Storylines

I made notes on Chemical Storylines, possibly the most "zzzzz" book ever written. They don't seem to understand that no, we do not care about "Peter's Story", however exciting it may have been for Peter. Anyway, I'm rather proud of staying awake all these hours and managing to get through all the necessary chapters!
I feel very much "lost in procrastination" actually. There's still ages until my next exam, so I have little to no motivation to study, but then I have nothing else to do either, because I know that if I do embark on something, I'll have the guilty "not revising when I could be" feeling.
I was tidying out my drawer today and came across my diary entries from Austria (written on paper because I didn't want to take my whole diary). There, I wrote about the beautiful mountains, and lakes, and caves, and barbeques that were lighted using a blow torch, and the seaside, and the ice cream, and the amazing weather. Quite incomparable to anything I've diary-ed in this blog.
Never mind, almost Summer - the roses are almost here!

Barbie-Nom

Barbeque nom nom nom, and that's pretty much all I've done today!

 

Nom Nom Nom

Paving the Sea

Here is a snapshot of my life, from one of my drawers:
Gel pens - I remember they were all the craze in Primary 6-7. Now they are just so impractical: they run out far too quickly. That's like me with fountain pens - more often than not I'm out of ink.
CD - Because I don't use an iPod, music that I've downloaded from the Apple Store must first be burned onto a CD then re-uploaded before I can transfer to my Sansa.
Photos - photos printed from Jessops. I really, really don't recommend them. The quality is just awful!
Glasses case - someone once bought me this as part of a Christmas present. The thing is, I don't wear glasses. A similar occurrence is with earrings.
Pamphlet from Austria - Looks like it's in Italian... so maybe Venice. Some church thing in Aquileia.
Tickets - I have many many Barbican tickets now... Hard to decide which has been my favourite concert so far. Possibly Purcell's Dido & Aeneas. It actually left both Layla and myself in tears by the end.
Ink - Parker ink > Cross ink. I think Parker black ink is based on blue, whereas this is red. I don't really mind, but it's just different to what I'm used to.
Train tickets - from all the interviews I've been to this year, I've built up a pretty huge collection of train tickets. Why did I keep all of them? Because I just keep "stuff".
Receipts - I keep receipts as well.
Shoulder rest - broken, but kept just in case my new one breaks as well. This one is usable-ish... it just falls off randomly.
As you can probably tell, I've had a very productive day today, which is why I just have oh so much to blog about.

Kthxbai Shom

Alien kidnap was so win - we basically ran into Mrs Raper's classroom, cut him down, then legged it, whilst Mrs Raper was only in the room next door. We took him on an adventure around SHOM which he greatly enjoyed and somehow managed to persuade Mr Austin to distract Mrs Raper so that we could put him back without her noticing.
Mr Finan's legendary music quiz was amazing, and our physics montage and meal was really quite sad. Raper didn't cry though...
Pub was good. It didn't feel like the end for some reason - I feel as if I could just easily go in for morning registration tomorrow. This routine is now so, so routine. I really can't imagine being without it.
It's time to move on I guess.
"Live every moment,  laugh every day, and love beyond words"

HiHo, HiHo!

Helloooooo dearest blog, how be thee?
Today is Thursday, as was exactly 7 days ago. I have a prediction that... in 7 days time, it will be Thursday too! However, if it is not, then I guess it won't be Thursday, and I will be majorly wrong.
I hadeth mine Statistics examination today - the first of my last set of exams at SHOM ever. So for that reason, it sucketh. But it was a good exam. Apart from one question, where my Eeenglishhhhh comprehension let me down. I've come up with trois different interpretation of what the question meant so far.
Today, je suis allée for Costa avec Shi-Shi and Laylay. There's un nouveau waiter/coffee maker there. I think he's fitting in quite well - he rather suits the uniform, and looks somewhat Italiano.
Aujourd'hui, we went for our "Goodbye Chemistry" meal with the chem gang and Mrs Ahmad and Mrs Williams. After a lot of nom nom nom, vino, and more coffee, I feel sad. Lots and lots of sadness and happiness and chit-chatting and nom-ing and just general "Yay for chemistry!". No, I don't feel sad, because we'll keep in contact avec each other.
Monsieur Henry reeeeeeeally enjoyed himself as well. He was très excited to meet the chem gang again.
Bla bla bla,
Oh golly I can't believe it's already 9pm! Bedtime sooooooooooooooon, not. I haven't had so many toxins in my system for waaaaaaaay too long! Um, um, um, thank goodness no examens demain. Actually, who is "goodness" cos he must get so many thank you's every day. He's a very special guy, he must be. Oh, I saw weird stalker guy today. Actually, I saw a lot of people today. Did I? Yes, I did. Or... maybe I imagined them? No, I fully had conversations with them. But actually, that doesn't necessarily mean that they were there.
NO MORE STATS! WOOHOO!
Last day tomorrow. Well, not ever, cos then there wouldn't be a Thursday next week.
Mehhhhhhhhhhhh
Byebye, dearest blog!

Fantastic Francesca

Today has technically been very Chengfail, starting even from just the early hours. I shall one day learn to "embrace the fail", and maybe even avoid the fail.
Francesca asked me to write in her scrapbook today. It was actually really sad - the photos in her book mean so much to all of us, but we now have the knowledge that we can't ever go back to those happy days of lower school, and now even sixth form. The fact that we've had so many good times together makes it an even worse feeling having to leave school. Of course we'll encounter new places and new friends, but it just wouldn't be quite the same.
Frankie is one of the phantastic "physics is phun" crew. We would be so incomplete without her amazing personality and ability to make everyone smile again. I have no idea how she can have so much self-motivation though: she drives to school every morning, and is always one of the first people in. She is never late, never absent, and always there for us. Even with all this school stuff, she somehow still manages to cram in a social life, as well as lots and lots of extra-curriculars, not forgetting the unbeatable Harry Potter knowledge she has. Frankie will be studying biochemistry at Exeter next year. I have no doubt she will be able to attain the grades she needs, and will succeed tremendously in life. Speaking on behalf of everyone and anyone who has known Francesca, she is truly an inspiration to us all:

Laylay

We had our leaver's mass today. I'm just going to go straight to the point - the priest looked like a paedophile. It was a lovely mass though, and really quite saddening that this is the last time, possibly ever, that I will have to sit through a Catholic mass.
Today, I present to you Layla, aka Laylay. The name Laylay simply arose from a typo made by our head girl, and just stuck around. I don't think Laylay approves of this name actually, but we all agree it suits her, as does pink fluffy stuff. Laylay is incredibly clever, wise, knowledgeable, smart, bright, intelligent, *insert synonym*, *insert better synonym* and *insert the best synonym*. She does like to argue her points, but she has reason to do so - it is one of the rarest occurrences in the world for someone to win an argument against Layla. Layla is going to study Chemistry and Physics at university, also in London. I have no doubt she will be absolutely amazing and ace all her studies and one day rule the world as she so often plans. Oh, Layla is seeing Flight of the Conchords tonight. I hope that she has the best of fun, and enjoys her evening, because she really does deserve it.

Yummy Periodic Table

Because we're cool, and Raper isn't:

Le Soleil

Busy day - I blame it on the Sun(shine)!
Made "char siu bao"/"baozi" today - the dough turned out surprisingly well! Most probably due to the sun I think.
Um, washed both cars with my sister today - yay! We now have two very shiny cars, and two very tanned Chen's.
Tomorrow is going to be an even busier day. Two mock tests to study for tonight, and cupcakes to organise. Last week of SHOM, ever! Gosh, that's incredibly scary.

Mud Run

Perhaps my Mother read my blog or something, but anyway, she took me to the seaside at Southend in Essex to support pupils and teachers from her school who were taking part in the Little Havens Mud Run. The weather was fantastic, and it was so inspiring to see such a huge group of people working together for this very worthy cause.
So... Southend can now be ticked off my "to visit" list. To be honest though, it's not the nicest seaside I've been to. My favourite is of course St Andrews. Tentsmuir is second, Anstruther third, Southport fourth, Lido fifth, because the weather was just amazing. Brighton beach is my second least favourite, and unfortunately, Southend would come last. Aside from the Mud Run, there was just no beach vibe there at all. It was just water (questionable whether it's actually sea water also!), mud and people trying to tan. Nevertheless, it was still a really good day, and I think it did me a lot of good to go to the "sea"side again.

Super Shiran

For the first time in weeks, I actually used some brain power in school - we did half an exam paper in economics, and I was left to work on maths questions by myself in maths. My brain was so fizzled by the end of that, I forgot to take Mr Baron's flowers home (which was actually really sweet of him...) and also my chemistry textbook, so revision shall be postponed for yet another week!
Oh yeh, I think I should blog about my friends more. It'll at least stop me complaining about myself so much!
Today will be about Shiran - Shiran, like all my friends, is absolutely amazing. She is one of my maths and economics buddies. Shiran knows everything there is to know about Geography, Jonas brothers and the green party. She loves trees. I've not yet worked out which she loves more - people or trees. But anyway, Shiran will be studying Geography in London which is so exciting! Shiran and I go for Costa when we have time, and when we need to stay awake for the dreaded triple economics on Mondays and Fridays. Shiran is such a lovely person, and I am so glad that she chose SHOM for sixth form, because otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to have made such a brilliant friend.
Shiran:

JET

We should so have a physics trip to visit the JET tokamak in Oxfordshire. I think the Thorpe Park "educational visit" we were promised is looking pretty unlikely now, even though that seemed to be actually the main reason for a lot of our old class to take the subject! The letdown of Thorpe Park must be why our class has fizzled down from 14 to just 4.
Hurray - the weather is finally improving! Now we can go out to play more! I seriously miss the seaside - it's been far too long. Also, I'm way overdue a trip to St Andrews. Hmm... maybe I could go up to Edinburgh for Hogmanay. Summer looks unlikely now due to Americaland and China.
Last violin lesson today for at least four months, possibly forever. My violin teacher is really epic though. I will definitely miss his lessons!
Oh yeh, my dream catcher majorly failed me last night.

Zen-ify Yourself

Layla, of all people, told me to "zen-ify" myself. I can't remember why... Perhaps it was because I was trying to sing in a Cockney accent in Stats today.
Oooh found out I got a merit in my grade 7 ballet today! Totally unexpected, considering pretty much every contributing factor.
My sister's concert today was... erm... an experience, you could say. At least she enjoyed it...ish... I don't think pictures were allowed - Naughty Henry!

Sequence

This morning, my form tutor read to us "Veni Sancte Spiritus". When she prays, it's like she's teaching God about God. It's ridiculous. Either that, or she's telling us that we're really bad, evil people. I'm not sure if I'll miss all this force-fed religion stuff when I leave school. Oh gosh, what on earth will it be like not to have someone consistently tell you that you don't have morals, and we should be happy we're being brainwashed.
Hannah was asked out on her second date with Matthew today. They really are so cute together! I think I may have to do some third-wheeling one day. Though, technically, if I take Henry with me, I won't be the third wheel...ish...
10 points to whoever correctly guesses who gave me this pretty butterfly:

Beat Again

I feel like I'm being beaten by the clock. Both in terms of "eeee! Only 9 school days left", but also, "eeee! So much work to do for tomorrow!"
Such is life.
After orchestra, I spent my evening fitting capacitor lyrics to JLS's Beat Again. Whilst doing that, my feeling was generally one of complete 'fml-ness'. Why must we be such geeks?

Formula Win

Formula 1 is surprisingly good to watch. I don't know much about it, but it's never too late to learn I guess.
Chemical formulae and reaction conditions are a pain. Today was my first ever attempt to actually "do" something for revision. I usually just revise by reading, but I felt it was more appropriate to draw these out. I'm somehow hoping that if I look at it often enough, I'll remember what it looks like, and then I won't have to actually memorise each reaction individually.

Charged

Capacitance is the ability to store charge. My ibook seems to have little to none - it pretty much lives on the charger now. Urgh.. this is actually the replacement battery. Apple is full of Chengfail.
I'm not gonna lie, I really haven't done that much today. I did physics homework, a C4 paper and an S1 paper. I also lawn-mowered the grass and cooked lunch. It's still afternoon and I already have nothing to do... Cheyla and Fecca are meeting at Rebecca's house tonight to work on physics presentation on capacitance. Our class of four will be working in a group of four. Who are we going to present it to?
I guess what I could do this weekend is recharge my own batteries and get some sleep... Yes... Perhaps.

Blueberry Flowers

Haribo

Haribos are incredible. Physics practical surprisingly actually worked today. Must've been the Haribo.
Today, I did something somewhat productive - I did a french plait for Layla! I hope one day I'll reach my dream of becoming a hairdresser... one day...
Haribo high has gone. Early night for me I think. Unless I find more Haribos...
Oh, this is the convent next to our school. Unfortunately, I've never actually been inside. I've somehow always been busy when they hold a lunchtime mass there.

Merry Lads

Now is the month of Maying, 

when merry lads are playing!

After a whole month without facebook, I reactivated today. Admittedly, it is very useful for organising things - the plan is to construct a periodic table of elements using cupcakes and icing! So, for the sake of the greater good, I reactivated so that I could actually co-ordinate this pretty epic project.

May... it's been miserable! I personally have seen no merry lads playing: it is just far too cold outside! I still refuse to wear a coat in May, but I have honestly been shivering home almost every day this week. Maybe if I could drive, I wouldn't have to wait outside for the bus for such a huge proportion of my day... But, that's not going to happen, because sending off for a provisional is probably the thing that will ultimately win the Chengfail award of 2010.

Today, I bought, shared and consumed more chocolate raisins. That actually saved me from the self-harm that my ridiculous timetable usually induces.

My Mother got through Ofsted without having any lessons observed at all. So, she actually had time to talk to me today. And, it was a pretty good talk also! - My plans for this Summer are now mostly settled. I really, really, really can't wait! Two more weeks and school is finished, six more weeks and exams will be over, which means... seven more weeks and I'll be off to Americaland! Time flies when you're having fun. Time flies when you're doing A levels. Surely, that doesn't mean A levels = fun...?!!!

Now is the month of Maying,

when moody Sun's not playing!

Bad Hair Week

I really miss my long hair!
Today, we had a very productive day. I found a gigantic ready salted crisp, and thought it appropriate to replace Layla's head.

Cake

I think I nearly gave my violin teacher a heart attack today. Oh.. I also found out some really strange story about where my ballet teacher is. My old music theory teacher has apparently aged a lot recently and now goes around in a wheelchair. For someone who traveled on her own around China only a few years ago, it really is quite shocking.
(Most) teachers are amazing people. It's Ofsted who are the evil ones.
Maybe if we offer them cake, they'll be nicer?

'

Selling cake for Frankie's charity

Twinings

Quadruple chemistry, triple economics and then orchestra. This is like the ultimate 'long day' kinda day. Doesn't help when my Mother has Ofsted this week - I have cooking and childcare to add to my 'to-do list'.
Oh yeh, I noticed at orchestra today... I have to look up at people when I speak to them. I think I've grown recently, but still - compared to the guys who are my age at orchestra, I'm a midget!
Ahh Twinings blackberry & nettle tea + Marmalade Cake = a great way to end a super long day. And yes, I will go back to photos of non-food stuff, eventually...

Houmous!

Houmous is the greatest thing invented by the Chinese, ever. For this reason alone, China is most obviously the bestest country in the World.
Today was productive, not. Well, kind of pseudo-productive. Not really though, in terms of preparing for those joyous exams next month.

Desire

I think I rather desire the HTC Desire. My plan is to get a contract phone just before I start uni - I won't be using my phone in Americaland/Chinaland so there's not much point in getting a contract with plentiful minutes so soon. But still, my phone at the moment is verging on being classed as 'useless'.
Oh, I have a small worry. When I'm in Americaland, I may not be able to have access to internet every day, which means that I won't be able to blog every day! Of course I'll be (many)photo-a-day-ing, but I don't know whether or not I'll be able to post them here.
Must sort out this issue before July... Uh oh...
Sorry for the bad picture today. Henry was in a bad mood for some reason today.

Crêpey Day

Today was just poo. Triple economics, double maths and physics. Hmm... what could make it worse? How about an argument with Mother. Oh great. That's bloomin' wonderful.
Things are never a democracy when it comes to your parents.
My sister asked me to make crêpes for her. Things are never a democracy with Hannah either.

X Marks the Spot

I didn't forget to vote this morning! Hurray!
However, I did forget my bus pass so still had to walk all the way home, then back to the bus stop.
After double physics and chemistry today, I went to the bank to pay in some monies, and also to take more out. I had an appointment today to renew my passport. Traveling there was fine - I arrived perfectly on time, and also found my way there without a map!
What was silly was what I did during my 4 hour wait for my passport to be made. I had to drop off a letter at Fulbright House, which is near Chancery Lane station on the Central Line. Since the Passport Office was at Victoria, I decided to walk to a station that could directly go to Chancery Lane. After passing Wellington Arch and taking a few photos, I reached Hyde Park Corner. For some reason, I had it in my mind that Chancery Lane could be reached directly from Green Park. So, I walked some more then finally reached Green Park. I went into the station, down to the Picadilly line, and saw the Chancery Lane wasn't there. So I went back up, realised that I had to change at Holborn, so then had to go back down again. I could've/should've taken the tube directly from Hyde Park Corner!
Anyway, it was a fun walk, but I really wished I wasn't wearing heels.
After I left Chancery Lane station, I encountered this man... He asked me if this was Gray's Inn Road... Yes it was... A few questions later, he asked me out. It was very awkward saying no, but just thank goodness it was a relatively busy street! No offence to him, but he seemed no less creepy than my stalker in January.
I took the bus back to Victoria from Fulbright House. Since it took me almost an hour to get there by walking/tube, I figured it would be a pretty long bus journey, so took out some physics work and started on that on the bus. I had a few weird looks when I took my calculator out!
When I got back to Victoria, I still had over two hours left, so finished physics then had a snooze in Grosvenor Gardens. It got a little chilly, and I still had an hour and a half so I decided to go to Marble Arch. I haven't been there for absolutely ages! Last time I went was when I went out with Tom I think, but it hasn't changed one bit since. Taking the bus is so much easier than the tube! I went to Primark. That may have been the worst decision I've made in a very long time... I was simply looking for tights, because mine were laddered. Primark flagship store is an incredibly scary place. You get the impression they were contaminating the air with 'angry fumes' or something. Anyway, I took a look at their shoes - my feet were really hurting by this time! But... Primark seem to no longer have my size! Does this mean I have to buy their children's shoes...? I dare not go further upstairs in this rather frightening building.
After the Primark 'experience', I headed over to Hyde Park where I had a stroll, and then another snooze. Hyde Park is less shady, so less cold!
All in all, it was a pretty good day. I'm sure I've forgotten to do something, but I think I have all the important stuff covered. There was plenty of Chengfail, but when is there not?! Probably bringing a map would've helped, but what's wrong with writing an X for where I want to go in my own mind? A map should not dictate where I will go!

Winbright!

Yay! I am still completely astounded - I was actually successful with my Fulbright thingy!! I think I should really learn from this - when I feel like an interview has gone well, it basically hasn't. If however I think I've completely flopped it, then chances are I actually did ok!
So... I finally have a plan for this Summer - Leaver's Dinner, Americaland for 5 weeks, Results Day, and then hopefully go traveling in China for the 4 weeks after results day! Ok, the last part isn't quite official yet, but it's definitely what I'd like to do. Ahhh I'm actually really going to miss the nursing home, and the children at the library! But Americaland is somewhat more exciting, you could say...
Busy day, busy week - need to renew my passport, write a bio, edit a photo all by this Friday! Oh, and then there's school work, but that's completely gone out the window this week. Haha so has my sleeping pattern, not that it even existed in the first place. I really need to zzzzzzzzzzz

Gayla

Must stop with the Laylay insults, else she really will turn into a terrorist and bomb my locker or something.
Today I stitched up Ellie - she was very poorly, but the waiting list was just so long! I think I did an ok job, there was minimal bloodloss and scarring.
I also sewed on a button for my cardigan. Wow, I've had a productive day!

Ike

Today I watched A Series of Unfortunate Events with my sister. I really like the name Ike... It was a nice film I think. First film I've seen the whole of in a very long time. Usually I fall asleep, or get bored, or don't have time to watch the whole film!
I also helped out in the garden today. Gardening is definitely not my thing. Also, I really don't like snails, slugs or worms. I'm fine with most other "scary" things like bees, wasps, spiders, snakes, but just not snails, slugs or worms. They majorly creep me out!

Triple Date

This weekend, I went on three dates. One with this guy called Physics HW, the second with Maths HW, and the third Economics HW. And no, they're not all brothers, though they were all pretty alike actually. Physics was surprisingly the most enjoyable; I found I got along with him quite well! Maths was rude and obnoxious to be honest. It was quite a horrendous experience. Economics was pretty dull. Nice, but not the one for me.
Henry got pretty jealous today. Now he knows how Percy feels!
Anyway, tomorrow I finally have a date with myself. Hopefully some ice cream will be there too.

Accident

Today I helped my Mother make dumplings for dinner. At dinner, I found out that I was an accident. My parents' friends at the time even suggested that my Mother should terminate her pregnancy. My parents then clarified that my sister on the other hand was definitely not an accident.