Exams (Yes, it's that time again...)

Dust off the revision guides and get out those massive (and incredibly cool now that hipsters are a thing)  reading glasses, it's revision time again! Yes, the time of year where we ponder the previously pondered is upon us. We all know what this means; it means that we should've all been relearning what we've already learnt before we've even learnt it since about February, because otherwise WE WILL ALL FAIL AND NOBODY WILL EVER LOVE US EVER AGAIN!!!!!

Just me? Oh, OK then :)

For myself and my peers, this year holds a much greater threat than any other previous year. As Nicole said in RS the other day: "Before, if we did badly, we could just resit. Our pride would be hurt, but that's about all. Now, if we do badly, we don't get into university and the rest of our lives are ruined." Ok, so I don't agree with the ruined lives bit, but this is effectively true. Whilst there are some universities (apparently St Andrews is one of these) which prefer to offer places to people who have already secured their grades and have gained a little life experience, the fact that one is required to retake some A Levels does not sit well with many places of study. Plus, as my Dad points out on every available occaison "taking a gap year and traveling the world is one less year in which you could be earning." Unless you work through your accidental gap year (yay), but then again, who would want to employ someone who doesn't even have A Levels (or at least good A Levels) in this day and age?

Grade inflation has a lot to answer for.

Plus, if you do get a job during your gap year, it can only really be part time because, of course, you have to revise for those fabulous exams again. And this time is even more serious because there's no way you'd be considered for anything if you had to redo your A Levels twice.

Or maybe none of this is really a possibility and I'm just panicking because at my school we're all expected to be able to recite Pi to several thousand digits by the end of year seven.

Spider, Spider

Spider, spider on the wall
Please be careful you don't fall
Don't you know that wall's been plastered?
Get down, you naughty little... spider!


(Used with [no] kind permission from my Dad - thanks Dad!)

The Royal Albert Hall

Those of you who attend (or probably who have ever attended) Owen's, my school, will know that Tuesday night was the huge accumulation of this year's celebration of four hundred years of the school with the concert at the Royal Albert Hall. So of course, I am pondering that.

Now don't worry, I'm not going to go on and on about how amazing it was to be able to play/sing on such a famous stage in front of so many people, and how fantastic it was being in the Soul Band, who got the biggest cheer of the night by quite a long way. And fret not, for I don't plan to talk extensively about the school because it's quite boring. Except the balloons, that bit was cool.

What I really want to talk about is the amazing comradery which I felt between the old and "new" (I guess) Owenians last night and how amazing the atmostphere was backstage. Despite the enormous overheating in the Concert Band girls' dressing room and the constant feeling of being underground (sort of in a Churchill's-war-bunker-esque way), the morale backstage was kept really high throughout the day and practically everyone was amazingly nice. I have to make a special mention here of Ben, Ashely and George's impromtu marching band, who performed "Teddy Bear's Picnic" and "Tequila" on loop for about an hour. Really kept people smiling, guys. :)

The Old Owenians, in my experience at least, struck up a fantastic relationship with the current students. Leo, who had been roped in to play the bari sax alongside me all night was really great; he was evidently a much better player than I am (being a professional and all), but he still treated me like an equal and talked to me more in two days than the entire Soul Band did for the whole of last year.

As for the School Song at the end, well that was just beyond words. But you know me, I'll try anyway. Despite not having any music, I was on stage for the School Song; the excitement in the orchestra was massive and I think that everyone in the hall felt the same. When the brass section stood up with their hands on their hearts for the chorus, we were all in stitches. Only Seb could get away with leading something like that and live. Well, Seb and Peter...

Anyway, as Dr D said last night, Happy Birthday Owen's. And thanks everyone, for such a memorable evening.

A Quick Thought On Margaret Thatcher

If Margaret Thatcher had been a man, people would have been much more supportive of her work.

Obviously, I am not saying that everything she did was perfect (she ruined education and declared a war we probably didn't need to fight, but do we ever need to fight any war?) and I don't claim to know all about 1980s politics, in the same way I don't really know about modern politics.

My point is just that a lot of things that Maggie did which were right, or at least for the right reasons, were understated. Had she been a man, they would've been more highly regarded, a bit more like Winston Churchill is. I mean, he made some mistakes (quite a lot, if you look at it) but also did some things right and we remember him as one of the greatest political figures of our history. Well, a lot of people do at least.

Don't worry friends, I've not gone completely off my rocker, I still disagree with everything that the Tories do/say and, when the revolution finally comes, I'll be close behind Miss MacNeill in the line for the Tory Fox Hunt.

What my point is here, really, is that sexism is still rampant in our society; even at the highest level when a strong, independent woman manages to defeat all the chauvinistic men around her and actually ends up running the country. And, had Margaret Thatcher been a man, people would be more supportive of the good she did and more willing to overlook the lesser of the evil things she did.

Rest in Peace Maggie.

And I apologise for sounding so much like Miss MacNeill in this blog post (except that I'm pretty sure she'd never say anything positive about Mrs Thatcher.)

Things I Just Don't Understand

Today I am pondering the un-understandable. This won't be a particularly long post because I don't want to steal the limelight from Herries, a guy I know (who I would call a friend, but might not extend me the same privilege) who writes a blog specifically on his topic. (You can find it at http://thingsthatijustdontunderstand.blogspot.com )

I am pondering his for the simple reason that it is the thing I spend the longest time thinking about when I should be doing other things, such as working or driving. For me, the main thing I don't understand is Chemistry, but that's boring, so we'll look at the second biggest thing I don't understand,which is how one person can be in love with another if they do not love them back.

This may seem a strange thing for an eighteen year old to ponder; people will be thinking "she doesn't know what she's on about, she's only young", but I don't mean me. I don't understand how someone can be in a position in a relationship where they are totally devoted (Grease reference not intended) to another person, only to find out that the other person doesn't love them at all, and may even be in another relationship behind their back.

I should point out that I do not have a specific example in mind here, I am thinking more generally about the way society is going and (to be honest) several chick flick story lines. The fact that you may have assumed I was talking about a particular example says more about the way you think of me than anything else.

The other thing I don't understand in that situation is how someone can think they're in love when they aren't; the idea of love consists of two people who are meant to be together, traditionally they're considered two parts of the same soul, but that idea is a bit outdated. How can it be, then, that one person can feel something that they think is love, but is not reciprocated by the person they have these feelings towards? Especially if the person has never experienced actual love. How on Earth is the human brain capable of making this sort of thing up with no previous experience.
This really is what I don't understand.

And it's what makes me think that souls exist.

Anyway, that's it really :) There are so many other things I don't understand, but I'll leave that to Herries because I've broken my keyboard.

If you wanted something interesting to read while I don't write for you (wow, fabulous English there, brain!) please check out 28 Dates Later - it's written by a guy called Willard who is trying to do twenty eight dates from dating sites without getting himself killed or further wounded in the process. He sounds like he could get on well with Mackers, to be perfectly honest...
Other blogs you could check out are Herries', as mentioned above, Mr Robinson's (one of my German teachers last year, he does an amazing linguistics blog) and Alice's literary blog, which I've mentioned on many-an-occasion :)

Thanks

Lots of things have happened to me recently, and nearly all of them have made me realise how extremely lucky I am to have my friends and family. I am always so surprised by how little I appreciate them in everyday life when times like this roll around and I have sudden revelations about how important they are to me.

So far this week my friends have made me cry at least three times with their kindness (make that four) and thoughtfulness towards me and members of my family have made me cry at least twice. Yes, I know what you're thinking; it must be really easy to make me cry and, well, you'd be right. Anyways, this isn't a post about how often I cry, it's a post to say thanks to everyone for all the things they do.

It shouldn't take times like this, or last Easter, to remind me of how great my friends and family are. I know I should appreciate them more and tell them so, but I only ever seem to realise this when times like this come around. So basically guys, this is just me telling you how much I appreciate everything you do for me, especially the little things because they do make the most difference really.

Take last Easter for example (I can't believe it's really been a year), the fact that my school friends phoned me to make sure I was OK rather than just trying to communicate with me via texts meant the World to me at the time - it still does - because they knew it was important to me  (Maria even offered to take me clubbing!) and they love me enough to just phone me and listen while I tried not to cry.

So anyway, this wasn't a whinge about my life. Thank you so much everyone, I've never done anything to deserve you guys and I know I sound like a terrible poem, but I needed to thank you somehow.
So here is a picture:

Soul Band

My favourite people in the entire world (minus one). Except that several of this year's members (Chris, Harry, Harry, Hugo, Asa, Irene) are missing, so pretend they're there too :)

Another fantastic night last night guys, especially the choreography of the trumpets! I am going to miss you so much next year, but I'm sure you'll be glad to see the back of me (especially Jack, who has to put up with my playing at the closest range!!!)