Mon frère anniversaire

It was my brother's birthday at the weekend. Naturally I bought him a present, which I gave him in the morning. Then he went gallavanting off to Vue Cinema, accompanied by my parents, to see Prince of Persia with a few of his mates. They left me at home. And the cherry on the cake - I had to revise. It wasn't too bad in the end. I had a lot of fun making a complete mess of my room and my "revision" was nicely divided up by various phone calls from friends. The boys all then came over for pizza and wreaked havoc. Actually, they were very well behaved, and didn't interfere with my studying at all. Once they were all fed, I braved the mob of boys, and sat and watched Doctor Who with them. It was the most scary experience of my life. I never known boys to gossip so much. Fortunately, none of them stayed the night, and so when they all left, the family sat down and watched "The Men Who Stare at Goats", which is, quite frankly, the weird film I have ever seen, but hilarious all the same. We then ridiculed England's performance at the Eurovision Song Contest, before going to bed, which was surprisingly early, considering it was the holidays. Although I did have a busy day ahead of me...

Chloë's Banana Party

Again, apologies for the late post. At the weekend, I attended Chloë's mystery birthday party. I arrived to find bananas everywhere. We even had banana flavoured sweets! We played several games which included some interesting forfeits. I was attacked with make up, on two occasions. Both attempts had interesting results; I looked very scary. We also had a barbeque and jelly and ice cream. Once we were fed, we went indoors to play MonkeyMania. Unfortunately I don't remember much else, because I crashed out at about 12.30 because I was completely exhausted from the previous week. However, I did hear that some interesting events happened and that Martha and Luce were still up at 4am. I think they must've regretted that on the Sunday.

I must thank Clo and her mum for the amazing party. I really enjoyed myself and I hope everyone else did too.

My birthday!

You may have gathered that it was my birthday the other day. I had school on my birthday, so I wasn't too pleased about that. The day wasn't too good at all, many things went wrong. But my friends kept me going. Becca baked a delicious cake, which we all shared at second break. I received some epic presents, including several pairs of earrings and two necklaces, a scarf, two coordinating purses, chocolate (lots and lots of chocolate), urban decay lip gloss with a naked guy on the lid XD,  bath stuff, shoes, an abercrombie and fitch hoody, a piano book (which I have already thoroughly exhausted, and so I am planning on buying another one), a makeover and photoshoot in London, lots of la senza stuff ;), quite a bit of money, and the debts paid for those dresses I bought a few weeks back.

I would like to thank everyone for making my birthday truly special. It wouldn't have been the same without you.

A formal dinner - what really happened...

In this post, I will briefly explain what really happened at my birthday bash, but firstly, I would like to apologise for the lack of posts over the past few days; I have had a lot going.

So I invited a few friends to the Peking Palace in Caversham. Some stayed overnight, and those who did, met at my house and walked down to Caversham Court with me, to meet the others. Alicia decided she didn't have an appropriate dress, so Sophie brought quite a few other dresses, for her to try on. Most of them had a zip fastening at the back, which Alicia failed to zip up by herself. Each time she would scurry out of the bathroom, to my bedroom, where I'd zip it up for her. On one occasion, she stepped out of the bathroom, and my dad came along. Alicia, feeling very self-conscious in a dress, turned away from him, forgetting that the dress was unzipped all the way down. She was so embarrassed when she realised. And I will never let her forget it.

When hobbling between venues, we discovered that Clo didn't make the most sensible of choices, by wearing a very tight long chinese-style dress and 4" heels. She was walking along as if her knees were strapped together, very funny to watch, but she was walking painfully slow, which meant we arrived fashionably late.

To an extent, we did discuss pleasantries, but before long, the volume had increased, and the tone had lowered quite considerably. Soon many turned their heads in disgust to our table, but we didn't care. I must, at this point, add another funny story concerning Alicia. That evening I discovered that is virtually impossible for Alicia to get through a meal without spilling something down her front. It was particularly bad that night, as we were all using chopsticks and Alicia was particularly worried, because she was wearing Sophie's white dress. Everything she picked up, ended up on her lap. She managed to get a spillage on both sides of the napkin, so she couldn't rest it on her lap either way up, or she'd risk rubbing one of the stains into the dress. However, she did manage to hide the stains very well, I grant her that.

Once we were fit to burst, we left the restaurant, each being presented with a rose as we walked out of the door. We returned home, to find many parents waiting patiently outside my house. Once those who weren't staying the night had been whisked away, the rest of us played the piano and watched "The Boat That Rocked", amongst other things.

My guests left just before lunch, giving me just enough time to do my coursework and various other pieces of homework, but very little time to recover from the previous night.

In conclusion, I think that was the best party I have ever had. Considering it was very last minute, it was absolutely amazing. I really enjoyed myself, and I hope everyone else did too.

A formal dinner...

Now that my party has been and gone, I feel obliged to post the invite. I then, in a later post, will describe what really happened.

You have been invited to Rachel’s dinner party on Saturday 15th May, where one shall discuss pleasantries, such as the weather and the current fabrics in fashion. The venue will be at the Peking Palace, in Caversham, but all guests will gather in the gardens of Caversham Court at 6.45, weather permitting. One would be expected to dress in formal attire. Carriages at 10 o’clock.

An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.

This time, the title is a quote by Stephen Fry, who hosts my favourite panel show - QI.

Speaking of panel shows, I have just been watching Have I Got News For You. Naturally, they spent the entire show mocking all the MPs, particularly Gordon Brown, and it was especially funny this week, due to the past week's interesting political outcome.

Once again, today hasn't been very eventful. I have had a relatively constructive evening, doing quite a bit of homework, flute practice  and piano practice. All I have left to do now is some good hard core latin revision :/.

A few discoveries I made today:

• the rumours about OW are definitely not true.
• when approached by Mr Gleave today, we learnt that he notices who, in his form of year 8s, get their tights laddered most. Surely this would involve...him looking at their legs :/
• I am completely and utterly skint - alicia stole my last few coins for her bus fare
• more people know about my birthday than I anticipated, and seeing as all I have asked for is hugs, for my birthday, there will be a major hug orgy next week.
• the end of year exams are coming ever closer, and with each day that goes by, I grow more certain that I will die in that week
• and last, but by no means least, I have grown XD.

I would write more, but I haven't really got anything of interest to say. I will add another embarrassing story tomorrow, don't worry.

But before I bid you farewell, here is another Stephen Fry quote to get you thinking

"It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue."

Copy from one, it's plagiarism; copy from two, it's research

Another quote, this time from Wilson Mizner.

Today has been interesting. I can't quite say much has happened, but the little things were very entertaining or just uplifting. For example, it is my birthday next week, and so I asked my mum for a piano book (seeing as I have either outgrown or utterly exhausted all the decent pieces we have in the house). Naturally, my mum insisted that I should pick the book, rather than her take a wild guess as to what I might like. So after school, on my walk home, I popped into Dawsons for a "quick" look around. I spent over an hour in there. I looked at every single different piano book, grade 6 standard and above. I selected over 20 books for my mum to choose from, with specific songs and pieces I particularly wanted. What I failed to mention was that, to get all the pieces I wanted, she would have to buy ALL the books I specified. I also had a play on the various different pianos there, even though we just bought an new and amazing piano. And as I was playing, one of the staff approached me, and offered me a job. Unfortunately, I am not old enough yet to take the job, but it is there available for the future. My job would involve, working behind the till, and in quiet times of the day, I could play on the piano, which would not only entertain me and help me improve, but also attract more customers. But the best thing of all (which probably most of you will think it pretty trivial) was that, for the staff to offer me a job which I am too young to take, it would have meant that they thought I was older than I actually am. This means that some people don't consider me small at all!

I have a small, trivial, yet slightly entertaining story to tell you. Today, once I got home from my "short" trip to Dawsons, I cleaned out the rabbit hutch. My dad called out to let me know that he was going to pick Chris up from somewhere. Once I had finished the hutch, and put Sandy back inside, I took the water bottles (both half full), took off the lids, leaving them on top of the hutch, and went in to clean them out. I went in through the kitchen door, only to hear a faint beeping as I put one foot through the door. It took me several seconds to realise, that my dad had set the burglar alarm. My other shoe was being very stubborn, and refused to come off my foot, but I HAD to get to the front door to tap in the code. In the end, I ended up hopping round the house, with one shoe on, a half filled water bottle in each hand, lids off and water spilling everywhere, trying to get to the alarm before it started ringing the police. I managed to get there in time. Just. But I made a huge mess in the process...

Ending on another quote, this time by Einstein, which I think suits the last story very well.

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

"Sleep is an excellent way of listening to an opera"

This time, the title is a quote by James Stephens. I thought it was appropriate, considering I nearly fell asleep in Latin today.

Tonight, I had far too much fun writing invitations, with my dear Luke (again, another code name) for my epic party. I feel it is sensible and responsible not to mention the times and whereabouts of this mysterious party of mine, to avoid any gate crashers :P. For now, all I can say, is that there is a theme. We are all wearing dresses - including me. When I told people about this particular detail, I couldn't help noticing the similarities in their responses. Many, seemed to just be completely gobsmacked that I would wear a dress by choice. I have always been very against dresses, and even skirts; I would insist on wearing jeans no matter what the occasion. Very few, were not at all surprised, and that was either because they were helping me plan it, and could see the announcement coming, or because they were preoccupied that they would also have to wear a dress. Anyway, fear not my friends, the invite will be posted on the blog, but it will be after the event itself.

Another thing I hasten to point out - as many people know, I generally don't sleep, or at least, I sleep very little. But tonight, I am all tucked up in bed, having done all my homework (ok, I admit it, I did all my homework in the physics lesson). Can you believe it? I am in bed before 11pm!

And I will leave you with this quote, by Warren Zevon, which I think suits my general character and insomnia, but is also unfortunate considering my readers know that I will be sleeping tonight.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

DofE

Ok, so on Monday nights I have DofE. I do this in Pangbourne with my friend (former boyfriend) Mark. I really enjoy it there, and have made loads of new friends, particularly Rhianna and Ellie. Anyway, Alicia joined last session, and she fitted in straight away. This was, of course, a good thing, but I also grew upset, because it had taken me so long to fit in. I concluded that I was socially retarded. This week went far better. We picked Alicia up on the way to Pangbourne and we arrived at the hall only to discover that we were being taken elsewhere in the minibus and various instructors' cars. We were taken to another hall, which was far better. There was an amazing park. Mark span me round on...a spinny thing, until i felt sick and was staggering around, swaying from side to side like a drunkard. Alicia raped me several times - once for over 5 minutes! I was not happy, particularly as she completely messed up my hair.

In conclusion, DofE was particularly good today. I found that I could let go of all the bad things that have been going on at the moment, and could just enjoy myself.

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad"

Just in case you were wondering, the title is a quote from Salvador Dali. I couldn't think of a title for this post, but I think this quote suits me very well, although I AM mad.

So, ok, today hasn't been very good. Not good at all in fact. Actually, it has been dire. I don't really want to talk about it, and I am sure you don't want to listen, so we'll move swiftly on, to something small and trivial, that kept me going for the rest of the school day. My friend, who I shall call Lozenges, for the sake of keeping her identity secret, is an expert tennis player. We both share something in common - our obsession with Djoc. Anyway, as always, Lozenges was playing tennis on the courts against Zopo at break. Alicia and I have made a dreadful, yet hilarious, habit of going up to the fence and distracting her. We particularly like triggering her paranoia, by laughing and pointing at her. She would turn round and immediately think we are laughing at her. We would over-exaggerate our failure to stifle our laughs, and then as she turns back to the game, we would be in fits again. This continued for 10 minutes or so, before we set out on a walk round the world, leaving Lozenges and Zopo in peace. On our return to K, we made some interesting discoveries concerning some yr 8s, whom Alicia and I haven't established nicknames for, because we need to give them time to develop (the nicknames as well as the year 8s). Just realised how perverted that sounded. Will leave you with that thought :P.

more embarassing moments...

Ok, firstly, I would like to second Alicia's theory that Dorris is bi. Actually, I intend to go one step further and announce that she is gay, despite her having feelings for QUACK! Secondly, Dorris has invited herself over to mine over half term and I am a little concerned that (if our theories are correct) she might rape me!

Anyway, back to more of these embarassing stories. This one dates back to a while ago - I reckon I must have been in year 7. There were rumours going round at primary school that I had feelings for a boy who, for now, shall be called Marker Pen. A certain someone, who I will call LAW, continued the rumours when we joined Kendrick. Of course, Marker Pen was on the bus, as the rumours went round, but he thought it was just LAW messing around. Just before Christmas, I had a friend round, and because Abby is such a popular name, I don't feel the need to use a code name. Anyway, Abby and I were on msn on my computer, and as I went downstairs to get drinks, she wrote an email to Marker Pen, that has since been renamed "The Pure Gold Email". The email consisted of a lot of "I love you"s and "PLEASE will you go out with me"s. That wasn't the worst of it, but I managed to block the really "deep" parts from my memory - you will have to contact Sasha, who has a hard copy of the email. Of course Marker Pen subsequently blocked me on msn, and I haven't dared speak to him since.

I hope you enjoyed the story. Apologies for all the code names. But most of you who know me well enough, would be able to work out who each of them are. And yes, QUACK! is a code name, and it MUST be in capitals, otherwise it completely loses the effect.

MUSIC!

Seeing as the last post was so popular, I will keep adding posts about my embarassing moments as they come - just to keep my few followers entertained. But for now, I think I should write a bit more about my favourite past time (aside from procrastinating) - music.

I am considered a bit of a music geek. I started piano lessons when I was six years old, but took an interest in music when I was much younger. There is an adorable photo of me, aged 4, sitting at the piano stool experimenting with the different notes, while my younger brother, Chris, was reaching up from his walker to press the keys as well.

After a couple of years playing the piano, my mum thought I should take violin lessons as well, just as she had done when she was younger. I didn't take quite as much interest in the violin, but still got to a reasonable standard before I gave up in year 6.

I am still playing the piano to this day, and have decided to make music more a part of my life, than just a hobby. I have now been playing flute for a year, and seem to be progressing very well. But still my most of my time is spent on the piano. I would spend several hours playing various different pieces - not necessarily pieces I am studying with my teacher, although I do spend a considerable amount of time playing them as well. I passed grade 7 on the piano just before Christmas, and this summer I am doing a performance exam with Trinity before I move onto grade 8 work. I thoroughly suggest you should youtube the following pieces that I am playing for the recital:

Janacek - Unsere Abends
Beethoven - Bagatelle op. 119 Nr. 1
Eric Satie - Gnossienne nr 3
JS Bach - Gigue (from French suite No. 6 in E, BWV 817)
Edward MacDowell - To a Wild Rose
Philip Lane - Private Detective
Mendelssohn - Venetian Gondala Song, Op. 19 Nr. 6

ENJOY!

Height discrimination

As most of you know, I am not exactly the tallest of people. I have been called short a fair few times, mostly by my friends. Anyway, I have a few stories you may or may not have heard about, concerning my size, and Vue cinema's dreadful habbit of judging me.

Ok, I am not yet 15, and have tried many times, to get into the cinema with friends to see 15 films. No matter how hard I try, they won't let me in. Kindly, my friends stay with me, rather than go off to see the film without me. On one occasion, I went with one of my taller friends, who is actually several months younger, and the staff behind the till turned to her, and said "I may let you through, but I am afraid your sister will have to wait outside. Do you have a parent to call? Is there someone that can take her home?". I was mortified. I was 14 years old! My friend was still 13! Not only did they not let me through, but they also accused me of being a younger sister AND required assistance getting home! That was the last time I tried getting into a 15 film.

Another rather unpleasant experience at Vue cinema, occured just before Christmas. I went with a friend to see a 12A. But the person behind the till, wouldn't let me buy a ticket to the film, until I had proved that I was over 12. You can imagine how embarassing it must be, for a 14 year old to have to show their bus pass AND library card (because apparently one proof of ID isn't enough now) to buy a ticket for a 12 film.

I hope you enjoyed those two stories, no doubt, there'll be more to come. Although I severely hope there won't. Fortunately, in less than 2 weeks, I will be eligible for tickets to see 15s, even if I do have to proove my identity. But don't worry, there will be other ways I will be completely publically humiliated, in a matter concerning my height...or the lack of it.

moving on...

It has now been a week and two hours since Honey died. And I think it is now time to move on, more for everyone else's sanity than my own. Before I say good bye to all depressing things, I think I should briefly mention another thing that has been getting me down over the last week. My boyfriend and I split up on Sunday - I'll spare you the details. But, to avoid any guilt on his part if he reads this blog, now that I have to cheer up, and am looking on the brighter side, I think he did the right thing. If he wasn't feeling comfortable in our relationship, it was better to end it before too much damage was done. And another plus - we are still good friends.

A rabbit's fate

Now that I have finally set up a "my stats" account for this blog, I feel I should really write more. Although, I won't ramble on about nothing. Everything I say will have a purpose, whether it is to make you laugh, or cry, or to just leave you with a message.

This post is going to be slightly distressing, but I think I should raise awareness. As many of you probably gathered from my previous post, my rabbit died at the weekend. She was just 3 years old, so she died young (even for a rabbit). Anybody who knows me, would appreciate how much I love and care for rabbits, and how much I adored Honey. I wasn't careless about the way I treated her, and so her death wasn't due to abuse or neglect. Honey died of fly strike. I'll spare you the details of the horrible fate - let's just say, it isn't a nice way to go. If you look in any book on caring for rabbits, you will find a nice long passage on fly strike and how to prevent it. The writer is not joking when they say you should check the rabbit's cleanliness daily. They are not exaggerating when they say that you need to rush the rabbit to a vet within a few hours of finding any signs of flies' eggs. And please take them seriously when they say: Fly strike is fatal.