Debate on the EMA - 10:07 pm - 29-01-2006

Myself and Jordan fell into a slight debate today over MSN. I found it quite interesting (if occasionally repetitive) so I thought I’d pop it onto here. Comment me your views afterwards.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
hi

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
evening

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
hw goes life?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
good thanks, you?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
mmm yea pretty good, i ts been quite the weekend

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
much fun had by all and what not

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
goodgood

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
did i offend you with my outrageous political views?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
haha, not at all, im often the one causing offence with mine

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
lol

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
its one of the main reasons brookes next door neighbour didnt quite take too much of a shine to me i feel

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
what did you say to him lol

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not much all things considered he was generally quite off with me from the start ever since brooke said “well your quite posh so…” (talking to me…i cant remember why she said it) then he just started…clawing away at me all eve, oh and he was offended that i said ema was a bribe to go to college

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
lol

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
(which it blatantly is)

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
sort of

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
funny way to put it though

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
you could say your paying them to go to college…..

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
or “providing financial support for those who have chose to continue in full time education rather than entering the world of work”

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
well yes, but what does it go on really? the families have survived sending them to school for years they’ll survive sending them to college for 2, and if you want to give them money for the bus journeys dont give it to them give it to the bus company so they ride for free, or better yet just give the money to the college so the cost isnt much at all, for 9/10 people the ema goes on clothes

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
or something equally unneeded (when i say clothes, i mean new clothes in an all ready full wardrobe)

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“the families have survived sending them to school for years they’ll survive sending them to college for 2,” on those grounds, there is no reason why anyone should ever leave education

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! Says:
there is, as there come’s a point where people have enough knowledge to perform a reasonable function in society, aiding the economy as a whole, providing them with more useless knowledge wont help any one

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
so apart from a sense of duty towards your country you needn’t bother leaving education?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not so much a sence of duty towards your country, more towards the world and the ongoing stability of the human race whether your function in society be waste removal or orthapeadic surgery, and also im not saying there isnt a financial strain in leaving education and getting a job you take a step towards being able to support yourself and so remove the financial strain from your parents

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“not so much a sence of duty towards your country, more towards the world and the ongoing stability of the human race “
i dont think anyone gets a job out of duty towards the global economy.

“getting a job you take a step towards being able to support yourself and so remove the financial strain from your parents”
so does the EMA

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
1) no1 does, they get jobs because they need money

2)yes it does, or rather, its supposed to, but in most cases its spent on items not really needed because the families can still float by without it, im not saying it shouldnt be given im saying it shouldnt be given to the students who will waste it, give it to the college’s or directly to the parents who will probably put it too good use

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
brb! mother dearest needs to send an e-mail

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
1) so if the primary motive for getting a job is because they need money, then less people who would be best staying in education are going to get a job out of money needs because they will get EMA money.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
2) why should someone who is staying in education (and will become a valuable member of society) have to “float by” when people who spend the same amount of time working but happen to be doing this in an establishment which pays get to spend money on things that are “unneeded”.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
Are you telling me that you don’t believe people should spend any money on things that they don’t need? That people should only do things that are necessary for for survival, and not waste any time or money on unneeded (but enjoyable) activities?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i realise that this might be a fairly futile argument, as both of us agree that the EMA is a good thing:S

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not at all, people can do what they want (as long as its legal….) im simply saying they shouldnt be given money for free that goes to no real good other than impulse buys that they want, people are aloud to spend money on unneeded (but enjoyable) activities as long as they have earned that money, sadly EMA simply gives them the money without the earning it

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
(and im back!……though im not sure for how long as my younger sister is hovering apparently she needs the computer…)

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i think they have earned it. i think full time education is just as tiring as full time work and in many respects more stressful. And it’s just as productive for the human race.

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
not really, as some1 who has tried both full time education, and full time work, im quite confident full time work is far more stressfull, having held discussions with many people in the same position, my dad, my piano teacher, some friends who chose not to continue too college and so on, we are in total agreeman that full time work is far more tricky, and full time education is quite the picnic

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
by comparison

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
and the pay is much less

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
sorry, i meant proportional to money

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
the reward for work is pay, the reward for education should be simply the fact that you are gaining an education, the gift of knowledge, happy and gratefull to be granted that knowledge, not everyone who wanted to go to billborough would have got in, the very fact that they are there, should be reward enough

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
work offers education too, just in a more informal way.

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
to some extent, but then again without a person spending a week or two teaching how to do that job, then no progress would be made, and that education will not help you outside of that job
http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
not necessarily, that may be the case in starbucks. but many jobs teach you things that you will find useful outside your workplace

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
do give an example…

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
a teacher will find raising their own children easier, an accountant will be able to cope with their finances better, a carpenter will be better at doing their DIY

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
a carpenter is a trade that you teach yourself, or get taught by becoming an apprentice, either way you dont get paid for learning it, only for doing it, the same for a teacher, all of whom do a course which amongst many things teaches you how to deal with children, once again you dont get paid for the course, and most accountants do a degree in it an university

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
so once all those three have finished their qualification they’ve learnt everything? a carpenter who’s just finished his apprentice will have the same knowledge as a carpenter who has been doing it for 20 years?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
everything that can be taught about a subject is taught during the qualification years?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
its true, you do pick certain things up, its all rather off topic any way, you dont enter into a job to gain an education you enter into it to get paid, you enter into college to get an education not to get paid, the education in a job is an inevatable side effect but the money given in going to college isnt at all necessary for the students

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
besides, education (although very nice) isn’t the same as material posessions or the opportunity to go out and have a drink with some mates

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
if you would like those things, get a saturday job, or live two more years without them, the government shouldnt give you the money to go and do them, if your saying the government is giving people money to convince them to go to college, and a side effect of it is they enjoy that money, then that is (quite literally) by definition bribery

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i never said that it wasn’t bribery

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
you said it was “providing financial support for those who have chose to continue in full time education rather than entering the world of work”"

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
“financial support” for their drinking?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
support in keeping the people in full time education in a financial state where they are able to spend money on things they choose to.

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
yes but they dont need those things, and as such they should earn them, they can still have those things if they get a saturday job, most people get money from their parents, i never did unless i earned it and i managed to get by fine

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“yes but they dont need those things, and as such they should earn them, they can still have those things if they get a saturday job,”
the general idea is to prevent students needing to take saturday jobs as they affect the student’s education

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
“most people get money from their parents”
1) if students are forced to rely on their parents for money then their parents are going to be less keen on their children pursuing full time education
2) why should the financial burden be solely on the parents? why not the state as a whole?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
2 is once again off point, some burden is being put on the state purely through ema, and im not saying its a bad thing, im saying how its distributed is a bad thing, if students get money from their parents, the parents get ema, the parents can give…some of that ema to the students increasing the students general spending, the rest can be put to good use (compromise)

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
and 8 hours a week on a saturday wont damage their education

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
especially as most saturdays are just spent messing around not working on their studies any way

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
the parents can take the money off the children if they’re staying with them. however, as they are 16 they can legally live elsewhere in which case it would be absurd for the parents to take the money.

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
everyone needs time to relax and enjoy themselves. an 8 hour saturday job will have to infringe on either leisure time or study time and it can cause great stress to students having to juggle all their commitments

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
far from it, people underestimate the amount a determined mind can handle, if a student were determined enough they’d easily handle a few hours on a saturday, and the five hours, probably less (on average) work a day they have to do on weekdays, sadly they are all mothered too much on notions of “everyone needs time too relax” it begins getting disproportionate, eventually they get comfortable on

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
“more time to relax” than they really need

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
students are among the poorest demographic groups in the UK. college students are children, mere children. I agree that a determined mind can handle a lot, but what are the affects of that? Should we reintroduce child labour for people who don’t get a high enough grade in their year 6 SATS?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i dont think that pumping children with the maximum amount of work they can handle is at all healthy for the child or the country

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
they are far from children, many are 17, only a short skip from being 18, in fact many 17 year olds conicder themselves to be very mature and grown up, most turn 18 whilst still at collegehow many times have we heard “im 18, im an adult now” many in college being of this age….they can vote they can drink they can do an awfull lot, they are far from children in the eyes of society they are adults

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
pumping them with as much work as is reasonable, is all i ask, and “reasonable” is what they do in a week, and a few hours on weekends..maybe…if they want it

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
i promise you by this time tomorrow brooke will be relaxing, and will probably have been relaxing since about 6

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
in a day she spends more time relaxing than she does working and such is the case on weekdays for the vast majority of students

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
they’re as good as children. you can call them whatever you want but they won’t have matured enough to cope fully in the world until at least 25

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
if they arent mature enough then they shouldnt be allowed to vote or drink untill they are atleast 25

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
since when does being able to have an independent political opinion and having a body that can cope with the effects of alcohol mean that they can handle all the responsibilities of an adult?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
however, i do think the voting and drinking age should probably be increased

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
(me too) its not about the physical ability to cope its about the mental, if they are mentally unequipped for something as simple as working 30 hour weeks (lets do the maths, college, on average, 5 hour days…and thats being kind, then lets say another 5 hours on weekends as thats all you need to get by at that age) then they are mentally unequipped for more important things in life

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
what’s your point?

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
what did i say that students could cope with?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
alcahol and what not, but the point is i feel a30 hour week (25 “working” at school and 5 on a job at weekends) is well within the reach of students and as such EMA for the students is pointless, it should be given to parents, and if students want money they should go and earn it with a not overly taxing 5 hours on saturday

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
i never said that the students could cope with alcohol

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
but it now seems like we are going in circles, so shall we agree to disagree? (to use a cliché)

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
haha quite

http://mcash.dlpwd.co.uk WANTED: Photos from parties (for my blog) says:
can i put the debate on my blog?

Only an elite team of Americans can stop it! says:
certainly, it was rather a good one

A Simple Trip Home - 8:22 pm - 18-01-2006

The events that take place in this story took place last Friday, I was going to blog the adventure earlier but I got sidetracked by Lampost 8.

The Plan

The plan was simple; it was, in fact, the same plan we’ve had almost every day for the last few weeks.
All we would do is go into Bingham and pick up some food, then stroll to my house and play a bit of SSBM (cuz we’re cool).

It shouldn’t have been a problem.

Leaving School

We started our walk down the school drive only to be stopped by Mr Whiteley (master of all assemblies) who asked to see our passes. I showed him mine and made a casual joke about how well I had forged it. He laughed along with me and everything was jolly. Callum produced a note from his mother giving him permission to go back to my house. Mr Whiteley glanced at this and said that it needed signing by our head of year. Just as we were leaving Mr Rahman pulled up in his sports car and told us that we were not allowed to loiter while in Bingham as he had had complaints from parents about pupils in Bingham and that my name had come up.

While we walked back to school I contemplated the events that must have proceeded Mr Rahman gaining this strange knowledge.

1. Parents of Toot Hill children happen to be in Bingham during our lunch hour.
This part sounds fairly plausible.

2. These parents are offended by our presence and cake-buying activities.
Hmmm… ok.

3. The parents are offended enough to attempt to discover my name.
Why wouldn’t they be offended? I do afterall buy a donut almost everyday.

4. The parents actually succeed in discovering my name.
This is downright silly. How could these parents find out my name merely seeing me in Bingham. I don’t even wear the school uniform- there is no visible link between me and the school.

5. The parents report me to Mr Rahman.
Whatever.

6. Mr Rahman completely ignores the fact that I’m not breaking any school rules and decides to stop me committing such atrocities.
No, surely he wouldn’t do something that silly.

Getting the Note Signed

Myself and Glyn stood talking to Pete and Grace in the carpark while Callum went to find Mr Taylor. He was busy so he returned to Mr Whiteley who told him to go to Mrs Marchant.

Glyn and I accompanied him to her office. She was in, which was a pleasant surprise, but she was on the phone. At least it looked like she was on the phone- she could have been holding a phone to her ear in an attempt to prevent visitors arriving. The three of us waited a while.

Eventually Glyn and I were kicked out of the corridor. We waited with Pete and Grace in the carpark. Mr Whiteley left his position on the school drive and Callum reemerged. He hadn’t managed to speak to Mrs Marchant but the badass did not care!

Down to Bingham went Pete, Glyn, Callum and I!

Ambush!

We bought our sandwichs and cakes and began walking towards my mother’s house. We saw Mr Rahman on the way, so to avoid any conflict we avoided him and maintained a constant speed so that we couldn’t be accused of loitering.

Unfortunately, our efforts were to no avail and Mr Rahman summoned us. He started by repeating what he had said previously about loitering. I pointed out that we were in fact walking towards my house. He must have noticed that he had been defeated because he then turned to Callum and asked him if he had a lunchtime pass. Callum muttered a lie of some kind and Mr Rahman sent him back to school and sent us home.

We went back and only had time for one game before having to set off back for school.

Caught Again!

As we climbed the school drive we heard the bell go. Mr Rahman was standing at the top of the hill. He pointed out that we were late (by five seconds). I was tempted to remind him that we had been delayed by about 15 minutes by the Mr Whitely and himself but I refrained.

I hate Toot Hill.

“Protect Lampost 8.” “SHIT! retreat to lampost 7!” - 5:42 pm - 15-01-2006

Friday night’s events have been covered quite satisfactorily in Callum’s entry here so I don’t think I will bother. Instead, I will focus my attention on the events of yesterday.

Morning and Early Afternoon

I woke up at Pete’s house with no desire to go anywhere quickly. Then I got a phone call from Nicho telling me I had to be at the cinema in about 15 minutes for Sophie Bullock’s birthday event. Bearing in mind that I was in Whatton in the middle of nowhere we decided that this would be impossible.

Instead, I caught a bus into Bingham, fed the cat at my mother’s house, had a shower and caught a second bus into town. I texted Nicho to discover where everyone was, they were still in the cinema so I decided to have a look at a formal wear shop. We discussed student discounts. I got a call from Nicho saying that they were out so I left clutching their brochure.

I walked up to the cinema and while I waited for the green man to appear I glanced up at the huge glass building that contains the cinema. Everyone was there waving at me- which made me smile.

We decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe… so we did.

The place was pretty meaty, with only 4 vegetarian dishes (only two of the salads were vegetarian), and quite expensive so I decided to have a side portion of chips and two glasses of tap water. This came to £1.95, which is damn good value for such an enjoyable experience. For some reason, when it came around to paying the bill both myself and Suzi (who ordered tap water and a salad) decided to give in a fiver. Don’t know why but whatever.

List of People there
Charlie Crowson, Ellerby, |Glyn|, Jade, Nicho, Sita, Sophie Bullock, Sophie Noon, Suzi,

Afternoon

John (Fenton) texted me to say that he was shopping for clothes for Jordan with Jordan, Brooke and Freya, and getting very bored doing so. I said that I would go and meet him. I departed from the group getting a prolonged hug from Ellerby and the general idea that Suzi thought I fancied John (which isn’t true).

I met up with John and we were walking towards the bus when I decided that I wanted some alcohol for the evening so we rang Jordan and didn’t get through. We tried Freya and she answered and said that Jordan would be willing to get me some and that we should meet him at the Broadway.

On the way to Broadway we saw two lesbians kissing. It then turned out that one of them was a boy. We laughed at him in his skinny jeans while he girlishly ran to Broadway. We arrived ourselves, greeted by Brooke, Freya, Jordan, and Kindell. I asked Jordan if he could buy me a six pack of beer and he agreed, telling me that he was charging £1 per item. I’m not sure what I think of this, in some ways I think it is perfectly acceptable charging for a service. However, on the other hand I wasn’t sure what I felt in regards to him making money out of his friends. Ah well, it’s his choice I guess.

Kate the Year 8 then appeared from nowhere and began talking to John. I walked over to them and asked John if he wanted to leave. While he answered me Kate began squeezing my leg. I said she was being a dog and then corrected myself to yorkshire terrier. I asked her when I was coming to her house for tea and it was arranged that I would go the following Saturday (21st January). John then pointed to the table that Kate had come from and sitting at it was the the lesbian-boy still clad with skinny jeans. John and I laughed at him and all her other friends for a while and then asked to be introduced to them. She declined. She then returned to her seat and pointed at us and said things to her friends. We beckoned her over and she came. We pointed out that we felt it was unfair that her other friends knew about us when we didn’t know about them. She had no good comeback for this but luckily for her, her friends appeared and dragger her off. I only just had enough time to say “Good afternoon young man” to one of them- what a cheek.

I left with John for the bus. I got distracted again. I decided I wanted to get some bakery products so we went to Dawson’s. I asked the girls there if it was ok if I paid in coppers and they said it would be fine. So we bought three donuts in a pounds worth of coppers. Awesome.

We finally arrived at the bus to see that Sophie (Ellerby) and Suzi were on it. What a pleasant surprise. They both wanted some of my donut so they disposed of their chewing gum and had a bite. The bus journey was enjoyably spent watching John threaten to punch Sophie and Sophie telling John that it wouldn’t hurt.

By the time we were arriving in Bingham, Suzi had realised that she would miss her bus to Bottesford. Sophie said that she couldn’t go to her house so I said that she could come to mine with John. She said that she would go to Sophie’s to get her stuff and then ring us.

Early Evening

When we arrived back at the house John decided he wanted to go on Heroes IV. The first problem we found was that the mouse was not working. We unplugged it and then replugged it.

Still nothing.

We restarted the computer.

The mouse worked.

The internet did not.

We unplugged and replugged the modem.

No luck.

We restarted the computer.

The screen stopped working.

And it didn’t sound like the computer was working.

John crawled under the desk and began unplugging and replugging all the wires there were. This didn’t do anything either. So we gave up and went upstairs to get some Paracetemol for John, who was by this point quite ill. While we were upstairs, John got a call from Jamie asking where he was. John asked me if Jamie could come over and I agreed.

We failed in our mission for Paracetemol so John went into the living room to relax in front of the TV while I went back to fix the computer. I turned the PC on and it worked immediately. So I fetched John and we went to play Heroes IV!

Unfortunately, for some reason 3D0 had chosen not to include mulitplayer mode in the CD version. So we spent an enjoyable half hour looking for the correct patches. We found a page that had a long list of patches for both the American and English version of the game. We downloaded all the necessary patches for the English version and popped onto Myspace for a laugh.

By looking at the wikipedia entry for Myspace and Country Populations we discovered that if Myspace were to be classified as a country it would be the 57th biggest population on the world with the highest concentration of emo fags.

My computer was going very slowly now so I closed down a few unnecessary programs, including Google Web Accelerater. Closing Web Accelerater also had the effect of stopping all my downloads. So we restarted them.

It was at this point that we realised that Suzi wasn’t coming over.

When the first patch had finally finished I opened it and an error popped up. I looked at the properties of the Heroes IV file and it told me that it was American.

I cancelled all the downloads and started again with the American versions. While we were waiting we went into the living room and watched Futurama.

After Futurama had finished we went back to the computer and opened the newly downloaded American patch.

It didn’t work, so we waited for Jamie to arrive and left for Bingham.

Co-op

Firstly we went to the Pizza Pasta Bar and I got a pizza. Then we went to the Co-op. On the way we saw a huge group of chavs. One of them shouted “Rob their Pizza,” so we walked briskly into the Co-op.

Lauren was there wasting her final few minutes of work-time tidying up the shelves by bringing items closer to the potential customers.

Martin was also there, having been kicked out of Dave’s while B.A.P. (Black and Proud) had a practise rap session.

By the time we we left the Co-op I had finished my pizza and the chavs had left.

Dave’s

We arrived at Dave’s and Lauren began drinking Red Rooster. When Jordan arrived I cracked open a beer. The night’s events included:

Rapping
Techno Dancing
Crisp Sculpting Contests
A very Hyper Lauren

List of People There
Brett, Brooke, Dave, Freya, Grace, Jamie, John, Jordan, Lauren, Martin, Pete, SFFI, Tom Moreland

The Cake Mission

At one point during the night, Jordan casually mentioned that he would like some cake. This made me want cake too. It was agreed that we would go on a cake mission.

And an hour later we got around to it.

The Co-op had closed long ago by this point so we went to Senior Pepper (Pizza place) for hot chocoloate fudge cake.

Jordan didn’t have time to get cake as his bus had arrived. I changed my mind about the cake so myself, Freya and Jamie ordered two portions of fries between us. Jamie was on the phone at this point, so Freya and I entertained ourselves by working out where north was while waiting for the chips.

We were interupted by John shouting at us from the Co-op that the bus was coming. I began to run, followed shortly by Freya. Jamie went to the pizza place to get the chips but we shouted at him that he would miss it.

The Journey to John’s via Lampost 8

The bus didn’t bother stopping for us so we had to jump onto the bus while it was moving like a proper cowboy. The bus didn’t bother to brake while going around corners so we got there quite quickly. Jamie was still on the phone, John was speaking to someone he knew and Freya was talking to Moreland so I sat quietly.

The bus stopped at the Royal Oak so we commenced our short walk to John’s. Jamie was still on the phone to his new girlfriend Laura and I asked her if she liked me. She did, so that was good.

Freya needed to get her stuff from her house which was past John’s. Moreland, Jamie and I didn’t want to walk there so we let John accompany her himself. We were next to a lampost which had the number 8 stuck onto it. We told them “We’ll meet you at Lampost 8. If you arrive at Lampost 7, you’ve gone too far.”

Moreland told us that the manor opposite us house the insane which excited us somewhat. He also told us that they had a trampoline. Jamie, being both a very brave rebel, ventured inside to have a go on it. I followed him, and Moreland followed me, and we sat on the swings for a few moments before I got scared and retreated back to Lampost 8.

We then noticed that the upstairs light had come on in a house nearby. There was a woman peeping around the curtain at us. We waved at her and she left.

The light went off but the person returned. She clearly didn’t think we could see her so we waved at her again.

She left again.

The light went back on and she returned.

So we waved.

And she left.

A few minutes later the security light went on. This was clearly an attempt to scare us off. But we held strong and protected Lampost 8.

Then a man came out and said we were being too loud. We apologised but remained at Lampost 8. He squinted at each of us in turn and then said “I’ve memorised your face now.”

We couldn’t work out exactly what he was going to do with the mental images of our faces- maybe draw them and send them in to America’s Most Wanted?

We decided that the best bet would be to retreat to Lampost 7. We stayed there for a short while, plucking up the courage to advance back to Lampost 8. We did, and John and Freya returned.

John’s House

We went into John’s house and ate lots of toast and then went to bed. In the morning there were plenty of other events to blog but this story had already taken 2154 words.

Assembly - 9:23 pm - 12-01-2006

Today we had an assembly with Mr Whiteley. I wouldn’t say that it was any worse than usual but I’ve decided to blog it anyway. (So Pete can fuck off with his dying-blogring paranoia. Haha.)

Firstly he showed us some “clips from a TV show you will probably know quite well”. This turned out to be an advert for Friends Season 3 box set. I watched as the six useless American idiots made predictable jokes and danced around generally looking ridiculous. My teeth began to grind but the video finished before I got my knife out.

He then moved on to telling us that friends are important in life. He said that some friends don’t last as long as others (really?) and that we should try to stay friends with people as long as possible after school (good idea!). He even gave us some tips:

“Don’t be mean.”

“Say sorry.”

“Forgive your mates.”

Thanks to Mr Whiteley I will never lose a friend again!

This entry took a tad too long because I was sidetracked my a copy of ElleGirl. I spent the best part of five minutes looking for the problem pages but they were all boring. The cheek!

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot… he also reminded us that uniform is more important than education, not like we haven’t been told that recently.

A Visit to my Grandma’s (or why I’m becoming a woman) - 9:26 pm - 11-01-2006

I have just returned from a trip to my grandmother’s house. I enjoy trips to my grandmother’s and the food is always brilliant. The only thing I dislike is the way that my vegetarianism is treated as some kind of disease that I need to overcome mentally. At one point I was told:

“If you don’t start eating meat soon you’ll lose your male characteristics”

“Yes, after four months they’ll drop off.”

Lovely.

This type of thing continued throughout the whole evening. I was told that I would get increasingly hungry until I decide to make a huge fry-up.

I’m not hungry yet.

And I’ve done just under four months.

Yep, still there.

Blonde Joke - 9:28 pm - 05-01-2006

Dave showed me this hilarious blonde joke. Check it out!

Back to School - 9:40 pm - 04-01-2006

Oh for the summer holidays. Within five minutes of tutor set, I was telling |Dave| that I was fed up. So here we are. I’ve already been told that I’ve done over half of Year 11 and that we really need to buckle down.

I spent all holidays (well about three hours) revising for the French exam I thought I had tomorrow. Unfortunately, last night I discovered that it was in fact German that I was going to be tortured in.

I completely failed in my lunching arrangements. I went into Bingham and ordered a jacket potato with cheese and chilli. Upon leaving the shop I realised that the chilli would probably have meat in. As I’m a gay (or vegetarian if you’re being PC) I decided not to eat it until I discovered whether it was meaty or not. |Callum| was buying a sandwich anyway so he asked for me. It turned out that it did indeed have meat in. I tried to scrape the chilli off but I competely failed so I donated the potato to |Callum|.

I then returned to school very very hungry. |Callum| offered me his sandwichs but they had ham in so I had to refuse.

At the vending machine there were 2 rows of flapjacks. The top row were bigger but Pete said they were worse. The bottom row were smaller but apparently nicer. Being ravenous, I went for a bigger one.

It was so disgusting I didn’t eat it.

Lunch was a Galaxy and KitKat donated by |Callum|.

Wicked.