I just realised how long it's been since I updated - oops! But noone reads this anyway so I'm off the hook :P :D. Have settled into Sir John Deane's college nicely, and am home early today because we had a review day (where we go to speak to all of our teachers induvidually and set goals for the next few weeks) and all my appointments were this morning which was quite lucky (Y). It went really well and 3 of my 4 teachers (one wasn't in) gave me really good reports and said I was getting along well :)
In October half-term I had a lovely holiday in Turkey with one of my best friends everrr and her family and my family which was so nice! We had a week of relaxation, and spent loads of time in the sea and looking at the beautiful scenery. It was just so nice to get away from everything and I was really reluctant to come home! (N)
This last week has, however, been a bit strange because Dad had to go to hospital on Sunday night (8th rather than 15th...) and was in until this Sunday (15th) having tests and then a small operation on his arteries. He seems to be okay now, though, but is still pretty weak and can't drive or go out or anything...
I need to get started on a fairly huge chemistry project so I'd better go now, but I will try to get back into this! :P Dear me I'm a bit of a failure!... Never mind...
Hope everyone's happy and healthy :)
Anna xx
Tuesday 17 November 2009
Sunday 6 September 2009
Summer '09 :)
I’ve again managed to neglect this blog, this time without such a good reason!. I’ve been really busy over the summer though, catching up with friends and going to three different places on holiday, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
My first trip was to Provence, in Southern France with my parents and some family friends. We stayed in two places for a week each, both very charming in their own ways: the first was on the outskirts of a quiet village called Correns, where we canoed; cycled and relaxed by the pool (it was very hot all week!). The second house we rented was near the centre of a larger town, called Vaison-la-Romaine, and was also lovely, although some of the decoration was a bit old-fashioned! (think 70s-style lime green chinaware). We were staying there on French national day, and were lucky enough to have an amazing view of the town’s fantastic firework display – we lay by the pool on the deckchairs and watched them explode directly above us – it was amazing! It was, however, a bit scary when pieces of (thankfully, cooled) firework landed all around us (one landed on my head!). In the morning we had to phone the man in charge of the pool to clean the bits of firework out of it for us!! All in all, it was a lovely holiday and it was good to get away from the English weather for a bit, although of course it was lovely back home the moment we went abroad!
The second holiday I went on was to Merseyside Christian Youth Camps (www.mcyc.co.uk) which was my third time going there in a row. It is always a truly amazing week, getting closer to God with the support of wonderful leaders who can really relate to you, and surrounded by and having funny, funny times with your friends. This year’s camp exceeded expectations, and I had a lovely time while really growing in faith which was awesome
My third holiday was in Devon, with my best friend Hayley and her family in their caravan. We went for ten days and stayed in Woolacombe, on a campsite 5 minutes away from the beach. We learnt to surf and had some classic quote moments – a great holiday, despite the issues with the great English weather!
Since arriving home, I’ve caught up with some friends and visited my mum’s cousin and her family in Norfolk, where they own a 500 acre organic vegetable farm. It was lovely to meet them again, and we had a nice weekend with a mini family reunion on the Saturday.
A couple of Thursdays ago was the day I’d been waiting for since finishing my GCSE exams in June: results day! My dad dropped me off at school for 10am, and I went in and collected them, before talking to everyone about the Summer and results and thanking teachers for all their help. I had a nice catch up with my favourite teachers in the music room. I got in total 7A*s and 3As (and an E in additional maths, but that was not at all unexpected!), but will have 8A*s and 2As in the end, when my biology coursework is all sorted out.
I start college on Thursday, so I’ll hopefully drop back in here with my impressions of that – I can’t wait!
xxx
My first trip was to Provence, in Southern France with my parents and some family friends. We stayed in two places for a week each, both very charming in their own ways: the first was on the outskirts of a quiet village called Correns, where we canoed; cycled and relaxed by the pool (it was very hot all week!). The second house we rented was near the centre of a larger town, called Vaison-la-Romaine, and was also lovely, although some of the decoration was a bit old-fashioned! (think 70s-style lime green chinaware). We were staying there on French national day, and were lucky enough to have an amazing view of the town’s fantastic firework display – we lay by the pool on the deckchairs and watched them explode directly above us – it was amazing! It was, however, a bit scary when pieces of (thankfully, cooled) firework landed all around us (one landed on my head!). In the morning we had to phone the man in charge of the pool to clean the bits of firework out of it for us!! All in all, it was a lovely holiday and it was good to get away from the English weather for a bit, although of course it was lovely back home the moment we went abroad!
The second holiday I went on was to Merseyside Christian Youth Camps (www.mcyc.co.uk) which was my third time going there in a row. It is always a truly amazing week, getting closer to God with the support of wonderful leaders who can really relate to you, and surrounded by and having funny, funny times with your friends. This year’s camp exceeded expectations, and I had a lovely time while really growing in faith which was awesome
My third holiday was in Devon, with my best friend Hayley and her family in their caravan. We went for ten days and stayed in Woolacombe, on a campsite 5 minutes away from the beach. We learnt to surf and had some classic quote moments – a great holiday, despite the issues with the great English weather!
Since arriving home, I’ve caught up with some friends and visited my mum’s cousin and her family in Norfolk, where they own a 500 acre organic vegetable farm. It was lovely to meet them again, and we had a nice weekend with a mini family reunion on the Saturday.
A couple of Thursdays ago was the day I’d been waiting for since finishing my GCSE exams in June: results day! My dad dropped me off at school for 10am, and I went in and collected them, before talking to everyone about the Summer and results and thanking teachers for all their help. I had a nice catch up with my favourite teachers in the music room. I got in total 7A*s and 3As (and an E in additional maths, but that was not at all unexpected!), but will have 8A*s and 2As in the end, when my biology coursework is all sorted out.
I start college on Thursday, so I’ll hopefully drop back in here with my impressions of that – I can’t wait!
xxx
Friday 3 July 2009
Career Choices
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Over the past few days I’ve been really thinking about my career choices and have, almost without realising, done some unofficial work experience in two of the fields I’m most interested in. Last week I went into a Primary school for two days with the mother of one of my best friends who worked there (and my friend). I helped out in the nursery classroom and really enjoyed the interaction with the kids, although I confess I didn’t really feel stretched enough in that environment: I didn’t have to think enough, and really relied on instinct, which was fine too and I loved spending time with the children, but I just felt that academically the challenge of teaching Key Stage 1 was not enough for me…. However, obviously I can’t really get a full picture of the job in a couple of days so I won’t rule that path out completely as I definitely enjoyed it and my passion for working with children was reconfirmed…
On Wednesday, I went into work with my Mum, who works for St Helens Council as a director of children’s services, and spent some time exploring the child/educational psychology route. I talked to the head educational psychologist (or EP as they call themsetlves for short) and he explained more to me about what they do in detail, and what their role is in a community etc. He was really nice and didn’t patronise me at all – he spoke to me as an adult, and asked me things like whether I thought it was right to search for labels for children with difficulties, such as Autism, ADHD etc when they are not necessarily correct , helpful and/or obvious (often children display traits of several different disorders and contradict their own diagnoses etc.) which I found really interesting to talk about on an intellectual level.
I then went out with one of the other EPs to test a child with suspected ASD and ADHD. That was really interesting because I got to interact with the child on a one-to-one basis, and loved the mental challenge of logging his behaviour in my head and tracking it through to look for a pattern. The particular child I met seemed to, as I explained before, have many different traits of different disorders, so looking for a certain predominant one as he played and talked to me made me feel almost like a detective and was a very interesting concept. When we got back to the office, the EP I had shadowed (a very nice woman) showed me how to score up the WISC test the child had done and plot the results on a graph to, again, look for any pattern. She then began to write up the report for the visit which was a lot less boring than I might have imagined - it just basically described what had happened with the child from the notes we'd taken, and it was a bit like an essay so I was happy :)
Have not come to a proper conclusion still about my future job, especially as I have not yet really explored my other main area of interest - paediatrics..... Will keep thinking...
Thursday 2 July 2009
Reasons for my Neglect...
Sorry I’ve neglected this blog recently – exams and things have got in the way, making every moment I spent not revising feel snatched and guilty. I hate revision – although that seems obvious because, well, who likes it?!. But it isn’t just usual laziness that everyone has – on the whole I love doing school work as long as it’s not too pointless and repetitive – for example I love writing essays (call me crazy!) and really enjoyed doing homework like maths questions and german sentences to translate… The real problem I've discovered I have with revision is that I am not really motivated to do it because I can never be satisfied with what I’ve achieved, which I;ve noticed to be very important to me personally – I am happy when I’ve finished all the maths questions set, for example, and can then rest before moving on quite happily, but the knowledge of ‘have I ever done enough?!’ really makes me totally uninspired… Anyway, revision is over now, and I’ve got a lovely long Summer before starting at SJD 6th form college in September :)
Monday 30 March 2009
Quote of the Day
(In chemistry, revising solution mining)
Lottie (reading from questions): ''what can be a negative result of solution mining?''
Anna (giggling): ''urm....you get hot cross bunnies?'' :P
Lottie:'' nahhh...they'd be hot cross brinies''
....we're simply too cool, but at least we remembered then that brine (or sodium chloride) is used in solution mining :p
Good times, eh?!
Lottie (reading from questions): ''what can be a negative result of solution mining?''
Anna (giggling): ''urm....you get hot cross bunnies?'' :P
Lottie:'' nahhh...they'd be hot cross brinies''
....we're simply too cool, but at least we remembered then that brine (or sodium chloride) is used in solution mining :p
Good times, eh?!
Friday 27 February 2009
Singing Club
I love Voices Together :). That's the school singing group, and it currently has 7 members :D..but it's cuz we're cool. I look forward to it every week and everyone thinks I'm a weirdo for being so excited about it, but it is so great because I get to sing and chat and spend time with several awesome people and some lovely teachers...
Today was very funny at singing - while we were waiting for Sir to photocopy the music, we found some paper clips and decided to make a paper chain :)...which became crazily organized - we all had jobs like sorted out the next paperclips to add, adding them, making sure the chain didn't tangle etc. Then we got all excited and took pictures with it draped around us (including Sir :P) and went out into the corridor and did transverse waves which were ridiculously cool - they were massive! Then we decided to measure it and I knew I was 158cm (from biology the other day) and so I lay alongside it and AD put her hand where my head was and I moved along until we figured out that it was 11Xmy height :). Then we did 11X158 and found that our chain was 17m and 38cm :O :))
So of course then MF had to sneak into the closed school library and get the Guiness Book of Records (reference only ;) :D) and looked to see if we had the longest chain, but no-one with a paperclip chain was in there....so we decided we'd won :D
But then, sadly, Miss had to break (well, shorten) the chain to clip together our music sheets....
Basically we ended up doing very little singing but having a fantastic time :)
I love singing club almost as much as I love singing itself :)
Anyway, until next time, arriverderci :)
Today was very funny at singing - while we were waiting for Sir to photocopy the music, we found some paper clips and decided to make a paper chain :)...which became crazily organized - we all had jobs like sorted out the next paperclips to add, adding them, making sure the chain didn't tangle etc. Then we got all excited and took pictures with it draped around us (including Sir :P) and went out into the corridor and did transverse waves which were ridiculously cool - they were massive! Then we decided to measure it and I knew I was 158cm (from biology the other day) and so I lay alongside it and AD put her hand where my head was and I moved along until we figured out that it was 11Xmy height :). Then we did 11X158 and found that our chain was 17m and 38cm :O :))
So of course then MF had to sneak into the closed school library and get the Guiness Book of Records (reference only ;) :D) and looked to see if we had the longest chain, but no-one with a paperclip chain was in there....so we decided we'd won :D
But then, sadly, Miss had to break (well, shorten) the chain to clip together our music sheets....
Basically we ended up doing very little singing but having a fantastic time :)
I love singing club almost as much as I love singing itself :)
Anyway, until next time, arriverderci :)
Monday 16 February 2009
Update :)
Hello again :)
Well, it's Monday night of half-term and I already have no spare time for the rest of the week! I was planning to revise all week with maybe one or two days of relaxation and 'friend time'....but it kind of took over :D ooops :P
Today was awesome! It was one of the best days ever :). I had my first ever KFC, ate the most I've ever had in one day, actually managed to cut something straight and wrote down a ridiculous amount of funny quotes :D
I went to Becky's Nan and Grandad's house and we were basically allowed to do whatever we wanted which was amazing :). We drank copious amounts of Mountain Dew and Root Beer (I am brushing my teeth three times tonight, seriously!) and went home feeling extremely sick but in a way that means you've enjoyed eating loads of rubbish!
Quote of the day:
Becky's Grandad: (from other room, talking about our pizza) "Put it away"
Becky: "Oo-er!"
:D
I love you Bec :p
Now I've gotta get changed and ready for Masterchef :)
Well, it's Monday night of half-term and I already have no spare time for the rest of the week! I was planning to revise all week with maybe one or two days of relaxation and 'friend time'....but it kind of took over :D ooops :P
Today was awesome! It was one of the best days ever :). I had my first ever KFC, ate the most I've ever had in one day, actually managed to cut something straight and wrote down a ridiculous amount of funny quotes :D
I went to Becky's Nan and Grandad's house and we were basically allowed to do whatever we wanted which was amazing :). We drank copious amounts of Mountain Dew and Root Beer (I am brushing my teeth three times tonight, seriously!) and went home feeling extremely sick but in a way that means you've enjoyed eating loads of rubbish!
Quote of the day:
Becky's Grandad: (from other room, talking about our pizza) "Put it away"
Becky: "Oo-er!"
:D
I love you Bec :p
Now I've gotta get changed and ready for Masterchef :)
Tuesday 10 February 2009
Wednesday 4 February 2009
Catching Up
After re-reading my last blog and noticing my comments about the chemistry test, I am surprised to say that I got 25/30 on that test, which was an A*! I think I need to have a little more faith in myself hehe!
Anyway, today was pretty normal. I was away at a funeral yesterday and Monday, so all day I kept thinking it was a Monday and going to Monday's lessons which was annoying, and slightly embarrasing when I walked into a year 10 history class 3rd lesson instead of music where I was supposed to be! I got a few funny looks :S
First lesson was english, which I always like because I get to sit next to RB :). However, this particular english lesson we were given loads of homework on top of what we already had (14 paragraph-length questions for tomorrow!). Also, I have extra to do because I missed some analysis of the book yesterday and have to complete my character pages. I should really be doing all this english homework now but it is so cold at my writing desk that I can't bear to move away from the computer and radiator! Maths was next and passed without much amusement, but I liked the volume of prisms stuff we were doing because it's a lovely repetitive formula :).
When I finally got to music (see second paragraph!), we did some past questions on AOS4 (Area of Study 4) and I got full marks on the second question we did (a several-part question). I was well happy coz Sir was pleased with me and gave me a 'Rose' from the tin in his desk :). However, Sir suddenly announced that our composition briefs have to be in by tomorrow and I was panicking because I haven't even thought about it yet. Luckily he said I could do it for next week instead seeing as I needed to record my first composition before I could do anything else....
In biology, I had to do the test I missed yesterday which went ok - I know I dropped a few marks but I don't think I've done too badly (touch wood!). Darn! - we got some biology homework for tomorrow too so I'd better do that in a minute! :S
Last lesson was chemistry and CR and I had some fun laughing at quotes, both Sir's and our own. We were doing displacement reactions which aren't too hard so it was a good lesson, really. I'm off to do homework now, but will leave you with a few quotes:
*Sir: In the name of all that is holy....do NOT mix up the pipettes and solution bottles!
*Lalu: "Is that oxidised because it won or because it lost?" - bless her! :))
*CR: "You know, I''m not sure I really know how to do ionic equations"
*Me: "Arghhhh! My shoee!"
Life is good :). Thing's obviously aren't perfect (or anywhere near!) but, right now, I'm pretty content with my life :)
Anyway, today was pretty normal. I was away at a funeral yesterday and Monday, so all day I kept thinking it was a Monday and going to Monday's lessons which was annoying, and slightly embarrasing when I walked into a year 10 history class 3rd lesson instead of music where I was supposed to be! I got a few funny looks :S
First lesson was english, which I always like because I get to sit next to RB :). However, this particular english lesson we were given loads of homework on top of what we already had (14 paragraph-length questions for tomorrow!). Also, I have extra to do because I missed some analysis of the book yesterday and have to complete my character pages. I should really be doing all this english homework now but it is so cold at my writing desk that I can't bear to move away from the computer and radiator! Maths was next and passed without much amusement, but I liked the volume of prisms stuff we were doing because it's a lovely repetitive formula :).
When I finally got to music (see second paragraph!), we did some past questions on AOS4 (Area of Study 4) and I got full marks on the second question we did (a several-part question). I was well happy coz Sir was pleased with me and gave me a 'Rose' from the tin in his desk :). However, Sir suddenly announced that our composition briefs have to be in by tomorrow and I was panicking because I haven't even thought about it yet. Luckily he said I could do it for next week instead seeing as I needed to record my first composition before I could do anything else....
In biology, I had to do the test I missed yesterday which went ok - I know I dropped a few marks but I don't think I've done too badly (touch wood!). Darn! - we got some biology homework for tomorrow too so I'd better do that in a minute! :S
Last lesson was chemistry and CR and I had some fun laughing at quotes, both Sir's and our own. We were doing displacement reactions which aren't too hard so it was a good lesson, really. I'm off to do homework now, but will leave you with a few quotes:
*Sir: In the name of all that is holy....do NOT mix up the pipettes and solution bottles!
*Lalu: "Is that oxidised because it won or because it lost?" - bless her! :))
*CR: "You know, I''m not sure I really know how to do ionic equations"
*Me: "Arghhhh! My shoee!"
Life is good :). Thing's obviously aren't perfect (or anywhere near!) but, right now, I'm pretty content with my life :)
Wednesday 21 January 2009
My Day
Today was a Wednesday, and Wednesdays are usually pretty good :)
I met RB at co-op, and walked pleasantly to school. We had a lil' rave on the way lol which was pretty funny, and I tried to ignore the fact that I could feel my hair getting messy in the wind every minute!
First lesson was english, which was pretty normal, then I had maths which also passed without much excitement. At break I had crisps and wandered the corridors with MF as usual , before heading down to music when the bell went. Our music timetable has now all changed as we are doing all listening lessons except one performing once a fortnight which really sucks - listening is the worst aspect of music! But then we are behind with it, so it is necessary that we catch up with that before practising performing more.... However, this music lesson we did some practical stuff - we had the African drums out to do some work on AOS4 (Area Of Study 4) which is African and Indian music. We basically did a whole class performance with the drums and things which was cool, except then we went round having to do solo improvisation. I hated that. Everyone was watching me and I'd just end up going out of time or something :/
Lesson four was biology and we did some work about growth - we had to put in order cards with pictures of different aged people on them, and do a table of head size versus body size, which was pretty interesting. In the first picture, which was of a partially developed fetus, the head was the same size as the body. Then we measured ourselves, and I was 158cm which I am quite proud of - my ambition in life is to be 165cm lol! And I have very little time left in which to grow. It was cool because CR was 24cm taller than me which amused us both a little! On the chart I was just above the 25th percentile, meaning that 75% of girls of my age in the UK are taller than me, but at least I was in the normal range lol!
Last lesson I had a chemistry test, which I'm sure I've failed! No-one knows what's going on with this module - it's one of the ones exclusively for people doing separate science and is, as a result of that and our chemistry teacher's delusion that we are all mini-Einsteins, extremely confusing! CR and I were going to revise at lunch but I got distracted helping MF with her maths homework (for the next lesson, naturally :P) and CR got distracted too and didn't even make it to the library! I made it there but didn't even get out my revision guide! However, some answers were common sense like balancing equations so I think I probably got at least a B/C....
Since I've been home I've done homework (maths, english, german and music) and listened to Suzanne Vega's 'The Queen and The Soldier' over and over again - the melody is beautiful, subtle and has so many layers of sound (different instruments subtly fading in and out), and the lyrics are amazing - so insightful and interesting! Amazing! I wish I could write songs half as well as her - I mean, wow!
A good quote to end on is from my 'Book of Childrens' letters to God':
"Dear God,
I think that the stapler is your greatest invention
Ruth M (7)"
^ fantastic!
I met RB at co-op, and walked pleasantly to school. We had a lil' rave on the way lol which was pretty funny, and I tried to ignore the fact that I could feel my hair getting messy in the wind every minute!
First lesson was english, which was pretty normal, then I had maths which also passed without much excitement. At break I had crisps and wandered the corridors with MF as usual , before heading down to music when the bell went. Our music timetable has now all changed as we are doing all listening lessons except one performing once a fortnight which really sucks - listening is the worst aspect of music! But then we are behind with it, so it is necessary that we catch up with that before practising performing more.... However, this music lesson we did some practical stuff - we had the African drums out to do some work on AOS4 (Area Of Study 4) which is African and Indian music. We basically did a whole class performance with the drums and things which was cool, except then we went round having to do solo improvisation. I hated that. Everyone was watching me and I'd just end up going out of time or something :/
Lesson four was biology and we did some work about growth - we had to put in order cards with pictures of different aged people on them, and do a table of head size versus body size, which was pretty interesting. In the first picture, which was of a partially developed fetus, the head was the same size as the body. Then we measured ourselves, and I was 158cm which I am quite proud of - my ambition in life is to be 165cm lol! And I have very little time left in which to grow. It was cool because CR was 24cm taller than me which amused us both a little! On the chart I was just above the 25th percentile, meaning that 75% of girls of my age in the UK are taller than me, but at least I was in the normal range lol!
Last lesson I had a chemistry test, which I'm sure I've failed! No-one knows what's going on with this module - it's one of the ones exclusively for people doing separate science and is, as a result of that and our chemistry teacher's delusion that we are all mini-Einsteins, extremely confusing! CR and I were going to revise at lunch but I got distracted helping MF with her maths homework (for the next lesson, naturally :P) and CR got distracted too and didn't even make it to the library! I made it there but didn't even get out my revision guide! However, some answers were common sense like balancing equations so I think I probably got at least a B/C....
Since I've been home I've done homework (maths, english, german and music) and listened to Suzanne Vega's 'The Queen and The Soldier' over and over again - the melody is beautiful, subtle and has so many layers of sound (different instruments subtly fading in and out), and the lyrics are amazing - so insightful and interesting! Amazing! I wish I could write songs half as well as her - I mean, wow!
A good quote to end on is from my 'Book of Childrens' letters to God':
"Dear God,
I think that the stapler is your greatest invention
Ruth M (7)"
^ fantastic!
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Deary me!
Oh dear - I am rather a large failure at this blogging thing - haven't posted anything for almost two months now! Maybe because nothing in my life has changed particularly, and no-one (except people who know everything about me already hehe!) reads it anyway...
Recently I've been struggling again with faith - I know that God will use me at the right time and in the right way, but it's all too easy to lose heart when things don't go your way. I still don't know my purpose, and my talents seem to be fading all the time I'm not using them. However, I know that this will purely be psychological, particularly with singing as my main downfall with that is my confidence, and the longer I wonder whether I can actually sing or not, the more my confidence levels dwindle...
I wanted to come back to this blog and type about all the exciting twists and turns my journey with God (cheesy but true!) has taken, but I just seem to be standing still. I'm going to persevere, and I just really, really hope that I don't give up. I know I won't becasuse, while I feel a little distant from God right now, I know that without him my life would have so much less purpose and drive. I just want God at the centre again.....
Recently I've been struggling again with faith - I know that God will use me at the right time and in the right way, but it's all too easy to lose heart when things don't go your way. I still don't know my purpose, and my talents seem to be fading all the time I'm not using them. However, I know that this will purely be psychological, particularly with singing as my main downfall with that is my confidence, and the longer I wonder whether I can actually sing or not, the more my confidence levels dwindle...
I wanted to come back to this blog and type about all the exciting twists and turns my journey with God (cheesy but true!) has taken, but I just seem to be standing still. I'm going to persevere, and I just really, really hope that I don't give up. I know I won't becasuse, while I feel a little distant from God right now, I know that without him my life would have so much less purpose and drive. I just want God at the centre again.....
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