Just…blah.

Today is an utterly boring day. I can’t believe it’s already 4.30pm and I still haven’t done anything that made me a little less bored. My father is painting the walls down in our basement, and my mother is down with a cold – well, she says she is; I think she’s actually hungover because she and my dad were out on a neighbourhood party last night. I always thought that only old boring people live in our street, but these old boring people sure do love their neighbourhood parties. And their beer.

As for me, I decided today that I wouldn’t torture myself any more with Jane Eyre and instead look for something else to read. I don’t know what it is about that book, but it completely failed to draw me in or make me interested in what was going to happen next, and everytime I read a few lines I just wanted to slap Jane Eyre in the face for some reason. Now I’m either going to start the last Shakespeare play I own and haven’t read yet, or read The Trial by Franz Kafka which we have to read for next school year. But unfortunately I don’t feel like either…so that makes me even more bored.

In a desperate attempt to find something to do, I partially re-read my NaNoWriMo novel from last year earlier today, which at least was a little bit of fun. I fixed some typos, redundancies and awkward formulations, but I don’t have the courage or the motivation to edit it properly. I don’t know if I’m ever going to, to be honest. But I’m still completely gobsmacked that I even finished something like a novel. That thing contains some of the worst, but surprisingly also some of the best stuff I’ve ever written. Some parts were really quite funny (sometimes even intentionally), others sadder than I had remembered. And once I apparently used the word “tympanon”, because at some point last November I apparently knew what that word meant. Or it was just really late at night.

Freedom tastes like chocolate pudding.

It’s official: my second-to-last school year is officially over. I am now officially on summer holidays. Isn’t that officially awesome?

So, I went to school today for about two hours to get my report card (the actual process of handing out the report cards took about five minutes, but nevermind, my school is a great fan of sitting around pointlessly). I did pretty good this semester, actually, and I’m rather proud of myself because it took me a shitload of work to get to these results. At least it was worth it (well, mostly), but I intend to do even better next school year (my last school year. Oh, God.). I always say that, but since it’s my last chance and all next year…I don’t know. It’s six weeks until then, which of course seems like forever now but is not actually that long. Not like I care about that now. Six and a half weeks of summer! Wooohooo! Except, I think I’m going to skip that “wooohooo”-part for now because right now I am way more tired than excited. So, excuse me while I go for a late-afternoon nap.

The calendar says it’s summer!

Even though outside it looks more like it’s autumn, next Thursday is the first day of summer holidays for me! Well, it’s about time! But in the useless lessons I still have at the moment (which mostly consist of watching films, going to get ice-cream or going for walks) I’m busy making plans for the first three weeks of the holidays (before I’m off to Canada for the other three weeks – excitement!). So, here it is: my list of summer awesomeness:

• Read, read, read. Read! Finish Much Ado About Nothing and start Love’s Labours Lost (yay Shakespeare!), A Christmas Carol by Dickens (not the most suitable reading choice for summer, but I can’t live by your rules, man *turns into Craig Ferguson for a second*) and Goethe’s Italian Journey. If I don’t finish one of these before I leave, I’m going to take it with me to Canada and read them on our car trip through Ontario and Quebec, completely ignoring the fact that I get motion sickness when reading in the car. Or maybe I should get some audiobooks. Hmm.

•  Watch some of the old Doctor Who series. I’m currently on the Season Six, and although I was suspicious of Matt Smith as the Doctor at first because he just looks like such an awkward fellow, but now I really like him. And I figured that since I like Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctor as much as I do, I should really check out Doctors One to Eight. For some reason, I’m especially looking forward to the episodes first aired in the 1970s. I bet the Tardis looks hilarious in a Seventies-look.

• Write. God, I’m such an inconsistent writer. I probably won’t get around to do Camp NaNoWriMo in August since I’m going to be on holiday for the second half of the month, but I want to write. I’m so fed up with not writing. I want to get my hobby back. I want to be that weird girl again who sits on the computer all night with fingerless gloves on and listens to Biffy Clyro on headphones and has the time of her life constructing highly improbable plot twists.

Shakespearean Confusion

The past two weeks have been the most relaxed time I’ve had in all of 2011 up to this point. Fairly nice weather, tons of reading and fan-girling, no school, and, most importantly, no school work. The stressful thing about school for is not the going to school itself, but all of the things I have to do at home. (Speaking of it, I really need to start studying for my Maths test next week. Eww. My old friend, the giant bowl of suck, is awaiting me.)

As for reading, I got three new Shakespeare plays while I was staying with my grandparents last weekend: Hamlet, which is what I’m reading right now, Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labours Lost. I always thought I didn’t like Shakespeare, but looking back on it, that probably has to do with the first Shakespearean play I read, Antony and Cleopatra, which was pretty boring and probably not a good choice to read as the first one. Since then I’ve read Macbeth, however, and that totally changed my opinion around. And now Hamlet, which I’m really enjoying. Thank goodness, really. If I really do end up studying English later on, I will probably have a much easier time if I don’t loathe Shakespeare. Plus, I’m always really proud when I get a dirty joke without looking it up.

 

What a pleasant vacuum

I have two weeks off school! How awesome is that?! I haven’t been doing anything at all since Saturday, honestly, just a little writing (less than I had planned), a little reading (I’m currently reading Macbeth, another desperate attempt to make myself enjoy reading Shakespeare), surfing the Internet (oh, Youtube, the hours of my life you steal from me), and playing Anno 1503 – a lot. That game is seriously addictive, and the mean thing is, when I’m playing that I don’t even notice time passing. I just happily build forester’s lodges, mines and production chains for hours until I notice that the day is almost over and think, “Damn, how did that even happen?!”

And, also: honestly. This is the bloody funniest thing I have seen for at least a year.  Oh, my God. I think I must have cracked a rib or two while watching that.

Pirate overdose and two lists

It’s a long weekend! To celebrate this, my friends and I re-watched all of the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” films yesterday. We started at 3pm and were finished around 10.30pm. It was really good fun, and now I will now what actually happened in the first three films when I go and watch the new one. (Although I still didn’t get entirely get all of At World’s End, because by then everybody was getting a little bit cheerful and distracted.) So this is what I noticed while watching:

1. I really don’t like Orlando Bloom. At all.

2. Johnny Depp will always be Captain (!) Jack Sparrow to me, no matter what.

3. Keira Knightley has a really large jaw. And is overrated. I mean, she’s okay, but there are far better actresses than her.

4. Why didn’t Elizabeth just go with Will on the ship at the end of the third film?! There wasn’t even a proper explanation given – and no, “she can’t go where you’re going to” is NOT an explanation. Major plot hole.

5.  I still don’t get why the crew of the Flying Dutchman was gross and fishy when Davy Jones was the captain, but became normal when Will Turner took over.

6. “Bootstrap Bill” is a crap nickname.

7. The film music is absolutely goooorgeous.

 

And, because I’m bored, a list with what I need/want to do today:

1. Do my homework and start studying for my Latin test on Tuesday. Get the unpleasantness out of the way.

2. Find away to access my Youtube again. For some reason it froze, and all I access now is this, which is what I was listening to when it broke down:

Of all Muse songs, why did it have to be Popcorn? I like it, but I’ve listened to it about twenty times now, and I can feel my brain slowly turning into jelly.

3. Get some writing done. I’m slowly starting to get my own pace back and write regularly again, and I don’t want to risk that by not writing for too long.

4. Read. If I continue reading at this pace, I will finish the book I’m currently on sometime next year.

Did I mention that I love extra free days?

Insert giant fan squeal here

When asked about my favourite band, I always answer “Muse”. And it is true – but, you know, since they’re not the only band I like, I sort of wander off and listen to different music every once in a while. But like a junkie in need of his favourite drug, I always come back to Muse after some time. And the good thing about this is that I’m always reminded again how awesome their music actually is. I mean, just look at/listen to this:

I. Just. Have. No Words. For this kind of awesomeness.

Another great thing about Muse is that it’s not just this obviously awesome, crazy, shiver-inducing, did-I-mention-that-I-have-no-words-for-this music, but also the entertainment that comes with it. I’ve been to two live shows (two of the best damn days of my life), and both were just huge.  Even when watching interviews of their performances  on the Internet, you get a sense of how massive they actually are in reality.

Plus, their performances just never cease to amuse me to no end: Dom Howard like a big manic kid behind his drumkit, Chris Wolstenholme like a big headbanging teddy bear, and Matt Bellamy in a sparkly/glittery/LED/fluorescent suit performing miracles on his guitar while jumping up and down like a pogo stick.

These guys and their music are one of those things that make me immensely happy that they, and I, and the world exist.

Quote of the Day…reloaded

“This was a point of view with which I had some natural sympathy, being a bit of a frowner and nodder myself, who generally registers anger and frustration by frowning a lot and going to sleep.”

From “Last Chance to See” by Douglas Adams

I really need to get my hands on Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, I bet it’s hilarious.

Rant of a teenager. And geeking.

Being almost 18, but not quite yet, really sucks. You’re almost allowed to do so many things – driving on your own, voting, drinking, excuse oneself from school, basically all-around freedom – but SURPRISE, you still have to wait until you actually turn 18. I’m so tired of having to ask my parents to drive me everywhere I can’t access by train or bus or friends’ parents’ cars. It wouldn’t be that big of an issue if we lived somewhere with actual decent public transportation. But here, right out in the sticks, you pretty much rely on cars if you’re going somewhere not in walking distance of the train station. It’s still about five months until my 18th birthday! Grrr I can’t wait for mobility and independence! /rant

Today after school I went to the library to look for some books for the presentation I have to give in school. (In about three weeks. Thank goodness I’ve already started…NOT!) My topic is “Devolution – Is Scotland a country of its own?” Yes, I’m amazed as well with how much forethought and consideration of my own interests I chose that topic *majorheaddesk*. But when I looked for some books on British history and politics, I found the most amazing book: it’s called something like “Country Report Great Britain” and deals with everything from history, politics, economy, society and culture…all about Britain! You would never believe how excited I am about discovering this thing. So many things – and everything about my favourite country ever! I want this for my birthday, I’m not kidding.

Sometimes I’m surprised myself about how odd I really am.

I totally have this.

The Chronic Bitchface!

The chronic bitchface! Some days I could just walk around telling people, “No, thank you, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m not pissed off, you needn’t look at me like that. This is just how my face looks, for God’s sake!”

I’ve been sick since last week, and I have. No. Energy. I mean, even less than usual. But I’m going back to school tomorrow (and I haven’t done any homework…shhh). And I have to do my monstrosity of a paper in art class on Tuesday. I so do not want to do this…

But, it’s still spring. And even school – powerful thing that’s been ruining my life for years – can’t spoil that for me.