Christmas? Sorted!

Today, the hellish point in my life (known as Christmas preparation to the rest of you) is officially over!
I bought the Vampire Weekend CD (which I really wanted!), a pack of fudge, a Thorntons chocolate bar and angel hair clips. I really don't know what the last ones were for but they just looked so cute! Yes, I can be super girly sometimes...it's scary what lack of sleep does to me.
Anyway, moving on from my total over reaction to £2 clips from Accessorize...
My thought for the post is:
Do people (aka me) get over stressed over what is supposed to be a cheerful holiday?
Nowadays we obsess over making sure we've got cards written and presents bought and wrapped...it turns into a nightmare!
This is kind of going over what I said before about holidays being too comercial but it's true!
there was a guy in town preaching (I don't know about you lot, but the Christains in Leicester like to make themselves heard...at least this dude wasn't eighty like most of them) about how the true story and message of Christmas is forgotten today...and I had to say I kind of agreed with him!
People don't really think about the birth of Jesus but about the presents they're going to get. Slightly hollow celebration in my opinion.
I'll stop my random Christain rant now. It's freaking even me out!
I think that in total I spent about £30 on presents...that's quite alot considering I haven't got a job/any relible source of income. That money was supposed to be for buying things I need...like shoes! I've been stuck in wearing plimsoles (I mean PROPER plimsoles, like the ones you wore when you were like six for P.E) and my feet feel like they now have frostbite. If I keep wearing them I'll probably get trenchfoot as they aren't remotely waterproof.
Anyway, now I've finished my random rant about my lack of good footwear, I want to know how much YOU spent on presents/how much you think should be spent on presents.
And of course, I'd love your opinions on anything I've talked about AND anything you want me blog about.
You can stop scrolling now, I've stopped ranting! All that's left to say is:
Have fun thinking!

Indie chick out :)

heys to you peeps!

I am officially a bad person

I have neglected you, my beloved followers for far too long!

A lot has been going on...I've been doing LOADS of essays (doing GSCEs means you actually have to do work. I would have never guessed!) On top of that is a load of homework (gggrrr!!!), coursework (again gggrrr!) and tests out my ears. I haven't had to do many science tests because I'm in triple science (woo for being a nerd!)
Also I recently became addicted to Facebook.
Yes, I know I'm sad but that's the only way I can contact some people...in fact I'm on it right now as I post this!

Another thing I've been doing is my silver Arts Award (for more info on this randomness, click here )
It's fun, but time consuming. I wish I had time to blog but I just haven't.

Christmas is also extremely stressful!
I am THE least organised person on the planet! I need to make sure you all know that, just in case you hadn't guessed by now :)
I haven't actually got ALL my presents sorted and only one card done...I'm starting to feel really bad about this as people keep saying brightly 'I've got your present!' or 'I'll give your card next week' and I just give this really big, fake smile like 'yay(!) another person I have to get a present for...'
I got nine and a half presents at the weekend and I thought 'Whoa! I've never bought this many presents before in my life!'. Then I got home and realised I needed at least another nine.
You read that right. I actually need to magic up another NINE presents by Thursday. Whoopee(!)
That's going to be fun. (P.N I am extremely sarcastic. The joys of being British!)

Well, at the end of this week though, I will be FREE! The Christmas holidays are coming up so I will have plenty of time to do a 'proper' blog about anything and everything! (and I get to see Twilight at the cinema on Fri with basically everyone from school...actually make that basically EVERY teenager in Leicestershire...they give us a half day and we have nothing better to do than yo all pack into the vue lol)

But right now my mum is giving me evils so I better flick back on to MyMaths before she comes and nabs my laptop saying that I'm using my time 'inappropriately'.
Do I care?
The answer would be no.
Ah well.
One day I will learn...one day :)

Have fun to anyone who's actually made the effort to read this...
I salute you!

Indie Chick out

My Birthday!

First of all, I must be the worst person for keeping things up to date as I have seriously neglected my blog for ages now. Man, it must have been over a week! For this lack of consistancy (I can use big words too!) I apologise most sincerly.
The reasons for this have been (in no particular order):
Homework
Coursework
Revision
Arts Award
Extra revision Sessions after school
Being banned from the computer after staying up too late
Blogger crashing
Internet crashing
Laziness (I have to admit that)

So now I have finally posted. Huzzah! (sorry, always wanted to use that phrase, so british!) And what a fine day to post it is indeed! I am now 15 years of age which means I can...I can...basically just do all the stuff I could do when I was 14! Ummm...I can get into 15 movies now...does that count? Not really. I can't drive or anything so I'd have to mess around with buses to get to the cinema...Ah well. I'm older now and that's that. I found that as you get older, birthdays become less important. I remember when I was little I had loads of partys and was really into the presents but now, (though I still really like getting the prezzies, of course!) I don't really make a fuss of it. Then again I don't really make a fuss of stuff fullstop. Anyway, all I did today was get some presents from my family (you know, stuff like socks. yes, I actually got socks!) and a toy tofu man from my friend (it was weird but fun! I'll post a pic of him soon...) and of course, some chocolate and cards. Some people at school were just like 'It's today? Damn!' and 'I got you a card but it's at home...'
Before you start thinking 'Oh, here she goes...'bout to start ranting about not getting enough cards...*other annoyed mutterings*' I actually have to say I didn't care. The reason for this isn't because I'm weird and am really anti-social (not anymore anyway...ahem) but because everyone was nice to me and I felt...special. I know I sound like a dork but it's true! On your birthday you get a weird inexplicable rush of happiness...not that I'm always depressed. I don't know how to explain it! I'm useless at that sort of thing! Anyway, you get what I mean. Celebrating birthdays gives everyone one day to feel special, which I think is pretty cool. Whoever invented them was pretty awesome!
Okay, so maybe my giving out of chocolate may have made people 'like' me more but they could have just grabbed it off me instead of saying/singing happy birthday, couldn't they. It makes me believe that there still is sanity/common politeness if you look hard enough.
Wow. I managed to make talking about my birthday even more dorky than it already is! What an achievment! At least I didn't list everything I got down (I've forgotten what all eight of the presents I got actually were, apart from the tofu man and this laptop of course!)

Right, as I haven't posted for ages, I will link in the maths test I had to do yesterday into the thought of the day which is:

Are all the tests we have to take (in this country at least, I don't know how many you do I other countries!) really necessary?

They've now scrapped the SATS in this country (which I had to d last year!) mostly due to the mess the marking company made of it (meaning I didn't get my results until about five weeks into term) but partly due to the fact that the government finally realised it wasn't helping anyone really. Apparently children are more stressed in this country than anywhere else in Western Europe but with all the tests we have to do, is it any wonder?
It's not just in school either. We have to pass lots of tests our whole lives. My question to you is: Is all this testing worth it, or is it a useless load of nonsense?
Have fun thinking about it!

P.S. This is shorter than I wanted it to be, but my battery's almost dead!

oh yeah!

oh and enjoy bofire night!

america....are you happy?

I didn't post until now because my Internet kept crashing, not because I was ignoring you, my awesome followers! That my friends will never happen. Ever.

Well, today, how can I skirt around it, the American election. Today, we found out that Barack Obama has become the 44th and (more importantly) the 1st black president of the United States. This in my opinion is a major breakthrough. Out with the old, fuddy duddies of traditional American government and in with the new change.

McCain wasn't going to win and it was obvious to everyone for sometime, especially when Obama came to light. Though nobody had really heard of him until Hilary Clinton dropped out (well, at least I hadn't, you Americans probably had for ages and I was just being ignorant!), his ideals reached out to a lot of people for who the old ways never had. No matter how much he protested, McCain would always be seen as the embodiment of the old regimen and problems that America has had in the past. Obama may not be to really bring about this change (I'm not kidding myself there), but he has a lot more chance than a traditionalist republican!
One of the big successes of Obama's (kind of late) campaign was he made himself internationally known and gathered more support for himself in the younger generations some of which had previously not voted. This was very smart thinking, unlike McCain's choice of Sarah Palin which was extremely stupid after his whole 'Obama's too inexperienced' rant. Palin had never been out of Alaska!
I'm trying really hard not to rant about how awesome Obama is!
Some of you may argue that it doesn't really matter what happens in America for people here in Britain or anywhere else but I think it does for our ongoing relations between the nations (yes, it rhymes!) and his decisions may affect us in future. Everyone I talk to seems to think he's a good thing and my friend (Princess Bala) got me to write DEMOCRAT across her face in body art pen!
Personally, I wish him, and America in general, good luck! I hope things get better for them.

OK, I have to admit, there was another reason I haven't updated for a while.
I have Facebook!
I know what a lot of you are thinking 'We've all had Facebook/Bebo/MySpace/whatever for ages!' But the thing is I've only just got my own e-mail!
Seriously, I didn't have my own laptop/computing device until two months back!
I'm very slow technology wise, we haven't even got any games consoles in our house.
Someone's trying to get me to get Bebo and MySpace now but I don't think I can cope with that much techno babble at once!
So when I logged on to it, lots of people added me who I never really talk to. It was a kind of weird and felt kind of good at the same time! I was really nerdy and felt loved!
Another awesome thing about Facebook is I'm in touch with people I haven't seen in years! That makes all the annoying e-mails you get worth it!
This does actually lead somewhere, before you get all confused and annoyed! My point being that are social networking sites making us less likely to go out and make new friends? Will we all end up glued to computers (and other such things, all you apple nerds!) chatting to people we've never meet, staying inside all day? Or are such sites a good thing? Keeping us in touch with people we'd otherwise never see?

I want to know what you lot think. It really matters to me what your opinions are, it's interesting to find out!)

Ooh, one more nasty brain exercise!)
Thought of the day:
Does the big media coverage of how extremist Muslims blow themselves up give all Muslims a bad name?
It definitely encourages people to think badly of them and the racist remarks I hear support this view. No one seems to think about the fact that Islam is quite a peaceable religion and what they must have experienced to drive them to blow themselves up.

Hmmm...think about that!

P.S. In case you're wondering about the weird reaction thing under the posts now, it's just something I'm experimenting with...

The calm between the storms

Sorry for not posting for a while! I've just had a shed full (well, not quite) of homework and then everything went crazy because of Halloween (little sisters' parties, little brothers' trick or treating, keeping crazy friends under control, the normal!) and yesterday everyone had fireworks, my sister got rabbits and I had to go to the library (I have another nine books so I should be alright for two more weeks!), ugh, too much for my brain to even contemplate doing!

So today I finally get to post.
Probably a lot of you are feeling the strain of having to keep with all these holidays and stuff. I mean for Halloween you have to make sure you have a costume, you don't look too stupid, that you've got enough sweets for all those little kids, that your younger siblings (those of you unlucky enough to have them) are happy and also have enough sweets so they don't have a tantrum. It is so hard to actually get any sweets from around where I live because we live in one of the more 'well off' areas (apparently) which means lots of old people live near us, and you know what that means. 'No trick or treaters here because you're all little hooligans!'
This is definitely not true (at least where I live) because the average age of everyone who goes trick or treating here is only about 9. I mean, sure a couple of houses get egged by a 'hardcore' few, but the number of times that actually happens around here is about twice...in six years. The little kids wouldn't dare go near a rotten egg or know what silly string was. I was given the task of getting my little bro to actually get some sweets. The problem is I never really went proper trick or treating when I was little, so I had no idea where to go. Seriously, I just went to Halloween parties every year. So we (Princess Bala and one my other friends who had decided to come see me) just ended up walking round aimlessly in the cold in our costumes for about half an hour. We went round to see a person I have known for years before she went to a Halloween party because she always has the most awesome costumes! (also, the day after she would have a major hangover. Maddie's parties have a well known reputation)
This year she was cat woman. She had a tail and everything lol! Her mum was just like, um, have some Hula Hoops! That was about all the stuff my little brother got. When we got home again I had to let him have half of what was left of our stock of sweets for trick or treaters and watch Monster House, again.

On Thursday and Friday everyone wore at least one Halloweeny thing to school. I didn't really have time so I just shoved some glitter in my hair but some people got really into it! Many people had wings, tiaras, wands, pointy hats, there was a lot of face paint and someone was the Grim Reaper but no one knew who it was till he took his mask off. Lots of people brought sweets as well. I don't mean the Mars bars that everyone buys at break and lunch, I mean big, huge multi packs! There was also a can of BBQ flavour pringles going round the whole of six-form and year eleven but they were just random.

Some people think (and it is probably true) that holidays are too commercialised nowadays. I mean, what does everyone associate Halloween with. Fancy dress, sweets, chocolate, movies, pumpkins, trick or treating, all kinds of monsters, but does anyone actually remember what the day is 'traditionally' about?(I know some observant people do, but bear with me while I explain it for anyone who doesn't) The actual name of the day is All Hallows Eve, the day before All Hollows or All Saints Day. Before it was 'Christian-ised' it was a pagan festival celebrating the harvest and they believed on this night the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved meaning that there were problems with crops and illnesses. They wore masks and costumes to calm the spirits. Now you know (well, the wikipedia version anyway)

But you know what, I don't think that commercialising the holidays is necessarily a bad thing. I mean we wouldn't have nearly as much fun without trick or treating, pumpkins, fancy dress and all the movies, be they comedy or horror, that are themed around all the 'traditions' of Halloween we have today. What other day do you get to dress up as an emo ninja (like me!), mad scientists, batcats (yes, i know someone who did), witches, vampires, Frankensteins, mummies, werewolves, zombies, whores, practically anything you want to, excluding fancy dress birthday parties? All in all, it's a lot more fun with all the cheesy stuff!

Also, in case you were wondering what I mean in the post title, I have two words for you: Bonfire Night. Will I be able to sleep on Wednesday? No!) I'll be too busy watching fireworks!

Thought for the day (before I forget):

Do you think if cows are one of the main causes of methane pollution, we shouldn't eat/farm so many of them to cut down on green houses and in theory, slow down global warming?

Have fun thinking about that!

Also I want to know about your Halloweens and your costumes!)

another post of randomitude

Hey people! (As always)thanks for the comments so far and thanks in advance for any future comments I get. Any comments on absolutely anything are really appriated, even stuff not to do with the blog! Also I really love ideas about what to blog otherwise, you know, I just rant about nothing in particular. Tell me something you want me to blog about and I will do it to the best of my ability. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g!
Anyway, I have to say that yesterday's post was kind of crazy (the points were good ones though) as I about comatose. It was about 11 o' clock at night (the time thing is wrong!) and I was angry because of the weather and I was just tired! Being tired for me is like most people drunk, I just say lots of random stuff and have like, verbal diarrhea!
Thanks again to my little followers, I love you all! Oh yeah, Brick asked for a mention so here it is! His blog is funny, read it! If anyone else wants a mention, just tell me and I won't hestiate to praise you! Also before you get any ideas from the last post, I do not hate Americans. I heartily shake Uncle Sam by the hand, I just thought that it was a bit stupid. Apparently they have their own targets but, come on, that doesn't mean that you can't work towards the same things as everyone else is if your targets are so good!

Anywho, now the formalities are over, I'll get on with the actual post.

Today I think I'll talk about (again) the issue that seems very close to all your hearts...ageism.
When people think of ageism, usually they think of people losing their jobs because they are 'too old'. This is a problem but the other side of ageism is really ignored. The fact that young people aren't taken seriously enough. Our views are as important as anyone else's.
I think the media is in part responsible. They mainly print stories with headlines such as 'Teenage Gang Murder','ASBO Teens' and the like. They are the ones that 'grab reader's attention'. What they don't often print is positive things young people do in their communities worldwide. At most these stories just get a small mention on the inside pages. I'm not saying these should specifically moved to the front page but stop making it negative all the time.
Old ladies actually give me evil glares in the street, like I'm going to jump them or something! I don't look that scary! (I'll ask Princess Bala for comfirmation of this) Seriously, that was when I was just walking to the library! Adults especially seem to think the worst of the youth of today. Have they ever really listened to us? They talk about freedom of speech, but are we given any? Not really.
We don't have a say in polotics or how our schools are run. Sure, we have student council, but can they actually affect major descions in school? Their views, and with it, the rest of the student body's, are 'taken in to consideration' meaning we'll think about it but in the end our idea will be better.
The government isn't really helping either. They keep making lots of new laws to 'keep everyone safe' but usually this means we have less freedom. What I, personally would like is to have a few legislations that gave us a bit more of a voice in things, so we make ourselves heard. Will this happen anytime soon? Probably not but I can hope!)
Those are my own personal experiences and views. If you have more power where you are I'd love to hear! If you feel the same, again, I'd love to hear! Even if you want talk about your pet dog, I don't mind! Anything and everything accepted! As long as you tell me your views, I'll be happy!)

Now I've stopped pleading for comments, I'll tell the thought of the day:

Don't all religions believe in the same basic concept?

I know I'll probably get a lot of hate for saying this but I've noticed after being lectured in R.E. about different religions, basically all religions believe in one god. Christainity, Judaism and Islam are often viewed as world's apart, but in actual fact they all actually have the old testament in their holy books! It's true! If don't believe me, Google it. The Torah is just the old testament by itself, the Bible has a bit extra (the new testament) and the Qu'ran is the bible with another bit added to it...in a very loose way of course! I'm not saying they are all the same thing but Muslims do believe in Jesus, but only that he was a prophet, not the messiah.

Tell me what you think to this. You can totally tell me if you think I'm a loony and stuff or if you think it's a load of rubbish. I want to know!)

Have fun!