Guff

Yep, today I got my black 30GB ipod. And I must say, I’m in love. Not only is that the sexiest damn piece of kit now in my possession, but it’s the best MP3 player I reckon I could hope for. The quality of sound’s excellent and I’m only using the default speakers. Navigation’s excellent also. The click wheel’s a dream and I’m getting used to it all fast. I’ve yet to try out its video option but I’m liking what I’ve seen so far very much and banking on it not breaking, though even then I’ve a warranty which I’ll extend nearer to its expiry date, I think I’ve got my money’s worth.

Okay, so originally I wanted to settle for a tidy sum of twenty quid a week. That would’ve done me fine and seen me comfortably go out each weekend. Since then however, my ambitions have been realized somewhat and no longer do I want to earn a score, I’m now looking for something that will get me somewhere in the region of £100, enough to comfortably see me out each weekend and to save enough to be able to afford a lot of stuff that I want. Basically, £100 a week is a lot of money for someone my age and I’d be mightily happy with that even if I had to work a twenty hour week which is kind of the current aim.

Yesterday, I stepped up the hunt and asked for some application forms. We were in little luck. There were no vacancies about and few even had application forms to offer. I ended up with one from Homebase and a more promising being told to apply online at Currys. Unfortunately, they’ve no vacancies there either but I’ll keep checking. The hope is that I’ll find something sooner rather than later as I’m running dangerously low on the money I got for my birthday.

Last night I finished The Lord Of The Rings, the novel, for the first time. An epic read it proved to be, in excess of one thousand words and told as three tales. I’m a slow reader and aside from when on holiday, I only indulge in reading at night before I go to bed. I don’t read much either, getting through more than two chapters per read is what I’d consider my limit. You can imagine then that it took me a fair while to get through it. It did indeed. And I feel it something of an achievement almost that I’ve reached its end. It was a frankly amazing novel and I expect, despite its incredible length, that this won’t be the last time I’ll pick it up.

Moving on, now that a new book is required, I’ve decided to revisit John Grisham, one of my favourite all time authors who initially aided with my getting into the reading hobby. That honour maybe I owe more to the first trilogy in the Harry Potter series but novels authored by Mr. Grisham certainly helped. Indeed, I recall reading ‘The Brethren’ when I was still rather young and at the time, it was probably the most adult targeted book I’d read. Now revisiting, I’m planning on tackling a new task in ‘The Partner.’ And I guess I’ll let you know what I thought once I finish it. Be content in the knowledge that it shouldn’t take me nearly as long to complete as The Lord Of The Rings did.

In other news, I published my first film review over at the not so curiously named ‘The Film Review.’ I reviewed Goal, in this particular piece, a football centered movie would you believe it which boasted cameos from David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and co and to boot, was rather alright.

An Ipod that is. Regular readers will know that my birthday passed recently and I’ve yet to get anything off my mum because I opted to have my party instead. I agreed to wait patiently until the end of the month. Still, I couldn’t think of anything that I desired. A watch, maybe, but such a prospect didn’t exactly thrill me. No, I wanted something I could look forward to and an Ipod met that description well. I’ve enjoyed using my Sony Walkman a great deal but at 1GB, I filled it up all too quickly for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I could and did delete and replace stuff that I liked at the time but I’d prefer it to be all there, personally. Not only do they have more space. They’re just pretty darn cool.

Which bought to my next dilemma. Which one do I get? Well I ruled out the shuffle on the basis that I like to see what track I’m listening too. I’m one of those who recognizes a song but gets really annoyed when I can’t place it and it’s common that I can’t. Space would be an issue also. I wouldn’t scrap my current MP3 because it was too limiting only to get an Ipod that suffered from the same problem. The Nano was more interesting. Especially its 8GB option. I sided against this because I’d heard they break fairly easy, because you get more than thrice as much space for an extra £20 with a normal Ipod and because the normal Ipod isn’t that big to begin with anyway. Basically, the negatives outweigh the positives from where I’m standing.

So I just went for the Ipod. Or at least, that’s what I will go for and at the weekend hopefully. It’s much an improvement from the original model having gone through four large changes in its lifespan and is considered a part of the Ipod fifth generation. It’s quite frankly the bollocks and I can’t wait to get my hands on one. 30GB’ll be quite enough to handle my music, I think. That’s far too much space anyway so though I considered it, the 80GB model would surely be money down the drain. It tempted me, I’ll admit but I don’t see how I’m going to exceed 30GB and by the time that I do, if ever that be a date, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to get myself a new and much improved model for my money - especially with the Iphone not far off the horizon. It looks terrifically sexy in black too not to mention that it can play videos should I want it too.

I’m pretty chuffed with myself. Managed to get two pieces of coursework out of the way today in an English coursework day, despite being quite ill. I’d have done a much better job under no pressure and at home but hell, there’s no doubt that I’d have found every excuse in the book not to get them done otherwise. At least those two are out of the way now, indefinitely and even if I have screwed up, an original writing piece I did back in Year 10 which got an A* and a speaking and listening thing for which I was told I had gotten a high B should make it up. There’s always the 75% of the exam to consider anyway and I’m confident I’ll do well in that the hope being that I’ll get myself a B so that I can take History at A Level. If however I just get a C which might well turn out to be the case then I won’t be wholeheartedly disappointed and I’d hope to make History anyway. If I fail, well, English is the only subject that I’m backing myself to pass easily. Oh how peeved I’d be if I failed English.

Coursework wise, I’ve the one English bit left to do and that’s exploring the dramatic function of Shylock in Act 3, Scene . That’s the one I worked on well into the night only to be told I’ve to redo it because the language I used wasn’t language someone my age would use. Her actual words were, ‘this is not what I expect from a student. It’s what I’d expect from an English professor.’ Reading back through it, I didn’t think it so great. I’m in top set so you’ve to expect work that’s better than average. I’ve to stay after school and do this one next week which’ll be fun. I have to say though that I’ll enjoy handing in something better than my last effort. More coursework on the to do list comes with Drama (written, mostly redoing crap drafts,) Media (a lot) ICT (even more than media) and Science (can’t say I care.) If it needs to be done to pass then it will and I’m still deciding in that respect what I’m to work on. I’ll get it done once I get the internet running at home again though.

I’ve realized that I squander far too much money needlessly. A prime example would be me getting £570 in the Summer. That’s now gone. In fact, it went in that very same summer. So, I come up with the tin, which is what I call the tin safe I’ve possessed since I was a child. I now vow to save up money for nothing in particular, just so that when I do need it it’s there. I won’t be buying crap with it though. Thus far I’ve deposited £15, a small sum yes but I’m hoping that it will grow. Hoping.

I’ve not got any rules for it yet though I may look to implement some. For instance, at the moment I randomly deposit money. I make sure to keep some in my wallet on stuff like going out but the tin generally gets untouched unless needed. Hopefully there’ll be more to thrown in if I get a job, which right now is something of a priority considering I won’t be able to get lifts anymore from my Granddad when going out soon and will have to start going the bus and cab route much to my dismay.

I would apologize about the dire lack of activity about these parts of late but there’s very little need for I’m confident that I’m all alone out here and that no one reads this place. Maybe I’m wrong, but our hits counter would suggest that we only manage to pull in the very occasional reader who’s stumbled here by mistake. Poor soul. I wish there was something to appease such a visitor to stick around. I’m afraid there’s not. Therefore, I’ve vowed to make a renewed effort at giving this place a real go. There’s lots to talk about and I want to abolish this notion that I’ve a poor track record with websites, which I do.

A quick round up of the past month then: Christmas arrived and lo and behold, Santa, or rather, my mum, uncle and grandparents delivered me money, a lot in fact - just over £300, an amount I was very content with and went on to splash in the January sale, strengthening my wardrobe yet again with a Stone Island Cardigan (£135) and jeans (£65) additions as well as a pair of gloves (£19) and a polo (£32) to match my cardigan, both from Lacoste. The rest of it went towards my birthday party which has just passed. That’s right, I’m the big sixteen and can now legally smoke and have sex. Oh joy. Aside from some new CD’s (Muse’s Black holes and revelations, The Killer’s Sam’s Town, Kasabian’s Empire, The Fratelli’s Castello Music and Oasis’s Stop The Clocks) and a couple of fivers, I’m still waiting on my big present. I had an agreement with my mum that if I had my party I’d wait until she got paid ‘til I got my present. The major problem there is that I still don’t know what to ask for, a watch being the sole candidate at the moment.

Away from all that, I opened The Film Review, a site where if the title just wasn’t obvious enough for you , I’ll be reviewing films. I also managed to miss my ICT resits out of choice before being told that I will now have to pay for them and have been accused of not writing my own English coursework piece because the language was that good and because sometimes I struggle to explain words that I write, especially when under the intimidating presence of two teachers who are telling me that I cheated flatly though they had no evidence seemingly not taking any other opinion into consideration. The compliment’s gladly received but I don’t much enjoy being told I’ll have to rewrite something in front of a teacher merely because it was good, not when I spent as long on it as I did, anyway.

Sorry that I haven’t updated in the space of three weeks. I’ve been busy with this that and this. You know how it is. Of course, now we find ourselves firmly in the Christmas period, something that’s gotten rather less exciting now that I’m fast approaching my sixteenth birthday and can only look forward to money. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s what I wanted but it’s just not the same as the excitement experienced when you get however many presents and don’t know what many of them are. That’s how Christmas used to be exciting. If I do get the fortune of a present under the tree then it’s likely to be clothes, again, what I want but hardly something to be losing sleep over if you catch my drift.

Anyway, in a fit of jolly spirit, me and a mate of mine, later turning into a threesome got onto the Christmas carolling bandwagon. It’s something we’ve tried to much success for the past two years and though we’re said to be growing out of it, it was a nice laugh. We made little money, £6 a piece for a grand three hour’s worth of knocking on doors and singing ‘We wish you a merry Christmas’ followed promptly by ‘Jingle Bells’ if our audience demanded more. What’s more, we were only politely told to ‘fuck off’ the once by the way of a pleasurable woman who evidently was about as excited as Ebenezer Scooge where the festive period is concerned. True story.

Despite feeling like a dick when asked which charity we were collecting for, responding in a low tone that we were merely attempting to spread the joy of Christmas, there’s nothing like a good night of Christmas carolling. Sure, at times all we did was explode into fits of laughter, yes, it was so freezing cold that I couldn’t feel my hands (no gloves) and no, we didn’t make a great deal but we did, as is always the case, happen to meet a fair bunch of odd balls and enjoy ourselves, thoroughly.

Yes, I think we can safely say it’s official. I, I am a doofus. Remember me babbling on about some ICT Coursework I had to complete? Well, coursework in question was the pre release guff you get with an exam. Not having taken this seriously last year, I was entered into a resit and around a month ago, I was given what we had to do accompanied by a December 1st deadline. As usual, I left it until as late as possible before starting off. That was last weekend. All in all, I made some headway but could only be considered half way done. Knowing that I don’t have internet access for a large space of time in the week, I thought myself screwed but alas, for on Tuesday, last Tuesday we had academic review day, the perfect opportunity to finish upon what I had started.

You see, academic review day is an event which many consider a day off. You have a designated fifteen minute appointment with your form tutor and discuss targets. That’s it. When those fifteen minutes are over you’re free to leave the building and enjoy the rest of the day as you please. Perfect. Or so I thought, for only this time, they’d decided it a clever idea to make it a day where year 11 students behind in coursework could catch up.

When I got the letter to say I was one of these few, I was fairly surprised. Though admittedly behind, for many of my subjects, I’ve at the least handed in substandard drafts. Hunting down the source wasn’t difficult as my Media teacher explained. I was to use the time to catch up or at least make an attempt at catching up on my Media Studies class work. Trouble is, I’ve no intention to pass Media. I’ve got my passing formula in place and Media doesn’t come into the equation. Therefore, I ruled it a pointless exercise, a pointless waste of time. I have no need to pass Media. It’s a subject I regret taking on. With that in mind, I thought it in my interest to skip the day and do my ICT at home instead. For this to work, because we got a letter saying this was compulsory I’d have to blag a way out of it to my mother, which I did.

My plan worked. I spent all day practically on Tuesday working my coursework into a piece of art that would not only secure me a pass but would surely guarantee me a merit or distinction grade. Now you’ll note the deadline was December 1st, today, for it has to be sent off to the examiners. Well we’ve a day off. It was meant to be in yesterday. I knew this. I forgot. So, not only does that make ICT a whole lot tougher from here on in, not only did I waste a great deal of hours of my time getting it done but I got a letter sent home yesterday from the school to say I missed the compulsory coursework catch up day - all for nothing. Yes, it’s safe to say I am a doofus and it’s more than likely that I’ll now fail ICT by the scrape of the teeth, a few marks off that would’ve otherwise been secured through handing in this very piece of coursework.

I mentioned about how I’m in dire need of a job. Well yesterday, the search began. A mate of mine managed to nab something himself. He’ll be working after school and on Saturday each week and for that, will earn a mighty £50 per week. Excited by such a prospect I planned to do the same. I don’t mind hard graft so long as the rewards are just. Therefore, if I was to do after school, then I knew I must sought after something local for getting home can be a nightmare at certain times of night in other areas.

It didn’t go quite as planned. Cycling round my small village, I found little that took my interest. It was also quite busy and I wasn’t much persuaded to wait in a queue only to ask whether there were any jobs going. I was quite shy really. I mean, yeah, there wasn’t much there but had a bit of effort been put in on my part, well, I might’ve struck lucky.

It just wasn’t to be. I pray I’ll have more luck come next Saturday when I throw the after school notion out of the window and just look to keep it simple and secure a Saturday job allowing me enough money to go out each weekend. That means I won’t have to stay local, though obviously I won’t be going too far away. It just means I’ll have more choice not to mention I’ll be a whole lot less shy ‘cos I’m not so known in the area.