In case I ever get extremely bored ...

... this should prove entertaining.

Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and Scrubs.
The story should use legalizing gay marriage as a plot device!

Generated by the Terrible Crossover Fanfiction Idea Generator

I think it's Criticise Superheroes Week, though it's kind of unintentional

Yaay, whoo, etc., etc.
Issue two of Your Voice is finally out! I finally managed to get my article written today, and then compiled the last two pages.
Enjoy!

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Now playing: Fiction Plane - I Wish I Would Die
via FoxyTunes

Oh my God - it's a runaway!

I got mum to create a blog and add me as a contributor so that we can keep in touch via bloggings while I'm at Uni, seeing as Facebook practically makes me come over in a cold sweat whenever I even think about it. So, naturally, I made a perfectly awesome first post, and then figured I ought to post it here also, even though I think most of you have already seen the clip that I wrote about, and discussed it with me. It's too good to not share out again, anyway.
----

I like sharing things. Well, actually I don't. No, I do. Well, I like making people aware of the existence of a certain thing, and then reminding them that I was the first to know about it, which invariably results in them having no choice but to bow down to me in an act of complete and utter deference. So what do I have to share with you all today? Why, something totally awesome, of course.

Everyone loves a good giggle, right?
This has been a good year for comic book movies, so far. I would call them 'superhero' movies, except neither Batman nor Iron Man actually have any super powers - they simply rely on charm, teh monies, and a box of scraps (that last has to be roared angrily). Box office records have been smashed and snooty peeps have been shown that comic books isn't just kiddly escapism; there's, like, death, and wars, and um, playboys and stuff.

Which is just as well, really, considering the genre hasn't exactly received the best rap, in the past. I can't lay claim to ever having seen the whole of Supergirl (1984), which is a shame, because the one clip that I have seen from this film suggests to me that it is a chuckle-worthy romp through badder and badder-er. It's not camp in an Adam-West-as-Batman sort of way; it's just nonsensical. I discovered the clip over at io9 and immediately showed it to a bunch of friends, who all had the exact same reaction, more or less at the exact same time, which was essentially, "WHY IS THE MAN CRAWLING ON THE FLOOR?! RUN, MAN, RUN!"

What bemuses me the most, however, is Supergirl's utterly mundane use of her powers. Not only is she sitting around doing bugger-all in some diner while her boyfriend gets chased about by the runaway digger (you really have to see to believe), but then she super-runs (it probably actually is called something like that. I mean, Superman actually has a super-weaving ability, so it wouldn't surprise me) through the diner as though she has just realised how much time she has wasted, and figures she ought to make up for it. This is completely negated, however, by the fact that she then apologises to a waitress for being in a rush.

She then goes through a super-hair-colour-change and then, most bizarrely of all, shoots lasers out of her eyes to put out some dangerous sparks that are undoubtedly about to start a fire in the middle of the street. I'm sorry? What? Lasers + sparks does not equal nothing. It probably equals something along the lines of freaking lightning bolts or something. I really think that Supergirl needs a tactician to guide her in her actions, a bit like how the characters in the Fire Emblem game series are controlled by you, so they don't screw up and get massacred by bandits. Seriously, if this scene from Supergirl was available to play as a chapter in some turn-based strategy game, I would have Supergirl find a hose somewhere, instead of flying through that huge water tower and damaging it to such an unnecessary extent, make her spray out the tyre fire with the hose, then pick up one of the tyres and bash it about on the sparking cables a bit until they ... stop ... sparking.

Also, listen out for some of the things that are said in this clip. "Oh my God! A leg!" makes me giggle like a giddy school-girl. A leg?! Oh, sheeeet, you're kidding me. Where did that come from? Of course, the most perplexing line is the second-to-last: "A storm dragon?"
No, it's-- it's not--that's not-- just no.

Lil' Inez: "Miss, may I please audition?"
Velma von Tussle: "Aha haa, no of course not, but you may bow and exalt, for I am Miss. Baltimore Crabs"

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Now playing: Robbie Williams - Feel
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AND THEN JAKE SNAKE SHOT SOMETHING SPECIAL AT THEM

Yaaay, Kat-chan called me just over an hour ago to see how everyone had done in their exams, so I got to talk to her, but also - AYE BLEDREN - it was ME that she phoned. I am of the specialsauce. I kind of needed that actually, considering Richard goes on holiday tomorrow and came offline at nine tonight - I'm not going to be able to speak to him for about a week, apart from when he texts and whatnot and with BOTH my best friends on holiday this next week it's going to get looonely. Still, Frenchy has invited me around for next Friday/Saturday, so we'll have another of our mad film-watching sleepover things, which we haven't done in aaages. But yessings, was pleased to hear from Kat-chan, although her new phone apparently isn't working properly, which must be rather awkward - she had to use some payphone to call me and I could hear lots of background noise, as it was not quite even five o'clock over there. DAMN, I forgot to tell her what Ru's favourite Disney character is, which she asked for me to find out. Ahh, I'll try and let her know if she phones again.
Other than that, yes, this is just a post for me to be happy at the special call and because I had salmon for dindins.

Gaaah, awesomesauce is tired

Okay, there was this thing where we had to throw a surprise party for Ru's birthday, which was yesterday, so it was like "gaaah, party stuffings!" and then her dad got arrested the night before so we were like "zomg, will the party still be on?" and it WAS, so I had to tidy my room like mad because it was being hosted at mine but didn't have time to sort out my clothing so it got dumped all around my bed, and yes, that is ALL OF MY CLOTHING THAT HAS EVAR EXISTED, ON AND AROUND MY BEDDINGS. Rosie, who arrived at one so we could prepare, can't have been to many parties, for her idea of snack food is caviar and RYE BREAD and sour cream so I scoffed all the banana fritters. It was her, scene-Charlotte, Ru and myself to begin with, then Frenchy arrived about half-five. We were very tired, but I don't know why. Charlotte left at six, then Rosie at half-seven, so Ru, Frances and I sat on all my cushions and had nice times for a few hours and all the party poppers had been left off so there were streamers everywhere. Ru eventually left but Frenchy was staying over, so she, Alec and I decided we would watch The Terminator but we had to watch it in Alec's room, because mine was such a mess. We had no dindins, because mum and dad were out all day, at the beach, and then at some pub in a place called Felsted, celebrating their 20th Anniversary, so we just cooked some sausage rolls and Cornish pasties and shared them and while they were cooking, talked about films and Alec told us about Universal snapping up the rights to the Wheel of Time books, so we were like 'WTF?'. Then we watched the awesomeness that is The Terminator and then mum and dad got home, so we talked with them for a bit, then they went to bed and our film ended at half-twelve. I managed to clear A space in my room for Frances to sleep although we stayed up until two, talking about stuffs. I must have been very tired, because I said how much I hated "Mand and Rat" from WOT, and then this morning I told Frances that I would have a look for her "banana bottoms" instead of her pyjama bottoms :P. We woke up and went on the UCAS website to check if we had got into our Universities, because her cousin told her that you could do that after midnight and we were like "yaaaay" because we had. Then we walked to school and the results came out at 10 and we got there about quarter of an hour after that and I saw Ru, and Charlotte, and Matt, and Frances went to talk to Jane and I did not see her AT ALL AFTER THAT, so she must have gone to work shortly afterward or something. Megan appeared WITH HER MUM, who - for some reason - she must always have with her on Exam Results Day, and for some reason, she was crying before she had even got the results so it was like "gaaah, can't be bothered to talk to you" and then people gradually left so I went into town with Rosie and Ru. We went to Rosie's and were there for about twenty minutes or so, talking to her parents, and my mum called just as I was texting my results to my dad so I spoke to her and we tried to find out Eleanor's results, but some stupid woman at her school had just said to her "oh well done darling, you got 6 As" and then hung up without telling her how she had done in her AEAs (I know - she took a ridiculous number of subjects, but that's private school for you) and then we went into the centre of town because I still needed to deliver my mum's sandals to her, which she had asked for this morning in a text that woke me up and then we went to Golden Butterflies and treated ourselves to chocolate and it started raining so we were like "aaargh" and ran under some trees on the common. I texted Kat, but haven't had a reply yet, and then we ran up to a bench up the top of the common. We were there for maybe 15-20 minutes, but started to get cold, so we went to Rosie's, listened to Jake Snake parts 1 and 2 being read out, got Ru to join Encycloclique and then went down and made a selection of things for lunch, so I had pasta, tomato pesto sauce, fried rice, and fried chicken kiev which was very nice and filling and then we went back up and I showed them the legendary Supergirl clip and then we watched the last few minutes of the OC season 2 ending, which according to Eleanor was ridiculous and then we watched a spoof of it from SNL, which had a cameo from Shia LaBeouf. Then we somehow ended up combining "Mmmm, what you saa~aay" with "a storm dragon?!" and Jake Snake, and lay on Rosie's bed, very tired, and making silly jokes, and then listening to 'Endlessly', 'Unintended' and 'Escape' by Muse and being silly and awesome simultaneously (very few people can pull it off). Then I went home at about 4:15, because I had to be back for when Frances came to collect her sleeping bag on the way back home from work, except it is now 5:57 and I'm not sure where she is.

I've been avoiding coming home all this time because my room is such an abysmal mess. I'm tempted to post the pictures here, but fiddling about on photobucket trying to host them is the least appealing prospect right now, so screw that. I started to lose my voice last night from talking to much, so that combined with sleepiness and the fact that there is like NO clean crockery in our house because we used so much at the party and all the leftover food is still out in my room - all that is making me like "ORZ, ORZ" so yeah :P.
OH, my actual A-level grades. Yeah, that might help. English Language was an A, Film Studies was an A, Philosophy was a C, General Studies was a B, and obv I got the D in History last year after taking it all early, so that's like a huge wank'splosion in the face of GCSE-A-level prediction grades, considering they were like "oh, A*s in English and an E in crappy ICT thing means that you're capable of getting BBCC at A-level" and I was just like "mmmy, what you sa--" no, I didn't say that, actually. I hadn't heard that song by that point in my life.
I still need to look at the specific module grades and figure out HOW well I did :P but yeah, Bangor University here I come.

A not so peaceful start to the night

So, I wanted to write about this, as it was quite a traumatising situation for me to be put in, but I can't be bothered to type it all out in detail, so I'll just paste the conversation I had with Sephos about it.

Sophie says (15:13):
Helloes.
Sephos says (15:13):
Heys
Sophie says (15:13):
Coco ate a bird last night @_@
Well, most of it.
Sephos says (15:13):
A living one?
Sophie says (15:14):
Well, she killed it first. But she brought it up to my room.
I was lying in bed, starting to fall asleep, and then I heard her coming up my staircase, beside me. I could also hear this weird flapping sound.
Then she went around the room and started meowing weirdly, like she wasn't opening her mouth.
So I got up to have a look and saw that there was a bird in her mouth, still alive and flapping its wings as it tried to escape.
Sophie says (15:15):
Then I realised that my other cat was up here as well, and Coco was growling at him to leave her, because it was her kill.
So I went down to my parents' room,a nd they were still awake, and asked for their help.
My dad and I scared Coco downstairs, by waving a towel at her. first, she went under my bed, which made it difficult, but eventually we got her to go downstairs.
and she ran intot he garden with the bird, so i shut my door all night.
Sophie says (15:16):
but then i went into the garden alittle while ago, and under the table out there is a half-eaten little bird with ants crawling all over it >___>
Sephos says (15:16):
Thats
Rather gross.
Go Coco.
Sophie says (15:16):
I know!
Sophie says (15:17):
I would have just picked her up and taken her down, but I didn't want her to open her mouth and drop the bird on my feet @_@
Sephos says (15:17):
So your room was filled with bird blood and gore? o_______O
Sophie says (15:17):
no, just a few small feathres.
it didn't bleed or anything.
But outside, there is only half a bird with its guts hanging out.
when Coco came up here today, she ate some of the small feathers off my floor >__>
Sophie says (15:18):
i'm just glad i didn't see her eating hte bird
Sephos says (15:18):
Is it a bad thing she ate the bird?
Sophie says (15:18):
not necessarily.
just gross
and annoying that she lef the other half lying around in the garden
Sophie says (15:19):
i mean, it was nice of her to bring a gift to me and all that, but i really could do without a panicked injured bird flapping around in my room
Sephos says (15:19):
Make the other cat eat that.
Sophie says (15:19):
especially when I'm about to SLEEP >__>
nah, he wouldn't now taht it's not fresh.
besides, i don't think he eats the animals they kill

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Now playing: Muse - Starlight
via FoxyTunes

Things We Lost In The Hoover

No, this is not a film that supposedly catapulted Halle Berry back into classiness after the sassy-basketball-cat-fun of FAILDOM that was Catwoman (because you guys don't seem to know a lot about films, I'll clarify: I'm referring to her 2007 film Things We Lost In The Fire). This is literally about things my family have lost in the hoover. It's a very short story though.
So, my mum had the day off today, which was nice, though of course it did at one point give her the opportunity to tickle me >__<. She decided to take the hoover bag out into the garden, snip it open, then go through it to look for one of her amber earrings. I joined her. We didn't find the earring, but we found various bits of paper and plastic, and most noticeably a paintbrush and a pair of knickers.

Yeah, that's pretty much the story.

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Now playing: James Marsden - The Nicest Kids in Town
via FoxyTunes

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside

Well, the past week has been a little unusual. Had my last ever Greaves lesson on Tuesday, and my last ever Wilson lesson yesterday (I wound him up about how he made our Year 11 class a cake at the end of Year 11, and yet for the end of Year 13, he'd only made us a Language Change crossword. Then I looked at Megan's WANTED poster that Fraser had stuck up really high behind Wilson and asked the class at large if he was wearing the same tie in that photo as they one he was wearing in the lesson, and they all looked and laughed, and so then Wilson realised there was a big poster of him up behind him, and got very defensive about the 'LEGALLY DISINCLINED' comment).

Because I only had two morning periods yesterday, Mum then picked me up at break and we drove up to Norfolk to collect Minna, and took her to Southwold for lunch. Mum went paddling in the sea, which is mental because it must have been freezing, and I took photos of the pier, awesome beach huts (2), and the waves. Minna bought a dress in NOA NOA, but lost her sunglasses, and then we went walking up and down the street, checking out various art galleries and so on. We eventually left, and stopped for a cup of tea at Minna's and then Mum and I didn't get home until half-eight last night, by which time I was really tired (it was really windy walking along the beach, and the seaside always makes you tired anyway).

Today was our last day of lessons. At the end of Film, we gave a clap, which was rather anticlimactic, and Hansard was handing out a few goodies to those who answered his questions correctly. I correctly translated 'Les Mistons' to 'The Brats', so I asked what the 'booklet on the representation of women in film and TV' was like, because that sounded similar to what I'm going to write about for one of my exam questions, and Jess called out "Sophie, they're not going to be naked", which understandably induced a lot of laughter, though it was a bit awkward 'cos I wasn't sure if anyone was going to take it seriously. Talking of lesbianism, Rosie came out today, though I'll mention that in a minute. But yeah, the booklet turned out to not be what I hoped it would be (and no, that wasn't porn), so I gave it back to Hansard at the end of the lesson, but he said that I should still have a prize, so he gave me his copy of the Observer's film magazine.

Then we had Philosophy, during which we had to keep sending Haslam out, as Helen and Jane were still wrapping her presents, we didn't want her to see her Orchid, and we were all still writing the card (with Jane's hilarious drawings of us all on the envelope). Eventually, Amelia turned up, with BANANAGRAM, and Haslam brought in a load of doughnuts and chocolate. We played BANANAGRAM, with Amelia and I managing to win both matches just at the end - Helen had played before, so she, Jane and Haslam sped through, but Amelia and I are good with words, and she apparently had played it about twenty times last night with Eloise, her younger sister. I don't know how Ru and Nick did.

At break, I wrote my personal message to Natalia in her autograph book. I'll be bringing in my own tomorrow, of course, along with my camera.

Then Philosophy again, and we played another of Haslam's philosophy card games, which was even more difficult this time. At the end, Amelia dragged Katie Pink in from the corridor, and we gave her our cameras and phones to take class photos of us. Philosophy by far is the smallest class I've ever had xD.

Ru, Charlotte and I then had a free, so we stayed in S4 after Philosophy, and they wrote and drew on the board with a super strong sharpie that they both got slightly high off. I had a big cuddle with Ru, and then spent most of the hour writing a long message in her autograph book, which ended up being over two sides long.

At lunch, I discovered that our year photos had been available for a few days, so I went up to the office and retrieved mine, then swapped with Ru and Nat the little portrait photos. Kat and Matt are supposed to bring in theirs tomorrow so I can swap with them too. We all swapped stories about our High School experiences, and reminisced on what we remember from our shared lessons over the years. Even Natalie and Matt were able to share a few opinions, as a lot of the kids that went to Matt's primary school then went on to Newport Free Grammar (grrr), which is where Natalia went to High School. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, Rosie decided to inform us right at the end of lunch that she is a lesbian. Right after I joked that she had lost her virginity, to which she responded, "yes, I lost my virginity to Gerry and his meat" (we were all plagued by horrific images at that point), she then said "no, I haven't lost my virginity, and I never shall, as you shall now discover". Except, once she had said it, were all just like "yeah" and Ru said "they already know! I told you they knew" and Rosie seemed a bit bemused and told us she wanted us to accept it seriously, instead of as a joke, so I figured I'd speak up for the group and was like "yeah, Rosie, we know, and we have accepted it seriously. We don't care; be what you want". Immediately after, Charlotte looked up and was like "what?", as she'd been reading Natalie's autograph book and hadn't heard. But then Flett walked in, so Charlotte had to ask me in a whisper if Rosie had just said what she thought she had. So yeah, we're all cool with that. We figured it out ages ago (let's face it, staring at my cleavage for half an hour whilst lunching at The Olive Garden kind of gives it away).

Lastly I had English with Smith, who had been bringing lots of different cakes for her classes today, so we made tea and had cake and chocolate and Pringles (actually, that was just me). We got Flett to take photos of us all, and slowly everyone trickled out, so in the end it was just Smith, Megan, Alicia Grey, Grace, Chess, and myself, chatting about Uni and the end of the school days and so on. Charlotte Wright had a hockey stick that had been painted by Frances, which is to be presented to Mrs. Cox as Sixth Form's leaving gift, and she was getting as many people as possible to sign that, so I did. Mrs. Smith claims that she can see me in Film Production, or working for a TV station or something, because, I'm "organised and creative". I laughed it off and told her that I am really not organised, and Megan vouched for me, so she said that I'd certainly been fooling her for at least the past two years. Megan has been crying all day, and kept getting very teary and annoyed whenever somebody mentioned that it was "the last lesson ever". Then it was the end, and we all wandered off.

Megan and I met Ru and Rosie in reception, and then we spent an hour touring around the whole school, including all the corridors, Maths block and Sixth Form block. We left out Tech Block and the Sports Hall, but we went all around the rest, in rooms I haven't even seen for years, reminisced about all the crazy things that we remember happening in them. Actually, it was mostly me reminiscing. Megan was still crying, Rosie wasn't really that bothered, and Ru was just fairly quiet. But Rosie and I took the opportunity to slag off the display work in C13 one last time, like we used to back in the days of Year 11 breaktime. Unfortunately, E2, our form room in years 7 and 8, back when we had Miss. Collett, is no longer in existence; it became a part of the canteen extension a few years back, so we weren't able to go in there, but I did get a gorgeous photo of the Rose Garden.

As we were leaving school, I saw Alec outside the Tech block, who was just finishing his after-school detention. He said he was going into town before going home, so I went on my way. But when I got home, I realised I didn't have my key. It was too hot to go into town, and I knew Alec would be back soon enough, so I sat on the doorstep and started to read the magazine Hansard had given me in Film (see how it all worked out there?).

Now I need to figure out what I'm to wear tomorrow for Chilford Hall; Smith said to dress how you would for a wedding, but the last time I went to a wedding, I was thirteen, and hated dresses, so I wore a purple suit. Although the suit does still fit me, I don't think purple suits me anymore (I'm amazed it did back when I was thirteen). I'm thinking of wearing my black dress, and perhaps the purple jacket if it looks okay on me, but if I do that, then I can't wear any of my heels, because neither blue nor turquoise go with lavender. I think I shall have to ask my mum what she thinks I should wear, because I'm not able to figure anything out.
Dad left for another business trip today, this time to Sardinia. He'll be back on Saturday, but it means that - as he said to me last night - Wednesday was the last day he would ever wake me up for school, and he's been doing it for the past thirteen years, so that is weird.

Anyway, season 6 of 24 arrived from the library today, so I'm off to watch that now. Alas, Michelle and Tony absence makes me very sad, but it does at least have Bill, and Morris and Chloe are funny, and Audrey is in it briefly, though from what I understand, she's in captivity in China and in a pretty awful state, which is majorly saddening.

I really hate common phrases

Stuff happened at school today. Not a lot. I got burnt more. At lunch, it was just Matt, Megan, Scott and I. Scott was being a hobo during period four, lying on the bench in lots of clothes which should just be outlawed in the summer, and talking about pizza. So yeah, at lunch, just us four continued to sit out in the Rose Garden. It was all very boring. Eventually, Matt drove Megan and I into town, for which I'm grateful, and dropped us off at the entrance Church Street, from where we walked to the Museum. A group of people from our class, plus Mrs. Smith were already there, sitting out on the grass, but immediately I headed in the opposite direction, so of course Megan had to stress out. Oh gosh, I should never think to do something a bit different, should I? So, I even had to tell her that I would join them all in a minute, but nooooo, she still had to accompany me, as if I'm a child that isn't responsible for their actions and doesn't really know what they're doing. In truth, I was actually looking for the houses on the back of museum, because one of them is no. 32 Castle Street, my old house. Made my way through the undergrowth and eventually saw my old bedroom window. Brought back some memories. I wandered around the grounds, remembering all the times Alec and I used to play around there as kids, on his skateboard, playing football and stuff with Harry Wrigley and so on. Or even the time it snowed heavily and we hid behind the wall and when mum walked past, threw snowballs down at her on the street below. So anyway, I haven't actually been there for a bout five or six years, and definitely have not been inside the museum for about seven years. I wandered around inside with Megan, Daisy and Alicia Grey, but they eventually sat down, so I continued going around on my own while everyone congregated in the benches area. I found the lovely stuffed fox that I always used to stroke, and that made me very happy. Oooh, and Daisy and I pointed out the stuffed lion to Alicia, as she has never been there. I remembered the time when Holly Bacon once jumped out of the mummy room at me and terrified the life out of me. At about 2:50, we all met outside again, and then the nice lady who works at the museum, who I recognise from the times I did activities there, told us a bit about writing the displays, which was helpful.
That was a nice trip. We had to pretend that we had all met there by chance, somewhat randomly, because Smith couldn't be bothered to get permission forms from us just for a half-hour long trip, so when we arrived, she thanked us all for not getting run over by busses. Then I decided that there was no point in triangulating the town by walking all the way back to school to walk home with Charlotte, so I texted her to say I would be walking straight home, which makes more sense. We all traipsed into town, then went our separate ways, as I entered the library, hoping to find my mummy. I didn't, and I couldn't be bothered to ask, so I just went home, and saw Mrs. Smith as I was nearing the Common, so I walked through the car park with her, talking about the museum, then she found her car and I continued on my way.

So yeah, that was really the highlight of the day. It was pretty boring otherwise. Ooh, but I finally got my Shocking Cinema essay back in Film and I got 17/20 marks, which is one mark over an A. Feeling pretty confident about the subject, I just need to do a bit of revision for our FS5 mock tomorrow, seeing as I haven't studied A Bout de Souffle or City of God in a while.
Peace Out.

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Now playing: James Marsden - The Nicest Kids in Town
via FoxyTunes

Sun!

Yesterday, I only had three lessons, and one of those was on the field in the end, because of lots of crazy room changes. So when I eventually got home during lunch-time, I sat out in the back garden on one of the deck chairs for three hours and got very sunburnt. I had a delicious roast guinea fowl baguette for my lunch, though.
Today, I only had the one lesson, so I stayed to sit in the Rose Garden again for second period and break, and then I went into town and met my mum. At midday, we collected Nanny, then drove to the Axe and Compasses in Arkseden, where I have not been for AGES, and we all had a delicious fish pie for lunch, which means I don't have to have dinner. I was wearing Alec's pilot shades all day as well, so I felt cool. So yeah, we were out for a few hours, and near Clavering and Jamie Oliver's parents' pub, there's this place where we got a new office chair for mum to sit on at her computer.
Alec said his drama exam went really well, which is good, because in his mock the over week, they were all a bundle of nerves apparently, and it went quite badly. But in the actual exam this afternoon, he said it went perfectly, so I'm pleased, because mum and I were worried for him. Also, he keeps calling me 'Boss' or 'Bossman' at the moment, which is a bit bemusing. Oh, but he let me watch more X-Files last night, so I finished the last six episodes of season three. He doesn't know I watched that much, though, so don't tell him. I heart Scully more than should be allowed, quite possibly.
Erm, my first exam is next Friday: AS English Language resits, at the ungodly hour of 8:45am, which means I'm going to have to get up earlier than 7:50 for once >___<. Then I don't have any more until the fifth of June. We finish school on the twenty-third of May, though, which is terrifying. Life as we know it is going to be very different. Also! There is going to be a new Weezer album! I was talking to Andrew the other day, before he and Elliott spammed by Facebook with '@_@' smilies, and drew Godzilla images of me taking over the internet, and I discovered that he also loves Weezer. Anyway, their third self-titled album comes out next month, and it's being dubbed The Red Album, because, well, it's red. First single to be released is Pork and Beans. Go here to listen to it. Now this is all surprising news to me, as their last album came out in 2005 and then they temporarily split to do other things. I hadn't realised they had rejoined already, let alone recorded a new album. So yes, I'm happy. Weezer have been with me since year nine, and new music from favourite bands is always exciting.
Hmm, yes, over the weekend, I had no voice, and had to speak in a whisper. I still can't speak very well, and certainly can't sing along to my musicz. Because I was ill, I didn't want to pass anything onto baby Melina, so I didn't get to see my cousin :'(. My mummy took photos and video of her, though, and she looks adorable. Can't wait to finally meet her. I helped Josh catch a Pikachu when he, Jojo and Minna stopped off at ours on Saturday, and he was very pleased with me. Mum and Alec were in Cambridge, so it was nice to spend time with just Josh without kiddo around. He's such a lovely, polite lad when there are no other kids around.
Lastly, today in our English-turned-free period, Megan and I created a new friend. Our class had followed Wilson to one of the science classrooms where we discovered that he was doing SATs stuff again. John was fiddling with a balloon that for some reason was in a tray on the teacher's desk. Now, surely balloons are for year two science classes? Anyway, I picked up the other one, a blue one, and then when we left the classroom, I realised I still had it on me. So Megan drew a face on it with her silver nail varnish and asked me what we should call him. The most obvious answer was 'Richard', so that is what we named him. So when the others arrived at breaktime, I introduced them to Richard, and told them about how the feel of rusty spoons against his fingers is almost orgasmic. In THE voice. But then we realised he has no fingers, so instead Richard likes the feel of rusty spoons against his face. He was being a very naughty boy today, rubbing up against my bare legs, and not shading my knees against getting even more sunburnt. Would you like to meet him? I suppose you would, wouldn't you? Here he is. So yes, he was tied to my handbag all day, to stop him from running away. I must have looked a bit weird walking into town with him tied to me ...

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Now playing: Weezer - Beverly Hills
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Do you know what you are? A great, big, outer-space dunce.

Being the naughty towel that I occasionally am, I haven't updated here in a while. So, I'm thinking: ooh, perhaps I should, yeah? Thus, we have General Shnophie reporting for duty.
Yesterday, Kat came over for a few hours, with some of her Gamecube games, and we did a fair bit of multi-player, with Alec joining in for the last hour or so. Then in the evening, he, mum and I went to Saffron Screen to see Juno, which I've been wanting to see for about six months, so that was all very satisfying.
I'm also happy because of the insane number of TV shows that are running at the moment. LOST, Scrubs, Ugly Betty and BONES have returned from after the Writers' Strike; season 2 of Code Geass is now showing, as is season 4 of Doctor Who; and there's another show which I started watching the other day, which I'm not going to name, as it hasn't received exactly the best of reviews, but I like to indulge myself every now and again.
As for what else I've been up to; I have come up with a new story idea, as inspired by an unusual dream I had, which I believe most of my friends are now familiar with; I've been playing a lot of Fire Emblem on the Gamecube, since I managed to find the game at a lovely reduced price in Gamestation, last weekend; and lastly, school things have been kind of busy, I guess. In Philosophy, our class had a bit of a confrontation with Haslam, and all involved got a bit upset, and we all felt guilty, so we got her a card and box of chocolates to apologise, and now we've been having some very good, useful lessons. I'm also pleased with myself, because in the mock paper that we did do, before this spat, I got 37/50 marks, and got a special mention when the papers were handed back, even though I'm the worst in the class. So yes, that made me feel good, just before lunch on Friday. That is no doubt a very high B grade, which is the best I've ever done in Philosophy, which fills me with confidence. As for Film Studies, we have a Shocking Cinema essay due back soon. I find Film essays stupidly easy, and they've been going very well so far, so I'm confident this one was fine, also. We discovered our coursework grades earlier in the year, and Frances and I somehow got exactly the same marks in all the parts of our coursework, even though the only thing we worked together on was our film. So yeah, we managed to just get an A grade, which is quite different to the C we both got in the coursework last year - I'm thinking that says something about Gordon. Anyway, Andrew is currently top of the class for this year's grades, which he thinks must be wrong. English is going stupidly well; I've been getting some really good essays back. The only issue I've had was the mock Editorial Writing paper we did during the last three days of this past week. It wasn't bad, but it was more difficult than I was expecting. I apparently wrote a model answer for my last Language Change essay, and received a top A grade for that, which was very pleasing. As for the subject as a whole; as long as I revise for my AS resits, and do well in those, even if I don't do amazingly in Editorial Writing, I'll still be well on my way for an A grade overall, in the subject, which is good. Still, I find myself somewhat envious, upon discovering that A-level English Lit and Lang students next year will have Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on their curriculum. I would own at studying that!
Lastly, I'm now freaking out about the Sixth Form May Ball, which takes place on Friday evening. I have my dress, shoes and invitation all ready, so that's sorted. I just need to sort out make-up, hair, and probably a handbag, too. Fortunately, I already own matching jewellery. Even Ru is going, as her mum thought it would be a good idea, so she's slightly nervous about it, but I joked that I would be her date, and hold her hand the entire evening, if she wanted. Also sweet, is that Matt is planning on asking Frances to be his ball-date. Hmm, so yes, I have much to prepare for Friday, as the event looms ever nearer! At least I don't think I have any homework due for the moment.

So, I'm now on ep. 12 of Code Geass, and look which bit I'm up to

Well, this is how the description on TV. com puts it:
Back inside the Ashford estate, Nina is pleasuring herself using a magazine featuring Euphemia and her own presumably very flexible hands. Apparenty the noise that she makes disturb Nanaly so she wonders if Nina is not feeling well. Well, not anymore. >:D

Kat, Richard: you were right. It is very, very disturbing. O.o
And now the thought of her as the spawn of Rosie and Ruhina just destroys me even more.

I ... can ... hear the ... bells

So, Saturday was an awesome day. As you should all know, I received four tickets to see Hairspray in the West End, as my 18th birthday present from my parents. We had to wait until 29th March, admittedly, but the wait was well worth it; Charlotte, Kat, and my mummy were to see the musical with me, and Dad and Alec came down with us to London too. Of course, I got bunged into the boot of the car as we drove to the train station, as I'm the smallest >_<.
On the train, I learnt that you should NEVER eat love hearts whilst you have chewing gum in your mouth. You end up getting yellow ooze all over your face, and then your friends and random Chinese ladies laugh at you.

Well, in London, we went to HMV and then Charlotte, Kat and I went to the Disney Store next door, which I did not find pleasant. I haven't been in one of those stores for about ten years. There was an overwhelming amount of Hannah Montana and High School Musical merchandise, which stands for pretty much everything I detest.
Anyway, my dad then took us through Soho, which I was not expecting, so Kat and I saw all the Japanese places we had gone to two years ago, or whenever it was, when Rosie's dad took Rosie, Kat and I down to IMAF.
We also went into some cult memorabilia shop where Kat and Charlotte found a blowjob kit, and I marvelled at the Boba Fett stand-up cut-out (different priorities there, clearly). And Kat and I saw a mug with the same nun motif on it that is on my 'I feel a sin coming on' lipsyl that Rosie gave me, which makes me think that Rosie went in that shop too.
We visited Forbidden Planet while my parents went in some cook shop (my dad can't stand FP). In the shop window, somebody had put a V (for Vendetta) mask on a big Spiderman model. We then found loads more masks in the store, so while Kat and Alec were going downstairs, I took a photo of Charlotte wearing one of the masks. It's very scary. She also got very freaked out by the people in the store. For example, right behind us, a shop assistant came out of the the storeroom or whatever, with a Transformers gun replica or something (god knows exactly what it was) and a grown-up man said "yay! wait, before I buy it, can I hug it?" and then hugged it. The woman he was with laughed. Charlotte almost ran for it.
Downstairs, Kat found volume 10 of Ouran, and we all wandered round and round, with my parents eventually joining us too. Alec found a DVD for a film that has been banned in England and Italy for years; Killer Nun, with the tagline "at last the slut is uncut". Then Charlotte found some Nun porno DVDs.
It was a fairly nunny day.

Eventually, after various things were bought by various members of the party, we went to My Old Dutch, a pancake house that my mum thinks she went to her for her older brother's 21st or 18th birthday. I had apple and bacon in mine, then I had a small bowl of maple syrup to pour over it, which I cleaned out. I think Kat and Charlotte had curry in their pancakes, which is just odd. Then we waited for our food to go down a bit, so Alec and Mum had a big film fight. Eventually, we had our sweet pancakes, and Alec, Kat and I had sugar and lemon, but the pancakes (which were massive - you should have seen the size of the plates) were still really thick, so the sugar and lemon was barely noticeable. We didn't have much of those in the end.


Then there was the main attraction! We bought programmes and t-shirts (I wanted the black, but they'd sold out, so I got a pink fitted one like Charlotte's). The show was fantastic. Tracy was quite raunchy at times. And there was a great bit where Michael Ball and the guy who played Wilbur got the giggles during You're Timeless to Me and started ad-libbing lines:

"It's Jewish for 'kiss me again'."
"... I didn't know you were Jewish."
"You never can tell."
... ... "Actually, you can."

"Wilbur, I can feel the bells."
"You never complained before."
"I never noticed them before."

It took them a while to finish that song xD.

And Prudy Pingleton's "bad, bad hands" (she ended up groping Seaweed O___o) made me think of Hutchinson's magical hands, and Rosie's "hands! hands in bad places!".
There was a standing ovation at the end. Everyone in the stalls stood up, and we were in the Royal Circle and most people there stood up, except the grouchy people in the two rows in front of us, who clearly don't know a good time when they have it.

Kat got a headache, but Charlotte and I were fairly hyper on the train back. We sang along to the soundtrack on her MP3 player, a boy threw his phone at the door, and a man jumped awake when he heard us singing, and realised he had missed his stop, which was hilarious. Then I got bundled in the boot again :S. We got back to Audley End at about midnight, then dropped off Kat, so I got next to my mum in the car, then dropped off Charlotte, then got home. I craved some of my mum's tea, had a tiny bit, then went to bed.

Yesterday was alright. I finished chapter three of my fanfiction.
I have decided that I must accomplish something on every day of this holiday, which might start to get a bit difficult. I still don't know what to do for today.
Oooh, and I ordered some t-shirts, shorts and DVDs yesterday. My material urges came back, so I can't wait for all those things to arrive. And Kat, Charlotte and I are all gonna wear our Hairpsray t-shirts on the first day back at school. If Kat had got a pink one too, we'd be like the Pink Ladies from Grease. I baggsy Rizzo!

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Now playing: Ultravox - Vienna
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You said you didn't want to be as ugly as me, but you are, so there

Yesterday, Matt and I had a double free, so we went to his house because he likes having an excuse for driving in, and I ended up playing Super Mario 64 on his Nintendo 64 for about twenty minutes, seeing as it was lying around. Then we drove back in and went to SPICE, where Karl taught us how to play Gin Rummy properly.
At lunch, because Matt and I had brought in his portable DVD player, ALL of us sat around it in S2 and watched his Top Gear in America (dunno the title) DVD. I mean all of us. Well, except Scott, who wasn't there. But yeah, that was very funny. Jeremy had a murderer's car, which he strapped a dead cow onto, and then reversed so that it fell off, which was really sick, but so morbidly amusing too. James almost drove into a river full of alligators, and we stopped watching just as they were driving through Alabama with messages like "Hillary for President" and "Man Love Rules OK" painted on their cars. We're gonna continue watching it tomorrow lunch.

Today, our Philosophy Synoptic exam finally finished. Yaay!
Ru, Charlotte and I stayed behind after shcool, as we were to set up the Amnesty Party. We were sat in Inger's office, next to the staff room and tutorial rooms, the sixty-five or so balloons we had (including Natalie's tiny booby one, and Charlotte's MASSIVE ones) covering the computers, and decided to get high on coffee. I think I absent-mindedly put about six teaspoonfuls of sugar in mine @_@.
The party was a failure, but Charlotte and I already knew it would be. We laughed a lot, though. It wasn't a party, but that didn't stop it from being really funny. Out of all the students in our school, only Sam Bayliss turned up, which I definitely cannot complain about. Mrs. Cox and Mrs. Smith popped in, and Mr. Flett came in for some cake, as it was his birthday. Mrs. Smith kept asking me lots of questions, such as "do you know James Beckwith's phone number" and wondering if I could suggest anybody who really promoted themselves (it only makes sense if you were there at the time). Saffron Walden's Amnesty group head, Pam, turned up for a while too. Andrew Brown, Rosie's dad, was there too, as he was our 'sound technician'. Charlotte and I made the mistake of informing him that we had found beer in the staff room, and he kept suggesting that we go and get some for him, but we decided that was a bad idea. Ru stayed in the end, even though we had music playing. Rosie's friend, Eleanor, came too, which livened things up a little. Lots of balloons popped, which had Charlotte almost ending up as a bundle of nerves.
The party was supposed to last from five-thirty until seven-thirty, but seeing as everyone except Andrew, Rosie, Ru, Eleanor, Charlotte and myself left at six, there was little point in staying until that time, so Charlotte and I left at six-forty-five, taking some cake with us.

The lack of people attending was embarrassing, but at least I was a guest, and not an actual Amnesty member. And we saw bunny rabbits down in the gardens, and the wooden duck had returned to the pond.

And now that I have returned home, I have discovered, upon visiting IMDB that it is Nathan Fillion (Mal Reynolds from Serenity/Firefly) and Elizabeth Mitchell's (Juliet from LOST) birthday. Aww, happy 37th and 38th to them respectively.

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Now playing: Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama Out
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There should be an egg in here somewhere, and then we can make panm'cakes

Well, well, today was a fairly enjoyable day. I got to sleep in this morning, as I had two frees first. My mum woke me up at 8:20 with a chocolate croissant and a cup of tea! Yum. Then I stayed in bed until ten, reading Wheel of Time book 10. Then I got ready for school and briefly spoke to Matt and Kat over MSN, and young Matthew offered me a lift, so we got in to the Sports Hall car park just as break was starting. Scott and Rosie were the only ones in S2 when we got there, and then Ru got into school, and Natalie came down from the Common Room.

I had double film, during which we watched A Clockwork Orange. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would; it was actually quite funny in places, and the music score was great. Alicia kept groaning throughout, and looked as though she had gone to sleep at one point, so that was somewhat annoying. The film overlapped into lunch by a few minutes, but then I joined the others, to discover a very lovely looking Kat, with her hair tied back and earrings in her ears! I was singing 'Singin' in the Rain' as I strolled in, inspired by the end of the film, but then commented that "I probably shouldn't feel this happy having just seen A Clockwork Orange", which Rosie found quite funny. And Kat has seen City of God! I am impressed.
Most of us played cards as per usual, with Kat teaching us how to play Die Scott Die properly (I've no idea how to actually spell it), and then Charlotte eventually got in, though that was right at the end of lunch, so she didn't join in our game.
During registration, we received our photos, then Electives was very uneventful. Charlotte, Jess and I were briefly amused by an article on the BBC website about the most commonly used insults by school students, 'gay', 'bitch', and 'slag' taking precedence, apparently. Then Charlotte and I left at about 2:40, as we really had very little to do. She drove me home, and upon entering my bedroom (well, the upstairs part of it), I discovered that the lovely boy was curled up on my bed, which made me very happy, although he soon left.
I've been up here since, catching up on all the Wheel of Time information I've forgotten, and reading another chapter of book 10, before discovering that Richard was online and-- le shock horreur!-- happy?!

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Now playing: Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down
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I only wanted a little love affair

I stayed at home for first period today, as I got up late and wanted to wash my hair. So I sat about downstairs with my mum, who was nervous about her job interview (Essex County Council Libraries keep doing this crappy staff re-jig thing, so they can cut down on costs).

I got into school for Philosophy, in second period, and Haslam taught us for about fifteen minutes about a guy called 'Popper' (we really had no idea who he was), then let us go to work on our synoptic essays, as the first hour of our exam is tomorrow(!)
However, Ru and I went on the UCAS website, as we were both stressing out about University choices, for reasons I'd rather not go into.

Break was ... break, really. Quite funny, as Charlotte was telling the others about the drunken shenanigans she'd gotten up to on Friday night (she'd already told me about them over MSN the other day). Matt, Scott and I were supposed to be playing Pontoon with my cards, but I got so distracted whilst dealing them out that we pretty much just went through the motions of playing, but never got round to comparing our cards. Anyway, everyone's reactions were pretty funny when Charlotte divulged that Anne-Marie has had anal sex. Also, she, Matt and I agreed that playing Twister whilst drunk would be totally awesome, so we're going to try that when everyone's at mine, during our Easter holiday. Not that Matt would get drunk for it @_@.

Then there was Film Studies, for which Frenchy was absent, as she had all-day rehearsals for her drama exam or something. We had to do our City of God presentations, which I had totally forgotten about, but fortunately I still had my sheet on Benny (whom everyone loves), so that was alright. Andrew and I had more LOST-related discussion.

English was next, and we started looking at diachronic changes in advertising. There was a fantastic Ford car (£6 tax, as it kept reminding us) advert, that was published in 1937. I'm gonna have to quote some of it here, as it really was a joy to read it. The language was so much more creative than the crappy, elliptical Volkswagen advert from 1996 that we were comparing it with.

Amply powered for four and holiday baggage, picnic impedimenta and the like, surprisingly roomy, yet very compact in overall measurements, for ease of parking and garage away fro home, the essence of simplicity to handle over strange roads, smart but not ostentatious, with its famous weather-proof finish, and aboundingly economical to run and maintain, the Popular Ford will pay handsome dividends of service and pleasure.

How fantastic is that? My Firefox dictionary didn't even recognise the word 'aboundingly' (oh, the foo').

Then there was lunch. I was disappointed that Matt and Scott were in a lunchtime lesson, as my singing 'Diamonds Are Forever' doesn't have the same effect when they're not present. Charlotte told me about how Sam's friend, Chris, had placed down a three whilst they were playing Cheat on Friday, claiming it to be a King; it might have worked, had he not placed it face-up! But then that's what drinking neat Jack Daniels does to you.

Then there was Briefing. Mrs. Smith mentioned that if anyone wishes to provide entertainment for us on our last day, they should see her. For some reason, she mentioned that he Rugby lads could do so, if they wished. That might be a bad idea. As I said to Kat and Charlotte, knowing them, they would likely do some re-enactment of 2girls1cup.

Then Charlotte drove Kat and I home, as we had a free last. Charlotte informed us that one of the 'I Never ...' rounds on Friday night resulted in her mishearing the question, and as a result, Anne-Marie wondering if Charlotte had fingered me before. That was disturbing to say the least.

Got home and stuff happened. Been bored, really. Spoke to my mum a bit, looked through a book on elephants with her, and played a bit more of FFIII. Waited for ages for Richard to come online, and now that he is, he's not saying a lot. So, whooo, more boredom.

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Now playing: Robbie Williams - Feel
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Nik nak, paddy whack, give a dog a bone

Let it be known that Kat holds to her word. Today, she brought in for me a slice of the heavenly toffee cake that, though it be blasphemy, is only available in Irish Tesco branches. I just ate it. And promptly died.
Just before that, I ate the jam doughnut I'd bought from the canteen at lunchtime today. I was expecting it to be hard and to have very little jam, but oh my god, that was heavenly too; a great big goop of jam started coming out, so I shoved the whole thing in my mouth, and for the first time ever, I found myself eating a jam doughnut whereby there was enough jam to drown the dough.

And that is how good my life is at the moment.

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Now playing: ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me
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I've just realised I'm going to be posting about LOST again. Even though I can't type, and I can't see into the future

Okay, now that sloe gin has made me dizzy. I have pinched vision. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone, but that's how alcohol makes me feel. My arms are floppy, too. Wait, Claire has skinny jeans?! According to Kristin at E! she does, anyway. Yaay, and she agress with me taht the girlfight between Charlotte and Juliet was awesome. God, she's so right; Kate needs to get involved in one of their scraps too. Also, she has a girlcrush on Rebecca Mader. She admitted it in that video lower down on this apge ...

"Harper says Ben fancies Juliet because, she says, "You look just like her." Um, who? Who's running around with Juliet's face? And where can I get one? That girl is purty."

Yaaay.

• "It's very stressful being an Other, Jack." —Juliet
• "This rabbit didn't have a number on it, did it?" —Ben
• "These people base-jumped out of a helicopter. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt." —Juliet
• "You're MINE!!! [Beat.] Take all the time you need." —Ben
• "Gaaaah! Keep your creepy hands off of her, Ben! She's MINE!!!" —Kristin (shouting at TV)

I love life. Even though I can't see properly in it. Oh dear, i Can't type either. All the keys get pressed even though I don't rmember putting my ginfers onf them. Ginfers?! what?!
Wheeee!

Baby don't sleep, baby don't eat, baby just like to do the boink boink

On Friday, I slept in first period, and came in for second to discover that Wilson wasn't in. So, I spent almost an hour talking to Charlotte Wright and Grace about our Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, my grandfather, our parents, and Charlotte's friendship group, which has split, and then Chess came in to bitch about Sammie Eastwood, so Grace instead read us a story that she and John had texted to each other the previous night, whilst bored.

Not really important, I know, but I enjoyed that hour, so I want to remember it. Those two can be annoying at times, but they mean well, and they're nice to me, so I'm cool with them.

I went downstairs just now to make a cup of tea, and discovered Coco in the middle of the room, hunched over a chicken leg. @___@ She must have somehow opened up the bin and pulled it out. Thing is, not only is it dangerous for animals to get hold of chicken bones, but it was my one, and if you know me, you'll know how much I demolish my bones in my meal. I strip all the meat and gristle and skin off and eat it all. There was nothing on there for her to eat! So yeah, mum has put the really heavy frying pan on the bin lid, so that she can't open it up again.
On my desk, I have a shot glass filled with sloe gin, which I will drink after my cup of tea. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the point in drinking it will be; I made the tea to keep me awake, but the alcohol will just make me sleepy again. Oh well, it tastes nice.

Okay, I know I've discussed LOST a lot these past few days, but I really can't get this out of my head, and I've been playing their exchanges over and over in my head, and - yes, I know I'm an obsessive - but I have to speak my piece. I have to talk about Harper. I mean, she was horrible to Juliet right from the off. Presumably she felt jealous of her or something, possibly because she was 'being treated like a celebrity'. Let's look at this first:

HARPER: Let's talk. So ... you've been here a week. And what's your least favourite part so far?

JULIET: I don't like being treated like a celebrity.

HARPER: And is that surprising? You're big news right now.

JULIET: Yes, I know. I guess I don't like being the centre of attention. It makes me feel isolated ... alone. (Chuckles nervously)

HARPER: Well, maybe you feel that all eyes are on you, but you're not a celebrity, and soon enough, you'll realize that you're no different than anyone here.

JULIET: Oh, I-I know. I-I never meant that I...

(Knock on door)

Poor Juliet really didn't mean to suggest that she was superior to the others, and yet Harper leapt to that conclusion, which really does make me think that she'd noticed the attention everyone - especially Ben - was paying her, and envied her because of it. Now look at the other flashback scene they later share, after Ben has started to get a hint of the affair:

HARPER: So, Juliet, what do you think of Ben?

JULIET: He's great. Uh, very smart ... and intense. Challenging. He's been really good to me.

HARPER: Of course he has. You look just like her.

JULIET: I'm sorry?

HARPER: And I see you and my husband have become friendly.

JULIET: ... Yeah. He's great. He's been really helpful.

HARPER: When did you start sleeping with him?

JULIET: What?

HARPER: Look, Juliet, I'm not an idiot. So just tell me. When did it start?

JULIET: Okay. (Stammers) I'm not doing this. We're done.

HARPER: No. Please respect me enough to spare me the pretense that you are actually offended. I know. I followed you. Watched you.

JULIET: (Whispers) I'm sorry.

HARPER: It doesn't matter anymore. But what does matter is that you listen to me and that you believe me. And if you continue to have a relationship with Goodwin, there will be consequences. I don't want him to get hurt.

JULIET: I would never hurt him.

HARPER: Look it, I am not talking about you. I am talking about Ben.

I just can't help but feel insanely sorry for Juliet, even in this scene. I mean, yeah, she's messing up a relationship, but from what Goodwin later says, it seems his marriage was already failing even before he and Juliet got together; he'd been sleeping on the couch for a year, he says. Despite this, Harper still seems to care for him - she doesn't want him to get hurt. But still - she watched them having sex? There's something creepy about that, other than just in the voyeuristic sense. The atmosphere in that second therapy scene was absolutely palpable, until Harper eventually confronted her about it, and then it was just ... terrifying. It doesn't help that she looks scary. I mean, she has a harsh face. She's not ugly. In fact, the casting call described her as 'beautiful in an unadorned way'. But there's something taut about her, with her hair pulled up, and her brows slanted. It's the way she always rises them. Questioning, almost as if she's always about to admonish Juliet. And look how upset Jules is by the whole confrontation. Here's the casting call for an actress to play Harper. Note that the character name has changed since this was released, but the description still seems to match exactly. Also, the possibility of her being a recurring guest star is intriguing to say the least; naturally, I am all for every episode being a Juliet-centric one, although that - unfortunately - is not going to happen. Still, it will be interesting if Harper makes a reappearance. Considering her very sudden exit, when Juliet and Jack came across her in the jungle, and the fact that she somehow managed to get a message from 'Ben', despite him being locked up by Locke (although not any more, of course), I think there is a fair bit we have yet to learn about her. And however much it destroys me, I still want to see more exchanges between she and Juliet. They provide great drama and angst.

[CHANDLEY PRICE]
mid 30s to early 40s. Female. She is tough, no-nonsense and beautiful in an unadorned way. She is a therapist by profession and yet could benefit from some therapy herself. The qualities that make her a leader and effective at seeing into other people also cause her problems in her own life -- she can be overly controlling and obsessive. Her strength of personality is undeniable. GUEST STAR/RECURRING

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A prince is a pauper, babe, without a chick to call his own

Considering it's International Women's Day (apparently, anyway), I've decided I'm going to share with you all my favourite fictional women, as a sort of celebratory hallmark of strong females. There are going to be quite a few lasses here, no doubt, so I hope I don't forget any of them. There's no way I could order these in terms of preference. They're all so great, so I'll just leave it as it is. I'm going to limit it to TV show characters and book characters, otherwise I could go on about films and their actresses for all eternity.

Name: Nina Myers
From: 24, seasons 1,2 and 3
Pictures: One (tying Teri up, shortly before she kills her), Two (Possibly at her coolest-looking, here), Three (Jack points a gun to her head. He doesn't even know Teri's dead at this point, so Nina's lucky really, 'cos he would have squeezed that trigger without a single ounce of apprehension), Four (promotional image for season one), Five (working with Tony)
Why I love her: She managed to convince Jack (and thus every single viewer, no doubt) that she was on his side, and managed to maintain her cover until the very end of season one. Considering she'd been working for Jack for a couple of years, and had been involved in a relationship with him, she did that pretty well. She is simply the epitome of feminine cool. She's tough and capable; she stands up to Tony and pulls rank on him whenever he starts getting antsy about Jack, which also shows that she can separate feelings (she was involved with Tony at the time) from her work; and she's also not afraid to stand up to her superiors, and totally ignore their orders in order to show her complete 'loyalty' to Jack. However, I constantly found myself feeling sorry for her. When Teri found out that Nina had been involved with Jack while he and Teri were on a break, you could feel the tension in that room between the two women. When Teri started making jibes about it, I wanted to run up and hug Nina. Then later, when that Alberta cow reminded her that you can "let them screw you, but don't let them screw you over", the look on Nina's face drew such sympathy from me. The thing is, I've no idea what her true feelings regarding the whole thing was. Considering she was a traitor for all those years, for all we know, the entire life she'd built up around her was all an act. Regardless, her betrayal cut me deep. I don't care about Jack or about the US government, but in that last minute of episode 23, at 2.30 in the morning, or whatever ridiculous time at which I was watching it, my heart pounded faster than ever before as the camera zoomed out to reveal who 'Yelena' really was. Now whenever I watch an episode of 24 with her in, my mouth goes dry and I get this overwhelming feeling of panic and worry, as I watch, helpless, knowing that her betrayal is now inevitable and there's nothing I can do to change it. She appeared in seasons 2 and 3, but as a character that is constantly shown to be 'bad' in those seasons, she's just not the same (and her hair was longer - it's much cooler when short). There's a great bit in season 3 where she has Jack tied to a chair, and kisses him to see if he can prove his point, but when he eventually kills her, I was able to cope. Just.

Name: Michelle Dessler-Almeida
From: 24, season 2,3,4 and 5

Pictures: One (in season two, she fancies the pants off of Tony. Despite the silly plot, at least it gives her an excuse to engage him in a secretive passionate kiss), Two (I really doubt she's enjoying her stint out in the field here, in season three, considering she gets kidnapped soon after), Three (and yet she still manages to take charge in Tony's absence - look at how everyone is looking to her), Four (season four promotional image. She wasn't in this season enough, quite frankly), Five (a lovely moment at home with hubby, just minutes before she gets killed by the bloody car bomb)

Why I love her: Well, season 2, she's got a new job at CTU, she's just starting to get along with her colleagues, she's got a lovely big crush on Tony, and she finds herself suddenly trying to save America from nuclear bombs. Anyone who does well under this kind of pressure deserves a commendation as it is. Okay, let's see what problems she and Tony have gone through. They had to save America/the world from various attempted terrorist attacks; Michelle had to continue working even after Tony got shot in the neck, then she had to work under quarantine in the hotel because of the high risk of her contracting the virus that had been let out; Michelle was then kidnapped and Tony had to betray government secrets to get her back, resulting in him going to prison for treason; when he was released from prison, he turned to alcoholism, resulting in Michelle leaving him; when Jack calls him in for help, he then discovers that Michelle has been seeing Bill Buchanan, even before they were divorced (but we later find out Bill is a lovely guy, and he lets Tony know that Michelle has still loved him all this time); then Tony gets kidnapped and Michelle finds herself in the same situation that got Tony put in prison several years beforehand - except she can't bring herself to do the same. It's alright, though - Jack and Curtis rescue Tony and he and Michelle are reunited and decide they will quit their job if it means they can be together. Then they bloody frickin' DIE. Well, Michelle does in the first few minutes of season 5, and Tony 'dies' later on in the season (when season 7 finally gets released next year, we will discover that he is in fact alive, and very very angry).
Now how's that for a sucky life? And yet love prevailed.
Michelle is beautiful; she is capable, even in the field, where she is not fully-trained to work; however emotional a day she is having, she can still just about keep herself together; and she has a sense of loyalty - just before she died, she and Tony had a small argument about going to help CTU. As soon as they heard the news about David Palmer being assassinated, she knew that CTU would need the resources she and Tony could provide, in order to deal with the situation; Tony didn't want to become involved with them again. It was his reluctance that meant he was not caught in the immediate bomb-blast that killed Michelle. I really would not have Michelle any other way. Well, except, y'know, alive still.

Name: Juliet Burke
From: LOST
Pictures: One (Jack starts off as her 'prisoner', but she makes him nice food, and - er - saves him from drowning), Two (Unfortunately, she cries a lot, because she's constantly hearing bad news or having nasty things happening to her. This is in Ben's kitchen. She threw a glass on the floor, and then collapsed on him. He looked very bemused.), Three (Ben, being the bastard that he is, has just shown her the corpse of her lover Goodwin, in order to inform her in no uncertain terms, of what happens to those men that 'take her away' from him. She starts crying again in a minute.), Four (I had to include this one because it has Charlotte in it as well. Juliet has accepted what C.S. Lewis and Daniel have informed her about Ben, much to Kate's chagrin; she wants a bit of revenge for being knocked out by Charlotte. So, Charlotte goes back in the The Tempest with Kate, while Jack and Juliet spend a little alone time. I love the expressions on their faces here: Charlotte's ready to mouth off against Kate, if it comes to a sarcasm battle, while Juliet's all calm and collected, despite the fact she's got a million dents in her head from her recent fight), Five (Ben has informed Juliet that if she lets Kate and Sawyer escape back to their island, he will let her finally go back home. So, determined to complete her task by whatever means necessary, Juliet kills Danny. Can you imagine if Miami-Juliet found herself in that situation? "I knew I shouldn't have gone to Portland!"), Six (this is when Ben first shows her her house in Otherville. What I don't understand is where was she sleeping for her first week spent on the island?! This scene is fairly awkward, but not as awkward as the one they later have, where she has dinner at Ben's.), Seven (Crying again. Even the best fertility doctor in the world can't save the pregnant women on the island, but that doesn't mean she should stop trying already.), Eight (She meets Goodwin for the first time, which seems to immediately cheer her up)
Why I love her: She is the epitome of epitome. She's like Michelle and Nina combined, but blonde. She's got Nina's edge, determination, and mystery (is she good, has she got Jack wrapped around her little finger, what is her ulterior motive?), but she's got Michelle's softness too, and emotional vulnerability. She's been used and manipulated, taken advantage of, and betrayed. It's no wonder she cries so much (I think she cried in at least three of her flashbacks in the latest episode, even when she was confronted by Harper about having an affair with the latter's husband). Words cannot describe the extent to which I love this woman. Feelings cannot describe it. She is extremely capable and will do literally anything to get off the island (like killing her own kind). She's gone through such a transformation since she arrived on the island, which is instantly obvious when we compare her present-tense scenes with her flashbacks; she's stronger, more ruthless, and doesn't let her emotions get to her so easily. Character development is very very important to me, and her arc shows how much change she has gone through. This would be my desert island character. Mainly because I know she'd be determined more than anything else to help me get back home.

Name: Nynaeve al'Meara
From: Wheel of Time book series
Picture: One (there isn't a lot of fanart, but this is one of the best pieces I've seen of her)
Why I love her: She's a good poster-girl for feminism. She's bossy; smart; doesn't take any nonsense from anyone (remember the scene where she shoved Elayne's head in a barrel of water when she got drunk?); she's the most powerful wielder of saidar there's been for many Ages; and she'd like nothing more than to give Rand and Mat a good, well-deserved switching, which I am all in favour of. For once, men are the subject of sexism, thanks to Nynaeve, as she continually complains about and proves how pathetic, hopeless and annoying they can be. She shows she's not just a cold bitch like the Red Ajah, though, as she quickly falls in love with the lovely lovely Lan al'Mandragoran, despite the fact he's Morraine's Warder. Her insane power and ability to heal means she performs various acts that had previously been thought to be now impossible; she healed Siuan, Leane and Logain, all of whom had been stilled, so that they were once again able to draw on the One Power; she defeated one of the Forsaken, Moghedien, in battle, making her the first to do so since the time of Lews Therin Telamon, and then imprisoned Moghedien in Elayne's latest contraption.
When she first discovered from Moirraine Sedai what her healing abilities were all about, her fear of her power increased, and so she could only draw on saidar when extremely angry. If that's not a character flaw, I don't know what is. This bloody woman's feats have made me cry tears of joy (and I don't cry easily), and because she wasn't available for me to hug, I had to hug the book instead. It was an impulsive action, without premeditation. She is my love.

Name: Lilah Morgan
From: Angel
Pictures: One (Having a drink. This is when we first meet her. She's mysterious, beautiful, and we don't yet know whose side she's on. You know what's even better? She turns out to be a bit of a femme fatale, in this episode, and we all know how much I love those lasses.), Two (Wesley has rescued her, and now she's with the Angel Investigations gang, much to Fred and Cordy's chagrin, as can be seen.), Three (Angel, possessed by a perverted old man, seduces Lilah in his office, and they almost end up having sex on his desk. Seriously, they would make the hottest pairing ever.), Four (she stars placing bets when Angel's in the fighting ring, and this is still in her first episode), Five (she manages to hold her own against Faith, even, despite being shoved up against a chain-link fence by her, and threatened. What does she say? One of the best lines ever: "Green ... is my favourite colour. I look good in diamonds and I love riding in limousines."
Why I love her: Like Nina, she's bad-ass, but with Lilah there's absolutely no question about it; we know she's evil almost straight from the start. She's ruthless and will let anyone take the fall for mistakes, even if she was the one who made them. She might find herself stuck in a fight, but she would never sacrifice herself for anyone else; all she cares about is her own survival. And yet, when she starts having one-night stands with Wesley, a slight change appears to come over her. Wesley doesn't think she's capable of loving anyone but herself, but even she seems surprised to find herself grateful of his efforts to save her. I like to think she did like him. Considering the ridiculous number of dealings she had with various demons, and how often she got into fights with Angel, as well as other dangerous situations, it's surprising really, that she survived for as long as she did. In the end, it was Cordy who killed her, or rather, Cordy possessed by the demon Jasmine, as a result of her brief stint in the realm of the Powers That Be. Now she resides for all eternity in the Wolfram and Hart branch that is situated in Hell. No jokes. Lawyers go to Hell.

And now that is it. There are plenty other female characters that I love, from various books, TV shows, films and so on, but these are the five key ones that really make me feel something. I'm aware that it is now Sunday, and thus technically no longer International Women's Day, but I'd only finished Nina's profile by 12:30 this morning and I wanted to go to bed, so that's why this is a little late. It shouldn't matter.

Share the love!

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You know that we are living in a material world, and I am a material girl

Over the last few days of school, I found myself becoming inundated with praise from various teachers. Well, Smith, Greaves and Haslam. That made me feel good. But slightly awkward too.

According to my calendar, today is International Women's Day, which is always something to feel good about, I'm sure. I spent most of it watching series 2 of Life on Mars, though. I didn't get up until about half past twelve, I think (damnit! I better be up early tomorrow), but at least it has felt like a Sunday today (which means I have an extra day of weekend that my mind is expecting). I think the main reason for that is because mum is here (often she works Saturdays, so I'm not used to seeing her), although Dad's still in Sicily, so I'm not sure what that's all about.

Now I am on MSN, chatting away with Richard. We were initially talking about the programme, but then he suddenly brought up the fact that Erik lost his virginity in January, and obviously that's much more interesting, so we started chatting about that. Then the topic shifted to contraception, and now we're having a lengthy discussion about periods, about which Richard is learning a lot, it seems.

Last night, Mum, Alec and I went to Saffron Screen to see I is a Legend, starring Will Smith (and Alice Braga!). Before the film started, Alec and I were talking about LOST and BONES, and I was saying that Hodgins from BONES is a cool character, but the whole beard thing annoys me, because of my hatred of facial hair. Upon hearing this, my mum instantly asked "what about him?" and pointed down at Joe, who was working at the refreshment stand, and who happened to have a bit of stubble (she knows I know him from school; it wasn't just random). I was just like "oh, I don't mind, because he usually shaves it soon after", as dismissively as I could. What am I supposed to say to my mum and brother? "Actually, I have no problem with him having a day's worth of stubble, because he's horribly attractive, and - actually - one of the few men I don't mind having facial hair"? Hmm, no, I don't think so.
Watching the film with mum was a pain in the arse. Alec had already seen it with his mates when it came out a few months ago, so he knew what would happen and when, but mum lets herself gets too involved in these things, and she was constantly jumping at everything and exhaling loudly and sighing and gasping and bloody sucking through her teeth at the slightest movement. I'll admit, I was bloody scared in that cinema too (and I always feel so exposed sitting on those seats), but I used my head and figured out which scenes were meant to be jumpy and thus stared intently at one of the bottom rows of seats until the jumpy business was over. As a result, I only jumped about three times during the film, and one of those times, it was a result of mum's jumping scaring the life out of me more than whatever was happening on screen. Then she got all upset when Sam, the gorgeous alsation doggy, died. Even though it was so horrifically inevitable (presumably she hadn't been expecting it, though I don't know what that says about her).
We came out of the cinema, and she complained that she'd felt 'on edge' the entire time. Alec simply took the piss, and at first I criticised her for not having the sense to expect the worst, but then we got home, and I was kind enough to talk about the film nicely. So there, I do have some humanity in me.

I can't think of much else to mention right now. However, I shall leave you all with a cheerful reminder of how Charlotte's mouth moves faster than her brain:

Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's hole.

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Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's hole

Rebecca Mader, who plays the awesome freighty, C.S. Lewis, in this season of LOST has to be one of the funniest people ever. Watch the above video. She cracks me up.

There's another video interview with her; she is talking about her dog, about spending Valentines Day single, and about what she looks for in a man. Even when she slips up and misunderstands a comment or question, she still manages to just smoothly laugh it off.

Anyway, I'm really happy, and she's partly the reason. Last night's episode of LOST was the Juliet-centric one that I've been eagerly awaiting for several weeks now. Well, it lived up to my expectations. Almost immediately, I felt really sorry for the lovely lass, as the beginning was set just a week after she arrived on the island, so she was still meek and submissive and just ... so lovely. She has a therapy session with a woman named Harper, who is instantly portrayed as a bitch, and I'd already figured that she was the wife of Goodwin, with whom Juliet had an affair (that's really not the sort of thing we expect her to do, now, is it? Just goes to show how much the island changed her). In her next flashback, she was crying again (okay, so first time in a while, but she always seems to be emotional in her flashbacks), and I just wanted to hug her. And then she met Goodwin for the first time.
Meanwhile, in the present, she and Jack are chasing down C.S. Lewis and Daniel, who have taken the gas masks and appear to be heading to a new Dharma Station, for some supposedly nefarious purposes. Kate comes across C.S. Lewis and Daniel, and gets knocked out by the former, which - as I mentioned in my previous LOST post - is just a hilarious concept. Jack and Juliet eventually find her, and while Jack is tending to her wounds, Juliet suddenly runs off (she has received word from Ben, through Harper, that she must kill the two freighties. Of course, this is a very sneaky tactic on the part of Ben (would we expect any less of him?) as Juliet probably would not have paid attention to the instruction if anyone but Harper had delivered it).
We find out about Ben's obssession with Juliet, which, frankly, I'm not all that surprised about; we've been getting hints about it for a while now. The scene where she goes over to his for dinner, to discover that it will be just the two of them there, was really really awkward for a moment, although - of course - she managed to keep her cool.
Anyway, what made me really happy about this episode was the scene where she and Charlotte had a big fight in The Tempest, the Dharma station where it turns out C.S. Lewis and Daniel were trying to remove the threat of Ben using some crazy biochemical weapon against everyone on the island. In the end, realising she'd been set up by Ben to kill them, Juliet let the two be, but it was awesome to see a girl vs. girl scuffle for once, in something, especially between two such cool characters. Too often we get men feeling a need to unleash their endless supplies of machismo on each other, simply to prove who's boss. This fight wasn't about ego. It was about being rivals, and having something to fight for that they both believed (I think it's just their personalities that clash, really. The way they treat each other just cracks me up). And Juliet won ^_^. She went back to shoving a gun in Charlotte's face - as you do - and then let Daniel get one with what he was doing anyway.
Then there was the Jack/Juliet moment, though the kiss was nowhere near as passionate as everyone was hyping it up to be. And now I've no idea what she's doing with him (although we can see by the grin on Ben's face at the end of the episode, as he wanders around Otherville freely - much to Hurley and Sawyer's chagrin and confusion - that he so has Locke wrapped around his little finger).

So why am I so happy? Well, because I love Juliet (even though she makes me so sad), we got to see more of Charlotte in this episode (PLUS BIG FIGHT WITH JULES), and because Rebecca Mader is hilarious. She giggles at everything, and makes a joke about everything. She's like me, but cooler. And she's right when she says a sense of humour is the most important thing in a guy. If he can't be arsed to laugh, then nothing's gonna be very fun, is it now?

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