I love following Wil Wheaton on Twitter. He inspires me to want to carry on being childish and geeky well into adulthood.

wilw I like to think of a recipe as a Summon Food spell. In a few hours I will find out if I successfully cast "Summon Pumpkin Cheesecake." about 18 hours ago from web

wilw I guess it could be "Conjure Food," but Summoning just sounds so much cooler to me. But what do I know? I'm just a dead Avenger. about 18 hours ago from the web.

wilw I successfully summoned a Pumpkin Cheesecake! I gained +10 ongoing NOM and -5 to resist eating more cheesecake. about 15 hours ago from web

Turns out I should have accpeted the invitation to a group New Moon viewing - they spent the whole time giggling at the ludicrousness. So I may go see it after all, strictly for the lulz. :)

As part of a fundraiser for Children in Need today at school, pupils were supposed to bring in money and the more we raised, the more spotty items we had to make our form tutor wear. Some played along: we made ours a top hat out of dotted wrapping paper. Some were able to escape being laughing stocks by wearing subtly spotted things they already owned. My personal favourite was the Head of Chemistry, who spent the day wearing a spotted neckerchief and a pair of polka dotted French knickers outside his suit trousers. :D

This is the same teacher I utterly humiliated myself in front of, while having a very vocal Gleek moment at the end of assembly. I apologised and ran, he has a Scathing Eyebrow Raise of Doom. Like o_O but with inbuilt ego-piercing cocktail sticks.

Normally I'm stoked to watch the Beeb's Children in Need but this year I'm just not into it. :/ So instead, I'm binging on Facebook quizzes. I tried the What University SHOULD You Go To? Facebook quiz (it's "scarily accurate") which was strangely apt. They called me intelligent enough but an absolute slacker, who's fairly unnattractive and likes big cities. XD Although it also claims I have a concrete fetish. I have no comment on that.

Aw, I just overheard my Mum singing All You Need Is Love in the kitchen. :)

English coursework this year: feminist criticism. Joy of joys. I'm using, as one of my external critical sources, quotations from a reply pandaruswrote Ogi Ogas in response to SurveyFail. Absolutely a valid source. :D

In lieu of any other original content, have a meme.

The first ten people to comment give me a request for a picture to be taken of something in my life.

The only catch is-- no pictures of myself. It has to be of objects in my daily life. Then I will take pictures of the requested things, and post them in a separate entry.

Then those 10 people who requested photos can post this same challenge in their own journal.

So far:
1) My wardrobe.
2) A typical lunch.
3) The animal I spend the most time with.
4) The best place to hide.
5) Bookshelf.
6) Desk.
7) Something weird.
8) A treasured possession.

Make that just the first ten requests: feel free to ask more than one. :)

Also, has anyone else read the new Dan Brown? TBPH, I wouldn't advise it. Just curious. There was a bit near the beginning that made me chuckle.

"I hate to embarrass you, Professor," the woman said, sounding sheepish, "but you are the Robert Langdon who writes books about symbols and religion, aren't you?"

Langdon hesitated, and then nodded.

"I thought so!" she said, beaming. "My book group read your book about the sacred feminine and the church! What a delicious scandal that one caused! You do enjoy putting the fox in the henhouse!"

Langdon smiled. "Scandal wasn't really my intention."

Woke up and everything felt horrible for very little reason. Wrong side of bed sort of day. I debated skipping school for the first time in my life. But I didn't, and the day's been steadily improving :) Plus, it culminated in the Mystery Machine driving past me on the way home, confirming that things had righted themselves :D

The English group went to see Othello last night at the Trafalgar Studios with Lenny Henry. He was quite good, even if impossible to understand at times. But Conrad Nelson as Iago was simply phenomenal. Not a single person dared move during one of his monologues, he comanded absolute attention and was skin-crawlingly malevolent. He stole the show, no question.

How's everyone's NaNos going? (secret_weapon, things have been chocka these past few days but I have a chance to read the newest installment of Syndicate tonight :D)

There's the smell of fireworks in the air and apple pie for dinner: it feels like November.

Just found these guys on Youtube, who've tasked themselves with turning the American news into worryingly catchy songs via the magic of auto-tune. This edition: the UN, healthcare (including Alan Grayson mocking the Republican healthcare plans) and the Nobel Peace Prize. It also serves as a reminder that Anglo-Scottish accents and auto-tune do not mix.

Watching my first episode of MST3k: I Was A Teenage Werewolf. I wish I actually knew some of the films they spoof :D

Warning: this post contains scribblings unsuitable for die-hard lovers of Strictly Come Dancing.

Question One: since when has Strictly has its own talk show, to supplement the however-many hours of screentime it gets on a Saturday?
Question Two: why is this show in at dinnertime, so my Mum can put it on in the kitchen while we're eating and can't escape?

I think I could feel my very soul being eroded as they explained exactly how many layers of spearmint tulle were handstiched onto So-and-So's dress.

But on the plus side of television, Spooks returned on Wednesday! Does anyone on my f-list watch? What did we think? My Mum has for many years harboured a crush on Richard Armitage, which means my Dad always refers to us sitting down to watch a show that he's in as "a date with her fancy man".


Who can blame her?
I mentioned a while back that my LJ now functions in Norweigan. My TinyPic's followed suit and now addresses me solely in Swedish.

Also, bad news about Prop One. :( If people hadn't heard about it, it's basically Prop Eight but this time in Maine, and it was passed earlier this week with 53% of the vote, meaning Maine's law allowing same-sex marriage was repealed. I ended up following links as I read about it until I was watching that NOM advert again, the 'Gathering Storm'. And it was even more upsetting than the first time.

This is turning into a right downer of a post. How is everyone, this fine Friday night? Anyone been to see some fireworks this evening? :)

Today for lunch I've been invited to a social meet at the London branch of Queer Youth Network at First Out cafe.

Explaining that to my parents was a barrel of laughs. :/ Thankfully they were both on the way to bed when they enquired and left once I'd established what 'LGBT' stood for. I think I'm going to get collared for a Meaningful Conversation in the morning - my Mum thought that my going to Pride was an attempt to Tell Her Something. They're not homophobic, they just don't get why it's important to me and my friends. It'd be the same if I said I was joining an anime club or somesuch. ("Japanese cartoons? Aren't you too old for cartoons?")

Have spent Hallowe'en with a friend and her younger brother, eating pasta bake and watching Nightmare Before Christmas and Sleepy Hollow, neither of which I'd seen before. It doesn't feel like Hallowe'en 2009 so much as a one year anniversary since last October 31st. A lot has happened. 

Things always feel better when ended on a happy note. With an entirely unrelated picture. And what is happier and more irrelevant to the contents of this post than a Broadway cake? :D

 
Who on my f-list is attempting NaNo this year? Best of luck to you all, you brave souls. :D

For the last week I've been unable to log into UCAS Track. I thought it was just a system glitch, as apparently this happens to a lot of people. No. Turns out I'd just memorised my login number wrong.


Worf despairs of my ineptitude.
So as it is I've discovered I have an offer from Southampton! I believe the appropriate phrase is: Hooray, I'm getting out of here. :D Not that Here is a bad place to be, by any means, but the prospect of not being Here, with the people and sights and restrictions that Here entails, is distinctly more appealing.


CPine appreciates the benefits of no longer being Here but There.
My Mum is a person who loves Long Walks In The Countryside, and however unenthusiastic I and my brothers are when she proposes one, we enjoy them too. So today we went on a ramble through the North Downs and visited the Coldrum Longbarrow burial mound. It looked a little like Stonehenge taking a nap. Distinctly more impressive when we found out it was built in the same era as the Pyramids. It's humbling stuff. :)

Only on the way back we noticed a lot of police cars in the village - Mum thought there might be a hunt on, and police there to avert any confrontations by protesters. When we got to the oub and asked the landlord it turned out there had been a man in the streets earlier in the day brandishing a gun. And after lunch, police cars had blocked off the bigger roads through the village and there was a helicopter searching overhead. And the local radio turned up. So that was the most exciting thing to happen in Trottiscliffe this year. :D

So, unexpected family visits yesterday afternoon meant MCM Expo was struck off. >:( I was not happy. Knew I should have written the date on the fridge. Hope you guys who went had a great time. :D

Although my cousin did bring his copy of Wicked over, which was nice of him. It's making me want to see the musical again - I saw it in the summer at the Apollo Victoria because one of my friends was doing a fortnight stint in the orchestra (she played the keyboard). Best work experience ever.

Saturday night, four friends and I had the very awesome opportunity to see Green Day at the O2. Standing area. Ten feet from Billy Joe. I wasn't 100% sure I was going it enjoy standing: I'm a cowardy custard who doesn't like dancing when there are other people present. Managed to spend the whole night on the edge of a fight circle, got covered in other people's sweat, jumped around like crazy. It was fantastic. XD



People have started making remarks when they come into my room. In the past week I've had "It's really empty." "It's all bare." and my personal favourite, "This looks like one of those showrooms, you know? Where no-one lives there." Here's me thinking my room was tidy, for once. Apparently it's just soulless.

What should I do to spark it up? :D

Each year at Christmas, Year 13 at my school writes and puts on a play spoofing various teachers, things that have happened in the year, taking the mickey of the school in general. This year, that task falls to us. And because my friends and I are the only group willing to write a script, we get overarching creative control. XD

They generally follow a theme such as HSM one year, I'm A Celebrity the year before: this year, we're doing The Apprentice: BHS Edition.

The teachers (played by students) will be set tasks, so it takes on a sort of sketch show form. Suralan, we're hoping, will be played by guest star Mr. E (Chemistry teacher) whose scathing glare and withering tone would make the real Amstrad boss proud. And because our current Headmistress is leaving in January, the finalists are going to be her versus her replacement. You can guess who gets fired at the end. :)

About to leave for a script meeting, and from then Kate and I are going on to see Spandau Ballet this evening at the O2! Which came about with no preamble whatsoever. An English teacher mentioned Spandau Ballet, Kate and I start singing Gold and she remembers that her dad said something about tickets because he works at the O2. The rest, as they say...

Hope everyone has a good day! :D

Everyone and their cousin's doing this meme, and I'm going to join them.

The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close,
but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me
something you think you should know about me. Something that
should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

Deeply personal questions welcome. :D

Spent another few hours in Costa today and made friends with a baby. There are always really friendly babies in Costa, and it's amazing how friendly their parents will be if you take an interest in the children (or they in you). I guess it helps I'm about as threatening as an origami bunny. We spent a while smiling at each other, then I got on with some writing and he went back to chewing the face off a purple monkey.

Not limited to babies, people-watching is one of my all time favourite things to do. Do any f-listers like this too? :D

I leave you with evidence from the dinner table last night that education is pretty much wasted on my brother:

Dad: Stephen Fry once said something about how he expected to become an academic and “grow tweed”.
Brother: I don't get it.
Dad: Tweed is a type of fabric that –
Brother: No, I know what tweed is, what’s an academic?

My profile really needs some sprucing. That's what weekends are for, eh? :)

I was thinking while listening to my Glee album (which, by the way, if anyone wants me to upload, I can: it has all the songs that have been in the show so far) and I thought: what song would it be awesome for them to cover?



I'd love to hear the Glee kids do that so much. It would be so fun and energetic! :D Other Gleeks, what would you want them to do?

And for everyone who doesn't watch: if you could hear a cover of any song by any band, what would it be? :D

Things that have happened:

- My UCAS is done and dusted and sent off. Feels excellent. :D

- My brother has bought a banana-yellow ukulele. He’s practising right now. Apparently he and his friends are starting a ukulele band. He’s fourteen.

- Someone came into my room yesterday and said, “Wow, it feels like one of those rooms they show to people buying flats, you know? Like, here are the empty shelves, and here’s the empty desk, and the empty walls!” Not exactly a compliment, but I prefer empty to messy. I’m now in the middle of the biggest spring clean of my life.

- We had National Poetry Day at school, the theme of Heroes and Heroines, and we were set the task of writing a couplet about a personal hero. My friend wrote about Ian McKellen.

Gandalf, Magento, Macbeth and King Lear,
Activist, knight, producer and queer.

- Half term has started. This is a point all on its own. A point of joy. :D

- I have infected spread the Glee to four people in the past two days alone. Currently having episode four liveblogged to me over Facebook chat. 
 Also: old school Scooby Doo. Totally need to watch some of that this half term. :D

Why why why have I not watched Glee before now? :O

I've been listening to the Glee Cast version of Don't Stop Believing, which was included in the ONTD Star Trek party compilation. I never would have found it otherwise. But I haven't been able to stop singing it all day so I thought why not have a look at the programme?

And I love it! I've just watched the first 3 episodes back to back, and I can't stop smiling :D

Have had a brilliant Saturday up in London with albumsontheside, playing board games and eating French bread and houmous on her living room floor. :D QUANTUM on a triple word score? Never thought I'd see the day. XD

Ooh yes! And on the train up today I read The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, along with a small book of other assorted poems of his. Perhaps a little late for National Poetry Day, as dj_intheuksaid, but reading it reminded me of a poet I would like to share with everyone is Wendy Cope. She writes mostly humourous poetry - quite a lot of people have heard of her Bloody Men - but the collection I own is her first published set, called Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, which includes a re-writing of The Waste Land as a series of limericks.

( In April one seldom feels cheerful... )

This is another of my favourites: A Nursery Rhyme (as might have been written by William Wordsworth)

( The skylark and the jay sang loud and long... )

Finally, the closing quatrain of the book:

( Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis )

Last night I was practising and recording my audition for the rough, gravelly voice of Ayel in the Baby!Trek Project. Consequently, I woke up with no voice. XD

Anyone remember the Umami Incident from QI? Phil Jupitus, yelling "OOOOOOHMAMI!" for all he was worth when learning about the little-known fifth taste sensation, beside Sweet, Salt, Sour and Bitter? We're currently studying eating behaviour in Psychology and it came up in our books: "...Umami, discovered relatively recently, has a meaty or savoury taste associated with protein." QI really does teach you things in a memorable way. XD

Yahoo!News which caught my eye: ( You know it cannot have been a good night when you get into a fight with Spider-Man and two cross-dressing men )

Am just about to head off to see Dr. Faustus at Greenwich Theatre. Hope everyone has a good evening! :D

 

I had a go at the Times Spelling Bee quiz (when did that phrase make the journey over the Atlantic?) A recording of the word is played and then you have to type it correctly and hit enter.
( I've got a word for you: homophone. )( Plus, Dawning of Adulthood festivities and why my parents win first place. )

Five Things.

( Including shoes, tongue-twisters and priorities. )