Christmas Fever

Today, my fellow internet nerds, I have done very little, yet again. This is because it's nearly Christmas and nobody can be bothered to do any work. (It does mean we'll have to work super hard at the beginning of next term, but that's a problem for future people, not us :-) )

Today I have:

• Worn a fabulous hat
• Turned up at 8:25am
• Wound up Ben, George,Tom, Ashley, Seb, Peter, Harry and Chris
• Cheered for Eduin (Captain Vegan)
• Played the bari sax (correctly, unlike some...)
• Got told off by Ben for dancing
• Had a driving lesson with Peter Andre
• Turned up late for Chemistry
• Learnt how not to deal with a chip fire in Chemistry
• Almost got blown up by Mr Archer in Chemistry
• Had a chat to Mr Archer about his Christmas plans in Chemistry
• Sold jewelery in the Lunch Hall with Martha, Maria, Misa, Anies, Emma, Beccy, Hannah and Charlotte
• Leila also turned up
• Danced with Anies, Hannah, Beccy and Leila
• Turned up at the Library
• Been called "Emma From Emmerdale" by Seb and Aidan

So, as you can see, Christmas is making me incredibly productive :)

Shout It To The World!

You peeps! I have a very serious, yet jokey ponderance today.

This evening I found out a very interesting fact about one of my best friends that, really, I should have found out about a year ago. It's nobody's fault, it's just how things happen to have turned out. But it got me thinking. When I asked my other friend (Alice) if she knew she said it was "knowledge" but that there "hadn't been a huge song and dance about it". This gave me an idea.

From now, I am starting a campaign to get people Shouting their news from the rooftops!!! I think that the best thing we can do for our society and for ourselves is to be more open about our lives. So, if anyone had anything they'd like to share, they can comment here or message me and I will make it public (slightly) for them. This blog only reaches about forty people, but it's more than one person can tell at a time without a microphone or a soap box. You don't have to give a name, if you don't want to, but telling people will make you feel so much happier within yourself.

I'll start.

My name is Emma (we all know that) and I play the saxophone. I use the saxophone as a way to stop being sad and be awesome instead. I am a massive grammar nerd. I am a huge geek. I am both massive and huge. I have some friends, but no boyfriend, which is a shame. I study English (which I'm not as keen on as I used to be), German (which I love), Religious Studies (which I also love) and Chemistry (which is difficult, but worth it). I am a Methodist Christian (but not in a "you should all come to church with me" way. It'd be nice if you did, but I respect your right to choose, as long as it's not a danger to anyone else). I have recently discovered that I possess a power which makes people answer "yes" when really they should answer "no". This came back to bite me. I have the most supportive friends in the world!! I am an Explorer Scout and a Ranger (Guide Senior Section). I love playing the saxophone and it is a major part of my life. My saxophone is like the child I have yet to have (don't worry I'm not pregnant). My favourite film is Snow White. My favourite book is The Shell House.

Is there anything else? Ask me questions, I'll answer them. (Keep it clean please)

SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!
Spread the word! Start telling people things!

Year 13 :S

This week, as the current Year Thirteens have been planning and executing their final scheduled days at Owen's, apparently not actually doing any work, I have started pondering what it'll be like for us next year. There are several things which are worrying me and these are what I want to write about today, not that anyone actually reads this (in pretendy posh accent) garbaaaarrrge.

Firstly that I'll end up not keeping in touch with people. Not just the important people (they know who they are, CBA to list them all), but less important people like Martha and Kelly (joke, I very love you much...). Seriously though, I saw the current year 13s saying goodbye to each other today and it became very real how far they'll be spreading out; traveling all over the country now, perhaps even Europe, the world; traveling all over the country now, perhaps even Europe, the world. They're probably never going to see 190/200 of those people ever again, and as for anyone else they know at Owen's, well they'll almost definitely not keep in touch with them. That scares me. These people have been a MASSIVE part of my life for the last six years, not necessarily a good part most of them, but I've seen them practically every day for about 1/3 of my life. 


Clearly there are some people I never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever want to see again (I'll leave that to the imagination), but there are so many great people at Owen's that I really want to keep in touch with, and I'm so scared that I'll never get to laugh at their failures (or oddly-sized shorts) again. That really scares me. I know I said that already, but it honestly does.


Secondly, what the hell should I have on the back of my leavers' hoody? I can't just have "Cracknell", that's boring. The only nicknames I have are "Crackpot", which has very negative connotations in some circles, and "Em Schmem", which only Alice calls me. Actually, that'd be pretty cool. Maybe I'll get that. OK, that problem's solved. Comments?

Finally, once I leave the safety of Owen's and the regularities of this life, I have to face the harsh truths of the real world. THAT is scary. I mean, I think my problems are pretty big at the moment, but they'll just get bigger once I leave this microcosm and join the actual rat race. The World's a big place, I don't know if I'm ready to be pat of it yet, and I'm pretty sure I won't be in a year's time either.

Sorry, offloading on the general public. not that anyone actually reads this shiz apart from Kelly, Martha and Misa, and they'll just be happy I've mentioned their names (Except Misa, who's probably on the run from the police....).

The School Library

Today, as I have a free period and I have already "exhausted my grey matter" I am pondering the joys of our school library. There aren't many. We come in here to work during our "study periods", or free lessons, and usually end up discussing anything and everything, including (but not restricted to):

• Politics
• Facebook
• The many escapades of Ella's dog Zak
• Ditto Hannah's dog Merlin
• Jacqueline and Beccy's work experience with lambs
• Misa's plan to conquer the world/universe/multiverse
• Cake
• The Queen
• Fashion
• Sophie and Henry's suppressed sexual tension (or whatever)
• Phillip Crout (and Mrs Georgia Crout)
• Scouts/Rangers/Guides/Splorers
• How much work we have to do
• The effects of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome on the exam process

However, more often than not we sit, in our small groups, discussing the work with whoever happens to be sitting nearby. For example, today Jacqueline has been checking that her revision notes for Biology are correct, Misa and Maria have been discussing maths and, whilst I've been writing this, Ella has asked me to Goggle some physics-y thing for her.

Unfortunately the wonderful Mrs Compton doesn't seem to understand how people need to talk to each other sometimes for work to be effective; we can't always be competely independent. Some bloke once said "Man is not an island" or something similar. We should respect that; how can we check that our German essays are accurate if we can't ask people like Leila or Stanley, who know everything? Etc. etc.

I could go on about this all day but to be fair, there are some people who abuse the library. Somehow it goes unnoticed if  Stanley and Maria play Library tennis (which was really funny, we should do it again next year), but it is noticed when Oliver lies across the table and starts singing at someone (usually Chris). Yeah, that was awkward....

Examinations (Part the Second)

So, my ponderings are back for "part the two".

Adults and other old people often say that exams are getting easier. This is possible, but it is more likely that the number of opportunities we have to resit and increase our marks has practically tripled. Apart from the fact that our exam system now is spead out over several weeks, so that if you have a bad day on the day of English paper 1, you can  make up for it with English paper 2, you can also then redo English paper 1 in six months time. And if, after that, you are still not happy, you can resit again six months after that.

However, I'd like to point out that the a Level exams are NOT easy! A "friend" of mine in year 13 said that he knows people who are resitting their AS Level English paper again this month for the second time because the exam board requires three essays about six different texts to be written in two hours and that requires superhuman speed and agility (or something). Secondly, Chemistry is almost as bad; if you write one incorrect word, you can lose three marks. And we're not even talking key words, just the difference between "lots more" and "increase in" or whatever.

Personally, I think the government should have away with compulsory written exams, give people the choice as to whether they answer with a written piece, a verbal response or some other form of assessment, such as a practical exam (which there already are for some subjects) as that would be a much fairer way of assessing people based on their own skill set. Or, as they've begun to do in primary schools, continuous assessment throughout your time at school, rather than three weeks of pressure at the end of every year; in what possible way is that an accurate representation of someone's performance??!?!?!

Thanks for listening to my random and annoyed/annoying wafflings. Have a nice day and good luck in your exams!

Examinations (Part the First)

So, here I am in a German lesson (hooray!) and I find myself pondering, surprise surprise, the impending exam period. Written exams are actually the most pointless invention of the human race since someone decided that the eyelash curler would be a step forward. When do I ever need to be able to write a coherent essay after I finish in education? Surely being able to write a decent letter which achieves a purpose is a much more marketable skill? Or being able to physically tell the difference between Hydrochloric acid and water, rather than the different effects they have on the human body after consumption. Isn't it a bit late by that point?

And what about the sheer number of exams we have to participate in? Seriously, next Wednesday I have two exams on the same day and I have to write five essays. Five essays. When will I ever have to write coherently about "Frankenstein" under timed conditions again (with the exception of the retake I'll have to undoubtedly do in January)? How is it in any way useful to put teenagers under this much stress for four years? I'm not suggesting that we should have the old-style exams, where your entire future was balanced on one five-hour long paper on the history of the sock or whatever, but there has to be a better way!

Seeing as this is going to turn into a very long rant, I'll post the next bit as a separate post. Stay tuned (or something...)!