Please, Let Me Explain...!

Ok, so many of you have seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJuuqxWwcNE  and it may have raised some questions in your heads. You may be pondering "Why on Earth would Emma subject herself to this level of humiliation?", "If she doesn't like the video, why has she put in on Facebook, YouTube and now her blog?" and some of you may even be thinking "How could she do this to me?"

Allow me to tell you what I was thinking.

The recording, as you can see, is from my twelfth Birthday party in 2007. It was a really fun day and the recording of the song itself is actually, in my obviously unbiased opinion, rather good. The video, however, is super-embarrassing, although it was quite fun to make at the time. The problem with Facebook is that I couldn't uplaod the audio recording without the video because of the formatting and the fact that I don't have/want Soundcloud.

The reason for putting the clip up in the first place should be fairly self-explanatory. Friday (19th July) was my last ever day at school and everyone else in the video is in a similar position; having just finished, or being about to finish, forever. Therefore, considering that the song is "School's Out", it seemed only logical that we should relive this amazing moment.

And anyway, it seems to have gained a highly positive (if sarcastic/ironic) response. Please don't kill me. Sorry again, but it was fun...

Pointless Holidays

Today is Valentine's Day. Therefore I am pondering it. Congratulations to anyone who has a Valentine; from what I can tell, it's more common for people to be breaking up in the last few weeks than getting together. Which is really quite disillusioning for a hopeless romantic such as myself.

Anyway, it might just be me, but Valentine's Day doesn't seem to have been such a big deal this year as it has previously.  The only couples I know who are still together appear to be playing it down and not doing anything together this year. I know that Valentine's Day is just the "celebration of a guy who had his head chopped off for marrying Christians" (thanks Sophie!), but it's a little bit sad that so many people aren't using today as an excuse to be soppy and loved-up.

Which got me thinking, why do we expect so much from this particular day when so many other days go past without even being noticed? There's not really anything different about today compared to yesterday, except that it's Thursday. But anyway, what can you do?

And now for a shout out. On a day such as today, it is fair to gaze upon those less amorously fortune with a favourable glance, and thus I offer the opportunity to indulge temporarily in charity and humanity. As strong and as muscular as an ox, Oliver would act as a valuable asset (with a number of other valuable assets) to any life. If you think yo ready for this jelly, Move yo booty up and downn, make your booty touch the ground for this man filled with ennui.
(Sorry, he wrote it himself. I just think it's funny)

Now, I must go, for Peter Andre awaits (not in a weird way), and Mrs Compton is yelling. Very loving.

Choir, Singing and the Community of Music

Hey there, random folk of the Internet! Today, because it is a huge part of my life which I could not live without, I am pondering music. For those of you who don't know me, you should know how great my need for music is; if I don't go to band or choir or something, I'm usually singing. Or singing in my head. Or singing out loud and singing something else in my head (this, as I'm sure you can guess, has lead to some fantastic mash-ups...)

So, today I was at choir and, whilst Mr Werner was prancing about like a prancy thing (he is a beautiful man), I realised how much I love being there, in choir. We have all these little in-jokes, like the altos and their sexy E-flats and how diva-y the sopranos are meant to be (from experience, they're not really). Like many things, the Chamber Choir is like a kooky, awesome family and I'm really going to miss it when I leave next year.
By the way, that's true of all the other choirs too, but you really notice it in the Chamber Choir because it's so small and tight-knit.

Then there are bands... *Sigh* Where do I begin? Well, there's Bean Band (more formally known as Concert Band) which is, much as it pains me to say it, really good fun! Mr Bean doesn't realise how funny he is, and we often end up laughing at him being amazing. Then there's everyone else. They're all fabulous too, and (even if they do have tendencies to dye their hair canary yellow) I love them dearly. Some of them, like Hannah, Emma, Joanna, Lizzie etc. (that is by no means an extensive list) are far more used to my quirks and therefore pull faces at me during band, which is good for when it gets boring, or Ben has a solo... Like the choir, it's very close, especially after Belgium and we're sort of like the most dysfunctional (extended) family that has ever graced the Earth's surface. Apart from the Splorers, of course.

Finally, we come to Soul Band. Like every other musical activity I do, this is the highlight of my week. We are so close and, although there are meant to be only a few of us, there are twenty in the horns section alone. This makes us beautiful; even Ben. Even Tom. Even Ashley's hair.

Especially Ashley's hair. It's beautiful, despite its luminescent qualities.

Plus, Miss McNally is the most inspirational person I've ever met; she's actually taught me so much about life, entirely by accident and she lets me wear hats to rehearsals and concerts, which is awesome :) The Soul Band is a mad, laugh-a-minute comedy roadshow of a family and I love it more than anything I've ever done in my life. Ever.

Except perhaps Scouts. Although, nobody in the Scouts can play "Teddy Bear's Picnic" as an impromptu duet on trombones. That's gold.

So yeah, this is what I do with my life. It's beautiful and I wouldn't change it for the world, although next year I will have to. I'm going to miss it so much! If any of you are reading this, I love you guys!

Oh, and I finally found a vegan song (sort of). It's called "Save Me Now" and it's by Jeff Lynne. Give it a listen, it's beautiful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VChiKsQo534

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....

An Apology

I have been asked to point out that Oliver is not the only person to read this, Misa does too....

She sent me this photo: Who is that person? They don't look half bad...

<--- Apart from this one!

Surprisingly, I like some of these. Which, for me, is hilarious... The middle one is just too sexy.

What Am I?

As you can see, my ponderances this week have been mostly philosophical, on a personal level. I have been trying to decide what I am, based on what I know and what had been said about me in the past.

Well, to start with, I'm a girl, although some people say I'm now a woman (hahaha), and Mr Bean (bless 'im) called me a "lady". But I'll stick to girl. According to one person, I'm "a lovely girl with a special personality", but, as someone else said, I'm a "weirdo". They're probably just two ways of saying the same thing...

I'm a rocker, a student, a tea-totalist (shhh, it's a thing...) and a member of a generation which is in the process of ruining the planet for all those who come after us, whilst trying to clear up the mess left behind by the last lot. I've been labelled an anarchist, a communist and fascist (all in the same conversation, by the same person), but only the first two of these are true.

I'm sober, legal, underage, overage, conscientious, stressed, overworked, underworked, tired and confused. I'm a Scout and a Guide (please don't take offence Martha, I did it alphabetically) and I always will be. Apparently, I'm a "musician", but I have very little sense of rhythm, I'm an alto in most of the choirs, I'm the only girl in the school Soul Band who's not a singer and I'm the only person in the school crazy enough to own a barington (baritone) saxophone.

According to recent surveys - or some other unreliable source - I'm broken-hearted, which I suppose answers the question "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?"; they write stupid blogs nobody except Oliver cares about. I'm used and abused, forgotten, remembered, lead, followed, thanked, ignored, asked and answered, Armenian (but not really, it just sounded good. I like alliteration) and apparently, I'm opinionated, but I think otherwise...

I'm a daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter and a cousin to name but a few. I'm also - hopefully - a friend, I very love you all much, and a provider of Vegan Cake twice a term for my RS Class ( It's you guys).

I'm many other things too; in the depths of the internet somewhere I'm a little teapot, but the less said about that, the better. Seeing as this post is one of the longest yet, we can also assume I'm quite arrogant, but I promise I'm not usually. I'd write a post about my friends, but I'm sure I'd miss someone out, so I'll play it safe and not... None of this really answers the question, but it's a start. If you feel like if (If anyone's reading this) you can comment with stuff that you are and I can agree / disagree as I see fit.