CHRISTMAS!

Right.....17 days after the last blog and a lot of stuff to write about.

The Beginning Of The Holidays
The first monday (the 18th), I spent at Nick's (new) house. In the evening, Tomazo, Tim, Stuart and James Henry came round for another Film Night. We began by watching Aeon Flux (due to Stuart wanting desperately to see Charlize Theron). I have to say, it was better than I anticipated, but it wasn't that good overall. Unfortunately, James had to leave half way through as his father had been taked to hospital (luckily he was OK). With 90 mins to spare until we all got picked up, someone (please help them) decided to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Despite it being hilarious, it was just a little "odd". Anyway, the evening went well and thanks goes to Nick's parents for letting us use their living room and TV.

Wednesday 20th
This day, Tomazo came round and (basically), we made the Witch Hunter 4. Plenty of questions to be answered in WH5 and more confusion all round.

CHRISTMAS EVE
The grandparents all came round today, and as well as playing cribbage, we went to midnight mass. The insence-carrier got a little carried away, but hell, it's Christmas.

CHRISTMAS DAY
Woke up at 11:30. Opened presents. Got £105, some clothes, chocolates, books, deoderant/shower gel stuff. Pretty much the same as every Christmas. Played cards (Whist, Spoof, Knockout Trumps, Euchre, Hearts, Irish Snap, Cribbage) until 3am.

BOXING DAY
Today the grandparents went home, and normality (and revision)returned.

Rest of the holidays
I have set myself at least 4 hours of revision each day (however C1 is easy); I will dedicate most time to mechanics then physics and psychology. Will also try to find time to do some art.

Other stuff
I have started to concentrate more on vector-based logos/backgrounds (see examples below), which are easier and look better than bitmap imaging. woo.
(click to see full-size)

3rd Thing to Do Before I Die Completed

Thanks to Stuart & Tomazo, I have completed #18: Own at Least One Song By a Band For Every Letter Of The Alphabet. So here they are:

A Busy Past Few Days

This is the only real chance I've had to update this blog, what with loads of homework, revision and a film to make.
Friday went well, and with Psychology cancelled, I had three free periods in a row (what a way to end the week :P). In the last period, Tim managed to beat my Hearts record by winning on 7 (finally someone did it! [mine was 13 and had been held since June 2006])
At work on Friday evening, I helped put up the Christmas decorations (woooooo) so now it looks great.
Saturday was spent doing Physics homework and making The Witch Hunter Part 1 (see pics below), with the help of Tomazo (starring as the witch).
Today was spent doing Psychology homework and making The Witch Hunter Part 2 (chapter 3 to come next week).

Personal Investigation = Complete!

Finally, at long, long last, my Personal Investigation on wassily Kandinsky is over. I've just added the finishing touches to it, and will be handing it in tomorrow :)
In the other double art lesson, I've started my final piece, which is going well so far.
I played Euchre (or however it's spelt :S) today with Swilly, Stuart and Tim, and at the end of lunch, Stuart and I (you play in pairs) were winning 11-10.
After school I had another driving lesson; this week I did some more reversing (actually got in a parking space this time :P) and just driving around the city.

A & A Beasty M1 Test

Good news ~ I got an A for the practise C1 exam! (67/75)
Bad news ~ We had a practise M1 exam today.....far, far, far too hard :(. I will most definately need to revise for mechanics :S.
There was no badminton today, as the Year 11s are still doing their mocks, so I played Hearts with Tomazo, Aaron, Archie & Christian for two hours this afternoon.
After school was work, which wasn't particularly exciting, but the money's worth it :P

Another Resounding Loss

Yet again, England lose in the cricket; this time because they can't actually bowl. :S
Anyway, Double Art first thing today was great, I learnt how to "screen print" a pattern, which means I can make a pretty beasty final piece this thursday.
Physics was as *exciting* as usual, with Sir being away, and us doing a practise paper in his absence.
In FM we did a practise C1 paper....all pretty simple bar one beasty question, but hopefully I'll still get an A.
I am not really looking forward to tomorrow, with a mechanics test followed by a mechanics lesson (AARRGGHH!) At least there's badminton afterwards.... :)

Caption Competition: Week 1

Each Monday, I will post an image, and whoever has the best caption for it will be mentioned next week. (No, there are no prizes)

What's the guy on the right (no, I don't watch Star Trek) saying?

Christmas Party & Far Too Much Art

Sunday 3rd December:

Today, having woke up at 10am (that's late for me), I got straight on with my art. After yesterday's 12-hour marathon, I only spent until 1pm doing it, with 2 pages to finish off tomorrow (the end is finally in sight).
At 2pm, some people (32 in total) came round for a "christmas drinks" party (i.e. my parents' excuse for having free wine). Stuart, Balders, Joe, Keith and I tried to avoid the ever-decreasingly sober adults and went to play hearts. The game was abandoned after 6 rounds, as I had to go and talk to my previous neighbours, whoever they were.
Despite it then being dark, cold and wet, we went outside to play cricket. Unfortunately, Stuart and Joe both slipped over, and a small puppy (that belongs to one of my mum's colleagues) terrified Stuart too much; so much that we had to go inside.
At around 6, the house was empty again, and I watched some TV (including Torchwood) before going to bed.

Monday 4th December:

School again.....yay. Fortunately, there was no assembly (what a shame) so we attempted the Times 2 crossword for a full hour. In Psychology, Mrs O'Connell didn't turn up again, so we just had a free period. Mechanics was as hard as usual, and Double Physics was as boring as usual.

After school, I managed to finish off my art (yay), so that's one huge project out of the way.
Off to watch yesterday's Lost now....

AA

AA stands for Art & the Ashes. I spent a good solid 12 hours today putting together my art personal investigation, based on the life of Wassily Kandinsky. Currently on page 7 of 11, so I should be able to finish that off tomorrow.
After a miserable defeat in the 1st test, England have finally come back to have a brilliant start to the second. With Collingwood scoring over 200 and Pietersen over 150, England are really looking dominant. Let's just hope that time doesn't get the better of them.

Below is my current art final piece plan, that I will be starting for real on Thursday. Hope you like it.

C1 = Easy

Spent the first two lessons of today doing (more) C1 practise papers; really got the hang of them now. With an ample amount of revision it should be a walkthrough :)

Third & Fifth Periods were spent playing hearts and listening to music, the evening was spent working on my art and working (woo...)

As you can tell, not much happened today :P

Exam, Driving & Interview

The day kicked off with last January's past paper in Physics. Pretty simple stuff, with me getting 52/60 ~ An A by 7% (woooo). A couple of things need work on, but some solid Christmas revision should iron that out nicely.
Double Physics was followed by my Prefect Interview with both Joe and Tim. Before it began, we looked at previous school photos, and some teachers look great from 10-20 years back (we love you mr martin :P)
The actual interview was pretty easy-going, with some basic questions that I'd prepared for.

After lunch, I had double art, and after spending the first hour trying to stop the computer crashing so I could print out some pictures, I finally started drawing out my Final Piece plan. Picture to come as soon as I finish it :)

Afer school I had my 6th and 7th hours of my driving lessons; this time I did some reversing (aah!) and general roundabouts-junctions etc. Good stuff.

Maths, Maths And (You Guessed It), MORE Maths!

Today started with Double Psychology. Interesting stuff, as we are currently studiying eating disorders (annorexia and bulimia nervosa). We watched a documentary about a 17-year old girl who weighed 4.5 stone :S

I had my music lesson half way through Psychology; practised some of the pieces we are to play at Speech Day (wooo.). These included Tuxedo Junction and Take Five. Also tried to understand Trevscript with the National Anthem before realising that it was upside-down (you can never tell with Mr Farrow's handwriting).

After break I had Further Maths with Mrs Ellis; myself and Tomazo went over a C1 Past Paper. During lunchtime, we had Further Maths with Mr Coombes; this time we went over a different past paper (joy of all joys).
After lunch, we finished off the Maths Trio by having Mechanics with Mr *pause* Martin. This time we went over a past paper. Something tells me that they are trying to prepare us for the January exams.....

Last period I had Badminton, and with Tim's toe being "poorly", Joe, Gelpi, Ed and I played.
Game 1 & 2 (Me and Joe vs Gelpi and Ed): Me & Joe won (by a considerable margin each time)
Game 3 (Me and Ed vs Joe and Gelpi): Me & Ed: 21, Joe & Gelpi: 9
Game 4 (Me and Gelpi vs Ed and Joe): Me & Gelpi: 11, Joe & Ed: 16 [UNFINISHED]

Must prepare for my Prefect Interview tomorrow (gah!) ~ must go and polish my shoes and all that :)

So I'm Not Going To Die Soon

Today began with a double session of art, and with Mrs Cushing away invigilating exams, it meant that I could get on with my "colour" project. Physics was interesting but boring, and the double further maths session was just going over past papers.
At lunch, Tomazo did a Thoth Tarot card reading thingy for me; he said lots of stuff but apparently it was a good "spread" and I'm not going to die soon. [Tomazo, if this is all wrong please let me know so I can change it] Good News.

Looking forward to badminton tomorrow: Me and Joe vs Tim and Stuart.....it will be a close one :P

1-0 Down

Well, we lost the 1st Ashes Test. Again. It's not as though we're going to retain it anyway :)

Today yielded little of interest, but after discussing it with Tomazo and Nick, we realised that, yes, Mr Bowden's Prefect Meeting was indeed exciting, and Myself, Tim, Parrish and Chappers had a fun game of Hearts in our free period. Luckily, my record of a winning score of 13 is unbeaten, after Tim got the queen of spades when he was on 11.
Now I get to enjoy watching yesterday's Lost and Torchwood, and then the Ashes highlights.

On a further note, we are having a "Late Housewarming, Early Christmas" party-type thing this Sunday afternoon, so if you can drop in for a bit throughout then it will be much appreciated :)

007 & Ping Pong Cricket

Just come back from Joe's birthday party thing....and man, Casino Royale was good! I won't spoil it, but it has to be the best one for ages, and well worth seeing.
Before the film, we went to Pizza Hut (very nice), and after it was finished, we caught a taxi home. We then played ping-pong cricket in Joe's living room, which was pretty funny, seeing as ping-pong balls tend to bounce loads and swing through the air.
We then watched Jackass The Movie (the first one) which just shows you what people will do to be on TV, but it was hilarious.

I've also started putting pics of people in the right-hand coloumn toolbar thingywatsit, so if you'd like to be mentioned, then don't hesitate to send me a picture of yourself

100 Things To Do Before I Die (97 Left!)

Ok, Here are 100 things that I want to do/achieve before I die:

Feel free to add more suggestions in comments :)
I will edit this when I think of more.

1) Go Skydiving
2) Lunge Wildly At The Pope
3) Do Jousting On Pogo Sticks
4) Learn To Drive (in the process of currently)
5) Win A Game Of Badminton Doubles Flawlessly
6) Watch A Live International Cricket Game
7) Own A Stuffed Penguin (A Real, but dead one)
8) Play Naughts And Crosses By Mowing Areas Of Grass
9) Visit Every Continent In The World (Only South America, Africa, Asia, Antarctica and Australasia to go!)
10) Stand Up For 24 Hours
11) Win A Game Of Hearts Flawlessly (i.e. with no points)
12) Watch All 5 (soon to be 6) Series of 24 In 1 Go (yes that will be 5/6 days of my life wasted, but hey.)
13) Spend A Week With Tennis Racquets Stuck To My Feet
14) Hunt Down And Kill The Elephant From The elephant.co.uk Adverts (Note: currently recruiting people to help me undertake this mission)
15) Complete A Times2 Crossword Without Help From Mr Coombes Or Any Books/Internet
16) Eat a Three-Course Meal With My Hands Tied Up With Sellotape
17) Read The Entire Inspector Morse Series (Currently on 7/13)
18) Own at Least One Song By a Band For Every Letter Of The Alphabet
19) Run a Marathon
20) Complete A Times 2 "Killer" Su Doku
21) Don't Speak For A Week
22) Spend 24 Hours Tied To A Lampost
23) Actually Put On Weight (4 Months After Coming Back From Mexico, I Have Just Managed To Put On The 1 Stone I Lost)
24) Sell A Piece Of My Artwork
25) Finish This List
26) Get A Friend Called Percy
27) Watch The Rocky Horror Show Live
28) Play Each Of My Songs On iTunes At Least 100 Times

...More to come...

Welcome!

Welcome to Laughing And Crying, the blog that I *hope* to update daily; however this depends on schoolwork/other commitments etc. The name is taken from the lyrics of second line of the Metallica Song: "Motorbreath", and also my first character in the game Guild Wars. Since then it's kinda stuck :)

Current News:
Not long until Christmas....only something like 31 days (yay); however the "good ol'" January exams are looming, so I will be spending the majority of Christmas revising. (yay :S).
I will be taking at least one exam in: Maths (Core 1 and Mechanics 1); Art (A 5-10 hour "final piece", based on colour); Physics Module 1; General Studies and Psychology (based on abnormality and stress).
Hoping to get straight As; however this will require loads of work :S.

Tomorrow I am going to Joe's birthday party to see Casino Royale at the cinema.....looking forward to that, so there will be no blog tomorrow.....
Also, England are getting trounced in the Ashes (not really unexpected).