Bridal Gowns

A rather long blog, since I haven't had the chance to write for a while.

Firstly, the exams are finished...for this year at least. Chemistry was okay, but Physics was horrible. It was just after lunch and I was so tired. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep during the exam for at least two minutes. Anyway, they're done now.

School finished yesterday, so I'm on half term now.

My eldest sister, Natalie, is getting married in March. Today, we went shopping. She's my half sister really, and we went with my mother, Natalie's stepmother, and Natalie's half sister on her dad's side (we have different dads). I didn't really need to be there this morning, since Natalie was shopping for her wedding dress, but I was avoiding ICT coursework. We only went to one shop, called 'Perfection', which if you ask me is rather big headed, particularly since another bride was in there at the same time as us, buying a terribly unflattering dress. I can't really complain though, since Natalie did find her dress. She'd been to a few shops yesterday, so had a few ideas. She first tried on a lace dress that reminded me of some fifties actress. It wasn't for her though. She then tried on another one, which was very pretty. She stood in it for about an hour and I was starting to get bored before she decided it was "the one". She was trying on veils when the attendant suggested me and Amy (Natalie's half sister on her dad's side) tried on bridesmaid dresses. I tried to smile and not leave when she handed me a horrible blue taffeta dress, telling me it might be a bit big even though it was an age 10.

The next shop we went into was okay, except the dress they made me try on was really tight and uncomfortable.

Next, I tried on another dress. I loved it so much. I don't normally get excited about clothes, but this was a nice dress. It was royal blue, floor length, chiffon, with a single shoulder strap of fabric flowers. Not to mention it was a perfect fit. My sister, however, preferred another dress, and I'm pretty sure she's going with that one. Shame, it wasn't as nice.

-MED

Tea in My Face

I really like tea.

As you may have been able to tell from my profile and previous posts, I am very British, and my tea drinking habits fall right in with the stereotype - I will drink it until my body can physically take no more and it starts pouring out of my ears.

But today, I did not drink tea. I threw it in my face.

Okay, stop questioning me. It wasn't just out of the blue. I didn't get home from school and think "Wow, you know what I'm gonna do? Chuck a giant mug of tea over myself." I had reason.

For those of you that don't watch Glee, there is a couple on the show who we call Klaine (their names are Kurt and Blaine, and Klaine is basically their names squished together). It was recently the season finale, and my friend Rosalynn showed me a post of tumblr, where you had to bet whether or not Klaine would share a kiss in the finale. After the episode aired, the losing team would have to, in tradition with the show, 'slushie' themselves, or if you couldn't access slushies, something of the nature. Deep down in my heart of hearts, I knew they wouldn't kiss. Despite them being voted best couple on an official poll, the writers neglected to let them show any affection in the previous episode where practically every other couple got to kiss. But, as a dedicated Klainer, I decided to muster a enough optimism to vote that they would.

But they didn't kiss.

In Britain, you do get slushies, but not everywhere. They used to sell them at my old swimming club, and sometimes at play centres. I think there's a little slushie stand at a shopping centre in town, but I couldn't get to a slushie. True to my die hard patriotism, and in the spirit of the Queen's upcoming Diamond Jubilee, I thought that instead I'd throw tea at myself.

I found the biggest mug I could - it was one of my dad's, a giant one with Marvel superheros on it. I made tea in it, and made my mum film me throwing it at myself. It will be on the internet shortly, as was required by  the creator of the bet.

I love tea, but this may have been a step too far.

-MED

Hot.

So today (and yesterday, I suppose, but today more so) it was hot. And in Britain, there are some very distinctive signs that tell you it is hot. First of all, people seem to suddenly all be in desperate need of ice cream. Secondly, as soon as the temperature rises, people's clothes magically fall off - women suddenly can't wear trousers and have to show off their tan (even if it came out of a bottle) by wearing tiny shorts and men lose the ability to wear shirts. Lastly, despite the fact that the majority of Britons moaned all through winter about wanting it to hurry up and be warm, they all moan about how it's too hot.

I'm not one of those people. Well, I sort of am. I've been moaning all day about how hot it is, but I never wanted it in the first place. I don't like hot. I like the cold and the rainy. I prefer winter and I don't cope well when it's hot. For one thing I'm unbelievably pale and burn so easily it would be funny if it weren't me. I also freckle a lot. I feel I have permission to moan about it being hot because I haven't been begging for Summer to come back. I like cold and rain. That's why I like Britain. It's supposed to rain here and it's not okay for it to be all dry and stuffy.

I found it quite entertaining to watch people at my school dramatically fanning themselves with folded bits of paper. We do haver a bit of an excuse though. Our school uniform is not the most appropriate for summer time. A kilt, which is double layered at the front, and a compulsory blazer in lovely, heat absorbing dark blue. You're not allowed to take it off except from in lessons and on the school field. So when you're walking about the actual school you have to put it on and our air conditioning is terrible.

To top it all off I have a cold. Most people only get colds when it's, well, cold. But not me. I get them in the winter and summer, at the most convenient possible times. My singing lesson today was horrible, and I can just imagine how annoying I'll be sniffling all through my exam tomorrow.

Wow, I'm very...ranty. I guess everyone needs to rant, even if it is about the weather.

-MED

GCSE

Yeah, so I had a GCSE on Monday. Most people here take them, but this was my first one, so give me some credit. I was revising lots...then procrastinating lots...But it went okay, at least, I think so.

I also have another on Thursday, Chemistry, which I am most definitely not prepared for. The sad thing is that I should be - we had a sort of pretend exam a while back and I did lots of revision and got an A*, but I, sort of, forgot everything.

And I've got another, Physics, next Wednesday, but I'm not so worried about that.

This wasn't really necessary, I just needed something to do (procrastinating again would you believe).

-MED

Revision

I genuinely hate revision. It is a horrible, torturous brain frying tool designed by examiners to send already stressed out students into a frantic, panicking explosion of fear and despair.

I've been revising for my biology exam all day. And since I got home from school yesterday. And the day before. And for two lessons. And I've only finished one out of three units. THIS IS NOT OKAY. I have a biology GCSE on Monday. And think about it, it took me more than a day to revise the first unit; I'm never going to get two units done in one day.

It doesn't help that I've had terrible teachers all year. First we had Mrs Anderson because our actual teacher had a baby. Mrs Anderson was not qualified, and I learnt nothing about Biology 1, just a lot about her personal life. Then our actual teacher, Mrs Taylor, came back. She was great, I like Mrs Taylor. Then she got cancer, but we can't really blame her for that (They caught it early, and she's doing fine, she just couldn't teach us). Then we got Mr Bennett, and he's as terrible as the first woman. We learn nothing. Somehow, he manages to skip all the important details and rush through everything and still be behind.

Our other teachers aren't helping. My stand-in ICT teacher has given us a truck load of homework due for Monday. We told him we had GCSEs. He didn't care. "IT is important too." Yes, we get it, but I think my GCSEs are worth more than a presentation on email etiquette that doesn't need to be submitted for moderation until 2014. Our stand in Maths teacher (we have a lot of stand ins. For some reason, our school, despite being an 'Academy of Excellence' can't hire or hold down decent educators) has set us a test for Monday. We all told her that we had a GCSE, she told us that it wasn't her fault. My drama teacher has told us we have to perform a monologue on Thursday, when I have a chemistry GCSE. We told her, and she said "You should have finished working on it now anyway."

My brain feels like it wants to hide in a corner, curl up into itself and cry. I won't pretend I don't want to either. My school hates me.

(If you're not British, GCSE are national exams that most people take when they're 16, but I'm an 'accelerated student' so I have to take some two years early. Hmph.)

-MED

Respect the Theatre

Yesterday, me and the other drama students from my school went on a trip to a theatre in London to see a performance of The 39 Steps. But I'm not here to review The 39 Steps (it was extremely good though).

Whilst there, I was embarrassed embarrassed by my peers. Admittedly, this was some of their first theatre experiences, but that shouldn't matter: a lot of their behaviour just wasn't polite. Our school occupied almost all of the first three rows (it was a small theatre) directly in front of the stage. I was in the second. Some of my peers in the first row thought it would be appropriate to put their feet up on the stage. This is not okay. Then they started taking pictures. One of the staff came and scolded them, after which they stopped...only to start taking them again later. They then went to put their feet back up on the stage. Some even went so far and to fiddle with parts of the stage - the floor lights at the front had decorative covers, and none of them seemed to think it would matter if they picked them up.

They were just as bad when the performance started. Being loud and crinkling sweet wrappers. Laughing when a joke is made is okay. Laughing at a slapstick fall or sarcastic comment is also okay. It is not okay to laugh at just about every sentence the actor says during the opening monologue. Neither is laughing so loudly and for so long that the actor would struggle to be heard over you. I hate to think how distracting it must have been for him to have a row of giggly school girls being disrespectful. 

During the interval, I heard a woman who was sitting behind us say "Kids these days. All of those young girls are so loud." I had the urge to turn around and apologise. That or move and pretend I was not with them. 

By the end of the performance, they had been told off by two of the theatre staff and a security guard, twice during the interval and once during the second half which was terribly embarrassing.

I just don't understand. So what if they'd never been to the theatre before? They just had to show some courtesy! When you're told to take your feet down, or put your camera away, you do so, you don't do it again. That's just impolite and rude. Theatres are old and beautiful buildings which deserve to be treated well so that they can live on to entertain people of the future. This means that you don't play around with parts of the stage, or put your dirty feet on the walls or stage. People have paid good money to see a play, and by talking and crinkling and coughing far more than necessary at stage smoke, you are ruining the experience for your fellow theatre-goers. Also, as drama students, I would have hoped that they would have some respect for the work that the actors had done. The amount of rehearsal that must have gone into that play would be extortionate, and it is plain rude to not show any respect or appreciation for that. The actors are there for your benefit, and you have paid to be there.

I know that this is a very long post, and some of you might think it's silly how worked up I'm getting, but I love the theatre. I love drama, and I loved the play. I just don't understand them. I hope that if we ever visit again, they will have realised that when at the theatre, one should show some respect.

-MED

Bad Night's Sleep

I hate it when I can't get to sleep. It's not about feeling tired in the morning, because I can generally get over that. It's more that annoying period of tossing and turning, knowing that you really need to get to sleep because you have school or something that requires getting up early, yet your eyes still refuse to stay shut and your brain is still spinning on. And then there's getting comfortable. I don't normally have to find the perfect sleeping position, just one that is comfy enough for me to drift off. When I'm having trouble sleeping though, nothing is right. I'll be shifting about for ages and still won't find a comfortable position. And what was okay five minutes ago will all of a sudden become the most horrible way to sleep ever.

Gosh, it's a miracle I got to sleep at all last night.

-MED