Small Town America & Niagara Falls.

The first week of vacation has got off to a very good start. The first two days were slow, as expected, slept a lot, had a piano lesson, read, listened to music, tried to hunt down Amelie on DVD but was unsecsessful. Went for walks. It rained a whole lot so it didn't really feel like summer.

Friday morning was a fairly early start, slightly manic packing, desperately hunting down all the CDs I wanted to take. (I have a thing that can only carry 25--having the exactly perfect selection of music is a key element for a good summer). It took forever because Primal Scream were hiding. Anyway, set off about 1:30, drove for a couple of hours, got a snack. Listened to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Manchester Orchestra records, the Sweeney Todd soundtrack, Rihanna, Arctic Monkeys, and Elbow. We drove through western Massachusetts and into New York state. It rained a lot, there were a lot of hills, and at one point we drove through loads and loads of fog so you can barely see ten feet in front of you. Turns out this part of the world is absolutely beautiful, in a very sort of southern England way. Loads of greenery and what have you, rivers and stuff too. So unexpectedly different from where I live, which isn't really that far away. Additionally, it is also for the most part very quiet and rural and...deserted. Like, you drive through some really small, eccentric town centers, where they have decaying chinese takeouts and thrift shops on every corner. Some of the places look like they could've jumped out of like a wild west film, which is mad considering this is the effing northeast, right? That's what I thought. But, y'know, they're kinda fantastic in their wholly eccentric ways. Makes where I live look like a bustling metropolis, whereas I always regarded it as little more than an average(if disgustingly wealthy, bigoted, and ignorant) New England town. Huh. We drove through the evening until we got to where we were staying, a beige four star hotel in some town in western New York state, right next to a loud psuedo Irish bar(which, upon reading their panflet in the hotel room, I discovered is riddled with inaccuracies, mainly concerning the differences between Ireland and Scotland, both culturally and geographically). There's an open pool so the hotel always smelled of chlorine but nevertheless, it was a decent enough stay. As we got to the hotel room, my dad flipped through the tourist brouchure, only to discover that the town's high-security prison is listed as one of its main attractions. I love Small Town America! it gets better, though--we needed to go somewhere for dinner, so my dad finds this place and we go there, and it happens to be literally just across the street from this prison. And the place(the restaurant, not the prison) is awesome, it's small and dark and squalid and it's filled with baseball memorabillia and the waitors perpetuate too many New York stereotypes for their own good. For some reason, it's filled with A.) couples in their fiftes B.) Groups of drunk women in their early forties and C.) Girls in cheap, tacky prom dresses. I don't see how it could be prom for them this late in their year, but whatever. Just imagine living in a place that's literally nowhere, and it's your prom night and the place you go to eat after is across the road from a town prison. Believe me, this place is begging to have a YA written about it. Someone go tell John Green about it, now.



Saturday morning was good enough, breakfast, then out of the door. Same scenery, same music, but a lot of fun. Drove past the finger lakes and to a glass museum somewhere in New York State. It was genuinely amazing--the modern stuff was the best though, it all looked so awesome and I had no idea how much stuff you could do with glass. I mean, one sees those tree-like structures made of translucent glass and you think well 'okay, cool, whatever' but there's a whole other world to it. Someone made a glass structure of the inside of a human torso. Also comical chess sets and what have you. Plus, it was a great moment for me, as a northern european, to discover that while the ancient world, asia, the east, and basically everywhere else were playing with these really groundbreaking artistic techniques with glass, we busied ourselves with making comedy glass drinking glasses, that were structured so that they were virtually impossible to drink out of and made your friends laugh at dinner parties when you spilled your drink everywhere. Ha. On the way home we stopped by this small waterfall, which would've been great had it been a hot day, and walked for ages, then went to a racetrack. We had seafood for dinner in a local town, to the sound of an old folkie doing godawful 60s covers, while my parents exchanged snide remarks about the whole event. Sunday, another early-ish day, set out for Niagara at nine oclock, got there by midday. Obviously, it was spectacular, unlike anything I'd seen before. However, my brain felt like being mildly crazy that day, and was far more interested in the tacky, desserted-looking Canada across the falls. It just looked awesome in a very sort of English seaside resort town way. Like, it was amazing. And so we walked around there a while, and got lunch, and went on the walk around the side of one of them, and walked to the islands and stepped in the water even though we shouldn't have, and then we went on the boat which was infuckingincredible. You disappear completely in the mist, it's a world of white, it's amazing. We walked around that bit for a while, got an ice cream, and watched a movie about the myths about the falls and the various stories of people sending themselves over. For a cheap little 40-minute documentary it was surprisingly interesting. However, my family and I did spend extended amounts of time mocking the family of the 7-year-old boy who fell over the falls. ('Just a normal boating trip on the upper niagara'. WAIT WAIT WAIT JUST A NORMAL TRIP WHO DOES THAT. Also the way the documentary showed it, there was a small 'dangerous waters ahead sign' which I would first argue is a stupid way of advertising there's a fucking huge waterfall ahead. Additionally, the family seemed to go 'oh, dangerous waters ahead, I'm just gonna put my cheap little sailing boat five feet away from it, nothing can possibly go wrong out here!' It's entirely possible that these were not the exact details of the event, but I mean, come on.) We went over to canada. 4th country I've been to, pathetic but what are you gonna do. It's the first time I've been to a country right at a border, beforehand where I've been has been seperated by seas so I find it very odd to just step over a border and that's it. we got stuck in customs or whatever(is 'customs' an applicable term outside an airport?) for ages because everyone there was foreign so there were a thousand and one complications. The town, as I said, was awesomely tacky, and we went to these tourist shops and it's all life size bear toys and English candy and maple syrup and then we saw the falls from that side and they were so, so amazing with a rainbow and everything. and then I went to my first Hard Rock Cafe! it seemed outdated but fun. They played Taio Cruz and the Script inbetween death metal and I think all parties involved were a little confused. I'm going to the original London one this summer, by the way. Then we walked back through the park, and got back really late. Monday was merely a travelling day, though we did stop by one of those towns where it's supposed to be like a quiet 1800s colonial town. Again, small town america. (small town america I know is so hipster, so I dressed hipster to celebrate.) all we did is walk around and get ice cream, and it was weird because the only other people there were a group of loud and irritating mix of Americans, Brits, and French(at first I thought the French were some Brits pronouncing curiously long names of wines with very impressive accents). They were annoying as hell, hence our swift departure.


It's been a very nice few days coming back! Most people are away at the moment so it's nice and quiet. Also, the weather is bearable and for some reason I'm not bored out of my mind this summer, though I'm doing nothing different to last year. I'm listening to Manchester Orchestra's discography a whole lot. I only just got round to buying the first album. My god, there's so much angst there! Makes their recent work look like Owl City in comparison. It's good nonetheless. Don't know why this band stand out from a lot of other guitar bands at the moment, but they do. I think so anyway. Also the Sweeney Todd soundtrack, I love that, I'm gonna get a DVD showing of the Broadway cast doing it. V is now in 50 days--they have almost all the lineup there and it's very exciting. I'm going through the list and it's looking good. More excited for Eminem at the moment, must listen more to new Arctic Monkeys record. I'm getting into Glasvegas. We're in a Glasvegas backlash at the moment(Glasvegas>>>Coldplay. END OF. SHUT UP.), it's a shame. Additionally, Patrick Wolf writes flawless summer music.

Festivals may be hell on earth but I love them anyway. I missed out on most of Glasto, unfortunately. Apparently Beyonce is the first female headliner of Glasto...after 51 years. Hmmm. I missed my beloved Killers' performance at Hard Rock Calling, also. I hope they write a new record soon, six months or so would be lovely. Their tours go on forever.

Sadly, the tickets for Richard III in London this summer seem to be sold out. it has become the big show of the year and it's getting great reviews. However, it's okay because my mom will take me to see another smaller show this summer, she says. Also it's going to Broadway this winter so I get to go see a fucking Broadway show, how about that? I have to be like all the Broadway Kids at school, AKA annoying as hell. I should ditch all adjectives other than 'fabulous', loudly sing songs from Avenue Q at inconvenient times, announce to everyone how Neil Patrick Harris has something to contribute to society. My ego will soar. It sounds like a blast.

The other day I bought Doctor Who(don't know the series--but the Ten/Rose one) and the Office(UK) Season 1 on DVD . Doctor Who is for 5th grade nostalgia. At 11 years old, the Ten/Rose relationship seems groundbreaking and interesting. Also, while I may be behind the entire developed world with the Office(which I'd never actually seen before), I've got to say how hilarious and clever and awesome it is...even though I'm only 5 episodes in. I love it. Especially Gareth. And Tim. But that's mostly just cause how could you not love Martin Freeman? Summer means comedy shows in the early hours of the morning. This and then I'm going back to Peep Show, because not even the most critically acclaimed British comedy of the decade can beat Peep Show for me.*Which is sad, I suppose. oh well. Is the US Office worth it? I have difficulty judging things without bias; this will be one of these instances, I'm afraid. I hear it's very funny too so I suppose I should watch it but I just don't want to become all YOU AMERICANS DON'T UNDERSTAND OUR SENSE OF HUMOR BLAH BLAH BLAH and then I'll feel and look ridiculous after. Just some foresight on the matter.

Oh, one last thing--my report card came in the mail. Six As, two A minus, one B. A- in the sciences, B in gym(haha). Mediocre and what have you. Oh well. I lost two much sleep the past ten months to care.

Slow days, slow summer. Speak to you soon.

* For those who don't know, I would like to point out that as far as critical acclaim for UK comedy shows, Peep Show really is only a little bit behind the Office. Honestly. But of course the Office is massive and Peep Show just goes along its merry way, with its small band of highly dedicated followers. The world is crazy.

l.i.f.e.g.o.e.s.o.n. also hey it's summer.

I tried to title this with something not relating to summer, so I wrote the name of this Noah & the Whale song that I have a love/hate relationship with at the moment. but then I gave up. hey it's summer.

it rained all day. On the 2nd day of summer. Can you believe it? Today did not feel like summer at all. I slept for twelve hours, played Animal Crossing, read, and did online stuff. It was more than good, just not summer-like. It'll get better, no doubt. It's just that this time last year I was outside for almost all of the day. Not that I'm unhappy, mind you! I feel very good indeed.

Right now is great. All is great.

there's nothing better than getting a new edition of Q in the afternoon, and spending a night running through their entire 50 Essential Tracks to Download This Month. It's a shame my tastes seem to be drifting further away from my favorite music mag. I'm more NME than Q, ugh yuck I don't want this to be happening. It's just that I can't handle too much psych country rock. I'm afraid I really can't.

Oh yay, one of these is actually goooood. Really good. it's called Twice and it's by Little Dragon. 'Moodtronica' should actually be a new, official hipster-approved genre of music. We have 'tronica' that that and the other but there's so much of it nowadays, more specifics still would be helpful.

Music over summer is fun. I think I'm gonna reprise my Tim Minchin love, as I discovered him about a year ago and I used to go on walks listening to If I Didn't Have You and at night speak the words to Storm to myself in my bedroom until I had them memorized. I should order his new-ish CD, I really should. He has new merch, too. Yay merch.

And woah oh my god, Frank Turner wrote an a capella song about William II. Um, awesome? Yes.

ANYWAY.

turns out the last two finals days would be rather less unsettling than Friday's, which was very much a good thing. Monday I only had one final--Science. This is the big one. Thought it was easy enough...I found out my results the following day, I guess they were alright. I stumbled on the essay, only cause I didn't put enough effort into it beforehand. I gave up a few weeks ago. Finished well within the time and got out of there. I met up with a few people I vaguely know, some of them wandered off, so I went downtown with one friend. Along the way I met with four other people, three of whom I didn't even know, and we went to a convenience store and hung around there, and then to the library. We drew pictures and bothered the people working there. Then the people we met went elsewhere, and we found a group of four other people, and I actually know all of them so that was very much a step up. We went out for lunch(greasy pizza, woohoo), walked around town, got candy, went to CVS and met people, went to the park, and one of my friends climbed up a tree. It was quite funny. i guess I don't know these people well enough to start actual conversations(I don't talk very much.) but it was a whole lot of fun nonetheless. I didn't wanna catch the bus, so two of these friends walked with me as I found my mom and she drove me home. I'm gonna miss them. It's odd. But really, good way to end what was technically the end to work for the year.

Tuesday was just World Civ, presenting a project. No work required. I spent the morning with people I don't really know, and then went through a whole issue as I'd left my textbook at home. No matter, though. my teacher had brought his four year old daughter in so no attention was paid to anyone else. From where I sit I've no one to talk to, though, so that's a bit annoying. I didn't mind; I just wanted it to be done. My presentation was a train wreck; I couldn't see most of the powerpoint from my angle. Who cares! I was pretty freaked out but my apathy at the end of the school year almost overcame it. The bell rang and everyone scrambles to the door. End of the year. What a strange feeling.

I'm a sophomore, guys.

I met up with some actual friends this time and we went downtown. We ate out and then walked for ages to get to an organic food place, where we tried on straw hats and drew on each other in suspiciously lurid lipstick. Sooo much fun! Then later in the evening, the friends came round again and we made a cake for Brandon Flowers' birthday and played Animal Crossing. Also we did dares and mine failed so I ate a chocolate cupcake with mayonnaise and stuff in it. That is not deserving of a comment, mind. xD

Soooo, freshman year in review. How can I write anything without being overly sentimental? It is a tough thing to master, for sure. I'll say I had a good year. In fact, I'll say this has probably been my favorite year since, what, 3rd grade? Yeah, definitely. I liked this year. I wasn't completely surrounded by total fucking idiots, bigots, and people who made me feel terrible. This, I like. Also the teachers were, for the most part, good. at the very least they didn't hold onto the middle school mentality that we're also so special and unique and let's be creative rather than productive cause that'll totally help you out in the long run. High school it's like 'you're here, you work, you leave. End of' and because I'm pretty weird, I like that. I liked meeting new people. I liked study, I liked the Friday before Halloween, I liked lunch, I liked laughing at my geometry teacher, I liked clubs after school, friends, inside jokes, conversations in art, weird videos in health, laughing at my science teacher through the whole taxonomy unit, the panic everyone felt on a dreaded science test day and the frustration after they got their grades back, endless projects and videos in world civ, awesome books in english. mixed grades. late nights. shitty projects. shitty mornings. Pot Noodle, Shooting Stars, Peep Show, Fried Green Tomatoes At the Whistle Stop Cafe, Mark Z Danieleski, Nanowrimo, Halloween, ferris wheels, not enough snow and then too much snow, Christmas with my aunt and family, Nevermind the Buzzcocks, Tom Milsom, Tim Minchin, Florence & the Machine, fashion blogs, spring coming too late, Star Wars, the great Harry Potter reread, Black Swan, being cynical, angst, tumblr, Doctor Who' not remembering anything. but the people! They made it fun.

This whole year is actually just one big blur. I'm sorry that last paragraph was so shitty. I'm sorry this post is shitty. I'm sorry I'm swearing and I'm not being as happy as I should be with the arrival of summer. Whatever.

Point is this year has been fun and I'm happy and this summer's going to be fucking great(Niagara this weekend, England in August, V Festival, friends, YAY) and that I'm now going to do the one thing that truly means summer has arrived...

watch two episodes of Peep Show, in the early hours of the morning.

Hope all is well with you, too.

Best Intentions Bring Joyless Droughts.

Forth day in a row of staying up until one oclock or later. Let's see how long this can continue.

In other words, welcome to finals week everyone!

Blogspot decided to fuck up for three days straight, which is why Thursday's post might not match up with, like, the date and stuff. I don't know how obvious that is. But there you go. Blogspot's being nice again. This is inconvenient, as I should stop listening to Elbow and work on a 50-question science review packet. This isn't going to happen tonight.

I have two days left of school. I am 1/3 done with finals. You know, finals are always absolutely bizarre. It's also the one way in which high school is worse than middle school, cause finals are crazy. And not just the manic studying and the sleep deprivation and what have you, I mean what the actual final days are like. All told, they're pretty relaxed. at least they are for the 2nd semester, as no one really cares as much this time round. I guess this is only my 2nd time with finals, but they're not something I ever see myself getting used to. it's just..odd. Especially the way you just...take a test and leave. In middle school, you actually get to say goodbye to everyone. This goodbye actually usually draws itself out over most of the month of June, actually. In high school, unless you have a super relaxed class, you only say goodbye to your friends, not the acquaintances. And you never really get to talk with your teacher, it's just like "have a good summer" as if you weren't even in the slightest way affected by the previous five months of the class. I hate it, it's mad. I'm the sort of person who needs closure over the slightest things. This is why I find final days unsettling.

I've just been in the weirdest moods for the past few days. Who knew something so trivial could make you feel so many stupid things at once? I didn't. Also, I'm absolutely the only one who feels this way. Guess what I'm gonna say for the first time ever in a blog post? I am going to miss school. There, I said it! See, I'm getting emotional over everything. "This is the last time I am in this lunch and laugh at the creepy pedophile-like teacher". "This is the last time I get a science handout back, and spend the following 90 minute class glaring at the unsatisfactory grade". "This is the last time the pothead in my art class mills around my table and knocks some one's portfolio folder to the ground in a fit of giggles". Stupid stuff like that. I've gotten like that about everything. I don't know why this is happening. Cause it shouldn't be. It's worse when it comes to people you like, though. Not friends, cause you can see them over summer or talk to them on Facebook, but those people who you sort of like and will miss, but don't really know very well. I have a lot of those. And what if we're never in a class together again? This is all I think about, and it's so saddening! I'm sure I'll come back in September and it'll feel like no time has gone by at all, but that doesn't stop any of this sentimental crap.

Okay, end unnecessary teen angst nonsense. Time to get back to school stuff. For...the last time this year. School ends tuesday. Like, woah. What will I talk to you about over summer? I've yet to decide. Probably random stuff. Or something. Anyway.

Art class is over. I had a lesson on Tuesday & Thursday, and the final 1st block on Friday. Sad? Yes. You've no idea. Funny thing is, I loathed this class. I was with two people at my table who I like, and that is what makes me regret stuff. I just drew my picture for the entire time, then started painting, and it looks bad, but I don't care anymore. We were gonna have a written final, but that never happened. I wasted time this morning, I was supposed to be doing shadows, but that never happened. We talked about my teacher's obsession with shadows. The class was half empty, as you didn't have to come in if you'd finished your drawing. I didn't finish, but half heartedly passed it in regardless. I hated my teacher so we didn't really say bye.

Health is over, too. I had that final right after art(while everyone else got to go downtown...sucks). We only had one lesson since my last post, where we just watched a documentary about bullying and then reviewed and got a little project back. Nothing much. The final today was extremely simple--100 multiple choice questions. As long as you show up to class, you're guaranteed at least a 95. I was finished within twenty minutes. I'm gonna miss this class.

After that final, I went with my friend in my health class to see her friends. We went to an area outside the auditorium and ate skittles. they're the sort of friends who are all fluent in Nerdfighter talk, and like to do little dances to demonstrate physics principles, and you're just standing there maybe they're too nerdy for you. or you're nerdy too, but in a very different way. Or maybe you're more nerdy. Basically, it was very nerdy. Plus even with the skittles it doesn't stop the area from being cold or gray or there being obnoxious junior guys with scooters. I didn't really wanna hang around, honestly, so I told my friend I was going. I'm not gonna see her again this year, apart from in passing. She's probably one of the people I've gotten closest to this year, soooo that was majorly sad. Luckily the cafeteria was bright and I found a whole bunch of people to talk to. An abundance of people, really. Plus I saw my English teacher and she called me over and she told me I was a really good writer and asked me if I wanted to be a writer some day or if she wanted to switch my schedule around so I could double up on English, and it sounds like I'm bragging but no one's ever really been that enthusiastic about my writing, so that moment rocked. it's ironic because my writing abilities go to the dogs on here. And oh yeah, grammar? Nonexistent. Anyway, I had 90 minutes to kill between then and my English final so I tried to plan for the essay while being with a few people, except the place was so busy and I moved between like four different groups of people because I wanted to see everyone. Got caught up in a theist-atheist debate at one point. Then was probably not the time to get involved in such matters.

English final was good enough. Grammar, literary devices, analyze a poem, compare two of the books we've read this year. (Talking about love and hate in Tale of Two Cities and Romeo and Juliet oh yeah my essay sucked but whatever I have like a 97% in that class). I'm glad that I'm done with that class, because it was stressful and the essays were also terrible, but I enjoyed reading the books and the people in my class were nice enough. We didn't do much all this week, just finishing up Romeo And Juliet. we had to draw a picture to represent a specific speech. And it's graded. This is not okay. Also I did a portfolio, which is four essays, in one night and stayed up late to do it and it sucked and I got a 98%. This is deserving of an evil laugh on my point.

My science final is on Monday. I'm scared senseless. I have like a 92% in that class and an A is 92.5% I will be so upset if I'm an A-. We have a full study guide for it, so hopefully things will turn out okay. As long as studying is my life this weekend. Just one more weekend, and then I'm done with studying for three months! I desperately want an A in this class, I have tried so hard. All we've talked about this week is weather. I paid too little attention. She announced class was over, and it was the most strange thing you could imagine. The class is hell and it's almost over. Never has anything in my life caused as much stress as this class. But, I'm gonna miss some people.

All we did in World Civ this week was work on our final project. It was kinda good, as I was done within two days and basically got to read and study all of Wednesday and Thursday. It's funny how no one cares anymore. Like, in the social studies computer lab the teacher has a computer and on that he can see what everyone else is doing on their computers, and in January this scared us, but now all people do is play Qwop and write messages to our teacher via this computer system, and no one thinks twice about it. It's pretty fun, too. Our final is the last one I'm gonna take, on Tuesday, though all we're gonna do is present our projects. We'll probably get done early. Definitely a good way to end this year. Have I mentioned I'm gonna miss this class like crazy? So many decent people in it. Tuesday doesn't even bear thinking about, how weird it's gonna be when I leave the place. Bizarre. After that I'm gonna (hopefully) hang out with some friends, and then we're gonna make a birthday cake for Brandon Flowers. Y'know, reliving 7th grade.

I really don't know why I'm missing everything, and everyone else is missing nothing. I don't understand.

It's good that it feels like summer for the moment now. It's Saturday now(I started writing Friday night, but took a break). I'm outside and listening to Elbow. They have a song called With Love, and it is so so so beautiful and bright, it is absolute bliss. Elbow are playing round here in September, but it's 18+. Guess that's okay. I'm hoping for them again for V in 2012. That is, if V happens in 2012. The Olympics are fucking around with a lot of the music festivals next year.

Speaking of V! They organized their lineup yesterday, so now I know who is playing on what days. They added a few more people, too. It's looking good! The only issue is that Saturday is pretty clashtastic. People really are too rude about V, though; a few good bands are better than sitting around in your house all day, right? Right! So, anyway, on Saturday, the main stage is Fun Lovin Criminals first(this could not be a more perfect way to start a fest), and then Ziggy Marley, then KT Tunstall, then Bruno Mars, then Lostprophets, then Kaiser Chiefs, then Plan B, then Arctic Monkeys. I'll stay for KT Tunstall, Lostprophets for fun, but then Kaiser Chiefs!! oh my god, Kaiser Chiefs have the main stage sunset spot--this is the best spot of the day! And I'm looking forward to them most! This is just perfect. I'm gonna go in the KC moshpit for I Predict A Riot. I'm not as interested in the 2nd stage that day,though Jessie J will be fun. It's problematic cause I wanna see Razorlight on that stage only they will clash with Plan B and I need to see him if I wanna get a good place for the Arctic Monkeys. And, trust me, AM are amazing live in small venues, so at a festival they will be phenomenal. This also clashes with Glasvegas on the 3rd stage! But I'll probably get see Katy B there earlier in the day. 4th stage'll be good with an early afternoon Alex Winston set, Frankmusik later in the day, and some Airborne Toxic Event and Gomez in the evening if I can catch them. As for Sunday, main stage is Imelda May, Squeeze, Ellie Goulding, Scouting For Girls, Manic Street Preachers, The Script, Rihanna, and Eminem. The first two are always fun, probably gonna wander for the afternoon and maybe get back for the Manics or the Script, Rihanna sucks live but whatever, and then I simply have to stay for Eminem, if only for the Love The Way You Lie duet. There's some good early afternoon stuff on the 2nd stage, then I'm gonna ignore my music elitism for some pop punk there later in the day, simply must see the Wombats, and then if I'm lucky I'll see the wonderful psychedelic 90s Trip Hop Gods that are Primal Scream doing all of Screamadelica. 3rd stage I'm definitely seeing Hurts, and would love to ironically see Duran Duran if they weren't headlining. 4th stage is good stuff throughout the day, including I Am Kloot and Stornoway. To be honest, there are clashes everyfuckingwhere but I'll live through it. Also I'm going with my usual group of people, that is my mother, my sister, my dad, my three friends, their mom, and whatever friends they bring along. It's tricky because, while everyone's up for AM on saturday, we'll be all split up over Sunday. I reckon I'll stay for Eminem, as will my mom and my other friend, my dad'll be at Primal Scream or Pendulum, and my other friends for Duran Duran. What a mess! But regardless, I'm excited. And if you actually read all of this paragraph, you are to be commended, my friend.

I reckon I'll blog here on Wednesday, to catch you up on all the various emotions and what have you after the end of my freshman year. Until then, bye.

She's Thunderstorms.

it's Monday evening. I've still got science homework and an english essay to do, so I'll make this week's entry as brief as I can possibly manage.

Shitty weekend overall. The weather was awful and I've been doing homework the entire time. Six school days to go, can you believe it? I certainly can't. Next time I talk to you here, I'll be in full blown final studying mania. Not fun.

Two redeeming elements of the weekend. One, the final Doctor Who. I don't have the time for a full-blown list of every thought that went through my head(there were a ton of them) but I will say that I loved the episode and, while tumblr basically revealed everything that happened prior, I thought the twist was amazing and am in love with how Moffat writes things. One of the best episodes yet, and naturally, one of the most confusing as well. I am going to miss this show like crazy over summer, really. But at least this means I'm actually looking forward to September now, right? Right. Also, a couple of friends came round and we made Doctor Who themed t-shirts, tardis blue spray paint and all. I basically just copied the design of the tardis onto a tanktop and it looks shitty but it was so much fun. I loved that.

Second thing. The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Cbosky. Oh. my. god. One of my new favorite books? Yes. My favorite YA novel ever? Totally. (though obviously the second one is not really a difficult thing to achieve in this day and age...but still, the book fucking rocks). As it's being made into a movie and it's pretty popular already, I guess it's likely you've read it, but if you haven't, you need to, because it's one of those books that kinda changes your life. In a cliched, contrived way. But still! I love it. So go read it.

I saw the Script on wednesday! It was, to be honest, a whole lot of fun. Plus, the venue was absolutely amazing. it was basically a huge tent, kinda like the dance tents you get at festivals, and all around it was just like a festival, with crappy food places and ice cream stands and what have you, but it was amazing too. except it's better than a festival, because at night when you look outside the tent, you see a fucking city. a city with awesome lights and everything. so that was gorgeous. Plus, I saw a handful of people from school there! Safety Suit opened, and they were terrible, and the next day at school I had to pretend they weren't terrible because my sort-of friend really likes them. And pretending they were good was very, very hard. The Script were fun though--they played Science and Faith, Before the Worst, Talk You Down, Break Even, the Man Who Can't be Moved(always amazing), Dead Man Walking, You Won't Feel A Thing, Nothing, We Cry, if You See Kay, Rusty Halo, and a few more from the new album that I'm not familiar with. It was a good night. Also since I'm so in love with the venue, I got tickets to see the National there in September. I'm excited!

Time for a school runthrough.

I have two art classes left to go, and then a final. Thank. God. I really do hate this class. I was an idiot when doing my course selection for next year, and I'm up for two art classes if I don't get into Chemistry. (chances of getting into Chemistry are minuscule). I have to opt out of one of those, or I will die. Or opt out of both--there's a second English course you can take, and it's not much fun, mostly just writing essays, but I think I'd take that over art. Plus, a bunch of people I like are taking the English thing. Whereas art could be anyone sophomore through junior, and I can just imagine being in a class which I despise. Anyway, point is the people at my table have exhausted about all opportunities for stupid conversations, and now it's just boiled down to the cycle of 1. Say you're bad at art 2. Have someone say you're not and 3. Repeat until the bell rings. I want to get this done as soon as possible...I am literally gonna rush through my last project, and what does it matter, according to my teacher nothing I do is okay anyway. No big deal. The final(which is Friday), is a written thing, I think, and my teacher didn't teach us a damn thing. Fun. It's lucky that Art is gonna be my first final, partly because it means I don't have to be properly awake at that point, and partly because I want to be done with this class ASAP.

Health! My teacher was pretty pissed that I'd missed my presentation slot, but it turned out okay as I just went on Tuesday instead. She was unreasonably impressed, mostly because of a few rare statistics, but it's not like the presentation was actually good. I got a 95%. Then on Thursday & Today we talked about sexual harassment, shitty high school movie from the 80s and all. Today was an interesting one, though, I guess. We were put into groups and asked to make a list of things that prevent sexual harassment, date rape, et cetera. Inevitably, the first idea to pop up was "well, don't dress like a whore" and, guess what, I held my fucking ground against that one. I mean, I almost always try to go with what I believe, but it's kind of hard in that situation, especially as I am not particularly familiar with either of the girls I was with. But I was all "no, that's victim blaming" and eventually our group never wrote that down cause of me. And, best thing is, one of the girls wasn't familiar with victim blaming and why it's bad, so I got to spread some knowledge on that front. Sadly the health teacher disagreed with me on this opinion, but oh well. I just wanna alter society for the better, you know. My final for health is midmorning on Friday. I'm not too worried about it. my final schedule turned out really nicely this semester.

The science test turned out well enough--an 89. After a slew of lukewarm grades on handouts and tests, I'm just hoping I can do well enough on the final to keep my grade an A. If I do that, I'll have all As this semester. The good thing is, we finished our final environmental project this week. Turned it in today. my portion was decent, and everyone else's looks good. She grades very easily on projects and what have you--we're about guaranteed a good grade. Apart from gym, this is my most hate class of the entire year, I really need to just get through biomes, cram for the final, and leave. I need to be done with it. We have a really complete study guide for the final, and we get to see the essay questions in advance. Also it's next monday, so I have the weekend to just study that. if I get an A on that, and at least a B on the final project, I'm guaranteed an A. I'm like an A minus at the moment, so really it isn't too much of a stretch. I need to make more of an effort for this last week, though.

it's good to know we're ending the year in World Civ with a really fun topic--the French Revolution! We started it last week, and I'm having a lot of fun with it, to be perfectly nerdily honest. We started with a movie, as always, which was good enough, and then we did the whole 'does the end justify the means' thing: a discussion which only serves to make me a bit angry. Nevertheless, I perservered through that, and then we began our final project. This is in place of a final, thank god, and I present it in my last ever freshman class, next Tuesday. I'm in a group of six. I'm basically with three decent guys who I don't know very well, one irritating dick, and one stupid, vapid idiot who went four days thinking we were working on the American Revolution, rather than the French one. (how can anyone even do that?) There's no information on what I need to find, and I'm about done anyway, so I get to read the entire time. This is my World Civ life through to Wednesday, I believe. I guess it's a good way to end this class.

In English, we absolutely raced through Romeo & Juliet. The packet questions can be answered in the before-chapter summary, and there's a key on the left side of the page that translates some of the harder sections, so I honestly don't properly read this book. That's a bit embarassing, I know. While she said we wouldn't act out big parts of it, we did spend massive chunks of time doing that, and I had to play Benvolio at one point. I honestly don't know what sort of things she expects us to find in this play. If we do an essay on this, I will cry. Oh, we spent a whole lot of time watching the movie of it, too. Basically, the last week has been something of a breeze. We reviewed grammar the entire time today, I worked on my own and listened to funny conversations. It was a very nice class. I have a portfolio thing due Wednesday, which I haven't really started, but after that the class will be easy. I liked the way this class worked; I will miss it. my final is on Friday...I just need to review grammar, get some meaning out of the books we've read via Sparknotes and Wikipedia, and then I'm done.

So, that's about it. Summer fever is kicking in, naturally. Though, being me, part of me doesn't want this year to end. I'll say it again: I'm a nostalgic mess. But then again...nowadays I DO just wanna play Animal Crossing, make a collage on my bedroom wall, and construct a summer mixtape for some person. So maybe I do want summer.

Still, I'm gonna miss a ton of stuff.

But then again...England in August, and maybe Niagara Falls in July, and July 4th and sunsets and warm weather and sleep. Hmm.

I have stuff to do. Night everyone.

Tim Minchin Concert and Stuff.

mixed week.

Got a really bad headache on Friday so I stayed home from school. Which was good, I suppose, as I had to do a health project that day and I 'd been up late every day that week, and I don't think I could've handled it. I do the whole 'I don't think I could've handled it' routine a lot, I know, but this time it was most accurate.

I'm feeling much better now, particularly after a couple of nights in which I was not forced awake way before what is reasonable or comfortable. While apparently I have a science test on Tuesday, I'm gonna try to have a relaxing weekend. I would to try to care about this damn science test, but I'm almost beyond empathy. So tired. It's very hard to care when it's so nice outside, you know? Damn June. End of the year. I'll try to pull myself together for this science test, than give up and give in to two days of playing Sweeney Todd songs on piano, reading Lolita, watching old Disney movies, and playing Animal Cross(my revived love). Then I'll stay up on Monday as long as I can without the aid of caffeine.

So, I saw Tim Minchin last night. It was....hilight of...well, the year? Is that too wild a thing to say? 'cause it might just be true. I've been a huge(and really, a huge) Tim fan for about a year now. I got into, like, Canvas Bags and Predjudice last June and fell in love with his music and his lyrics and his amazing brain, and now I know and adore absolutely everything he's done. We got into Boston pretty late, and I couldn't bear to miss anything so I just about ran through Boston common and most of the theater area. Turns out we got there in bags of time--the theater, which I'd never been to before, is built like an old fashioned cabaret, tables in the front and waitress service and everything, so their main priority is to sell you as much pre-gig overpriced drinks as they can. Therefore, show starts late. The place is small and luckily his gorgeous grand piano was facing towards me, so I got to be very close up. We waited a while and the venue was very surreal so that's okay, but he came on and I kind of had a sort of moment of huge fangirlishiness. TIM. All big hair and eyemakeup and skinny jeans and NO SHOES. No shoes, everyone, it's amazing! And I was so close to him too. He comes on, plays around with the mic and what have you, and of course there's no one guy who has to scream "I LOVE YOU" and then "I WANNA HAVE YOUR BABIES". And then he opened with Rock & Roll nerd(always brilliant). He gets up, does a bit of dark, explicit humor that kinda is supposed to make you cringe, and he talks about, like, objectification and he's like "What if I got my cock and balls out right, now?" and the same man sort of screams in delight at the idea. He does a statistics joke(<3) THEN he plays his new song called Cont(ext)...I'll spare you the details, it's not on the internet yet but you need the element of surprise if ever you see it. Let me just say, it is very, very funny. Then he plays another new song called Thank You God, which follows the path of his other religion-bashing songs(The Good Book, Ten Foot, etc.) but it's good and it has one verse which is very, very clever. After he asks 'So, is anyone here interested in the game tonight? I mean, probably not...I tend to attract weird nerds, so probably not.." and some guy's like "what game?" and Tim's like "yeah...". then he plays if I Didn't Have You, complete with the famous Tim Wiggle, and I think he did you Grew On Me and then ended with Lullaby. It's hard to judge--he did a lot of standup, which turned out to be very funny, especially a little bit where he's comparing, like, the Quaran and Harry Potter, and it was good, and unlike the songs the standup is kinda hard to remember...bits stick out, yeah, but you can't remember everything. An interval, and then he played Predjudice, Confessions, Storm(' this is about the time of the night where most comedians would relax with something lightweight...so, this is a nine and a half minute jazz beat poem'), the Pope Song, and Darkside. He did a first enchore, with Drowned, and a second with Second Enchore(nach). More standup, too. Darkside's already amazing solo was lengthened a bit and it was even faster and more incredible, and then it kinda merged into Fur Elise for a second and I was like, oh my god, wow, genius. Overall I was blown away with just how good he was last night...I love him, his music, his songs, his everything. Go listen to him, now. I'm sad it's over. xD

Also, the Script on Tuesday. again I have to remind myself why I'm so keen to see this band...this'll be the 3rd time ? and then, um, it'll be four if I see them at V(which is likely). No matter. I'm so excited for V randomly, now. Probably to do with, like, the new Arctic Monkeys album out on Monday, which is supposed to be amazing and that I'm so excited for. Also, new kaiser Chiefs album! I'll be seeing both of those bands at V...also Razorlight, the Wombats, Pendulum for the hell of it, et cetera. V Fest is always the hi light of the year, and I cannot wait.


From a non-school standpoint, there's nothing much else to say this week. I have a science test and a health project due Tuesday, sooo...basically the next two days won't be fun. And finals coming up soon, sarcastic yay.

Finished my art project early this week, basically got a day off then. Then I started to draw my house, gonna paint it in watercolors. When I'm not talking about music to the people at my table, I hate this class.

Nothing new in health, was only there for one class anyway. Can't even remember what happened. Oh yeah, a quiz, and then I was reading the entire time.

Science is evolution, organism populations, and working towards out final project, nothing interesting. We got a review packet for our final(not looking forward to it in the slightest, of course). But since this whole class has just overloaded me with information this semester, this makes it a whole lot more interesting. Test Tuesday, Im scared.

World Civ has not been a whole lot of fun, either. Talking more about slavery and watching a movie(had a sub on Tuesday, woo)and the scientific revolution and stuff, and then on Thursday we had to do this shitty debate, where the class was divided into two and then one side had to side with Locke, and the other with Hobbes. It was shitty, because it's really not the sort of thing you can back up or argue, as both sides are kinda wishy-washy and in my opinion rather outdated and, frankly, inaffective. My teacher's really into debates, though. Plus, he made me talk...I was forced to do the closing statement with some guy I've never talked to before, and it was an embarrassing, humiliating mess, and no one knew anything and I felt like we were just sitting there bastardizing the works of both Hobbes and Locke. What's doubly annoying, is while the teacher is of course obligated to not choose a side, he made very--and I mean very--clear which side he was on, and then basically ridiculed the whole class when we were on the other side. It's a problem with many a history teacher, I've found--really liberal and makes a show of being all open-minded, but secretly they're a liiiiittle bit of a bigot. Sorry all. It was a bit tiring, and we've done this whole to-do before in this class and it only serves to make me a bit annoyed and frustrated the entire time.

English! The essay I was writing turned out to be terrible, my teacher is gonna be severely disappointed. I had a grammar test which turned out to be surprisingly decent. Then we started Romeo & Juliet. I've gotta through the first few chapters r whatever, I guess it's pretty good but I'm honestly not paying anywhere near as much attention to it as I should be. Then we analyzed some poems and talked at lengths about sexual innuendo in the writing, to the point of it being irritating and tiresome, and luckily we aren't doing fishbowl activities yet, we're not being forced to act, and we get to watch some of the movie. It's like my dream read-through of a book. This class is currently good.

The Wednesday and Thursday morning were spent doing state tests. Science tests. Luckily, they were the only ones Im doing this year but, unluckily, it was terrible. Not that they were particularly hard, of course, but its just that for the first time, they actually matter...like, if I'd have gone back in time and told 8th grade me that they'd be up late the night before and got up early on the day to study for state tests, they'd think I'd completely lost my mind. Maybe I have lost my mind,just a little bit? Wait, no, I'm okay...I was at a distinct disadvantage, along with 50% of my grade, because this tested only on physical science stuff. Which I did first semester. Some of which, I haven't looked at since, oh, November. Im sure if I was taking this stuff early in the year, it would have been painfully simple. Alas, I struggled in places because I hadn't done it in so long...I'm sure I did adequately, however.

Since this is a smaller than average post, Ill leave you with a Tim song, okay?



12 days to go.