Beware The Chocolate Digestives!

They are too addictive. The stupid biscuit tin taunted me with a whole new packet of chocolate digestives and now there aren't any left. And I still want more! Stupid tin. I am contemplating eating some more of my Hello Pandas but I want to ration them because they're too good to stuff my face with. With the Hello Pandas I want to savour the flavour (that has a nice ring to it) so I will resist. Wish I had with the digestives as well. Eurgh I feel sick.

Poor bagelgirl

I thought I'd blog briefly about two interesting characters I encountered today in Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

The first was a fussy and demanding old woman. I was queuing up to get a bagel (can't remember the name of it or the filling it had but I'm sure you don't particularly care about that) and so, through boredom (or nosiness), was listening to this woman's conversation with the bagelgirl (that is how the woman serving her shall be known) or should that be constant complaining at bagelgirl. The bagel was slightly too toasted, the piece of lettuce placed to the right of the bagel didn't look crispy enough and should be replaced with the piece of lettuce currently being pointed at by the old woman, there was one too many pieces of meat for old woman's liking, old woman could see the mayonnaise coming out at the side of the bagel which would mean she may get mayonnaise on herself while eating it (god forbid) and therefore it must be removed, the bagel wasn't as large as old woman had hoped but apparently she could live with that, old woman didn't want tomatoes and some tomato had touched her bagel which was a travesty but again, being such a forgiving person, she could live with that.................it went on..........and on............and on. We had finished our bagels before she had finished her moaning.

The second person was a young woman who, as far as I could tell, suffered from an extreme case of clumsiness and misfortune. In the ten or so minutes I was waiting for my sister to try on some clothes (that was apparently very speedy, lets just say I'm going to avoid clothes shopping with her in the future) this poor woman had managed to knock over numerous knickers and thongs from a multitude of different stands. She would go up to a stand and pick out a pair of knickers. This was followed by the remaining knickers proceeding to fall off the stand. She would then look around embarased before picking up the knickers and moving onto another stand. All the knickers would fall off it. This was accompanied by her comments of 'oh dear!', 'not again!', 'you are joking?!', 'what is wrong with me today?!' and my personal favourite 'f*cking thongs!' She finally decided enough was enough when she approached a stand, picked up a pair of earrings and watched as the stand toppled over with a loud crash. Then, as subtly and hastily as possible, she made her way out of the shop.

Flying fun

I had quite an enjoyable dream last night. I had the ability to fly (which I decided to use almost all the time) and it was really fun.
Actually when I say enjoyable it only really accounts for the flying parts of the dream as there were some quite unpleasant aspects to it, such as the evil people who were killing people in this large building. In response to this I was flying around the building trying to help evacuate people and flying the evil people outside, over a cliff and dropping them to their death (yeah the thought of killing people quite disturbed me even though they were evil, and they definately were evil. They were shooting people as they tried to escape and they had a distinctive evil look to them). This didn't last long though before I got into a weird plane thing and flew across a desert to a large castle. In the castle there was some sort of school. I apparently knew some people there who had uncovered an evil scheme by another student. I didn't know what the scheme was but I knew that that student was going to try something bad so I decided to fly around the castle at night (as you do). My supposed friends also flew around (but we had split up to cover more ground). I had a lot of fun manoevouring through the many obstacles in the castle. While flying I noticed the evil student on a rooftop casting some sort of spell on another person (there was a blinding yellow light shining into the person). And so I flew into the evil student at great speed, knocking her unconscious. Then I heard the scream of one of my 'friends' whom I saw being dangled over the edge of a bell tower even higher up by a person shrouded in shadow (whom I guess was another evil entity, there seemed to be quite a lot of them in this dream). For some reason the 'friend' could no longer fly and somehow I automatically knew this. So I flew as fast as I could through the shadows up to the bell tower and grabbed my 'friend' from the shadowed figures grip and flew back down to the ground. Then the dream ended.

It was quite an adventure and did I mention I enjoyed the flying. If only we really could fly it would be so cool but I could do without all the evil people that seem to come with it.

Window Worries

Well I've posted about the stupidity and weirdness of others a lot recently so its only fair that I make a point of my own idiocy. On the verge of falling asleep and certainly not in a thinking mood I made a fool of myself in my last lesson today. My teacher asked me to close the window. Somehow hearing the request as could you open the window I got up to do so. I noticed the top window was open (which is the one he'd meant for me to close) so I guessed he meant for me to open the bottom window. So I tried to (with the blinds getting in the way, making quite a loud clanging noise constantly). It wouldn't open. But not wanting to admit defeat I kept trying, pulling as hard as possible on the handle. Part of it kind of broke off (luckily I found out it was already partially broken anyway). It was only after a few minutes of me making a fool of myself that the teacher said, 'why don't you try pulling up the blinds and then pulling the top of the window pane up?' So I attempted to pull the blinds up, making a very noisy mess of it in the process (they were not normal blinds, I don't care what anyone else says, they didn't do as they were meant to) before pulling up the window pane.
Teacher: 'Thank you!'
Me: 'What, thats it!'
Teacher: 'Yes thats all I wanted.'
Me: 'Oh.'
I felt very embaressed, I could have sworn he said he wanted the window opened but apparently not.

Theres a boy in some of my lessons who is well known for giving some incredibly stupid but at the same time very funny answers to questions. Well my lesson with him today was no exception. Unfortunately I can't remember many of his 'special' answers but my highlights today are:

1. His story of how his friend burnt his face accidentally with his cigarette (he didn't get round to explaining why he didn't do something to move away from the cigarette) and how as a result he received first degree burns and a massive scar on his face which lasted a week. When questioned about how his scar could only last a week we realised he'd been referring to a scab (although he assured us it was massive). His first degree burns also seem to have healed very quickly and exceptionally well, so well that theres no sign of them at all.

2. When trying to explain structural unemployment this was his definition: 'its unemployment formed when the..........the......um...........whats that word?'
Teacher: 'Its in the name.'
Boy: um...........i can't think of the word.............its when the something of the economy changes............um...............'
Teacher: 'What type of unemployment is it?'
Boy: 'its structural unemployment.'
Teacher: 'Yes so now give the definition.'
Boy: ok, its the type of unemployment formed when the.............oh, what is that word?'
Teacher: 'Structure! The structure of the economy changes!'

3. When discussing the lack of convergence on legislation about smoking in the Eurozone he decided to ask: 'so what about the convergence on the legislation in Europe?'

I thought I could remember more but I can't. So until my next lesson with this person thats all you'll be getting.

Games Problem

I don't think I can stand to do fencing for games anymore. I feel bad saying that because the coach is a really good teacher but the problem is the fencing system at my school is a mess.

The kit hasn't been washed for about 10 or so years and smells really bad (not to mention is damp and some of it has brown marks on it...............I don't even want to think about what that is, and needless to say I avoid those pieces of kit). Then there are the people who do fencing. All the people in the lower sixth are weird. Sometimes some of them can be quite funny but they really are weird. The weirdest has to be the kid who wanders around finding people to latch onto who he can tell his latest stand up comic routine to. Unfortunately this often happens to be me. He isn't funny. He's monotonous and rambles about the most random things. They really aren't funny. Today he told me something about a black woman making a racist joke about jewish people (he is Jewish and so he was saying how it made him very angry), about a showgirl he met in Vegas who told him her uncle got her the job as a showgirl and the hobo on the streets of New York who told him he would change the world with his dreams. He then went on a tangent about his grandmother who foresaw in her dreams before she died that China would become a world superpower (as I said he rambles). Then the hobo apparently gave him a box and told him not to lose it but he lost it (haha). Those are the things that I actually caught something of. He told me many other things but it turned into one of those situations where his mouth was moving but I wasn't hearing.

It must be obvious I'm not listening to his 'jokes'. I keep the same facial expression (blank) and look around constantly through boredom. When he gets to the end of a joke he stares at me expectantly (this is how I know he's reached the end of a joke as I just completely switch off and haven't a clue what hes been saying). I try and force out a laugh but just can't. I try, I just can't do it. His jokes are that bad and I can't lie to him and pretend they're not. So I just maintain my blank stare and then, to my dismay, he'll just move on to another 'joke'. I feel so harsh. I'm sure anyone who knows me will agree that I don't like to hurt peoples feelings and will always do everything in my power not to (and to not be rude) but he's really pushing it. I have on occasion just had to walk off (as subtly as possible) because I couldn't take it anymore. And I really don't mean to sound like a moany bastard, picking on people to let out my frustrations (because at this point I know I really do) but hes just left me with feelings of complete despair in regard to fencing. And the really sad thing is (this was pointed out to me by a year 11 who was trapped by this boy and subjected to his stand up routine in the equipment store room) that apparently he has some gigs lined up in the next couple of weeks. I feel so bad for him (and so did the year 11 boy). Hes going to get booed off stage. That would be terrible. I really hope he doesn't. I also feel really sorry for his audience.

Things were looking up a couple of weeks ago when, miraculously, new kit arrived and we were all assigned our own kit. A week later all the new kit was missing (due to year 9s and 10s stealing it for their own use). So its back to the rotting, poo stained (thats not confirmed, not putting it under investigation though), wet, smelly and, to sum it all up, just plain rank fencing gear.

And now the only other person from my year who did fencing has quit, leaving me with only the weird year 12s to talk to. The 2 year 11 fencers aren't bad but they too are considering leaving. So that means everyone who actually did some fencing is leaving or left with only the year 12s remaining. The year 12s spend their time wipping each other with bamboo sticks (don't ask me where they got them from) or 'fencing' to rock music (which is more like a unique form of dancing with swords to the music, definately a sight to see). Today they decided to pretend to be planes and 'fly' around the hall. I feel like I'm wasting my time. Apart from having a lesson with the coach each week I don't do much else because theres no one left who will actually fence me (especially, as I already mentioned, now that the only other person in my year who fenced has quit). This time could be much better spent actually getting some exercise.

I am a very patient person and always try and see the best in things but there has to be a limit and I've reached it here.

Happy Happy Happy

Woohoo I just finished my biology coursework and sent it off to my teacher. Well thats a lie. Its not finished, its just a first draft. But that means 3 days off worrying about it (as i'm sure i'll get it back with many corrections once back to school in 3 days). Woo! So happy.........and slightly tired. Now I can get round to those 8 latin translations, latin learning for a mock (which i'll be having the day before my birthday, fun fun fun), a latin essay, biology practice exam papers, chemistry practice exam papers, chemistry learning for a mock the first day back and general economics revision for both the A level and AS level papers. How I love school *notice my sarcasm*.

Funny how my train of thought changes in my blog entries. Within a few seconds of blogging I've managed to extinguish all the happiness i'd just been enjoying.

Mobile Conversation

Yeah i know. My deviation away from travel tales didn't last very long, in fact it lasted only one entry. But i'm going to tell another travel story anyway.

Why do some people feel the need to share their mobile conversations with everyone in the vacinity around them? In the case of the person I am going to blog about it wasn't even with the immediate vacinity but with the whole bus. In this case I put it down to her being just a bit drunk (a slight understatement). In fact I know it was down to drunkeness as she proclaimed to all, 'you know what...........you know...................i am.........ver................veryyyyyyyyyyyy drunk,'

Well the conversation didn't exactly get off to a good start.
drunk bus woman: Hello, who are you..........yes i'm phoning you, who are you.................oh its you! I'm realllllllllly drunk! Do you want to come over?..............you're busy, oh then how bout tomorrow..................you're still busy!.......................well how bout the day after?.............................you're going to be busy for a while! Well you're a very busy girl aren't you!

Things then got more interesting.
drunk bus woman: Do you speak english?.......................no I don't think you do, I can't understand what you're saying..............................no, still don't understand...................I really don't think you are speaking english, you know they do english classes somewhere, i think you should go.............no i really don't think you are, it sounds more french or spanish or something, maybe Irish, wait do they speak another language in Ireland?.....................yes i did phone you for a reason....................well the reason is..........um............do you want to come over?...................you're still busy! What, were you busy earlier that you're still busy?......................ok fine I'll go..............yeah calm it..................well you're the one who won't be getting drunk tonight so there...........no I'm not an alcoholic...................no, no I am not an alcoholic!................now look what you've done, I really need a drink..................I hate you, do you know that cos I really hate you...................well you've got a big nose.............and you're fat, yeah you are ha!

And thats where the conversation ended. I'm actually quite amazed at my ability to remember such a pointless thing so well. I just wish I was as good at remembering important things such as my schoolwork for exams.

Well whatever the reason for the sharing of mobile conversations on the bus, whether it be a desperation to be heard or simply plain ignorance of those around, it makes the bus journey less tedious and far more memorable for other passengers like myself.

Disturbing dream

Well lately my life has been boring without much in the way of bloggable material which is why there hasn't been an update in a few days. I could have written about staring at the computer screen, trying to force myself to finish a biology coursework which i should have handed in before the holiday actually started but i thought i'd spare you the tedium that that would be (and i'm still contemplating finishing it right now; as you can see I'm failing).

As a quick update on my life I got rejected from the university I had that interview for the other day (yeah that one with the tube journey gone wrong) and so, now that i've been rejected from all 4 universities I applied for, I'm going to have to look into what options remain open (most likely a gap year). Also today I had a clarinet exam (grade 4) which went alright. My pieces went quite well and my scales were so-so. Its just a shame about my sightreading which was awful. Anyway will just have to see how it goes. I felt a similar thing when doing my grade 3 and I somehow got a merit so maybe I'll pass (and pass reasonably at that!). But moving on from those boring pieces of information I thought I'd blog about a weird dream I had. It may not be as weird as the one where my pet fish were swimming around my room (even though it didn't contain any water) and I was frantically trying to catch them with a net but it still was quite random.

I don't know where I was in the dream. It was a very white room with nothing much in it but I was sitting on a dentist chair. The dentist was standing over me (I'd never seen this dentist before in my life but apparently he was my dentist) and he told me I needed braces. I was shocked at this and said, 'but my teeth are fine. I've always been told I don't need braces because my teeth are straight as it is.' His answer was, 'I know, you're teeth are fine.' I just answered, 'so then why do I need braces?' to which he simply replied, 'because you do.' Then he immediately got out a drill (it seemed almost comically large, definately not what dentist drills look like but more like a drill for a road or something) and started drilling. This lasted a few seconds before he revealed the braces in a mirror that just appeared in front of me. He had given me massive headgear. In a state of shock I then woke up. I don't get where this dream came from. I've never had a fear of the dentist, mainly because I've never experienced 'the drill' or needed anything drastic done to my teeth and its not even as if I have a dentist appointment coming up soon.

Dreams supposedly have meanings but I don't see what this could mean. Hopefully its not a sign of things to come (not that theres anything wrong with braces but I don't really want to experience that drilling process for real, especially when its unnecessary, and be fitted with massive headgear).

Incidents Around the Tube

I thought I'd write about two incidents I experienced just outside tube stations today. Both of them actually occured while returning home from a friend's house whom I had met up with in town after my interview.

The first occured while approaching the exit from a tube station I needed to use. There was a weird man who tried to grab my attention and tell me he was selling weed. I just ignored him and carried on walking. He decided I must not have heard him and followed, again telling me he was selling weed. Still walking I told him I didn't want any. He didn't seem to understand and carried on following, telling me 'its a really good price'. I replied 'I don't want any ok, go away!' He didn't seem to get the message and carried on following me, seemingly getting more frustrated and aggressive, so I just crossed the road. At this point (just my luck) I realised I needed to go back the way I had come and so, to avoid the weird man, I had to take a long route back. Luckily I got to the tube station entrance without bumping into the weird man but it really pissed me off. And its not the first time some random man on the street has tried to sell me weed as I walked past. Its happened in town at least twice before. Why do they choose me. There were many other people around in all the times this has happened. Do I look like some sort of druggy or something?

The second incident occured having just left a station (and while beginning my 30 minute walk home). It was about 11pm and so was dark. There was a woman walking quite a bit in front of me but apart from that there was no one else around. Halfway down the road I stepped on a lose paving slab which made a massive crack sound (I think it may have broken or something). The woman spun round, looked at me for a few seconds and then ran away screaming. It was the weirdest thing. I've never had anyone run away from me screaming before. I feel really bad.

I don't know. Maybe she was just scared because she thought I was a druggy or something.

Travel Trouble

I'm starting to think this blog should be called bigman's travel adventures with the number of recent blog entries I've made associated with travelling. So I've blogged my bus journeys, walking adventures, aeroplane experiences and coach comedy. That just leaves the train, more specifically the tube.

So today was the day of my university interview. I made sure I got up reasonably early and ready quickly. I left with a good amount of time to get there. So on arriving at the tube station I bought the travel pass and took the escalator down to the train platform. The train was already at the platform. Perfect. I got on and sat down, my mind starting to wonder about what I could be asked and working its way through these questions. After a little while I started to feel as if something wasn't right. Things were going too smoothly. Taking notice of the stations the train was passing through I realised I'd taken the morden via charing cross train rather than the morden via bank one. Needless to say I wasn't amused. Remaining calm I got off the train and took another train back a few stations to Euston where I could rectify my error and take a via bank train. I was quite surprised at my calmness in the situation as time was ticking away fast. So getting off at Euston I made my way to the correct platform. After waiting for about 5 minutes I started to question the fact that all 5 trains that had been and gone had been via charing cross. It was then I realised to my horror that I was waiting at the charing cross branch and not the bank branch. I felt so stupid. I hadn't thought about the fact that they may have different platforms for the different branches (seeing as most of the other stations don't). So still remaining calm I made my way to the bank branch. Luckily there was a train there already. My immediate reaction was uncertainty about whether to get on after what happened the last time (seeing as I hadn't been able to check the train this time actually was going via bank) but I got on anyway. The train was packed and there was a horrible smell lingering (which some other cruel passenger must have produced and then left for all to appreciate). It was also boiling hot. I ended up squashed against the door (which I suppose isn't as bad as the man who got stuck in the door as it closed). So the journey wasn't pleasant but I made it to the campus area with a few minutes to spare if I wanted to get there half an hour early like they recommended so that I could fill out the questionnaire and consider the case study. The problem was in those few minutes I still had to find the correct building. Somehow I did this with no problem whatsoever, navigating around the university campus and finding the building almost instantly. I got there exactly half an hour before my interview giving myself the time I needed.

In some ways I feel this travel trouble actually benefited me. It stopped me getting too nervous about the interview and my mind was calm and clear (rather than cluttered up with last minute potential answers for potential questions which may ironically actually have resulted in confusion when it came to answering the questions rather than helping me).

Party At The Airport

I've just been on holiday in the Czech Republic (came back 3 days ago) and haven't blogged anything about it so heres an entry about the arrival. Our flight was the first commercial flight to Brno (which is strange seeing as its the second largest town in the Czech Republic with only Prague being larger). There was no celebrations on the aircraft so we weren't expecting anything to happen. How wrong we were. As the plane landed we noticed a crowd waiting, watching. On our exiting the plane the crowd started taking pictures and cheering. This was embarrasing enough. My dad then decided it would be a good time to stop and take a picture of the plane, prolonging the embarrasment. Then came the weirdest bit, walking out into the arrivals area. There was music, people in costumes dancing, people taking photos, people singing, drinking beer and general merriness. Some of the other passengers walked out as if what they were a star making their entrance to the country on the red carpet, waving to the fans and blowing kisses (ok, maybe they didn't go that far but they certainly relished the limelight). It was surreal. I preferred to make a much hastier exit through the crowd. As I did so I was given a badge welcoming me to Brno and I guess as some sort of token to remind me of this experience. Well I don't think the badge was necessary. I certainly won't be forgetting the arrival any time soon.

Well the story of the Ryanair flight made the Brno papers the next morning. My dad got a better picture of the plane than them though. Heres the photo: