Oooh, 3 days!

I get my results in 3 days time! Yay!
I have to admit, I don't think I did that well. I started off being predicted really high grades, but I didn't work hard enough in my coursework, and I don't think I revised enough for my exams. I expect I probably did well in English and Maths, and I bloody hope I did OK in science! Apart from that, I don't expect I'll get much more than mostly Bs and Cs. Which will suck. Buuut, I've decided to do a bit of moving around in my room, so the computers are a little more difficult to get to, and there's more room to do some actual work. And I won't have such a blazé attitude towards coursework - I now know important it is.
Gonna work bloody hard next year - I need seriously good grades if I still want to go to the top Universities! (Not given up yet - Cambridge is still a vague possibility!).

Only 3 days...

More prisons? There's a better way to go about it...

Pay the police less. I'll explain...

The reason we're having problems with crime is because the police don't care about who's been commiting crime (going over 30 doesn't count...). There are two ways to earn money if you're thick as sh*t and are only good at beating people up: becoming a criminal, and becoming a police officer. Becoming a police officer pays much better that crime does. Therefore, if the police forces wages were cut, we'd have more police officers who actually cared their jobs, because they wouldn't have hired people that are in it for the wrong reasons. Then perhaps there might be a few more arrests of the violent yobs and thugs terrorising the innocent, and more importantly, the victims may get treated with more respect than the criminals for once.

If my opinion seems unfounded, I'll be more than happy to give a few examples; A certain police force beginning with "S" and ending with "X" have made more than enough cock-ups recently...

School's out....

I've just left school... and looking back at the yearbook, I can't quite believe how much certain people have changed - there are some who you can really see have found themselves... or at least, begun to! Even I have! It was only a quick thing too - only happened recently, when I chopped my hair off! lol

The thing that's really hit me though, is that I may not see some of these people ever again. And I'll probably forget some people too. And worst of all, the best friend I've had there over the ast two years is going elsewhere - it's going to be really difficult to stay in touch, but I'll give it a go!

Anyway - as one door closes, another one opens... I'm going to the prom tomorrow, and hopefully to a theme park on monday... and maybe I'll be going to interesting places over the summer! Who knows! :-)

Got it!

Got my moped today... and got dreadfully sunburnt whilst playing with it at the bike shop. It was a nice day, the moped was outside, it needed getting used to and I forgot to put suncream on! Doh!
I'm a sort of red-brick colour on my arms, and pink on my face, and exhausted, as I've spent hours in the sun, and ridden it for 10 or so miles. Oh, and the exhaust went funny half way down the straight, so the sound went from hairdryer to turbo-blast superhairdryer, and it was extraordinarily loud!

Well, eventful day!!! :-)

Woo Yay CBT...

Did my CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) today. Effing brilliant. I can now ride a moped! Bloody tiring though - and I've got a stiff neck from all the 'lifesavers'. It was worth it though... 30mph on a moped feels like 60mph in a car, and whizzing around the roads is rather good fun! You're not even aware that it sounds like a hairdryer! :-)
Now to actually find myself a moped!

Trends....

According to google trends, Bristol is the most suicidal city in England, closely followed by Liverpool (but they're from the north, so they don't count!). Slightly worryingly, I'm surrounded by suicidal cities too... Brighton being 4th most suicidal, and Portsmouth being 5th. But that's not the worst - I'm living near a bunch of psychos... Portsmouth has the 4th highest result for "Murder". Yikes.

Interestingly enough, Portsmouth, Brighton are top searchers for the term scum. Bristol, who are further down the list, also seem to be worried about scum. Could there be a link between the amount of unpleasant common scum in a city and suicide rates?

Of course, stats can prove anything...

The road becomes more dangerous...

I've just got my provisional licence through the post, and will soon be learning to ride a two-wheeled life expectancy shrinker... :-)

Be a while before I can afford one - I think I'll have to sell a few possessions... Like my beloved PS2, for example. :-(

Lacking Chemistry

The University of Sussex appears to have made a rather foolish decision - to abolish the traditional Chemistry degree, despite applications increasing by around 40%, choosing to focus on other English, history, media, and maths.
This could prove to be rather irritating, as I was considering Sussex as a possibility - their science department's pretty good, but seeing as they've decided to dumb down the Chemistry degrees - or Chemical Biology as they've now called it - I don't think they're going to be worth it.

1 second...

Tonight, at 2 minutes and 3 seconds past one, the time will be 01:02:03 04/05/06...

Pretty cool, huh?

6 weeks! Eeek!

Yikes! 6 Weeks until my GCSEs! I'm a little worried, cause I've done loadsa revision, but none of it sticks!
And the first day of exams is pretty complicated, cause my afternoon exams clash. I have Latin paper 1 and ICT paper one scheduled for exactly the same time. Now, I almost had the option of taking the ICT paper after the Latin paper, and staying in until I'd done both, but I'm only allowed 5 1/2 hours of exams per day, and my exams will take 5 3/4 hours. Which leaves only one option.... house arrest for the night. Basically, I have to be under the supervision of a trusted adult for a night, and all morning until the exam the following day to stop me from cheating. (I'm far too honest to cheat, but you don't get the benefit of the doubt whilst under supervision.) Oh well, could be worse. Lets just hope there aren't any unscheduled fire bells like the ones 2 years ago - orchestrated by a group of nasty little year 7s and 8s. I have to admit though, I don't trust this year's younger bunch - they all look very sinister...

Got to revise again now, as my break is over - Best get to grips with the latin texts.

What for? You have nothing to hide?

Why do people assume this?? "If you have nothing to hide, you don't need to worry". Just because I have nothing to hide, doesn't give people the right to invade my privacy. I was talking to my friend today about the piece of news that really wound me up. Naturally, I got a bit worked up about it. Then, in an attempt to calm me down, uttered the words "You've got nothing to hide". Why the hell should I have to have something to hide to be against these ID cards? It's not about me, it's the fact that everything about the National Register, and the Identity Cards is severely sinister! It's draconian, and badly thought through. They won't work in any way other than controlling the population. They won't stop identity fraud; in fact, they'll make it easier. For a start, you're carrying around a small card with your whole life story on it. You get that stolen, and you are no longer you. Someone else is. Wouldn't be quite so bad if they didn't have biometric information on it - lets face it - you can't change your irises or fingerprints. Not like you can change a password, or a phone number, or an address. And what about hackers, or just plain old human error. The National Database will crash, and when it happens, people will officially stop existing. And what about the people in charge of these databases, huh? Do you know who has access to your information? Who's following you? If somebody paid the right price, might they be able to see your information too? And what about hackers? They'll no doubt find a way into the database in no time!
And, for those who couldn't care less about their freedom, what about the cost? It's going to cost near on £100! And that's just out of our own pockets; if the scheme proves to cost more than expected - and if LSE are right then it probably will - then how will they cope? They'll tax us. They'll tax us for existing.
What about when things get really bad? What if some lowly citizen annoys the powers that be? What if he stops existing too? What if there becomes an underclass of people who are no longer citizens? What if there is a weird division of classes. ID cards in South Africa buggered things up - and it'll happen here too. Within months.
This is all the fault of the British general public. Those stupid idiots who got sucked in by Labour again. You'd have thought they'd have learnt their lesson after the second term, but nooooo. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, seems to be the mindset of these effwits. And whilst the northerners have never had it so good under labour, the south of England is being turned into a massive council estate! They're building on our fields, and the government pay the worthless to have children, and live in these sub-standard housing estates currently being built. And these lazy minded council house living single mothers will not care that the country is going down the pot. All they'll want to do is sit around watching daytime TV, smoke, and become conditioned not to care. Nobody cares now! Especially the young. The people my age. I did a study in sociology recently, on what young people knew about Politics. You know what they knew? Bugger all! And why? 'Cause they couldn't care less. Apathetic little.... Grrr.

Buuut, I'll have to stop there, otherwise I'll end up shouting at a poor innocent member of my family - probably my dad, as he'll be in the kitchen when I go and make myself a cuppa.

Woah. Long rant.

I miss the summer!

I'm currently sitting here in a chilly bedroom/computer room, with only a PC, an acorn and a whirring laptop (on my lap - natch!) as heaters. Needless to say, it gets a bit noisy, occasionally drowning out my Ambient chillout music.
As I was sitting here, hugging my arms, my thoughts drifted onto something my teacher was talking about today. He mentioned the world cup... before I go any further, I am not a football fan - hear me out! So, anyway, my teacher was talking about the world cup, and it's just sent my mind wandering in the direction of the atmosphere of the world cup a little while back, and all of a sudden a very vivid memory of the heat and smell of the air in the evening hit me; I miss the evening warmth! I miss barbeques with lots of friends! I miss sitting on the beach with a book and a pair of sunglasses, getting tanlines in the shape of my shades! I miss the smell of summery plants, lager and slightly overcooked red meat! I miss wearing tank top/vesty shape things in public without getting frostbite in my arms! I miss the 6 weeks of complete freedom!
I want summer back! I'm bored of the cold!!!

Non semper erit aestas (It is not always the summer)

24 the game...

After a long wait, and much ambiguity as to when it would be released, all of a sudden "24 the game" is out. I've been looking at the screenshots and I must admit, I am more than a little disappointed. The graphics are not nearly good enough. The figures are blocky and their joints unrealistic. The details are alright I suppose, but overall not nearly good enough. Think "The Getaway" for a good idea of the standard. Abismal... although that might be because I'm used to better. The graphics of "Metal Gear Solid" are far superior, as are the graphics in the latest installment of "Splinter Cell".
On a lighter note, it's nice to see that the characters faces are recognisable, especially Jack's! Mmmm!

All in all, not so sure I want to invest in a copy. See how the reviews are I guess.

Overhearing conversations....

Sometimes, when you catch a small part of somebody's conversation, it can sound really stupid.
For example, in art recently:
"With boys, it's only their b****cks seem to get cold"
Ouch. One of those awkward times when the room goes quiet when you say the wrong thing....

Or take the typical misguided insecure skinny girl:
"My mum took me to aerobics, and by the end of it, I was so exhausted! I just thought - God I need to diet"
a) The girl is a size 6.
b) DIETING WILL NOT GET YOU FIT!!!!

Drout....

Everybody is talking about some drout looming. I find it rather odd that England, renowned for being very rainy, is facing a drout. What's happened to our weather? Where are the showers? There's something rather sexy about getting soaking wet in torrential rain - and I miss it! There is something doubly sexy about being hosed down in the middle of the summer... which looks unlikely now! :-(

Oh well - bottled water it is!

Mercury Blue are getting back together!!!

YAAAAAAY! My dad's band have finally gotten their act together and decided to give it another go! :-)
Great thing is, as they're well known, they can easily get gigs!
Oooh, and their web site has been updated. No more is it a hideously bright blue, with frames. It is now a much less hideous blue, and no frames whatsoever. In my opinion, it looks much better, but still needs improvement.

In other news, an Art exam was taken recently, and IMHO it went rather well. (People walking past saying "wow" does tend to give that impression, anyway...)
Aaand, GCSEs are fast approaching. It's quite scary - I definitely didn't expect the two years to go quite so quickly, and I still have coursework to hand in, albeit not as much as a few weeks ago (I've done quite a lot of overdue coursework since then).

And now I must go to sleep, as it's quarter past 2 in the morning, and it's school tomorrow. Night!

Text Dump (backup for english)

//Begin Speech.

Ok, now as unlikely as it seems, this rather embarrasing video is a modern representation of the beginning scene in shakespeare. The point is that feuds like this, that is feuds that are either started or elevated by gang and family honour have been happening since the dawn of time. Romeo and Juliet always has been and always will be a very relevant poem to all generations, as not only can people relate to the dilemmas some couples have to face, but also to the violence between groups of people driven by pride - neither side willing to back down and admit to being wrong.

Vicki mentioned that Household names cause the death of the couple. Arguably, Friar Lawrence and the Nurse are just as much to blame as bad luck or family honour.
Friar Lawrence is, of the two, more responsible for the tragedy at the end of the play. During Act, after much deliberation, agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet against his better judgement, thus sealing the couples fate. Friar Lawrence does this with fairly good intention, but as the well known proverb goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" as holds true during this play. His intentions may have been aided by a slight ignorance of the situation. The fact remains that Romeo and Juliet were very young - far too young to be making such rash decisions. In Act 3 Scene 3 Romeo has a tantrum, very typical of surly teenagers, proof enough that he is not nearly mature enough to handle such a situation.
Juliet's Nurse is also very much to blame. Having raised Juliet like a daughter, the thought that perhaps she wasn't ready for such a huge step should have at least crossed the nurse's mind. In agreeing to let Juliet marry Romeo, she not only made the same rash mistake as Friar lawrence, that is ignorance of the couple's immaturity, but also betrayed the capulet family. The nurse is supposed to tender to the family's opinion of what is best for Juliet, not to so leniently allow Juliet to rebel against her family.

Some could say that Juliet behaved inapropriately, and was blind to the damage she was causing her family. Arranged marriages were held in very high esteem during shakespeare's time. Juliet's refusal to marry Paris, who was a very well-to-do man, would have brought shame upon the family. Remember, at that time a girl in such a position as Juliet's would have no say in issues like that. She would do what the father says and that's that. To go against her fathers way would have been incredibly serious, would not have come across well and made the family look bad.
Romeo's behaviour could also be seen as incredibly rash and very immature. For a start, during act 2 scene 1 going onto act 2 scene 2, Romeo very foolishly risks his life by climbing into the Capulet's garden. Even more foolishly, by asking her to marry him, he clearly shows that he hasn't quite grasped the concept of marriage and commitment.

The pivotal point in the story is Act 3 scene 1, during which Tybalt kills Mercutio, and Romeo, in revenge, kills Tybalt. In doing so, Romeo effectively dooms his relationship with Juliet. What was once unlikely had now become impossible, as Romeo had confirmed himself to be an enemy of the Capulets by killing a kinsman. The reason Friar Lawrence married the couple was in order to stop the feud, when in reality it only ended up elevating it.

In conclusion, Violence was a large factor in the death of Romeo and Juliet, but ultimately, it was seemingly good intentions that were essentially responsible for the couple's demise.

........................................

Stressful GCSEs II

Grrr. Maths Dept can't find my stats coursework. Not that there is anything much worth looking at, but it's the fact that they vehemently deny they have it, as if I'm to blame.
Can't find my old science project that I was supposed to hand in ages ago. That's going to be awkward when I do hand it in.
Final English piece due in tomorrow. A speech presentation about Romeo and Juliet... Great. *sarcastic smile* I don't have a problem with speaking to crowds, in fact, I rather like it - apparently I'm very good at it. Unfortunately, I'm not so good at improvising and passing off a small amount of writing as a large speech in front of one person. Which is precisely what my group has decided to do, as two of the people get chronic stage fright. Not funny, nor is it fair. I think actually, the time spent writing this would be better spent working on an abismal speech, so I'll shut up.

Message to the littleuns - do your coursework in year 10 - make year 11 easy for yourselves (trust me here, it's worth it)

*goes off to write up shameful speech*

Stressful GCSEs

All this latin has put me in a bad mood.
Ok, admittedly it's not just the Latin. I'm feeling a little under appreciated at the moment in my science classes. This year, I've been working at a pretty high standard in science, and I've even been helping a friend of mine understand some of the work, I ask good questions, and give good answers. I'm an A/A* student in my chemistry classes, and have been getting nothing but good grades, so you'd think that the teacher in question would have the good manners to remember my name. You'd also be wrong. And to top it off, I took a look at my interim report and noticed a few things that rang alarm bells. First and foremost - current grade: B. I've got As and A*s in the most of the tests I've been given. I do not feel that I deserve a B. In the effort grades section (What a load of rubbish!) I got "good" for homework, "good" for classwork, "excellent" for behaviour and "good" for organisation. Those are good enough grades, but for a start, I should be "poor" for homework, "excellent" for classwork, and "poor" for organisation.
I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for it, but from what I can tell, I'm just being ignored.

Now onto Latin. I used to be good at latin. I'm fairly good at translation - I'd be doing pretty well right now if set text wasn't part of the course. I can't seem to remember any of it. I can spend 3 hours writing it out onto paper, or 2 hours reciting it. I've even tried cramming. Nothing works. Hopefully 5 hours in front of a computer screen typing out the set text numerous times then deleting it to only leave one ought to work. If not, I'm going to tell my teacher exactly what I've tried, and even have proof that I've spent ages learning it, so my friends can back me up said teacher implies that I've not done anything to learn it.

And Maths. I can't do it. I'm not good enough anymore. Everyone seems to understand all this coursework, and it's so confusing. My friends are so amazing, and I feel awkward sitting in the same class as them. I'm not innumerate, I just can't seem to get anything right in maths at the moment. Doesn't help that I tried so hard in my maths exams and ended up getting rubbish results. What am I doing wrong? I'm listening and taking notes in class. I'm doing my homework.

Don't even get me started on English. The language part is fine, but it's actually getting the work in. And I have one more piece of coursework to do, and it's so difficult to sort out, cause I keep getting distracted and losing my notes, and forgetting what I'm about to talk about.

I'll be lucky to get any decent grades in my subjects at the moment.


Sorry about that, just had to get that off my chest. :-)

Virgil: TAB II: Lines 21-25

Lines 21-25 (beginning "est in conspectu Tenedos" ending "Mycenas")

In sight lies Tenedos, an island very famous by reputation, rich in resources as long as the kingdom of Priam was remaining, now only a bay and a treacherous anchorage for ships: they sailed here and concealed themselves on the desolate shore; we thought that they had gone away and set sail for Mycenae.

Keywords -

• est in conspectu - In sight lies tenedos
  
• insula notissima fama - an island very famous by reputation
• tantum sinus - only a bay
  
• male fida - treacherous
  
• statio carinis - anchoracge for ships
  
• provecti huc - they sailed here
  
• condunt se - and concealed themselves
  
• deserti in litore - on the desolate shore
  
• rati (summus) - we thought that they
  
• abiisse - had gone away
  
• vento petiisse Mycenas - and set sail for Mycenae
  

Back to learning...

Virgil: The Aeneid Book II: Lines 10-20

First of all, to save confusion, I've decided to use my blog to aid my learning of Latin set text. Something has to work, and I've tried every technique possible. Maybe typing it will help....

Virgil Aeneid II

Lines 10-12 (beginning "sed si" ending "incepiam")
'sed si' But if you have so great a desire to learn our misfortunes and to hear briefly the final agony of Troy, although my spirit shudders to remember and has shrunk from the sorrow, I shall begin. 'incepiam'

Keywords -

• sed si - but if
• tantus - so great
  
• amor - desire
  
• congnoscere - to learn
• nostros casus - our misfortunes
• et audire breviter - and to hear briefly
• supremum laborem - final agony
• quamquam - although
• animus horret - my spirit shudders
• meminisse - remember
• refugit - shrunk
• luctuque - the sorrow
• incepiam - I shall begin

Lines 13-20 (beginning "fracti bello" ending "armato milite")

'fracti bello' Broken by war and driven back by fate, the leaders of the Greeks, now that so many years were slipping by, built with the divine skill of Pallas, a horse as huge as a mountain, and interwove the ribs with cut fir-wood; they pretended that it was an offering for their safe return; that was the story that spread. 'vagatur'
Having chosen selected warriors by lot, they hid them secretly in this, deep within, in its dark flanks and filled its vast hollows ans womb with armed soldiers. "armato milite"

Keywords -

-sentence 1

• fracti bello - Broken by war
• repulsi fatisque - driven back by fate
• ductores Danaum - the leaders of the Greeks
• iam tot annis - now that so many years
• labentibus - slipping by
• aedisicat ... divina arte Palladis - built with the dvine skill of Pallas
• instar montis equum - a horse as huge as a mountain
• sectaque intexunt abiete costas - interwove the ribs with cut fir-wood
• simulant - pretended
• votem - an offering
• reditu - safe return
• fama vagatur - the story that spread

-sentence 2

• sortiti - having chosen
• corpora virum - selected warriors by lot
• includent furtim - they hid them secretly
• caeco lateri - deep flanks
• ingentes cavernas - vast hollows
• uterum - womb
  
• armato milites - armed soldiers
  

Now you can't say I don't do my homework.....

Free Country? Not for much longer.....

Today I was reading the news and I snapped. Turns out the government want to issue a £2500 fine to anyone who refuses to sign up for an ID card. Ugh. I was so annoyed, that I decided to send an email to people who I thought would care enough to either take note or pass it on. Or at least read it and think about it:

I would firstly like to say that I have emailed you all because I am growing increasingly concerned with Blair's continuous erosion of our basic civil liberties. Yes, this is an email about politics. No, do not switch off yet. This is important.

If you will take a look at various links from recent news headlines, you will notice that over the last few years, Jack Straw, David Blunkett and Charles Clarke (all once home secretaries for New Labour) have introduced laws and taxes that impose upon our freedom.
They have even admitted it themselves, with the head of MI5 admitting back in September that civil liberties may have to be eroded "for our own safety": http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4232012.stm
If nothing is done about this, we will no longer have the freedoms that we Britons have been enjoying for the past few decades.

Unfortunately, we have already lost the right to protest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4507446.stm
This is the story of Mary Evans, a political activist who was arrested for reading out the names of all the British soldiers who had been killed in the Iraq war. She was convicted under the new law that bans unauthorised protests from taking place within half a mile of Westminster. This has even been stretched to include such things as carol singing: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article332149.ece

This is not the worst of the new laws though; on January 1st 2006, a law was introduced that allows police to arrest people for any offence. This means you can gain a criminal record for petty offences such as failure to wear a seatbelt, dropping litter, and other misdemeanours:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/29/narrest29.xml&sS

Britain is already the most spied upon country in the world, with over 4 million CCTV surveilance cameras operating nationwide. This is unacceptable. But it is only the beginning, because the government plan to track the movement of every single vehicle, thus becoming the first country in the world to do this: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article334686.ece
Furthermore, the new national surveilance system will hold these records for at least two years.

But the most pressing issue of all is the proposition to bring in compulsory ID cards. These ID cards store a lot more personal information than any other form of identity. The full list is here: http://www.no2id.net/IDSchemes/faq.php#7 and lists over 50 different categories of information required to register for one of these. I am aware that most of you will probably not read out all of them, so I will pick out a few for you:
"3. Date and place of birth and, if the person has died, the date of death;" (Surely dead people don't need ID cards??)
"13. Fingerprints"
"14. 'Other' biometrics (iris recognition);"
"29. Any driver number connected to a driving licence;"
These cards store a lot of information on one card. A bit much just to prove someone's existance. In fact, there is so much stored on these card that one could argue that instead if reducing identity theft, it would make it easier for people to steal others' identity. There are several other reasons why these Identity cards won't work. A friend of mine has written an artice listing them here: http://www.vigay.com/misc/idcards.html
Pressure group NO2ID also not only have a very informative FAQ, which I have already posted a link to, but have put up 2 petitions to refuse and 1 to support those who refuse. Unfortunately the most recent pledge was not as successful as the first, but should any of you feel that you do not want to sign up to these cards - you are not alone. There are at least 11,000 people who have already pledged to resist compulsory registration (me being one of them).
Currently, the government are attempting to blackmail citizens into buying into these ID cards. They have proposed a £2,500 fine for refusing to sign up to one, because they are banking on only a few people resisting. If everybody was to resist, there would be much more chance of getting it thrown out of parliament.
http://www.pledgebank.com/refuse2
http://www.pledgebank.com/resist

Even if you choose not to support NO2ID, please tell others about it. We must let everyone know what is happening. We cannot let Blair turn this country into a Totalitarian state.

Spread the word - we're losing our freedom fast!