I’m actually getting kind of excited about being eighteen now. I mean, the idea of responsibility is still… y’know… terrifying, but I’m realising that I’ve got so many projects that should be fun to complete this year. The above journal being one of them, I’m desperate to go and see Avenue Q and Legally Blonde in London before the end of October, and I’m determined to participate in, and hopefully succeed in Nanowrimo this year. Granted, not the best year to decide this considering November is the month we have to send out our university applications, but eh, I can get those done early.

I’ve been on a real cake making kick lately, too. I designed my birthday cake this morning; my mother is going to make it for me because she is awesome and super talented. It has three tiers, so I kind of feel bad in case it’s too much work, but she says it’s fine. My parents are more excited about my party than me, I think. They keep saying I’m only eighteen once so they’re trying to make it really special and exciting. I love them for it but I don’t really want them wasting their money. :/ I’ll have to think of something to do as a thank you for them. =3

I’m going to try and keep these blogs brief, so here’s what’s happening in my life lately:

• Party planning for my birthday party on the 21st. – Anyone have any suggestions for music for a mad hatter themed one?
• Reading “The Vampire Lestat” – I prefer it to Interview with the Vampire, writing wise. It’s a good book. =)
• Writing a story about changelings. Epic fun. I’ve not got much, so I can’t really talk about it…. yeah.
• Watching Futurama. It’s entertaining.
• Trying to plan another trip to London to see Avenue Q. Not so entertaining. More like hideously stressful.

And that’s it, really. =) I’ll expand on some of those points later on? That’s all for now!

So, my exams have started. Shockhorrorgasp. Last Thursday and Friday ((it lasts eight hours)) I sat my art exam, and this is what I came up with:

It is supposed to answer the question ‘What happens next?’ by looking at evolution, although I don’t know if it accurately portrays that.

I’ve been to see yet another show that my very talented friend was in, by the way. =D She played Ariel in Footloose this time, and I really enjoyed it. We got front row seats, so that was nice too. It was a really funny show, and all the cast were really good.

This seems like such a lazy blog post, but in my defence I only made it to explain the layout. I don’t suppose I even needed to do that, considering I don’t really try to advertise this place yet; I figure I should wait until I’ve added some content first. Still, there’s no rush. The reason, I think, that I abandoned all my other sites is due to the fact I made myself think I had to update every other day for it to be worth anything. I’m trying to be more selfish with it this time round. Haha.

So yeah, I’m going to go and watch Back to the Future III and finish my art evaluation. Toodle hoo, everyone. xx.

Last Thursday I got Catherine to watch the entire first series of Being Human and she loved it. Just wanted to tell you.

The big news is about Saturday, which was when I went to see Wicked in London, whoop whoop. A sixteen hour day. Sixteen! And here’s how it went:
I woke up at half past eight in the morning, and, y’know… got ready. This was what I wore, so I basically looked like a walking New Look advertisement, but what can I say? I stuck to the Gelphie theme of pink and green, of course, being the little fangirl that I am. =3 The bag was the most complicated bit; because, being me, I had to take something for every possible situation that I could get myself into throughout the day. Here is a list of what I decided I needed:

• Paper soap. In case there were none in the toilets we visited. Clean hands, whoop whoop.
• Three packets of tissues. As a hayfever sufferer, I began taking tissues with me EVERYWHERE when I was about twelve. I have now become known as the tissue lady, who everyone asks for tissues whenever they need one. This has caused the necessity for an increase in tissue supplies, so there is enough to go around. Hehe.
• Bottled water. To… erm… drink, of course. It also combines as hand washing water to go with the paper soap.
• Pink lipstick. The colour I put on in the morning. Please note I did not use this all day.
• Green lipstick. Because I have green lipstick and we were going to Wicked. I also didn’t use this all day.
• Pink and green nailvarnish. Incase I felt the need to neaten my nails. I didn’t.
• Foundation, powder, blusher and mascara. Also never used.
• Sweets – toffees, imperial mints, two packets of chewits, mentos and fruitella.
• Snacks – two go ahead yoghurt bars and an apple.
• My phone. Because I didn’t fancy being stranded in London/Cardiff, depending on when I needed to phone someone – getting stranded in a city is one of the scariest things I can think of. Too many crowds. I loathe cities, they scare me.
• My ipod, for the bus journey.
• My camera, for picture taking.
• A purse, with money for buying things.
• Another purse with money for buying things, incase the first one got lost or stolen.
• Some paper and a pen. Because my encounter with a certain Matt Smith last year means I now take something that I could get an autograph on everywhere I go… as long as I remember, anyway. I suppose I’ve always got the tissues. xD

So yeah, my bag was, as usual, bursting. He.

I went down my friend’s house to catch the train down to Cardiff. As per usual, she asked for my ticket because I’m a wimp and knowing me I’d have gotten off at the wrong station or something. Off the train we ran for the bus, and it started to absolutely tip down. Torrential rain. The human statue guy leapt off his little podium thingy to try and find shelter, it was quite amusing. What was not amusing, however, was the fact that my jacket was completely saturated with rain water even though I had been under an umbrella. Rargh. Rargh. Rargh.

We discovered that the bus did not plan on stopping for pit stops on the way to London, and so we all decided to use the loo on the bus. The bus started to move as I was in the little cubicle. Weirdest, and most disgusting, experience of my life. TMI, I know, but ugh… they could at least febreeze the place between each trip!

When we got to London we had three hours to spare before the show, so we shopped a bit, and took lots of pictures. Twas fun. I bought my father a birthday present, because I’m nice like that.

And then we went inside. It didn’t feel real, if I’m honest. I’ve been a fan of the show for around four years, but this was the first time that I saw it live, and I couldn’t quite believe that I was there. Our seats were really high up, but the view was fair enough. You couldn’t really see all that much expression, and you could see the guides on the stage, but I couldn’t have been less bothered.

I don’t really know what to say about the show itself. I mean… it was Wicked. You expect the people to be talented, y’know? Rachel Tucker’s No Good Deed was absolutely immense. Dadadada. I dont know what to say. I loved it? And I bought my first ever piece of Wicked merchandise in the shape of the green flowery t-shirt. <3

We didn’t get back until Cardiff until half past two in the morning, and it took another hour for me to get home because we dropped one of my friends off on the way. =) I got home, had a cup of tea and a piece of toast, and went to sleep.

Sunday

I didn’t get a lie in on the next day – Easter, to most people, but Dad’s birthday to me. I almost forgot it was Easter, to be honest, after the excitement of the day before. I got quite a lot of Easter eggs, in my opinion, and a book off my brother and sister in law. <3 My mother set up the entire house as an egg hunt for my nieces to find as well, but they didn’t actually end up coming over – they spent the day at their other Nan’s – which was quite sad.

We went out for a meal for my father’s birthday. A pub lunch, nothing fancy. But it tasted really, really, really awesome. We were the only ones there too, I don’t know if that’s a good thing. The first time we went there it was full and I had my back to everyone, which I hate. It makes me feel awfully self conscious. I prefer to be able to sort of… survey the room. xD However, because we were the only ones there the bar staff paid us much more attention; it was nice of them to do so, because it’s their job, but I’m not a fan of conversing with people I don’t know. Rah.

After eating we just went for a drive, basically, all over the mountains to see some lambs. Yay.

Doctor Who

I adored it, basically. Matt and Karen were both awesome, and it had some of the best lines ever. Looking back, Prisoner 0 wasn’t all that fantastic a villain, but it was a nice start to what I expect will be a fantastic series. =)

In the past few weeks I have been trying to create my own theme for the site, but nothing I’ve made so far really sticks out at me. :/ Plus, when I do decide on a header graphic I then need to actually learn how to code themes for wordpress, which might take a while, and I’ve had a lot of schoolwork lately. It well get done eventually though, I promise, and the same time that’s getting done I’ll finally try and figure out to use pages. I have tonnes and tonnes of icons and things you guys ((“you guys” – I have two regular readers, as far as I’m aware.)) can have, but it’s kind of hard to display them without knowing what you’re doing. =3

As for school. Ugh. I think after Easter things will cool down a bit. All of my english coursework has to be handed in by Friday, and my D&T is supposed to be handed in the first week back. After that I’ll just have to focus on art, which shall be fun. Muahaha. Gosh, I really can’t wait. I loathe D&T; I wanted to make a graphic product, but I was basically told that I wouldn’t get enough marks for it… So I was forced to make something textiles/resistant material related instead. I chose textiles, and am trying to make a puppet in the style of Jim Henson’s creation for the character Glinda the Good Witch. Sort of Wicked meets Avenue Q. <3 I suck so bad at sewing though.

Speaking of Wicked, I am going to see it very soon. I am very excited. I’m now the only one of my friends who has not seen it on stage, but we’ve organised a trip and… yeah. I get to see it. *squee* I might paint myself green for the occasion… because I already have green bodypaint… hmmm. *ponders*

We also went to see the Rocky Horror Show a few weeks ago; it was pretty cool, to be fair. I don’t know if I enjoyed it as much as my friends did, because although I enjoy the film I’m not a die-hard fan, but it was still a really fun show. Around half of my group dressed up, most of these just being Transylvanians, but my friend Emily, who played Belle in Beauty and the Beast, went in full Magenta garb. She looked awesome. I was a spoil sport, and not only did I not dress up ((I did have a party hat. xD)) but… I didn’t even dance to the Time Warp. ((This is the point where I back away from the gasps of horror.)) I know, I know… it’s like the iconic part of the show. But I have never in my life took part in one of those organised dance routines, and I never plan to, even if the dance ruotine in question is mocking the others.

Finally, the last thing I have been to see recently is Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. I saw it in 3D, but I must say I really regret that because it cost four pounds extra, and it wasn’t even that… three dimensional. :/ I expected things to be flying off the screen and such, but there were only two or three parts in the entire film where that happened. The film itself was absolutely immense, but it would have been just as immense in 2D and seeing the 3D one turned out to be a colossal waste of money.

The main part of the film that I remember the most, quite sadly, is the part where the March Hare says “Spoon.” This comes from an inside joke involving a trip to the ice rink, where this conversation happened;

Someone: If the rink is closed we could always go to IKEA.

Emily: Oh! Oh! I LOVE IKEA! They sell…. SPOONS!

Since then, Emily has been known as the spoon lady, and therefore this one word in the film was very humorous to us. Hehe.

I do suggest, however, that everybody watch the Syfy Channel’s version of Alice in Wonderland, because I adore it, and that combined with Tim Burton’s film has turned me into quite the Alice/Hatter shipper. xD It just seems wrong, but adorable at the same time. Muahaha.

Now, I will bid you adieu, even if there’s only two of you reading, and go and… do some homework or something. :/ Ick.

- Jess. =3

Oh! I said that it wasn’t hideous, but there is one thing that was kind of bad. My head of year basically put my name down for a competition that I really don’t want to do. It’s a quiz thing, and there are four on the team. The other three volunteered, and because I’m their friend she just assumed I’d do it too. I told her that it would stress me out, and that I was worried, and that I wasn’t happy, and that I hate the pressure… And she just waved it off like I was joking. I think I’m going to have to ask her more seriously tomorrow because if I do do it, I’m going to make the team lose. I’m not fast enough to hit the buzzer first. I don’t want to hinder them. She can get someone else. Get someone who’ll be good and enjoy it. It’s not fair. I hate our school.

My afternoon was pretty good though. I had art first, and then english. In art I’ve been looking at fantasy creatures, and Sir said that I had the style of an illustrator. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I would love to be an illustrator. He brought it up after we had been talking about Quentin Blake, so I was quite flattered. I’m going to do a page about Elphaba now, I think. I dressed up as her last year, and our sketchbook theme is personal environment, so we’re supposed to include as many self portraits as we possibly can.

For English we looked at another Seamus Heaney poem – “Requiem for the Croppies”. I like it, it’s one of my favourites of his, I think. My friends and I also talked about some London trips – I’m apparently spending all my money on theatre trips this year. I think the prices are extortionate, but I’m tired of being the only one not to have seen a show in the West End, and I really want to see some of these shows at least once. I think this year I’ll be seeing Avenue Q, Legally Blonde, Oliver and Wicked, in that order. We’re doing two day trips to save money on travelling. Fun times. I’m really excited for all of them except Oliver, really. xD Very, very excited to see the cast of Legally Blonde – Sheridan Smith, Peter Davison, Jill Halfpenny and Caroline Keiff, anyone? How awesome. I think we’re gonna stage door.

Anyway, after that I came home and finished my essay on Frankenstein. I quite enjoyed writing it, if I’m honest. Proud geek here!

Finally, in the night I went to college for Psychology, and we had the results from our mock exam back. I got an A! I’m so happy. <3 I was convinced I had gotten a D because I messed up the 10 mark question on definitions of abnormality. :/  We went on to looking at social influence as well. The Zimbardo Prison Experiment, to be precise. It’s barbaric, to be honest. :/ I mean, what he learned is really interesting, but when you look at how he went about it… it’s really shocking. We had to watch a documentary about it, and some of the students in my class were severely upset by it. The ‘John Wayne’ guy was super sadistic; it was so weird to see him talking about it however many years later. It was like he was two separate people – how could someone just twist like that?

Anyway, it’s past ten at night, and I’ve got to be up at half six tomorrow for D&T. Woop woop. :/

Goodnight, everyone!

-Jess. xx.