First Ever E-Card Ever!!!

My dad sent me a Christmas E-card, which made me excited because
a) I had an email
b) I had my first ever E-card
c) IT WAS INTERACTIVE!!! Today, I helped some cute mice, a cat and a dog to build a snowman, then the snowman sang and the trees in the surrounding wood suddenly had colourful Christmas lights :D

So today we had a half day, because it's speech day for sixth form (dreading that next year). Naturally, almost everyone in years 8 to 11 (year 7s aren't quite rebellious enough yet) seized the opportunity to go Christmas shopping, me included. I went with Sophie and met up with Luce and Clo near the end of our little trip. Then I got stuck in Reading.

We'd finished shopping in time for me to get my usual train, which was pretty damn cool I thought. But then we got to the station and all the departures boards were flashing "DELAYED" or "CANCELLED" Luce and Sophie's trains were each unaffected, and I ended up heading off to get the delayed 15.23 (it was 15.48ish). Which ended up cancelled. So I went to platform nine for the 15.53, which got moved to platform 8 which we boarded and then it got cancelled, so we got off and hung round platform eight for aaages. About an hour later there was a train on platform nine so we all, like good children, ran over the bridge again and got on that. And then it was cancelled so surrounded by grumpy, swearing adults, we got off again, Henry called his mum and got a lift, Stephen and Parky and Joe got offered lifts with him, I texted the father and was instructed to get a bus to Purley, where we could take Sam and Dan on to their homes (Pangbourne and Cholsey!) Then we waited 15 minutes for a 16 bus, caught a 142 instead (which meant Sam could get to Pangbourne, and Dan called his mum to get a lift from Pangbourne) we got stuck in traffic, it snowed, I got off the bus, it snowed some more. I got in the door and crashed on the sofa in front of 'Come Dine With Me' (hilarious btw) at about 17.30/17.45 (I really didn't care at this point). So that's what, an hour and a half after I should've been home? Nearly two hours since I arrived at Reading Station? Yuck. Thank the lord for microwave macaroni cheese, Barney's microwave rice (to go with his microwave curry) and 'Come Dine With Me'.

Then I did two hours of revision.
And now I'm going to tidy the hall desk, and go to bed :) My legs hurt from too much time on my feet today.... 

I can feel a cold coming on.... :/

Got that itchy feeling in the back of my throat that you can't get rid of no matter how much you cough. And I can feel it in my ears too... yuck

Anyway, I went to see the Moffats today :D We met them on holiday (if I havn't mentioned them before) in Greece and as it happens they live in Mortimer and Tom (Barney's age) goes to Toby's school. And Ella took the Kendrick exam in November, so is yet to hear the results from that! The coincidence is astounding.

Anyway, I had a really good time, plus lunch was amazing! The mum, Kiera, is a brilliant cook. I had veggie lasagne (properly homemade especially! and really lovely, especially loved the olives). The veg was good too. Makes a nice change from what we usually have at home (plus there was beetroot <3 ). For pudding, homemade chocolate mouse (they were all individual and everything!) which was gorgeous! And apple crumble, which got nicknamed Moosh de pomme (completely wrong French-wise) because it was a bit of a fail, but despite this it still tasted amazing! Plus there was a lemon drizzle cake, which was gorgeous, and I havn't had that for ages. So yeah, brilliant food, brilliant food. I'll gladly go there again!

Generally average day. I worked out I have over fifty Christmas cards to write, and don't know where I'm going to get them from, seeing as I only just have enough for fifty (someone's going to end up going without...:S  ) I got in 1h30 of revision! :D (still all Physics) and I'm sooo tired that I really need to get to bed before ideally ten, but realistically eleven tonight.

On a slightly political note (I know, lots of people hate me talking about politics, but I really can't help it) the tuition fees vote... Well, I knew it was going through Commons, so that wasn't too much of a disappointment (though my heart still sank). What I am positively thrilled about is that 21 Lib Dem MPs voted "no"! As opposed to 27 "yes" and 8 who abstained. Now, had those 8 voted.... But anyway, that'll go through Lords, so I'm off to wallow in misery and disappointment. Seeing as I want to be a vet, and that's a six year course, I think, my student debt is going to be insane...Damn.

Oh well, I'm off to watch Mentalist and generally waste time that could be better spent (as I have been doing all day when I claim to be practicing piano (I generally am, but the point is I'm doing it to procrastinate) or doing my washing)
Anyway, bye xx

I was going to put "Revision XD" as my title, but I already used that before....? Oh dear.

I've finally started revising!!! I'm truly proud of myself.
Obviously, I started with Physics, and then I'll do History, Maths, French. In that order. With P.D. squeezed in somewhere. Then I'll revise the "lesser subjects" (the ones I remember better) but I doubt I'll revise all of them  (German, most Biology).
Motors, Generators and Transformers. Done.
Mirrors and Lenses. Started.
Those are the most difficult physics topics (all P3 stuff) so naturally the ones I thought I'd do first. Just to put my self esteem RIGHT up there ;)
I'm motivating myself with Lindt chocolate and working (tonight at least) on the policy that when I run out of lined paper nicked from school, I'll stop revising. I've covered 8 sides, and have 6 left, so I'm taking a break for blogging and pizza :)

Actually, the part I'm really really really really proud of, is that I rejected a dinner out at "The Swan" in Pangbourne, in favour of revision and pizza (and pizza isn't my favourite dish)!!! Makes me proud.

I'm a happy person. Probably a result of the majority of my friends also being happy, the fact that Christmas is  coming up, and that I have done my Christmas shopping for my friends at school!!! (sooo glad that's over) AND AND AND I've started revising, and I've nearly got my favourite ever piano piece cracked, and a number of other things. :)

Time for dinner methinks! xx

I'm getting bored reading my own history essay. I pity the poor soul who has to mark it.

Oh Tannenbaum, oh Tannenbaum, wie trenn sind deine blätter.

It's Christmas! Well....

I got home at 4.30ish today, having had to walk from Tilehurst for reasons I wont go into, and decided it was a good idea to get the biscuit dough out of the fridge and make those cinnamon stars for Friday.

Last Sunday, having remembered that neither the Swiss nor the Germans ever did things by halves, I decided to do the traditional Swiss recipe by triples. That's right, I tripled a recipe that already made (though it didn't actually say so in the book) around 40 little cinnamon stars! It took me from when I got in until 8pm to cut them all out and get them cooked (and they only take about 20 minutes to cook - though they had to be cooked 60 at a time, because you just can't fit four baking trays in our oven).

They're all made now, and they look beautiful (if I do say so myself). I may one day put the recipe up here (that is, if they aren't too popular, in which case I'll keep it to myself in order to have a little power over my friends).

My hair stinks of cinnamony cooking smells. Which would be nice, but it also smells of dough (which contains egg white). 

Okay, now I can't procrastinate any more. I need to make my History essay an extra paragraph longer, just so Miss Cooper's boredom doesn't end too soon ;)

Alicia xx

Gute Ideen - halten sich nicht an Bürozeiten.

The title of a little notebook my mum gave me earlier today. It's blue with a black elastic band round it and a little black page marker thing. Lovely book. And I just love the title. "Good Ideas - don't keep to office hours"

I'm going for the stars now. Hopefully I wont get told it's too late :/ xx

I cannot believe that I've been writing this essay since 11 this morning. And I already had two paragraphs when I started. So it's taken me up until now to get four decent paragraphs, edit two rough ones and write two rough ones. I still need a conclusion, and to type up the last two rough ones.

Then I'm going to make Zimmt Sternen. A personal favourite from Switzerland, that I've been requested by Tess to make for next Friday night at Mezzos (I'm not going to get a chance in the week). I think I'll make some extra batches, for Wind Ensemble, hopefully if I still have enough ingredients and time I can do some for school, the train, and maybe even some for home. But that'd be a lot of baking. At least five batches. Probably more like eight though. That would take an entire day, a luxury I don't seem to have.

Going to get those last two rough paragraphs typed, and a conclusion written now.
xxxxxx

The Monotony that is a History Essay. Yuck.

Fascinating as it is that the development of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR was affected by many events, etc. etc., I'd much rather argue my point out in class than on paper. I am completely decided on it, and yet I have to write around 8 paragraphs (3-4 sides of A4) evaluating each small aspect in detail (something I've already done in my head) and coming to a conclusion at the end. Why must we be set such pointless homeworks. Put me up against any girl in our class and I promise I could smash her point whether she's supporting the fact it was the Atom Bomb, or the Berlin Blockade, or Soviet Expansion. Whether or not I won a debate against her would be another matter, but I could easily defend my own point against anything she comes up with. Effectively what I'm doing with myself in the form of an essay.

Don't you just think the weather is beautiful? I love it. I fell asleep a little earlier today, only for an hour or so, and when I woke up the grey fog had gone and the sun was out. It's winter light, so not as colourful out there as in autumn, but still lovely. Even though my house is freezing.

I've started to think about revising for my mocks. At least, I've highlighted the subjects that need it most (History, Physics, English Lit., French) and I'll make a start on them tomorrow. Instead of wasting around an hour waiting for nothing to happen before I leave for DofE, I'll start my Physics revision notes. Looking forward to it :)
LOL

It's weird though. Usually when teachers start talking about revision, they stop setting homework. But now most of them are setting homework, and revision as part of that homework. But the task takes as long as it usually would, so you don't find yourself with enough time to revise. I get the sense they're all a little behind on the syllabus and trying to fit it in before mocks. :S

More work now. I think I'll do some English, before I can be bothered to do my last 3 History paragraphs.

Alicia xx

German trip to the Christmas market is cancelled...gutted.

It's  been rescheduled for spring, and we'll have something else to do, but it really is a shame. I was really excited. A lot of people are saying they might not go in spring, because it wont be the christmas market. This made me realise that I was excited for a completely different reason to everyone else. I was excited because it's, well germany! I have a weird passion/obsession with the country. I just love being there. It took me a while to realise me wanting to go even without the market so much has so much to do with the country. I just love the culture, the people, the language.

On another note, my dad got us some donuts from the "Co-operative" today, as a pudding and I think partially to cheer me up :)
But that's not the point. What's astonishing, is what it said on the bag. I have it here, ripped out as proof.

Yep, you read it right. Basically, may contain traces of celery, crustaceans, fish lupin and molluscs.

Now, I'm not entirely sure what lupin is, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't ever want any of those other products in my jam doughnut.

I politely declined (molluscs = not good for veggies, and I avoid fish where possible, plus it was a bit weird) and tore off the label. Who would've thought?

Does make you wonder what they're doing with molluscs though....

I had a really successful flute lesson today :)

Having attempted the flute on Monday evening (and completely failed to produce a sound, due to my braces) I was so disheartened I didn't bother trying again this week. But, I did continue trying to find a mouth position at any opportunity - on the train, in French lessons, whenever really - and I went to my lesson, got my flute out, and managed to play d major fine. And f major. And I even reached the high A in A major :) that's soooo good! Will definitely practice loads now, to perfect it. And I'm going to try to refuse a bottom brace, because I don't need it, they just thought they'd do it while they were straightening my top teeth anyway. Apparently a bottom brace makes it really, really hard. So I'll try to avoid that at all costs.

Alicia xx

Don't look back into the sun...

Anyway, I've hit a bit of a wall with P.D. I guess I could colour stuff in and go over my pencil writing in pen, if I was desperate. It's due tomorrow, and I have one page of initial ideas (needs to be gone over in pen, but done), a single developed idea (I need two more and loads of writing to go with them), and no final idea (I know what it is but cba to draw it out). So all in all, considering it's due tomorrow, I'm pretty screwed. But hey.

Brace isn't so sore anymore, I only had two nurofen tablets today (and am contemplating a possible two paracetamol...) and it's more just annoying than sore. Though sore plays a part. As a description, I can only liken it to wearing a fitted gumshield (not one of the crappy boil-in-the-bag ones) that's about two years old, and you've lost teeth since then. Believe it or not, I know what that feels like. Just plain uncomfortable, and a pain to eat with it in (not that I have a choice)

Less than successful parents evening...not going into that.

Hey, on the bright side, I've been doing P.D. an hour and  a half (and have produced one drawing, I know, pathetic) so I'm justifying a rest.


Might get back later,
Alicia xx