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

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 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.