Dead? Really?

There's this kind of stereotype about winter; everything dies or goes to sleep in November and doesn't come out until March. But I don't think that's true, based on what I saw in my garden this monring.

Maybe it's just because we put out seed for the birds, but I'm pretty sure there are more of them around now than there are in summer. I saw three or four bluetits, a robin and an enormous magpie, all while I was eating breakfast this morning. There were also two grey squirrels, which was reall cool because I've never seen them that close before. They were running along the fence and climbing up the trees and scampering all along the trellis. When I told Dad they were there, he jokingly said "Get out the shotgun."
We don't actually have a shotgun, but there's this very British thinking in regards to grey squirrels. They aren't actually British natives, and they've pretty much driven the red squirrels into extinction. People call grey squirrels 'tree rats' a lot, but I think they look cute.

And it's not just the animals that are still awake. The plants are hanging on too. While we have two decidedly dead sunflowers in our garden, one of the four or five rose bushes still has some flowers on it, and there's another that has buds. There's a red flower - I'm not sure what it is - about four fifths of the way down the garden that is still hanging on, and the rose that climbs up the side of the building that houses Dad's office and the garage still has a few pink buds on it. one of them looks like it might be a bit of apple blossom, because the branch sticks out from the wall and has wound itself around the branches of teh apple tree.

I live in a very strange kind of place, right on the boundary between man and nature. Out the front of our house is the main road that runs through the village we live in; admittedly, it's only the village high street, but we're right on the edge of the village, so, despite the 30 mph speed limit, people frequently come tearing past us doing at least 40.
At the back is the first in a series of fields which are owned ny the Woodland Trust, which are full of animals and trees and all sorts of lovely things. We get pheasants come into the garden every so often, and we regularly see deer out in the field. I try to take pictures whenever I can, because they're just so beautiful. I saw one, I think it was last week, that literally looked right at me as I took the picture. So gorgeous!

I think that's all I have to say for now.
Until next time my lovelyies!
Glitterb

Crazy Lady

So... It's that time of the month, and my emotions are all over the place. School stress and the fall out from NaNoWriMo aren't exactly helping either. Today I started crying in my German lesson, which was completely ridiculous because I had just got back some very good results on my mock exams and my first writing assessment. My teacher (who was also my mentor for four years) is pretty much convinced that she makes me cry, because I always seem to end up in tears with her.
Not every lesson of course, but still...

Sometimes I hate being a woman. Boys have it so easy. Then again, they have to deal with us when we get in our moods, so I suppose it evens out fairly well.

My brother goes off to Germany tomorrow morning for the school's yearly Christmas Market trip. I'm not sure exactly where he's going, because when I was his age they still seperated the students who had french or german as their first language learnt, so I went to the area around Lille in northern France, with a few day trips up into Belgium. His year, however, have started out with both languages since year 7, in the top sets at least, and they're all going to Germany.
My mum asked me after dinner if I wanted to come and see him off. Considering that would involve getting up at 4 in the morning, she probably should have anticipated my answer.
Which was of course a resounding 'No way!' I have trouble with 6:45 on weekdays, and I'm not often seen before 11 on weekends if I can help it. Another problem I have is that once I'm up, that's it, I can't go back to sleep. If I did go to say goodbye to him, going to sleep at the time I do would give me five hours of sleep, and then I wouldn't be able to catch it up later. You see my problem.

Needless to say, I said my farewells before little bro went to sleep tonight. He won't be back until Wednesday, I believe.
Oh sweet relief.

Anyway, I think I've said all I need to say today.
Goodnight!
Glitterb

Out of Practise

I just realised that I haven't done this - blogging, that is - is in quite a while, and I'm kind of out of practise. I can think of literally nothing to write about. It's still too early (in my opinion) to talk about Christmas, and there's nothing really very exctiting going on in my life right now.
Except for my piano exam tomorrow, which has me absolutely terrified already.

Yeah...

Well, since I am very uninteresting and it's 25 to midnight, I think I'm going to leave it there.

Goodnight!
Glitterb

I'm Back!

Hey everybody! Long time no see.So, I know I said I would be back when I had updated all my story blogs, which happened a few weeks ago, but by that point I had started (and was half way through) a writing project called NaNoWriMo. I believe I talked about it on my one-shots blog when I uploaded the warm up piece I did in the last two days of October.
The basic idea behind NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is to write a 50,000 word novel from scratch between November 1st and November 30th. It's not a competition; everyone who reaches the goal is refered to as a Winner, and gets a certificate and a nifty web badge, but there are no real prizes beyond the satisfaction of having achieved your goal and having a first draft of a novel to brag about to your friends.

Some people have been finished for a while. One of my local MLs (Municipal Liasons) finished by the 14th and went on to write over 75,000 words by the end of the month. I came in with a very respectable total of 50,591 at about half past five this afternoon, and then preceeded to be very smug and pleased with myself. My winner's certificate is already printed out and displayed proudly on my wall.

If you would like to check out my novel, I will posting it chapter by chapter here. I can also set up a blog for it if that would be helpful.
Please let me know what you think by commenting on this post. I would love to hear your views!

See you tomorrow (probably)
Glitterb

Just To Let You Know

I probably won't be posting on here until I catch up on chapters of all my story blogs (links in previous post).
Just so you know.
Until then,
Glitterb

9/11 FanFic Recommendation

Just wanted to point you guys in the direction of a brilliant Fanfiction I found a while ago based on the events of September the 11th 2001. It's called 539 minutes, and it is written by the fabulous CaraNo, who has several other stories that I love. There are only two chapters, but it is a very moving and well written piece that made me cry when I read it. It is especially poignant today, the tenth anniversary of the attacks, and I hope you guys let Cara know what a brilliant job she did.

My heart goes out to all those you lost loved ones in the attacks. I hope you can look past the way they died and remember them as they were in life.

Until  tomorrow (or whenever I decide to post, which is getting more infrequent as we go along)
Glitterb

News Which May Be Of Interest... Or Not

Just wanted to post quickly to let you know that I have set up blogs for all of my stories, as well as one for one shots, so you can take a look at them if you don't want to trek over to FF.net. I will be posting  on them as I update on FF, but until I catch up I will have a regular posting schedule as follows:

Monday - Lost and Found
Tuesday - The Silver Necklace
Wednesday - No More Bella
Thursday - A Different Perspective
Friday - Trapped, then Vampire Idol
Saturday - Nessie's Questions
Sunday - Dear Bella, then One Shots

This won't continue once all the chapter I have are up, because I don't write that fast. Even if I did have time, there's no way I could churn out seven chapters a week; writer's block won't let me.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. My day wasn't especially interesting, but then, weekends never are.

Goodnight, and pleasant dreams my lovelies!
Glitterb

Ow, Ow, OW!

I had my first proper dance lesson since the beginning of the holidays today, which is the first time I've done any dancing all summer, aside from three days of Summer School, and also the first time in over a month I have done any significant amount of time on my pointe shoes.

Pointe shoes are what most people probably recognise as ballet shoes. They allow dancers to stand on the very ends of their toes while they dance, and professionals make them look absolutely effortless. However, even a ballerina that has been dancing on pointe for years has exactly the same problem as a beginnner; it hurts like hell. Especially on new shoes. I have been on pointe for almost a year now, and it still hurts.

It didn't help that I haven't cut my toes nails recently, which hurts even more.
Joy.

Anyway, maybe it will be easier next week. Our class has actually expanded now, as we have girls from the next grade up joining our pointe class before they have their ballet class. It was fun, because we all thought they were going to be much better than us, but they actually got all the corrections because our teacher hasn't taught them pointe before and she went right back to basics. We knew all the exercises, and the older girls were all being told to pull up the backs of their knees, something we have been doing since we started. (Pulling up your knees is important, because if they bend then your ankle goes slack, which makes it more likely for you to fall over.)

I think I'm going to go take a shower and watch some more of The Hard Times of RJ Berger. For some reason, I absolutely love that show.

Goodnight!
Glitterb

Life? Don't Talk To Me About Life.

About 0.00001% of you will understand the rather geeky reference in the title. ;P

Today is only the second day back at school, and I have already had four different teachers give me homework. I swear, my teachers are trying to kill me.
Today I had PSHE, English, Maths, Art and German.
I had Art yesterday, and we are finishing off last year's unit of work before we move on to a new one.
PSHE is apparently very easy this year. The exam is supposedly mostly common sense, and the coursework is relaxed and simple, and should be done fairly quickly. Thing is, the course is called 'Preperation For Working Life', so the coursework involves writing a letter of application, a CV, and notes in preperation for an interview.  Which means, of course, we have to have mock interviews. This scares me silly. End of.
English is beyond ridiculous, since we have two assessments to finish before October, another to do between October and Christmas, then a play to study, then two terms of revision before our exam. Gah, so stressful. At least I've already finished the book we have to read for our Term 2 assessment and the exam. There's also a new girl in our class that has been moved up from a lower set, and I hate her guts. We went to primary school together, and she is loud, obnoxious, and a bully. We have never gotten along with each other, and it doesn't help that she is about 95% fake, covered in layers of horrid make up, while I don't even own foundation or concealer, never mind actually wearing the stuff.
Maths was very easy to go back to, as I have the same teacher, same class (with a few new additions and one person being moved down) in the same room, and we have automatically gone back to the same seats we were in last year. Although the boys that sit near me are not to happy, as I apparently ruin 'Foreign Corner', so called because everyone sitting up the side of the room and around the back on one side has roots in a different country; most are indian, one is from Sri Lanka, two are chinese and one is from who knows where. Then there's me, who's only claims of foreign ancestry is the welsh part of my dad's side of the family.
Thankfully, German is fairly chilled. I chose to take our school's Fast Track languages course, meaning that I take both French and German GCSEs in one year each, rather than stretching one language across two years. Obviously, this isn't for everybody, so we only have four people in our class (the class that started with German and our now doing French is a little bigger, but they still only have nine). The atmosphere is very relaxed, we all get a chance to talk, and, best of all, our first assessment isn't until after the half-term holiday. Yey!

So, that's what I did today. Thoughts? Are there any people you know that are like the slag in my English class?

Bye Bye!
Glitterb

Back To School

I went back to school today. There isn't much else to say about today.

New timetable, new teachers, new mentor and mentor group, same classes and friends and everything. The only huge change is that all my friends in the next year up are now in the Sixth Form and no longer wear uniform. Yeah.

Anyway...
Please don't expect any interesting posts from now until Christmas.

Glitterb

Just Because...

Because I need something to distract me from my imminent return to school, here's a picture of the dress I have my eye on for prom (as mentioned in yesterday's blog). Why? Because I feel like it, that's why.

What do you think? Pretty, right?

Far Too Early

Today, I had a conversation on MSN with one of my friends where the main topic of conversation (after back-to-school anticipation) was prom dresses. We both have ideas about what we want to wear; she has several different options to choose from, and I have a specific dress that I have fallen in love with already. And that got me thinking... isn't it a bit early for us to be thinking about that stuff? I mean, our prom is this year, but it isn't until about late June/early July time. Why do we seem to pick things out in September?

Which leads me onto thinking about how society always seems to be getting ready for the next big event. It seems like we have barely left school for the summer when the adds come out for back to school supplies and school uniform. Once that ends, we get into Halloween, then Bonfire Night, then Christmas, New Year, January sales... Each holiday is advertised and stoked for before the last one has even happened. It gets to the point when the Valentines Day junk makes way to Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies almost immediately following February 14th.

It's official: we live in a society obsessed with holidays that are just an excuse for retailers to make money. Even those that were originally religious have become bottled up and labelled, to the point where, unless they have been specifically told the religious stories, children don't even know the significance of the holiday beyond the superficial material exchanges that are made on that particular day, whether they be chocolate, toys or other gifts. Now, I'm not religious, and I never have been, but I went to a primary school that, while it wasn't specifically a Christian school, did have very string links with the village church. I grew up with 'Vicar Assembelies' every Wednesday, learning about Lent and the meaning behind Shrove Tuesday - also known as Pancake Day. I was told the Easter story and the Christmas story, and I was in several plays based on the Nativity. I think this is something that is really important; teaching kids about why we have these holidays, so that they don't just become like another birthday, where gifts are given for no obvious reason.

Now that I've got that out of my system... XD

See you tomorrow guys.
Glitterb

And So Begins Crazy Month...

Sorry I didn't post yesterday guys, I did try but Blogger spazed out on me. :(
Anyhoosles, this is going to be a pretty hectic month, all things considered. I go back to school on the 5th, my best friend's birthday is on the 6th, then I have two English assessments and another in German to get through before October half-term. There's also Biology and Chemistry coursework that last year's teachers bunked off on their replacements (one is changing schools, the other is on maternity leave) and the new units of work in all subjects.
There's also something I like to call 'Birthday Week', which is exactly what it says on the tin; my brother becomes a teenager on the 21st, I am 16 on the 28th, and my grandmother is somewhere in the middle. How we managed to have birthdays exactly one week apart I have no idea. I just know that I pity my mother. Really, I do. The two weekends around our birthdays (which fall on Wednesdays this year - can't get much more mid-week than that) are probably the most stressful and expensive weekends of the entire year, only contested by those leading up to Christmas.

Oh well, such is life, I suppose.

On a side note, I am still working on Chapter 15 of No More Bella. I am being attacked by writer's block which will only let me write a sentence or two before I get bored and run out of steam. Someday, I will force myself to sit down and write for a solid stretch of time, but that probably won't be for a while.

Until tomorrow,
Glitterb

Quick Fic Rec

Because it is after midnight, I am tired, and I can't think of anything else, I just wanted to recomend a FanFiction to you.

'Forget Me Not' by SydneyAlice (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7139708/1/Forget_Me_Not) is a reworking of the Twilight universe, sans vampires. Her summary of the story is:
With the help of his nurse, a man tries to put the pieces of his life back together. Will he be happy once the puzzle pieces fit, or will he wish his memories had remained a mystery?


Basically, Edward wakes up in a hospital with no idea who is is, where he came from, or how he got there. Bella is the nurse who greets him and offers him a place to stay while he tries to sort his life out. Surprise, surprise, they fall in love. I won't say any more, because that would completely ruin all the little twists that SydneyAlice slips in that are, in my opinion, simply genius. You never know what is coming next, and I for one was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Although the main story is basically finished, she has moved one to writing little 'futuretakes'. There are three so far, and, according to the Tweet she put out a little while ago, she has plans for at least ten more chapters.


Goody goody, is all I can say.


Go take a look if you like that kind of thing. It is an M rated story, meaning there is explicit sex and quite a bit of swearing, so be warned.


See you tomorrow!
Glitterb

Stuff Learned In Twilight

I didn't come up with this, but I found it a while ago and thought it was cool so I decided to share.

Lessons Learned in Twilight:

1. You can enjoy the bouquet while resisting the wine.
2. The future is not set in stone.
3. Men are crabby when they're hungry.
4. Nothing beats an irritable grizzly bear.
5. True love knows no boundaries.
6. Some people are just danger magnets.
7. Even eternal enemies can work together to save something they love.
8. Forget the fangs - real vampires sparkle!
9. Soul mates exist, even if it takes 100 years to find them.
10. Porsche 911 Turbos make really great bribes.
11. Friendship is like the sun on a cloudy day.
12. Snow just means it's too cold for rain.
13. Family is about more than just blood.
14. What's worth doing is worth over-doing.
15. Losing your temper can be hair-raising.
16. "Vegetarian" has many meanings.
17. Even monsters can hold on to their humanity.
18. There are exceptions to every rule.
19. Always verify bad news before doing something stupid.
20. Hearing voices in your head doesn't necessarily mean you're crazy.
21. Love means being willing to sacrifice your happiness for another's.
22. Cold hands = Warm heart.
23. Not breathing is uncomfortable.
24. Stupid lambs and masochistic lions make quite a pair.
25. Romeo was an idiot.
26. Twilight is the saddest and safest time of day.
27. Extreme sports should not be attempted alone.
28. Life is worth very little without someone to share it with.
29.Space heaters can be very annoying.
30. Love can make even the most miserable places paradise.

10 Things That Make Me Feel Good

Just because.

1. Mixing my strawberry body wash into a plain shampoo. It smells nice.
2. Running my hands along my legs after I shave. (so smooth!)
3. Hot chocolate with honey.
4. Drinking hot chocolate with honey in bed, reading a good FanFiction.
5. Being told that someone really appreciates my advice when I don't think I did very well.
6. Getting a good mark on a test.
7. Opening an email to find a really sweet review for one of my stories.
8. Making my cousin's cat purr.
9. Getting a certificate in assembly at school.
10. The Glee version of Raise Your Glass by Pink.

So... yeah. This was all I could think of today. Maybe I'll do more of these little lists.
Any suggestions?

Glitterb

What A Random Day

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I tend to write last thing at night and I was tired. Sue me.

Anyhoo, very mixed bag of stuff yesterday, which left me feeling fairly happy.
I finally saw the last Harry Potter film with my mum and my brother. Two words: Absolutely. Awesome. It was kind of a memory test, because I haven't read the books in years, and I actually stopped watching the movies for a while; I saw Deathly Hallows Part 1 on a coach leaving Berlin at the end of a History trip last year. Major props to Helena Bonham Carter (who plays Bellatrix LeStrange) who had a major bit of multiple personalities to deal with. My mum and I worked it out after the film ended:

Helena Bonham Carter

pretending to be

Emma Watson

playing

Hermione Granger

pretending to be

Bellatrix LeStrange

Confusing much?

After that, we went out to celebrate my exam results and had a very nice meal at a local pub. I had chicken breast stuffed with ham and cheddar, served with wild rice and a spinach and parmesan sauce, followed by mint ice cream covered in chocolate. Yum!

Finished off the day with the first ever Comedy Prom on the BBC, hosted by Tim Minchin, who I absolutely love. He is an incredible comic musician from Australia, and he performed a few of his well known songs as well as some new ones, in between several other comic acts, including Doc Brown rapping about David Attenborough and Sue Perkins conducting a song about the middle class, which was 'sung' by puppets. Utterly mad and utterly brilliant all at the same time.

This evening we watched last night's Doctor Who, which we recorded while we were out; I was thoroughly confused after less than five minutes. The episode was really good, although, considering it was called 'Let's Kill Hitler' the Fuhrer didn't make much of an appearance; he was around for a little while, then Rory locked him in a cupboard and he wasn't seen again. I think they could have used the setting a little more, but hey, I'm not Steven Moffat, and it was brilliant all the same.

Also, my parents and I watched J.K. Rowling's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' via iPlayer, with my dad's laptop plugged into the telly. It was really interesting to see the roots she had, which ended up being French with a smattering of German. Very good program, absolutely loved it.

I will attempt to be more prompt with my posting, but I go back to school next Monday (groan) so I may be slightly exhausted then.

Quick FanFiction note, I have No More Bella Chapter 15 in the works, as well as another little project based on a Taylor Swift song that has been stewing in my head for months. Not sure when it will come out, as I'm planning for one or two very long chapters, rather than lots of shorter ones.

Until tomorrow,

Glitterb

Books, Books, Books

There's no question about it, I am a reader. I spend a lot of time with my nose stuck in a book (when I'm not on the internet, that is). My RE teacher for the last two years consistently refers to me as Reader, even when he does the register, because I was always reading while waiting for his lessons. I devour fiction at a fairly impressive rate, and I tend to read several books at once. There will be the one in my school bag, then there's about three more scattered around my room at home.

Right now I am firmly lodged into a vampire/supernatural romance phase. It started with Twilight and the Fallen series, then branched out into True Blood, and quickly polished off every remotely interesting vampire book in the teen section of my library. Now I have moved into the adult section, starting with the horror shelf, and I have a whole new set to get through. Happy days.

Of course, there's always the odd one out; the book from a friend that I'm enjoying more than I thought I would, or something I spotted that looked interesting, or something for school. For example, I am currently in the process of reading The Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells, Bite Me by Christopher Moore, Fanged and Fabulous by Michelle Rowen, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Three vampire books, and one tale of american ranch hands that is part of my English course at school. We don't even go back to school for two weeks (ish), but my teacher recommended we read the book over the summer before reading it in class.
I still have two more sections to do (roughly 50/60 pages), and to be honest, I've lost interest in it a bit.

Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do.

What books do you guys read? Let me know.
Glitterb

Celebration!

First of all, apologies for not posting the last couple of days, but I have literally had nothing to write about.

Today is much more exciting. Today, I got the results from my first set of GCSE exams. So, because I love you guys, here they are:

English Language: A*
English Literature: B
Maths: 2 A*s (Applications and Methods papers)
Biology: A
Chemistry: A
Physics: A
Citizenship: B for exam, A* for coursework, B overall
History: A
French: A*
The French grade is the one I'm really proud of, because I chose to do a double languages course, meaning I will do two languages (French and German) over the two years rather than only one language, with two GCSEs at the end. That is an awful lot to do in one year, and it goes very fast (hence the name Fast Track Languages). It also means I got the same grade as my cousin, who has lived in France pretty much all her life and is totally fluent.
Plus, I got flowers and chocolate cake from my parents and a sticker from one of my mum's work colleagues, and we're going out to eat on Saturday.

Une belle fleur rose

All in all, I'm pretty happy.

Anyone else get any exam results? Let me know! (if you want to)

See you tomorrow (promise!)
Glitterb

The Help

Another quick review today,this time for a film.

The Help, based on a book by Kathryn Stockett, is the story of three women living in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's. Two, Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, are ageing black women working as maids in the houses of well off white families. The third, Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan, is a young white woman seeking to be a writer with a big publishing company. The story itself follows Skeeter's quest to write a book, using real stories from real people, exposing the experiences of 'the help', who do everything from cooking and cleaning to raising the children of their employers. The stories themselves are shocking, heart-warming and hilarious in equal measure, and the characters are portrayed excellently, showing all the emotions behind being a part of a publication that, under the Mississippi laws of the time, was illegal.

I enjoyed this film very much. The subject is not something I have come across before, and I wasn't even aware that this sort of thing even happened. It seems incredible to me that some of the things in the film might actually have happened. Of course I understand that the film may have been exaggerated, but I can't help but be touched when the tiny Mae Mobley, Aibileen's charge, looks up at her and says "You're my real momma Aibee." So cute and yet so sad at the same time; this child goes to a maid before her own mother when frightened by a tornado, simply because that is the person that she trusts more and is comforted by.

I would recommend this film to anyone interested in learning more about the impact of the American civil rights movement on everyday citizens, or if your just looking for a roller-coaster ride of emotions to stem the holiday boredom. Be warned, there is a little strong language, but not much, and blatant racism is pretty much a given, considering the setting and subject matter.

Overall, a brilliant film.

Glitterb

Declining Traditions

My village holds a Summer Show every year on the Saturday before the bank holiday mid august, around the 20th/21st. This years show (today) was the 80th one that has been put on since it began. The event itself was fairly popular, despite a heavy rain shower around the time that the procession arrived. The weather cleared up, and we had a lot of fun wandering around stalls and watching various events, like dancing dogs and the tug-of-war. But something is bothering me.

Each year, there is a procession through the village, starting at the pub halfway up the High Street and going all through the village to the show ground at the top of the hill. Usually it is a very popular event, with quite a few floats and several groups of walkers, led by the carnival prince and princess (both younger pupils form the village school, chosen at the school fete in July) and a rather crazy clown named Kooky who has become synonymous with the entire event. However, this year we had only three floats and about five groups of walkers. Several local organisations who usually put in entries did not do so this year, including the village bowls club. The issue is getting enough people from any one group together to organise a float in the middle of the holidays. Playgroup always have a great turnout, but people like the school and the scouts have more problems getting numbers; it's not necessarily that the kids aren't enthusiastic, it's that there aren't enough adults around willing to help do the work to get everything set up, and the teachers and leaders can't do it on their own.

I think local traditions like the show and the procession are really important, not only for local businesses and clubs, but also for charitable organisations like the NSPCC. They also help to encourage a feeling of community within the village, and are a great opportunity to catch up with people you may not see often during the rest of the year.
It would be a real shame if these kind of events disappeared, and I for one don't want to see that happen.

Does anyone else think that?

Until tomorrow,
Glitterb

Cousins, Cats and Talking Like A Grown-Up

So...
I'M BACK!
Did you miss me? : D I bet you did.

I have spent a lovely two and a bit weeks with my aunt and cousin in northern France. We didn't do an awful lot, but the weather was gorgeous and it was nice to see them again before they go back to Spain in September. Sadly, this will be our last visit to them in their old house, as they are selling up and moving to Spain proper. Which is kind of sad, since that's the house I have associated with them for the last ten years.

But my favourite part of visiting my cus is her ADORABLE kitty cat. Now, I'm actually allergic to cats, as is my mother, but they are also my favourite animals, and I absolutely adore my cousins cat (who is named Tiger for her stripy colouring), and she doesn't dislike me. Luckily, I have a suplly of allergy tablets which I take every night, so I don't end up sniffing and sneezing through my holiday, and I can cuddle with Tigs as much as I want.

Cute, right?

Another nice thing about going to my cousins is the conversations I have with my aunt, which are decidedly more adult than the ones I have with my family at home. Topics of debate this time around ranged from the madness of the riots in London, to the idiocy of politicians and the people who interview them, to our thought on polygamy. So... yeah. Much more interesting than what I usually discuss with my parents. I can also be sure that anything I say won't be repeated, so I can rag on my brother, or complain about my mother trying to use her psychologist skills to analyse me when she thinks something's wrong, and I know they will never hear about it unless I choose to tell them. Which I won't.
Me and my cousin made a list of the things that each of us are so obsessive over that when we start talking about them, people's eyes glaze over and they loose track of the conversation.
Dad: Music
Brother: Gaming (especially when he gives a play by play of what he's doing on his game at any one moment)
Cousin: Cars (F1 in particular)
Me: Twilight (of course)
But we couldn't figure out what my aunt and my mum have that is similar. In the end we had to conclude that they don't have an obsession to talk about, and they tend to be the ones listening with glazed eyes. The difference is that my aunt is more likely to at least try to listen, and sometimes understands, whereas mum sometimes has to have things explained several times before she will understand, even if they are very simple things.

Anyhoo, I'm glad to be back home, even if it did chuck it down yesterday while my cousin had 20 degree weather. There is nothing more satisfying than opening your bedroom door and finding everything exactly as you left it two weeks previously.

Home Sweet Home!

See you tomorrow darlings!
Glitterb

Farewell...

Just a quick note to say goodbye, for now. I am headed off to France in a few hours, for almost three weeks of fun with my crazy cousin and her equally deranged cat (seriously, that thing has been inhabited by the spirit of their old dog).
I will hopefully get a decent amount of writing done, as I am taking a notebook and pen as well as my laptop. Then again, I haven't seen my cus since Easter, so there will also be a lot of time spent messing around with her.

I will be returning on the 20th (or there abouts) so expect posting to resume on the 21st at the very latest.

Until then,
Glitterb

Boredom

Now that we are well and truly into the summer holidays, I find myself getting more and more bored as time goes on. Whereas in term time I have homework and out of school activities to fill my time, now that all that has ground to a halt, I seem to have too much time in the day. I'm getting through Fan Fiction faster than I want to, because I don't have to stop to go to school. I don't have stacks of YouTube videos to watch everyday, because they don't build up while I'm out of the house. I could do some writing, but writer's block has decided to hit me full force, drying up all my inspiration, and I am left with copying A Different Perspective out of the notebook I originally wrote it in and onto the computer. Which is just tedious.

*sigh* If only I lived closer to my friends. Then again, I'm lazy enough that I might not hang out with them even if we lived next door. (No offence guys)

Oh well, I'm leaving to visit my cousin in France on Wednesday, so that will provide some entertainment. And things will stack up while I am sans Internet, so I will have lots of fun stuff to do when I get back!

I'm so sad.

Until tomorrow (which will probs be my last post for a while)
Glitterb

Music Makes The World Go Round

Hey there people!
First, I have to apologise for the lack of posting yesterday. I know I said I would blog everyday, but I did also say that was reliant on my being able to do so. All the same, I feel you deserve an explanation.

Yesterday, I left the house at about 9:30, having gotten up at 8:45. I then went an hour or so down the road to Charlton Park for the annual WOMAD festival, which I went to with my family. I just had time to Tweet about what I was doing before I had to leave, and we didn't get back until gone midnight, so all I wanted to do was sleep.
What is WOMAD? you ask. Well, I will tell you.

WOMAD stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance, and is a festival held in various places around the world at various different times of year. The one I went to, Charlton Park, runs from Friday to Monday around the 1st of August (which this year just happened to be the same weekend as VidCon, though I doubt anyone but me was aware of that). The festival is specifically designed to showcase world music and global beats on a larger stage than they usually see.
The idea of WOMAD is to bring together musicians from all cultures, all over the world, from Africa to Japan to Spain to America to Wales, to share their music and their history, and give people a better understanding of the music in other countries. It also gives the musicians a chance to earn more than they would in their own country, and perform for a larger audience.

Most of the people that go to WOMAD, it has to be said, are hippies and other alternative types. But really, anyone can go. The tag line for this year was 'The World's Festival', and it really is. Just walking around the site, looking at all the stalls, is an immersions in a rich, incredibly different culture with almost every step. There are places selling every food you could possibly think of, and some you probably didn't know existed; as my mother astutely pointed out yesterday, you could go with ten other people, each choose to eat something different, and you still wouldn't have exhausted every possibility.

The music is as widely varied as the food. We only went for one day, but we saw a London based group with members from Italy Spain and Argentina, a Welsh Gothic-punk band performing traditional folk songs, a Japanese blues duet, and the incredible Baba Maal, a singer from Senegal, all in the space of about 12 hours.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. This is the second time I've been to WOMAD, and I plan to go every year as long as I can afford it.

On a side note, I'm sorry to say that I didn't get any questions to answer at all today, despite having told all my readers what I was doing. :( I plan to leave the offer open, so if you want to know anything, anything at all, let me know!

Until tomorrow lovelies!
Glitterb

I Love Lauren Kate: A Short Book Review

If I had to choose a secondary obsession after the Twilight Saga, It would definitely be the Fallen Series by Lauren Kate. I discovered Fallen at the library in audio book form, much like I did with Twilight. A little while later, I saw the book in an airport WHSmiths and bought it on whim, and because I absolutely love the story. Anyone who hasn't read it does not know what they are missing.

The series consists of three books, 'Fallen', 'Torment' and 'Passion', with the fourth, 'Rapture', coming out next summer. It tells the story of Lucinda Price (Luce for short), a teenage girl starting at a new school. That school just happens to be Sword & Cross, a reform school that she has been sent to after the mysterious death-by-fire of her sort-of boyfriend Trevor. The thing is, Luce doesn't remember if she actually started the fire or not. All she knows is that the shadows were there; the same eerie, frightening black shapes that she has been seeing since she was a child, which no one else can see. Once at the school, Luce meets the enigmatic and gorgeous Daniel Grigori, who she has never met but is sure she knows from somewhere. Of course, it's not long before she falls in love with him. Luce is plunged into the dark and dangerous world of the Fallen, a group of angels exiled from Heaven millennia ago, and finds herself caught between Daniel and the angels, who side themselves with God, and the equally gorgeous Cam and his band of demons, on the side of the Devil.
Oh, and she's been reincarnated every seventeen years for centuries, each time dying as soon as she gets close to Daniel.
Caught in a whirlwind of dangerous enemies and crazy friends, Luce struggles to come to terms with her past lives, while trying to build herself a future with Daniel, who won't tell her anything in case she vanishes in a column of flames.

I just started reading 'Passion' yesterday and I am already loving it just as much as I loved 'Fallen' and 'Torment'. Lauren Kate's writing style is no nonsense and to the point, while also holding back just enough information to keep you guessing without getting confused. The descriptions are vivid and detailed, the characters taking on a life of their own. When I finished 'Fallen', I couldn't wait to read more, and 'Torment' definitely didn't disappoint. The interesting thing is that you can very easily draw parallels between some of the characters; for example, I've always thought that Ariane, one of the angels posing as a Sword & Cross student, would get along very well with Shelby, Luce's best friend and part angel, who is a student at Shoreline (the school Daniel sends Luce to in 'Torment'). They have very similar attitudes and opinions, but there is enough difference in them that their personalities don't clash.

I would definitely recommend this book to Twilight fans, or anyone who enjoys a bit of fantasy romance from time to time.

I haven't had any questions yet for my 'Ask Glitterb' post on Saturday, so if there's anything you want to know, ask now!

Until then, my lovelies
Glitterb

How Soon Until November?

I am a regular (*cough* daily *cough*) visitor to the Twilight Lexicon, one of the biggest and most well maintained Twilight fan sites on the web. And usually, visiting them is fun; I get to see what all the actors are up to, new projects that the directors are working on, and various other related stuff. But recently, particularly this week in the wake of Comicon, everything they post just makes me more and more impatient for the release of Breaking Dawn Part 1 in November.

Ever since the trailers started coming out, I want to fast forward time.

The worst part is, I can't even count down to the same date as everyone else, because I live in the UK and we have a later release date, which I don;t know yet!

Yeah, my obsession is unhealthy. But hey, them's the breaks.

See you soon my lovely ones.
Glitterb

How An Orthodontist Made My Day

I know, rather and oximoronic title for a blog post (is that even a word?). But it's true, my orthodontist made my day today.
You won't know, because I've never told you, but I have braces  due to about 11 years of thumb sucking. I've had them for a while now, at least a year and a half, and they are a PAIN! Between constantly having to watch what I eat, trying to keep everything clean, and how painful it is whenever something gets changed, I am pretty sick of all the metal in my mouth.

Good news is, it's all worth it. Usually I don't notice tiny changes in myself, but even I can see that my teeth are much better, and that makes me smile. Also, I went to the orthodontist today, and he told me that he is 97% sure I can have everything taken off at my next appointment, which made me very happy indeed. It was also nice to go back to the doctor I was with at the start, rather than the one I was moved to when he went off ill, because my original doctor is very nice and gentle and doesn't yank my mouth around and make me feel like I'm going to get cut every other second. Having someone tinker around in your mouth for 15-20 minutes is bad enough without being tense as well.

Anyway, despite the fact that I am sitting here with my teeth throbbing due to the chain-link elastics that will close up my last few gaps, I am much happier than I have been after an orthodontic appointment in quite a while.

Just a quick note that is also on all of my FF stories, I am opening up a sort of 'Reader's Question Time'. Each week (if this time goes well) you guys can ask me questions about anything and everything, either here, on FF or Twitter, and on Saturday my blog post will be an answer to all your questions. Hope to see some creative questions!

Until tomorrow
Glitterb

Childhood

Sometimes I think that letting go of childhood is a bad idea. Everything is so much simpler when you are five, six, seven... No one needs anything from you beyond what you are prepared to give. You don't have to worry about things like money and popularity and the future. The smallest things excite you, and everything is fleeting, passing in a blink of an eye, yet it seems like there will never be an end; like you will be little forever. Birthdays make you feel important. You are proud to say that you are one tiny year older, and even half a year makes a difference to your maturity.

Reaching adolescence makes everything more complicated. All of a sudden there's this thing called 'image', and you are paranoid about how people view you and what their opinion is of you. You don't feel any different at 15 than you did at 14, and the only change from year to year is the added pressure of a looming future, the decisions that have the potential to shape your entire life. School doesn't excite you any more; it is just an interim, the thing you have to do between weekends and holidays. Every Friday feels like the start of a long break, which makes every weekend feel too short, and the weeks blend together like there was never a weekend at all. Similarly, summer seems to last forever, until it is over, and then it is as if it never started in the first place.

Suffice to say, I hate being a teenager. Perhaps that's why I still have mountains of stuffed animals on my bed, and old dress-up costumes in my cupboard. Maybe that's why I still play with a baby doll that my mother said looked like a real baby when she looked at it this afternoon. Or perhaps I still play with that doll because it isn't  a toy any more; perhaps I play with it because my body is subconsciously preparing for motherhood. After all, this particular doll seems to be perfectly proportioned to my body; I can hold her in my arms, or sit her on my lap, or balance her on my hip, as if she were a baby of several months old.

Then again, maybe I'm just over thinking things. Who knows?

Does anyone else get the feeling that they grew up too fast? Let me know.

Until tomorrow,

Glitterb

Summer

So, today was the real first day of my summer holidays; the first day I would have been in school but wasn't. If that makes sense.
As is my tradition, today was a day of lazing around doing almost nothing productive. I didn't get up until nearly 12:45, which is when I had breakfast. I then had lunch at 4:10, got dressed at 6:30, and had dinner at 7:00. Unusually, I started getting ready for bed just after 9 like I normally do.
And here I am, at 10:05, in bed in my PJs having done nothing but read Fanfiction, play music, sing and watch 'The Glee Project' on line.
Tomorrow... will probably be more of the same, to be honest.
Until then
Glitterb

p.s. I know people are reading this because my view count is going up. Please, please, please, if you have a Google account and are in any way interested in what I have to say, follow me so I know I have an audience. Alternatively, comment and let me know what you think, or what your summer traditions are.
Thank You!

Beautiful

I am writing this while listening to the Glee version of 'Beautiful', and it's making me think a lot about what it means to be beautiful, and what beauty is. Personally, I don't consider myself to be beautiful. I am at that awkward stage of adolescence where everything is a mystery to me and I'm still trying to figure out who I am and what I want my life to be. I have braces and glasses and spots. I talk to myself and sing and dance in the corridor at school because I don't care what people think of me, but I never have a good word to say about myself. I can't see how anyone could love me, and I don't know how to love someone else. And it's a sad fact; no matter what a boy may say about it being personality that matters to him more than looks, the looks are what makes him want to learn about the personality.
I feel like no one is ever going to want to learn about my personality.

I know I've made progress in how i feel about myself and my image recently; my Facebook/Messenger profile picture is actually one of me, fairly close up. But I still don't have the confidence in my appearance to post a video of myself singing onto my YouTube account, even though my friends say I should. Who knows, maybe one day I'll actually do it. Just not today. Or any time soon.

Sorry if this post has been overly depressing; I'm just in that kind of mindset at the moment.

I promise to be more positive tomorrow!
Glitterb

A Different Perspective: The Story That Wouldn't Stop

For some reason, I can't stop writing A Different Perspective. It started out as a contest entry that didn't win any prizes and wasn't supposed to go anywhere, but it has turned into this huge thing that has nearly filled a very thick Paperchase notebook.
The thing is, ADP, like most of my stories, has an eventual outcome that I am already contemplating. Unlike other stories, this seems to be inspiring me to write more.

Maybe it's just because I take that notebook to school. But that makes no sense, because I've written other stuff in there (the prologue and ch 3 of TSN and ch 6 of Lost & Found) and I'm never tempted to write pages of those stories on a whim. Honestly, I have no clue; but once I get started, the creative juices get going and I don't want to stop.

Now, if only my other stories would do that. I'd be a very happy camper if they did.

Here's to speedy typing and a future filled with stories that write themselves!
Glitterb

P.S. Click HERE to see the latest ADP update.

Friends Who Steal Computers

Sorry this is so late guys, but I only just got my computer back from E.Ghost-Writer (my only RL and FF friend) who is sleeping over at my house tonight. We just finished school today, so we celebrated with a shopping trip and some nice Sainsbury's pizza (yum!).

I have another friend attempting to simultaneously form a new relationship with a guy in our year and end the relationship she is currently in with a 19 year old. E decided it would be fun to use my laptop to IM with her, which then turned into a three-way conversation using two computers, as I inserted my views and comments on the matter.

Teenagers: we're better than soap operas.

Anyhoosles,
SCHOOOOL'S
OUT
FOR
SUMMER!
Boy am I going to have some fun this year *heavy sarcasm*. We will be visiting my cousin and aunt in France (like every year) and probably visiting all the same places as usual too (if we go anywhere at all). On the plus side, I don't have to get out of bed until lunch time, and I get to see her ADORABLE kitty cat.
J'aime le chat Tigre!
Until tomorrow cherubs.
Glitterb

Mixed up purposes

Is it me, or do things you do for one reason often end up being for something completely different? Did that make any sense at all? Probably not.

Thing is, I set up my Fanfiction account to write The Silver Necklace, which is pretty much the only story I write with a non-Twilight related original idea in it. Becky and her adventures had been kicking around in my head for a while - she visits every TV show and book I get obsessed over - and I thought I would actually get some of them out for others to see. Only now, TSN, as I call it sometimes, is the story I update least often.
The problem, I think, is that I tend to pre-plan what I want to happen in a story about five times in my head, and I go so far ahead that what I actually need to write all becomes boring and filler-ish when I try to write it down... or at least that's how it seems to me.

Anyone else get that feeling?
A demain! (that's french for 'until tomorrow')
Glitterb

The Madness of the British School System (Or My School At Least)

As you may or may not be aware, I am still in full time schooling for another year. After that I can leave if I want to, but I'll probably carry on to a higher qualification.
Anyhoo, my school has this thing they do during the last week of term before the summer. They do this thing called 'Activity Week'. We spend one day on the field pretending to give a toss about Sports Day, one day on a trip to a theme park or doing an activity in school, and two days doing pointless and often boring activities in random groups, before finishing off with a half day of timetable 'lessons' which tend to be watching DVDs. One of the lessons is taken for our end of year assembly (one per year) where we sit through 40 minutes of teachers twittering on about who-knows-what and giving out a bunch of awards, all the while anticipating the set by the staff band that comes at the end (they always play the same songs, but it's still a high point of the year).
We are into that week now, and I spent today doing Design Technology and Languages work with a tenuous link to the Olympics. Yesterday I painted walls to help liven up our Art department, and tomorrow we have Green Day, which I probably spend most of in front of a computer 'Googling Green'.
Bring on the summer, is all I can say.
Does anyone else get frustrated by the stuff that schools do to try and make things exciting near the end of the year?
Let me know!
Until tomorrow,
Glitterb

My New Personal Challenge

Hey guys!
So, I'm not entirely sure how many people actually read this thing, but here we go anyway.
I recently received my very first Twitter follower, and this has made me decide to kick my ass into gear and actually use the various social networking sites I have accounts on. As such, I will be attempting to Blog and Tweet at least once a day, as long as I have an internet connection/ access to my laptop. Of course, I won't be able to update if I don't have internet; for example, I'm going away in about two or three weeks for my summer holidays. But, until I leave and after I come back, you will get a post everyday.
Check out my Twitter HERE
See you tomorrow!
Glitterb