Thursday 29 May 2008

(Not much of) an anime update

Atfer revising my little socks off for pretty much all of this week (you have no idea just how boring Liberalism is, let me tell you) I've decided to catch up on some Bleach filler.

I've been neglecting anime a little recently. Stupid revision gets in the way of what's really important- Bleach filler and Code Geass R2. So I'm going to watch at least a couple of episodes of the former (I'm 3 eps behind) and maybe some of Code Geass later this week.

I bought Fushigi Yuugi volume 4 today.

That's pretty much it. I'm too boring to be allowed a blog, seriously.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Storm Fever

Barely got a wink of sleep last night. I was woken up at about half past four by this almighty crash of thunder, and from then on the storm raged (literally) for about 40 minutes. For the first twenty or so minutes it was pretty much right on top of us, and I remember looking outside and seeing this huge flash of lightning, though I'm not sure if it was forked or not as it pretty much blinded me.

Anyway, as I've mentioned inm a previous blog, I suffer from Keraunophobia, that is, a fear of thunder and lightning. So after a couple of minutes of blinding flashes and deafening crashes, I gave up the ghost and took my duvet into my parent's room, where they let me huddle in a corner wrapped in my duvet like a cocoon until the storm had passed.

Great people, my parents.

Anyway, it finally ended, and I went, trembling slightly, back to my own room. Whereupon the stupid birds started their stupid dawn chorus. So it took me ages to fall back to sleep thanks to the twittering of the birds and the distant rumbles of thunder I could still hear.

Anyway, I've been awake for all of five minutes now, and I need to get on with some revision. After last night, I'm kind of glad I'm not doing any stubject to do with the weather.

Saturday 24 May 2008

Euroblog part 6!

43 countries voting. Yay. This is going to be fun. I want Turkey to win.

UK- 12 points to Greece
FYR Macedonia- 12 to Albania (obviously)
Ukraine- 12 to Russia (I said that at the same time as her! It was that obvious!)
Germany- (why is their rep wearing wings?) 12 to Greece
Estonia- 12 to Russia (surprise surprise!)
Bosnia and Herz.- 12 to Serbia

Please, someone vote for us! We have no points yet, we don't want another Jemini! I'm putting my trust in Ireland and Malta.

Albania- 12 to Greece (they're doing pretty well!)
Belguim- 12 to Armenia (interesting...)
San Marino (where?)- Yay! Somewhere I never heard of gave us 6!!!! 12 to Greece.
Latvia- 12 to Russia (I already typed that before she said it)
Bulgaria- 12 to Germany (what?! That's a little odd. And Germany have overtaken us now. But at least we have points)
Serbia- 12 to Bosnia and Herz. (quite obviously, but eurgh. Are they all deaf?)
Israel- 12 to Russia
Cyprus- 12 to Greece (obviously)
Moldova (their rep looks drunk)- 12 to Romania
Iceland- 12 to Denmark (duh)

I think we should follow in Austria's footsteps and pull out of this. This political voting is ridiculous.

France- 12 to Armenia
Romania- 12 to Greece (that's a little surprising, but they're not that far from Greece)
Portugal- 12 to Ukraine (huh? They only gave Spain 10, that's odd)
Norway- 12 to Denmark

I'm sad Turkey has dropped down. The poppy ones are doing well. Russia might win.

Hungary- 12 to Azerbaijan (hmm!)
Andorra- 12 to Spain (I think that's kind of obvious)
Poland- 12 to Armenia (they gave 6 to Russia, that's odd.)
Slovenia (back to Balkan bloc voting)- 12 to Serbia (obviously)

Seriously, you just need a map and you can figure out the voting patterns. It's depressing.

Armenia- 12 to Russia
Czech Republic- 12 to Armenia
Spain- 12 to Romania (eh? They voted oddly this year)
The Netherlands- 12 to Armenia

I feel let down by the Dutch. They didn't give us anything. Jery's going to get an earful next time I talk to him.

Turkey (I wish they were doing better)- 12 to Azerbaijan
Malta- Arrrrrrrgh. 12 to Sweden! They're in the flipping Commonwealth!
Ireland- (oh thank god, they gave us 8. I won't have to kill cara after all) 12 to Latvia.
Switzerland- 12 to Serbia
Azerbaijan- 12 to Turkey (good people!)
Greece- 12 to Armenia
Finland- 12 to (something Scandinavian, I'm guessing) Norway (see!)
Croatia- (Serbia will get something- 10) 12 to Bosnia and Herz. (of course)
Sweden- 12 to Norway (duh)
Belarus- 12 to Russia (both me and Terry Wogan said that at the same time as her)
Lithuania- 12 to Russia (again, Eastern bloc voting)
Russia- 12 to Armenia
Montenegro- (it's Balkan) 12 to Serbia (there should be a rule against voting for neighbours, but then Ireland wouldn't give us anything)
Georgia- 12 to Armenia

Lastly, Denmark- 12 to Iceland

Russia wins with 272 points (in comparison, we lost with 14, tied with Germany and Poland. The unpopular countries politically, apparantly)

Russia's wasn't awful (I don't think I liked it much) but because of a rise in oil prices all the Baltic and Balkan states will try to keep in their favour as they are economically reliant on Russia.

So this is the end of this political farce, for another year. I really do think we should follow in Austria's footsteps, but then we wouldn't get the joy of laughing at all the ridiculous entries and the despair of seeing how well they do.

Euroblog part 5!

Oh, the joys of Sky+! We were curious as to how the Georgians had done their costume change, so we wound it back. They threw a big white sheet over them and poof! Eurowhite appeared! It was really clever!


If I voted, I'd go for Turkey. Cara wants Azerbaijan to win.

Their 'odd song to fill time while we count the votes' is truly rubbish. To think, Riverdance first came about as a filler piece once when Ireland were hosting Eurovision, and they've gone on to be world famous for their amazing dancing (I'm a Riverdance fan). I don't think this lot have any hope of that. Well, maybe in Serbia, but they won't be world famous.

Right, I think the filler stuff is over (filler is a phrase I borrowed from anime, for my non-anime liking readers, if any). I think they're nearly done with counting the votes, so I'm going to do my very best with this. I'm only going to write the twelve point votes at the moment, because it's difficult to type as quickly as the over-excited country representatives speak. But my sister, bless her, is going to try and write down every single vote (good luck to her) so I'll nab that off her tomorrow and add them to Euroblog part 6 (or 7, which it will probably be by that time)

I can't believe they bumped Doctor Who to next week for this. Gah.

I've written too much here. I'm going to make Euroblog part 6 specifically for the results.

Euroblog part 4!

The trophy this year is a little weird. Hmm. Anyway, onto the next one!

FRANCE- Sebastian Tellier 'divine' (sp) Hmmm... all the FEMALE backing singers have fake beards, and he arrived on stage in a golf cart-cum- beach buggy. And he's holding what seems like an inflatable, see-through globe. It's obviously not accurate, as you can't even see the magma and stuff, but I guess you can't have everything. Hmm.... I don't think France are taking this very seriously this year.

Yeah.... just, hmmm......... I can't think of any other way to describe it.

AZERBAIJAN- 'Day after day' by someone who'se name I missed. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I think this winged Eurowhite guy is either a eunuch or wearing very, very tight trousers. He has Eurowhite contact lenses and Eurosilver hair. There's also a guy dressed in black who is sitting on a big black throne. They're pretty good singers, actually, I wouldn't mind them winning (apart from the screeching at the beginning from the eunuch, which seems to have made a comeback) but I could do without the undulating 'devil' and 'angel' dancers. Is this some lame attempt at a heaven and hell theme? Wait, what happened to the throne? It seems to have vanished while I was typing. Wogan doesn't like it. I'm kind of ashamed that I do.

GREECE- Kalomira 'Secret Combination' wearing pink with guys in black suits with white shirts, who were holding her up on a silver pole. Yeah.... Ooh, the return of cowbow tassles (pink ones). This is really rather unimpressive. it's kind of just a factory-made R'n'B song, in all honesty. Hmm.... where did the giant purple heat some from. And where did the majority of her dress go? I miss things when I type, obviously. I should learn touch-typing. Another epileptic fitter, where are the St. John's Ambulance?! These people need to be checked over! Oh, good, it's finished.

SPAIN- Portugal will vote for them. Obviously. Rodolfo something. Er.... someone dressed as Elvis just planed 'old mcdonald' on a kid's toy guitar. What's with the Turkish (emphasis on the ISH) dancing? Like France, and obviously Ireland, Spain doesn't want to go to the expense of hosting this next year (and people say we don't take this seriously, and Spain submits rubbish like this?) I'm sure I just heard the world 'a-ya-ya'. CHICKEN DANCING!!!!!! I'll be surprised if Portgual votes for that, to be honest :S

SERBIA- The song is called 'oro'. Two of the dancers are dead (at least, they're lying on the ground and are very still). The singer is in Eurowhite (obviously). There's a woman holding a violin. That's hopefuly. Oh! The violin apparantly brings dead people to life. There's someone else with a lute and someone with a tinwhistle or something, and the dead people are slowly undulating (for want of a better word) slowly around the stage. Maybe they weren't dead, maybe they were drugged? Hmm, maybe her dress isn't Eurowhite. Actually, I think it's Eurowhite with a Eurosilver floaty thing over the top. A bit unimpressive, I'll say.

RUSSIA- (and two more songs to go) This is where bloc voting will really come into play. All of those former USSR countries are going to vote for Russia. (I missed the song title, sorry) EUROWHITE!!! Damnit! And another violin. I think someone paralyed his legs, he's sitting on the floor. As it the violin player. Or maybe Russian people are just very short? Oh, he stood up. And he had a tealight. Maybe it's his pet? He's not wearing shoes! How unhygenic is that?! MICHAEL FLATLEY ON ICESKATES! I didn't even notice the ice. It's not actually Flatley, but he's wearing iceskates around a guy with no shoes. It's kind of entertaining waiting for his toes to be cut off.

They sadly weren't.

NORWAY- Missed the song title. They're wearing dark blue. Good for them! No Eurowhite! It's kind of generic, to be honest. Not very memorable. Pretty Beyonce or something. I don't really have much to say about it, but I reckon it'll do quite well. This'll be scandanavian bloc voting in action again, I reckon.

Euroblog part 5 will be the results, so I'll sit back and watch the rubbish in between. The voting has just opened for 15 minutes so I'll watch the recap stuff in the meantime.

Euroblog part 3!

13 countries remaning, apparantly.

PORTUGAL- Wogan likes the song. I'm curious again. Vania Fernandes. Okay, the singer is in black, but the dancers (or statues? They're not moving. Oh, now they are) are in the ever-prevalent eurowhite. I like her voice, but I like her hair more. It's all purple and pretty. Oh, the dancers sing, to. And they're not dancing. Singing statues, maybe? I do like this song, but I doubt I'll really remember it. I doubt it will win, too. It's not tacky enough. Okay, maybe that's not fair, but you know what I mean. Spain'll vote for it, no doubt. Kind of concerned as to why the singing statues are wearing togas, though. I thought this was Portugal, not Italy.

LATVIA- 'Wolves of the Sea' by Pirates of the Sea. I like their pirate costumes! I think they've watched too much Pirates of the Carribean, to be honest. 'With a hi-hi-ho and a hi-hi-hey!' Catchy! Hee hee! Wobbly plastic cutlass! Nice! This is just tacky and catchy enough to win! It's a Baltic state, so I can see the other Baltic states voting for them. Russia will vote for them, and Latvia will return the favour, I predict. The Ukraine might vote for them too, unless they vote for Russia as they often do.

SWEDEN- Charlotte Perrelli 'Hero'. This woman was born in black and white, it seems. Is she dead? Oh, she's in colour now. Cool trick. Eurosilver. Kind of catchy song, it reminds me of the 'I need a hero' song from Shrek (probably it's inspiration, I reckon). Hang on... two women in black appeared while I was typing!! Where did they come from? Ah! And now men in grey suits have appeared. Where are these people coming from?! Ooh, pretty blue lasers... this seems to be going down well, Sweden might just win this... the other Scandanavian states will probably vote for them.

DENMARK- 'All Night Long' by Simon Mathew. I like his braces. And his cap. Kind of 1930's, a bit like what Richard Gere wore when he first appeared in 'Chicago'. Ooh, my bus driver the other day looked EXACTLY like Richard Gere. It was uncanny. I often get one who looks kind of like John Barrowman, too. (I think from this you can tell I'm unimpressed by this song. Sure, it's foot-tappingly catchy, or it would be if I didn't have my laptop on my knee, but it's kind of... boring)

GEORGIA- 'Peace will come' by Diana something or other. Black, but Eurowhite hair. Apart from Diana. I'm kind of worried about the dancers, they sort of look like they're having fits. Aren't any of the officials going to check them out? Right, the song... I'll put it plainly. I hate it. I really do. There is nothing good, spectacular or even memorable about it. I'm not even going to write anything about it. No offence to any Gerogians, but ew.

I'll go to Euroblog part 4 after the next entry.

Oh my god, the Gerogians suddenly changed from black to Eurowhite. How?!

UKRAINE- Russia will vote for them. Whatever their song is, Russia will vote for them, I bet. Ani Lorak 'Shady Lady'. Eurosilver and a big glass thing with men trapped in it. In weird light boxes. Wearing eyeliner. Oh, they escaped from the boxes. Probably some odd Eastern European dating ritural or something. They also nod everytime this beep-beep sound appears, which is becoming more irritaing everytime they do it. Oh, she's on top of the light box. How'd she get up there? Maybe she flew. The dance kind of reminds me of one of those exercise things they have on the radio in Japan, all starjumps and stuff.

Short break, so on to Euroblog part 4 (and oh my god what is that woman wearing?! It's like she drowned in a rosebush.)

Euroblog part 2!

FINLAND- Jery says they have another rock one, after the success of Lordi. And they do! Hmm.... First couple of seconds, it's not as catchy as Lordi. Bit the lead singer has cool Viking hair. Typically. And no wings. that makes a change for Finland! Ha ha! and he's left handed. They're pretty much as tribal as Lordi's music, but they don't have the awesome costumes, and sadly this song just isn't 'Hard Rock Hallelujah'. It is good though, I wouldn't mind if it won. Well, I would, but as we have NO chance of winning then I'm happy to root for this. So far. It's still early! I saw flames! Anything with pyrotechnics gets my vote!

CROATIA- The song is called Romanca, but I'm not even going to try and spell the names of the singers. I have a kind of Chicago gangland feel from this, to be honest. And the lead singer, just to complete the feel, looks like Al Capone. Not sure what the woman in red is doing, just (very athletically) flitting around the stage and playing bottles, it seems. Al Capone is dressed in black, and the other one is dressed in a white suit. I think it is supposed to be gangland. It's cool as it's on purpose.

POLAND- Isis Gee- 'For Life'- She's wearing blue. But her musicians are wearing white, apparantly wedding, dressed. So is the paino player (although it's a suit, not a dress, as he's a guy. That would have been amusing) I have nothing against her voice, it's just... I don't like this song. It's another Disneyfied Alladin song or something. I'll give her that she's wearing blue, though. I'm fed up of what I shall now dub Eurowhite, that is, Eurovision entrants who wear the overused and subsequently tacky colour white.

ICELAND- Wogan says they haven't been in this for a while, so I'm curious about what they have to offer. Euroband 'This is my life' (good for them). Oh, it's a dance track. Mum's first words were 'sung by a pretty boy'. That's not very diplomatic, but meh. For a dance track, this is okay, but not massively impressive. I HATE the woman's shoes, though. True, they're wearing black, not Eurowhite, but her shoes are bright PINK. Gah! What is it about Europeans liking powerful singers? It's a pretty standard dance track, to be honest, but nothig particularly memorable. Denmark'll love it.

TURKEY- Not even going to try to write the singer, it's got too many umlauts. Snazzy guitar, I have to say. Not the most terrible voices I've heard, and I like the guitar music. Actually... I quite like this song. I have something similar on my MP3 player (Japanese though, not Turkish, as I'm assuming this is) Oh, that reminds me of another thing I hate about this contest, apart from political voting and Eurowhite- foreign entrants singing in English. It's like they don't even have their own language. So even when a song is rubbish, I'll commend them for using their own language.

Another quick break. I'm going on to Euroblog part 3. See you in a second.

Euroblog part 1!

Well, it's that time of year again- Eurovision! Preceeding the programme, I have no real thoughts on it. Only that Ireland obviously didn't want to have to host it next year (too expensive) after submitting that ridiculous bird thing.

Where is it this year? Hmm... I'll wait for Terry Wogan to tell me. Belgrave, according to my mother. In Serbia. Oh yeah, that butch woman won last year, didn't she? She kind of reminds me of Haruhi from Ouran High School Host Club (only kind of fat). She's got a fairly good voice but seems to have gotten even butcher over the past year. Who is the woman in white next to her?! It's like someone whip-creamed a '99 ice-cream cone.

All of her dancers are women. What does that tell you?

I'm thinking of revising my Haruhi comment. She seems more like a plump Harry Potter. You know, sans scar. I kind of like the dancer's black and white dresses though. I really, really feel like I shouldn't, but still. They're snazzy. The woman doesn't do slow singing very successfully, though. The dancers are doing some really strange costume changes, don't know what they think they were wearing at the end!

Oh, it's done. I might have to type rather quicky to keep up with each entry, as I don't know who they are or what order they're in. Terry Wogan is funny as usual, this year. Oh, bit of trivia- did you know that Austria dropped out of Eurovision for good as they were frustrated as it being a 'political parade ground'? That's pretty apt. You can pretty much predict the bloc and Baltic voting.

Well, here we go. ROMANIA- Nico and Vlad 'to the edge of the world'. Ooh, kind of reminds me of that song from Alladin. He's got a good voice, I wish I knew what he was saying. Black jacket and jeans, after the last two year's parade of varying shades of white it makes a nice change. Oh no. The woman's arrived. Wearing white. And screeching. I hate it. Next one, next one! (by the way, my mother descirbed the woman as a 'pub singer' and my sister says she looks like 'Friona Buce'. Yeah. I think she means 'Fiona Bruce')

UK next!- Andy Abraham 'Even if'. Not my kind of music but after our last few dysmal entrys, this is definitely the best. I think he was one of those guys who didn't win X factor. He's pretty good, but with the way the voting is all political I think we can only really rely on Ireland and Malta for votes. Mind you, I have a feeling that Spain gave us a pretty high score last year (not the full douze points, though, obviously). It's a pity everyone hates us. It's also a pity that we don't take this competition very seriously, like our European neighbours. Maybe if we did then we'd do better.

ALBANIA- Olta boka (I didn't catch the song title). Ohh, nice bit of guitar. I like her voice too. And she's not wearing white! Maybe black's in this year or something? Although the musicians have white tops on. Ah well. Can't have everything. Not sure what the cape thing around her hips is, though. Ooh, she has nice hair. I hate her for that. This song kind of reminds me of something, I have to say. Not entirely sure what, though...

GERMANY- I like the dances in between each song, by the way. Dancing in the country's flag. Anyway, Germany. I liked their entry last year, kind of cowgirl one. I think that was last year, anyway. These girls seem to be draped in blue and purple curtains. They're a little out of tune, too (not to Jemini's standard though, obviously! ha ha) It's a fairly good song, nothing memorable though. Missed the band name though, sorry. This is nothing special, I have nothing to say about it.

ARMENIA- Sirusho. Armenia always submits women with powerful voices, and this year is no exception. Although wearing a dress made entirely of those tassles you get on cowboy's sleeves might have been a mistake. I think the song is called 'Quele, Quele', however that's spelt (sorry if I've written something offensive in Armenian, it's why I don't write the song titles if I don't know them) Oh, she killed her dancers. Oh no, they're alive again. Pity. Although I wouldn't call them 'dancers'. I'm not sure that what they're doing can actually be classed as dancing. Maybe some sort of abstract art thing, or something. Hmm..

BOSNIA AND HERZ.- Laka. Oh. My God. What. The Hell. BRIDES OF FRANKENSTINE!!!! ARGH. Just, arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Those women! That singer! What were they thinking?!?!?!?! I'm kind of fixated by the girl who stuck her fingers in the socket before coming onstage and donned an outfit with fruit on it. How did they think it was a song? It's almost insane enough to be brilliant. It'll probably win. It's Eurovision, after all. I like the clothesline prop, too. That's inspired.

Ohh, quick break. So far, I'm loving Eurovision this year! It's insane, it's wonderful and I have no idea what the annoucers are saying! they have very thick accents. Or they're speaking French. It's kind of hard to tell.

ISRAEL- I've never known why they're in this, but Wogan says it's good. Boaz. It sounds like a typical Israeli singer. Oh. I would have put money on that being a woman. Oops. He's wearing silver. Mum says this song is written by Dana International, who is apparantly a transexual who won for Israel a few years ago. I kind of remember that, but it was my pre-blogging days so I have nothing about it. It's a pretty good song but, as with Germany, it's nothing particularly memorable.

Saturday sucks

There was an anime convention in London (I assume) today. Some of the people from TSR went.

Did I go, I hear you ask?

No. I spent my saturday watching one of Mum's work collegues taking our summerhouse away and teaching our pond fish to eat from my hand.

Fun, I think not (although playing with the fish was kind of fun, they actually learn very quickly! The shubunkins, Aristotle, Galileo, Dante and Barbie were vaguely good at it. The comets weren't great, and the mirror carp were great at it, although kind of violent. AJ was the best at it. And yes, I named one of my fish after someone I know on TSR, because it's a fish [albiet not a jellyfish] and it looks kind of angry)

I'm going to do a Euroblog (or Euroblogg, thanks to the typo in my URL) to cover the Eurovision song contest tonight. This will probably be my comments on each entry and who gave douze points to each contestant. Something like that. We'll see.

Friday 23 May 2008

Anime updates

After several weeks of neglected anime (stupid exams) I thought I'd indulge myself a little this weekend.

Started off with episodes 3 and 4 of Code Geass R2 (the second season) and then finished with episode 1 of Fushigi Yuugi. I'm currently reading the manga and I love it. The anime isn't quite as successful [first impressions] but I'm not going to watch any more of it until I've finished the manga series. I finished volume 6 today, so only 12 more to go. Yeesh. I hope the library has them all.

Not a lot to start on, I know, but it took me a while to find episode 3 of Code Geass and I was doing other things as well. Might watch a few more eps of various series over the weekend- I want to finish Lemon Angel Project this summer, as well as more of Death Note- but from Monday revision takes priority.

The man who smelled of vanilla

That sounds like a story title. Ooh, maybe I should do a short story of it!

Okay, updates, updates... I haven't got much to say. I've just finished my exercise for today (10 minutes on an exercise bike, 10 minutes on a step machine, both of which are in my garage) so I'm a little out of breath and quite possibly blind from the bloodrush (forgive any typos! Ha ha)

While I was in the city yesterday I passed two men (well, I actually passed quite a lot of men, and several women too, but these men were particular). One was a sharply dressed businessman with slicked-back hair and a briefcase. He had the assured, self-confident look of a man who is sure of himself and his skills, and is using them for his advantage. As he passed me, I almost gagged. He smelt of stale ciggarette smoke, sweat and money.

About half an hour later, a homeless man walked past me, a dirty blanket tucked under his arm. His clothes were shabby and dirty, and his hair and beard were unkempt and tangled. But as he walked past me, I was surrounded by the smell of vanilla, sweet and lovely, which surprised the hell out of me, let me tell you. It was amazing, the difference between the two men, which is why they were particular.

I may have to write a story about this *runs off to do so*

Thursday 22 May 2008

I feel like...

Writing, but I don't know what. I had a vague idea while I was wandering around the city earlier, so I might work on that a bit, but it all likelihood it won't come to anything, as is o often the case with my ideas.

Some author I'll make, huh?

In other news... I have no other news.

Layout update

I was bored of blue.

Wednesday 21 May 2008

As promised


Here's the screenshot of my story on the Waterstone's competition website (link in previous post) I erased my real name and wrote Cooro in the name box (not very successfully, paint's text boxes are rubbish). I also put a red ring around it. It's not very clear, I'm afraid.



And here's a shot of my actual story card:



You can't read what it says though. Sorry about that.

I haven't actually told my parents about this competition. I just don't want to. If my story gets published in the book at the end of the year, then I'll tell them. I don't want to get their -or my- hopes up.

I showed my sister, but she's a bit dense so she won't tell our parents. Bless her.

Webby Addy

http://www.waterstoneswys.com/

This is the address for the Waterstones' 'What's Your Story?' competition site. For some reason it will only let me link to the front page and not to my actual story, which kind of sucks, and it also won't let me save a copy of my story either (I took a screenshot though, will post it later)

But yeah, here it is. Write something yourself, or peruse the gallery. My story is called 'Sea Ghost'. See if you can find it.

More quick updates

Firstly- two more days of college. Argh. I mean, apart from exams and stuff (which aren't even being held at college, which seems kind of stupid but I still have to come in the day before each exam to find out exactly where in the King's Centre I have to go), but it's still a pretty big deal. I mean, only a couple of years ago I was all upset about leaving high school, after five long and arduous years, and now after only two years I'm leaving college too. I can feel the wind move my hair as time flys by.

Secondly- I told one of my friends about the Waterstone's thing. I hope she'll submit something to, but if she got into the postcard book and I didn't, I wouldn't be very happy. Especially as I want to be a writer and she just wants to be a Boradway star or a computer programme writer or something.

Thirdly- Happy birthday Truered! :)

Only 7 minutes until psychology. As it's wednesday I only get half an hour break between lessons so I've been in the college library Googling myself. You get a couple of things for 'Cooro', not all about me (you get things like my myspace and TSR profile and stuff) and you get nothing at all for my real name (but lots and lots of pages about a certain actress who shares my surname)

Oh yeah. I'm not bored at all.

Tuesday 20 May 2008

Quick update

Some fairly exciting news: So you know I wrote a couple of days ago (or was it yesterday? I've forgotten) that I submitted a piece for the Waterstone's 'what's your story?' competition? As I said, it was put in the gallery on their competition website, which for someone who wants to be a writer is a pretty big deal (even if it is only 4 lines long) Well, today I discovered that they're also going to be making a postcard book of 3 of the entries, as well as the ones written by 13 (I think, or possibly 11) different authors.

Which means, if mine is deemed good enough to be included in this book (here's hoping), then it would be my first 'real' (not online) publication.

The book is avaliable later this year, apparantly, and the proceeds go towards a couple of charities I've forgotten the names of. If mine gets put in there then I shall buy it. If not, I won't. On principle. Wish me luck on getting my story in it!

Keep your eyes open for it though! I'll keep you updated with any news on it.

Monday 19 May 2008

Still...

...haven't finished my finance form. It's just sitting on my desk, staring at me.

Health and safety strikes again.

I'm indignant about several things today.

Firstly about the result of the hybrid embryo discussion. That is just plain wrong.

Secondly, I finish college this week, and I in no way feel prepared.

And thirdly, this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7408021.stm

Bilbo has been banned!

Yes, Biblo, the country's only lifeguard dog, has been BANNED from the beach because of a dog ban. Oh, so no guide dogs for the blind, then? No helper dogs for the disabled? Seriously, if either of those types of dog were banned from the beach, then they'd be sued to kingdom come.

But no. Bilbo isn't classed as a working dog, and the new lifeguards won't let him on their beach cars. And if he isn't carried around on the beach car, then he's breaking the law by being on the beach.

Even though he's saved a swimmer's life.

He's a PR dog now. A PR dog. What a step-down from being the most famous dog in Cornwall.

I never felt sorrier for a dog. I saw him on Blue Peter once.

Oh yeah...

I guess my faithful reader(s) will want to read the story I submitted for the Waterstones online competition, right?

Tough. I'd link to it, but then you'll find out my real name. So I will remain secretive and ninja-like in my publication.

The story I wrote is actually a continuation of another piece I wrote back in high school entitles 'White Lilies', about a girl who gets murdered somewhere in Holland. This one is based a year later, is four lines long, and is basically about marking her death. The white lilies themselves make a return too (they're predominant in the main story). I'm not posting either of them (yet) though.

They're rubbish anyway so you're not missing much.

Publication!

Waterstones are currently running a short story competition. Basically, you write a story in 600 characters or less (very difficult, seeing as 'characters' includes spaces, line breaks and punctuation), put it online, decorate it a little, and then wait for them to publish it in the gallery.

Which they finally did! My first publication! There are going to be some great authors adding their stories in June, including Nick Hornby, J.K.Rowling and Tom Stoppard. I get my story published with theirs.

Yay.

Friday 16 May 2008

Okay, so I lied

I didn't post anything yesterday about David Cheese-kun. But that's only because I have an exam this afternoon that I haven't done anywhere near enough revision for. I feel so unprepared it's ridiculous :(

Wednesday 14 May 2008

A promise

Tomorrow I will write all about David Cheese-kun and how he came to be. What is David Cheese-kun, I hear you ask? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Sad today :(

Yes, I am. Firstly, I haven't slept properly since last Thursday. Basically it was like this: On Friday night, I was in pain. EVERYTHING hurt, but mostly my head, my left eye, and my chest. It felt like someone was sitting on me and poking my eye with a stick. So I didn't get any sleep.

The other nights I've slept a little, but not much (about 4 hours per night) so I'm completely wiped.

Also since then, I've been ill. Like, bad headache, hayfever, cold, eye strain, generally illness kind of ill. It's not nice.

Plus I've had three mock exams these last couple of weeks, which were okay but not brilliant (in one of them I got a B, which is fine, but in another I did fairly well, but not as well as I'd hoped), and I have a real exam this Friday.

Here's why I should be happy:
  • new library books
  • half day tomorrow
  • FINALLY got my stupid politics exam info, after going into the exams office yesterday and yelling at them. I was annoyed, headachy and that was the third time I'd gone in to ask them about it. I think they mostly gave me the info so that I'd stop yelling, to be honest.

Here's why I'm not happy:

  • Feel ill
  • exams
  • tired
  • misunderstood what about five different people have said today, including two on The Student Room (I hate misunderstanding, it's generally embarrasing)
  • revision. I'm at the end of my techer with that.

So yeah. Not my day today. The signs I posted earlier (which were sent to me in an email from a friend) lightened my mood a bit earlier, until my headache came back. Now I'm going to watch Mock the Week, read some Rave Master and then try and sleep.

The boots of ascension

Don't you just love foreign signs? Sure, the English isn't great, but you have to commend them for trying.

I'm in a bad mood and I'm ill and need a giggle, so here are a few of my favourite examples (some pictures included) Enjoy!


In a Tokyo Hotel: Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such thing is please not to read notis.

In a Bucharest hotel lobby: The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.

In a Leipzig elevator: Do not enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.

In a Belgrade hotel elevator: To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor. Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.

In a Paris hotel elevator: Please leave your values at the front desk.

In a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily.

In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the chambermaid.

In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.


In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers: Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose in the boots of ascension.

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant: Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.


On the menu of a Polish hotel: Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.

Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.


In a Bangkok dry cleaner's: Drop your trousers here for best results.

Outside a Paris dress shop: Dresses for street walking.

In a Rhodes tailor shop: Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.

A sign posted in Germany's Black forest: It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.

In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.

In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.

In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency: Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we guarantee no miscarriages.

Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand: Would you like to ride on your own ass?

In a Swiss mountain inn: Special today -- no ice cream.

In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.

In a Tokyo bar: Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.

In a Copenhagen airline ticket office: We take your bags and send them in all directions.

On the door of a Moscow hotel room: If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.

In a Norwegian cocktail lounge: Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.

In a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.

In the office of a Roman doctor: Specialist in women and other diseases.


In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.

In a Tokyo shop: Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are best in the long run.


From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner: Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself.

From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo: When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.


Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance:
-English well talking.
- Here speeching American.

Monday 12 May 2008

Hmm....

My eye is itchy. It's been itchy all day. I know it's not important, but there you go.

Sunday 11 May 2008

A new twist on the cornish pasty, and other things


Basically, people are making pasties out of squirrels. Like, ew. Who could eat a squirrel?

My mother's reasoning (in fact, the reasoning of all my family as I seem to be the only one against this) is that you eat rabbit, why not squirrel. Yeah, but for one thing, rabbits are bred for that purpose, and for another, they're not as disease-ridden. Or as cute.

Seriously, how can you look at this :


and then EAT one??! I never could. I don't understand why I'm so against it, though. I mean, I've eaten beef, lamb, pork, chicken, duck, quail, turkey, pigeon, kangaroo, crocodile, shark, rabbit, venison (deer) and ostrich. I am therefore definitely NOT a vegitarian.

Bu why wouldn't I eat squirrel? It makes no sense to me. I have already proven that I'm not opposed to eating fluffy animals, so why not squirrels? When I am normally up for trying anything once, why not squirrel pasties?

The answer lies in my childhood.

Ever read The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin? Would you eat squirrel Nutkin? So, you would not. It's just mean.

Also, I see squirrels pratically every day on my way to and from college. They hand out in the trees on the side of the road, looking cute and frolicking. I have never, so far, seen a cow gallavanting around the city. Or a chicken. I see rabbits, now and then, but then, I've only eaten rabbit once, and at that time my parents told me it was my pet rabbit I was eating. I believed them until I looked out of the window and saw Nibbles still hopping round the rabbit run, happy as can be.

My parents are cruel.

Anyway, let's put my squirrel pasty indignation aside for now. I want to talk about anime.

While I was in the city today, I saw several people who are sporting what I would describe as 'anime hair'. I kid you not. There was a woman who has curly purple hair, kind of like Cornelia from Code Geass, someone with C.C. hair (also Code Geass, although it was slightly shorter than C.C.'s hair), someone with Hatsuharu hair (Fruits Basket, although since he didn't have the black roots it might be more accurate to describe him as Toushiro from Bleach) and so on. It's ridiculous. Anime hair belongs on anime characters, except when cosplaying. Only the characters themselves can pull it off.

Take, for example, Sasuke's hair, from Naruto. Nice spikes and all, but someone I knew at high school tried to copy the look somewhat (I wasn't into anime as much back then, only Fruits Basket, InuYasha and D.N.Angel) but really, gravity-defying hairstyles can only be pulled off by animated characters. I'm sure there are even more gravity-defying hairstyles in other anime and manga (Dragonball comes to mind, although I haven't seen it).

Hmm, politics in 15 minutes. my substitute teacher left on Friday, which, considering that we have exams coming up, isn't really very smart of her. We have our original teacher back now, for the last two or three weeks of college, and we haven't had her since about October last year. It's ridiculous how these people are treating us. If I fail my politics exam I am so writing to the UEA to blame it on my teachers.

Speaking of the exams, I still haven't heard about the stupid politics thing. I was told I'd get a letter, but if there isn't one waiting for me when I get home today, I'm going to go to the exams office and yell at them some more.

Right, time to go to politics and dream of watching Lemon Angel Project. Laters!

Current news from Cooro TV

Well. Sort of.

I was checking up on the status of my video (the Evita one) and apparantly it's been linked to Yahoo and Google video searches. Um, hello? Did I give permission for that? No I did not.

Do I care? Not really.

In fact, I'm putting a link on the bottom of this page to see if it says that I've linked to it here. It probably won't, but it's worth a shot.

I also found out that my video has been viewed so far in 10 countries. How cool is that? It listed the countries as: The USA, UK, Argentina, Romania, Japan, Peru, Norway, Italy, Brazil and Colombia. Eclectic, to say the least, but I think that's quite an achievement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZudyO4WL1T4

In other news... Hmm. I have no other news, apart from the fact that I've been pretty unwell over this weekend (I get like that in summer, it's one of the reasons why I hate this accursed season). Might also have something to do with stress, who knows? My first exam is this coming Friday, so it could well be that.

And the finance form still isn't done (I know, it's getting late) Actually, I'm aiming to have it finished and sent off by Friday. This is mostly because I want to get it done and out of the way, and also because my mother has threatened to throttle me if I don't get it done soon.

No news on the cat front, but I keep leaving the 'Owning a Cat' book I'm currently reading around the place to remind my parents. I think they're getting tired of that, to be honest.

The book is fascinating, though. Even if there wasn't a possibility of us getting a cat, it's a pretty good read. Did you know, for example, that if your cat gets scared by fireworks going off, you're not supposed to comfort it? This only reinforces it's negative behaviour (i.e. the fear response) and it becomes... well, a scaredy-cat, just because it wants the attention. I think in psychology we call it operant conditioning (although it's kind of negative, in this sense.)

Right, mock exam tomorrow (English, bleh) so I'd better revise. It's not exactly easy, this paper. A week before the exam we get a booklet with about five or six different texts in, all on a particular theme (in the past they've had themes like the sea, food, mirrors, journeys etc) The texts themselves are things like poems, book extracts, labels from packets, whatever. For our mock, we've got the food one, and we've only got this weekend (well, the rest of today, really) to prepare it in. Have I done anything? Nope. Well, I started looking at an article which says that food and fatness is really a socialist issue (I'm looking at that in terms of Marxism) but other than that, I've done jack on this work.

I'm so looking forward to this exam.

Sarcasm is difficult to get across in typing.

Thursday 8 May 2008

*melts*

Damn heat. I hate it. I really do.

I was walking around the city in my lunch break, staring at all the people in shorts and strappy tops, and thinking, how the hell can you stand it? The sun! The heat! It's like being trapped in an oven without a door.

Even the computer room I'm currently in is humid and horrible. This is partially due to the fact that the windows don't seem to open, and the two chavs at the other end of the bank of computers have purloined the fan, so it can't benefit the rest of us (i.e. me)

I wore a t-shirt today, but had to buy myself a cooler top to change into as it was so unbelievably hot. I also had to buy some suncream, which cost me £5.97 on my card. £5.97! For suncream! That was the cheapest one that they had as well. I can't afford summer!

Mind you, it's factor 50, so it should offer me some pretty good protection. And they were buy-one-get-one-free, so I have two of them. But still. My bank account is crying at my having to spend that much on protecting myself. I could buy a bottle of wine for less than a bottle of suncream (although I won't, being teetotal) Gah. Stupid sun. Mr Burns had the right idea. You know, before he got shot, and all.

Still thinking about male cat names, although it's not definite that we're actually getting a cat. Here are my current favourites:
Koga
Bootle (which is actually a village, but it's kind of cute)
Seeker
Blaze
Gizmo
TC (The Cat- Mum's idea is growing on me)
Brannigan (after the male cat dude from series 3 of Doctor Who)
Zimbardo (who is a psychologist, but it's sort of in keeping with the academic names of the fish)

So far that's pretty much it. I'm open for suggestions, though (if anyone other than vin actually reads this)

Neko-kun!!!

My parents told me yesterday that we might be getting a cat :D It wouldn't be until August sometime if we decided we were going to get one, because we'd be getting a kitten and we're going away for a week at the end of July. It'd be cruel to get a kitten and then leave it in a cattery or on it's own for a week.

I don't mean completely on it's own, of course. I mean with my neighbours feeding it and stuff. Obviously.

It kind of scuppers my plans for getting mice, though. I'm already worried about the cat + fish combination.

Anyway, Mum wants a neutered tomcat, because they generally have really sweet natures (female cats are moody things, I should know. I don't know how often I've got scratches from Cleo while I'm looking after her for my neighbours) so we spent ages yesterday thinking of a male name for it. I personally like Gizmo, Mum wants to call it TC (short for 'The Cat'), Dad liked Poppy (until we pointed out it was a girl's name) and then Blaze, and my sister keeps picking names form a big book on mythology (no matter how many times I tell her we are NOT calling it Hercules!)

This might take a while.

Anyway, it's not definite that we're getting one. We have to sort out things like insurance, food costs, collars and microchips and toys and baskets and shots and flea prevention etc etc. But after the discussion it looks fairly likely that we might be getting one.

But my parents won't let me name it on my own, which is probably wise. It would end up being Kyo or Lelouch or Renji, or some other anime name. Although I might suggest Koga when I get home. Koga is a good name for a cat. I originally wanted ot name it after a philospher (after all, three of the fish are called Galileo, Dante and Aristotle) but the only one I could think of that had something to do with cats was Schrodinger, and Dad gave that one a definitive NO. So no Schrodinger. I'm not that bothered about that. It's not a very nice name.

I think the name should end in an O, though, in keeping with the other cats on our street (my neighbours have Cleo, and the people up the road have Hugo and Theo). Which is why Gizmo is purrfect for it.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

The curse of Waffo

I had trouble posting that last blog earlier when I tried to add the waffo smiley (it mucked up my internet browser and I had to reboot) so I had to repost it just now. I tried to get rid of waffo in case it did it again, but it won't delete. I'm stuck with it. Like a curse.

The curse of Waffo.

Truered's curse.

Anyway, off to bed now, lovely lie-in tomorrow :) Hopefully the stuff I ordered online will arrive tomorrow (and hopfully the letter about the muck up college made of my statement of entry will be here tomorrow as well. I'm expecting a full and sheepish apology, let me tell you)
Goodnight, my invisible readers (does anybody actually read this thing?)

Waffo

Posted by Cooro at 19:26


'Waffo' appeared on TSR today. Obviously Truered, but it did take me a while to work it out. Seeing as he's called 'Waffo' and has the waffo smiley as his pic (Tru is seemingly obsessed with the Waffo smiley) it's kind of obvious. Also him saying that he loves Byakuya (that's pretty much when I twigged his identity.) He knows my Byakuya fangirlism. At that point, I asked him how many Bleach eps he's seen (because I know Tru has seen very little, if any, of Bleach) but he never got back to me on that one. Shame. I was going to try quizzing him on whatever episode he said and see what he came up with, but oh well. At that point, I got bored.

Anyway, Truered's blatant dupe account aside, I had a mock exam in psychology today. I think it went pretty well apart from the approaches question (you have to come up with a possibly investigation and outline it's limitations... gah. Pointless and difficult). I think the depression and non-human animals sections of the paper went well though (I did some pretty extensive revision this morning on those).


The weird fairy thing, by the way, is the waffo smiley.




Sunday 4 May 2008

TDW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TDW, I hear you ask? Well, tomorrow is the Mayday bank holiday so.....Three Day Weekend!!! Yay :) Although I will be spending tomorrow revising after slacking off to make a video to put on youtube (will add it in a minute).

Spent the morning making fried bread for me and my sister. It was kind of an experiement because I'd never made it before, but it was pretty good, although I could pretty much feel my arteries hardening just by looking at the stuff. So I then spent the rest of my morning exercising. Which was rather enjoyable.

After that I rearranged my bookcases (why? no idea. I tend to do that when I don't feel well, but I haven't been feeling particularly ill today. I guess I just fancied a change) and then made the video. It's a colloection of photos of Evita, put to the song 'She's Always A Woman' by John Barrowman (It's originally a Billy Joel song, but the Barrowman version worked better). It's all my own work :)




Most of the photos are fairly common ones (i.e. ones I found really easily using Google) but some of them (like the one of her having her hair and nails done, and the one with the bike) took a bit of work to find. The Googling and photo searching took a couple of hours, the song choice took a minute, and the actual film took me about an hour to make, with the editing and stuff. I feel fairly pleased with it. I hope you like it.

Thursday 1 May 2008

Why I still hate my college, and other moans

I got my English teacher to look over the statement of entry I got for my exams yesterday (if you'll remember, college managed to spectacularly muck this up) and we noticed that they'd entered me for the two units from last year. Now, I'm not resitting them, and why would I need to when I got A's on both of those papers (I got five marks off full marks for one of them, why on earth would I resit?) So this is yet antoher thing I need to go and complain about to the exams office (which I'll do tomorrow).

My other moans. Firstly, today was the local elections. But did I get to vote? Did I hell. Apparantly, there isn't a local election here (at least, no one around here got the cards through that we'd need to have to vote) so we didn't get to vote. And seeing as this is the first election since I turned 18 and am now eligible to vote, I'm distinctly annoyed that I didn't get a chance. The local council even sent me a birthday card reminding me that I could vote. And then they don't let me. Liars :(

Also, it rained today. Really, really rained. There was thunder and lightning and everything which, considering I suffer from mild Keraunophobia*, isn't a good thing. Luckily I'd already gotten inside my English classroom when the storm started (although not before getting very wet in the downpour) but there was no one else there, and I don't like to be by myself when there's a storm (I know, I know, I'm a wuss). And when I got home (thankfully after the storm was over) there was a powercut and the wireless internet box died.

Not a good day altogether, although a book I ordered from Amazon arrived today, and I won an item I was bidding on on eBay. But these little rays of sunshine didn't serve to bring happiness to my annoying, scary and very wet day.

*Fear of thunder and lightning. I'm lucky that I only have it mildly, that is, I'm only scared of thunder and lightning if they're happening at that moment. I have no problems watching films with thunder and lightning or, indeed, thinking about them, which people who suffer from Keraunophobia have a problem with. But if a storm is happening at the time then I'm normally hiding under the table pretty quickly.