Hectic Week

This week has been nothing short of crazy (bullshit)

I've had prelims every morning this week and as early as Tuesday i thought it was Friday but that was probably because what my head wanted.

Monday i had English close reading which went fairly well.
Music listening on Tuesday was hit and miss coz im not so good at the listening part of the subject.
Same with french the day after, im not so good at listening but the essay went well i think.
Media on Thursday was just a case of write as much as you can in the best order you can which im fairly confident i did.
And today was spanish listening so again, hit and miss but essay was fine.

This is practically the first time ive sat down all week and done what ive really wanted. The xbox hasnt been on since last weekend, tv has rarely been on and ive just been looking at books and sleeping for most of the week. It hasn't been nice.

Today was even worse coz i was supposed to be getting a ticket to go see Queens of the Stone Age in May. I told my mum on Monday and she was happy to get it coz they went on sale while i was in school but when i woke up she bascially told me it wasnt her problem or her ticket and she wasn't getting it. I was pretty pissed off but even more so when i got home to find they had bloody sold out. Didn't think they would.

I hate when ive no gigs to look forward to, it's depressing. I need something big to look to, something to work towards and at the moment i have nothing.

The next few weeks dont get much better than this one. There's one more prelim left and im sure they've left it to last for a reason. English timed essays, two of them. Total hell. Without a doubt the most difficult part of all the subjects im studying coz this is what has to be revised the most, known inside out, back to front, loop the loop etc.
If you don't know it, you're screwed and thats the way i feel right now.

It isn't just english on Monday but my final bass exam on Wednesday and my Spanish speaking final exam on Friday so its difficult concentrating on just english but i guess i'll have to sacrifice them and put english first, then Spanish and my bass last coz obviously im a complete virtuoso and it's going to be brilliant no matter what ;)

We've also been talking about subjects for next year and it's just way over my head. The school likes you to choose subjects appropriate to your "career" which is a whole other matter to deal with. I've no idea what i want to do after school so i guess i need to see one of those adviser people.
The only thing i definetely know i want to study next year is one language, but you have to pick four subjects in total. Id probably leave Spanish and its a tie between advanced french or the newly introduced Italian course.
Tbh, i'd be more incline for Italian coz it would be a THIRD language at a higher level which looks good on any CV and also, Bryan made noise about taking it as well much to my surprise as he hates French xD
So, im probably doing Italian :P

No idea for the other three tho.

But yeah, essentially, this is probably the height of stress this year in school coz the prelims are every day, there's subject choices to think about, and there's not even any study leave. At least during the exams, there is study leave, you've picked your subjects and the exams are spaced out.

I swear, if i make it through the next couple of months without some sort of mental breakdown, it'll be a fecking miracle coz let's face it, it's not just school problems ive got to deal with :/

Anyhoo, speaking of spaced out, ive been listening to The Doors properly for the first time and im absolutely loving it. So trippy.
Dunno what my favourites are yet, most are good so here's a comparison between The Doors' "Back Door Man" which clearly had an influence on The White Stripes "Rag and Bone" (shame they split up as well, woulda loved to have seen them live...)


Rowan <3






Opening riffs sound very similar and are both in the key of A

Prelim Round-Up and Post-Prelim Ponderings

(Title help supplied by Rhyn :P)


So yes, today i got the biology cut-off score back and as expected i didn't pass.
I wasn't too disheartened tho as it was always gonna be the out come but now that i have all my results back i thought i would share them with you guys.

So here they are :

(Highest to lowest)


French - A 91%
Spanish - A 88%
Modern Studies - A 79%
Music - A 74%
English - A 68%

Media - C 58%

Biology - F 48%
Maths - F 40%


So yeh, quite a tale of two stores there.
One good half the other, bad.

But i know i can improve, maths is easier to improve on than biology but i still know i can pass them both.

But overall the results are good.
5 A's
1 C
2 F's


Not much interesting stuff happened today in school.

Did my maths test, think it went ok.

Didn't have to present in English :)

Only real tale comes from biology.
We were dissecting a sheep's lungs and heart. Or rather, the teacher was.
We still seen everything tho and heard.
He had to cut through it and it made this horrificly crunchy noise.
And with 5 minutes until the bell let school out, the fire alarm went off!

News got to me that whatever set it off came from Alex's lab but we never found out.
It was annoying tho, coz i wanted to see what the lungs felt like (call me weird :P)
So i dashed back to class, put a glove on and had a feel.
Quite horrible to be honest, and really cold!


But today, nothing was getting me down, i was in high spirits since last night and that continued on right through today.
Reason for this?

Well....

JJ got me a gift :D

An iTunes card.

He called it a late Valentine's present, therefore making it the best Valentine's gift i have ever received.
Yes, it even beats the guitar.
Also my first Valentine's gift from a guy, hopefully that will help set the trend :P

But, its not just the fact that its an iTunes card, its the fact that he went out his way to get it for me.
Rhyn also went out of his way and got me one as well, thought i would wait till now so i can say a big, public thank you to both of them.

It's strange talking in third person when i know you will read this, JJ and Rhyn :P
But the gifts you got me have made me so happy.
Yes, you might be saying it's only an iTunes card but as i said it's more than that. Never does the expense or the size of the gift count and this is reflected through these iTunes cards.

The smallest things are just a token of caring, warmth and love and it means so much to me coz you have made my past few days extremely happy. And you always do, with or without gifts, i love you both.


And that goes for everyone here too, everybody's comments and emails matter to me greatly and i love them and i love all you guys, thank you so much for just being here for me. It means a lot.


Love,
Rowan

Today's Activites

It turns out i was wrong about the whole situation with D and his brother.

Nothing happened.

So i was right in a way.
It was all just macho bullcrap.

D and his brother both get on the same bus as me but they never said anything on the way to school so i had a feeling nothing was going to happen.

It actually turns out that Steven got a hold of D's number and sent him a text saying he was sorry.

There you go then, situation resolved.


What else happened today?

No biology pass mark received yet, although i still doubt it will be as low as 48%.
Still, i live in hope.


I got my times and dates for my final music perfoming exam.

Bass guitar is first. It is at 11:50am next Thursday.
Guitar is second. It is two weeks after that. 18th March 10:15am.


I was quite surprised that they were this soon.
I thought they would be in along with the rest of the exams in about April/May.

It's not that it's a problem.
I know my bass pieces fairly well. Same ones as i did for the prelim back in October.
Changed the guitar ones about a little tho, but at least for the exam i can use an electric, which i think might have been a downfall in the prelim as i didnt get to use one.
So hammer-ons and pull-offs etc didn't sound right.
I can also use one of my stomp boxes for the final exam if i really want to show off, so i'm pretty sure the exam will go quite well.
I'm confident about it even though its about a month away!

No room for complacency tho!


Got a Media exam coming up next month as well.
It's worth 20% of our final grade and it's on analysing the front page of a tablopid newspaper which i dont find too difficult.
But imagine!
I get full marks in this, then get a similar score to what i got in my prelim and thats an A!!!

Thats seriosuly cool.
And seriously important i do well in it.


The math tests i was talking about last week are Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
I'm not too worried about it tho.
It's only one unit, not all three of them put together like the prelim.
We've been over what may come up in the tests and i'm fairly happy with it.


I didn't think i would have a lot to tell you guys about today but i do.


There's a guy in my Enlgish class who i barely talk to and we were put into the same group today for a task.
At some point i mentioned Muse (as i quite frequently do) and then we end up having this long discussion about Muse!

He's a pretty hardcore fan, not quite my level, lol, but he surprised me big time. He seen Muse way before i did, even way before i had heard of Muse he had heard of them. Back in 2006 he was at a concert!
I sure Hope we're doing the same task again tomorrow.


But it isn't Muse that is occupying my musical mind today.
I'll tell you who is :

Scissor Sisters


Really! They are what i'm listening to at the moment.

Specifically the song Take Your Mama.


Steven and Alex freaked when they seen that on my iPod.
"What the hell Rowan!?"
"Are you serious Rowan!?"

"Yes, deadly serious"

and they laughed at me.

"You know they're gay, right?"

"Yeh, so? That isn't going to stop me listening to a band"

They just gave me a whatever kind of look.

And then on the bus back home Alex jokes, "That can be our next concert, eh? Scissor Sisters!"

"I like them but i dont think i'd be going to one of their concerts" i told him.

He says "Yeh just loads of gay people there looking for some bum"


Suuuuuure.
Every single person at a Scissor Sisters concert just wants to hook up for sex like ALLLLL gay people do, dont they?
Pah.
How i would have loved to say that right to his face, with added sarcasm.
(Then tell him i am gay, punch him in the face and run off :P KO)


I just stared out the window and chose not to answer his remark.
What i usually do nowadays when someone brings up a gay comment, i just don't repsond to it.

Does it raise suspicion?
I don't know.

Nobody has said anything to me about it, so until somebody does i will keep on not responding to such comments.


Wow.
I never thought i would have wrote that much when i started. Things just kept coming.


School does seem to occupy me a lot,
I was definetely occupied today in school.
Not just by subjects and tests but i was thinking of JJ and Mike all day long.
About 2pm (British time) was when they would have got to school, and they'll still be there as i write this.

I hope things went ok....

I hope JJ sorted things out.

Won't know for a few hours yet i suppose, so i wait with anxiety and i leave you with Scissor Sisters.


Cheers,
Rowan




This song is just so awesome in my opinion.
Apparently it's about the lead singer coming out to his mum.
Some lyrics suggest this and some don't.

The lyrics about the wedding does.
And pretty much the whole second verse does.
It's the way i interprete the song anyway and i love it so much.
Here's the lyrics for you to make up your own mind :



When you grow up
Livin' like a good boy oughta
And your mama
Takes a shine to her best son
Something different
All the girls they seem to like you
Cause you're handsome
Like to talk and a whole lot of fun

But now your girl's gone a missin'
And your house has got an empty bed
The folks'll wonder 'bout the wedding
They won't listen to a word you said

[Chorus]
Gonna take your mama out all night
Yeah we'll show her what it's all about
We'll get her jacked up on some cheap champagne
We'll let the good times all roll out
And if the music ain't good, well it's just too bad
We're gonna sing along no matter what
Because the dancers don't mind at the New Orleans
If you tip 'em and they make a cut

Do it
Take your mama out all night
So she'll have no doubt
That we're doing oh the best we can
We're gonna do it
Take your mama out all night
You can stay up late
'cause baby you're a full grown man

It's a struggle
Livin' like a good boy oughta
In the summer
Watchin' all the girls pass by
When your mama
Heard the way that you'd been talking
I tried to tell you
That all she'd wanna do is cry

Now we end up takin' the long way home
Lookin' overdressed wearin' buckets of stale cologne
It's so hard to see streets on a country road
When your glasses in the garbage
And your Continental's just been towed




Love you guys :)

The Past Week at Home

It's been pretty awesome to be honest with you.

With my brother gone and my dad gone it's been a lot more quiet around the house and i've really enjoyed that.

Although they are due back within the hour and things will be back to their slightly busier and normal selfs.


But it has been good.

For example, me, my mum and sister have treated ourselves over the past 7 days to take aways and days out and lots of other stuff.
Like, a random outing to a cafe down the road, making hot chocolate together, making pancakes together.
Doing a lot of stuff that my dad wouldn't have done if it were he, instead of my mum here.

But as i've said, i have enjoyed the more quiet nature of the house in the past week.
It has been a lot more relaxed and a lot less busy.
My dad sorta has this "busy" presence about him like he's always doing something important and my brother hasn't been screaming down his Xbox headset so it has been nice to get a rest from that.

Also, one thing i only realised the other day - i've been the man of the house for the past week.
Not that i've done much to fulfill that role, but it's a nice title :P

My "manly" duties consisted of spending copious amounts of time watching movies, sitting on the computer, playing football with friends.
Just like normal.
But it felt like there was a bit more freedom to it and that was savoured however, it is just about at it's end now.


Anyhoo, i also wanted to address some issues from comments on the last post.

Dru - Hearing someone say Muse sound like Radiohead is a Muse fan's worst nightmare! Particularly after listening to a song as strange and unique as Megalomania.

The first album by Muse "Showbiz" had elements of Radiohead but since then....no
Megalomania is the closing track off the second album "Origin of Symmetry". Listen to that full album and try to tell me Muse sound like Radiohead. In fact, listen to any album except Showbiz and try to tell me that.

Sorry for the rant but Muse are nothing like Radiohead.
Plus, they're much better.


Southern, R.Jimlad - Ash Wednedsay, as far as i remember, is the marking of ash on the forehead to celebrate the "holy spirit" (a sort of fire thing) coming down from heaven and descending upon the heads of the twelve apostles of jesus.
I think only Catholics celebrate it.
I know it sounds crazy doesn't it?
Just like a lot of things in the Bible. You read it, and only then do people says that its not supposed to be taken literally.....
Well why didn't you tell me that before i read it?

And also, i didn't "give in" to religion.
I chose to get the Ash to save questions i couldn't be bothered answering so i simply wiped it off when i was out of sight.


And lastly, just as general news - My biology prelim got a 48%.
To be honest, i wasn't quite expecting that, i thought it would be a lot lower but now that it's only 2% away from half marks, i'm feel rather let down.
The pass mark varies from year to year but my teacher doesn't expect it to be as low as 48% so it looks like i've faled biology too.

Oh and we went over the second maths paper today and i stand by my "on a different day i could have passed" statement.
Like the first paper there was a load of careless mistakes and not knowing what to do. I took a tally of my careless mistakes which was about a dozen in total. In the right frame of mind i don't think i would have made them and i would have passed but you win some and you lose some.


So, i'll get back to everyone with my final round up of Prelim results after biology is confirmed but now i must welcome back my dad and brother and get back to normal life inside this normally busy and noisy house.


Cheers,
Rowan

Results

Well today threw up a....mixed bag, if you will with some interesting results.

Beforehand i predicted myself to get a B or C in English and a B in Media.

Close but not quite.

English was an A.

Media was a B....sort of.


But as i said it is quite interesting.

English first.

They have a strange way of marking the papers. We sat three different ones.
Two essays and one Close Reading.
What they do is take the mark from Close Reading, multiply by 5, divide by 3. (Dunno why)
Theeeeen, add that total to the two marks from the essays.

So, my Close Reading mark was 19/30. Fairly decent.
Multiply by 5 gives me 95 and divide by 3 gives me 31.6

(Hope you're with me so far.)

So then i take my essay marks in which i both got 18/25 and add them to 31.6
So 31.6 add 36 = 67.6

So that's my final percentage 67.6%
B, as i thought.

Someone asks, "Sir, what's the cut off mark for an A?

"Oh it's 68%"


NOOOOOOOOO!

ARE YOU KIDDING!

0.4% away from an A!!!


So, i cheekily asked the teacher if we could just round it up to 68 and he surprsingly said yes as he had done so already on his marking scheme. (He is one of my favourite and easiest teachers to get along with)

Whew, relieved or what?

Very.

But very happy too, i was certainly not expecting an A in English.

So in a happy mood i toddled off to Media to get my result and to meet the teacher who is pretty much the opposite of my English teacher


Media, like English has a strange marking method which involves totalling the two essays and then multiplying them by 1.5
However they come up with that i don't know.

But my first essay got 25/40 and the second, 26/40.

So logically that's 51/80 giving me around 64%. B, no argument.

Fine and dandy.

But not so.

You take 51 and multiply it by 1.5 giving me 57.5%

"Miss, what's the cut off for a B?"

"58%"

"Can we round it up?"

"No"


Wtf.
Why?
She's an English teacher too, she would have rounded it up there so why not in Media?

Coz she was in a bitch of a mood.

As she usually is.

Some days she gets along with the class but most days she doesn't.

So i just said straight to her that i regard it as a B. She says to me that i'm not to and i say back that i'm telling my mum it's a B, so i did.

And my mum agrees.

The stupid system they have to work it out means i got a C.
Without their system i would have had a comfortable B but even with it, the teacher should round it up.

B.


Anyway, i know if there's any complications they can be discussed later.

But now, i reluctantly look to Biology which i assume i will get back tomorrow.

Along with Maths, Biology is one of my worst subjects.

So i don't hold my hopes high for it. If i get a C, great.

But speaking of Maths, we went over the first part today and where i fell down was due to a combination of careless mistakes and generally not knowing what to do.
When they go over the paper and say what you should have done i felt so stupid, i wanted to kick myself.

I'm convinced that on a different day i would have passed that paper.
Only 4 or so more marks would have given me the required pass mark which was 48% and i got 40%
I'm not going to beat myself up too much tho, i know i need to improve and i will.
There is a class test arranged for next week too so we'll see how that goes.

Err lastly, i did get the Ash on my forehead today after some deliberation. I thought it would be easiest and hassle free if i just got it. I don't discuss religion much with my friends although i would be open to, so i would probably have got a few questions from them and perhaps my guidance teacher too who thinks everyone should get it.
So i got it and just wiped it off after the crazy cult gathering had finished :P

J/K

Although it was quite funny. Steven asked me what you say after they give you the Ash.
They say, "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel"

So he thought you replied "Amen" but i said to him that you should reply "No"

Lmao.

I don't even think you need to say anything so i didn't but "No" was on my mind as i went to receive it.

No, i'm not a little rebel kid haha, i think you can tell from my mostly nerdy Prelim results. :P

They played a song during the receival too so we were wondering what it was going to be.
Steven suggested the very heavy "Dead Star" by Muse and i suggested the very anti-religious "Megalomania" also by Muse. Had a little chuckle about that although it turned out to be a Save Haiti song.


Anyway i'll embed Megalomania and if anyone tells me they like the song i will be very surprised :P
Great song in my opinion but not just because of the themes of it.



Cheers guys,
Rowan


P.S Megalomania means to have delusions of great wealth and power and also means to have an obsession with extravagant things or actions.




I'll post the lyrics too :


Paradise comes at a price
that i am not prepared to pay
what were we built for?
could someone tell me please?

The good news is, she can't have babies
and wont accept gifts from me
what are they for?
they'll just grow up, and break the laws you've loved

Take off your disguise
I know that underneath it's me

Useless device, it won't suffice
i want a new game to play
when i am gone
it won't be long, before i disturb you in the dark

Paradise comes at a price
that i am not prepared to pay
what were we built for?
will someone tell me please?

Take off your disguise
I know that underneath it's me


Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh Ooooooooo (random falsetto)

Lol

Tomorrow

Just a quick post regarding tomorrow's happenings.

Tomorrow will probably bring about the rest of my Prelim results.
So that's English, Media and Biology.

Actually, Biology will be Thursday but hey.


We're gonna have a Mass at some point as well. Probably in place of R.E which sucks coz R.E is well fun!
Confused?
Yeh, the teacher doesn't make us do work we just normally chat about current events and me and Steven piss about so it's annoying that we have to miss that.
The Mass will be about Ash Wednesday too.
I've just realised now that tomorrow might be the frst ever time i don't take the Ash....
That's a strange thought actually, i'll have to debate over that.

Also will be going over the maths prelim. That will be painful but at least i can identify the areas in which i need to improve...

(So, everywhere then :P)


Tomorrow afternoon will be tough as well coz English is followed immediately by Media so it will be a double whammy of results.
Let's just hope they're the postive type of results.

I can imagine it tho, getting a bad result in Enlgish which would just make me fear getting my Media result back.

*sigh*

Just gotta try and get through it i suppose.

Quite like the way the past week or so already has been for many of us, so i'm kinda getting used to that now.


Anyway, as always i'll keep you all updated.


Gfn


Cheers,
Rowan


P.S Gay for now, Ikey?
Nah i think it's rather long term :P

Prelim News

I've been getting some results back from Prelims this week and thought i would let you all know how i'm getting on.

I still have two to sit tho, Media tomorrow and Biology on Monday.
Both will be tough but especially Biology as it's pretty much my weakest subject along with maths....not a sciency person me.

Anyway the results i have got back so far have all been A's.

Good times.

But i don't see them all remaining that way unfortunately.
We can't all be perfect.

So here's what i've got back so far


Spanish : Reading - 22/30
Listening - 16/20
Writing - 20/20
Speaking - 30/30

Giving me 88/100 so overall i got 88%!


Music : Listening - 31/40
Performance - 43/60 (the music playing back in October)

So it gives me 74 out of 100 - 74% (Just an A)


Modern Studies i only got back today and they handed it out each section at a time, i did pretty bad on the first section and i was dreading the next two papers but i made up for it and got 79% overall!

British Parliament - 16/26 Boo!
Crime and Law - 23/24 Yay!
America - 16/20 Meh!

So that's 55 out of 70 - 79%


Gor French back as well but not all of it. I've done well so far tho.

Writing - 20/20
Speaking - 30/30

Listening was awful. I made two dreadful mistakes. I mistook the word "trois" as the number 2 when in fact it is 3....
Gah.
Would have given me two extra marks to my abysmal 13/20.
15/20 is what i really should have got at least.

But that just leaves me to wait for my reading results which i'm sure won't be too bad.
So far i have 63/100 but that means i only need about 10 marks out of 30 in the reading to secure an A. Something i am quite confident of. :)


Something i am not confident of tho is maths.
God awful.
I sat it a few days ago and i really didn't get much sleep so i was tired and im not even good at maths when im not tired!
To be honest, i think i might have failed it.
The papers were difficult and the teacher said today that she was happy overall but there are concerns over a few individuals. Surely me.

I was definetely not expecting an A in all subjects.
I have 3, probably 4 A's already so i can't be too displeased, i'm doing ok.

So i have to wait for the last bit of French. Then English and Maths and then Biology and Media which i haven't sat yet.
So final results may not be for a couple of weeks.


Anyway, i divert attention away from my tests and onto something else.
A new blogger.
A special new blogger.

JJ.

I talked about him a few days ago and told you i was talking with him a lot on MSN, and i still am.

He's got his own blog now after many of us were going way off-topic on RB's discussion pages. (Sorry Tristan)

It is : http://3jhome.blogspot.com/
The name of his blog is JJ's Yacky Box, a great name in my opinion!

Please go and visit him, say hi, link to him, follow him etc.
He's so sweet and awesome and he deserves it.
So go ahead....make his day.....punk.

:P

Cheers,
Rowan

P.S I've recieved a few more followers in recent days so i just want to thank everyone, old and new, for reading my blog!
And also thanks for all your comments, especially over the past couple of days, they've all been real supportive and it means alot to me. Love you all!

Week Recap (50th post!!!)

50th post woo!

:P

This week for me was, as expected very busy, eventful and amazing!

Don't worry, i'll explain.


Tbh, it wasn't as busy as i expected it to be, it was busy enough but i still had the time to come on the computer etc.
But i thought i would leave it all for one big post.

So, on Monday i had my first prelim.
In Music.
Had to get there early so me and Alex arranged for his mum and my dad to taxi us to school each day coz the bus can be unreliable sometimes.

But the Music prelim wasnt really a proper test. It was more like, "Let's just get this out the road, eh?"
So, i did my test working on a hardback book resting on a xylophone :P
As i said, not really a test.

But i learned most the stuff and from the attitude the teacher took, we all did fine.

Good times. :)


Tuesday brought about French.
This is where it started, Music was like a preparation to settle into the week but French was full on.
Not that i had any problems as it is one of my best (although disliked) subjects. Found no problems with the reading paper, listening paper or my writing piece.
The listening was the toughest really, but nothing major, so all good in the French department.

Spanish on Wednesday was the same. One of my best but hated subjects and i don't think anything went wrong.

Thursday and Friday were the most challenging days tho. They saw the prelims in Modern Studies and English, if you don't study for them, you're in trouble.
So Wednesday and Thursday night i studied like a madman.
And it is difficult to gauge how well i think i did in both.
You can tell with languages but you can't really with these two.

They both pretty much consisted of writing for 2 hours non-stop, that was quite something!
I finished both papers which is good but i doubt i got full marks or anything.
Modies looked at subjects like British Parliament *yawn*, Crime and Law in Society and American Culture so i needed to know my stuff there and i answered all the questions but i still dunno how the results will be.

English consisted of writing two essays. One Prose (a novel) and one a poem.
My prose was Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (i book i find i can very much relate with) and my poem was To a Mouse by Scottish poet Robert Burns. *yawn*

Jekyll and Hyde essay went very well i think, wrote non-stop. But i was a bit more hesitant on To a Mouse and i think i started rambling a bit. (Like right now :P)

But anyway, in terms of tests last week, they went very well.
Although on Friday i woke up feeling dreadful but i knew i had to go into my Prelim so i grinned and beared it. Went home straight after and went to bed. I'm better now tho.


Well thats all for school and tests but there's something else that made my week very exciting.


Thats to say, the Discussion Page on "A Rent-Boy Named..."

It started on January 18th actually.

On the FAQ page, a poster named JJ started having a discussion with one of the site's most known readers...G.


I didn't think anything of it first (i wasn't spying on them lol, i usually read most comments posted)
But then JJ revealed he was 13, and everything halted.


13. Wow.

I thought i was the youngest RB reader! lol.

Nah, thats not it.

G suggested they move to the discussion page and this is where i disappeared for a few days for studying.
I returned to find G asking on the page if i would like to talk to JJ, and of course, i obliged.
This was after some misunderstandings between people but then it sorted itself out.

The reason for my last post was to let JJ get my email address and i was delighted when i got an email from him.
The whole reason for these emails was that JJ was able to ask me questions tht he didn't want to ask adults.
And boy did he ask!
I'm not the best person for asking advice but i think i did myself proud on answering JJ's questions.
He said i explained as well as G! And if you know what G sometimes says then wow!
That made my day when he said that.

So the emails went back and forth for a couple of days last week and i suggested MSN to him, which he didn't really know about but then his....special friend, (M, we shall call him) helped him out and i stayed upto 3AM on Saturday morning talking.
But man, it was worth it. JJ and M are great guys.
That doesn't even say enough.

They are special.

They have found each other at such a young age, and they both know that each other is gay and i don't doubt that they will have many years together.
So i was talking to them again last night and got a little teary thinking about alot of things.

That is - With all the hatred in the world, all the killing and wars, if there is a God, how can he let that happen?
But then you see something like these two boys finding each other in a small town and it makes you happy. You thank God for things like that i guess.
It made me happy anyway. The relationship between the two is just....phenomenal. I hope it never ends.

It makes me happy that they have found each other coz they can be open as they like.
And at the same time, it makes me sad coz i don't have anyone like that i can speak to.

But one day, i will move away from where i live in now. (it's not too bad, but i don't really like where i live)
And go somewhere else.
I've always thought about returning to California coz i remember it well from when i went there on holiday....

Anyway, that's a wrap people.

Thank you if you have read this far, i know i have typed a lot.

Cheers,
Rowan


This song sums up my week in a nutshell. It's a lovely song and fits perfectly with the week i had.
Hope you like it.

Taking a Break

Yeh, the time has come

You've probably noticed i haven't posted in a while, neither have i been on msn.

I do apologise for not warning in advance but the reason for this is mainly down to studying.

It doesn't take up my whole day of course, but it takes up enough and personally, i feel the need to take a break from blogger for a bit.


Dunno how long, nothing major though.

Definetely this week, possibly next week and the one after that as well.

Coz of my Prelims coming up.

I have one every day next week.
(Music Theory, French, Spanish, Modern Studies and English)

Two the week after (Media and Maths)
and another one after. (Biology)



So it's busy, busy.

I can't really afford the luxuries of msn and the likes.


I'll still check my mail tho, so if you're wating to contact me i'll still respond but posts will be limited for the next couple of weeks.


Wish me luck with my Prelims :)

Cheers,
Rowan

Past couple o' days

Sorry, i haven't posted since Friday i think it was...

I've been getting my new room squared up :)

That's right...new room!!!


We actually went ahead with it, it took most of Sunday but here we are now.
Fair play to my mum lol.

The room isn't exactly how i want it at the moment but i think it will be tweaked a little at the weekend.



The past couple of days are a complete contrast to how i was feeling on my last post.
I feel a like i have a lot more space now.

It's not just the room that's done that for me but...

*drum roll*

I bought Steven's "old" ipod touch off him :D
He got an iphone for Christmas and offered me his for just 70 quid.
I didn't give him the full 70, but 20 and i'll pay him fully as i gradually get more money, coz i don't really get much.
But he's fine with it and said i can take my time over it.

That's what strange with him.
One second he can be the biggest bigot, homophobe whatever and the next he is all nice and friendly and loyal....
Strange one.

Anyway, i am now free to browse the web as i want.
Just a simple delete history, cache and cookies in Safari on the ipod and it's wiped.
Unlike the computer here where it gets stored in Temp Files or whatever.

So....porn at any time of the day! :P


But i won't blog from it, that would be a pain, i'll blog with a proper keyboard. ;)


The past couple of days then, in school.

Quite busy.
Loads of preparation for Prelims (beginning on the 25th)

Got practice writing prelims as well in French and Spanish.
French on Friday, Spanish on Monday.

Spanish is a toughy.
Speaking exam tomorrow but i know it pretty well.
And then for celebration....Wolfmother!!! Yay!!!

I have to wait until 1:20pm tho, so i'll be a nervous wreak by then lol.
But it should be alright.

So, trying to do the french writing practice will be rather meh but i'll use the Spanish exam as an excuse. And to be fair, it is fairly valid.

But the homework is piling up.

According to my guidance teacher we should be doing 3 hours during the week and 5 at the weekend.
I'm sorry, but i need a life and he's an arse.

I probably do about half of that and it's sufficient enough i would say.
I'm not failing anything so there we are.

Also, i attended my first Supported Study class today.
It's like an after school class thing.
But unlike most where it's optional this one was mandatory.

And what subject was it?

Yep, Spanish :P

I didn't go to last weeks class so she demanded i go to this one.

Bah, i don't like her but she does get results out of you



Thanks for all your comments on my last post.
And just to answer one question that has been asked - My brother is 13.

I'm sorry but a lot of 13 year olds are idiots.

I would certainly say i was.
I was just a moody brat a few years ago and my brother seems like that most of the time.

Anyway, as i said, a lot 13 year olds are. Not all.
Quite a number are very mature but with my brother around i don't see it.


Lastly,
I watched a very interesting "movie" recently.

It's a short Northern Irish film called James. It's about a 12/13 year old dealing with his sexuality and it's only 17 mins long so if you're interested check it out.

http://www.btn101.com/video/3882/James

BTW, when i watched it, i found it to be out of sync a little but it's nothing major.


Actually, that wasn't the last thing i was going to talk about.
Speaking of Northern Ireland i thought i would mention Iris Robinson.

The mad woman.

I was listening to a radio programme speaking about the whole controversy and whether or ot we should have sympathy for her.

I don't.


She's in deep therapy or something now.
But she got what was coming to her in my opinion.

She's such a hypocrite.

Firstly, she condemns homosexuality saying "The bible condemns it and it is an abomination"
Then she goes and has an affair....which is also condemned in the bible.


I have no sympathy for her whatsoever, she should learn to keep her big trap shut. The loony.


Anyhoo, i'll post again probably on Friday and let you know about Spanish, the concert etc.

Cheers everyone,
Rowan


P.S Thanks YouTubeBoys for following me. I linked ya. :P

Steven's House

I always enjoy going to my friend Steven's house, it's laugh after laugh and great fun excluding all the racism and homophobia etc.

And i was off to stay again yesterday, in celebration of his birthday.
Alex came too and Steven's brother was around as well.
We didn't go to his house straight away, he picked me up at about 11am, then Alex, then off to this big fun centre place with loads of different places inside. (forgot it's name =P)

We played crazy golf firstly, which was awesome, i played not bad, neither did Steven, Alex played a stinker but Steven's dad won in the end.
Just loads of banter flying around though so the final score wasn't all that important but about halfway through, an incident occured. This group of 2 or 3 young children were running around and getting in the way, so Steven's dad told them to stop or else he would "wrap the gold club around their head"

Smooth.


Coz near the end of our round, their parents approached us and had a go at Steven's dad. He argued that they shouldn't have been unsupervised in the first place, but he was the one that threatened them at the end of the day.
It was quite a serious although funny thing to watch but ultimately, they were both in the wrong.

(Anyway, i've learnt from that that Steven's dad doesn't take any shit, you don't wanna mess with him.)


With that all behind us, we headed for Burger King and then went Ten-Pin Bowling.


Now, i never considered myself to be any good at it, and i was secretly not looking forward to it (would happily have gone straight home) but i surprised myself!
And i would have won, if it weren't for Steven's brother using the barriers to stop his ball rolling off =P

I enjoyed it again and found i was actually not bad at it (got 3 strikes!) the rest played averagely (haha) apart from Alex who again played awful lol.

To add to things, the parents and their children at the crazy golf showed up in the lane next us (call it a coincidence) but they never said anything.

:S


They clearly weren't bothered about earlier and were just trying to make something big out of nothing at all.


So, after this we headed to Steven's house and listened to Muse in the car, us three looking like loonies bouncing around in the back lol.


When we got there, the Arsenal game was put on.


Wasn't too exciting.
Me and Alex cheered when West Ham scored just to piss off Steven and his dad but Arsenal went onto win 2-1.


Not much happened after that until later but it marked the start of Steven and his dad sharing their discrimination when they felt necessary.
And they clearly felt very necessary.

Now i admit, while they can be funny, what they said kinda got to me but i just sorta pretended to laugh and didn't say anything to add to it.

The house seems works on a "whatever you want to say, say it....as long as it's rude and insulting" policy.

I didn't really chip in.

Honestly.



But some of the things said were a bit much.
I know to expect that in Steven's house but it still annoys me, it's the only downside really.

Things like :

Muslims offering their sons to Hamas as suicide bombers cause they found that there sons were gay.

(Double whammy there)

This was said by Steven in front of his dad as well. He doesn't care what you say, there are no rules there which is cool but it means things like that are said.

Unfortunately, it didn't get much better.

After his dad went to bed the porn channel was put on.


*Yawn*


Then more gay jokes started - mostly from Steven.


*Yawn*


The matresses were placed in the living room for the three of us, so we had the big tv and wouldn't disturb anyone else.

It was getting late and the porn and gay jokes weren't entertaining me at all so i went to sleep, leaving them to say what they liked.


But this is where the worrying part happened.


I woke up at some point and the tv was still on and they were still talking, so i just pretended to be asleep, but they were talking about me....rather, talking about my sexual preferences.

How nice of them, behind my back.

I think i latched onto the end of the conversation but here it is anyway.

It was Alex who said, "Did you notice something about Rowan?"

Steven : "Huh, what?"

Alex : "Well, he fell asleep when we were watching porn."

*Silence*

Alex : "You would have thought he'd be interested in it, no?"

Steven : "I dunno, maybe he was just tired"

Alex : "Well, to tell you the truth.....i've wondered for a while if maybe he was.....gay"

*I'm petrified at this point*

Steven : "Nah, he's not one of them, he's not a bum-bandit"

*Ha*

Alex : "I'm not sure"

Steven : "He better not be"


And with tht it ended, although we did talk together later about school and stuff....nothing was mentioned but i wasn't getting much sleep after that.

I just felt like yelling at Steven.
Not so much at Alex coz i don't know where he stands on it, but it's a dead-cert with Steven. He wouldn't be happy if he knew.
Alex is one of the only two people i've ever thought about confiding in it with, but now i'm having second thoughts.

Either way, i'm not looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.....in school.


Which brings me nicely to school actually.


This holiday has just flown by, wasn't the most enjoyable holiday, was nice to relax but tomorrow marks the start of the so-called "Term of hell"

Tests, Prelims, Studying, Exam Preparation.

And the rest.


It's gonna be tough, and as i've said previously, my posts may be limited in the next few months. Although i've done okay so far i don't know how bad things might get.

I have my Spanish speaking exam on the same day as the Wolfmother concert in a few weeks. And the prelims start at the end of this month. The final exams start at the end of April, are spread throughout May and finish in early June.


So i fully expect to be bombarded with work.


Wow. It's come quick.


That's really all i've got to say for now,
I've got to go and prepare for tomorrow, oh joy, i'll probably post again a couple of times this week and i'll let you all know if/when it's getting tough to do so.

Cheers,
Rowan

9th November - 15th November 2009

I will talk about said week later in the post but just thought i would mention what happened today :)

Wolfmother tickets went on pre-sale this morning and Alex's mum managed to get 3 that we were wanting so we will get to see them in January. It will be so awesome:D

As soon as we could at first interval we ran off into the nearby woods to make the call to his mum, who confirmed that she got them. Standing places as well!

* * *

Anyway, onto talk about this week in November. 9th - 15th.

IT WILL BE AMAZING

Firstly, it's my work experience that week. I will be working in a music recording studio, only a few streets away, the people there are really great and of course, love music. So i have no doubt it will be pretty enjoyable. Oh, and the hours?

12pm - 4pm

So i'm only in for four hours a day!

Now i know Mirrorboy has been doing work experience recently but from what i can gather, it is set out differently to mine.

It seems his lasts over a period of a few weeks and he goes in once a week.

Mine will last over 1 week and i go in everyday.

I prefer it that way.....no school. Simple as.

So, work experience in a music recording studio, Mon - Fri, 12pm - 4pm. No school.

Not a bad deal.

But that isn't all that's happening that week......noooo

I will be attending two concerts that week!

Muse and Kasabian, two of my favourite bands.

So yes, it will be a fairly busy week and potentially one of the best of my life. I'm just looking ahead to that with great impatience. It won't come soon enough! Hurry Up! lol

Just gotta get these next few weeks out of the way and then i can enjoy myself.

And i really do have to enjoy that week coz there won't be many more like it afterwards.

November is where the real hard work starts in preparation for exams, which take place in April - June next year....

Prelims are before that tho, most take place in January and February, so they may clash with Wolfmother......gotta hope they don't.

Some prelims, as you might now, take place now and December : Music and French

Music is half-done (2nd part being next Thursday) and French Oral (lol) will be in December. Merry Christmas! HAHA Thanks for that French teachers....

That's looking quite far ahead tho, so for now i will just look forward to that magical week in November that won't come quickly enough!

Cheers,

Rowan