Tick Tock

I had my first three exams today and they were pretty easy. I'm quite happy so far. We had English, H.E and French. Not to toot my own flute here, but those are three subjects I was feeling fairly confident in anyway so I had put it all down to good revision. When we finished I met up with my friend and the first thing she said was,"So what did you think of the French paper?" I didn't want to say that I had found it ridiculously easy, I hate sounding boastful. Turns out though, it wasn't just me that felt that way. That paper was beyond ridiculously easy. We had an hour to complete it and it took most of us 20 minutes to half an hour to do that. It took me 20 minutes. Every single year I rush my way through test papers only to be left with half an hour to spare, and I never learn. The waiting kills me every time. It's not really something you can get used to - waiting. The annoying thing is there's really nothing you can do. You can't walk around for obvious reasons - cheating - and you can barely even look around for that same reason. My seat is right in front of the invigilator's desk so I have to sit rooted to the spot, eyes glued to my paper. I don't think I'm gonna survive until Wednesday, I swear you'll find me at home tomorrow evening just rocking backwards and forwards on the floor clutching my revision notes. You see, when I'm in that position and I've already checked over my paper 20 times and clicked my pen open and closed 5,000 times more I need something else to keep my mind occupied. Every year it's the same; when the invigilator says there are 15 minutes to go, that's when I start counting. I count the seconds until the 15 minutes are up. That's the reason I don't think I'll make it to Wednesday. That's the reason I'll be rocking backwards and forwards on my floor by tomorrow evening.
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

Exams

It's the same every year really; you plan to start studying early every year but end up leaving it to the last week. Well, it's that time of year again. I don't know how it may work in your school but we have two sets of exams a year - one in the first term (winter) and one in the last term (summer). It's two days to my summer exams and it still hasn't quite hit me yet. I'm quite blasé when it comes to exams, right up to the night before the first one which is usually when I start freaking out and burying my face in mountains of textbooks. I think that's the only reason I get As, because I'm quite good at speed revising just before a test. I would like to think I have good common sense when it comes to answering some questions but I'm not so sure... But this year I'm doing it right. I actually have done a fair bit of revision so I feel a little more confident. I just want to put it out there that no matter how confident you are with how much revision you can do in one night, you are usually wrong.

I think this is a fair way to sum up exam periods...

Coffee cannot fix this kind of tired

So our car did a thing. A bad thing. One day it just started chugging like it was in the wrong gear, but obviously it wasn't in the wrong gear. We had to keep starting and stopping it to get it up the road. We eventually figured out that every time water was put in the car it leaked back out. It was taken to be fixed and we found out that the radiator had blown. So basically we now have no car until it gets fixed. We live so far away from anyone we know so it's not like we can ask for a lift anywhere, we have to take a 40 minute walk at 7 every morning to get to the train station so we can get to work and school. But somehow with all that exercise I'm still not a size 0. It's not like I want to be a size 0 or anything... But doing all that walking and going on all that public transport everyday lets you see different parts of life you don't see when you're in a car. And, it's nice. And there's no traffic. But the bad thing about getting the train is that if we miss our train that's it, I'm gonna be late. There's only one train that gets me in on perfect time and it's a struggle to get to the station on time. It puts it into perspective how much people rely on cars and particularly how far away we live from ANYWHERE! So a word to the wise, when you're buying a place to live, take into account that you may need to be able to get by without a car at some point in time.

Detergent. I mean, uh... Divergent

I went to see Divergent a while ago, so I'm going to do what I usually do when I run out of things to blog about and I'm going to review it.

Woops. I guess my fingers slipped...

There. This was an alright film. It isn't really anything new. It's all cliché and predictable. My favourite thing about this film is the soundtrack. The soundtrack is great. But onto the storyline. Basically there was this big war and a wall was built around the surviving part of the world for protection and people were placed into factions (groups really) based on their skills/personalities. I think it's when they reach a certain age people are tested to see which faction they truly belong in and then they get to choose one to be in for the rest of their lives. The test is only for guidance but they can choose any faction. Our main female protagonist, Tris, gets tested and learns she's Divergent which means her results were inconclusive so really she has an element of every faction in her. Divergents aren't liked people and are usually killed so it's really all about her surviving as a Divergent in her new faction and blah blah blah. Some dramatic stuff happens, there's lots of predictable outcomes, the soundtrack continued to be great and now we're waiting for the second movie. Really I got bored after about 20 minutes. It's not my kind of film. Divergent and Twilight were both done by Summit Entertainment. Is it a coincidence both films are terrible? I think not.

I should give advice for a living

I was on Crappypasta recently and it was there that I discovered I might not be too shabby at giving advice. Now to know what Crappypasta is you'll need to know what Creepypasta is. Creepypasta is a website that people can submit their scary stories to and people can comment on them and rate them. It's like Fanfiction but Fanfiction is where people submit their versions of stories that already exist. Crappypasta is the website where all the stories submitted that aren't quite Creepypasta standard yet are posted so people can comment with constructive criticism. I had commented on a story called Ghost Hospital, you can look it up on Crappypasta if you want, and I had mentioned the story being quite predictable. The author had replied with a thanks and asked me for tips on how to make it less predictable. I replied with this (this will make more sense to you if you read Ghost Hospital);

I amaze myself sometimes. I thought I'd better share this because I know how difficult it can be to try writing a story and I really hope this advice can help some people. These techniques are working well for me so far, I seem to be getting somewhere with one of my stories. If this even helps at least one person I'll be very pleased.
Happy writing, and may the words be ever in your story. (I'm cringing how bad that joke I just made is)

Bring me a chocolate bunny dammit!

Easter is on the horizon, and I can almost smell the chocolate... It's almost been 6 weeks since I've had any chocolate, crisps or even a glass of coke. 2 days and I can sink my teeth into the neck of an unsuspecting chocolate bunny. Or, you know, an Easter egg or whatever. Just bring me anything smothered in or made of chocolate and I'm a happy bunny, if you'll excuse the Easter pun. I haven't had any withdrawal symptoms over Lent this year. That's weird. Very weird. That's the first year I haven't been kept awake at night by the horrifying images in my head of a snickers bar calling out to me... to eat it, and that no one will find out if I do...

I guess all I want to say here is Happy Easter. I usually go overboard and put in loads of festive memes and videos but I think I'll just share my favourite Easter meme this time;

Comedy; is it all just an act?

I love a bit of comedy, and I especially love the semi-improvised sitcom Outnumbered. I also started watching Mock the Week on line a while ago and it's brilliant. I love improvised comedy like that, just saying whatever comes into your head. Some people are great at that type of thing, and I really like Hugh Dennis. I just think his sense of humour is so clever and quick witted. But is that all just an on-screen persona?

I read this article a few days ago, and I must say I'm shocked. Are all comedians like this? Am I the only one who is really surprised by this? I mentioned this at lunch today, I mentioned the Hugh Dennis story. I said, "You know some comedians are actually really boring in real life?" and my friend said, "I reckon I could be the one to change that." It needs changing. Having comedians who are boring is like having authors who can't read, or sports commentators who don't understand sport. It's like when an actor on CSI has to talk the "technical" talk, the scientific jargon. They know how to say the words they're saying but they don't understand why they're saying them. You need to watch an episode of Mock the Week, just see how quick witted Hugh Dennis is. Then you read this article; "Hugh Dennis was so boring I divorced him"

The Concert

Ellie Goulding's concert was really great. The seats weren't as great as I thought they were gonna be, but that was ok. We were directly above the entrance to the standing area.

There was some drama just before the concert started. We had gotten seated and comfortable and then my friend Irene dropped her glasses. Now, you can see where we were sitting. The glasses fell under the sign in front of us, I saw them fall there. Obviously they should have fallen straight down to the ground below us, but we asked the security guy in the yellow top to look for them but he couldn't see them on the ground and we checked to see if they got stuck in the sign but they were nowhere to be seen. Very mind boggling. But the concert was really good. Of course I can't remember the name of the support act, but she was pretty good.

Ellie Goulding looked beautiful as always. What I like about her is she doesn't change her outfit between each song, she wears the same outfit the whole way through and she chats to the audience which is great. At one point she stopped to chat and she mentioned that she only wears clothes if they're comfortable. I 100% agree with that. Here are some pictures and videos, they aren't great quality but they're better than I thought they would be;

It was a great concert. The only bit that sucked was when we all tried to stand up and dance and the security guys told us to sit down. But then Ellie Goulding asked everyone to stand, even the people in the seats so we did and there were too many of us for the security guys to control so they gave up. And then of course there was the hour long wait in the car park afterwards, trying to get home. We did have some entertainment though; there was a car sitting behind us and a there was a woman sitting in the front passenger seat and she started dancing and singing out the window. Then she got our of the car and started waving her lighter round and dancing around the car. Then one of her friends got out and they did a whole proper dance; jumping and lifts and swinging around. I'm assuming they were drunk because no sober person would embarrass themselves that much in a public car park... would they?

Anything could happen

I am so excited. I'm going to an Ellie Goulding concert tomorrow with a group of my friends! We've been waiting for this for months now. It's going to be a great night. Ellie Goulding is amazing, we've got amazing seats and we're going to have such an amazing time. I will post some photos as soon as I get time. I'm quite annoyed though because I have a pretty bad cold and my throat has been killing me since Thursday. I'm obviously not gonna be able to do any singing or cheering tomorrow which really sucks. I think it might be a minor flu I have because it took a long time to convince myself to get out of bed to even go and pee... It might not be, but I had some difficulties getting out of bed this morning; it took me forever to drag myself out of bed, and I only wanted to get up because I was hungry. So I've been trying not to talk too much and I spent all day on the sofa drinking lots of hot orange juice and eating lots of fruit and soothers. Gonna get a cup of lemsip before I go to bed. Fingers crossed I'll be better by tomorrow.

Sherlock: Series 3 Review

SHERLOCK
*LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD*
Ahh, I finally finished it. Here is my review of episodes 1, 2 and 3 of the third series of Sherlock;

Episode 1;

The Empty Hearse
This episode was pretty awesome. It wasn't my favourite episode of the series, but I'll explain why later. I liked the way it differed from the original with regards to Watson's reaction to Sherlock's return and we get to see one of Anderson's theories. I really liked the theory we got to see at the start of this episode because, as you know, I am a huge Derren Brown fan. I knew pretty soon that it wasn't really how Sherlock did it because Watson would've seen the bungee rope and Sherlock isn't really the type to heroically swoop through a window, kiss a beautiful girl and stylishly walk away. It just wasn't Sherlock's style. And Watson's reaction when Sherlock came back was priceless. In the original it didn't him long to forgive his old friend and get back to crime solving. But in this one it was so funny watching Sherlock being insensitive and Watson responding with a punch in the face. And in the original I don't think Watson's wife was in it all that much, but she was in this whole series. It was nice to see Watson preparing to propose to Mary, and cringeworthy when Sherlock turned up at the worst possible moment. And what's with the season 3 hair?! Lestrade got his hair cut, Anderson grew a beard and Watson grew a moustache. What are your thoughts on this? I'm not sure about Anderson's beard or Watson's moustache. Watson looks good without the moustache but I'm still not sure about him with one. I will say that I don't like Lestrade's new haircut.

New haircut

Old haircut

He definitely suits the old haircut better. But, I digress.
On to Mary. What are your thoughts on her? I think she's brilliant. I love how she's the one that brings everything back down to earth and she's not always just on John's side. She's sensible and smart. It was so lovely to see her and John making wedding plans. And Molly's fiancé... Typical Molly. "I've moved on." She said. Yeah... All in all this first episode was pretty awesome.

The Sign of Three
This was by far my favourite episode of Sherlock ever. It was fantastic. It was hilarious but at the same time it was heartwarming with the added mystery of the invisible killer. I loved the beginning. It was just typical Sherlock, when he called Lestrade for help and Lestrade thought that there was some serious trouble and he called for as much backup as possible. But sure enough Sherlock only needed help with his best man's speech... I loved how Mary convinced John and Sherlock to go on a case and she told Sherlock that John needed to get out of the house and she also told John that Sherlock needed to get out of the house and be on a case. She's brilliant. I really loved the stag night. I love how Sherlock wanted to calculate the right amount of alcohol intake so they didn't get too drunk, but Watson just kept sneaking extra shots into their drinks. It was brilliant when they took on a case when they were drunk and they went to investigate and Sherlock fell asleep on the carpet. My favourite moment was when Watson said "He's clueing... He's clueing for looks." The wedding was great. To be honest I genuinely thought Sherlock was going to mess up his speech, but it was the most heartfelt, kind and thoughtfuk thing I have ever heard Sherlock say. As a fangirl it was the most beautiful thing I have ever witnessed. But then it all suddenly got so dramatic, and someone was about to be killed... I loved the mystery surrounding the invisible killer. And Sherlock deduced that Mary was pregnant... It couldn't get any better.

His Last Vow
This was an awesome end to the series. I knew something was unusual about Mary from the start, I just had a feeling. Charles Augustus Magnussen was a brilliant nemesis for Sherlock. He's so different to Moriarty. Moriarty was eccentric and loud and he liked to play games. Charles Augustus Magnussen was quiet and subtle and he knew how to get to people. He was like a snake; you don't see a snake slithering towards you through the grass until it has your leg between its teeth. I don't know what animal you could describe Moriarty as. A lion? A cheetah? I'm not sure. It was so... weird seeing Sherlock with a girlfriend. I actually cringed when he kissed her. It's just not Sherlock. So I knew he was using her for something. And when he proposed to her I was shocked that he would go that far... I loved the scene when Mary shot Sherlock. That may sound sadistic, but it was the part where he was going through his mind palace and remembering his advice from Molly about gunshot wounds. It was all so dramatic. It was quite sad to see him with Redbeard though. I thought the bit with Moriarty in the straight jacket was great. It just showed how nuts Moriarty was. I loved seeing Sherlock really fighting for his life when Moriarty mentioned John being in trouble. I thought the scene where Sherlock confronted Mary was so sad, because John had been listening to the whole thing and you could just see that his heart was completely shattered. But I just loved how he forgave her and he was willing to forget about it all. It just showed how much he really loved her. It was very funny when Sherlock drugged everyone and Watson was just like "Man, what the hell have you done?" but I really did like the confrontation seen with Magnussen. I wasn't surprised that there were no actual files, and that all the information he had on people was in his head. I was quite shocked that Sherlock would actually go so far as to kill him... It was so sad seeing him saying goodbye to John and Mary, but it was quite funny when he said "Sherlock is actually a girl's name." And can you believe it?! Moriarty is back... Dun dun dun... I can't wait until series 4.