It has been a terrible while since I last posted, hasn't it? Ah, well. The drought is relieved, at least for today.

Remembrance Day today, on a more sombre note. We held a service in school where we all stood in silence and then listened to the traditional trumpet "Fanfare for the Common Man," and we all wore our poppies with pride. I am not a religious person, but I wish peace upon all the souls of our lost soldiers, wherever they may be. Rest In Peace.

What I do not like is the foolish nature of war - in a war, no one wins because in some way everyone loses something. A life is too precious to be given a price, so in that sense every nation of our sweet earth is rich beyond imagination and yet at the same time worthless due to the lives lost in combat. Especially dear Blightey - the war in Afghanistan is simply ridiculous. I wish the gov't would focus more on Britain than fighting other people's battles. It may sound cruel, but I don't care about Afghanistan as long as they don't come knocking on our door with death threats. They're just fighting each other and America, so leave them to it! It isn't our fight, and by any right we're such a tiny island...we should look after ourselves more!

Anyway. It's winter (oh noes! :( ), and Christmas is fast approaching (oh yays! :) ) so I'm getting suped up for my own particular bought of gift-shopping. I'm going to go to Meadowhall this upcoming Friday with my mother so I can buy all I need and random shit besides.

This weekend is like television heaven - Merlin, Top Gear and <3 DOCTOR WHOOOO <3 are all on, so happiness is the top dog in our household at the moment.

My father has a number of Swiss contacts - this week we actually have a Swiss person staying at our house! He's really cool, very tall and very, very, very Swiss. As in, cool, collected and painfully polite with an endearing sense of humour. He's awesome.

Ooooh, and it was half term a couple of weeks ago! I went to Alton Towers with Hen and loved it. Was very impressed, but I still love Florida more!

Byes ~

Well. Recently I've been slogging through Requiem for a Song quite nicely, at about a chapter a week. Even so, I find it to be heavy-going and, at times, "a bit of a drag." So I have been employing some rather strange methods in order to cope which involve the Awesome Bag of Awesome, MSN, the All-Mighty Mother and the Random Art Prompt Generator.
The Awesome Bag of Awesome - a small plastic bag that contains the names of all of the main characters from RfaS, and more besides.
MSN/All Mighty Mother - ask for a number under ten.
Random Art Prompt Generator - a one-word (or more) prompt.
Put them all together....

Drabble 06 - "Trauma," Aldira Rynn & Quonya O'Ganbai

 

        Soaring arches form a canopy overhead; heavy stone blocks made intricate - delicate, even - by a thousand masons' hands. Snarling dragons twine together along struts of rutted marble, muzzles twisted and sneering down upon their domain. So perfect, so beautiful, so lifelike - if not for the dull grey of their eyes, the quiet stillness of form. Even the best artisan cannot capture the soul.

        Even so, it fails to stop them trying.

        She is one of many; a spirit rejoicing in the simple beauty of the surrounding world, a spirit who strives to snatch just a little piece of that wonder to hold dear in every brushstroke.

        The Rynn Manor is a still, silent place; much like the stone dragons that cling defiantly to the library's walls. Foreboding, beautiful, but lacking. This is a home in name only. So, despite its majesty, not once had she been stirred to capture it.

        Amongst the battalions of artworks clustered in the corners of her bedchambers; pictures of many things, from herself and her loved ones to a dragonfly clinging to a shaft of wheat and the ruddy hues of autumn reflected in the clear waters of a pond. Amongst dozens upon dozens of these treasures, not once is there her home.

        No silhouette, no glimpse in the distance, no nothing. It is a cold place, a statement; and so she can never love it.

        Six years old, an artistic prodigy, she escapes the nanny and the cold place she is bound to by blood and tradition and flees; following the waning sun into the west.

        Crooked spires greet her as she leaves the forest and clambers up a great rise of land to gaze upon the plains beyond. They grin, they laugh; shadows reaching out towards her with playful fingers. It glitters and shines with lamplight, with *life,* and her fingers actually hurt with the need to take just a little bit of it for herself.

        Dazzled by the warmth of it all, she's there before she comes back to herself; wandering cobbled streets smattered with hay.           People smile at her, greet her as an equal rather than nobility.

        It's strange. It's....perfect.

        Eventually, drawn by her artisan's heart, she finds herself halfway up a grand set of stairs that ends with a fabulous wooden gate. Her heels click sharp against the steps as she climbs, a quick staccato against the dull throbbing of a thousand thousand voices.

        Another moment and she's in.

        The ceiling soars away from her, carried by great stone dragons that cling to the delicate arches with their heavy stone claws. Before her is a warren of shelving; a mismatched array of different sizes and shapes that house books beyond belief.

        Ever the artisan, her mind runs away with the stunning imagery. She can almost hear the words upon the pages; a soft whispering that soothes her as she takes a few steps in from the doorway. Not too many, though. Such a vast space could surely consume her.

        She pictures the dragons coming alive; of the life that would brighten their stony-dead eyes and flood their stagnant bodies with passion, with movement.

        She pictures the colours that would flush their scales; the hot sulphur of their breath - would it be hot? Sulphuric?

        She thinks of them flexing their great wings and flying for real, carrying the whole building skywards and into an everlasting freedom. A freedom without nobility and homes that aren't really homes; a proper kind of world that she could paint in all its entirety rather than just in random increments.

        So engrossed is she in her imagination that she fails to notice she has company for a good few minutes.

        He is a young man; clad in the white formal robes of an Orderly, but lacking the stoic face and stance of any Orderlies she has ever seen. Instead he is smiling, but his eyes are smiling too - an honest, beautiful smile that warms her artisan's heart and makes her return it and by the Song she has to capture it, because how has she survived before without that brilliance?

  "Do you wish to take out a book?"

  "...No, thank you."

  "Then what do you wish, little one?"

        His smile is brighter now, if that was possible, and she finds herself fumbling in response.

  "What, uh, what is your name?" and by the Song she has never stuttered before in all her times of public speech, but in the face of his smile she fails to feel shame.

  "I am Quonya O'Ganbai, and you?"

  "....Aldira Rynn."

        Quonya twists his fingers in a lazy parody of the usual formal salute. "Yaphi gaha, Aldira. Now, what do you wish?"

  "I wish, I wish...to paint?"

        His smile is now so wide that despite his youth it crinkles up the corners of his eyes - such an endearing thing, she has to get that too -

  "I am afraid that you cannot paint in here," he says, and his smile is so honest she can see he truly does feel that apology, “but you can use the back room, if you want."

  "I don't - I do not - have my paints," she blurts, more awkward by the second. "I, uh, I would like to draw you? If you have some chalk, some parchment?"

  "Of course," he says, and so it is.

        It is only the first time of many; huddling in the back room with him, capturing the lean, easy lines of his honest spirit with every pen stroke. Every line steals just a little more of that simplicity for herself; just a little, to keep her sane through the many riddles nobility presents to her.

        And if every time she leaves her sanctuary it is a trauma like no other, then the peace she steals from it is worth the aftermath.

..................so, yeah. Peculiar piece of writing, but I like it. Enough to print it out and not delete it, at least. For now it lives on my memory stick.


Back in February, I believe I said I had decided on journalism as my career. Well, I may have been a little quick off the blocks with that...in recent weeks I've been acting a bit like a headless chicken where careers are concerned - flitting from one to another in a completely illogical and whimsical manner. I would like to be a doctor, but I know for a fact that I am terribly squeamish. I would love to be an author, but it's unbelievably difficult to be published (head-in-clouds type of career). I would like to be a scientist because I love physics and astronomy, but it would involve extreme levels of dedication I am not sure whether I am capable of...you get the picture.

Well, I do think I've never said much about the music I like. I shall do my best to rectify that a little, right now.
Favourite Bands -
COLDPLAY IS LOVE - "Postcards From Far Away," "Strawberry Swing," "Til Kingdom Come,"
The Script - "If You See Kay," "The End Where I Begin," "Rusty Halo,"
Chameleon Circuit (becauseitsaboutDoctorWhoandimasadfangirl) - "Journey's End," "An Awful Lot of Running,"

Favourite Male Solo -
James Blunt - "Out of My Mind," "No Bravery"
Jason Mraz - "I'm Yours,"
James Morrison - "You Give Me Something,"

Favourite Female Solo -
....I, uh, actually don't have one... *hides in shame*

Favourite Songs (with lyrics) -
Our Braided Lives - Matt Pond PA
Beauty and the Mess - Nickel Creek
No Bravery - James Blunt
Piano Man - Billy Joel
Til Kingdom Come - Coldplay
Swords of a Thousand Men - Tenpole Tudor
Rusty Halo - The Script
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Favourite Songs (without lyrics)
Danse Macabre
Black Hawk Waltz - Chris Garneau
Postcards from Far Away - Coldplay
Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity - Holst
Flight of the Bumblebee - Korsakov
Scheherazade - Korsakov

There we go, as much as I can think of at the present time. Phew.

Impromptu holidays? Well, my father booked us a holiday yesterday - for next Thursday! Mother mentioned that a holiday would be nice aroundabouts Monday, then father went all broody...turns out he was booking. Good Blimey, my family is odd. Oh, we're going to Florida - which would be a "YAY!" moment if not for the bloody Scottish and their releasing of a certain Libyan terrorist... I do hope we're not going to be bothered for it. It would be irksome, especially considering as I am English and NOT Scottish (our dear cousins do tend to merge the lot of us with alarming frequency, sadly).

Over and Out,
                            ~ Paige

So. Once again, a huge gap between postings. Eheh.

Anyway, yesterday I went to the 15th birthday party of a friend of mine, Jemma, whom I sit next to in Maths. I had a great time (played spin the bottle (kiss), spin the bottle (put clothes on), spin the bottle (truth, dare, kiss). The first and last times I just kissed a lot of people (oh dear...), but second was the best because at the end of it I was wearing (on top of my own clothes) -

- 2 pairs of underwear
- an armwarmer
- a shawl
- 2 nightgowns
- a scarf

...........and a little cardigan-thingy. It was so, so funny. I will treasure the memories, especially of when this lad called Nick put a bra...on his knees. Inside out.

So, the trouble with writing? I'm stuck! I keep getting distracted and writing other things; it's driving me insane! GAHHH

I now have a number of people vying for the spot of Best(strangest) Eyebrows on Television -

- Matt Smith, 11th Doctor (on some of the publicity pictures it looks like he doesn't even have any!)
- Alistair Darling, Chancellor in the British Government. (HE HAS WHITE HAIR AND HUGE BLACK EYEBROWS. WTF?)
- Zachary Quinto, ala Sylar/Spock - you can see them from outer space, but somehow they remain cool. How does that work?

Over and out,
                             ~ Paige

I do apologise for whatever the number of weeks it is since I last posted - it's been a tad hectic lately.

Good news, though! My injuries from the shower fall have healed (though I now have an irritating sore on my left knee) and Torchwood is back! Well, I say 'good' about the show returning, but......THEY KILLED IANTO!!! Oh my god, they killed him! It took a full minute or so to sink in, and then I was just like, "HOSHIT." 

But this being Russel T Davies, he won't kill him....will he? He did kill the Master, after all.... *CRIES*

Speaking of the Master, in the last week or so I've been re-watching Life on Mars. I'd forgotten how much I loved that series (the Guv is EPIC WIN). I definitely prefer it compared with Ashes to Ashes. Sam Tyler for Prime Minister!! *punches air*

My hips hurt. I don't know why, they just...do. It's quite strange, a bit of a recurring niggle that's been bugging me for nigh on a year now. Hmm.

Yesterday, as I was eating my dinner after getting back from school (egg noodles and garlic bread, very nice) my mum randomly quizzed me on, if I could have anything I wanted, what I'd have for the prom. I described my 'dream dress' and then she started laughing. I asked, and turns out she found a dress exactly like that when she was out in town earlier that day. Huh. Maybe I have psychic radar or something.

Ugggggh, it's Sports Day on Tuesday. I can't stand it. Why waste our time lolling about the field/getting rained on/hot and sweaty when we could be indoors learning about something interesting? Say, Shakespeare? (I guess that's most definitely NOT everyone else's idea of fun, but oh well). I think I'm doing some godawful thing called the 'fun' relay, shotput and rounders. I asked not to do rounders, but my teacher made me do it despite my mentioning of my dodgy hips. Evil cow. Well, my only consolation is that at least the rest of the school doesn't take me for a lesbian, unlike her.

On Monday it's Citizenship Day. I have absolutely no idea what we're doing, apart from the fact that at some point during the day every single Year 10 has to have gone on this weird careers website they told us about in assembly this morning. So, yeah.

The final Geography deadline for ALL of my coursework is for Tuesday, Art's deadline is for frickin' Monday, Tech's is for Thursday..... Geography's okay, since all I have to do is corrections. I'm more concerned with Tech and Art, seeing as I have no sketch book for my first Art project and the second one isn't finished, plus I'm three/four sheets behind on Tech because I was concentrating on making the T-Shirt image really snazzy. I've already printed the main image onto the T-Shirt, now I just need to print on my logo and a crazy little dog cartoon I've nick-named "Erick the Amazing."

Over and out ~
                                  Paige

SUBJECT              CURRENT WORKING LEVEL
Art                                         A
Biology                                A*
Chemistry                          A
English                               A*
German                              B
Geography                         A
Graphics Product             A*
IT                                       Distinction 
Mathematics                     B
Physics                              A*
Sociology                          A


.................Wow, talk about improvement! I mean, Physics has gone up two whole grades, IT's back up to Distinction and - biggest wow of all - I managed to drag German up to a B. I really didn't expect that, due to the fact that I absolutely hate German and find it an annoying distraction from subjects that actually matter to my future (say, English, Maths, Science...).

     My geography coursework is coming along nicely, too. In total it is now fourteen pages long, and achieving the same marks as the forty-three pages of Ben, one of my friends. It's a bit tricky, and I have to finish my Results (third section) for sometime next week. We're honour-bound not to do any over the weekend, due to the fact that Monday and Tuesday are exam days and the teachers are desperate for us to revise. At the moment I'm having a bit of a dilemma because I need to have a picture for each location we studied in Bakewell, and I havn't got a single one. I may have to resort to nobbling a few off of Ben. Thank you, Ben!

     Requiem for a Song is even more confusing than it was last time I talked about it. I now have them believing that five whole chapters were an illusion, which is boggling my mind as well as the characters'. Trying to reference to chapters that weren't real chapters, figuring out the plot and the timeline.....everything just got a whole lot more confusing. Gahhhh! Help me, my mind is breaking....

     Ahhhh, clumsiness. One of my oldest companions. Last night I fell over in the shower, smashed a pot with my chin and neck, cut my knee open on the (broken) pot and pulled something in my foot. All in the space of a couple of seconds. I tell you, owwwwwwwwww.

    Well, my INQ1 phone (the new one I got for my birthday) has been playing up a bit. It's a dream to use, but sometimes - even when I know it has at least half battery remaining - it just won't turn on. I think maybe something's up with the battery; connection's loose or something. When I take it out and put it back in again it works, so I'm pretty sure that that's what it is. The techy guys at the 3 store think so too - I took it in today after school because I was going into town with my mum for a coffee at Costa's anyway, and that's all they could come up with. Huh. Mind you, the guy had those weird ear plug things, tattoos, long hair with weird colours in it and converse....not really what you expect from such a smart shop. I thought that maybe he wasn't that smart because of that, but turns out he's really well spoken and nice. He even got the shop's manager to come out and have a look, and grinned and me when I said his shoes were awesome (I was wearing converse-style slip ons instead of my proper high-tops, but hey, it was along the same lines!)

     Yesterday I had a careers appointment with a school advisor. I was expecting some sort of creepy old grockle, but she (SHE!!!) was actually really nice, if a bit odd looking. We had a great laugh, and I missed the whole of German! Plus she got me a whole stack of official info on how to enter Journalism as a career and, because we chatted a lot about my passion for writing, she also gave me a pack on writing for a living! I officially love her forever just for that...I've read it, and it's brilliant advice. Really helpful. I shall treasure it.

     This morning we had an assembly for my yeargroup (Year 10), taking by our Head of Year, Mr Clayton. It was pretty boring at first, just random notices (Maths Club on Wednesdays, detentions, blah blah blah) but then he announced that the result for the Biology Challenge were in....he read out a handful of people who got bronze medals, and then he said that two people had actually managed to get silver! I was even more shocked when one of the silvers was me (and hey, this is a nationwide challenge), and it turned out that I got the highest score of all. I got £15 to spend in HMV, which I shall consider (probably something Coldplay, as they are my favourite band, but as I have all their current works I may stretch myself and nab the Script's album, as I dearly love their songs (thank you Spotify!)

    Over and out,
                             Paige

     Well, I'm fifteen at long last. Whoop-dee-do-da-day. Halway to thirty (or as my dad so kindly put it, "A quarter of the way to sixty!"). It doesn't feel that special, to be honest. I can only hope that turning sixteen next June does something for me.
    
     For my birthday I got a new watch (my old one broke), a new phone (an INQ1, which I have named Trevor), knickers, some pyjamas, a manicure kit, a paint-your-own-breakfast set kit, a gamecube controller, a memory card for the Wii, twenty pounds, a sonic screwdriver (I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!)...and I can't remember if there's anything else. I think I'll be getting some late ones from a couple of friends too (most likely paints, seems to be a default present of mine). I also went on a four-day trip to Centerparks/WAS ILL AS FAR AS SCHOOL IS CONCERNED/with my mum and dad, taking Henry with us. The little villa we ended up in was lovely; I had first pick of rooms but I chose the smallest because I genuinely prefer smaller rooms. Henry was very happy over that personal foible, I tell you. His (larger) room came with a hairdryer and working lights - two of mine were missing!
    
     There was a really fat grey squirrel with a red face that was very gentle and tame. He came into the house a couple of times and I even got to hand-feed him! Of course, such creatures deserve a title and so he is now known as Yogi Squirrel, the lover of bread.

     While we were there we went on this amazing fourteen-feet-high adventure trail called "Aerial Adventure." I saw it on a documentary somewhere, and so was delighted to actually get a go on it. It was great fun, as I love climbing and am absolutely fearless when it comes to trees. I had to wait for Henry a couple of times because I felt I was getting too far ahead.

     The trail's end featured an enormous zip wire, which I loved. The guy at the zip's platform, a young bloke called Sam, was really funny. I swear I've seen him somewhere (on Youtube, maybe?) and, because we were in Suffolk, he had the Tenth Doctor's accent! I was so happy; I was grinning like a fool. Henry told me that when he went onto the platform after me he said to the guy, "It's so high!" and the guy replied, "Really? What've you been smoking?" I don't know if it's just me, but I find that hilarious. What a brilliant comeback.

     On the Saturday me and Henry went out for dinner on our own at Huck's, an American-style grill bar. The food was nice, the service was quick and polite, and there was some nice live entertainment (the lead singer was wearing a WAISTCOAT!!). We had a full rack of ribs each, which we somehow managed to totally consume, and two servings of chips. Quite the pair of gluttons were we that night. My parents went to the Bella Italia with some guests, a lovely couple who live on our estate back in Doncaster, called Les and Nell. Nell is Irish, a science teacher at a local academy, and very bad at holding her alcohol. Les is....very laid back. Apparently their food took forty-odd minutes to come, and eventually only arrived because Nell (bless her boisterous Irish soul) went through to the kitchens and had a "discussion" with the catering staff. She had to do it again with the main course an hour later.

     They got a couple of bottles of wine for their trouble, and arrived home at about half ten. Henry and I stayed out until eleven at a huge park thing round the back of a big sports bar, and had to run back to avoid missing the eleven o'clock curfew installed by my father.

     A few things were dodgy - the rapids section of the swimming pool was closed, the power fan (vertical wind tunnel) was closed, and Huck's had run out of Bloomin' Onions (a delightful dish normally only available at the Outback Steakhouse in America).

     Top Gear's back this Sunday! I'm absolutely buzzing; can't wait. I read an interview article with James May, and according to it he had to spend 20 hours in a new Porsche prototype with Richard Hammond driving all the way from Britain's arse to her crown. 

     Speaking of Top Gear - things that remind me of England. I was talking to my mum a couple of hours ago, and I concluded that yes, shamefully, my top 5 things I think of to do with England are Doctor Who, the Beatles, the Queen, Fish 'n Chips and....Jeremy Clarkson. He may not be the brightest star in the sky, but blimey the guy's got balls. Great sense of humour, too. Actually, maybe he just says all the stuff he says because he's too stupid to do otherwise....nah. I know I'd say it too, in his position. Probably a lot worse if I didn't know it'd get me fired.

     I got bored with my giant art board, so I've flipped it and am now painting a different picture on the other side. My art style has also changed yet again, and this time I find it quick and easy as well as pretty to look at. (Inspired by Soul Eater).

    Oh yes, and on a random final note my ringtune for my new phone is the themetune from the Great Escape!

     Over and out,
                              Paige.

....I simply cannot believe how the time has flown. A week today and I'll be fifteen!

Some more exams coming up (horror of horrors) in Maths and the Sciences. I've also been scouting around for job stuffs, and I've got some details for a Deputy Editor whom I shall write a letter to this weekend. Also, yesterday at school we held "mock interviews." I didn't get the job, but I got to sit in on the other interviews and I have come to the conclusion that the interviewer had something against me. Honestly, he spent the whole time poking holes in my CV and demanded why I hadn't referenced doing chores for my dad in the Pro Shop of a golf club he used to manage (when I was EIGHT) as a job. Asshole.

I am apparently on for an A* in Technology. I swear that if my teacher had been forty years younger he would have started dancing, he was so impressed.
 
Oh, the Sims 3 comes out tomorrow in the UK! :D I myself am going to buy it on Saturday, and I shall be indulging myself all weekend (except for my homework, of course).

Over and out~!

     I took my Critical Thinking AS level exam today! It started at 1:02 and ended at 4:10 (Guh....so...tired...) so the rest of the year 10s and I had to go on early lunch (our lunch period is 1-2pm, while the 11s and 12s have a 12 o'clock lunch). It was an okay lunch, barring some annoying year 7s. (Honestly, I don't remember being so pathetic at that age!)
  
   Finally, I have my Tuesdays to myself once more. No more stupidly long after school Crit Thinking lessons! I can leave school at 2:30 on tuesdays like the rest of my school! Oh yes, and Henry is over tomorrow. My mum and I are going to town to do a little clothes shopping, so the poor lad's going to be dragged with us (oops lol, I just hope my mum doesn't feel the urge to go to Anne Summers again! Now THAT was something to remember).

     The Chelsea Flower Show's back on again, which makes me happy. I don't watch it obsessively, but I do like to have a little glance every now and again. The gardens are simply gorgeous; really warms the heart.
  
   Speaking of beauty and art, my art teacher has finally conceded and allowed me to have the last of the 11ft x 3ft wood boards to paint for my art project (prompt: environment). I'm still brainstorming ideas, but I'll give you a shout when I've decided.

Over and out, Paige.

...........BAKEWELLLLLLL!
      Got back from the trip about an hour ago, and now I'm on my own again because my parents have gone out for dinner with a couple of their friends, a lovely couple called Les and Nell. Oh, the trip was amazing! It was horribly wet and cold, and my fingers went numb and everything was really expensive, the pavements were too narrow meaning my brolley nearly got swiped by lorries a couple of times and the traffic was too heavy, but it was still brilliant. Oh Derbyshire, how I miss you.
 
     I bought a silver bookmark with a Celtic knot design on it, and absolutely gorged on sweets kindly donated by my friends. I didn't have any waterproofs, but as I smiled in a lovely, ditzy fashion the boys did the chivalrous thing of giving me an umbrella of my very own for the duration of the trip. Hurrah for Mr Wiles' brolley!

     Turns out I was in a group where I was the only girl, but I don't mind. When we bumped into other groups the girls were all giggling together like idiots - me? I was stomping off ahead, diving over roads and generally having a whale of a time. Our group may not have gotten all the work, but by jove we certainly got a few phone numbers!

    Ah, yes, and last night I also completed Chapter Seven of my book, Requiem for a Song.


Over and out~!

     I have come to the rather perculiar conclusion that happiness is a very ephemeral thing - one moment there, the next matured into something new and much less enjoyable; say melancholy, perhaps, or just plain moodiness. I myself am not a happy person, but I am very good at acting happy. My life has a lot of very personal and private tragedy, but I do not view myself as some woeful damsel in distress. I will not force my troubles on others, and so I pretend. Until, well, today. My 'mask' slipped during Tech, and my friends thought something was wrong with me until they realised I was just being how I really felt, beneath the daft exterior (they already know about it; call me a schizophrenic, the silly sods). I tell you, they sorted me out. Got my head straight, showed me how horribly sad and miserable I was like that. I'm happier now than I've been for a long time. Robyn, Catherine, thank you. Love you to bits, you utter morons x.

     Ah, dear, brooding is evidently not my forte during journal-writing. Hmm...today has been interesting. Henry has returned from his Greece trip, at least. It's nice to have him back, especially since he's invited for next Tuesday.

     Tomorrow there is a Geography field trip, to the small 'honeypot' site of Bakewell in my home shire, the Derby. I have lived in South Yorkshire for the last eight years, but I was born and spent my early years in Derbyshire (DAR-BIH-SHUH is the correct pronunciation!!) and so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I can't wait to go home! I haven't been for a good year or so, and it'll be great as we actually pass my hometown, Clowne, on the way.

     After school me and my dear old mum went shopping for hats. I've recently developed a bit of a thing for them, and so have, in the space of an hour, acquired two more. I'm actually wearing one as I type this, shamefully. I'm going to wear one of them tomorrow on the trip, along with the outfit from the picture I think I posted in the entry before this one.

          Pagalini, over and out.

Edited to create a background: Look ma, 'tis me!

     Gah, I do apologise for the short hiatus! I've been incredibly busy lately (drowning in coursework is more the truth) and haven't been able to get round to posting, I'm afraid. But no worries - I'm here now, and there's plenty to update on!

     School - I have sociology homework  (past exam questions and an essay), an english essay on "the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", two A3 sheets on Computer Aided Development and a business card to produce for DT (design technology) and an AS level past exam paper for Critical Thinking, an early A Level I was invited to do. But it's not all bad news - the english essay for Jekyll & Hyde is my last bit of english coursework, so after that it's just anthologies I have to worry about. Plus after I've gotten this DT project out of the way we get to do one on making our own T-shirts! (I'm really looking forwards to that one). Also this is my last piece of Crit Thinking h/w, because next Tuesday is my last lesson and the following Monday I do the exam.

     My parents have booked us a short break at a Centerparks in Elveden and we're taking Henry with us. Oh, and his birthday's a week today! I've just wrapped his present and written in his card, but I'm not going to reveal what I said/bought in case he reads this. (Stop trying to ruin the surprise!!) So I shall be absent from the 12th-15th June. (My bday's on the 11th).

    Robyn, Catherine and I (they are two other friends) are brainstorming a road trip for once we've finished school, perhaps before we go to university. I want to go to Switzerland/Austria, Catherine to Italy and Robyn to Spain. All three of us speak German and English, but nothing else; so I'm a little worried about Italy, France and Spain. At least a lot of Italians speak English. I'm not sure how the French would react to a german...Robyn's more worried about spending all her money in the first week. I told her I'd be quite happy to care of it for her. (hee hee hee).

     I myself am pondering on acquiring a Saturday job. I know it's hardly the ideal time for it, what with the recession and all, so I'm thinking I'll wait until I'm sixteen before I go looking seriously. I want to be a journalist, so I'm going to go for one with one of the local papers; try to bump my CV a bit and get some experience while I'm doing my university course. Doncaster FreePress, here I come!

     Requiem for a Song is doing well, too. On the seventh chapter now, which is brilliant when you consider how much other stuff I'm juggling it with.

          Over and out, Paige.

  “He’s asking who we are,” Ashe tells him, quietly and with conviction.
    Luce is confounded at this. “How can you possibly—”
  “I just do,” she cuts in, gaze dropping to the floor. “You know the world, I know people. Please, trust me on this.”
    It takes a long time, but eventually he nods. “Very well.”
    Ashe steps forwards again, and this time he doesn’t stop her. She points at herself, says her name.
    High above them, the child skitters along the beam on hands and feet, song breaking into an anxious chatter. She stops, says her name again; the child’s head cocks curiously and he pauses mid-beam. His eyes flare pale again, and Ashe fights down a flinch.
    Luce’s ears are ringing, so it takes him a moment to realise that the child has stopped singing. He holds his breath as the child’s eyes – still pale – narrow. The intelligence behind them makes him shiver.
    After a long moment the child calls again – as peculiar as before, with the barest hint of coherency. A frown creases his young face as he tries again; Luce gasps in recognition.
  “Your name,” he manages, overcome with the bizarreness of it all. “He’s saying your name!"

....Oh my deary jeebus! I do apologise for the (very short) hiatus. I've not been busy or anything, there's just...not been much to report.

     Anyway, I started back at school today for the first half of the summer term. Lovely hot weather, in the 20s (for all you Yanks and other strange folk who use fahrenheit, that's the 70s!) for most of the day. I tell you, that's pretty rare this time of year (for good old Blighty in any case). Lots of bees and wasps all over the place - lots of animals in general. We had to take a hedgehog out of our garden on Saturday because we have a dog and we didn't want any unfortunate conflicts (she was the one who found it, and that wasn't exactly pleasant). We took it down to our village church and put it under a hedge in the main cemetary, as all sorts of squirrels and that live down there anyway. The frogs in our pond are out in force - all over the grass, on the decking, in the flowerbed.

     Injuries....I had double P.E today, and I got smacked in the face with a rounders bat. I have a rather fetching (not!) bruise blooming on my right cheek. One of my friends also got my watch snagged on his jumper, and when it pinged off it cut all the underside of my wrist. I'm not doing well today! (I have a cut on my hand and a headache to go with the bruise).

     Henry's got a dog whistle feature on his IPhone, and as I have really good hearing, (up to 17.5/17.6 Hz) he puts it on at random intervals through the school day, making me jump out of my skin and causing everyone (teachers included) to stare at me. Ugh! 

     I am unbelievably happy. I don't have a care for Carmen's dark warnings - it was BACK! It was back, it was back, Dr Who came back!!
..........and now it's gone again. Bugger. (S'cuze my French, good folk, but I do have a reason).
     I only wish DT wasn't moving on. He was a great Doctor. Then again, I've seen some of Matt Smith's stuff and remembered thinking he was good despite the fact he wasn't the lead (in the Philip Pullman book adaptations with Billie Piper), so he has great potential. One of my only personal hangups is that fact that he has practically invisible eyebrows. I have actually taken to (when with Henry, since he's as big a Whovian as I am - just with the New Who, though, not the full monty like myself) referring to the poor bloke just as "Eyebrows." I really need to stop that, considering his eyebrows are nowhere near as bad as those of the British Transport Minister, Alistair Darling. Please, Google him. I swear you will a) laugh b) stare c) do what I did, which is both.

     Anyway, happy Easter! I had mine early because my dad works up in Newcastle and had to drive up at about 5:00am, so my family all had Easter on Saturday. (Perfect for me, as I got to watch Dr Who and scoff my eggs. Yum). When DT came onto the bus and started eating his egg on PotD, I burst out laughing and went, "Snap!" Made me smile.

     I'm altering Requiem for a Song again! Well, not altering as such - just tweaking so that it fits in better with the sequel. I'm also thinking of changing the sequel's title, as with the tweaks it doesn't make as much sense as it did a couple of days ago. Hmm.

     Two down, two to go! Or more precisely, one-and-a-half to go. I've done my maths and my german, which just leaves tech and geography. I've no idea what the geography is as I've mislaid the instructions I copied down, so I'm doing the tech today. It's half done - I've inked it in and annotated all the bits and pieces, I just need to rub out the construction lines and colour it. Then, voila! Only one more piece to go!

     Requiem for a Song's sequel finally has a name - the Star Singer. I checked to make sure it was unused (RfaS has had to have a title change on a number of occasions because of copyright) so I'm happy. I'll probably change it anyway, but that's okay for now. A working title, if you like.

     When searching for something to read I stumbled across the World According to Clarkson, which I'd completely forgotten about. Seeing as I love the guy's work I picked it up and started reading. My god, even though some of the stuff is eight or so years old it hasn't lost its humour. I'm rationing it out until I can buy a new book when my money comes into my bank account sometime next week.

     I've done another piece of holiday homework - my maths. I have to do it on an online website that's actually called "MyMaths," and it's taken me five attempts to finally get the minimum score necessary to to avoid a 'helpful' detention. Thank god. I really, really detest fractions now. But my mum gave me a chocolate bar as a reward, so it's okay. (Simple minds are pleased by simple things, huh?). 

     I was going to say something very clever about the Dr Who special tomorrow but I don't want to make myself look too stupid when my words devolve into fan-esque squealing. So instead I shall say that I hope it's good, and then run away so I can embarrass myself in solitude so as to avoid any accounts of blackmail. Yes, my parents will sink that low. They have done it before (my mum especially).

     I am absolutely thrumming! I can't wait for Planet of the Dead. I just hope it's good, seeing as we won't get our usual dosage of Whovian goodness this year - we need something absolutely stonking good to keep us going! I pray it lives up to our expectations. Whether bad or good I shall rewatch it on IPlayer the same night anyway. I always get the plot more completely after a second run-through, rather than staring with a "yay, Dr Who!" dopey mentality that seems to be default for me when I watch a new episode.

     Next Tuesday one of my close friends, a girl three months older than me, is over for the day and then stopping over as well. Henry could have joined us, but he's away.... (at his gran's, I think, but I'm not really certain). He'll be coming over sometime after he gets back next Wednesday. Catherine (the girl stopping over) is a really lovely person, so I'm looking forwards to the day. At least with her there's less chance of damaging something - she has to be the quietest of my friends. My parents put it as, "She's easy because you don't even notice she's there."
Ack. Dinner (chicken curry) calls me....

.....And I have returned, only to delve into a topic that may be off-putting to some. Furniture. More specifically, new furniture. The Great and Almighty Mother spoke a few weeks ago upon the subject - and hey presto; we have a new sofa and armchair. My beloved armchair has been thrown out and replaced with new one that has a reclining option which I'm finding rather enjoyable.

     Out of curiosity, I downloaded the full version of the infamous full-marks Torvil & Dean Olympic ice dance song 'Bolero' and am loving it. I've also downloaded a number of other classical pieces, among them Fur Elise and William Tell's Overture.

     Requiem for a Song's fourth chapter is complete and printed, I'm pleased to say. I'm going to make a start on chapter five tomorrow, but for now all I have to worry about for the remainder of today is desert and my maths homework (the one I failed miserably on the first attempt).

    

     Well, today the Great and Almighty Mother commands that I must make a start on my homework. Oh dear - a prospect I am most certainly not looking forwards to, seeing as I have Geography, Technology, German and Maths. The Maths which I have already attempted and failed miserably. Ah, well. I guess I'll just have to make more of an effort at everything else. 

     Last night I got a bit absorbed in the Top Gear specials - the Polar, the Vietnam and the "Let's Ruin A Celebrity Garden For Charity" one. Which resulted, due to my poor buffering time, in my being awake until half four in the morning. I woke up at eight, which - as I'm sure you can work out - only three and a half hours sleep. Then my dad proceeded to play the Best of Hootie and the Blowfish very loudly until they went out to town at half nine, where I promptly went down, had some cereal, headed back up and fell asleep again; this time until half eleven. Then I dragged myself out of bed, tidied my room, got dressed and dutifully headed out for the dog's lunchtime walk.

     This morning I had a bash at the old "Last Dalek" game on the BBC New Who website, where I finally reached the last level....where I am now stuck. I know it's aimed at children...but I am failing. Badly.

     I seem to have come to a rather random conclusion; I love my dog. I have (as you can find on an earlier entry where I have a picture of her) a five-year-old liver-and-white Field Spaniel, or, as they are also known, a working Cocker Spaniel. She's undersized, with a massive brown splotch in her left eye and lots Dalmation-esque spots down her neck and shoulders, annoyingly curly-furred paws, white whiskers and black eyebrows. She's hyper, sweet, intelligent and friendly. I absolutely adore her, and am proud to say that she is my baby. As it happens, we also share the same birthday.
     But I must also say that I seriously doubt that, lest I am married/married with children at the time, I will ever get another of her breed. Grooming is a nightmare, they are very needy (don't spend enough time = howling in the middle of the night until you do) and pee when over-excited. When her time is over, I am certain that my next dog would be a Labrador, seeing as they are easy to train, less needy and don't need nearly as much grooming. I dearly wish to get a Labrador, but my parents won't get a second dog so I guess I'll have to get one when I leave home. Until then, it's just going to be the Dastardly Duo - Paige & Cooks FTW!

      Urk. Well, today was...interesting. I only got in about an hour ago - we've been out since about 9:00 am. In Sheffield. Having counselling.
      .....Not the best of days, as you can probably imagine. I was in for about an hour. It's quite remarkable, actually, the way you just end up talking and talking and talking....I don't intend to say anything much; my mouth runs away with me. I had a really sore throat afterwards, and I've yet to get a drink. *scuttles off to pour self apple juice*

     I've also been feeling really lethargic today. I was wide awake this morning, but after my counselling session I've been feeling really dopey (powers of the mind? ¬.¬). 

     My adoration of Top Gear has recently resurfaced. The series has been off-air for ages, but I spotted an ad on the web saying it would return a few weeks after my birthday. As I had nothing better to do, I promptly dug out a few episodes and watched - the Toyota 'Indestructable' Hilux episode, the one where Richard attempts to escape from a submerged car, the second American road trip (the one with the muscle cars). My next target is the aquatic cars one (with the Toyboata, the Canalvan and James' Sailing car).

     Requiem for a Song has been coming along nicely, too. I'm on chapter four now, and there's no sign of my slowing down! (I suppose 'writing my story' could be taken as Pagaliniese for 'putting off homework.' It certainly feels that way).