Walking on sunshine

July 16, 2008   4   Change Ezine 

So due to the lovely thing that is strike action by council workers, school has closed for summer a couple of days earlier. Yes. That’s right, summer (for me) has finally begun!

If only me and the weather had the same perceptions.

As you can see, my beloved scrapbook layout is now a thing of the past. I had it for a record of two months, which took much restraint since I’m used to changing every two weeks. But fear not, it will live on over at Change ezine, which will have maybe not the same, but kind of similarly styled layout (hence the reason I changed the layout, because I didn’t want my two babies wearing matching clothes). Change is moving slowly because of a few problems my host had, but I’m now aiming for a grand opening for August 1st which is slightly ambitious considering it’s half-way through July, but I’m gonna do it anyways.

all aboard this runaway train

July 10, 2008   5   Change Ezine 

I’m so sorry about the big gap between blogs, but I’ve been busy out of my mind recently. Here’s the rundown of what’s happened since you saw me last.

July 3rd: THE BANGLES

Me and Daisie finally went to see The Bangles, and they were nothing short of AMAZING. We went to see them in the Carling Academy, which is quite small, so the atmosphere was brilliant. We were front row, bopping along to all those great 80’s hits. The girls have matured really well. Somehow I thought age would effect their voices, but I was very wrong. And Susanna Hoffs doesn’t look her ages at all. I think her body is stillfrozen in the eighties.

July 8th: Counting Crows

My brothers have been life-long Crows fans, so I grew up with songs like Omaha, Mr. Jones and A Long December. But to see this amazing band live was out of this world. Adam Duritz is an amazing singer and songwriter, my absolute idol. He just has this energy and presence that is beyonf belief. He was here there and everywhere, jumping off the amps and all sorts, nearly breaking his neck with every jump. We were again right at the front, standing in the 3rd row, so we really soaked it all up. Me and Hayley were by far the youngest there, but by god I think we were the loudest. Everyone was singing along, clapping and enjoying every moment. Seeing my favourite band of all time live for the first time? One of the best nights of my life.

Everything inbetween

Between recovering from having 2 concerts in 5 days, I’ve been bogged down with everything from school work, to a close friend of mine moving away. I spent sunday shopping for going away gifts for Kayleigh, and when she left today, not many people had dry eyes.

Parents evening was last night, so I had to drag my mother from teacher to teacher. I got a good report from everyone expect science (the teacher of which isn’t a fan of me, my friend Thomas, or my sarcasm) so it turned out alright in the end. But with aching feet from counting crows, I just wanted out of there.

I’m not in school tomorrow, so I’m gonna split the day between finalising the Change site, helping out Emily with DLT and school work. We break up for summer next week, and it couldn’t be coming fast enough.

Change Ezine

June 28, 2008   15   Change Ezine 

Hey guys. I’ve just opened a new ezine, called Change and I’m looking for staff members. Really it would just be writing articles to fill the ezine up with on any subject, from web design to music to movies reviews. Anything you can think of. The website it still under contruction, but I’m hoping to finish it this weekend. But you can click the button above to see where I’m up to.

Anyways, if you are interested, leave a comment with your name and email address, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.

Thanks!

Chance

The light at the end of the tunnel

June 24, 2008   2   Change Ezine 

It’s kind of sad that the school year is drawing to a close. I’ve got three weeks left until the sacred day of Friday July 18th, but there is a lot happening inbetween.

After being on hyperdrive for so many weeks, school is winding down. Parent’s evening is the second week of July, but apart from that, we’ll just be treading water till the end of term. And then we’re Year 11s. We’ll be the oldest, (and since our school is closing next year) final year of out school.

If you asked me me what the last concert I went to was, I’d tell you the story of being eight or nine years old, on my birthday, when my Mum took me to see Westlife (Yes, now I cringe). It was my frist, and so far only concert. On the day, I was sick, with a fever, but the tickets cost several limbs, so I was determined to go, and even though I threw up a couple of times, it was a good night. But on July 3rd, I will no longer be able to say the last concert I went to was Westlife. I’ll be going retro with my cheesiness! Because me and Daisie are going to see The Bangles!

I’ve actually known for a while that they were playing in Liverpool, but when I phoned up to book, I had a few problems with the brain dead operator, and then my birthday, exams and everything happened. But Hannah asked me if I was going today (She’s going to see her cousin, who is the opening act, so she’ll have backstage passes and maybe even get to meet Susanna herself! I’m so jealous!) and it got me thinking about trying to get tickets online instead of over the phone. And sure enough, I shall soon be part of a crowd of 30 something housewives singing off-key to Eternal Flame.

But then on July 8th, five days later, I’ll no longer be able to say ‘The last concert I went to was The Bangles’, because I’m going to see Counting Crows. My brother was a fan, and their first album is only 4 months younger than me, so I have literally grown up listening to them. Adam Durtiz is a genius with dreadlocks, and to be in the same arena as him, only 7 rows back, is amazing! This time Hayley (who has very little idea who they are) will be my go-to partner. Should be quite funny.

Plus my parents go to Italy for the weekend in a couple of weeks, so that’s me and my friends holding down the fort, babysitting my 24 and 20 year old brothers. I love July.

A crash course in … well … crashing

June 17, 2008   5   Change Ezine 

So last week was tiring to say the least. I spent the whole week with cute but insessantly annoying five year olds. They were all lovely, but I think I’m not cut out to deal with thirty little kids at a time.

Oh, and photocopying, laminating, cutting out and PVA glue? All my enemies!

It was Daisie’s birthday yesterday so we stayed over at hers on Friday (watching The Ring and The Relic) and then went out to see The Happening yesterday. Although The Happening had some terribly awful acting and lines, there were some parts that did work. It was probably the strangest film I’ve ever seen, and I can’t decide whether I like it or not.

The oh-so dreaded exams started today with English Language at 11:00 and then French Writing at 1:40. English was split into two sections, Section A being the hardest English question I’ve ever had and Section B (Writing to argue for more aid to be sent to developing countries) being extremely easy.

French suprisingly was a breeze (Had to memorize a 200 word essay in French and then write it out, spellings, accents and all) Even though I only completely finished and started to memorise the essay yesterday night, it just all came out as planned. Plus I think completely nailed the two killer verb-tense combos I had, Conditional Perfect and an Imperfect Reflexive. Take that ‘Si j’avais eu plus de temps, j’aurais  …’ !

Well, tonight is a mix of revising for tomorrow (Maths then History Paper 1) and sorting out my computer (clearing old files, sorting out my inbox, downloading Firefox 3 when it comes out in an hour). Fun. Fun. Fun.

Oh, and I forgot to mention them earlier, but I have two new affiliates, Starr and Bridie. Go check them out!

EDIT: Friday June 20th

Tests so far:

English: Half hard, half easy
French Writing: Did Well
Maths: Was alright, but by no means great
History: ACED! Got the scores back today, got 72/85 while is just over 85% so an A*! Top of my class.
French Foundation Listening and Reading: We sat both Foundation (The easy paper) and Higher (The Hard paper) Foundation was good. 31/35 and then 32/35.
Science: (Physics then Chemistry) Physics was one the electromagnetic spectrum and life cycles of stars, so was pretty easy. Chemisty, on global warming, crude oil fractional distilation and electrolysis, was really hard.
French Higher Listening and Reading: Sat that an hour ago. The hardest test I have ever had, and I’ve probably failed it.

Still to go:

Art (Well, graphic design) exam: Monday (Have to stay in the art classrooms ALL DAY!)
French Speaking (Higher): which I’m going to fail as well.

as a smile begins to curl

June 8, 2008   6   Change Ezine 

Even though I use my trusty computer most of the time, there are some obvious up sides to having a laptop, which is why I’ve never thrown out my poor, beaten up, 256mb RAM chunk of metal. And when you want to sit and blog outside, lying on the grass in the sunshine? It’s VERY useful.

As typical British summers go, you get the odd day of sunshine, maybe one a week? So I thought I’d grab this day and get out in the sunshine. My cousin Steven is leaving to go work in Australia tomorrow though, so we’re going to a goodbye barbecue at his sister’s house in an hour, to say many stereotypical things in Australian accents. Because that’s the kind of family we are.

I start work experience tomorrow. A joyful week of going to the workplace instead of school. And my choice of workplace? Well since I have still to tell my parents of my journalistic aspirations, I’m just going to work in the primary school where my mum and brother works. Which means spending a whole week being a classroom assistant to a bunch of 4-11 year olds. I’m not sure what is worse, telling my parents I’m going to be studying to be a journalist in a university far far away from them, or death at the hands of glitter and glue.

So I guess I might as well enjoy freedom and sunshine while it lasts.

The wonderful thing about S’s

June 1, 2008   5   Change Ezine 

I think S is possibly my favourite letter. Just think of all the great things of this time of year that begin with S. Summer. Sunshine. Sea. Sand. Suntan. Swimming. Surf. Summer Dresses. And I pretty much thrive in all of them.

Yesterday was one of the very few days of sunshine we’ll probably have this summer, being in England and all. It was a good day though. I finished reading Gone With The Wind and then walked round to Kirsty’s to sit and enjoy the sunshine. Of course suntan lotion was forgotten so last night I resembled a fire hydrant, but I think it’s a refeshing change to my winter, sickly ‘I never see the outside’ look.

Which brings me to another S. Stealing.

Yesterday was also funny in other ways, because for the first time in my life, I was plaguirsed! I was browsing a Taylor Swift message board when someone had posted thread with a screenshot of an old layout of mine from Tracing Teardrops. They were asking for opinions on it,chatting on about how they made it simple for the style of the blog, but used a gradient and scratch textures to add a little something. First I was slightly angry but then I just laughed. I mean I can understand why you’d steal a layout to use it for you own site, because that’s putting it to use. But stealing it to tell people you’ve never met exactly how you didn’t make it and to receive compliments on your non-existant photoshop abilities.? Absolutely sad and crazy.

But it did get a good response from the other board members, so thanks ‘iheart?’ AKA ‘Massie’. It’s nice to see my layouts are good enough to be stolen. Even if you’re breaking the law.

The Comeback Kid

May 26, 2008   3   Change Ezine 

God, it’s been a long time since I did this.

Since you heard from me last in January, five months ago, I became pretty much a procrastinating slob who let everything from her friends to her school work slide. But last week, our graduating class left for good, and it made me realize that next year, that’s me. Sometimes I forget that one day I will turn sixteen, leave school and have to make some life decisions. So with a little help from my friends, I’m working on the future (Not to mention our setting exams are in three weeks, which determine what kind of GCSE exam I will sit before I leave next year.)

I envy all you out there who graduate at eighteen. I envy having to grow up just that little bit quicker, and having to make choices that little bit sooner. This summer is my last summer break of high school, because next year it’ll just be an unemployed gap between school and sixth form college in September. If I want to get into a good university, I need good A level qualifications, which means going to a good sixth form college. And to do that, I need to actually pass my GCSE’s which at this rate, I won’t be doing.

It might seem weird to some that getting back in the swing of things academically is building a website, but for me, this requires patience and dedication, something that I need to be applying to all parts of my life right now.

lovelovelove

Chance