Up a bit earlier this morning, and over the road for Dunkin' Donuts. Mum, dad and Adam had donuts but I had a flat bread sandsich with ham & swiss cheese, which was really nice, but extra hot.
Today we're going to somewhere called Wrentham... or something. It's a Premium Outlets anyway. That means shopping! Woo! I only have $24 ad some loose change though... so no expensive purchases for me... I'm saving myself for the Lindt shop... *cue big grin*.
Anyway, I reckon we wanna get going soon so I'm off!
*
Yay! We're back. It's been a good day. I got a pair of Reebok trainers that are hopefully going to live up to my old ones I got from Florida (5 years ago!!) I also got a pair of converse (ADAM HAD NEVER HEARD OF CONVERSE. WHAT THE HELL?!?!) and I got a sports top from Reebok. None of these I payed for either as they're all kinda practical! And then mum got me a really nice red top (almost the same clolour as my new nail varnish) for my birthday. Yay! :) It is tight fitting though and I realised in the changing room that I have grown a small food baby hehe. :P I vowed to eat more healthily and then remembered my oncoming visit to the Lindt shop and weakened. Eep.
We're going back to the Chicago Uno Grill for dinner in about 5 minutes. I will look for something a little more healthy perhaps!
It's our last night... I feel sad but at the same time I'm looking forward to getting back to my less comfortable bed and more mundane lifestyle. For some ridiculous, unknown reason! Ridiculous. I'm off.
*
OMG. So I had a diet coke, thought, it's not so bad, no calories or anything. Had Honey Chicken Salad or something, which SOUNDS more healthy, at least. It was yummy though. And I've had this (still huge) salad andhave no room for anything else. Then I go and order a HUGE slab of chocolate cake with chocolate cream and sauce and I ATE it! Okay I didn't quite finish it but I had most of it, it was delicious! Yum! But sooooo fattening. Aaah. I'd say worth it though.
Then we went to Starbucks and I had a latte. And then we went to take a picture of Café Jaffa, and then we went to the pharmacy to buy postcards; I bought 10 for $5.31. I'm going to write some for some friends I think but probably won't send the... may send one to myself for the stamp hehe.
- Mood:
content
Plain croissant with weird butter and strawberry jelly for breakfast. And apple juice. Feel slightly overfull and sickish.not really sure what we're doing today.
*
Okay, firstly we had a looong walk to the aquarium, and then we went round the aqaurium. I got some nice videos but just as I was about to video a giant turtle my video camera stopped working! It wouldn't go off the start up screen... it really upset me as I couldn't sort it out and I was scared I was going to lose all my videos!! I have a good one of a whale and everything. It would've ruined my entire holiday.
We got lunch from 7eleven; I had a Black Forest Ham and Swiss Cheese sandwich, some BBQ crisps and a Twix (my camera was still broken at this stage and I needed something to cheer me up!)
Then we got the T (thank God) back to the hotel, from which we went to the Christian Science something or other and took a photo square; I took a picture of dad taking a picture of Adam taking a picture o mum taking a picture of me.
Then we went to this weird map thing and stood inside the world. Oh and I should've mentioned that by this time my camera was working again!
We visited a few shops in the Prudential and I bought a Boston pin badge to add to my collection :)
Then we went to have yummy pizza at the Upper Crust. It was...yummy!
Oh and earlier we visited the Lindt shop so when we got back from dinner we had goooorgeous chocolate! We're going back to buy more!
So we are at the hotel now and it's about half 6. Another thing I should've mentioned earlier is that we got tickets for Shear Madness! Yay! We're going to go out in a bit to get drinks and then go onto the show.
*
Shear Madness was so good! And completely unexpected! (the format of the show, not the fact that it was good, haha)
We walked tothe theatre district and then went to Starbucks, though by that time I was a bit hot and flustered so just got a diet pepsi from Dunkin' Donuts. We then walked the rest of the way to the theatre and went inside... and were shocked at how small it was!
The concierge had told us that it was small but it wasn't even a theatre in the way that you'd expect... not the same seating or staging arrangements. In that respect, it was more like you'd expect to find at a stand up comedy club in a bar or something. But with scenery.
So the first part of the first half was all scripted action, and then towards the end of the first half the audience got involved. It's a murder mystery and they were re-enacting what they'd already done, but we had to spot mistakes etc and point fishy things out. Then there was the intermission after which we were allowed to question the suspects and then take a vote on whodunnit. And then here were some more scripted bits and an arrest! And the best part is, tomorrow night it will all be different!
I'd love to see it again. It's been such a long running show already, hopefully it'll continue for years to come and I can come and enjoy it again!
It's given me ideas to write a similar kind of play, though. I was thinking, some old lady's birthday party at a restaurant who gets murdered? Heh. I dunno, I'll see. So far it seems to be the only one of its kind, though. Or, only big one.
PS- Envy on the Coast
- Mood:
contemplative
Asiago cheese bagel and apple juice for breakfast.
No tickets available for Shear Madness :(
Science museum was pretty funky, some bits were boring though.
Yummy chicken for lunch.
Duck tour which I didn't pay attention to cos I was BLOODY BOILING
Hard Rock café for dinner, burger for me. Really stroppy waitress called Katherine.
MY FEET ARE KILLING ME.
- Mood:
pissed off
We're at the hotel at the moment but in a bit we're going whale watching!! So excited, apparently they're having a really good season! I'd better get my suncream on.
*
We've been on the boat to go and watch whales for about 1&1/2 hours now. It's horrible. And really boring! And the worst bit is, the further we go out, the further we have to get back! We should reach the whale spot soon, though- well, we were told about 1&1/2 hours. I'm still looking forward to seeing them but I'm really fed up with this journey now!
We ended up walking to the sea front from our hotel, having narrowly missed our trolley. There were 3 blonde surfer boys in front of us crossing the road again and again- it turned out there was a photographer over the other side, taking photos for advertising or something! It was quite weird. Anyway I don't really have any more to say at the moment so I guess I'll go back to boredom!
*
A bit more seasickness later, and we arrived at where we were supposed to be seeing the whales... stayed there for about an hour... and saw a pitiful amount of whales. Of the ones that were seen, I saw less, and of the ones I saw, less were recorded. They were having a bad day. I did get some really good shots of a couple of humpbacks though! On my new video camera.. they weren't really photographable!
The couple of whales we saw were pretty awesome, but I'm not really convinced the were worth the journey!
When back we bought a small late lunch from a store (I'd had a few crisps on the boat but that was about it). I had some grapes but they weren't that good and some oreo CAKE bars (bizarre) which weere tasty but did not stick together at all.
We got back on a trolley tour and went to see a boat that dad said today would hold 150 people, but we found out that in the 1940s it held 325. ouch. We got back on the trolley again to find out about Premium Outlets, then had a long walk back through the park to our hotel. Finding some grub in a while!
*
Well found a place to eat that looked perfect, but the food wasn't great. Mum, Adam and I had bolognese but it didn't have any tomato in it and it was very very bland. Edible, but bland.
So we left after main course and went to see if we could get a Ben & Jerry's, but we decided not to in the end. We went round a few shops in the Prudential including a HUGE Border's which was amazing, and I could have spent forever in there! We got a Starbucks from there then walked back to the hotel, stopping a while at the giant Apple store.
Too tired.
- Mood:
bored
We walked back to the hotel- I was almost about to call it home!- and brushed teeth, suncream etc, and finalised what we're going to do today. We're going to go on a trolley tour around Boston, which means that we can get on and off whever we like and do bits along the trail... I'm not entirely sure what those bits are yet, so I'll keep you updated :P
*
So we got on a trolley driven by a weird man called Tim who told a lot of awful jokes. Cue mini tour of Boston. We went on a relatively boring 45 minute cruise... booked our whal watching for tomorrow yay! Got lunch... for me, a meatball sub (again), a few Lay crisps and banana split DIPPIN' DOTS! WOOOO! I <3 DD :) yum yum yum. Oh and a diet coke.
We then walked for a little while, waited for even longer, then got back on the trolley tour. We then walked for even longer (I thought this was supposed to be our non-walking day?) until we got to the MIT (Museum of the Institute of Technology?? or something. [post-holiday edit: it was Massachusetts Institute of Technology. close.]) Anyway, it was interesting for me too as there was a fair bit about cognitive study, and the workings of the brain kind of thing. And trying to make robots, that can think like humans, kinda thing, communication and interaction, reminds me of my English Language studies, anyway.
So then we walked for even looonger to get back to the hotel, and here I am, trying to muster the energy to get up and have a shower. It's not easy; I'm knackered. Wow, only three pages so far today... must've missed something...
*
Mmm that shower was nice :) hehe. And clean clothes! wooo!
We ate dinner at Chicago Uno Grill or something like that. I had a deep-dish pizza called Numero Uno which had sausage, pepperoni, onion, mushroom, peppet and chunky tomato on it. I think that was it, anyway. Well, it was really good, but v. filling and I didn't have room for pudding. I had another diet coke to drink.
After that we went back t the hotel to pick up our cameras, then it was off to the Prudential building, second tallest building in Boston, I think. Or maybe even Massachusetts!
We went up to the top, to take photos. To be honest it was a lot worse than I expected... we could only take photos through the windows, and there were loads of displays behind us so they reflect everything. The view was pretty restricted and it was all a bit of an $11 scam, really.
Oh well. Boston does look pretty at night from above.
After that we went back t the hotel and fell promptly asleep.
Close day three :)
- Mood:
tired
A bed like we had in New York is what I've been pining for for the last year, and I finally got it! The bed is sooo comfy, as are the pillows :) I didn't get a great night's sleep still though... I woke up very often, more often than usual. I was just sleeping in bursts really, waiting for it to be morning. I don't feel bad this morning though as the beds were so comfy you could relax even when you were awake. I got up at 7am in the end. I tried on the hotel dressing gown hehe and it absolutely swamped me :D
We've just finished breakfast in Paradise Bakery & Café. We all had croissants with egg, bacon & cheese in- tasted good but too big! Hey, it's America. Had All Natural Nantucket Nectar apple juice which is yummy & apparently made by Two Toms! I think we're going to head off now so ciao for now.
*
Got some plasters & new deodorant (the one I brought takes ages to dry ¬_¬) from the pharmacist to protect my feet (well, not the deodorant), and spoke to the Virgin Atlantic welcome dude who was quite hilarious... and not really helpful at all :P though I think we've sorted out what we're doing today now... no thanks to him hehe. It's so exciting, it all looks like such fun! :D
*
A few things I prviously forgot to mention.
One, my excitement on entering the pharmacy and hearing Hoobastank's 'Disappear' on the radio (/CD player? don't actually know). Never in England do I recall hearing Hoob in a store or on the radio, or if I ever did it would've been 'The Reason'.
Two, I realised upon struggling to run for a plane that would take me to glorious Boston, I am rather unfit. I am not saying I am fat or even that I need to lose any weight, for those of you about to object- bim but I do not have any physical stamina, and that I inted to fix. Upon my arrival i Boston, I realised America is perhaps not the place to start, a I am rather enjoying eating at the moment. But, y'know, when I get home...
Three, how cool would it be to be an air hostess? I mean, obviously it's going to be a tiring job, changing countries and time zones all the time, but... free on night holidays are where it's at! :D I wonder how much they get paid...
Four, how cool would it be to be a pilot? Now I know to learn to become a proper, commercial pilot of a big plane you need to have certain qualifications and training. But you can pay for lessons to fly a small plane- some of my friends have done it! I wanna go! I wonder how much it costs...
Five, police work seems like a rewarding job. I wonder what kinds of qualifications you might need for that, and where and what you start work with... another thing to look up...
*
Okay, so onto what we got round to doing today. Well. A lot of walking. Needed new plasters, and sticky tape to keep those plasters on. (oh, and bought some nice new nail varnish, what is up with me?)
So, we walked to Boston Common and had a little wander through there, worked out where A Comedy of Errors was playing. Wandered on. Collected our GO BOSTON cards (which are basically tickets that get us into a lot of things for 'free'). Then we went to Quincy Market, which is a really cool place where they sell all kinds of things! There was a hat I really liked and I that I thought suited me but mum dissuaded me from buying it by saying I would never where it. There were also these cloth dress top things that apparently you could wear in 100 different ways. They were really pretty, but expensive, and I'm not sure I'd remember how to wear it! There was also some really nice jewellery for nice prices, but I thought I'd leave it and go back another day.
We then spent ages trying to find the (really well signposted) Italian market which Jimmy had bigged up for us, but when we finally arrived it was a bit of a disappointment and we went off to find a café. We all had subs; me and dad had meatballs in ours, Adam had chicken, and mum had roast beef.
Next we roamed around for ages trying to find the place we have to go for the whale watching. Turned out we went the wrong way. For once.
Once found, we went back to the Quincy Market for another look. It was that good. Then we went to Starbucks for our tea. Mum, dad and Adam all had a banana/ strawberry smoothie, and Adam also had some sort of cake. I had a (very yummy) choc chip cookie, an apple juice, and a (very yummy) latte :)
Then we pretty much went back to the park, arrived about 6, and A Comedy of Errors started at 7, but there were already a load of people sitting down waiting so we decided to stay.
I was really surprised that all three of my family agreed to come with me, after they found out it was Shakespeare!!!
We paid $10 each to get little chairs to sit on (the play was free, and we got a free programme too) and then when we took the chairs back we got a $5 deposit back for each of the chairs. Oh, and I paid a $1 donation in exchange for a pin badge :P
The play was (well I thought so anyway) really good and had some modern twists to it. The two men who played the Dromios were very funny, in particular. After every scene I had to 'translate' to my family what had gone on- for some reason I don't really understand, they didn't understand it! Oh well. It was nice of them to come.
Oh yeah, and at the beginning when we were waiting for it to start it began to sport with rain. Dad and Adam power walked it back to the hotel to get our coats and umbrellas, but luckily the rain never came to anything. I did have a really cute little boy throwing a ballon to me though.
Fin :)
PS- post-holiday note. That was the most rain we got all holiday! :D
- Mood: good
We didn't though. Thank God. The flight was 7 hours (and 7 minutes) and I watched "Confessions of a Shopaholic", "Bride Wars" and "The Boat That Rocked"... well, all but 10 minutes of that one grr. The (otherwise cool) flight man took my headphones away :( So I don't know what happens in the very end which is a bit of a bummer. I suppose they are all saved, though. Well, I think we get the same selection of entertainment (vast, vast amount) on the way home so I guess I'll just have to finish it then!
So we landed on schedule, gave the authorities scans of all our fingers and thumbs (and our face hehe) and gave in our green form things... on which... according to mine, I am a 'MR' apparently. Thanks dad. We collected our suitcases in record time, talked to a nice lady who was representative of Virgin Atlantic, and got straight into a taxi.
The taxi ride was relatively short but it reminded me of everything I love about America. It was sunny and the window was open so I had the wind rushing through my hair, and- I wasn't tired- but I didn't want to close my eyes and miss anything!
Everything, everything I loved. The atmosphere was just different for me, from home. The smells, of yummy food and pretty flowers. The buildings, lots old and lots new, but all new to me, and all beautiful. It took me about half the journey to realise that I was looking so intently out of my side of the car that I was missing the other side completely!
We arrived at The Lenox Hotel, and a friendly bell boy, or whatever they call them, came and took one suitcase in each hadn and carried them in as though they were empty! (cue worried thoughts). It was pretty much as though he'd picked me up and carried me in myself! While dad was talking to the receptionist, a friendly old man (part of the hotel staff, not just a randomer) came and started chatting to us. For a loooong time. I think his name was Jimmy. He gave me a reeeally soft toy frog which he said was called Herbert (or Hermit? Herman? can't actually remember) but it says on the label that it's called Freckles. It has a ribbon bowtie around its neck with The Lenox Hotel written on it... so I'd already got a souvenir just by stepping into the hotel! Anyway, Jimmy, as he shall henceforth be known, said he normally just gave it to the little children but he decided to give me one anyway, though he could see I wasn't little (score!!).
Jimmy took us up to our rooms, chattering away, and then stayed in our rooms for quite a while, chattering away. He filled a bucket of ice for us. He gave us a few local hints of where to go. He told us our ancestor's graves were here (cheery). He told us he's originally from Australia, and 84! He showed us the view from out the window. And much more that I've forgotten now (or perhaps wasn't listening properly in the first place. oops.)
I went and did a video tour of mine and Adam's room before it got all messed up, and then when we went back in there later we'd had the turn down service, which involved putting our lamp and radio on, 'turning down' the top of our duvet so it was easier to get into bed, and leaving Lindor, LINDOR chocolates on our pillow! :D It was then that it emerged from Adam that there was a big Lindor shop right next door. I am in heaven.
Once we'd vaguely unpacked we went for a wander round the local area, saw some nice scenery and shops and restaurants! :) I rubbed the back of my feet with my new shoes though :( We came back to the hotel and went pretty much straight to bed. It was just past 9pm in Boston, which in England is 2am! Remarkably, I didn't actually feel tired, though.
You may be wondering why there has been no mention of food yet. It's because I want to draw up a list of everything I've eaten and drunk today! Here goes:
- big bowl of cornflakes for breakfast
- hot chocolate
- end of the berry juice carton
- 3 x rolls; ham, cheddar cheese & red leicester
- apple juice
- beef casseroule (sp?!) and rice and peas and carrots (plane)
- pasta salad
- bread roll
- gü chocolate & raspberry pudding (chocolate was yuuuuummmmmmmm)
- diet coke
- water
- lemonade
- 2 x coffee + milk + sugar
- chocolate chip biscuits
- icecream
- some sweets
- a 'whopper' burger (Burger King)
- fries
- more diet coke
I think that pretty much covers it, but it feels like I've missed something off ahhh!
End Day One :)
- Mood:awake
End quote.
Just thought I'd give a little update as I won't have access to the internet for about a week.
Last Sunday was spent piecing together bits of film from my 16th birthday party (almost a year ago now!) and adding in effects and cool music etc... the whole original tape was 1hr, and the edited version cuts it down to about 30mins, but the best bit of the whole video is definitely the first 3 minutes haha! It made me and all my family laugh and I can't wait to show my friends. I'm pleased how it turned out but haven't had enough time to properly watch the rest of it yet, or put it on a DVD, which I'm planning too.
On Wednesday morning I got an early birthday present! It's a Flip video camera (hence the title of this post)- look 'em up, their website is pretty snazzy hehe. It's basically a budget camcorder which is literally power-up, point, and shoot in about four seconds. Uploading your videos to the computer is the easiest thing as you literally just 'flip' out a USB port from the side of the camera and plug it straight in; Flip does the rest of the work with its cool in-built software. I haven't really had much to record the past few days but I'm hoping to get some cool footage sometime soon! I've also been working on putting together some other footage but I'm not quite happy with that yet so I guess I'll just keep on trying. I'm really happy with my present though- it's relatively good quality and has 8GB memory, which (as it's HD) will record for about 2hrs.
:D
I am a rather lucky chick.
Anyway, I have things to be doing so I'd better rock and roll!
Fear is temporary!
<4
- Location:lounge
- Mood: tired
- Music:radio
My grandma, is amazing. Okay, so she hasn't QUITE conquered the mobile phone yet, but she's getting there. She used to be scared of her laptop, and once when my aunty gave her the instruction "right-click" she... well, she wrote click! Many fits of giggles later, she is now a fully competent computer user, and even helps out at her local senior computer class! Recently she's even been helping at the local digital photography class, on the computer side of things... but it's only gone and struck up a vague interest of the digital camera, too! She has digital TV and funky recording equipment, and she loves her music. Not quite at the iPod stage yet though... although she did shocked me the other day when I thought I heard her say to my mum, "did I tell you I've got an iPod?" Turned out what she actually said was "did I tell you I've got an eye appointment?"... same kind of mistake as the "right-click", I guess... :P. She can still drive, which she needs do frequently for shopping etc as well as making sure my grandad's okay- frequent visits to the hospital, unfortunately. That's not to say he's not an equally intellectual, strong person, even if he does spend a lot of his time in an armchair. When we go to visit, he likes to just sit there and soak up the atmosphere, loving us and being loved in return. Making his house feel like a home as he knows we'll always be there for him, throughout the years of illness and treatment and waiting. He's had various problems over the last few years; after battling his way past cancer, he now has problems with his kidneys. A healthy person's kidneys function at 100%, and his is more like 20% at the moment. He's been told he can't have dialysis until it's drop to 10%, though, so at the moment there's nothing really that he can do. I think he wants to have dialysis to try and stop him feeling so bad all the time, but I dunno, when I first heard mention of dialysis I kind of freaked out a bit as all I can remember is GCSE Biology when our teacher told us how tiring and upsetting dialysis and how most of the people who have it, hate it. I remmber thinking at the time, I hope I never have to go through that. I just hope for my grandad's sake that it's a lot easier and painless than the picture my lovely teacher painted. There's so much to say about those two- my mum's parents- that I can't begin to cover it all, what I've said is just an insight, pretty much.
My dad's dad- Grampy- is equally brilliant. His mind is so awake and working in ways I can't really fathom! He does cryptic crosswords all the time and with such ease, while I'm still struggling along with a normal crosswords... though on the occasions when I help him with his cryptics (he's partially blind, so I read out all the clues and number of spaces), I do occasionally get one of the clues, which makes me very excited! The ease with which he just, gets things, is incredible; I am in awe. I find it really sad that he's losing his eyesight... I remember once I went on a walk with him down the road and I felt painfully responsible for him. You know how when you're pretty young still but your neighbour trusts you to walk their even younger kids to school, and you feel totally grown up and responsible and make sure you walk on the curb side and feel agitated everytime you have to cross the road 'cause they just don't see the cars coming? It was sorta like that. Except the little kids generally don't feel proud of themselves when they can read the road signs... =\ You know that song... "you were my strength when I was weak, you were my voice when I couldn't speak, you were my eyes when I couldn't see, you saw the best there was in me" etc? Well, I never really considered that sometimes, it can have a literal meaning, too.
And let's not forget my Nan... sometimes I forget that she's not around anymore. Even though she's now been dead for over a year, I can remember her so vividly that it's like she's never been away. And the best thing is, it's not depressing to think about her anymore... I can remember some of the silly things she said and laugh about it, and the wet soggy kisses and cringe at it, and the food she made and smile at it, and the excitement she felt when she saw the limo we hired for them for their DIAMOND wedding anniversary, 60 years, celebrated about a month before she died. She died happy, and that thought makes me happy, and that thought makes it easy.
This morning I've been thinking about my great grandmother, my mum's mum's mum, Nanny Rose. I always used to believe that her hair was naturally ginger and was amazing that she hadn't started to go grey yet!! She knitted me dolls, I think, and she had a pretty big house and a swimming pool in the garden, and we had afternoon tea and biscuits and lots of fun. We use to see her all the time when I was younger, and I don't remember how old I was but at some point the visits just stopped. The version of events in my head are that my grandma fell out with her and that's why we stopped seeing her... but I don't know where I would have found that out from, or whether I've just made that up to fill in the gap. Thing is... she must be getting pretty old now. That is, if she is still alive. I have absolutely no idea whether she is dead or alive, and I really want to know. My head says, I would know about it if she had died, but my heart says, she was old even when I knew her, and I've grown up a lot since... who knows?! I don't. And last time I asked my mum, which was a fair while ago, she said she didn't know, either, and I believe her. I don't know how to find out... I don't even know if Rose was her real name, and if it was, was it her Christian name? And I know her married surname but no idea about her maiden name so how do I even begin to search for her!? There's something chilling about being completely cut off with someone you were relatively close to- I was pretty young at the time it happened so I never thought it was weird, but looking back, it is weird- and not even knowing if they're still living or not. And say I found out that she was alive... what would I do then? Try and visit? When she would be like a complete stranger to me, and I to her? Would she remember me? Would she want to see me? What would I do? I just don't know. It's all too complicated.
- Location:lounge
- Mood: restless
- Music:nein
It's been a while........ add another month (or two) onto the end again methinks. Time for an update.
- Get results you are proud of; I bloody hope I can check this one off on August 20th =\
Abstain from any electronic communication for at least a dayRaise money for charity- Get a job
Earn a position of powerGet full marks on a piece of work- Keep your room tidy for a whole week
Learn sign language- Volunteer; may be slightly closer to this one :)
- Enter a competition
- Tell someone you like them
- Help out someone you don't like
Organise a surprise for a friend- Change someone else's life; for the better I'm thinkin'
Meet someone that you admireMake a new friend- Do something to make a stranger smile
Regain contact with someone you've not spoken to in ages- Tell someone a secret; well I have told people things that I'm not gonna spread around. But they don't really feel like big things.
Go abroad without a parent- Have a professional photo shoot with friends
- Get a pen pal
- Buy someone a present for no reason
- Get a video camera and go on walks with Jenny
- Spend a whole day writing with your left hand
- Speak to someone who's name begins with each letter of the alphabet in one day
- Call everyone by nicknames all day
Hug 100 people in one day (on a Wednesday)Go a whole week without moaning about ANYTHINGDress up really strange for a party- Buy some ridiculous shoes
- Wear an outfit comprised entirely of borrowed items
- Surprise someone by turning up somewhere public with their face on your t-shirt!
- Pamper yourself
- Dare to be different
- Buy a nice outfit from a charity shop
- Own a locket
Start and finish a long book in a day (reading)Write someone a song, and sing it to themGive your all in a stage show- Write a play, and get people to perform it for film
- Finish a complicated cross stitch
- Learn to cook
- Learn to juggle!
- Perform guitar for somebody
- Write and send a fan letter
- Kickboxing showdown with Peter
- Sing for a whole day
See at least three musicals- Learn a singing duet with someone
- Finish a novel (writing)
Do something you have never done before- Learn a poem pass it on
- Get published in a newspaper/magazine
- Learn to beatbox
- Keep a blog for at least 6 months....
You know a recent hobby I have got into... 'vidding'. Ie, putting together bits of film in a nice way and setting it to music and making it all look lovely. Well, as of yet, most of the videos are in pre-production; I know what I want them to look like, I've planned everything and (sort of) have the video, and the music, but I am still learning how to put everything together... so I'm not quite a vidder. Yet. But I will keep you updated on how that goes as it's a very interesting process!
At the moment I'm reading Dawn French's autobiography, Dear Fatty, as a kind of summer, holiday book. It turned out to have a section which is kinda useful to me for my English Lit. for next year; for my coursework I'm doing A Passage to India by E.M.Forster, and she's written about a page about her experience in India; which, though short, emulates pretty exactly what Forster got across in his book. Aside from that, Dear Fatty is a good read; funny but not afraid to delve deep and be serious. It's all sincere and from the heart and I've learnt so much about her that I didn't know before. I've decided to try and read more autobiographies of people I admire as it's easy to think that their lives have been easy but really they have the same problems as we do- and it's interesting to see how they've overcome them.
For the rest of the holidays I'll be writing for at least half an hour every day- so hopefully I'll be updating this livejournal a bit more, too, though the writing won't necessarily go on here! I'll keep you updated with my adventures with vidding though :P
Peace,
Fear is temporary!
- Location:study
- Mood:accomplished
- Music:I'm Yours- Jason Mraz (radio)
"Recall a time when a stranger showed you generosity.
Where did it happen? What did he/she do or give to you? What did you feel? Freewrite on this for 10 minutes.
If you haven't experienced this yet, then recall a time when you showed generosity to a stranger."
When I was... God I don't even remember how old I was ! I must've been... let's think... perhaps 8, at the absolute oldest? Wow long time ago!
Well okay, when I was 8, ish, my dad, my brother and I made a robot to enter into a competition. (Well I say we... it was mainly my dad and probably my brother, I helped road test it though okay :P)
Does anyone remember Techno Games? Wow, what trip down memory lane! Techno games was basically, the Olympics, but for robots! It was broadcast on TV and absolutely fantastic fun to watch, with several conventional events like track races, swimming, high jump etc but also less conventional events like rope climbing and solar powered races!
Our robot was for the solar power race. So we went to the competition and everyone who was in the teams who entered got a techno games t-shirt!
This is going to sound really lame now that I've built up to it but ohhh welll :P
...
...
...
Guess who got TWO t-shirts? ahaha. That's right, it was me! :) on it's own it doesn't sound very impressive, but it was just the way that the 't-shirt giver' treated everyone- he was so friendly to everyone, and obviously took a shine to me! Haha.
And I am proud to say, that I still have both t-shirts, and slightly less proud to say that they still fit! :| and yes, I do actually wear them occasionally! eeep. not at the same time I hasten to add.
Still, whenever I do, and someone notices, I pull out this story to tell them :D <3 telling stories.
PS- our robot failed miserably. but that's not the moral of this story.
- Location:study
- Mood: sore
- Music:Maroon 5
Seriously, it's doing my head in, and I am fed up.
Somehow I don't think that's gonna come true, though.
- Location:lounge
- Mood: bored
- Music:that song... by those people.. urrr.. radio
"Freewrite for 10 minutes using "power" as your focus word. What does power mean to you?"
When I hear the word 'power' I immediately think of power over something. Because like it or not, try and lighten it up as you may, where power exists, there must exist someone or something who is under the power.
Now I feel a little morbid here when in my mind this immediately links to oppression.
I'm not saying that power is a bad thing, not by a long shot. We need rules and regulations- anarchy would never work- and when it comes down to it, anything which isn't anarchy must have some form of power in it. And I'm sure we could find some form of power in an anarchy, too!
So, we need power.
It's just how we use it that presents the problem.
If you have power over someone and you abuse that power... well, that's more like what I'm getting at. Power is an immense word, and the more I think about it, the more obscure it becomes and the more ambivalent I become.
Power is...... powerful. (Something just gives me that feeling, y'know? Not sure what it is :P)
Power hungry.
Power shower.
Flower power?
Lots and lots o' buttons.
I think I've gone off the rails a tad /// off topic.
hmm.
not in the mood.
in the wise of Freddie Mercury... "I'm going slightly mad"
- Location:study
- Mood:
crazy - Music:the sawing of wood
For 10 minutes, jot down rules or laws everyone in your island must follow. Hey, your rules don't have to be conventional. (Remember, you're the boss so you can make your rules or laws creative!).
When you're done with your list of rules, go over it and choose one rule. Explain this rule. Write about the importance of this rule. Do this for 10 minutes."
The 10 Commandments of the Island
- Thou shalt own a list of goals to strive for every day.
- Thou shalt always offer your skills and abilities to others, either to help them achieve their own goals or to help them lead a comfortable lifestyle.
- Thou shalt always keep the community spirit and not stay for long periods of time in solitude.
- If thou sees any being in trouble, thou shalt do your utmost to help them, so long as you are not putting yourself in harm's way in doing so.
- Thou shalt always earn your keep, doing jobs you enjoy, but sometimes ones you don't.
- Thou shalt protect the environment and natural habitat of your surroundings.
- Thou shalt never suffer in silence.
- Thou shalt always try to settle disputes democratically.
- Thou shalt accept others for who they are, as they will accept you.
- Thou shalt follow all the other unspoken rules of morality and humanity.
Thou shalt own a list of goals to strive for every day.
At the end of the day, it's fine to walk unguided along a path for a while, but eventually if you don't know where you're going, you're never going to get there.
You can never run out of things to strive for but if you don't put pen to paper and admit to yourself what you truly want, it makes it all the harder to achieve it. Once you have written it down, you can start to practically think out what you need to do to achieve this goal and how long you think it will take you to do, and take one step at a time towards making this dream a reality. And why stop there? There are always more hopes and dreams and aspirations; achieving a goal may inspire you to think of another goal, or give you the courage or ability to achieve another goal.
As we have seen, I am all for goal setting, and it's often a good idea to give yourself a time period to achieve it in as well, as this will give you more of an incentive. These can be loose though; there's no need to get disappointed and give up if you don't achieve your goal in this time period; in most cases you won't have missed your chance and will always get another chance!
I'd like to leave with a few words of inspiration that I remember reading once, though I'm afraid I'll be paraphrasing;
A man had reached the end of his life and was looking back down the path which he had lead. He saw a beach and his footprints in the sand for every step he had taken in his life. He saw the good times and the hard times, the best times and the worst times.
Sometimes, there was another pair of footprints walking along side his own. These were God's footsteps, and in all the good times and the best times, God had been walking alongside him, sharing in his happiness. But in all the hard times and the worst times, there was only one pair of footprints.
The man turned to God and asked him, "At all the good points in my life you were walking along beside me, but tell me, where were you in all the hard times when I was struggling to keep on walking?"
And God replied, "Those were the times when I carried you on my back."
[And take that from someone who is agnostic; I don't think that you necessarily need a belief in God to feel inspired by that story... well, it worked for me, anyway]
Fear is temporary... regret is forever.
- Location:study
- Mood:
curious - Music:none
"Today, you're going to convince these people to come with you. What's in store for them? Why would they want to go with you?
So imagine yourself in front of your chosen 21. You have their undivided attention. Still you need to make that one great speech, and if there ever is a perfect time for you to deliver it, it's *now*.
Be creative... and market your island. Make your speech so great, none of your chosen 21 will ever want to be left behind."
Some people reach a point in their life when they just want to make a fresh start of things.
Some people reach a point in their life when every day seems the same and they just want a change.
For the athletic, the intellectual, the outgoing, the shy, the musical, the scientists, the performers, the rich, the poor, people of all ages and backgrounds and races, for people of any size and any manner.
This is the way forward. We are already a unit. Come to a place where you can be top of your trade, make friends you never would have made, indulge in aspirations and don't let your dreams fade; here, on this island, you can have it all. A place where everyone looks out for everyone- yes, you, are not here for just any reason. You are here because you are all good of character, and you deserve this chance for a new lease of life.
Far away from the hustle and bustle of city life, but near enough to visit when you get homesick.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy.
You've heard the saying, "Get a job you enjoy and you will never work a day in your life." ? Well, here there is something for everyone, and you can make your way doing the things you want to do. You have all shown promise in particular areas that are essential to keep a community running.
This is the way forward. This is our unit.
Relaxation and adventure is guaranteed for everyone- admittedly, probably not at the same time.
Plenty of food stores to eat natural and local food, but again, near enough to import the luxuries we so enjoy from our lives today.
In short, we're close enough to get all the benefits of the main land, and far enough away to suffer little cost.
All houses are already refurbished and furnished- though creativity within the home is welcomed, of course, and you're urged to help each other, lending the skills you possess.
After all, you are the way forward... we are a unit.
- Location:study
- Mood: sore
- Music:The Mikado
Once you've decided on the kind of people you want to bring with you, create a short profile for each person. Give each person a name and his/her own personality."
- Carys Altona. Small, dark hair, 16. Trouble seems to follow her around.
- Owen Burns. Stocky, 18, acts older thatn he is. Likes to take charge of a situation.
- Tom Chandley. A good thinker, lots of freckles, 17. Very persuasive and convincing.
- George Codosky. 38, grey hairs creeping through, but fit. Husky voice. American, very suspicious of everything.
- Isabelle Crocker. The 3 week bride of Pete. Trying for their first baby. Small, 21, fun-loving.
- Pete Crocker. Bit of a joker, risk taker. 20, glasses, very lucky to have got Isabelle!
- Jack Dailey. Trouble maker; 16 but thinks he's so much older and can get away with more. Really into girls.
- Euan Davies. Twin brother of Warren. 18. Wild hair, is the intellectual one of the two.
- Warren Davies. Less subdued, glasses, into sport. Gay, but shy; will only talk about it to people he' close to.
- Manda Dzu. a major linguist, 28. Born and bred in America but went to university in England. Fluent in English, French, German, Japanese, and Russian, and competant in Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Norwegian.
- Kieran Haven. Sandy haired, 27, a musican. Loves to sing and play guitar, and is a major romantic.
- Nathan Hollis. Main competition for Jack D as far as getting the girls is concerned; 18, very practical, likes the hands on approach (!)
- Bella Humphreys. Stuck up, upperclass 23-year-old who doesn't like coming last and thinks everyone should do everything for her.
- Frederick Humphreys. Bella's older brother, 29, is more willing to 'share the wealth', but won't ever go against his sister.
- Lewis Jackle. 33, divorced and unsure of his sexuality. Excellent at entertaining, and a safe pair of hands.
- Rosie Knighter. Widowed little sister of David N. Still in mourning for her late husband, very emotional, good at story-telling. 19.
- Vince Mak. Polish. gladly removed himself from his dysfunctional family. 20, dances very well, tall.
- David Nolan. bit of a rogue. 23, dependent, likes to smoke and drink. Rosie wants him to come to the island to relax and get away from the pressures of a busy London life, and to 'cleanse' his life.
- Susanne Severn. singer, actress, and a bit stuck up. she is useful in a crisis though. 25, blonde, looking for romance.
- Amy Trice. 16, fresh out of high school, ready to make a new start as she's mucked things up a bit. looking forward to retirement.
- Harri Turner. 16, Amy's best friend, they are not good for much unfortunately. but I'm sure they'll prove useful ;)
- Location:study
- Mood:creative
- Music:nickelback
"Well I wonder who I got that from?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well.. I don't think you've got a very good attitude about this whole thing either."
"It's called being a mother, we worry about things like this."
"Why can't you just trust me on this one?"
"It's not a case of trust or untrust! It's a case of, I'm worried whether this is the right thing for you to do!"
"It's a case of trusting me to know what I want, better than you."
A slice of your average teenage angst for you there.
My aim here is not to get sympathy.
My aim here, is to ask a question.
What do you do, when someone close to you can't identify with the things you want out of your life?
I'm a writer. We all here, are writers.
Writing, at the moment, is a hobbie, but I want to go on to study Joint Honours in Creative Writing and English Literature at university. After that? Who knows.
My problem is this- all my family are scientists.
Cue "You don't understand me."
They deal in facts, not in imagination (however harsh that may sound!)
My mother is constantly on my back, telling me that if I want to do this course, I have to know exactly where I want to go in life and how I'm going to make my living... but I don't see why I can't let a course that I know I'll enjoy take me where I want to go, and find out along the way.
I still have at least 4 years until I leave university- isn't that long enough? Why push me now?
The thing that upsets me the most, I think, is that although I am not being actively discouraged from making this choice for myself... I am definitely not being encouraged.
There. Is. Nothing. Else. I. Want. To. Do.
For once, I'd like someone in my family to tell me that whichever way I choose to go, as long as I'm happy, so are they.
- Mood:oppressed
NO, I am NOT in love with Edward Cullen!
NO, I have never even read the Twilight books!
NO, I do NOT want to go and see Hannah Montana!
NO, I have NOT seen High School Musical 2, or 3, nor do I intend to! (number 1 was a faux pas :( )
NO, I have NEVER watched Heroes, Skins, Lost, Friends (okay maybe a couple of episodes)
AND I HATE FISH. and tomatoes. AND CHEESE SAUCE.
Phew. that let off a bit of steam.
create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide
Doesn't that look lonely?
It's apparently 5% of the countries of the world, which, when put like that, doesn't sound tooooo bad. <3 travelling.
create your own personalized map of the USA
or write about it on the open travel guide
Even sadder! More more more!
9%... :]
create your personalized map of europe
or write about it on the open travel guide
Eh, slightly better. 19%.
[oh, and the reason this is tagged as goals because it's my lifelong goal to go travelling as many places as possible! :-)]
- Mood: bored
by Margaret Atwood
Was the book I chose to start and finish in one day, and did so :-)
(well, okay, so I ended up 37 minutes over one day, but COME ON, it's completed!!)
I'm not really sure what to make of it to be honest. And I'm not sure how well I could explain it to someone else... it's a difficult book to understand really. I'm sure I will have to read it again some day, and not at the speed of light haha.
Read it. That's all I can say. A work of dystopian, 'speculative fiction'.
Read it. That's all I can say. A work of dystopian, 'speculative fiction'.
I also finished The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks, last night. I borrowed it from my school library at the de-recommendation of one of my English teachers. I have to say, it wasn't fantastic, didn't seem to have much plot really (but maybe that's just because I knew the ending before I picked it up...), but it was interesting.
Started The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) last night, and also had the urge to read Harry Potter (three guesses who that's by) again- no idea why, don't ask- so I got that down off the shelf too. Haven't started it yet.
My God I'm so incredibly bored and fed up of life at the moment really, which I appear to be failing at. (life, that is.)
And I just can't get down to my work. Pathetic, really.
Started The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) last night, and also had the urge to read Harry Potter (three guesses who that's by) again- no idea why, don't ask- so I got that down off the shelf too. Haven't started it yet.
My God I'm so incredibly bored and fed up of life at the moment really, which I appear to be failing at. (life, that is.)
And I just can't get down to my work. Pathetic, really.
- Mood: bored
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