We don’t have a graduation day in UK schools, but if we did it would be today: A Level Results Day.
My dad woke me up this morning eager that I get into school as soon as possible, so after making my way through a bowl of porridge I threw my dipsy cap on and jumped onto my bike.
Everyone has done incredibly well: I don’t know of anyone who’s genuinely upset about their results. So that’s great.
My results were good: AABB (+ a C in general studies), but not quite good enough for Oxford.
So fuck it, I’m off to Edinburgh in a month.
I’m not going to pretend I didn’t want a place at Oxford but at the end of the day I can’t possibly know where I’ll enjoy more without experiencing both. And this is impossible.
However there is a romantic appeal to Oxford; cycling around the “dreamy spires” with your gown trailing behind you. And it’s clear that an Oxbridge education does open certain doors.
So regarding those two things, I am indeed disappointed.
Nevertheless, and to the apparent surprise of some people, this has not destroyed my self-image, or outlook. I do not feel worthless whatsoever: I worked hard and achieved highly.
Today is above all a day of celebration. 2 years of college, or 14 years of education, have paid off. I have finished school and the overriding emotion in me right now is pride.
Now to point number two.
Today marks a huge change. Yesterday I was at college, today I have finished. And I shall be leaving home in a matter of weeks. This is a significant time in my life - a rite of passage if you will.
I have thus decided to preserve this aspect of myself. The McAsh who threw legendary
parties. Who called “linear walk” home.
Who made a twat of himself many many times.
There shall be no more entries to this blog.
I’m going to keep the blog up for as long as Dave lets me, to serve as an archive of memories for whenever someone wants to look up some of our adventures over the last 4 years, or just to find out who had the biggest piece of pie.
Let me leave you all with a section from the script of a television show very close to my heart.
OZ
Guys. Take a moment to deal with this.
We survived.
BUFFY
It was a hell of a battle.
OZ
Not that battle. High school.
They all think about it. It IS actually kind of cool.
OZ (cont’d)
We’re taking a moment.
(beat)
And we’re done.
They head off. As they recede in the distance, they continue:
XANDER
You know what the best part of high
school was?
BUFFY
When we blew it up?
XANDER
Yeah! That ruled. ‘Cause you know the
thing that made it so special…
BUFFY
Was that the school blew up?
XANDER
Exactly!
BUFFY
I begin to find you troubling.
XANDER
Oh, come on, you know you’re all
thinking it.
BUFFY
Well…
And then, overlapping:
WILLOW
I was.
CORDELIA
Pretty much.
OZ
Uh huh.
BUFFY
Yeah.
Tabs has just linked me to a website combing the greatest things ever invented: humour and graphs.
more graph humor and song chart memes
www.graphjam.com
Dreadlocks - 7:11 pm - 21-05-2008
My hair is now in dreadlocks.
I invited Sophie, Brooke and Gav over a week last Saturday to dread my hair. By the end of the day 4 or so of the 30 sections had been done. And I was in considerable pain.
I spent the next few days running around with a comb, asking people to put a dread in (I went all the way to Clumber Park on one occasion) and in total around 10 people did.
On the Tuesday night (a week and a day ago) I tried to do one of them myself. I was surprised to discover that even though I couldn’t see it properly, it did work.
Furthermore, it didn’t hurt at all.
Hurray.
Today I finished the final one. And yes, this does mean that I have been doing them for the last 11 days.
So, there is the story.
Today I had my French Oral Exam, a thing which I had been dreading for weeks. This is not surprising really, considering that oral is my weakest of the four skills (others being aural, written and read). What is surprising, however, is how well it went.
It went well for everyone by the sounds of it, as it wasn’t long before we were at a bar in West Bridgford buying a celebratory drink.
I ordered a bottle of Sol and then was told to wait around before I received my change. Feeling slightly confused, I sat down and waited for the manager to appear.
When she did, I was informed that my £20 note was counterfeit. I was sceptical that she might simply be trying to con me out of twenty quid, but by contrasting it with a ‘real’ note, it was clear she was telling the truth. She then told me that she was legally obliged to keep the note to give it to the police. She produced a police document explaining it.
I was defeated, so let her have it. She agreed to let me have my drink for free.
So - did bottle of Sol cost me £20, was it free, or was it the most expensive free drink ever?
Cons
- They would create opportunities for people who I don’t like to start conversations with me about them.
- This Sept/Oct I’m going to be meeting hundred of new people who I will rely upon for friendship for the next 3 years. Dreadlocks could make a bad impression and make it difficult for me to make friends.
Pros
- I’ve never given a shit about other idiots’ opinions before - why should I now?
- I think they’d suit me.
- Others have said they think they’d suit me.
- I feel that they create a good image.
- I’ve already spent money on getting the various things I need to make them
Opinions, boys and girls. The comment field is just down there waiting for you.
Madness - 12:37 pm - 19-04-2008
Last night I began to wonder whether I was mad.
I asked Grace if I was, to put my mind at ease.
I didn’t like the answer so I repeated my question, hoping it might have changed.
I received the same answer again, so once again I repeated myself.
It was confirmed for a third time.
Awesome.
Twitter - 1:24 pm - 12-04-2008
Ok, so I’ve not been too strong on the whole blogging front recently have I? And people seem to have noticed, I’ve received complaints (or at least disappointed passing comments) that I just don’t blog anymore. The main reason is simply that I don’t have time at the moment to write posts.
However, I do easily have time to Twitter.
Twitter is a micro-blogging service where each post is generally under 140 characters long, and they can be done over SMS. I seriously reccommend you all sign up, and “follow” me (add as a friend). I’m McAsh, so dead easy to find.
Also, I’ve installed a plugin for the blog which will create a daily digest of all my twitterings and put them here. So you can expect small posts pretty much everyday.
Hurray!
The only problem is that only the first 140 characters are shown, and I don’t know how to change this. So for the occasions where the posts are longer, I’m afraid you’ll have to pop over to my twitter page (http://twitter.com/mcash).
It’s the title of a book, which is currently unwritten. The intention is for it to include various stories from the blogosphere to showcase its sense of comaraderie.
I’ve decided, without the confidence of my sister, to send a submission.
I’d be very surprised if it were to be included but there is, afterall, no harm in trying.
So, who knows, maybe my very own Haircuts for Dummies
will be available in book form (or part-of-a-book form, a-page form).
And, for all those interested, here is the project’s home.
Blogosphere - 10:29 pm - 24-01-2008
Today a blogger who I read recommended a fairly new blog, and I already knew about it.
At first I thought this was amazing, am I part of the blogosphere’s inner circle?
Am in in the high society?
But then I thought about how I know the two blogs.
I read Blog A (the one I read today), which once reccommended Blog B, which once recommended Blog C, which very recently reccommended Blog D (the one which Blog A reccommended today).
So I think that this means that, instead of being in the inner circle, I’m more like a heat reader of the blogging world. I find out about what the celebs are into at the moment and get into it myself.
So I’m the coolest girl (or boy I guess - I just can’t picture that as easily), who’s first to copy the celebrities (sometimes, like today, even before the other celebs get there.)
These were the, of course, the girls I have the least respect for.
Meh, so much for being special.
P.S. Apologies for the lack of quality of writing here. I was feeling kinda lazy.
Album - 10:16 pm - 24-01-2008
I rarely do these, but this is quite a laugh.
Band Name: Name of article here.
Album Name: Last four words of the first quote from here.
Album Cover: Third picture from here.
And here is a shoddy album cover I just made in paint. 
The band name and album name go together fantastically I think, but the album cover’s a bit whack in my opinion. Meh, whatever, I could always get a new one for the re-release.
Hattip: Taoist Biker (a blog I sometimes read which can be fairly amusing.)
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