I Miss Florida

I miss Florida. It's true! Usually, by now, I have moved on and am comfortable in my own home, my own chair, my own bed. But with Florida, there are just too few cons to murk my view. I'm not just being nostalgic either, since all I can remember of the holiday is dreading its end. I want Disney, Universal, Seaworld, I MISS THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTRE!
And its not just the temperature. I miss the people. I met so many awesome people that I'll probably never meet again : Jeff, James, Matt, Micky, Mark, Glen, Doug, WOLVERINE. Its a bizarre feeling that I will remember them for many more years but that right now similar people to me are criss-crossing through their lives, wiping any memory of me or my friends from their minds.
I would double the flight time if it meant I could return to Florida right now.
This spurred an idea. I'm a British citizen. Mum, Dad, when I grow up, I'm gonna work in Epcot for a few years. There! Problem solved. Now just school and uni to get through...

OHMYGODIMINWALTDISNEYWORLD

Spent the day in *pause for effect* WALTDISNEYWORLD!!! I still cannot believe I'm in Florida! In America for that matter! I love the weather so much.
In the morning we had a laugh filled animation workshop in which I drew Genie, created a tomo... something. I also saw a Finnickistiscope and one of those spinning cylinders with the slots that makes a half second piece of animation. I loved this part of the day and James, our guide was well ... In his own words "[he] had coffee!" Thankyou James for an amazing morning.
Next up, Fiona dragged me on Tower of Terror which spends far too much time attempting spookiness and nowhere near enough time dropping its occupants into the chasm of the faulty lift shaft.
One slight damper was the lack of Rock 'n' Rollercoastin'. When we first queued up, we waited forty minutes only for 'maintenance difficulties'. We found it later that it had swiftly been fixed. Aaaaaargh!!
The superior event of today however was not the awesomeness of the Toy Story Game Ride (which I was 7,000 points away from the high score of which might sound a lot but the lowest possible score with one shot was 500) or my amazing chicken nugget lunch, or even the fact that I drank milk on two occasions today, but the in no way overestimatable Fantasmical. The show takes place inside Mickey Mouse's imagination and consists mainly of images projected on a sheet of nearly jet propelled water which somehow managed to be on fire by the end of it. The characters also dance around the island in the middle of the water, conquer pirates and fireworks shroud them all. But none of that compares to the genius of the Boat. Mickey Mouse is home. He is captaining the ship like in his very first appearance. The irony is thick enough to wring out. And my voice was torn to shreds from yelling "Go Mickey!" and "It's Chip and Dale!"

In short, Disneyworld was every bit as incredible as its reputation, as incredible as the Hulk.

An Afterthought

I saw the actual Delorean and Train from Back to the Future. Anyone who's read my first post understands how dramatic this is to me.

Univeral Studios is Amazing

Universal Studios is AMAZING. So is the power of peer pressure. I have spent the last two days drinking in the glory of movie company-based theme parks and cannot believe my luck. I mean, I only joined this trip a year ago, one less than everyone else, because I was on the reserve list.
Anyway, Motley Crüe and my friend Fiona helped me overcome my fear of upside-downedness. I gingerly stepped onto the Hollywood Rock-It rollercoaster and was delighted to have the option of blasting 'Kickstart My Heart' as I faced my terror. As it turned out the only terrifying part was in fact the ride up, which was in fact literally vertical. My point is, if Fiona had not called me 'wimp' as if it was my 'true name' (Eragon quote), I would not have had the pleasure of this ride, Hulk, or either of the Harry Potter Dragon Challenges.
Also, I now have a Ravenclaw baseball cap and winter set (hat, scarf, gloves) and a wand (Luna Lovegood - also Ravenclaw).

Oh, and speaking of Harry Potter, I know this post had basically no deep meaning, but ... "thought you ought to know" - Professor Quirrell, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'

Kennedy Space Centre - My First Day In Florida

Yesterday (13.10.12) I visited the Kennedy Space Centre with my school, our first activity of the hectic week planned on our Orlando Trip. I was amazed by it. Mind you, like one of our instructors - Jeff - pointed out, they had "no competition". Yet, I firmly believe that this will have been one of my most remembered activities - well some actually - what with the wide range of space related training simulations.
There was the centrefugal gravity simulator, which flung your guts everywhich way until the instructor - in my case a woman named Micky - thought it prudent to release you. You then staggered over to a bench to join your quickly recovered classmates.
Also we built rockets out of paper and shot them with air pressure across the hall. Jeff made us take an oath while creating them which involved not using them as Lightsabers, swords or telescopes, not sticking them in our mouths, eyes, ears or noses "like hundreds of children have done before me [laughs] ... this week [more laughs]" My rocket wasn't exactly successful but it had DFTBA written on it so I atleast felt proud of my design.
There was also an astronaut hall of fame where I learned the demise of 2 spacecraft, one in '86, the other in '03. I found this part extremely fascinating but I think relaying it could be considered copyright.
While we were eating lunch, Jeff and Matt - another instructor - wheeled out a cart of dehydrated food which they explained was rehydrated when they reach space because the weight of the water would be too much. This, somehow, still didn't put me off the amazing sandwich in my hand.
We also roleplayed various professions within the rocket, and also down on the ground. We somehow managed to land with the cargo bay door wide open.
We were also shown the heatproof, sand based material that most rockets are made from. And touched a gooey mixture of food coloured water - that we all thought was Jeff and Matt's pee - and some powdery polymer that I couldn't make out the name of because of Micky's Spanish accent. Oh well.
There was also a trajectory machine where it slowly spun two people at opposite ends of what looked like a see-saw round in a circle and they had to throw and catch a ball taking into account where their partner would be by them time the ball reached them. Amber and I successfully passed 1/6. Better than some people's 0. It was really hard!
Anyway, thankyou Kennedy Space Centre, thankyou Micky, Matt and Jeff for making my first - journey doesn't count - day in Florida, in America, so enjoyable. Oh, and Jeff, if ever you read this, that was a meagre attempt at a Scottish accent.

I will post photos when I get home to my laptop.

The Amazing Human

Revenge is natural. We all want justice, usually in the system of : an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But today (4.10.12) I witnessed an exception to this. In RE, our teacher let Nicky Campbell teach us our lessons through an episode of 'The Big Questions' discussing the use of Capital Punishment. Various arguments for and against were set down by people who had many different connections to the subject. One wrongly accused man would have been dead if Capital Punishment had not been abolished. Though that is not the most startling argument.

One couple, Vi and Ray, who's son Chris Donovan was murdered by a youth gang, were arguing against the death penalty. When they took the matter to court, they were fed lies and were outraged. But, years later, when they decided they wanted the truth, they met up with one of the boys who killed their son. He said "I was a coward and I killed your son." Had that boy been put to death, they would never have heard him say that and would never have "Realised who [their] victim was". They realised that they were the victims, and that the victims don't get a say over what happens in court. Is that not wrong?

Later in the show, revenge was being discussed. Isn't the death penalty purely vengeance? And isn't vengeance what starts wars? The Donovan's were of the opinion that revenge is unfair to those it affects. Vi was determined that the boys should not be put to death, for the sake of those families. "(Paraphrasing) Do you wish to put them through what we went through?"

Revenge is something of human nature, something difficult to resist the desire for. The urgency with which she argued her case is proof only of how oblivious she was to one of the pettiest human qualities. She, instead showed the most extreme form of empathy and, in my opinion became far better than most humans.

I apologise for the ridiculous tardiness of this post. Busy week.

Swimming Club

www.hamiltonbaths.co.uk/

 Pain. You cannot comprehend the pain emanating from my arms. My muscles yell their frustration at me as I once again push them to their very limits. I am speaking of course, of my swimming club. My coach, Anne O'Neill, used to be a maths teacher, and the characteristics of pushing me and ensuring I complete the entire four-and-a-half kilometre set.
 The one hour and forty-five minutes is some of the hardest time I spend throughout the week, second only to the two hour sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm not the best swimmer in the world and there is no way I will ever make it to severely competitive competition. I'm satisfied with Graded Meets and Open Meets. That's good enough for me.
 My only objection to my contiuous lugging of my frame up and down the pool, up and down, up, down, up, down for often two hours at a time, is ... why? Why do I continue to do so for so long? What's the point? What the hell do I achieve from the activity. To keep fit? I could just run to school every morning. That would do the same job.
 There is a quote from John Green's 'The Fault in our Stars' that summarizes my feeling.

At the time of this quote, Augustus was talking about why he gave up basketball (for anyone who isn't a nerdfighter).

"All at once I couldn't figure out why I was methodically tossing a spherical object through a toroidal object. It seemed like the stupidest thing I could possibly be doing."
 

 In the pool, while thrusting myself off the wall at the deep end, I suddenly wondered why I was doing so. What could I possibly be getting out of this? I didn't know. I suppose if I was ever hurled into the Hunger Games arena from 'Catching Fire' and I had to swim to the Cornocopia, I could perhaps find a use for my skills. Otherwise, wouldn't my time be better spent writing, or reading, or playing video-games.

 Now I know the reason I swim, the reason anyone does any exercise. For fun. There is no use to many things we do in life, but we do them anyway. For fun. And that's why I swim.

The London Riots - A Scottish Teenager's Opinion

 Last year, news stories about the London riots flooded, well, everywhere. I am going to attempt something resembling uniqueness.

 I don't worry about why they happened. I worry about this quote :

"Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."
 

 I'm not saying all the rioters ignored history but many must have. In the 14th century, Tyler's rebellion was one of many widespread revolts in medieval Europe. The serfs were upset about Poll Tax and Labour Shortage. What were the London Rioters protesting against? Lack of work and increases in tax. Also the death of an innocent man but still, the similarities are unnerving.



Hauntingly Similar

The revolution continued for many months and killed off about 30% of the population. What if the London Riots are just the beginning? What if we start killing in a mindset of war? With advanced weaponry and easier communication, riots could easily spread. What if the whole world decides to rebel? Will there be anyone left?

It may be selfish but I'm just glad the riots didn't come to Scotland.

Sand Ceremonies and Sex Pistols T-shirts

Today (30.9.12) I witnessed something unusual.
Greg married Jan in September 2011, Jan giving birth to a son in December 2011. I wasn't present at the church ceremony but I did witness something far more interesting that day. At the reception, they had a second ceremony, that seemed very traditional, perhaps Celtic.
 Basically, we all scribbled a well-wishing note on a piece of ribbon, and wrapped it around a broom. The broom was placed on the floor, before a woman said a few words about the symbolism of the broom, which I'm afraid escaped me. The happy couple then hopped over the broom and everyone was really happy.

 

Today, we welcomed Angus Robert Danger Gregory Joyce into the world. Angus is of Scottish origin, Robert is Jan's dad's name - or Grandpa, I'm not sure - Danger relates to his extreme earliness of birth and Gregory is well, Greg's name.

 His closest relatives each had one colour of sand in a pot (not actually the one from the picture but my Ipod was out of memory and it's very close apart from the height of the pots). Each colour represented something different e.g. yellow is the colour of the sun and symbolizes joy. When all colours are in the jar, it is a symbol for all of these qualities coming together and supporting Angus throughout his life.

 We were all asked to give a memorable item to Angus. I drew him a dragon, a traced outline of an original I'd done in art class. I coloured his underbelly red and turned his flesh yellow as it neared his spine, so that the dragon resembled fire. My dad wrote a four verse poem on the back, so that he knows what the dragon's about, and remembers us, since we don't see the family very often.

 I'll tell you how to remember me Angus. I was the girl in the Sex Pistols shirt.

Fashion - My Greatest Inconvenience

There are some things I can't quite grasp the reasons for : the current stage of Public Image Limited, why gravity came into existence, why high school students care whether or not other people conform to their arrogant ways. But above all, I just can't grasp fashion. They say you're not meant to wear blue with green? That's my freaking school uniform!

My School Blazer

My School Tie

 What escapes me about fashion is who decides what's hot and what's not?

Take these three garments :



They're all pink so that eliminates colour preference.
If you ask anyone who knows anything about fashion, they'll choose the first (though don't take my word for that).
If you ask a Whovian, they'll choose the second.
If you ask someone who's broke, they'll choose the third.
Who determines which one the fashion expert chooses? And I know Whovians, we're a fairly intelligent bunch. Who's to say the Whovians haven't chosen the best one.

I simply don't understand the rules around clothing choices. Right now I'm wearing a t-shirt design of a shark that appears to move its jaws when I bend forward. I mean what kind of designer clothes sport sharks?

 Fair enough but that cannot be comfortable.

In conclusion, my faith in my ability to choose 'in' clothes may suck but I think buying these pyjamas ...


Can earn me the right to say I can choose awesome clothes. I just hope I never end up working here :

If You Had a Time Machine, Where Would You Go?

I have heard this question often, but never properly answered it. I guess, I would be too scared to go to the past, you know, in case I alter some sort of history. That would send me forward, which to be honest, I wouldn't hate, but without money to buy any new-fangled gadgets, I would be tortured whenever I saw a holo-book, or a uni-moped.

Imagine then, a doctor who concept of time travel, where you only change things by specific actions rather than simply by your presence. If this were the case, then I guess I'd go to 1977. I've seen countless documentaries about the rise of punk and I've always wanted to witness the explosion of when the Sex Pistols played 'God Save the Queen' on the jubilee. Since my craft is fiction writing, here's how I hope it would go:

"No future! No future for you!" Johnny Rotten cries out as the gig explodes into a frenzy of chaos. He whips his head back and forth to rid himself of the saliva pasted into his skin and clinging to his spikes. I don't understand how these people can cope with the constant gobbing.
 I have landed my TARDIS on the boat party the Sex Pistols hosted the night of the silver jubilee. I feel awkward, knowing that this particular show ends with the police. Suddenly I can see blue uniforms swarming in on the band. The drummer is hefted off of his stool and the rest of their band are robbed of their instruments.
 I clear out hastily before the violence starts but check the newspapers in the morning. Sure enough, there's the scandal, occupying the front page. I grab a sharpie from my pocket and scroll DFTBA, just to leave a small stamp on the seventies, before sauntering into the TARDIS and returning to 2012.

If any details are incorrect, I apologize since this took place twenty-one years before I was born.

That's what I would do with a time machine, as long as it was a TARDIS because it's a little conspicuous - a fourteen-year-old driving a DeLorean from central Scotland to London.

What would you do?

Teenagers ... or Atleast the Decepticon Ones

For those of you who don't know - a decepticon is the complete opposite of a nerdfighter. A nerdfighter is someone who is made of awesome.

I was in RMPS (Religious Moral and Philosophical Education) today and felt like I was ... in a zoo. Or maybe a space explorer discovering and observing some Martians. I'm not calling my classmates aliens. I just can't understand the things they do sometimes.

For example : One girl debated the cause for her suspension from school with our teacher. He had allegedly claimed she had sworn at him. She was adamant however that she hadn't sworn at him, just around him.

Okay, so it may sound like I'm just venting here, but I swear there's a more meaningful point coming up.

When we're little, we get in trouble A LOT. We run in corridors where we shouldn't, we wrestle slightly too violently with our siblings and cousins and the classic taking a hissy fit when you don't get your own way. As we grow up, we get into trouble for slightly more serious reasons : staying up after you should have put the light out, forgetting to do homework etc. Course, as we become a teenagers, we have worse problems. We skip school, start smoking, drinking, even taking drugs. I know a girl who started using drugs in first year.

I always thought that by the time I reached fourth year we would have matured but this conversation made me doubt my theory. My friends all stayed awesome when they reached high school, but others have just degenerated and degenerated into a state of decepticonness. I keep believing that the attitudes of my classmates will become more civilised as they grow older but the ages of the London rioters being somewhat into the twenties worries me.

What if the anger of these teenagers only increases with age? Will we end up with seventy-year-old arsonists?

I'm really excited to have any readers at all and since I want to be a writer when I grow up, readers are sort of essential. Thankyou for reading and I promise that the rest of my posts will be longer than 3 lines.

Why I Love Back To The Future

 

 Back to the Future is constantly dogging my thoughts, nearly a year since I first saw it. When I heard that it had been a household movie in the houses of my friends, I felt robbed of a classic family movie. Yes, I had Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc and Shrek and Ice Age and Harry Potter but none of them have Doc Brown, or Marty McFly. I plan on a 'marathon' this weekend with my friends, though it's slightly more like a five thousand metres, since there are only three movies. My obsession could be based on many things : Michael J. Fox playing guitar, quotes like "Great Scott", or maybe even the surreal plot of a boy's mother falling in love with him. No, my reasons are far more meaningful than that. What did you expect from a nerdfighter?

You may have noticed the onslaught of sexual exploits in entertainment today. Seriously, you don't want to get me started on 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. I shudder at the name. I read a line of it in a shop once and nearly threw up. But I digress. BTTF was originally turned down by many studios for being too clean, with next to no direct references to sex. Ironically, Disney turned them down for their salaciousness in the idea of a mother coming onto her son. However it is the lack of pandering intent that makes it so appealing to me. The plot is highly entertaining in itself. I mean, a boy stuck in his home town, thirty years before he is born? That's pretty damn funny. It is stuffed with vibrant characters and situations so ridiculous that you wouldn't accept them did you not know the plot-line.

For those of you who don't, though I can't imagine why not, here's the plot. A seventeen-year-old Californian boy is friends with a stereotypical mad scientist - though frankly he couldn't be more unique - who unveils to him his latest invention. A time machine. It turns out that he bargained with Libyans to get his hands on some Plutonium to fuel the time circuitry in exchange for building them a bomb. He, of course, fools them and when the Libyans find out they hunt him down, killing him on the same night that he unveils his invention to Marty. To escape the Libyans, Marty jumps into the car and accidentally travels in time.
 He is transported to 1955 where he diverts the course of time and causes his parents not to meet. He also somehow attracts romantic intention from his mother, as they are roughly the same age at the time. He tracks down Doc - or the 1955 version of Doc - to help him get home, Doc is skeptical of what Marty tells him. Marty eventually convinces him and with Doc's help, he helps his parents fall in love as well as concocting a way to get back to the future.

My point is that although the film incorporates elements of action, comedy, adventure and romance, it leaves out the sleezy innuendo that has become so common in modern film-making. I think a film this devoid of popular techniques but still this exciting and loved is one mighty fine piece of cinema and that is the real reason for my obsession.