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
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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.

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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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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All you youngsters care about these days is that cake-emu

Kat has weird dreams about old grandmas complaining about the cake-emu. Admittedly I too have weird dreams, in which I'm pregnant, and Kat knows it thanks to a bloody MSN conversation we had (I really put my foot in it, but she does have some pretty darn good detectin' skills to be able to work that out several months before I go into labour). Charlotte just has sick dreams where we all die violently.

I just had to change what song iTunes was playing, because my dad came up and I don't think he would appreciate hearing sweary words, mention of sodomy and, well, the title 'Violent Pornography' says it all, really. Now he is gone.

I panicked a little during Philosophy today, but it turned out all was well. No point going into detail, but essentially, I think Haslam is cool about where I'm at with the synoptic essay. In Film, Charlotte Wright and Frenchy gave their presentations, but there wasn't time for any more, as there were technical setbacks at the beginning lesson; potentially, I might not even be fitted in on Thursday, even though I was initially supposed to be first on that day. In English, the class once again succeeded in defiling children's' literature; we analysed a short children's' story from the 1950s, which admittedly was pretty shocking to start with, but only because of the inherent sexism; the fact that the kids were rowing about in the sea in the middle of a storm, at night; the fact the young boy was barefoot for the entire story; the fact that their granddad appeared to grow younger by about twenty years; and that they set fire to the lighthouse. Okay, there are more examples of how insane it was, but those are the most shocking. All we had to do was make the young boy and his sister, Bess, incestuous; decide the grandfather was a drunk and give him a younger sailor drinking partner who became his imposter (that explained why he kept changing and where his bandage disappeared to); and turn the lighthouse into a huge cock. The moral of the story? What happens in the lighthouse stays in the lighthouse. And in case you were wondering, Greaves was - once again - completely complicit in this entire conversation, and eventually accepted Rob's suggestion that the granddad was a drunk.

Then I had frees, so Matt gave me a lift into town, dropping me off in Waitrose carpark, and I made my way to the library, where I proceeded to read book 10 of Wheel of Time for about twenty-five minutes (I found their copy of it and decided I might as well go back to reading it). I also got my mum to get out two DVDs for me; Notes on a Scandal and Where the Heart Is. Then we went for lunch at Kim's Tea Rooms, or whatever it's called.

I dilly-dallied around on the internet for a few hours, upon returning home, and then I watched Where the Heart Is. My reason for getting it out? My lovely Natalia (of the Portman variety, not Nat). She played a seventeen year old pregnant girl left by her boyfriend at Wal-Mart, where she is forced to live for six weeks, until she gives birth to her baby there, and then the film follows the next five years of her life. I was also pleased to see the always wonderful Stockard Channing, and Joan Cusack, who always seems to have amusing roles. It also starred the guy who played Paul Raines in season four of 24, who was alright, although it's his ex-wife I care more about; when my beloved Michelle died, and Nina -- well, Nina died too, but it was her betrayal that cut me deep; she didn't betray Jack, she betrayed me -- I found comfort in the development of the lovely lovely Audrey (she wears reading glasses!!), who was Paul's ex-wife. I went through the whole of Where the Heart Is wondering where the hell I'd seen the guy before.
It wasn't the most amazing movie, but it was enjoyable enough, and enchantingly feminine in some ways, and hell, I love Natalie Portman, so to see her when she was still just a lovely eighteen year old, driving the entire plot of a movie; I'm cool with that.

At dinner just now, we had our mandatory 'film and TV' chat for probably half an hour. Today we were trying to list our ten favourite films each. Mum and I didn't bother, as we knew we haven't seen enough good films to be able to compile such a list, but Alec had no issue with doing such a thing. Dad simply listened, but then that's dad.

Yay, film talk dominated this entry.
And aren't I amazing for updating? Love me.

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