Accumulation of timetable

Well, I've got my timetable. I had to decode part of it, not pleased but I got there in the end. I have double German first thing on a Monday morning- the only thing that is really annoying on the whole two week schedule, really. Nine out of ten days I finish at one, which is good because it gives me plenty of time to go out and do other things (besides the huge amount of homework I know I will have). I'm pleased, I never have more than four hours of school in a day. Well, I will, much more, but most of it won't be structured class learning. For sociology our class is quite large, as well as for Law, but German has a maximum of six on a good day so there's lots of time to make sure work is of a high quality.

I'm truly glad that we start school soon, because I'm over bored. I did some more drawing...

I also did a Codeword. I love codewords, there's barely any way to cheat (barely) so they take a while, which is the entire point. I'm still trying to fill time. The drawing does this as well, because I don't want to be doing things that are half-assed. I've made a small wall montage out of some of my artwork.

So there you have it... My not-so-interesting life for today. Oh, yes, the news! UpstairsMan actually managed to not have sex last night. I was shocked and in awe of his sudden restraint...considering he's been bloody loud every evening for the last week or so. Happy days.

Also, I was unintentionally very rude to someone today. Now wondering how to make it up to her (apparently spoke in the wrong tone of voice). She was really pissed off.

Happy reading, folks!

Time filling

I've taken to time filling. For those of you who don't know (most of you, I guess) I barely passed my Art GCSE. I can't draw observationally. Not well, at least. And I can't imitate other artists' styles, which is what they asked us to do. Don't think I was idiotic to take the course if I so blatently couldn't do all the things we tried to complete for classwork and coursework... I actually signed up for ceramics, but we somehow ended up with the wrong teacher - one who wasn't qualified to let us play with clay, as I so kindly put it. This teacher and I didn't get on at all, to be quite frank. I went to a maximum of thirty percent of those lessons. For most of that thirty percent I messed around. It was great, honestly.

So, to prove to you I can draw (somewhat, they're kind of little designs I do when I'm bored but have paper and the right equipment to hand) I'm going to put up some images of the stuff I did today.

So yes, there you go. The last photo, with the three boxes, has what I call a "feathered" effect. It takes about five minutes to do a box, and they're about three or so centimetres high and a centimetre wide. I love being able to just sit at a blank piece of paper and draw things like this; I'll try and put up more pictures of some of my older work. Today I started using a cotton bud (pic. 1) and very sharp rubber (cut off larger slab, picture 1) to help with blending and precision. They're very useful, though you have to be careful with the amount of graphite you use because it goes REALLY far on the bud! I use one end of the bud to sweep graphite on (so I load it first) and the other to sweep it off (creates a softer, lighter lookk without using the eraser). I had fun.

Happy reading, folks!

P.S. School tomorrow, kind of. We'll be getting our timetables. I hope they're not killers. I shall voice my contentedness (or lack thereof) tomorrow...

Passing the time

Well. We're far, far into the holidays now. I am bored again. I don't know why; I've been doing lots of things. I went to France, yes! I wanted to tell you all about that.
The drive wasn't too bad but it did take about twelve hours... There were excellent swimming pools. We did a bit of bike riding, a mistake in my case because I fell off mine again (not too badly but I am now adorned with a lovely big scar on my right elbow because I skidded on gravel)... It was the one time I wasn't wearing a helmet. It's the fastest I've ever cycled away from an accident site- it was right next to the children's playground and they were all staring, but I didn't want them to see the blood so I cycled back to the condominium as fast as possible. There was a lot of dust in the abrasion so I decided to wash it while I was in shock (doesn't hurt as much then). Got it clean, it's healed, but I always scar quite badly.

This makes me grateful for the fact that when I have my face operation they will be doing the majority, if not all of the work, from the inside of my mouth. This means that if there are any scars they will be on the inside of my mouth, which isn't too bad because people don't judge the inner lining of your cheeks that often.

I've bought some spray paint; three cans (three for a tenner at the shop on Park Street in Bristol, whoop!) because I need to make a birthday present for my mum's friend. I've decided to get a canvas, mak cloud stencils (paper clouds), stick them to the canvas, and then spray paint over them. One of the spray paints is sky blue for this purpose. I did some drawings and practice this afternoon and it's looking pretty good. I'm pleased and surprised- usually I'm not that creative!

I'll try to get some pictures for you at some point so you can see what I've done.

My room's pretty messy at the moment due to the rather large amount of time I'm spending in it every day working on my fun little projects. When we were in France I did some lesson plans for my job in September (very nervous!). I also got offered a possible job at the ice rink as a steward... And I'm now going to coach one of the girls there as well for her skating. Happy days. Everything is going swimmingly at the moment.

Results for AS exams on Thursday, I'll let you all know how I do (and a possible plan of action if I've messed up entirely).

Finished another Patterson book (Now You See Her). Not bad, but he's beginning to bore me a bit. I highly, HIGHLY recommend William Diehl's PRIMAL FEAR for all of you who like crime novels with a proper twist. I love it when I can tell the writer really enjoys his/her work, and does research for the stories accordingly.

Happy Reading, folks!

P.S. This is lovely music to draw/work to... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB0ordd2nOI

THE GORILLAS!!

I noes not (really) how many there are in total, but I noes for sure -FO SHO- that there are around sixty painted gorillas in and around Bristol. I keep finding more and more of them. They're beautiful and have been created to coincide with Bristol Zoo's 175th birthday. I think they're brilliant! The one in Sainsbury's at Clifton Down is spray painted a beautiful blue colour and it has orange spray-strokes on it. They'll be for sale at the end of the exhibit (the auction will be September 10th if I recall correctly) and we want one for our back garden. The proceeds will go to Bristol Zoo. This is one huge HUGE exhibition!

More in terms of art, I went to the museum today to have a look at some Beryl Cook paintings firsthand. Her style is very unique, instantly recognisable (yes, even for a youngster like me!). After the museum visist I carried on up to the RWA to see the Jack Vettriano exhibit, more stunning stuff. He didn;'t start painting until he was twenty-one; self taught, many images of dancers... His paintings sell for up to £744,000 nowadays at auction. Incredible.

Perhaps I ought to pick up a paintbrush? Any of you who know me will be cringing involuntarily in horror at this point...I don't blame you.

More on the average side of life, I've realised the homework I had a week to do (it seems I always have so much time until I have none!) is now due in tomorrow. An essay on... Well, "Assess the contribution of different feminist theories to our understanding of society". Thirty-three marks of pain, I kid you not.

Currently reading (HOW do I find the time!?) James Patterson's CROSS COUNTRY. Also I picked up the Oxford Dictionary of Dentistry at the Library, it's got some amazing information in it. I make it sound like a novel... Well, when you've got as much mteal in your mouth as terminator, you want to know why and how it's working. Teeth-gnashingly interesting stuff, methinks!

Happy reading, folks!

A room with a review

Well helloo! Once again I have updates. I've just been to an art exhibition (surprised I could make it as I fell on the ice yesterday and hit my head) and I have to say that after much consideration it was rather good! The YAAC (Young Arnolfini Artists' Collective) are staging their collaborative artwork in the centre of town, opposite the Apple store, all weekend. I have to say that even for someone who isn't that into art I could blatently see their talent! They've done very well particularly on the raising money front.

It costs nothing to go and see the works of art, which include laser-cut wood and a wonderful back room (I'm not telling you what's in there for two reasons- one, my words won't do it justice and two, I want you to goand have a look yourselves). My friend Connel, whom I have known for six years now, has toiled over this for a solid three weeks. I know it may not sound like very long but when you've got exams and new work to juggle at the same time things can be very challenging! Congratulations to all those in the YAAC for their fantastic work.

I've had a good day, one of those days where you feel you've genuinely achieved something (however small). This feeling was reached after two and a half hours in subway with some friends. Once again, all male. Henry, John, George and Tristan (the last of whom wears sandals every day to school because he doesn't see the point in buying a new pair of shoes just for the sake of education) are all lovely, if a little opinionated (George! :D ) Nevertheless it is a wonderful feeling to be able to argue and chat genuinely and openly every now and then.

I think I might go to Canada for my gap year, if I do choose/become forced to have one, as the country is lovely and one of those places I've always wanted to visit. The weather here has been quite lovely and I look forward to the weekend. Also I've just found my phone charger (euphoric moment!)

Happy reading, folks!

Right, I thought this was the best way.

This is the homework I got this week, I've done it according to subject.

Art-Collect Sex Pistols and London artwork images.

BTEC-None

Child Development- 1) First Visit- background info. Compare the child to some form of the text milestones or another child.
2) Work out a task title.
3) I can't be bothered to write it all down here but the outline is, there's a hell of a lot written in the back of your planner and you have until February do this task. Aim high. Don't suck.

English-Summaries of: Act one::scene one
Act one::scene two
Act one::scene three

Plus a diagram of Macbeth's qualities with interrelate with who he is and his personality.

German- 1) Learn the past participle spellings for a test [DONE]
2) Write a paragraph stating your opinion on "Urlaub am Strand" (a holiday on the beach) and then on "Urlaub auf dem Land" (a holiday in the countryside).

HEX- relearn the punctuation. []SELF SET[]

Maths- 1) pg 318 (Ex. 30.1) questions up to fifteen.
2) pg 324 Q 1-8 -- Review Ex.

Science- 1) finish off the questions on page 41 :) compounds are colourless
2) pg 3-5 in workbook
3) up to pg 7 workbook
4) workbook all up to alkali metals part (18-22)

And that's all for this week plus Maths and English coursework. Does your school insist on this much crap to do at home? I'm a nerd and all but this is just TOO MUCH!!