A Night Of Dance And Floor

Friday night was what is known as a “good night”. For those of you that don’t know Friday 12^th of May was the date of our school prom. The last party that was to include the full school.

So…where to start…well…

Friday was an excellently sunny day which was warm and bright. So after school was out at quarter to twelve due to sports day, so I headed on down to the river for a spot of Frisbee. What a great summer past time that is!

At about six Ryan and I headed up to my house to get ready. Yes, I know, we only needed about half an hour…that may astound many girls out there. Especially those who take DAYS! So after half an hour we looked like we’re were going somewhere posh, ready to rock it up.

Cazy arrived at about seven or so looking fantastic, and after a quick photo shoot the taxi came. The journey there was a bit of a mini adventure. The cab driver had forgotten to put water in the radiator, so with an engine running at 120 degrees Celsius we thought it best to stop. However we arrived in good time so that was ok.

At the venue (The Hilton, Bracknell) I got to meet my two best friends’ new girlfriends (both of which soon had the stamp of approval). They were both very nice which is always cool. I particularly got on with Jules’ girlfriend, as she didn’t find my drunkenness too bad as the night went on and would dance with me. It wasn’t long before good tunes came on played by a band that wasn’t too bad at all and thus the dancing was well under way early on. And as the dancing went on I started to drink more and more….which was to be my downfall on this particular evening.

After a few hours of dancing I was definitely very drunk. You may have noticed that I have not mentioned anything I had eaten or meals I had had…the main reason for this, other than it is a fact of pointless interest, was that I hadn’t eaten. Well, that’s a slight lie; I had a pot of yoghurt for breakfast. Now, we all know what a bad idea it is to drink on an empty stomach. So between the hours of about eleven and twelve I have no memory, but I was brought back down to earth sharply by much of the drink leaving my body the same way as it had entered. What is strange is that I’m usually the last person to forget to eat! This was not cool, do not try it!

It did however take somewhere between twelve and fifteen drinks to floor me, which isn’t too bad, given the size of the wine glasses! While taking on the fresh air of Bracknell outside the lobby entrance, supported by countless friends (thanks to all of you), I was waging war in my head. You see, my brain wasn’t too drunk, but my body was so gone. So it was my mind verses my body in one of the best mental battles I have had. People around me reliably told me that I went into what was seen as a worrying, amusing, or in one case impressive state of concentration. After much grunting and groaning I had nearly forced my double vision back to one image. But then I was forced to move, and the images shot apart from each other. And if there is one person that hates to lose…it’s me, and I lost against myself. No fun.

Well, there was definitely a lesson learnt there. Although I do think the worse action of the evening was one particular pair getting it on. But that is just my view, and that of a couple of other people.

Lastly I must in particular thank Cazy for her excellent state of worry and care, Julian for the lift home, and most of all Ryan for ensuring I made it alive.

J.

A Weekend Of Wood

It's been a while since I’ve written an entry, and I doubt this one will be particularly long either. There is too much work to be done!

Last week was fairly standard, work, tests and revision. Nothing fantastic. However my weekend is something to mention.

Saturday

Spent this day trying to work out how to get some branches that were about 30 feet high, several meters long, and some up to half a foot thick off a tree. Not because they were dead, but because my mum wanted to “open up the garden”. We cut the lower ones off with a saw / axe – no big deal. But then how to get the higher ones down? The first plan was climbing into the tree and cutting them down....no can do – danger factor. Next plan…some kind of extendable chainsaw? My Dad hired one, but it was a girls tool, no good for cutting anything. In the mean time I had managed to throw a rope up and over one of the higher branches and tie it. Of course without cutting there is no way to get the rope down. But then me and my brother started to joke about just pulling the rope, and therefore the branch, straight off the tree….and my Dad made the always fatal mistake of telling me it can’t be done.

So with the nylon rope tied around my waist and my brother holding on, we ran away from the tree as fast as we could….and in the end…SNAP! The whole branch came down! We were mighty proud. So we repeated with many other branches, but they got harder and harder, as they got longer and longer. Firstly because I had to throw about 60 foot of thick rope into the air that was attached to a log that was about 3kg AND aim it to fall over a branch 30 foot up. And secondly because we were trying to pull down longer, thicker and generally tougher ones. But we were victorious! Thus ended the day.

Sunday

Sunday was started dull and got better. I decided to head up to the bluebell wood in the evening with Rose to take some pictures before they all disappear, even though it was overcast and raining! They were putting on a pretty impressive display of colour despite the conditions. However I managed to muck up a lot of the pictures due to the very low light levels, and using a lens that demands bright sunshine. However here you can see a couple of the best.

After admiring the natural beauty surrounding us we got down to being big kids. This included chucking pine cones at each other, finding sticks to hit against trees and of course hiding. After exhausting this activity we went to find the biggest logs possible and lift them. Here is Rose’s attempt (for those of you wondering…look at the background for your answer!):

My (more genuine) attempt at lifting logs shall be put up at a later date. It was good fun, and probably a very silly thing to do, which makes it better really!

Then after this we took the long way home as it was a lovely evening, but mostly as I miss judged the distance. So ended our lovely evening. Oh, no, just after that I was cheated out of a cuppa tea! Damn you Rose!

J.

Tuesday May 2nd

Today was a fairly average kind of day, although, it has to be said...I hope up on time today!!! Woo! But then Ryan was ill, so he failed to witness this miracle.

School went as follows:

First lesson: Spent 10 mins telling my physics teacher he was old, then fell asleep for the rest. Well, I listened really to be honest.

Second lesson: We found out today that due to "unforeseen circumstances" our teacher will not be returning to us for the rest of the year. Great. Ok, so he's a rubbish teacher, but some teacher is better than none. Plus he's a good bloke, I hope he's ok.

Free Period: Spent most of this owning Jules at a water fight...fun!

Third lesson: Chemistry, a bit dull really, got given three papers and told to do them. Wooo fun.

After school was a lot more fun. Dropped down to Ryan's house to see how he was, and finish watching the scrubs he had on his machine. They are funny, but very sad :-(. Then after a bit of chit chat I ran on down to the rowing club. Did one of my longest ergs ever today...14km. Took 58min 35secs. But I held a split of about 2:05, so I was pretty happy, and not a bad burn out at the end.

And now I'm here, very tired, but relaxed.

Hope you all had good days.

J.

May Bank Holiday Weekend

Not that much to say really. You heard about Saturday and the early hours of Sunday morning in the last entry.

So what has happened since...Well, Sunday I woke up late again. I miss rowing at the weekends, but at the moment I have to knuckle down with my work, so it just means more long ergs during the week. I wrote what I hope was half decent essay. Although it was on transport economics, so I'm sure it had little or no point. So Sunday was a waste of a day really. I prefer revising when I'm at school. I've also right this second decided to impose a ban on myself. I shall not use my laptop before 6pm when I am on study leave and though the exam period. You are all witness to that.

Sunday night I was told Charmaine had given up work at the pub, which is a real shame. But if the management are going to be so stupid, then they are going to lose amazing people. First Marlena, and now her, who next is the question??? Although I think I have a fair idea of who it could be. I shall do my very best to keep in touch with both of them.

Monday...well much the same really, except I watched George of the Jungle which I thought was brill. Although not so many people seem to agree with me. Other good news of the day is that there is now food in the house! Wooo! And I get to erg tomorrow! How much fun?!

Anyway school tomorrow. I bid you all farewell.

J.