Or this year, at least; although I've always been a little bit odd. The reasoning behind this title is that this year I have currently set myself the following tasks:
Get A grades or better in three never-before-studied, essay-based A-levels and the coursework for one other, previously-studied, essay-based one; all in one year.
Complete NaNoWriMo.
Pass grade 7 in clarinet by December (probably with minimal practicing).
Get to a university that won't be completely disappointing in comparison to my ideal; so far only Oxford's passed the ideal test.
Get to that university without having AS grades to show them.
Actually make and complete a damned UCAS account.
Should be interesting. Especially with this malfunctioning S key -proceeds to grumble at it-.
Also I currently hate the acronym 'UCAS', 'personal statement' and anything else irritatingly official in the manner they are. This includes 'CV', 'forms'.... you get the idea.
I should apologise for not posting a journal in a long time. I just... haven't felt the need to, I suppose.
With regards to a life status update, I'm currently at a new school which is, in almost every way, the antithesis of my previous one. No stupid rules and mostly no stupid status barriers. Staff queue with students for lunch; that sort of thing. No uniform. Only have to be there for lessons. No forms; no assemblies; just lessons and personal tutors. I have one friend there and I talk to her in the lesson we have together. She's Thai and very clever, so she likes me correcting her English. My other friend is one I did not make there; my sister's boyfriend. We get along well. I work a lot, although it's sometimes been difficult to find somewhere sufficiently isolated where there is a table. I usually end up in the canteen. I currently get up of my own accord around 6, leave around 7 to get the minibus which leaves around 7:20 and sleep again until I get to school, at which point I have breakfast (which has settled at toast and jam, two hash browns and tea). On Monday and Thursday I have sociology at 9, but all the other days I have no lesson first.
My favourite lesson is almost certainly history. Wishing I'd done it earlier. The other two students are doing retakes so I've been doing a lot of background reading to try to catch up; whatever good it's doing. I ask the most questions and make the most tangential points out of... probably anyone in any of my classes. History has two others, History of Art has three others and, oddly, Sociology is something like twelve students. Most unusual there. Sometimes it feels like I'm having a tutoring session and some people happen to be sitting in. I get along well with the teachers. I usually trap them for a five-minute, vaguely-relevant discussion after class. Especially one of my Sociology teachers, Paul. He and I are similar people. Oh, my favourite topic out of any of the A-levels I'm doing is definitely Russia 1855-1964..... I think those are the dates. It's a wide-ranging themes topic, requiring comparison of events across the entire range on a theme. For example, whether Alexander III was the most ruthless ruler of that period. My teacher for Russia said he'd go with Stalin. I'd probably agree. It's so interesting to study that culture, though! Really.
Back to food, they often have roast dinners and sometimes they have crumble! They had gypsy tart once. Proper rice pudding twice, at least. Such good food.
The students... I don't really talk to; or want to. A lot of them aren't really my kind of people. Granted, few people are, but... I think that making friends would drag my attention away from the work. I have friends to text and I default to alone time. I don't need new friends there, as such. I'm just the quiet person outside class who has a lot of things to say inside it. Sociology's definitely an interesting one. Controversial opinions are a fairly regular occurrence, and often spark debate. I don't know whether I've had a class quite like it. I don't talk to anyone on the bus.... I suppose I try to establish a reputation for being a nice, reasonably intelligent person who is a ghost most of the time, but will be civil if spoken to.
Oh, the school is essentially a collection of merged houses with a huge garden in the middle. The garden is lovely. It is fantastic to get to walk through it and just sit in it, sometimes.
Downside about teachers is that they're often a bit late to lessons. All very clever, though. They're individual characters who take getting used to. For example, one of my history teachers, Chris, talks with purpose and slowly, leaving pauses, in a way which makes you question what response you're supposed to have. Often if you try to interject it'll turn out he hadn't ended, just paused, and he'll nod to you to continue when he's finished. I do like him, though. He's into expressing history and he conveys the atmosphere of high politics. Often gives example Russian. We get so many handouts (so, so many) but I love learning from paper - computer learning's never really been my thing - so I'm fine with that. Spend a lot of my time reading handouts. I only have one lesson on Friday and he takes it, in the middle of the day. Friday is turning into History Friday. I love History Friday.
On another note, Force Ten, the band I do weekly on Saturdays, is a sad version of its former self. In the clarinet section alone (one of the most popular) it's down to four firsts, about eight seconds and maybe ten thirds. Gone are the days when seconds shared five to a stand and people had to audition to get in because the band was so crowded. We've lost our sole tuba. Trumpet section's about half what it was. No double basses anymore; used to be two. It is so utterly demoralising. I remember clearly how hard it used to be to even fit onto the floor of the hall we practice on. I wish more people took up orchestral instruments. They don't know what they're missing out on. Really don't.
That said, MERLIN'S BACK. It was awesome. No spoilers but, in all seriousness, I didn't really disagree about any parts of that episode. I am absolutely looking forward to this season. With regards to Doctor Who... I wish it was as good as it used to be. I'll still stand by it, but I think at this rate it'll be cancelled again in a few series. It needs to rejuvenate itself in a big way. The writing used to be so much better. They need to put Russell T Davies back in charge. Also, Parade's End, if you saw it, was amazing. I adored it.
I've been getting a lot of reading done lately. Ordered lots of books, too. In particular, I just finished both Neverwhere and American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Read them. Especially the latter. I am not kidding. At all. I'm also excited that I get to keep my textbooks I get this year. They're all so interesting. Been trying to read them. Not sure I'll have the time soon, though. One essay per subject per week... probably.
I'm seeing Slash next Friday! Finally! So excited. It'll be fantastic.
Great talking to you all. Until next time.
