Apologies, Resolutions and a Plan.

Two apologies to start of with.
-One, for neglecting to post nearly as often as I should.
- Two, for being so melodramatic ("Why? Why do I go on? I got a B- I might as well curl up in a hole and Di-eeeeee")
Now that's over with, here's a little update on my life. I have become addicted to fanfiction. I have been spending over an hour each evening trawling through endless pages of hilariously written (In so many ways) fics, which MAY explain why I'm not doing so well at school. So, to balance out the world, here are two early new year's resolutions. I am with the fools who still believe in the first of April.
- One, to read maximum 30 minutes of fanfiction a night, and only when I have done at least 2 hours of homework.
-  Two, to spend no more than £10 a month on books....In which case I might have enough of my allowance left to buy some new clothes, which I haven't done since last May.
Finally, I think I may have a plan. (For Uni, for a career...for life). Although I have decided that I do not (at this stage) want to be a doctor, I will study medicine, then go on to do a PhD in...something. (It's me. How likely is it that I would have done a proper plan?). I will then research it (with  the clinical degree giving more job security), retire at 60, and write my novel. I may also, at some point, move to Grenada to  party with Morgan Freeman.

The traumas of Grade Cards

Having just received my half termly grade card, there was a bit of a shock in store. My German teacher had given me a "satisfactory" for effort. Because we receive them just before we break up for half term, I have been spending the last half week racking my brains, trying to think of anything I could have done wrong. I have never handed in any homework late, or not done any class work. Could it, then, be that I have not been helping with "tutoring" (for which, read sitting in front of a class of twenty year 9s who are on detention), because I have taken up an extra library shift? Or, perhaps, that I am not going on an (apparently optional) trip on my birthday, which involves spending 6 hours on a bus to listen to a two hour lecture in german on the European Union? What I can't help but wonder is why neither of my teachers could have told me to my face that I need to be working harder? Because that, after all is what satisfactory means in this world of inflated grades. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother..

Q4USRB2SF2X3 


For Science week in march, my sister's chemistry class have been learning the Periodic table song, by Tom Lehrer. However, according to her, it goes "nickel, neodymium, neptunium, geranium". I think that's a rather lovely image

Sexism and Sadness

Let me tell you a true story. Two days ago, in my (predominantly male) further maths class, whilst we were having a conversation about the merits of spending £60 on a calculator that basically does A level Maths for you, one boy, whom I had previously thought of as one of the less obnoxious specimens in the class, suggested that the only use my friend and I could have for the money would be to spend it on "makeup and dollies". Unfortunately for him, I don't even think he was trying to be ironic. Needless to say, this got me rather angry, and I told him so in no uncertain terms (although I have an unfortunate tendency to stammer when I am angry, which tends to somewhat lessen the effect).

 But this is just a convoluted introduction to the main point of this tirade- the extent to which sexism is still prevalent, everywhere we look, and even more pressingly, the fact that so many people don't seem to care. The worst of it in my opinion, are the girls I see everyday who have no problem with their lives being limited by an accident of the industrial revolution- the friend who declares that she doesn’t “see the point of feminism”, those who are willing to build a (short) career based solely on their looks, or who decide not to go to university, so that they can stay close to their boyfriend. Those who make dismissive remarks can be shown wrong, and luckily there are now laws so that Women who do have ambition beyond high heels and motherhood will not find it completely impossible to follow (although there are exceptions). It is at those poor, deluded, miserable girls, and their parents and friends I want to shout. Really? Deep down in your heart you are happy to be seen as nothing but a layer of makeup and a short skirt? You will throw away so lightly decades of hard work and passion? And most of all, you are happy to prove them right?

The fact that so many are blind to the injustices that are going on around them (and in this I include the many other things that keep people from equality- I am just afraid this rant may be too long if I extend it to include this) makes my heart heavy. Physically- I’m sure there is no scientific basis for this, but I can feel it nonetheless. My friends, my parents, have told me that I am too angry about it, but I will leave you with a question. If we are not angry, how will anything ever change?

An Excess of Extracurricular Activities

It's official- I now have no lunchtimes left. In an attempt to broaden my mind/ earn some brownie points from UCAS/ avoid severe consequences from subject teachers, my week now looks like this:

Monday: break- library monitoring, lunch -European Youth Parliament debating practise.

Tuesday: break- library monitoring, lunch -Library monitoring.

Wednesday: break- eat some food! lunch- Science tutoring (or if all those ungrateful year 11s decide to go to the RIVAL session, prefect duty. Or the lower school reading committee)

Thursday: break- library monitoring, lunch- Maths tutoring (and hopefully, the reading group once a month)

Friday: break: library monitoring, lunch: library monitoring (where I really have to be)/ German tutoring (where I should be) /science week planning (where I'd like to be).

And this isn't even mentioning violin lessons and practise, orchestra, choir, brownies or youth club, nor the holiday club I help with in the holidays. It’s on top of all this that teachers and University advisors are telling us to get A* grades and work experience, do volunteer work in old people’s homes, and make sure we are reading university textbooks in all the subjects we might be interested in (along with 4 hours homework per night and on-going revision, of course.). I’m sure I’m not alone in wondering how on earth we are supposed to do all this? Every night for the past week I have been up until at least 11 o’clock doing homework, and I haven’t done any revision or reading, let alone done anything that could be described as particularly enjoyable. Is this really what it will be like for the rest of our lives? Working so hard to get into University, then to get into work, then (hopefully) to actually achieve something before reaching retirement? Suddenly, running away from home to live in a mud hut somewhere seems much more attractive….

Aspirin results

Well, I've been applying the aspirin to my left hand and foot for a week, and I have to say, my fingers are significantly less swollen. On the other hand, this may just be wishful thinking... Oh well. It probably wasn't the most scientific experiment ever.....

What do you do with a dead chemist?

Ah...science jokes. A man walks into a bar and asks for a glass of Adenosine triphosphate. The bar tender says "that'll be 80p". (ATP...80p...get it?). The joke referred to in the title, however, was part of a larger, chemistry riddle, which formed one of the rounds of the Cambridge Chemistry challenge - http://www.c3l6.org/ , if you fancy giving it a try. Although the questions are challenging, you're allowed to use anything you like to find the answers along the way, and they're interesting brain-teasers.
However, my dear imaginary reader (I've decided on Emmeline. Hope it suits), if you are still wondering just what one WOULD do with a dead chemist, I'll give you this one. You Barium.