In continuation...

I thought the film was really well handled, with the introductiona as to how Jews were treated then, and, yes, of course Shylock appeared the alien (there's that great line that actually refers to him as an alien) and of course there is an element of anti-Semitism in the play, but I think that was reduced through the way Michael Radford handled it. Anyway, I thought it was an excellent production. Thoroughly recommend it.

I'm not very happy with the lack of local tube services. To be fair, the Silverlink (national rail line) and Bakerloo lines are running from Kenton, but there's no Metropolitan line between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Aldgate and no Jubilee between Stanmore and Neasden. There are rail replacement buses, but I hate sitting on them through all the traffic and they're often icky buses and you don't know how regularly they'll come. I don't mind taking them to get home, but I don't like having to rely on them to get anywhere... you can't guarantee getting there on time unless you leave ages to get there.

Hmmm. Slowly procrastinating more and more. *doesn't like Streetcar* Grrr. I like Keats. Although I haven't necessarily been reading the set poems... :S Hmm. Maybe I should. But P4 is so much lovelier to go and just do. Especially now that Daniel's lent me his graphic calculator (which are allowed in exams and are oh-so-brilliant when you have to sketch graphs). :D But I should go and write a Streetcar essay and then do some P4 methinks. And then some Keats after that. Yes. That's right. Don't procrastinate longer doing other time-wasting things like chatting and tidying my room and playing with the graphic calculator trying to work out how to use it and the like. Nonononono. Work. Work. Hmm.

Orange Wednesday

Woo, I love Orange Wednesdays. There's a strange sense of satisfaction when you get in to the cinema for £2.90, and it's a good film. Went to see 'The Merchant of Venice'; was very impressed. Prolly the best film adaptation of a Shakespeare play that I've seen in a long time. Normally I hate film adaptations. Theatre is much better (well, obviously when they're plays to start with, as that is the intention, but even with novels: I still find the theatre much more preferable: your imagination still has to work hard. An interesting article on said concept, written by Philip Pullman, http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,,1358066,00.html, yes, I'm a Grauniad reader.) and normally I can't stand most of what they do to films these days. It just doesn't usually work. But this time. Wow. It did. And Al Pacino didn't sound overly American either. He made an excellent Shylock.

Right. More tomorrow morning when I'm not being whispered at that I shouldn't be on the internet so late at night. (It's now 00.30, and no it doesn't take me 50 minutes to type that. I procrastinate lots. And multitask (I am a woman after all). And no, it's not late for me, but my father thinks it is.)

Finished the cryptic!

I finished the Grauniad cryptic crossword... and on the right day! First time I've managed that. Grauniad is usually really hard... hm. Either they've made them easier because it's a Bank Holiday, or I'm actually getting better at them. Mind you, I do usually find Rufus somewhat easier than the others. (Today's was written by Rufus.) Proof that I managed it:



Google update: I now get two results for phrstomnicalisms on both IE and Firefox. Whether that has anything to do with the fact that I emailed google about it, I have no idea.

This googles!

Woo! My blog is indexed on google! Actually, can I ask a favour of y'all? Search phrstomnicalisms on google in whichever browser you have, and let me know how many results are listed, and which browser you used. For some absurd reason I'm getting a different number of results dependent on which browser I use. For me, there are three results in IE, whilst only two in firefox. I promise I'm not getting you to do this to increase google ratings or whatever it is when lots of people google search a site. I don't care about that. (Although of course I am happy it now comes up when googled.) I'm just curious about the difference.

Hmmm. Haven't blogged for a while. Don't really know why, seeing as it's the holidays, and I would have thought I would blog more then, since I would have more time to waste. I suppose I haven't had anything blog-inspiring, or, invariably, whenever blog inspiration hits, the computer is in use by another family member. *sighs* Ah well, blogging now.

Birthday (my 18th, on the 21st, Tuesday) was good and enjoyable; although we only managed to open the champagne we were going to open on the day last night, but what the heck, it was still a good day, and the bubbly was still lovely. Mmmmmmm. Been joking with my mum that I'll take her to the pub... 'cept all she'll want is a coffee. *rolls eyes* Received rather a lot of yellow, smiley and colourful stuff, which, of course, made me happy. :D I like yellow, smiley and multicoloured stuff. :D

Today was an interesting Shabbat. Didn't have to get to shul 'til a bit later than usual, as there wasn't a youth service until mussaf (additional service for Shabbat), as opposed to the usual 9.30 stint (which I need to improve on... I've been leaving it a little late of late). Went to the Finesilvers' for lunch, which was rather nice. 'Cept it's a good half an hour walk to them from shul, and it was cold. And then a bit less to get home. But goinghome didn't seem too bad. Strangely, rather a lot of shops on Preston Road were open, including a barber (and there were actually customers in there too). We finished lunch about half an hour before Shabbat went out, which gave us time to walk home with two minutes to spare before havdala. Spent some of the evening watching TV with my parents (Harry Potter, which my mum managed to be confused by and I found the music incredibly annoying... never mind the characters and predictable story line, and Vicar of Dibley, which was predictably very funny).

Passed my grade 8!

Wooooo! I passed my grade 8! Only just, mind you; 104 when you need 100 to pass. But who cares? I passed!! Considering I thought I'd fail until I did it, when I thought I'd passed, but not that well. Eeeee. :D Naomi's happy.

I got a birthday card in the post today from Brent Council telling me that I'm old enough to vote, encouraging me to vote, etc. Bit random but still... first birthday card. :D (If you've sent one, don't worry, my mother has probably hidden it. She's good at that.) Birthday tomorrow (no hinting, honest). :D

Went shopping today and bought...a jumper (£6) and shoes (£7!), as well as books (cheap books in MVC! Two Kerouacs, 'Vernon God Little' and 'The Man in the High Castle'), a newspaper (Grauniad, of course), two things of mousse, new shampoo (I'm trying out different blonde hair cheap costing ones at the moment- if you know any good ones let me know. And not dyed hair ones. Blonde hair ones) and some mint poppets (mmmmmm).

Oh, and I managed to hand in my coursework. :) Whether the last third of it was the best I could do, I don't know. It was late by the time I was checking that bit.

*do coursework*
*do coursework*
*do coursework*
*do coursework*
*do coursework*

No. It's not working. Gahhhhh!

Today's papers

Having read today's Grauniad (yes, I read it late in the day, and I know I was supposed to be doing my coursework, but I wasn't in the mood and didn't overly have the time before our guests arrived for dinner) I actually can't believe they are thinking of "sidelining" or even banning plays like 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' in some states in America. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1369643,00.html) I mean, you can't sideline or ban modern supposedly "pro-homosexual" (I believe that is the term used) drama, and yet leave Shakespeare. Not that they should ban Shakespeare. Nonononononononono. Nothing should be banned. Is America not the "land of the free"? At least, I thought it was. Mind you, I've just remembered that I'm talking about a country where there are states that have banned 'Catcher in the Rye', 'Of Mice and Men' and 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Not to mention 'Harry Potter' and all Judy Blume books. Hmm.

Coursework

I have only just realised that I think I have been subconsciously avoiding rewriting (or *correcting and improving*) my English coursework. Hmmm. Maybe I should get a little further than I have done. But it's oh so much more preferable to do my other English work and read poetry and do lots of shiny differential equations and integration and differentiation. Oh so much more preferable. You can see I'm not the biggest fan of my coursework. ;) Deadline for the final draft is last thing Wednesday. I'm hoping to do something to mine by Monday, so that I can go through it with Ms Fink then and perfect it further for Wednesday. Hmmm. And Sunday is definitely not going to happen, since it's the JYO concert in the afternoon, rehearsals in the morning and family are coming around in the evening for a "chanuka tea". Or something like that. Hmmmm. Maybe I should do some tonight. At least sort out my awful (I don't know how I could write some of the stuff I did... I can't have been the most wide awake of people at the time I guess) sentences, tighten it all up and make it more focused; figure out what needs cutting, moving and added. Hmmm. Right, so I better be off to do some of that. Or, at any rate, I'll do some maths otherwise. Work, nonetheless. :)

Pretty necklace

The necklace I was wearing today. I think it's pretty and wanted to share it with you all. :)



(I'm not the best at self photography yet. ;))

Apple chupa chups!!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :D Naomi is very happy to discover apple flavoured chupa chups. I love apple flavour. :D Happy birthday to Braunold, and thanks for the apple flavoured chupa chup. :)

Numb thumb

Gah. All day JYO rehearsal translates into strained right thumb, which suffered from nins and peedles for quite a while whilst playing. Mrrrrrrh. And it's not like I could just *not* play for a bit and take a break, seeing as we were doing the pieces I have solos in at the end, when my thumb was hurting. :( Mewww. And the rehearsal ended at 4pm, and my thumb still hurts now. :( Naomi is not the happiest of bunnies. :(

Gunky hair

The only problem with putting mousse in one's hair is that the hair ends up rather gunky by the third day. Especially if more mousse had to be put in to keep it nice. Hmm. My hair needs washing: there's much too much gunk in there.

Played the moo game at BA this afternoon, and there was a girl who kept saying "so shall I moo by myself now then?".... despite not knowing what happens in the game. She was so enthusiastic and wanting to moo! It was quite funny. And cute. Went and ran 'Psychiatrist' with the boys during mincha (there were a group of them who had already davened, and so needed entertaining (as such), and as a girl (and therefore not obligated to pray) I was asked to go and run something for the duration), and the "psychiatrist" just didin't understand what was going on, never mind what kind of questions to ask and the like. Not to mention the fact that some of the other boys just randomly said "psychiatrist" when what had been said was true. Doh. Ah well, it was still fun. I like taking big groups. :D It's much much better than small groups. Damn Kenton being such a small sviva and having low numbers and small groups each week. Mrrrrh.

Plans for tonight have fallen through due to the lack of tubes locally (damn this no Metropolitan or Jubilee lines at the weekend thing), and so inability to get to Highbury, and other people cancelling. Would have gone to the cinema with Sara, but there were no showings at decent times that we wanted to go to.

Curly hair day

I couldn't be bothered to blow-dry my hair last night, so in went lots of mousse. :) Ergo, hair is curly. :) (Plus the addition of more mousse this morning.)

Unfortunately my cold is persistent as it has remained today, and (going by my last cold) will be with me for much longer (hopefully not quite as long as the last one, which lasted a record 7 weeks I think). *sniffs* I need to go and get a tissue. (Here return the days when I have a packet of tissues with me wherever I go.)

Grade 8 out the way...

Woo. :D And it went well. Or at least, I think it did, especially considering how awful I thought it would be. I actually knew the scales she asked me (she asked me for D major twice! Admittedly in different forms: once ordinary and once in thirds, but still... twice!), the sight reading felt funky and modern, and wasn't too tricky (I can't promise I kept to all dynamics and I'm not sure my staccati were quite staccato, but anyway), Mrs Roden said that it was my best performance of my pieces that she's heard me done before... the worst bit was the aural (and I'm never quite confident of that. Especially sight singing with a cold, when my ears are a little up the creek). Anyway, I'm sure I passed, which was my main concern (before I went I really didn't think I would). Yay. :D Naomi is smiley. :D (Not that I'm ever that un-smiley. Frowny, I guess the word is.)

Less manic reading

Right. And reading is now much less manic, but of course continuing. As is discussion with random people. :)

Silly UCAS for some reason know that Manchester made me an offer, but don't know the conditions, which is rather strange. :S

Off to practise some scales, methinks. *hums*

I don't like telling off my peers, really I don't...

But I just can't help it. I mean, if fellow madrichim (leaders, sorry, I'm talking about at my local youth group here) are just leaving everything to one person to do, and I don't just mean planning, I mean on the Shabbat (Saturday) afternoon as well, and when something is handed over to them, they try and rebound it off onto another, it's just not right. I mean, if we are supposed to be informally educating (and we are; no, it isn't indoctrinating, despite what some people think. If you want to hear my argument why, speak up), then the madrichim should be expected to know what they are about to give over... even if we are doing it in an informal setting and through playing games. They should plan their meetings properly, aimed at the number of chanichim (participants) they think they will have, as well as their respective ages, and know exactly why they play each game, so that they can link it all together at the end. I understand that I've had more hadracha (leadership) experience, having been a madricha both locally last year and at summer machane (camp), and so maybe can find/transform games to link in with a theme; but that doesn't mean they have to wait for me to come up with ideas. And general enthusiasm... it's just lacking. I mean, I try and play the 'energy ball' type game, where you have to be loud and mad and not mind acting like a monkey, and they just stand there like the chanichim, instead of enthusing them. I mean, come on. Gah.

I want to hear from Oxford!

Why can't they put me out of my misery and let me know whether I am being called for interview? I think it is just pure evil that they give less than a week's notice before the terrifying ordeal. I mean, I'm reading lots anyway, but it would be (more or less) manic if I knew whether (or not) I was to actually have an interview. And before you start commenting "everyone gets an interview," no, they don't. Mrrrggrrgghhh.

I got an offer to Manchester though. :) ABB with an A in maths, which is lovely (or for me anyway). Would write lots about the interview, but I'm too tired and have written in too many other places about it. It's enough to say that everyone called for interview was made an offer, and that the interview was good. :)

Today saw me at an 'Othello' study day, which surprisingly had more good lectures than bad. Admittedly only one lecturer managed to keep to the title of his lecture, but that doesn't detract from the good qualities of the others. :) I will no doubt discover my (in)ability to take comprehendable notes tomorrow, when I am supposedly reporting them back to the rest of my English class. Hm.

Interview tomorrow!

Gah.

Butbutbut

I did get a fitted shirt, which *fits*. :D Such an achievement, and Naomi is happy about it. Although I got measured at the same time, and was a seriously different and *scary* size according to them. But then, the shirt did fit better afterwards. Hm.

Interview on Thursday! Rarrrgh. Slightly scary, as I still don't know how much maths and how much English they may ask me. Humph. Why did I apply for such a rare and strange course again? Methinks I will still be reading 'Fermat's Last Theorem' on the car journey up there too, but then, surely that isn't the end of the world?

Hmmm... considering the other amounts of reading I also have to do... not to mention lots of chemistry and maths, most of which I don't understand. Humph. Why do teachers set homework on stuff they are yet to teach us? Or alternatively, stuff they think they have taught us, but not a single person in the class understands?

Rararggghargghaaghraghrammmragrhgar. Oooh, that's good.
Rararggghargghaaghraghrammmragrhgar. I like. :)
Rararggghargghaaghraghrammmragrhgar. Quite therapeutic too. (You have to understand, I actually think and speak half of what I type. It's strange. Like when I write :P, I actually stick my tongue out.)

Right... back to work and reading, methinks.

Busy busy busy

Busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy.

Get the message? It feels as if I don't even have enough time to blog properly. And yet I still manage to waste ever so much time doing I don't even know what.

Grrarrghghggghhh!

Gah

I think I have handed in a few to many cruddy essays this year. :S And I only do the one essay subject. Possibly due to the lack of argument in the majority of said essays, and the lack of enthusiasm to write said essays. And the temptation of procrastination. Poemmmmmmmmms....mmmmm. And I have good excuse to be playing the clarinet lots and lots and lots and lots over the next two or three weeks. (Arrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!! Grade 8 is way too soon and I don't know any scales!! Gahhhhhhhhhh.)

Naomi's sleepy. *yawns*

Haven't posted for a while...

...and so will now. :)

The week so far (and the few weeks coming up) have (and are expected to be) rather hectic, which isn't so great, especially when it's weeks on end. Ah well, it's Friday afternoon sleep time of year now, which makes it slightly more bearable.

Sunday saw me spending the day in Hillel House in Euston, in the morning for orchestra, and the afternoon for an aj6 Oxbridge interview preparation type thing. I didn't mind that: the day was enjoyable; it was getting home. There's no met line between Harrow on the Hill and Aldgate at the weekend at the moment, plus no Jubilee line between Neasden and Stanmore. For anyone who doesn't know, I live on the Met line and the Jubilee is pretty close too. To get to Euston I can also take the Silerlink, but when we finished on Sunday I went to Euston Station, and I would have had to have waited for half an hour for the next train to Kenton, which I wasn't really up for. So I went and took the tube, taking the Jubilee line to Willesden Green, and then taking a rail replacement to Northwick Park. This was all fine and dandy, until walking home from the tube station...which took twenty-five minutes! (This walk normally takes eight, so twenty-five is quite a bit longer.) It was dark, and there were scary drug gangs on the rape bridge, so I walked the long way home. But it took a long time and I got wet and cold. :(

Monday I went to the dentist in the morning (my teeth are fine :)), and then went on to school, and in the afternoon I went straight from school to Raleigh Close shul for Andrew and Rosa's sheva brachot. Which were wonderful, except there was something up with the PA system, which meant we did a much much shorter set than planned (although how they expected to quite fit in the full set, I have no idea). I liked all the balloons and party poppers and bubbles!! I love bubbles. :) (Little things please little minds.)

Hmmm... Tuesday. I went in late, did the maths challenge, went and had chemistry explained by Mr. Dawson (our new head of science, who knows what is in the syllabus, unlike my other chemistry teacher) and had English and orchestra in the afternoon. It just seemed busy, despite the late start. (Possibly due to not returning home until about 6.15pm.)

Today I don't overly remember, apart from having further maths and maths, but no other lessons. And I don't seem to have done enough work tonight either. Gah. Damn having four essays for the same subject at the same time. *silly teachers*

Responses to the American election.

The front cover of today's G2.
I rather liked this. The Guardian didn't do anything overly impressive with their headlines in the main newspaper, unlike the Independent, which had a cool spread of war photos, etc. with a black background and the words "FOUR MORE YEARS" between each row of photos, but I thought the cover of G2 was even better. Especially since they did so little with their headline of the main paper. All I can say is, at least Bush won legally and with the popularity vote this time. Better than the last. That doesn't mean I'm happy he won, just happy that he won slightly more fairly than last time. (Although I've heard so much about their campaign, which was sneaky.)

Second offer!!

*jumps up and down*
*jumps again*
I've received my second offer! *jumps and squees* This one is for Birmingham and I need to get the grades AAB with an A in English literature. A bit scary, but then, it is an excellent university. :D I'm very happy about that one, as you can probably tell. ;)

Oooh, and I received a letter yesterday inviting me to interview at Manchester. :) The only scary thing about that is that I now have to prepare for a maths interview. (I've applied for joint honours in maths and English at Manchester, straight English everywhere else.) I'm borrowing the maths university interview folder from school tomorrow and checking out what it has inside. ;) Still a little scary.

*dances* I have another offer! *dances and jumps* *grins*

Late night poetry writing, photos and stuff...

Poem first, methinks. (I wrote this last night, or maybe on Saturday night.)

Words
Fabricated fecundity
Impressing the reeling eyes and the seeing mind,
Not sure where
or why
or how
or who
Its meaning both clear and confusing
At once understood and uncomprehended.
Intending one thing,
Meaning another
The author's ideas confounded
And compounded by the reader's interpretations.

Why each particular word,
Each sy-lla-ble,
Each l-e-t-t-e-r,
All significant:
nothing doesn't have a reason.

And yet, wade in too deep
And you'll be lost,
Lost in a world of analysis,
Unable to see the wood for the trees.

If you just take a step back,
Not a mile,
Not a kilometre,
Not a metre,
Just a single step,
Look at what's in front,
what's behind,
and where you're standing,
The whole picture, the overall meaning,
How the colours blend to make the masterpiece
The notes to make the symphony
Then you might just realise
That there's no poınt at all.

Second: photo news. In August I blogged from Israel, on Torani machane: one day we went to Tel Azeka, and I whined that I had forgotten my camera and requested a copy of the group photo from there from anyone reading this with a digital copy. Well, Jonny Lipczer (*waves to Jonny*) "stumbled upon" my blog, read my plea and sent me the photo! Here it is:

(For those who have forgotten, Tel Azeka is where the Biblical story of David and Goliath happened. David was up where we took the photo, Goliath down by the road which you can't see in the photo.)

And other stuff...
I'm currently trying to find two essays that are vaguely decent and I don't mind talking about at interview to send off to Oxford (they sent me a letter asking for essays on Shabbat, as well as a separate letter with college allocations).

I'm rather annoyed that I didn't go to Limmud tonight (one-to-one Jewish learning), but I thought it best to appease my father. The only thing is, is that there is no Limmud next week, as it is sheva brachot (a big meal (party in this case) in the week after a wedding where the seven blessings from the wedding ceremony are repeated at Grace after Meals)- where I'm playing in the band. :D Lots of fun.

My grade 8 is scarily soon (within the month) although I still don't know the exact date, as they gave me a Saturday (grrr) so I'm going for cancellations and there haven't been any I could do so far.

Hmmm... I think that's about it. I'm sure there's other stuff that I've forgotten, but then I keep forgetting things of late.

Painting late at night

I painted this late last night, in celebration of finishing the first draft of my coursework, and just for some relaxation too. As with all my paintings, I'm not sure which way round it looks best. If you rotate it 90 degrees clockwise, that's the way round I painted it, but then, it doesn't always look best that way.


This is another photo of the same. I used acrylic paint.

'Hecuba' was good yesterday. :D I was rather shocked that one of the bodies in a body bag was an actual child as opposed to a manikin, and it was rather gruesome, but then that's Greek tragedy for you, I guess. Unfortunately when we got there they only had standing tickets left, so we stood for an hour and twenty minutes watching the play, which wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. And it was an excellent excuse to go and sit and have coffee for a long time afterwards. (I am beginning to worry that I'm addicted to coffee. I needed a drink the other evening and had some of my parents' decaffeinated coffee, and it just didn't do the trick. I had to have another drink afterwards. :S) And I finished the first draft of my coursework. :D

Procrastinating.... again

To the extent that I am actually writing this at 11.34pm, not 11.04 when I supposedly started writing this. Now that's procrastinating procrastination, which I think is pretty impressive.

Darn English coursework. It isn't that I don't like the text, but I don't like the essay. It just isn't nice. I mean, I reckon it is the better of two evils and I actually couldn't think up my own question or subject to write about, or else I would have, but still.... mrrgrhhrahhggh. (And no, I don't know what that sounds like, apart from like mrrgrhhrahhggh.) I've written almost 1600 words and I know there's more to write, but it feels so bitty and mrrgrhhrahhggh. I like that word. Mrrgrhhrahhggh. Mrrgrhhrahhggh. Mrrgrhhrahhggh. That felt good. And I want to paint some silk, except I don't have any plain silk in the house and I can't be bothered to go all the way to Greenford just to buy some silk. And I have lots of work still to do. A poem critique, maths and oodles upon oodles of further maths (an entire chapter of exercises on something I vaguely understand and then I have to teach myself another chapter, which is supposedly "easy". Yeah right. If it's easy, then I'm a Dutchman).
Not to mention the coursework. (Wha..? Did I mention something there?)

Theatre tomorrow. :D
(I like this font.)

A photo

Sara (my sister) and I at Nanny's 70th birthday party. (Nanny is my grandma. She turned 70 on the 20th September this year. Belated online birthday wishes.)

Going to see 'Hecuba'... anyone want to join us?

Kajal and I are planning to go to see 'Hecuba' at the Donmar Warehouse on Thursday ; we're planning on the matinée at the moment (it starts at 2.30pm). If anyone would like to join us, please let one of us know by Wednesday night. We'll let you know where we're meeting if we're meeting before or anything like that, but it should be good and has had some good reviews. For the Donmar's website, click here.

Oooh, I'm also planning on going to see 'The Tempest' at the Bloomsbury Theatre next week if anyone wants to come to that with me. I think the Saturday night is the only night with tickets left at the moment that I can make (it's only running for three nights, Thursday has sold out online I think and I can't do Friday night), and it starts at 7.30pm. Less is likely to come of going to see 'The Tempest' than 'Hecuba', as Kajal and I are definitely going to see that on Thursday. Let me know if you want to come to any. :)

New shoes!

I went shopping and I bought...

Smiley all over :D

I received my first offer today. :D:D:D Well, a letter informing me that I will be receiving through UCAS the offer of a place to study English at Leeds and inviting me to an open afternoon. :) So I'm incredibly happy and smiley, even though Leeds isn't my first preference, just because I've heard from somewhere and I've received my first offer. :) Despite not knowing what the conditions of the offer are, and silly UCAS don't know about it or haven't updated their site yet. *sends vibes to either Leeds to inform UCAS or UCAS to update their site*

Poemmmmmmmmms

The poetry I ordered on Amazon arrived on Friday. And that's two weeks early, which makes me much much happier and grinning all the time. Except it arrived on Friday morning (and my mum was lovely and texted me to let me know the good news) and then I didn't actually go home until Saturday night, which was rather upsetting as I wanted to read my new stuff! (Roger McGough's 'Collected Poems', by the way. As wonderful as expected.)

Yes, shiny new books. :) (I bought 'Titus Andronicus' too, but that is less exciting in comparison to the poetry. But it is also very good.)

Schoolwork. Lots of.

Don't you love how you have no work for ages, and then all of a sudden nearly every lesson is a test of some sort and you are set hours upon hours of work each night? And this always happen to coincide with consultation evening? Well, at least, I do. Chemistry, maths, further maths and English. Lots of work from each. With an essay set last week just 3 days after our coursework was set, and the essay (or at least my essay) approached 3000 words in length. Plus all the other stuff. And I'm convinced it's due to the fact that it's consultation evening tomorrow. Funnnnn. Humph.

Ill

Ugg. Damn doing too much in so little time it makes you ill.
I hate colds.

It always rains in London on Succot

Whatever one says about English weather (or whatever I say), however supposedly unpredictable it is (for example having blazing heat forecast and then it snowing- and that did happen), it always always always always rains on Succot. Always. And nearly always on the Succah crawl. (Although I am amazed that Jon managed to play 'captain's coming' in my garden, on the grass, in the rain, with little kids slipping over. But he did, and well done to him.)

Unfortunately, the roof of the rabbi's succah collapsed or fell in or broke on the second day of Succot, which managed to *slightly* change our plans, since we had an oneg (a programme thing) planned for the youth there (which was relocated to the Coopers') as well as all the groups going there on the Succah crawl (we sorted something out. More groups went to each of the succot we were already using). (Think pub crawl, similar but going round succot (the strange leaf-roof hut/tent things we build this time of year) and instead of getting drunk (we wouldn't provide alcohol to minors now, would we?) eating sweets, playing a game or few and possibly trying to teach them something. <- a Succah, except it's meant to have walls too. And there's a cute model one here.

But mrrrh, there's going to be lots of work to catch up. And I keep forgetting what I want to say. Hmph.

Ah, Hebrewisms.

Haha. I was searching the net for a movement shirt (the shirt I wear as a leader of my youth movement), thinking perhaps if I ordered it myself from Israel it would be cheaper, and came across an advert for בלוגים- transliterated to 'blogim'- which when I clicked on appeared to be a whole load of Hebrew blogs. Oh I do love how they use an English word (not even a proper word! A shortened word!) and then add the Israeli ending. Haha. :) *muses* I wonder what the plural of telephone and fax are in Hebrew. Hm. Anyone know? And how do they know if the word is masculine or feminine if it is stolen from another language?

New year, in more ways than one.

Not only have we just begun a new school year, but the Jewish year 5765 started 10 days ago, which translates into much missed school for Naomi and a 25 hour fast today. Funnnnn. The missing school aspect of Jewish festivals is definitely the con, due to the large amounts of catching up of work that needs to be done. It wouldn't be so bad, had I not chosen to go on a Spectroscopy day at UCL on Tuesday as well, and the fact that many classmates conveniently forgot to bring in their notes from the days when I was away, despite having 'phoned them the night before to remind them to bring them in. Ah well. I think I have notes to try to digest from all my missed lessons now. I even understand some of them. Now that's something.

Today was good. I even managed to refrain from reading anything secular for 25 hours this year, which is quite an achievement, I thought. I stuck to reading R' Aryeh Kaplan (z"l) last night before I went to sleep, and another of his books during the services, when admittedly I should have been praying, but there's so much, I mean, it's all day. I arrived at shul this morning at 9.30, and didn't leave the building 'til 8pm. And I didn't eat or drink. And anyway, reading some Aryeh Kaplan is better than reading say, 'Lord of the Rings', when you are supposed to be focusing on religion and getting close to God and stuff all day. Especially when the book is about finding God, and why He created the world, and why everything we do is for Him.

I went to the Rabbi's question and answer session during the break (our services don't quite take all day, so we had about an hour's break. It was supposed to be longer, but the services overran a bit) and there was the annual "why don't we wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur? And can we wear leather on any other part of our body?" question, along with a few other questions, including one about "Shabbat lifts" whereby there are some hotels (or high rise buildings) which have lifts that either (i) go up and down on their own, stopping at every floor, or (ii) have someone inside pressing the button, and is it okay to use them? (For anyone who doesn't know, we are not supposed to use electricity on Shabbat, and that includes pressing the button in the lift.)

Hmm. Well, I'm tired, so I'm heading bed-wards. Night. x

Woo! Home early. :)

General studies this afternoon is only for those who chose to do UAP last year, which meant I could leave at 10.20. :D Had a rather surprised Shirley at the door just now, who couldn't understand why I was home. (Haha. Her boys went to Habs, and apparently they weren't allowed home if they finished early, which I think is cruel.) She delivered some very nice flowers for my parents though. :) It's their pearl wedding anniversary tomorrow. And my dad retires (for the first time, as he keeps saying) today, so we are having a kiddush on Shabbat, which should be nice, if not just because my brother and sister-in-law are coming to Kenton for Shabbat, and so I can see them. :)

Anyway, off to enjoy my unexpected freedom for the rest of the day (it's sunnyyyyy).

School

We've been back at school now for... *goes to find diary so can count the days*... 5 days, with 2 being pointless time-wasters, one of which I could have spent much more productively making chicken soup and banana crumble (don't ask. Just never put cinnamon in, it ruins it) for 50 peopleand 3 days were lesson filled.

In true HBS style, they've been decorating and refurbishing through the holidays and have managed to not finish by the time everybody returns for the new term. Oh, I do love my school. Having said that, the drama department is now the bright zingy yellow that I wanted for my bedroom and was never allowed, and now having seen it on walls, it only confirms in my mind that that was the colour I wanted in my room. I would be able to jump out of bed in the morning with the strength of a lion (Shulchan Aruch) and would not be able to remain depressed for long. Also, yellow has that positive energy thing. You know, the thing which is shown through the fact that football teams that have a yellow strip often do well. (Not all though, I think. I'm not much of a football expert, I just remember reading the yellow thing somewhere and that being used as an example. I think Brazil are an example of this.) The common room (sorry, the blue room in the loft) is a lovely blue colour, a bit nicer than the one in the room I'm sitting in now. (The 'study' or Daniel's old room, as it is otherwise known.) Further examples of typical HBS-isms are the way in which some rooms now have interactive whiteboards. Which would be great, were there the electric sockets for them to be plugged in and a working computer system would help too. All forms of electronic registration are apparently down, and so we have had to resort to signing in to little blue books.

Work-wise Naomi is feeling alright at the moment. I actually did the English summer work over the summer, and so don't have to rush to finish it in time now (I finished all of my thingies, as opposed to just the first one, which is what we had to have finished) and so far we haven't been set any more, which is rather nice. (Although of course reading is going on... just no set written work or anything.) Maths hasn't been too bad: we've been given work to do, but not too much, which is always kind on the body. Further maths felt really intense: we had just three of us in the class- almost like a private school! Chemistry has become rather scary with quite a bit of work (or in comparison to my other subjects, anyway ;)), with a big table of ions to learn (although I know lots of them already :)) and a whole chapter worth of questions (which is quite a bit, as you have to bother to read the chapter to be able to do the questions).

Anyway, to bed with me. I'm leaving my personal statement for the day.

Caves, sems and late night shiurim.

This is really a blog for yesterday (Thursday), but also for the early hours of this morning. Yesterday was an interesting, varied day, with lots of different things happening and lots of ice cream (mmm.... biscuit cornetto).

In the morning (after Shacharit (morning prayers) and breakfast), we boarded the coach in "messy" clothes (or clothes we didn't mind getting dusty or "a little muDDy" (which seemed unlikely to me- the mud, that is- since there is little rain and little water in Israel as it is)) and headed off to a set of caves (which I don't remember the name of) where we were told the mysteries of the chalk quarrying caves and the Rav Mitch told us a scary story ("When the log rolls over, we will all be dead!"). We were then led on our hands and knees through a teeny weeny pitch black tunnel into a relatively tiny cave(well, it seemed pretty small with 30 or so of us in there anyway. We could barely move around in there), where we had the most amazing ruach (atmosphere- raise the roof singing type thing) which I loved. (And the girls did join in, boys. Just 'cause there are more of you. :P)

After that, we were supposed to go to more caves and tunnels but unfortunately (or fortunately for the claustrophobes) we didn't have time. However, we went to Tel Azeka (where the story of David and Goliath in the Bible happened) and Rav Mitch told us what he normally does with groups there (but we didn't have time) re-enacting the story a bit, admiring the view (which is absolutely amazing) and took a group photo (which is tradition at Tel Azeka, or so it feels). Anyone who has that group photo digitally, please send it to me. I forgot to take my camera up there with me. :S

In the afternoon, the boys went to Yeshivat Hakotel and had chevrutot (one-on-one learning) and a shiur (a text based learning session) with the Bnei Akiva (the youth movement I belong to) Rav Shaliach (Rabbi who comes from Israel to England for two years) who has just returned (we had a farewell party for him during pre-camp), although I think it was one or the other that they went to, as we were all running late and they didn't have time to go to both.

Meanwhile we (the girls) went to Nishmat (a seminary in Bayit Vagan, a suburb of Jerusalem), where we had an excellent shiur on the three parts of the Torah- the mountain, the field and the house. The Rabbi giving the shiur managed to connect this into various things, including the Temples, our forefathers and the studying of Torah. However, the shiur only lasted 45 minutes, we weren't given a tour of the campus (we saw one room and the toilet, although the room we were in was quite nice I thought) and we had an hour and a half to kill before the coach returned with the boys. So we went for a walk, bought ice-cream, walked a bit further and arrived at another shop where three girls randomly decided to buy dummies, which was rather funny. Charlie and Tamar drove past at one point, saw us, turned around and came to chat for a bit, which was fun and probably one of the highlights of our hour and a half of nothingness.

Tonight (it finished about an hour ago) I went to an optional shiur given by Benjy Myers about humility; asking why anybody has the right to stand up and tell someone else what to do. (This seemed particularly relevant as everyone here has just taken camp and so been in such a position.) I thought it was a good shiur, although it was rather long (it started at 11.30, and finished at 1.50)- I had two cups of Arabic/Turkish coffee. :) We were given two sources- one showing humility to be a good thing, and one showing it to be a bad thing. We had lots of discussions, and, fortunately, not everyone in the group was of the same opinion (although I suppose that is why the shiur lasted so long. But I like discussion :) ) and we had great ones about what humility is and the like.

Since then, everyone has been hanging about chatting etc. outside the building with our rooms in, which is fun, but I was growing tired, hence coming in and writing this. Anyway, enough for now- I need sleep!

It doesn't feel like Monday.

I haven't had a normal night's sleep since Sunday morning, due to last night's night flight. So, not only has my sleep pattern been mucked up (I've been told that I did actually sleep on the 'plane, but I don't think it was that much, since I heard the same four pieces of classical music at least three times each. They really shouldn't let that happen on a four hour flight. There is blatently enough music in the world to have different music playing for four hours. I also caught two hours sleep after lunch today, which explains why I can still write at this time of night), but I also can't properly tell which day of the week it is, due to the loss of a night.

I was rather annoyed when going through passport control in Israel, as I managed to go in the queue where everyone was being made to fill in landing cards (which they hadn't given out on the 'plane, and they normally do). I normally don't mind filling in landing cards, but they have recently been updated and changed, and they require even more information than they used to. What's more, I then got through passport control to discover that barely any other person in our group had filled one in.

But we did see Dovid in the airport. :) *waves to Dovid*

Exciting thing that happened yesterday: I finally found a recording of Schumann's Fantasiestücke (op.73)! It was 'free' with a BBC music magazine (but I really bought it for the CD) - you don't understand how long I've been looking for it! Even I can't remember when I first started looking for it!

Exciting thing that happened today: Daniel (madrich (leader)) told me about Bernie's (another madrich who reads 'Private Eye') rosh yeshiva (head of yeshiva. A yeshiva is a place of intensive Jewish study for boys. The equivalent for girls is a midrasha (seminary).) is some kind of world expert on Milton (and one of very few in the world apparently), and that he manages to keep his secular and religious studies completely separate. (I think I'm about to be accused of being slightly obsessed. :S)

Gah. Another forgotten memory or two.

I am off to Israel this evening for a week, and so once again will not blog for a while, however this time I am going to blog, but not online, while I am away, so that I don't have all these forgotten memories. I'm also going to try and figure out what to reminisce from camp, so that I can do a big blog for the two weeks of camp (which I realise are still missing from here).

Yes, as predicted my memory is slowly returning to me. (Or, more accurately, memories are returning to my mind which I have forgotten. I doubt my memory ever left me, just the memories seemed to hide away so that I could not access them.)

(This is another pre-camp memory, by the way. I recall it being very funny when we were at pre-camp, but I have a feeling that it is nowhere near as funny when retold on a blog on the net. Ah well, here goes.)

There are actually two things (*shock* Naomi can actually remember two things??), which I at first remembered as one, as they both involved acting, however I then looked back at the memory and realised that one, indeed, was just an inane advert, whereas the other was an advert for a made up superhero.

On Friday night, we were gathered in the gym (which hadn't changed since I was at Aleph summer '98, I'm sure, except for the fact that the stage was lower than I remember. Everything else was the same though: the curtains, the windows, the climbing frame thingies, even the piano) and we got into groups of three or four (I think. I was in a group of three) and each group was given a slip of paper with a product, style and catchphrase out of which to make an advert. The thing was, the catchphrase was always nothing to do with the product (style is never really related). For example, we had to advertise a Bnei Akiva CD including the catchphrase "I thought I saw a pussy cat, I did, I did, I did!" in the style of 'Eastenders'. Fun. Except that wasn't the big memory. One group had Teletubby style (I can't even remember the product or catchphrase, but the skit was truly wonderful) and they repeated their skit a gazillion and one times screaming "Again, again!" each time they had finished. Also Alistair's wonderful impression of the teletubby who is lucky enough to have had a video implanted in his stomach was great, and it's a real shame that this all happened on Shabbat, and so we couldn't take photos, as it is an image in everyone's minds I'm sure.

On another day (I don't remember which, but it was the day when we prepared stuff about superheroes) we made adverts again, but this time we were only given a style and we had to advertise a made up superhero (so we had to make one up too). Our style was Biblical, so we had a man who could pee pure water, thereby saving us in the desert (I do not remember the superhero name :( ), but again, the one I was in was not the one I remember so much. Josh, the tallest madrich at 6'3", was made into 'Shortman', and had an amazing superhero-dashing-to-the-rescue type look which is actually all I remember on top of the hilarious name considering his height. I appeal for more funny details, if anyone can remember them.

Forgetful memory

I have such a terrible memory, that I have remembered that I forgot something that happened at pre-camp, and yet now I have forgotten what happened again, but remember that I forgot something! Does that make sense? I hate my memory. Stupid thing. >poke<

Went today to have a photo taken for the Hendon Times, which was rather random. Well, I knew yesterday that I was going to go today to have my photo taken, but it was rather random that I was the one picked. It was one of those results thingies. Except I got AS results when surely they normally want A2 results, and I didn't get straight As, unlike many of my friends. So surely other people should have been asked, not me. Not that I mind having my photo in the paper, but still. It's strange. Hm.

Ah. One thing was that on Friday night we had the most lovely of singing sessions, which I always love anyway, and managed to join in with despite having already lost my voice. (Yes, I had lost my voice within two days of pre-camp. Ridiculous, I know, but that's the way it was. I could still shout and sing enough though. ;) My voice still hasn't fully returned, in fact.)

Ooooh. And at se'uda shlishit on Shabbat of pre-camp we had a great competition concerning pretzels. We had to take out the middle bits to leave a heart without breaking the outside at all. That week I only managed the one, but the next week I managed 5, and the week after 8. :D

Aleph Machane 5764: the camp song

(to 'I will Survive')

Verse:
At first when we arrived, we were petrified
Machane with crazy madrichim by our side
But on our first night we just wouldn't go to bed
So we stayed up 'til the morning drinking Irn Bru instead!

And now we're here, singing together,
Knowing memories of camp will live forever
With 'Sk8r Boi' at breakfast, and 'Baruch Hagever',
Not forgetting 'Funky Chicken', 'Boomchikaboom' and 'Yibaneh'!

Chorus (x2):
STAND UP! Aleph machane
With hornets, plates and ruach flying high up in the air
Kvutsot, funs, shiurim
Tochniot and cool chugim
Machane 5764
Two weeks of fun here in Brymore
(in Brymore...)

Verse:
The theme of machane is Luach Hashana
We took a journey through the year and stopped at Tropiquaria
Tiyul, the muddy walk, lots of time to chill and talk,
At the theme park we got sick, 'cause the rides just went too quick!

We named our kvutsot after superheroes,
We've got Superman, Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, Dangermouse
Bananaman, Daredevil, Popeye and Superted
Then there's Ninja, He-man, Batman,
By great madrichim we're led!

Chorus (x2):
STAND UP! Aleph machane
With hornets, plates and ruach flying high up in the air
Kvutsot, funs, shiurim
Tochniot and cool chugim
Machane 5764
Two weeks of fun here in Brymore
(in Brymore...)

Verse:
Jonny is our rosh, we must look up to him
Michelle our cool sganit and her great madrichim
Danny is T.O., he helps the machane go far
Sacker drives around getting kishut in his blue car

Nothing could work without our technikim
Sitting, hoping finally we can be toranim
The food has been amazing and we love our kitchen crew
The bread is always frozen and there's ladles missing too!

Chorus (x2):
STAND UP! Aleph machane
With hornets, plates and ruach flying high up in the air
Kvutsot, funs, shiurim
Tochniot and cool chugim
Machane 5764
Two weeks of fun here in Brymore
(in Brymore...)

Aleph Summer 5764 (pre-camp)

Right. I'm going to try to blog now for the first of the three weeks I was away for, and possibly in a comprehensible order, as otherwise it is just confusing. Although it is confusing anyway. The way the three weeks worked were that there was one week of pre-camp, which is when the madrichim (leaders) all prepare everything for when the chanichim (participants) arrive, and two weeks with the chanichim there when we run the activities for them, etc etc. So I'll at least try to keep pre-camp and camp separate, although they are inextricably linked, so it may be hard.

Pre-camp began at 8am outside Kenton shul on Wednesday 28th August (the morning after Tisha B'Av, a 25 hour fast which ends the 9 days and the three weeks, when many people don't wash their clothes, so lots of people were up all night the night before washing their clothes and packing) and we then had to wait for a couple of hours before any coaches left (although not as long as the Aleph Chalutzi coach, which hadn't yet arrived when we left). We then had lots of fun on the three and a half hour coach journey to pre-camp, with about 24 of us (leaders, cooks and technikim, although mainly leaders). When we arrived it took a while for any of us to find our sganit (the deputy-head of machane) as there was very little signal around the site, especially for Orange, which she was on. We then had much schlepping to do, including moving everything into store cupboards, the tuck to the tuck shop, and our suitcases upstairs. Possibly my suitcase was a little too heavy, as I had two others helping me take it up the two flights of stairs to our dorm.

We soon discovered how temperamental the electricity in our dorm was, with it *rather* frequently not working, which becomes rather annoying when 15 girls want to charge their mobiles, dry their hair and straighten their hair (especially with only two electricity sockets in the entire room). I managed to go three weeks with only straightening my hair once, I think because I had a spare five or ten minutes.

Madrichim's (leaders') meetings were fun and interesting and a great laugh, what with poor spelling in the chomer (material we used for various activities and getting the theme of camp across to the chanichim (participants) during our daily session in our kvutsot (groups which were set for doing stuff about the theme of machane (camp), with each day being a different theme, in this case a different month of the year), the sneeze-ometer and three pieces of tuck.

Each day was similar but different, although I'm pretty sure it wasn't as bad as the toranim (who organise technical stuff, mainly washing up and laying of tables etc, but not the actual cooking) had it, one of whom actually told me "It's like groundhog day, except sometimes the plates are red instead of blue." For leaders of groups, it was a little more varied, as sometimes we did a round of tochniot (where we would be in groups of 2, 3 or 4 organising an activity that would last a maximum of 2 hours), or a kvutsa (explained above; we did quite a few of these each day), or a fun (an hour of fun each day, which was a competition between the different tribes, the winners won some tuck at the end of camp I think), shiurim (source based discussion-y type things, on a famous role model from the Bible) and creative chugim (an hour when we made stuff; I made birthday/new year/greetings/good luck/I miss you/welcome back/Shabbat cards with them). Both shiurim and creative chugim we prepared before camp, and so only had a small amount of time to finalise that. When preparing things (especially kvutsot), we went through all the chomer and had some great discussions about what was in there; obviously deeper than we ever would get with the chanichim, but they were still amazing discussions. After we had discussed everything with everyone, we would go away with our co (mine was the delightful Abi *waves to Abi*) and decide on what we would do in the hour in which we had to convey all these messages, which games to play and which discussions to have, and how to teach without them realising (#Education *clap* informal, and it's called hadracha-aa#) and would prepare anything that we would need to carry out that individual kvutsa (like making cards for pairs, or happy families, or a board game, or a die, or something like that), and would then return to everybody to share all of our ideas, and use them if we were short of ideas or anything like that.

We also had time when we were taught to "doughnut", when all madrichim spread themselves out so that there is a ring of chanichim about them, and so that we close to another madrich or madricha who we can pass a message on to. This is done at mealtimes, during tefila (prayer time) and also when we want everybody to be quiet so that we can explain what is happening next. We were also taught how to wake up chanichim (we had a really fun simulation, which was absolutely mad) and sessions on how to deal with various situations. We had rather late nights during pre-camp, although they became later as it went on, as we had more stuff to finish off before everybody arrived, and less time to get done in.

I'm pretty sure I made a blonde comment or two during pre-camp, as way too many came out during the three weeks, becoming more frequent as I went along. However, I'll keep them all to the camp-proper blog, as I can't remember which ones came where, except for that most of them were people's sarcasm, which I just didn't get as sarcasm, so thought they were being truthful. :S I can be rather blonde sometimes, as many can testify to.

One highlight of each day (apart from when we got tuck) that I can remember is the super sonic jets. There was an army (or RAF or something like that) base nearby, and so every day we would hear this massive noise, and all rushed to the window to point out and go "wow" as a jet would race across the sky over us. That was definitely an excitement each day, and never ceased to amaze us, I believe.

It was all very fun, but nothing strikingly funny is hitting me at this moment in time, as I write this. I'm sure they will later, and I may well blog about them at a later point, but for the moment this is all for pre-camp. Anyone who can remember anything else, wants any words explained (I tried to explain most) or just wants to chat about pre-camp, please comment. :)

5 hours at the Bayit later...

I feel happy and contented and that it has been a productive day today.  :D

The day didn't begin all too well with me being a little scared to even leave the confines of my bedroom until about 9.30 am due to ructions in the house, but after that things seemed to go rather swimmingly. 

I went down to shul and sorted out the noticeboard.  (Updating it to July birthdays three weeks late.  :S Sorry anyone who has a July birthday in Kenton.  Public apology.)  I also took down some other old stuff (although not all of it, as otherwise there would have been some rather large gaps... however, after Monday those gaps can be filled, so the remaining old stuff will be taken down too :)), and put up a 'gone for the summer' poster (A3 in order to take up more space.  I coloured it all bright and colourful too :)).  While I was there I sorted out other youth service business: requesting printed labels for our mailing on Monday, checking that we could actually use the shul building for envelope stuffing, etc. 

I then continued on my way, accompanying my mother to Preston Road to select tuck for camp (starts on Wednesday :D  Excitement all round) and then caught the tube (and then a bus) to the BA Bayit (it won't make sense to any of you really, will it?  BA is the youth movement I belong to (the one I am taking a camp and going to Israel with this summer) and the "bayit" (literally translating to house) is a house in Temple Fortune which has a gazillion photocopiers, lots of paper (all colours, including yellow) and is the headquarters of BAUK).  There was what could be described as chaos at the Bayit, where everything for all BA summer camps is being held at the moment (that's 5 different camps over the 4 - 18 August stretch and almost 500 participants, if not more), with there barely being a square metre of space to sit and do whatever you need to do.  Despite that, Hannah and I managed to find (having navigated the obstacle course *rather* well) a small space in which to work and placed ourselves down, for our 5 hour shiur booklet making stint.  (We didn't plan it to take 5 hours, nor did we realise it took that until we left and looked at our watches.)  A shiur is a source based discussion (I think that's the simplest way of describing it) and our shiur for camp is on Joseph's dreams.  We've made the cutest booklet instead of source sheets, with a great flowchart to interpret dreams with. 

So it feels like a productive day and I'm happy with it.  Still slightly scared by the small amount of time I have in which to do so much over the next few days, but hopefully it will pan out okay.  :)

End of term

I always feel rather ambivalent when it comes to the end of term (when you realise it is end of term, which it still hasn't properly clicked with me that it is, despite going for the traditional several hour long Starbucks session after school) and this year is no different. 

I suppose this year is not so bad, as often I feel like I don't want to break up from school and the routine and seeing all your friends every day (who you can see in the holidays, of course, but you never see them as much as you do during term-time if you go to school with them) and everything that I just love about school.  (I think I am rather strange in actually enjoying school... but then I love all of my subjects and really enjoy them, so there's no real reason for me to hate school.  I even rather like waking up at a reasonable hour each day (okay, 6.30 am isn't the best in the world, but at least I make good use of my day, and I seem able to function on little sleep).)  However, this summer I am abnormally ultra-busy, and I don't think I am even going to have time to realise that I am missing my school associated stuff.   I was trying to sort out this evening all the stuff I need to do before next Wednesday (when I go at 8 am to a week of pre-camp which is immediately followed by two weeks of camp... so don't expect any blogs in those three weeks, as they are highly unlikely... there'll be a super-long one afterwards to make up for it, no doubt), and I've just realised that I don't actually have time to go shopping for trousers and ugly-man-sandals, which I really do need for camp, methinks.  Definitely the trousers anyway.  I need the ugly-man-sandals for Israel after camp, and I only have about two days when I will actually be fully surfaced between camp and Israel, so it would be preferable to find some before camp.  Tomorrow is a really patchy day, and I have to go to school for 20 minutes (I can't believe I'm going to travel for near on three hours altogether, just to spend 20 measly minutes at school) and have a driving lesson at 4.30 (hopefully Peter will remember to show me where the test centre is this time, and how to navigate my way out of it), Friday I meet Hannah to sort out our shiur on dreams for camp, Shabbat is Shabbat, Sunday all the madrichim (leaders) for Aleph machane (the camp I'm a leader at) are meeting in the morning, and I'm sure I have stuff in the afternoon, Monday I have to do photocopying and sort out the mailing for our youth service £1 Friday Night Dinner on the 3rd September, Tuesday is Tisha b'Av (a 25 hour fast day- no food or drink from dusk Monday night until there are three stars in the sky on Tuesday night) and I also need to pack, and Wednesday pre-camp begins, as I've already mentioned. 

Anyway, back to the ambivalence... the above love of school (and so dislike of long holidays... a few days every so often would be much better- time to catch up on sleep, relax and return refreshed- six weeks (or is it only five this year?) just tend to seem too long.  The random few days together with a two or three week holiday once or twice so that people can go away.  Just not a six week one.  Too long, definitely,) then contrasts with the obvious joys of having a delightful rest and break (which is somewhat lacking this summer... but still, I'll manage) and what everybody loves about the summer holidays. 

I don't know.  I'm sure I won't like it when I only have twenty-something days annual leave in the working world (which is a while away, but still, I'm sure I'll complain), but at least then you can take the days when you like, and you don't have a six week block.  I'm also sure that I'll wish I did have six week holidays like at school once I start work, but hey, that's life. 

'Oliver!'

Strangely, having now done two performances of 'Oliver!' (I don't like that exclamation mark, but I do believe it is supposed to be there), the catchy tunes have somewhat disappeared from my mind. This could alternatively be due to my tiredness, which translates to my mind not being able to have a catchy tune playing at the same time as me blogging. Hm.

I think tonight's performance was better overall than last night's: the cast were much better, generally more in tune, and managed to overcome missing Bett, who was unfortunately ill. However, the band weren't quite so good this evening: we missed some cues (I started playing a cued part halfway through, as I realised that *very* few others had picked up that we were repeating, or even playing. Or something like that. My memory is beginning to fail me), someone managed to drop a tambourine during a quiet bit on stage and we were just generally clumsier tonight than yesternight. The audience were better tonight. Not sure if it was fuller, but they laughed more (and still at the right bits) and clapped lots and lots (in fact so much we repeated part of a number at the end).

Two things made me happy today:
(i) I found out that I most probably have Friday afternoons free next year (which are the most useful things in the world, since I would otherwise have to miss lessons to get home in time for Shabbat each week in the winter months) and
(ii) My very last lesson of the academic year is English next Wednesday, when we are having a poetry party (I still don't know which poem to take!). Originally I thought my last lesson would be chemistry in room 11, which is delightful and sentimental and really lovely, but the thought of English being my last lesson does make me happier. I guess that's good, seeing as I want to read English at university, and not chemistry.

Damned catchy musicals

Why did I agree to playing in 'Oliver'? Why? I should have remembered the torture of hours upon hours (and, in fact, days upon days) of catchy annoying tunes stuck in one's head. The numbers may well be fine when you see them as an audience, but when they have been stuck in your head for a week? Then it's bad. And I don't even have the vocal parts in my head. It's a random mish mash of the instrumental part that I play (i.e. clarinet and bass clarinet) with the vocals in during my rests. Gah. Argh. Erkk. (#Consider your ba-ba-ba-baa at do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-doo...#)

What's more, the kind people who wrote out the instrumental scores kindly write it out so that there are the most impossible page turns. And the bass clarinet part goes to the very top of its register straight after playing at the very bottom (that's about a 3 octave leap, which is fine on a normal clarinet, but on the bass!?!). Never mind the fact that it is the school bass clarinet. (Actually, it's probably just my shoddiness at playing the thing rather than the shoddiness of the instrument. Ms. B is constantly telling me that the school woodwind instruments are excellent quality, which they are. Or at least, the school A clarinet is definitely better than my normal Bb.) Hmm.

#Consider your ba-ba-ba-baa at do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-doo. -Sider your ba-ba-ba-baa one of the do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-doo.# Argh!

The Joys of Work Shadowing Part II

Hmm... I don't think I should have complained on Monday about fruitless searches, since today I have proof-read three articles, and that's about it. Seeing that I got in at 9.15 this morning and it is now 14:03, that isn't very productive, and has meant that I've had near on four hours of boredom and sitting doing nothing. (Well, I made use of time to check my webmail accounts, and find a map of where the theatre is for tonight and I'm writing this here now, so I have been doing something, but just filling the nothingness.) (Ooh. And I have nearly finished today's crossword.) I was considering reading some more of 'King Lear' which I have in my bag somewhere, but thought that would appear rather rude. Somewhat ruder than typing away at a computer, which nearly everybody else is doing too. It's just that my typing is nothing to do with their work, really.

Back to twiddling my thumbs... or maybe I'll read their new edition of Eurofruit which I have just noticed on the desk that I'm sitting at. Hm.

The Joys of Work Shadowing.

Oh how wonderful work shadowing is. *joy* I think I must have spent an hour (if not two or three) searching various sites on the internet for "interesting" articles about fruit and vegetables, no less. Well, the trade of fruit and vegetables. (Even more interesting. *joy*) I think I managed to search about 80 different fruit companies, as well as the obvious term "fruit". *shakes head* Ah well, at least it's an eMac. :)

On my way home (well, actually to my committee meeting) I managed to be on a tube that was stuck (still) in a tunnel for about half an hour due to an assault at a station further down the line, which gave me the worst headache that I've had for a long time, and I drank plenty of water today, too. Hm.

Had our first Kenton Jewish Youth Committee meeting this evening. (I don't like "board", to me it is "committee", definitely.) Went quite well, a little over the original plan of an hour, but not ridiculously long like all of last year's. (Thank heavens.) What's more, I didn't have to take minutes. (Woohoo!) Even stranger (and more wonderful) was that a male actually offered to take the minutes (which I really do find difficult to believe). Lovely meeting, and neither Ben nor I had to volunteer for anything due to nobody else in the committee volunteering. We managed to have volunteers for everything. Excellent.

I'm tired. Already.

Last exam yesterday morning(woo!), except lessons restarted yesterday afternoon (back down to Earth I drop after about three hours of relaxation). :( I had a cancelled lesson this morning, which meant that I only had chemistry today (and it was in the afternoon, so I didn't have to get my act together too early in the morning too many days in a row). However, despite only having had one exam today, I am still tired. What is it about triple chemistry? Actually, don't answer that. What is it about being back only one day and already having work piled on? I mean, it would have been fine had it been introducing the A2 course (which I fully expected, and it did happen) and a little work, but setting homework too, on the second day back? I'm lucky I had my other lesson cancelled, although I have a nasty feeling that I am supposed to be doing a presentation to my class next Tuesday. :S

I passed!

:D I'm very happy and no longer looking for that Hazard Perception DVD, as I passed my driving theory test this morning. Met Sophie at the test centre too: she had just finished when I was waiting to start. *waves to Sophie just in case she ever reads this*

If anybody would like the DSA Driving Theory Questions Book (published June 2003, I think, that might not be the exact right title, but you know what I mean), or a two CD driving theory test set, one with some kind of hazard perception on it, just not the official DSA stuff (I can't remember the title of it: my CDs are copies, but it's something like 'Test Success' or something), then speak to me.

I now have no excuse for not doing maths revision (only one exam to go!)... except possibly watching the England match this afternoon. (Not like we'll ever win Euro 2004, but it would be nice to get somewhere in the tournament.)

Right, off to do some work...

14 CDs for a fiver

Not even that. A fourteen CD set of Wagner's Nibelungen Ring Cycle for £4.99. No-one ever believes me when I say that Superdrug is the best value for CDs, but it really is. You have to be incredibly lucky with what they have at any one time, but when they have what you want, it is definitely worth it. I bought a complete set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and Orchestral Suites there for £1.99 a while ago. When we studied the fourth Brandenburg Concerto at school and I mentioned my bargain, everyone laughed and said "Superdrug?!" and wouldn't believe me.

Also, the complete libretto is included with the 14 CDs. Admittedly there is no translation, and I'm no German boff, but at least I can follow... and I have a vague understanding of German... I just won't necessarily understand if something is about to happen, or already has. :S

Today I bought more colourful beads, with which to make more colourful bracelets, although I was rather disappointed to discover that there was an incredibly low number of yellow beads, as they are my favourite. However, they are a different kind of colour to my other beads, which are rather more fluorescent in colour and bright... until they lose their shine somewhat (how I have no idea).

Welcome

"Phrstomnicalism" (apart from being the title of my blog) is a word I made up when I was fifteen (I believe for an English homework- we'd been looking at entries from 'The Deeper Meaning of Liff' by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd), and "phrstomnicalism" itself is a phrstomnicalism. Phrstomnicalisms (I think I'm going to copy the word now, so that I just have to paste it each time- it is much too long to bother typing out each time) are those frustratingly annoyingly overly long words, which are impossible to pronounce due to the over-abundance of consonants in them.

It is one of my favourite made up words, and the only major one that has actually stuck with me, and that I actually use. (And then usually receive the response of "a what?!?")

Sunnnnnnn

:D The beautiful sunshine has shown its face again today... although when I stepped outside this morning I did feel like I was burning, despite only crossing the road to reach the car for my driving lesson. :S (On the subject of driving, I am still hunting down anyone with the official DSA hazard perception DVD: if you have one or know someone with a copy, let me know ASAP- I return things quickly too.)