other night about myself and I had a slight revelation. It’s time to stop letting others rule my life and start living it. I’m 18 and single so I can do pretty much what I want. After my last exam tomorrow my Summer begins and I’m going to make it the best Summer of my life despite how crap 2010 has been so far. I’m fed up of being miserable and I am going to be happy, whatever the world has to throw at me.

Anyway, on with the blog. My work experience was a little odd today as it was the school’s world cup day. In a rather unlikely result, Australia  beat Nigeria on penalties in the final. Unlikely seeing as though neither of them qualified.

Speaking of the World Cup, today was England’s last chance to qualify for the next round and we were successful thanks to a one-nil win (though it would have been more if it hadn’t of been for some excellent saves my the Slovenian keeper. We have to play Germany in the next round and the chances of us beating them are slim but it will at least be an exciting game.

Staying with the sport, I spent several hours watching the longest tennis match EVER. Isner and Mahut reached 59-59 in the final set after ten hours of play at Wimbledon. AND it hasn’t even finished yet. It shall continue tomorrow and will there ever be a winner.

I am always really pleased when I take a nice picture and I was pleased with the one below. Lovely, don’t you think?

And now I must say a thank you. To you, for reading this. Since the start of June 191 people have viewed this blog from 22 different countries. Over 100 of these are us Brits! Also thanks to people who have commented lately, a nice comment always puts a smile on my face.

So tomorrow my Summer begins but I have to get that final exam out the way first…

A Bizarre Dream, the Budget and more World Cup

I awoke this morning with the background music from Doctor Who stuck in my head. This was because it was playing in my head throughout a dream where I was the Doctor’s companion. We were in Winchester (except I don’t really know what Winchester looks like yet so my head made it look like a Cornish village) and the whole village had bizarre circumstances where every sign and every product in the shop, somehow related to the Doctor. We were then chased by the skeleton of a giant cat and I woke up. This may have been a look into the future when the budget cuts really affect Series 6.

Speaking of budgets, today was the Emergency Budget where the coalition government told us how they are going to cut the deficit. I was actually quite impressed with it as the coalition did a rather good job. They are increasing VAT in January which is going to be a bit of a bitch after just having got used to how much things cost after a few months at Uni and they are selling the student loan books- I have no idea how that will affect me but it will probably cost me some money. The good news is the tax rise on cider has been reversed. Considering cider is the main alcoholic beverage I drink, this is a good thing.

An amazing World Cup game this afternoon saw South Africa beat France two-one. Sadly the hosts didn’t qualify for the next round but at least they didn’t finish bottom of the group as France did! Then this evening I watched an exciting game between Nigeria and South Korea to see who would qualify for the next round. It was a two all draw meaning South Korea qualified along with Argentina.

As a bonus for being so lovely and reading this blog you can now view it in “World Cup” Mode, just click here.

This evening on my walk I saw a fair variety of wildlife: a green woodpecker, a mouse, long-tailed tit fledglings and a treecreeper. It’s being able to see those things so close to my house that make my walks so enjoyable.

Geology Exam

I awoke at 7 AM this morning. It felt weird seeing as though it’s been nearly three weeks since I have seen such an early time. I found Mike (with his dramatically reduced hair) and Lloyd and soon the time came to head over to the exam room. Desk C5 was waiting for me. The exam paper arrived and I couldn’t help but smile at how straight forward it was. OK, it was no walk in the park but my revision served me well, enabling me to answer all but two questions easily. AND there was a question on trilobites which made it all the better.

So I now have just one exam to go, a resit of the geology exam from January. Hopefully I can do well in that one too and then I my summer begins.

It’s been an interesting day for sport. Portugal thrashed North Korea an incredible 7-0 and at Wimbledon Roger Federer narrowly made it into the second round after losing the first two sets. The world cup is getting to the exciting stage where teams are really battling to get through to the next round so from here on in the boring games cease.

Today appears to be “be mean to Dan” evening. This used to be a monthly event but due to it’s popularity seems to have become weekly. To take part just be as horrible as you can to me with no regards to my feeling whatsoever. It’s fun for everyone- except me of course.

I haven't mentioned her for a short while now so I must say hello once again to Miss Anon. She comments on this blog every day without fail which is really nice. Seeing as though you won’t tell me who you are then you could at least answer me two questions Miss A: 1) Do I know you? 2) Have you been doing exams this year? That’s all my asking, please answer. If nothing else it will help with the story.

And to finish I have a couple of pics of the finishing touches to our living room:

 

A picture of a wolf. In three panels. Just…because.

The new curtains. They’re not exactly exciting but they are much better than the horrific green one’s which were there before.

And it’s nonsense like this that means my blog is worth reading!

The (Slightly Early) Monday Review

I normally do this on a Monday. This is a Sunday. Explanations later, reviewing now. Let’s go.

Books

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry This is a book which mashes 2 genre’s together as many musicians are claiming they are doing at the moment. The difference here is that it works. Basically it’s about terrorists creating a disease which turns people into zombies. Horror and spy/action all in one.This is done in a comedic as well as thrilling way and the plot always keeps you on your toes with twists around every few page turns. Clearly if you dislike either action or horror books this isn’t for you but for everyone else it is well worth a read. There is a sequel that doesn’t feature zombies too and it is being converted to TV by ABC so that shows how good it is.

Films

Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi. Once again a first viewing for me and the most important thing about this film is how it continues from the last film and ends the series. It does both of these things very effectively though fairly predictably. There is one plot twist towards the middle of the film I did not know about or see coming so that kept things fresh. This finale to the saga contains the sci-fi action we got used to and C3PO and the ewoks add some comedy too. My two niggles are that it was very predictable most of the time and I’m not sure there was a need to have aliens such as Jabba the Hutt and the ewoks speaking in a different language, it just got annoying. But all in all it deserves to be called a modern classic.

Games

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii). The first game was so good they made another and my first worry was that it was going to be little more than a ploy to make more money off the original. This is not the case. The addition of Yoshi as well as the drill, cloud suit and rock suit means there are some more original gameplay ideas and it still feels fresh. The game also takes some of the ideas used in the first game and expands on them greatly, such as the idea of a golf-based galaxy. Also the difficulty has been put up a notch to make it more satisfying. But don’t worry if you never played the first one because it has a gentle introduction and a DVD of how to play even comes with the game. One of the best computer games ever made.

Avalanche (Flash game, play here). Ordinarily I wouldn’t have talked about this but I’ve become addicted to it over the last few weeks. The premise is simple: you are a penguin on a sledge and you need to escape the avalanche. You must jump and get a little further by flapping your wings (not much further) to avoid obstacles and make the other end of the level. It sounds rather simple but creators Nitrome add lots more interesting things to use (like cable cars and sheep) and to avoid or generally make the game more difficult. There is also a survival game which lasts forever. So this game literally is limitless… If you play online flash games why not give it a go?

Reviewing done. So why am I doing this a day early? Well it’s because I have loads of things to talk about tomorrow such as the geology exam I’m doing. First thing in the morning. So I really should get to bed.

The Saga of Mystery, Part 1

THIS IS A FICTIONAL BLOG. I wrote this for fun and this story stems from my mysterious anonymous commenter refusing to tell me who they are…

It was an ordinary Saturday and the boredom of revision drove me to take a walk around the lake and I  should just have been back in time to see Doctor Who. As I was walking past an alley I saw a man I didn’t like the look at. He seemed very ordinary- perhaps a bit too ordinary. He was wearing dark glasses, which seemed unusual for the lack of sun today, and he had clearly spent a while styling his hair that morning. Probably with wax. No-one uses gel these days. I miss those times.

Anyway, so this guy seemed normal but that was just what worried me. Nobody is like that round here. He seemed to be listening intently to someone on the phone. As I noticed him I clenched my fist’s ready to fend off an attack if needs me. I know that’s a little over the top but I really am that paranoid.

As the road and the footpath snaked away from the alley the man left it and started walking in the same direction as me. I knew this as I kept peering over my shoulder to keep an eye out, fists still clenched. Ten minutes later I had nearly reached the lake but the man was still following me. If this man really was following me then heading into a secluded area probably wasn’t the best idea. Instead I headed into a small cul-de-sac hoping the man wasn’t following me and would continue walking down the main road. Unfortunately my hopes, as ever, didn’t live up to much and the man turned down the cul-de-sac. There was no doubt about it now, he was definitely following me.

I continued walking towards one end of the street, pondering what my next move was. Who was this man? Why was he following me- I presumed he meant harm of some kind. And how was I going to escape?

Then I heard the sound of a vehicle screeching into the cul-de-sac. It was a white van and it dramatically halted in front of me. A man got out and started heading towards me and as I peered over my shoulder once more I realised that the man from the alley was now running in my direction. They were after me.

As the van-man tried to grab me I swung a punch which loosened his grip for a moment. But before I knew it the man from the alley ran up behind me and stabbed a needle into my arm. I quickly lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

*

I awoke in the dark, full of pain. I attempted to move my arms only to find them tied to a chair. Here I was, in a strange place, abducted for no obvious reason. What on Earth was going on?

Suddenly I was blinded as the light flickered on. The man from the alley had entered the room. The room itself seemed to be an empty office room, with just the chair I was tied to in the centre of the room.

“How are you feeling?” Alley-man asked. I gave him the most evil look I could muster up.

“Crap,” I replied. “Who are you? What do you want for me?”

“My name is Angelo. My boss ordered me to bring you here. She has been watching you for a while. She has even had a little contact with you”.

“What do you mean?”

“She commented on your blog. But she has been watching your every move over the last month. You wondered who she was? Well you’re about to find out”.

Angelo cut the rope tying me to the chair and I followed him out of the room. I was about to meet the mysterious Miss Anon, find out who she was and perhaps I would find out what all this was about…

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know what you thought and what do you think will happen next? Part 2 will be here sometime during the week!

Forty Years of Hurt

This is going to be a very footbally entry and I am sorry if you don’t like that sort of thing but skip to the capital letters further down if you like.

Today’s first game was Germany Vs. Serbia and it was expected to be an easy German win. They lost one-nil. It was great to see the German’s losing actually and the added bonus of having Chris Moyles and Comedy Dave (from BBC Radio One) commentating, with sound effects, made it more enjoyable. 

After Slovenia and the USA gave us the best result we could have hoped for, a two all draw, it was time for England to play Algeria. Perhaps our easiest game in years. David James replaced the useless Robert Green and there was much optimism about the game. An hour and a half later it finished nil nil in a horrendously boring game. The England team were useless. Favlar was furious, but then again he didn’t exactly use the tactics every single person sat at home thought he should use. We desperately need to beat top of the group Slovenia on Wednesday now but it seems winning the cup is now fairly unlikely. This is why I rarely watch football.

CONTINUE to read here if you are a non-football fan.

I had a scary thought tonight. I really want to go back to the normality of 6th Form life. But the scary thing is that will never happen. Even if I end up repeating the year it would still not be the same as all my friends would have left. I’m an adult now and it amazes me to think how much I have grown up and understand the world. I’m not claiming to be a life guru but I know how things work now. As a child alcohol was a no-go danger drink that had to be avoided at all costs. It’s actually really fun to get drunk and I don’t even get hangovers. The time of thinking a relationship with a girl was weird are long gone. And it turned out it wasn’t even as simple as that nice feeling inside when I had my first girlfriend. Love is extremely powerful. I don’t really know where I am taking this paragraph really. Just that my childhood is rapidly disappearing into the past and the fear of entering the real world grows ever stronger. I also need to work out back-up plans for if I fail to get into Uni in the near future.

Tomorrow will be a rather different entry- it will be entirely fictional and begins a short saga featuring Miss Anon, the mysterious commenter. Exciting stuff!

Frogs, An Egg and Allotment 9#

Today’s blog has an environment and nature theme!

We noticed a little while ago that we had frogspawn in the pond and we watched as tadpoles began to appear and grew bigger. I managed to catch one today and it turned out they should be called froglets rather than tadpoles now. They look like really small frogs with a slight tail. This means soon there will be an army of small frogs hopping around our garden!

I found this egg below whilst out on my walk. It’s probably a blackbird or song thrush egg but could be either as they are closely related. It was just lying on the pavement. Birds drop eggs a fair distance away from their nests so that predators do not find the egg and use it to find the nest. Oh and the thing that looks like is sticking out of it is actually just a bit of bird poop stuck on the edge. The egg wasn’t cracked so I guess this one didn’t hatch.

I went to the allotment and had a look at how thing’s are doing. The potato plants have grown loads over the last few weeks and now swamp the box they’re in.

 

Everything is growing well in this box too. Carrots at the front, peas on the sticks and garlic at the back.

 

Things are as good here but this is the “experimental” box. The squash nearest the camera is doing OK though and we don’t expect much from the rhubarb at the back until next year so hopefully it’s going to be OK. But that little cucumber plant to the left of the pic- it doesn’t look good.

And back home in the garden the strawberries are growing well and are beginning to ripen!

To end I having a little something that I am rather excited about for no particular reason. This is my name translated into Russian:

Дэниел Хью.

History (The Tudors) Exam

So the exam I’ve been waiting for. The Tudor’s have been taking over my life in recent months with constant mentions about them on this blog and they have even appeared in my dreams. I actually had some confidence before this exam and it turned out I was right to be confident. The exam went rather well and hopefully I have secured the “B” I need.

On the way home from my exam I went to the allotment to give a bit of a water. It’s going rather well down there and I will have an update about that, our strawberries and the tadpoles in our pond. An eco-entry coming tomorrow.

This evening I finally got round to buying Super Mario Galaxy 2! It’s as awesome as it’s predecessor and the added joy of being able to ride Yoshi makes it amazing! I will be reviewing this amongst other things in my Monday review (which will be on Sunday this week!).

The mystery of the anonymous commenter deepens. They are female but they refuse to tell me who they are. Perhaps they are some randomer or maybe someone I know? Mystery unsettles me and this is certainly a mystery. If I find out nothing more about you Miss Anon then I am going to have to give you a name.

And that’s all I’ve got time for today. Well actually I could write more but I have nothing more to say. Eco-friendly entry tomorrow!

English Lit Exam and Nintendo @ E3

Today was the day of possibly the most daunting exam I have, English Literature with my success depending on what came up. So what did come up? In the first question we had compare some extracts from prose and the second we had a poem and an extract from a play about “views on the nature of love”. It was hard but I think I did OK, hopefully at least as much as I need. I didn’t stick around to find out everyone’s opinion but the word “horrendous” echoed through the building as I hurriedly left. Which is quite pleasing in a way as I think though I didn’t do amazingly well I at least did OK.

I promised I would talk about the poem which featured so here we go. It was The Definition of Love by Andrew Marvell. I’m not going for a full analysis here (I’ve already done that once today) but it’s a pretty nice poem when you have grasped the meaning. The title kind of displays the idea and it’s the whole “the world will end if we don’t get together” thing. Nice poem with some brilliant language (do you know any poems with the word “planisphere” in?)

I have had a bit of a nerdgasm this evening watching Nintendo’s conference at E3 (live streaming of course). This is the place where they announce new games. To my excitement, coming to the Wii soon are Zelda, Donkey Kong Country Returns and a remake of the classic N64 game 007 Goldeneye. And it looks like a perfect remake:

On top of that Nintendo gave more details of their next handheld console, the 3DS. It will be in 3D but without the need for glasses. It has two cameras so you can TAKE PICTURES in 3D. And oh, the games that are going to be on it. An incredible 73 have already been announced and these are the one’s I am interested in: FIFA, Sims 3, Pacman, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart, Paper Mario, Pilotwings, Star Fox 64, Sonic, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid. It’s just incredible. No word of when and how much the 3DS will cost yet but when it does I just HAVE to buy it. Never before have have I been so excited by a material object. Here’s a picture of the 3DS to end my nerdgasm:

Excitement finish now. Tomorrow holds my two hour history exam on the Tudors. It should be fine (it’s the one I’m most prepared for) but I just want to get it over with now. Having now completed a whole A-level I want to get them all done. The fun never stops!

The Mood Rollercoaster and the Football Gets Boring

I normally review stuff on a Monday, don’t I? I’m afraid that feature will have to take a break this week as I haven't had the time to read or watch much. Instead I have a few admin things to discuss and some general life updates! (Bear with me!)

First I must thank my Aunt and Mr/Miss Anonymous for commenting on my last post.(Who are you anonymous, let me know!) You did make me feel better. For most of the day I felt pretty rubbish actually but this evening my mood lightened up again. My moods change really quick at the moment. To be fair I have been through a fair bit lately and that combined with the stress of exams means at times I really become a mess. It’s a wonder I manage to keep going really but I must stay strong and the support of the people who care means a lot.

My trip out the house today was for a walk and a bit of a think and where better to do that then here:

I’m so lucky to have such a beautiful place right near my doorstep!

Tomorrow I have the 2 and a half hour English Lit exam which may or may not be impossible. It really depends on what extracts and themes they choose so fingers crossed they are good ones! On Wednesday I have the 2 hour history exam which should be fine but two long exams so close together is rather stressful.

I wrote a new poem today! It’s quite dark and depressing but I kind of wrote it as if I was someone else so don’t worry that I’m completely losing it (only slightly)! Read “After Death” here.

The World Cup has been rather boring over the last few days. There have been a few more useless goalkeepers such as Algeria’s but most games haven’t been that exciting. Germany look by far the best team in it so far after there four nil win against Australia. Having said that Argentina, with Messi, look like they could be amazing if they step it up a gear and we’ve yet to see Spain or Brazil play. If England come second in our group we will have to play Germany and if that happens we will get annihilated. It’s going to be another year of hurt for England fans it seems…

I’ve been quite chatty tonight haven't I? This is probably due to my new design. I didn’t plan to change so soon but I prefer something brighter. If you are reading this on Facebook you will have no idea what I’m going on about but read my actual blog page (here) to have a gander.

With that I shall leave you for another evening but I will of course be back tomorrow. It’s great having this increased readership and remember guys and girls I love getting your comments so type something in down below and I’ll have a fit of excitement. Possibly.

Adieu!

Feeling Miserable

I feel I have the right to be a little miserable here today. I’m normally pretty happy and chirpy in my blogs but today is a little different. It’s my blog, I’m allowed.

 

This is going to be a paragraph of quick but painful thoughts:

 

I hate exams. I am supposed to be studying but I have hardly done any. I am lonely all the time. I have no life. I rarely speak to someone my age face to face. I have yet to achieve anything in my life other than wasting people’s money. This may continue for the rest of my life. I want to be in love again.

 

That summarises most of my thought’s tonight. The thing I want most is friendly people. There is a lack of them in the 21st Century. People telling me they enjoy something I’ve made or written, people making me laugh. I just don’t get many of them any more. If you are nice you might write a comment saying you enjoy reading this blog but I can guarantee when I wake up in the morning there will still be no comments.

 

On Twitter this evening I even got caught by the swear police which just generally pissed me off a little bit more.

 

There is only really one way to end this post: FML.

A Long Cycle Ride (B.I.D 33#) and a Nation Heartbroken

After entering the real world from one of sleep at about half 11, it wasn’t long before me and Chris met up for an epic cycle ride.

 

We had no real plans for where we would go which is a first for me as I always like to be organised. This means I can cross another off my list of things to do before I die, number 33.

 

In total we cycled about 15 miles and went through some pretty cool places. One of these was a beautiful village called Bicton which was by a the river. We somehow ended up in Fordingbridge and from there we got a little lost. We stopped at a small corner shop in Sandleheath which incidentally sells just about everything you could possibly want from a corner shop.

 

It began to be a bit worrying for a while as we really had no idea where we were and ended up in Alderholt. Eventually though we found signs directing us back to Ringwood and followed them for the six miles back, with a short stop in the lovely Old Beams pub for a cold drink.

Overall a rather enjoyable, if exhausting, day. Me and Chris had a good laugh which is what it’s all about really. Now my legs and my bum hurt a fair bit. Exercise is a fairly unusual activity in my life these days.

 

This evening was England’s first game in the World Cup, against the USA. It started off rather well with Stevie G banging one in the back of the net during the fourth minute. The celebrations were ruined when our goalkeeper for the night, Robert Green, dropped the ball and it rolled into the goal. Fail Blog sums this moment up well:

 

Suddenly the hope of winning the World Cup seems much lower if we have goalkeeping like that and can’t beat the USA. We clearly don’t have a chance against teams like Spain and Brazil!

Would You Rather? and Sporty Talk

I’m supposed to be revising today but I haven't really achieved that goal whatsoever. Instead I have found lots of other things to do, such as writing the first part of this blog.

 

As promised, it’s time to play “Would You Rather?”

 

Would you rather have a talking tree or a talking wall? A talking tree. It would probably have been there longer and therefore would have more to say.

 

Would you rather be attacked by a Transformer, Godzilla or the Stay Puff'd Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters? Marshmallow man because he doesn't really have any weapons or easy ability to kill. And is less frightening.

 

Would you rather live in sadness for the rest of your life or would you rather live with complete boredom? Boredom. You can be bored and happy I guess.

 

Would you rather be bitten by 3000 mosquitoes or never see your family ever again? I would rather never see my family again. Mosquitoes are nasty.

 

Would you rather stand up in front of a thousand people and tell them you have a teeeeny tiiiiiiny cock or get naked and run through your school/college/uni/workplace whatever? Get naked and run through college. Well any excuse to get naked really lol.

 

Would you rather lose your sight or your hearing?

Hearing. I like to see pretty things- and pretty girls lol :p

Would you rather lose both arms or both legs? Both legs. I need arms but a wheelchair replace legs.

 

Would you rather be deathly allergic to flour (excluding cakes from your diet) or dairy (excluding ya know, ice cream/frozen yogurt)? Flour. That would rule out bread and pizzas for me, I hardly ever eat cakes anyway. And with the amount of cheese I eat, I never want to be allergic to dairy products.

 

My trip out the house today was to play some badminton. I ended up playing some really long games with five going over 21 points. I even lost one game 30-29 which is the highest I’ve ever got too. I was so tired after all that.

 

It seems the blog feature I did the other day has gone down well and thanks to two of the blogs mentioned for returning the mention. These two bloggers are now in contact with one another which I quite like.I love reading people’s blogs almost as much as I enjoy writing my own so expect a return of that feature in the near future.

 

I’m sorry if it’s your not your thing but I’ll talk about the World Cup most days. Generally I’ll stick it at the end so you can just stop reading if you want. I watched the opening match, South Africa Vs. Mexico and it was quite exciting despite being a one all draw. My favourite name of a player so far is Tshabalala. I didn’t get to see France Vs. Uruguay but it was a nil-nil draw and it seems France are playing rather badly at the mo’. Tomorrow is England’s first game, which I’m looking forward to and before that me and Chris are venturing out somewhere on our bikes, which should be a laugh!

AS History Resit and an Awesome Toy

I am so tired right now but I find the need just to write this before I retire to bed. I’m rather odd.

 

I hate having an exam in the afternoon as it gives me all day to worry about it. I spent much of the morning feeling nauseous and not being able to sit still. I don’t normally get too nervous about exams but this time the exams seriously mean something AND are hard so there’s a lot to worry about.

 

After having a chat with Paul, it was time for me to take my seat. My first thought was that the school have bought some new exam desks so I didn’t have the usual scribbles of boredom on the desks. The exam turned out to be on the topic I least expected but was best prepared for (quite fortunate really). After an initial panic I sailed through doing all the correct things and generally sounding like a historian. Hopefully I should get a decent mark this time around.

 

Now that I was much more relaxed I met Gemma and we went down town. I’m not really sure of the purpose of this but I enjoyed it and we had a good time. We also purchased some Kinder Eggs and check out the awesome toy in mine:

I’m such a kid!

 

I have four exams left now so it’s all things go in revision terms. Next week with my two longest exams in is going to be a challenge. Assuming I do well in these exams and get into Uni, I will only have one more exam to do for the rest of my life, at the very end of Uni. I truly hate exams and think the system should be completely overhauled and taken back to classroom level.

 

My brother is doing work experience at a hotel at the moment. He seems to be enjoying it but I’m quite jealous of how much better it seems than my own work experience in a wildlife sanctuary was. He has a timetable of tasks and all but one of the staff are apparently quite nice. Plus, he gets to throw stuff down a laundry shoot, which sounds amazing.

 

Sadly I do not even have time to make tomorrow a day off so I’ll be busy revising for most of the day but it should be a good blog entry as I shall be playing a game of “Would You Rather…?” If you have any suggestions for questions post them below.

A longish walk and loving some links

The most major thing which happened to me today was during my work experience at Junior School. They were walking up to the local common to discuss how it could be improved. I was even given my own group to look after which was a bit of a pain actually. It was quite a long and fast walk and on returning to the school I then had to walk all the way home.

 

OK, this next feature has been on the cards for a while but I have only just got round to doing it. I am going to share with you some links to other blogs which are fairly similar to this one which I enjoy reading myself. (They are in no particular order by the way).

 

Arrant Nonsense by Matt Tidby- Tidders is actually a friend of mine and his blog therefore discusses similar things (and mentions me at least once). He only posts very occasionally but you get some true feelings presented in a humorous way.

 

Howlie's Blog Thing by Misha Anker- This is by a girl similar to me who describes herself as an “armchair activist, cake connoisseur and student musician with aspergers syndrome”. I discovered this blog through the blog of comedian Mark Watson. Worth a read, especially if you’re a cat lover!

 

Just a Small Town Girl by S*J- This is actually quite similar to mind and S*J posts daily which is nice. She’s currently doing her GCSE’s and as I know the future from there is quite interesting. It’s a nice blog to read and one of my fave’s.

 

My World by Vas- This is another blog by someone currently doing GCSE’s. She has an interesting one-post-a-month thing going on which makes it quite easy to follow. (Also I got my flag viewer from here, so thanks for that :p).

 

The Files: Clare Actman- OK, so this blog is a little different from mine but it’s another one I enjoy reading. Clare writes her thoughts on a selection of random things and she does so very entertainingly.

 

I’m going to let all those people know I’ve mentioned them and well done to all of you, keep up the good work.

 

My first exam is tomorrow and it’s a resit of history from last year. Hopefully I won’t mess it up a second time. Fingers crossed!

Historical Dreams and Real-life Conversations

This is going to be a bizarre little entry due to the fact I am in an odd little mood this evening and my lack of sleep over the last few nights is catching up on me.

 

Last night I had a dream which involved the Tudor's in a reality TV show to find out who was the best. Henry VII and Elizabeth I were in the final. Now I can revise AND sleep at the same time.

 

For the first time since Sunday I ventured outside of the house this morning. It was for a history revision class but frustratingly Mr R wasn’t there. We were instead greeting by Mrs R who gave us some paperwork. It seemed a pretty wasted journey really. The 6th Form block was quite spooky as there were no lights on upstairs and exams everywhere meaning it was deadly silent. 

 

I returned home and set to work doing revision. Although my revision hasn’t been in huge quantities it has been very effective. Speaking of revision, you may as well check out this little video I recorded earlier:

 

This evening I went for another walk with Kyla and we had a nice little chat. I’m pretty lonely at the moment and it’s only when I have long conversations like this one I actually realise. This made up for it really.

 

In other news, Tidby has left Facebook and is now solely on Twitter. I find that despite checking Facebook constantly I never say anything on there. It is a good way of spreading news, information and photos and of keeping in touch with people I might otherwise not do. And sadly I still use Farmville. So Facebook remains a rather pointless part of my life.

 

I’m beginning to get a little nervous that my first exam is only two day’s away. I have much more confidence at this set of exams than the AS exams but there is always the worrying niggle of what will happen if something goes wrong. Winchester Uni is waiting for me and I can’t let that change.

 

I feel I could go on discussing random things all night but I will leave it there. Tomorrow I shall briefly tell you about my day and will share some blogs similar to this one which I quite like.

 

Cio!

The Monday Review

After the success of doing this last week I have decided to make it a regular feature. It’s just a few short reviews on various things.

 

TV Shows

Doctor Who, Series 5, Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor.This episode saw the Doctor and Amy meet Vincent Van Gogh. It’s a slightly different episode which features very little of the aliens but a lot of the greatest painter to ever live. It was written by rom-com writer Richard Curtis and he did an amazing job. This has to be one of the best episodes of the series so far.

 

Glee (Season 1, Episode 1). This is another show a lot of people rave about so I decided to watch it. Unfortunately I didn’t even get through the whole pilot before I got bored. The formation of a Glee club really doesn’t interest me and I could already work out what storylines were going to happen in the future. I have heard a lot of Glee songs and they are perfectly good songs that have been cheesed up and destroyed. This does appeal to a certain kind of audience but that is certainly not me.

 

Horrible Histories. This is a kid’s show which is a series of sketches which tell the horrible side of history. It’s based on the books of the same name by Terry Deary. Though it isn’t much help in teaching history it’s a great laugh and has some incredible puns. I can see lots of kids getting into history because of this.

 

Movies

Star Wars, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. This was the first time I have seen this film, I’ve only ever Episode 4. I enjoyed this very much as it picks up the story and takes it to exciting new places. There doesn’t seem to be much of a plot for a lot of it but then towards the end an exciting plot does form. The introduction of Yoda is a stroke of genius. The ending isn’t really satisfying as it makes you want to watch the next film straight away. Very enjoyable and it is obvious why it is a modern classic. I shall be reviewing Episode 6 here next week.

 

Games

Doctor Who: The Adventure Games. This is available to UK users for free on the BBC website. It doesn’t take a very powerful system to run and the graphics aren’t too shabby. It’s episodic and the first and only episode released so far is City of the Daleks. The Doctor and Amy arrive in 1963 London only to discover the daleks have destroyed it. The fact the Doctor does not use violence means the gameplay is fresh and pleasingly different. It’s not that difficult but I think most players will end up being exterminated at some point. Considering this costs nothing, it is awesome. If you like Dr. Who, download it!

 

That’s all the reviews you’re getting today but there will be more next week and if you have any suggestions of things to review, let me know!

B.I.D. 29#

Number 29 on my list of things to do before I die is to own a pet. I have now owned a fair few pets and here I shall tell you a little about them.

 

The first pet I had was a cat called Dusty. My family bought her for £3 a year before I was born. As a baby she used to sit next to me until I stopped crying. She was with us until I was 17 when she sadly had to be put down on Christmas Eve. People that don’t earn pets don’t realise how much a part of the family they become. I was so upset to lose Dusty.

 

I currently have two cats called Sherbet and Minstrel. Minstrel is 7 and she is a soppy cat who always wants attention and a stroke. She is fat and stupid but lovely.

Sherbet enjoys killing most of the local wildlife and ripping it to shreds in the front room. She is very nocturnal and is normally asleep during the day. She is lovely though when she wants to be.

We have had other pets as well as cats. When I was very young we had a rabbit called Benjy who was massive and him and Dusty used to chase each other around the garden. We also had several hamsters who tended to live for a few years and were hardly seen during that time.

 

Owning a pet is likely to eventually lead to the loss of that pet as most animals will die in a human’s life time except tortoises and some parrots. But having one is great fun and they also create good company when you need it most.

I do some odd jobs

I had my penultimate session of Young Rangers today. We had a random selection of things to do.The first of these was to help the kids group clear weeds from their vegetable patch. It was one of those jobs that sounds easy but in the heat of today was actually hard work.

 

The next job was to clean the disabled fishing platform of all the bird crap on it. Here my amazing brushing skills came into great use and the job was done effectively.

 

Finally a few people used the waders to go into the lake and remove some reed. My job was to take said reed from these people and throw it in a bush. A fun day all in all.

 

Time to reveal the answer to the question I posed yesterday, what colour is this, the new colour of our front room, according to paint company Dulux.

It’s called “Totally Nutmeg”. Of course!

 

I hope you like the new look of this blog, it’s awesome isn’t it. Read that notice over there > though please, don’t complain that some of the old posts are hard to read.

 

This evening consisted of watching Dr Who and playing the new Dr Who game. The game is quite enjoyable so far but I keep getting exterminated by daleks. I will be reviewing both of these, along with a book and hopefully a film, on Monday’s review- yes, I’m making it a regular feature, it was very enjoyable.

A Flamboyant Journey across the internet and musical world

This entry is in two distinct sections today, which is rather organised of me. And you must forgive me as my way with words this evening seems to be particularly flamboyant.

How I love the internet and the bizarre things it houses. I discovered a few excellent things today, as listed here.

1) My latest fave site is Formspring where people ask you questions and you answer them. They revamped the site today and I love it. It just looks better. Click on the link to ask me some things which I will gratefully answer. Blatant plug over now.

2) Confused about what day of the week it is? Then visit “Is it Thursday”!.

3) Unless you have fallen down a hole and resurfaced just to read my blog (unlikely but I live in hope), then you will know about the large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A website shows you just how large by allowing you to place the oil spill where you live. Here it is swamping the South of England:

That is quite frightening. I plan to share some blogs similar to mine in the near future so be ready for that.

For the second part, I am going to take you on another magical journey by doing a five-song shuffle.

1) Fall Out Boy- Thnks Fr The Mmrs. I am still unsure as to why there are no vowels in the song title. This is a rock song with some clever lyrics filled with emotion. I can’t help but sing along.

2) Franz Ferdinand- Do You Want To. Many would see this as Franz Ferdinand’s version of Kylie’s classic hit Lucky, Lucky, Lucky. But I say that in a good way. This is another song I love singing along to, the lyrics are fantastically easy to pick up.

3) Grease- Love is A Many Splendored Thing. Yes, I have the Grease soundtrack on my iPod. No, I’m not gay. Fuck knows where this song is in the film though, I think it’s one of those background songs. Ignore this one.

4) Lady GaGa- Money Honey. An obscure album track from The Fame. This is a first listen for me. I love GaGa and this is another catchy lil track. I will certainly listen to this again.

5) Greenday- Give me Novacaine. A fairly light song from the rock band here, off their album American Idiot. Unlike many people, I like this album as much as some of the others. This particular song is about the adverse affects of drugs, and any song which such a positive message must be good.

The readership of this blog is gradually increasing and I have found I now have to do admin when I log on in the evenings. But I love it, feel free to comment and I will respond accordingly.

A Few Things…

I was working today and for some reason I always feel a bit anxious about it when I haven't done it for a while but I always get into it straight away. I had a good couple of sessions. The sensory room always makes me sleepy though…

This particular blog entry will just update you on a few random things I feel ought to be updated.

First up, the decoration of our living room. I arrived home and was told “Do not touch the walls” which reminded me, and later Tidders, of The Mitchell and Webb post-apocalypse game-show (watch this if it means nothing to you). The first few coats of paint have been applied but you can still see the old lime paint faintly. The lounge door is also now in the hallway, having been painted as well. I kept wanting to open it but there is nothing on the other side.

My emotions. Yes, you guessed it, still not good. Things have got worse over the last week for no particular reason. I am unsure how to live my life really. My life is just empty, waiting for something worthwhile to adopt it. And I feel like I really can never ever trust another human being completely. All humans have a bit of evil and untrustworthiness in them.

If you read my blog from yesterday you will notice my new found hatred for the shop Sports Direct. To add to the reasons mentioned yesterday, the cricket ball my brother bought has broken in ONE USE. It’s no wonder everything is so cheap if it’s that crap and their staff are that useless.

Enough of the updates, a new thing now. Weirdly enough I am now an official member of the England World Cup squad. Number 34,366. Here’s the proof:

OK, it’s not like I will ever play, it’s just a weird campaign on Facebook. I like it though!

I have somehow filled this blog up with random stuff. To celebrate my growing readership I am giving out a freebie to anyone that wants it soon. More details are coming in the near future. Tomorrow I will either be discussing the idea that evil lies in us all or will be talking about some random people I know. Or possible something entirely different- I haven't decided yet.

The White Rabbits of June

So June has cometh and it’s been a few days since I spoke about me and my life, which is odd considering that is primarily what this blog is about. The reason for this is that I have been in my house doing little of interest apart from the occasional trip out since Friday.Part of my brain keeps telling me to revise and another part says no. Literally all I’ve done since Friday is read Atonement which may or may not come in useful.

Whilst I have been lying on my bed randomly surfing the internet, my mum and dad have begun decorating the living room. The first problem was getting the wallpaper border off the walls in order to be able to paint on them. This has taken several days but tomorrow I believe the painting begins. I think residing in my bedroom is for the best at the moment.

Of course, I would be completely out of my mind by now if I hadn’t gone anywhere. Last night I when down to Boscombe with mum and dad, an area of Bournemouth that has recently been regenerated. £300 million was spent on a surfing reef that was supposed to make the waves bigger but it turns out it doesn’t actually work. The area is very nice now but oddly enough there are signs explaining how the surfing reef works. It’s so tempting to write “It doesn’t” on them!

This morning I accompanied the family on a visit to Castlepoint Shopping Centre. I bought a cheap DVD player for my room and then had to accompany my brother to buy an Xbox game and a cricket ball. The cricket ball was to be bought from a shop called Sports Direct. There I discovered a bag which was 70% off and decided to buy it. Unfortunately the one cashier was slow at dealing with the people in front, didn’t notice we were in the queue and then dropped the cricket ball. The service was so atrocious.

I have written another poem, which lies directly between the love and the loss of love ones I have already written (thematically that is). Read “I want to be alone with you” here.

A new feature on the right hand side of this blog is a flag counter. In three days this page has been visited by people from 9 different countries, including some odd ones like Panama and Luxemburg. I’m quite surprised at the number of people who read this blog but as we start a new month I would like to thank all those people!

A Few Reviews

As promised, today I have a collection of reviews of various different items, including cheese. A bit of a bizarre combination but hopefully it will be enjoyable to read.

Books

Alex Rider: Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horowitz. This is the tenth and most probably last book in the series about the 14 year-old who becomes a spy for MI6. OK, so it’s a kid’s book but I started reading the series when I was 14 and now I feel I have to finish off the series. Quite enjoyable and some really good chase scenes but the end seemed a bit weak. It was however a satisfying way to say goodbye to our hero.

Atonement by Ian McEwan.I have spent the last two days reading this “romance” story. A woman and a man fall in love but are cruelly parted by a lie told by the woman’s teenage sister. The man is sent to prison and ends up fighting in WW2. The ending is comes as quite a surprise-I won’t give anything away except by saying it’s not what you might expect. It’s an excellent story though the novel could be half the length as it is filled with a lot of unnecessary narrative. Generally though well worth reading!

TV Shows

Doctor Who, Series 5, Episode 9:Cold Blood. This is the second part of the story featuring the Silurian's. It doesn’t go into full scale war as threatened in the first part but it is yet another good episode.There are a variety of strong characters from this story which makes it good as well as more of a presence of Amy Pond. A bit of a shock at the end though and once again we seem to be waiting ‘til the finale of the series to find out what’s going on. They are certainly building it up…

Family Guy. After spending time with people who constantly quote Family Guy I decided to watch it and have now seen the entire first series. It seems very weird when you start watching it but after a few episodes it is rather enjoyable. Some funny story-lines and the hilarious side-gags make for lots of laughs. Also the baby, Stewie, who is intent on world domination and the dog, Brian, who talks and acts like a human, make the whole thing somewhat more enjoyable. You have to see this show!

Cheese

Taleggio. An Italian cheese which is often used for risotto, taleggio is rather strong. I like this but you may not.It is however quite soft and lasts for a long time which is a bonus. It actually says on the packet that mould adds to the flavour, which still seems wrong even for cheese. Basically, if you like strong cheese, you will like this.

Wensleydale. A cheese from Yorkshire, England which was made famous by Wallace and Gromit. It is a mild cheese that has a unique flavour and is rather crumbly so expect a mess! I fine it a bit too mild and boring but if your into mild cheese I’m pretty sure you will like this.

That’s it, done! An odd selection of things reviewed. I quite enjoyed doing this so I may do it again in the near future. Tomorrow I shall blog about my life over the last few days.