tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16017814109305989912024-03-19T08:22:59.609+00:00Meg's BlogMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-34981907100086698562012-03-20T15:23:00.012+00:002012-03-20T17:39:32.988+00:00Knitting!I first learned to knit when I was about 8 years old. My granny taught me while I was staying with her in Wales, and I knitted a very long, very messy scarf. It belonged to my teddy called Woolley Bear (named after Jack Woolley from The Archers), and luckily he didn't seem to mind the mess. When I left Wales, however, I pretty much instantly forgot how to knit. I just couldn't remember how to do it. But by that point, I was busy with settling into Year 4, and spending all my free time playing with my new Harry Potter Lego. I lost one of my knitting needles, and used the other to reenact countless wand battles with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. <br /><br />7 years later, my Mum decided that she was going to learn to knit, and asked me to teach her. I had been telling people for years that I could knit, proudly displaying Woolley Bear's scarf whenever it came up. I was so convinced that I knew how to knit, that I forgot I'd forgotten how to knit. So Mum retreated into the living room for a few days with her laptop, needles, and wool, and learned from YouTube. Within days, she had learnt several different stitches, had bought half of the craft shop, and was producing amazing pieces of knitting. Naturally, I was jealous, and decided that this talent MUST be hereditary. I demanded that Mum teach me to knit again, and I embarked on a scarf... using 4mm needles. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijmFZ08nYzFI9YHeiriqKoDUQ69FQtdez460416_Mh3liHZbSJF1k6ra4s4heeKT3nishIEVNvf5D-T_IFiCVZrr3KigMCVTsawc_lg42-a3SipmVtf6fCkpEHMWUBsyK1T4Z0tUZNaSg/s1600/My+first+scarf%252C+before+I+got+bored"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijmFZ08nYzFI9YHeiriqKoDUQ69FQtdez460416_Mh3liHZbSJF1k6ra4s4heeKT3nishIEVNvf5D-T_IFiCVZrr3KigMCVTsawc_lg42-a3SipmVtf6fCkpEHMWUBsyK1T4Z0tUZNaSg/s200/My+first+scarf%252C+before+I+got+bored" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722027672113960322" /></a> After a week, the scarf was only 10cm long. After two weeks, it had grown to 30cm. I was bored of knitting already. <br /><br />And who should come to my rescue, but <a href="http://twitter.com/scarlyKFcurtis">Scarlett Curtis</a>! Scarlett is a keen knitter, and set up an amazing blog called <a href="http://teenagegranny.blogspot.co.uk/">Teenage Granny</a>, all about things she had knitted, baked, and generally created out of her awesomeness. <br /><br />Soon after, she set up #TwitKnitClub, a knitting club for knitters on twitter. My Mum and I both joined immediately, and were soon knitting patchwork blankets along with the rest of the group. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR9-pQTqMTno_GhGS498unrx4DASdQPcSGBgQv7PPMMEJQ7SOvYwAdENCKzIPuOCFj2-kdZCdwpe-0xu7Ls_T7yQohbIMhVpnw3hIt22AhOMkLPQEyv84UumRLtX0_Hk4XYDCEB4aEbqU/s1600/372287410.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR9-pQTqMTno_GhGS498unrx4DASdQPcSGBgQv7PPMMEJQ7SOvYwAdENCKzIPuOCFj2-kdZCdwpe-0xu7Ls_T7yQohbIMhVpnw3hIt22AhOMkLPQEyv84UumRLtX0_Hk4XYDCEB4aEbqU/s320/372287410.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722016538496379410" /></a> <br />Since then, we have knitted numerous items for #TwitKnitClub projects, including hats, hearts, stockings, and toys. Over the summer, Mum and I spent countless hours together watching endless boxsets of 30 Rock and House, while knitting mini VW camper vans. This was one of the most exciting projects I've ever done, and it was so much fun spending that much time with Mum. And House, Cuddy, Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy, <span style="font-style:italic;">obviously</span>.<br /><br />But Scarlett hasn't stopped at uniting the knitters of Twitter! Last week, she lauched <a href="http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/knitrelief">Knit Relief</a> - an auction of amazing crafted items, all for Sport Relief. It has been a huge success, and I think it's already raised over £1000! There are over 50 items for sale, and they are all incredible. I want all of them! You can find out more information about Knit Relief from Scarlett's blog <a href="http://teenagegranny.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/knit-relief-has-begun.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3CRSc4FedP8kv6vCeL1fj5786y0B3bFI6aCDdshLEKkhrn_wdL9moc99JHnm1Nby1xgFCJOiWXro0ZObQnV5S4XN-1eSoKhTnuJhGg0u09sCHP_cNu1qdcy7fFVnLwc28X853s1P3ew/s1600/Mum%2527s+rabbits.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW3CRSc4FedP8kv6vCeL1fj5786y0B3bFI6aCDdshLEKkhrn_wdL9moc99JHnm1Nby1xgFCJOiWXro0ZObQnV5S4XN-1eSoKhTnuJhGg0u09sCHP_cNu1qdcy7fFVnLwc28X853s1P3ew/s200/Mum%2527s+rabbits.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722027341758880530" /></a> Mum was busy knitting these amazing <a href="http://twitpic.com/8x3jp4">rabbits</a> and <a href="http://twitpic.com/8x3jjo">eggs</a> for a local Sport Relief sale (pattern by <a href="http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/">Little Cotton Rabbits</a>), but I decided that since I'd been working on the pattern for a TARDIS phone sock (originally from a stocking pattern, also by LCR), it would be fun to auction one of them. <br /><br />After a few days of struggling with patterns, and shouting at minuscule cotton letters, I finished my first TARDIS phone sock, and immediately started on a 221B Baker Street phone sock as well. They've already raised over £35, which is awesome! You can now bid for them in the Knit Relief auction. I will knit a phone sock specifically for the winner and their phone. The pattern is so much fun, and I've even started taking my knitting to school. I expected to get strange looks, but 5 people have already asked me if I can teach them! Knitting is now my favourite pastime, and I cannot stop! <br /><br />Bid for the TARDIS phone sock <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Knit-Relief-T-A-R-D-I-S-Phone-Sock-made-Meg-Roberts-/150778910002?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item231b1f9532#ht_500wt_1169">here</a>, 221B Baker Street <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Knit-Relief-Sherlock-Phone-Sock-made-Meg-Roberts-/150778945154?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item231b201e82#ht_500wt_1169">here</a>, and the rest of the fantastic Knit Relief items <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/knitrelief/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=">here</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzhsk00NHLZ9MghViaXE08pSKHOAlkvsZ3hPOnXKh1Y8mLt9qA7RVz4bZaXGFu-EAZ7Z6aFbKmCCPngyd7vKpu06n4KPxqsStp93GoX8Gv1EqY2IjDt301Zk6s9NaEwdJZdYV5t9teqs/s1600/IMG_0777.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIzhsk00NHLZ9MghViaXE08pSKHOAlkvsZ3hPOnXKh1Y8mLt9qA7RVz4bZaXGFu-EAZ7Z6aFbKmCCPngyd7vKpu06n4KPxqsStp93GoX8Gv1EqY2IjDt301Zk6s9NaEwdJZdYV5t9teqs/s400/IMG_0777.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5722032150087607106" /></a>Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-48156904935907411352011-06-13T16:43:00.004+01:002011-06-14T18:02:04.417+01:00My... err... life.Hello there. I hope June is going well for you. What have you been up to?* As you undoubtedly know, I've been wading my way though exams for the last month, and still have 3 weeks left. They're going reasonably well I think. Not brilliantly but alright. If I were a shruggy type of person, I could describe my exam experience so far with a *shrug*. I could also throw in a 'meh' for good measure. I seem to have got over the terrifying panics I had before every single one of my first 7 exams, and have settled on a slightly worried, but resigned attitude towards them. Soon they will be over and I will have nothing to worry about until slightly before results day when suddenly the wave of panic, guilt, comparison and tedious soul-searching will come crashing over me again. So that's the Meg's Life Update done. A bit of Meg's Life anyway. The rest of this will be about A Levels. And me. And my future. Mainly me still. <br /><br />Until a couple of weeks ago, I thought I had my A Level choices sorted. I'd decided on English Language, English Literature, History and Politics - all heavily analytical and all my strongest subjects. But therein lies the problem: As a result of the analytical nature of these subjects, they're all extremely essay-based. I like essay writing, but the thought of spending almost the entirety of the next 2 years at school writing essays, seems... well.... boring.<br /><br />What I want is something logical and almost relaxing to counteract the fierce analysis, debating and 'thinking outside the box' required by my other subjects. I immediately thought of Maths - Maths is certainly more logical than Politics or English Language, and I've even started to find it relaxing. But the trouble is, Maths is <span style="font-style:italic;">hard</span>. It's never been my strong point and is unlikely to get me the grades I could get if I stuck to the subjects I know I can do. And yet... There's something about numbers that fascinates me and I don't particularly like the idea of next week's exam being the last time I ever do 'proper' Maths.<br /><br />And then there's Theatre Studies, which has also always been at the back of my mind. I've enjoyed doing my Drama GCSE a lot and if I want to go down the route of stage lighting for a possible future career, Theatre Studies would be the obvious choice. Although it is also quite an essay-based subject so that's still not getting away from all this bloody writing! <br /><br />I suppose the other question is, what would I drop from my existing plan of subjects to accommodate the new subject, without messing up my options for the future. I still haven't really decided what sort of degree I would want to do - assuming I still want to go to uni in a years time. The main decision I'll have to make next year is whether I want to go down the English route, the History and Politics route or the technical theatre route, in terms of a possible degree. Career choices will probably fit somewhere in there too, but I'm still veeeeeery undecided about that. I reckon I probably want to do something technical. Working in BBC Radio is probably my main aspiration but again, I'm not sure. Theatrey stuff would also be amazing. Or historical research. Or writing. Or film editing. Aghhh I don't know.<br /><br />Just read though all that and am hugely embarrassed over the astonishing number of personal pronouns used in this blog. Am now writing without them, in an attempt to rectify this and possibly persuade that this self-centered blog was a complete accident and such blogs are not a regular occurrence at all. Not <span style="font-style:italic;">at all.</span> Is this working? No? Damn.<br /><br /><br />* I opened with an enquiry about you because I'm very aware that this blog is entirely about me. And I'm trying to work on being a better listener, rather than talking about myself the whole time. I am also aware that this attempt is entirely contradicted in the rest of the blog. Err... yeah. But still, please feel free to tell me about your current life situation in the comment box. I'm genuinely interested. :)Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-64029432443289859202011-04-02T21:17:00.007+01:002011-04-03T12:08:01.045+01:00My BrotherThe night my brother was born is one of my earliest memories. I was 3 years old and all I knew was that Mummy was about to pop. I went to our neighbours and watched Wallace and Gromit under my Winnie the Pooh duvet on the sofa at 6am, with no idea that the tiny human to whom my mother was currently giving birth was going to have such a massive impact on my life. I was more concerned about the evil penguin and his terrifying robotic trousers. <br /><br />Like all siblings, I hated the fact that this new, tiny, screaming, parent-stealing, red-faced turnip was getting more attention than me. I frequently told my parents that I wished the tiny human - more commonly known as Ben - would go and die so I could have them all to myself again. I was a lovely child. But when I wasn't full of jealously and Ben wasn't full of sick, we got along well enough. My aunt was the first to suggest that something might be slightly wrong. She had noticed while we were staying with her that Ben seemed slightly detached and that his playing was systematic and logical, rather than imaginative and resourceful. This led to countless hospital visits, consultations, assessments and meetings, resulting in an eventual diagnosis: Ben has autism.<br /><br />When I was younger, if people asked me what it means to be autistic, I would get stuck. I knew Ben was not good at queues, I knew he got angry easily, I knew he didn't like change and I knew that his autism meant that we could not have holidays without tantrums and he got lots of extra help at school. But I could not pin down what it autism actually means. On reflection, I guess that's the case with most autism. Everyone with autism is different, just like everyone without autism is different. It's very difficult to pinpoint the specific essence of this disability, but it essentially comes down to three key difficulties: social interaction, imagination and communication. All autistic and Asperger's people have these difficulties - though in different amounts. But if you think about it, we all have these difficulties but in different amounts. So really, everyone is somewhere on the autistic spectrum and some people are higher up than others.<br /><br />Ben doesn't have severe autism but it is severe enough for it to have a huge impact on all of our lives. People treat him differently, we can't go on holiday without several meltdowns because he doesn't like change, he doesn't understand certain things, I can't tell him about my life without him getting bored and reciting a memorised computer manual, and he can generally be a bit of a handful. But most of the time he is kind, loving, thoughtful and bubbly. Sometimes I get jealous of the attention he gets and wish I had a sibling to whom I could talk to about what's happening in my life. But for all my complaining, I wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone. He is everything to me and I couldn't live without him. He's amazing and he's special and he's <span style="font-style:italic;">my brother.</span> And I am the luckiest person alive to be his sister. I love him so much.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLUZCPyllcw7Uc2KsGsHEh1I7jXYELxb1yjyvgm6_yPNwROezYcdjBNiNC5OJqxhplNsz8_cxF_aINbBhw6NYWV9cHnpHziB_mc8OC5Q6zia9yAnTfB1eHCv4Ik6Y-MsI96qHuZez2Y0/s1600/P1010267.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRLUZCPyllcw7Uc2KsGsHEh1I7jXYELxb1yjyvgm6_yPNwROezYcdjBNiNC5OJqxhplNsz8_cxF_aINbBhw6NYWV9cHnpHziB_mc8OC5Q6zia9yAnTfB1eHCv4Ik6Y-MsI96qHuZez2Y0/s320/P1010267.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591308420809324498" /></a>Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-28129635247291611732011-03-20T16:26:00.007+00:002011-03-20T22:31:21.776+00:00Is your life really that bad?Before now I've always comforted and reassured myself that I'm allowed to feel really crap and depressed sometimes, in spite of the horrible things happening all over the world. I’ve told myself that it’s all relative and it’s human nature to complain. We all think our lives are crap at some point, whether they are or not. I have to live my life as well as I can and I can't do anything about what's going on in the rest of the world. Bad stuff happens, life goes on, right?<br /><br />Then Gaddafi started acting like a genocidal maniac in Libya and Japan was engulfed in a horrific earthquake and tsunami. And something changed...<br /><br />Over the last few days, listening to news of the awful things happening across the world, I've started to really appreciate how lucky I am. Yes, my life has ups and downs. Yes, exams and coursework deadlines are stressful. Yes, my family life is hard occasionally. But when I think of the poor people living under the vile rule of Gaddafi, or the people who've lost their houses, families and friends because of the tsunami in Japan, I am SO SO lucky to live the way I do.<br /><br />I have an amazing life. I have the best parents I could wish for, a wonderful brother, an amazing extended family and fun, supportive friends. I live in big house, in a pretty well off area. I go to an excellent school and am getting a brilliant education. On the whole, my life is wonderful and I have no right to complain about it. I may be having a hard time at school, but nothing lasts and it'll all be over in a few months. I may occasionally have a difficult evening with my brother, but that's no ones fault and it could be a lot worse. I may be stressed and feeling down about myself but it's <span style="font-style:italic;">nothing</span> compared to what other people go through.<br /><br />I think sometimes, in the midst of cuts, Eastenders and mortgages, we, the British, forget how fortunate we are to live a) in a democracy - however idiotic the current government is - and b) in an area of the earth that is not prone to natural disasters.<br /><br />We complain to no end about cuts, the economy and the failings of the coalition - but does anyone wonder what it would be like to live under an unbalanced genocidal dictator, or what it would be like to be murdered for trying to get your opinion heard? Last year we complained endlessly about snow and the ash cloud - but did anyone look past the annoyance of having flights delayed to consider what it would be like to live at the edge of a tectonic plate or to have their lives, houses and families regularly ripped apart by hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis?<br /><br />I'm not sure many did. The state of the economy is one thing, but people don't die on mass as a result of a recession. People aren't shot for standing up for what they believe in. I know things are bad in Britain at the moment, and we're not likely to get out of this mess for years with our current government, but at least the majority of us have a home, a family, and food on the table. Times are hard, but think how you’d feel if you woke up to find your family gone because they'd been kidnapped, tortured and murdered for questioning the government. Think how you'd feel if you woke up to find your entire house had been torn from the ground and swept away by a mass of water or an earthquake. Think how you'd feel if you lost everything and everyone you'd ever loved, through no fault of your own. Personally, the thought terrifies me more than I can say.<br /><br />That's what's happening right now, thousands of miles away. We can't do much to stop it, but at the very least, we should be thankful for what we’ve got.Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-47604355906861168062011-02-06T14:49:00.007+00:002011-02-06T20:31:59.181+00:00Desert Island DiscsI've always enjoyed Desert Island Discs on Radio 4. Despite not knowing <span style="font-style:italic;">any</span> of the songs. I'm crap at knowing about music. Really crap. I have a slightly unusual taste in music - as you will see in a minute - but it makes me happy, and that's the point in music really. <br /><br />So. Just in case Desert Island Discs suddenly starts inviting completely un-famous 15 year-olds onto their programme to announce their favourite songs and mumble about their life and their relationship with their parents, I have compiled a list of my 8 favourite pieces of music. I will also attempt to do the text equivalent of mumbling. This could be quite hard but I'll have a go.<br />I will put a link to each piece of music so you can listen because otherwise you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. You probably don't anyway. But if you like it, please buy it from iTunes or Amazon or somewhere like that because you should always pay for music as the extremely talented musicians who recorded it need to be paid. If no one payed for music, my family wouldn't have any money. At all. So now I've made you feel guilty, here are my favourite pieces of music:<br /><br />1) <span style="font-style:italic;">Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata</span> - I like this piece of music a lot, it could even be my favourite of Beethoven's. It's very easy to listen to and also quite easy to play. It's one of the only pieces I can play on the piano and I learnt it all by ear and by experimenting with notes so it's very special to me. I reckon I could play it with my eyes closed - I certainly don't need to look at the music because I wouldn't understand any of it anyway. Mum says it probably wasn't the best piece to start with (apparently C♯ minor isn't the easiest key to play in) but I like the spookyness of the beginning and then how it eases off at the end as the piece becomes more natural. <br />You can listen to it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQVeaIHWWck">here</a>. <br /><br />2) <span style="font-style:italic;">This is Gallifrey</span> - this piece of music is from the Doctor Who Series 3 soundtrack and it is a beautiful piece. There is so much meaning and significance in it but it can only apply to the feeling of unpredictability and pure beauty of Gallifrey (yes, I know it's not a real planet). It took me a while to get into but I now consider it as one of the best pieces Murray Gold has ever composed. <br />You can listen to it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idQRiLZukG0">here</a>.<br /><br />3) <span style="font-style:italic;">A Window to the Past</span> - this is part of the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban soundtrack and it is by far my favourite track. It's so simple, yet so meaningful. It always reminds me of the best bits of Harry Potter, but more importantly, it signifies the past (hence the name). In the film, it is played as Harry reminisces with Lupin about his parents and their past and for me it means similar things. It always reminds me of my parents and my family and when I was growing up in London before Ben was born. This part of my life always seems separate from the rest of my life because it was a completely different way of living. It was full of Postman Pat and Winnie the Pooh toys and loft 'stenchons' (extensions) and two sets of parents (Megan and Will over the road were like my second parents. They were amazing. Now they live in Holland and it's the only place we can go on holiday without Ben making a fuss. There is no way anyone could dislike Will and Megan.) Anyway, if I were on Just A Minute, this would totally be called deviation so I'd better start talking about music again rather than my 3 or 4 years of life before Ben.<br />You can listen to it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrZB9nPMvS4">here</a>.<br /><br />4) <span style="font-style:italic;">Angry Dance</span> - this is from Billy Elliot the Musical in the bit where Billy's dad and brother basically tell him he can't dance ever again. It is veeeeeery angry but also has amazing music. Lots of guitar and stuff. But there's also a lot of swearing so I have to be careful that Ben's not around when playing it (although he has walked in while I'm listening to Tim Minchin's Pope Song before. That was slightly awkward.) I had a 3 or 4 year long Billy Elliot phase so listened to it rather a lot and still do when I'm feeling angry. It's great to take your anger out with, especially when no one's around so you can swear and shout along with Billy. I also know the whole tap dance routine so play it out in my head when I'm listening. Fun times.<br />You can listen to it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKZUzVLqBTY">here</a>. There are also lots of different live versions with different Billys. Some of my favourite Angry Dances include George Maguire's, Travis Yates', Tom Holland's and Michael Dameski's. They are all dotted around youtube.<br /><br />5) <span style="font-style:italic;">Starlight</span> - this is a Tweenies song (yes, I know I'm 15!) and I listen to it when I'm missing my childhood - you might be able to tell that I'm a very nostalgic person. It was always played in Tweenies Christmas Specials (specifically Merry Tweenie Christmas and The Enchanted Toyshop) and is such a beautiful song. This song reminds me of all the festive things we used to do at Christmas like decorating the tree together, putting together the Nativity set, wrapping presents, making paperchains, watching Christmas specials (Tweenies, Winnie the Pooh, The Bear, Father Christmas, The Snowman, etc, etc.) and generally doing fun Christmas things that fill young children with festive joy. We don't really do much of that anymore, and if we do it's not the same. But I'm sure it will be in a few years :) <br />You can listen to Starlight <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCXdfrSP7E">here</a> (if you really want to).<br /><br />6) <span style="font-style:italic;">Drowned</span> - by Tim Minchin. This is one of my favourite Tim Minchin songs. I have many others but this is one of his more serious ones that means more to me so I thought I'd include it. He wrote it for an Australian film he was in and it's rather lovely. Very easy to listen to and full of meaningful emotion. I can't really explain why it means so much to me but it does. <br />You can listen to it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc_dg9itrhA&feature=related">here</a>. But you'll have to ignore the man at the beginning. He was part of the film. I didn't like him very much.<br /><br />7) <span style="font-style:italic;">Swan Lake</span> - the most famous bit. Not sure what it's called. Possibly Act two. Or one. Or both. It's in it quite a lot. Meh, don't know. The bit everyone knows anyway. I will ask my dad. I like this because it's just a very beautiful piece of music. I've always liked it. I think my dad might have played in it before I was born. He's done a few shows. He was doing Oliver almost as I was being born. Once when I was a baby, he was holding me just before he was about to go on to do a concert and I was sick down his back. Ha ha ha. <br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ea90L91eZk">Here</a> is a bit of Swan Lake. The famous bit. The rest is also good so you should listen to that if you have time. But my dad did actually record a version of Swan Lake so if you illegally download it, you are effectively stealing my dad's money. And that's what buys my family food. So don't illegally download it. But everyone who reads my blog is lovely so I'm sure you don't illegally download stuff. Which is why I like you all so much :)<br /><br />8)<span style="font-style:italic;"> I'm Not Saying a Word</span> - from Blood Brothers (the Willy Russell musical). Not my favourite song musically but the lyrics struck a chord with me. The play is all about Mickey and Eddie who are twins separated at birth. They then become friends when they're older and also are friends with a girl called Linda. She and Mickey are in love and eventually get married and so Eddie, who had always loved Linda, feels extremely left out and sad. So this song is all about him declaring his love for Linda and not knowing how to say it. He describes what it feels like to be in love with someone for years without them knowing or caring, and as cheesy as it sounds, I know what that feels like and it's crap. So this song is quite relevant to my life and it's the only one I know that describes this feeling so it's quite special. Although, again, it's not brilliant musically. Willy Russell has written better songs.<br />You can't actually listen to it unless you buy it because of copyright issues so <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiVQ6zYPDqc&feature=related">here</a> is another Blood Brothers song I like. <br /><br />Well that was fun. In Desert Island Discs they have to choose one track out of those 8 that they would have if they could only have one. I think I'll choose A Window to the Past from Harry Potter 3 because it carries so many memories and is the most magical (no pun intended) musically. And in addition to the Bible - which I would use as a chair or pillow - and the complete works of Shakespeare, I would take the complete Harry Potter series because I could read them over and over again without getting bored. I have actually. I've read/listened to all of them at least 10 times. My luxury would be..... either Harry Potter lego or a circuit of Brio - including the Thomas the Tank Engine train set. I will decide which next year. I'm not expecting either to be invited on to Desert Island Discs or actually left stranded on an island any time soon so I've got a bit of time to decide.Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-40084230715716981992011-01-16T16:08:00.008+00:002011-01-16T16:32:16.221+00:00Best of 2010 (bit late I know)I'm afraid I'm going to cheat a bit with this blog, simply because I do not have much time. I'm in the middle of writing 2 A3 pages of woodwork development for my Product Design GCSE and I've got bored. I really should keep writing it because I'm going out in an hour (going to see 'Tim Minchin - Conversation With' at the RSC. Been looking forward to it for months. Ahh!) and I won't have time to do the work tomorrow afternoon because I've got Crucible rehearsals after school. But I won't because it is mind-numbingly tedious. Yes, so I've just copied and pasted a comment I made on <a href="http://www.markwatsonthecomedian.com/web/2010/12/27/very-late-review-special-edition-this-years-love/">Mark Watson's blog</a> reviewing the best things in 2010. Which is cheating a bit. But hey, you get a blog and I get to continue writing this rubbish about different types of wood and finishes. Fun. <br /><br />The bits in <span style="font-style:italic;">italics</span> are things that I've added jusy for you guys. Didn't think Mark would be very interested. Enjoy:<br /><br />BEST SONG (you can name up to three)<br />1. Drowned – Tim Minchin<br />2. Starlight – The Tweenies (don’t ask – it’s actually very good. <span style="font-style:italic;">This relates to my current phase of children's stuff I should have grown out of - see no. 13 of <a href="http://meg72.blogspot.com/2011/01/some-things-about-me.html">this blog</a>.</span>)<br />3. This Is Gallifrey – Doctor Who Series 3 Soundtrack<br />I know, I have a very odd taste in music. But it makes me happy :)<br /><br />BEST ALBUM<br />Ready For This? – Tim Minchin <br /><br />BEST BOOK<br />1. Eleven - Mark Watson <br />2. All of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan-Doyle <span style="font-style:italic;">(I have a massive book with every single SH story. I LOVE it! Except my stupid cat ATE IT. Grrrrr.....)</span><br /><br />BEST FILM<br />Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1<br /><br />BEST TV SHOW<br />Sherlock but also loved this year’s Doctor Who <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Had obsessions with both. That's how I measure my liking for things. Obsessions show I liked them A LOT.</span><br /><br />BEST PERSON<br />My Mum and Dad because they do so much for my brother and me and put up with so much and are both basically good at everything and I can tell them everything and can always turn to them for help and hugs. <span style="font-style:italic;">Love them lots and lots and LOTS!</span><br /><br />BEST DAY<br />The second day of my unexpected trip to Portugal with my cousins. I had recovered from my 2 days of no sleep at all and began my day with breakfast in a posh Portuguese restaurant. It was simply the best breakfast I’ve EVER had! They had absolutely every breakfasty food imaginable in a massive buffet room. Pure bliss. Then we did holiday things that I’ve never been able to do before because my brother hates holidays. Such a fun day. Although I did get attacked by a wave in the sea. But then we watched the final episode of Sherlock in the evening which was amazing so it was definitely my best day of the year. <span style="font-style:italic;">Nov 17th (MW show/A* for R&J essay) and Aug 12th (birthday) were also fab days.</span><br /><br />BEST LIVE COMEDY SHOW, MUSIC GIG, PLAY, RAVE, OR OTHER GOING-ON OF ANY KIND<br />1. Mark's show in Oxford<br />2. Matilda at the RSC<br />3. Blood Brothers in London<br /><br />BEST PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT<br />Going on holiday (and therefore an aeroplane) on my own for the first time ever. Sounds a bit feeble but bear in mind I’ve only been on a plane about 6 times before, the last time was about 3 years ago and I’ve always been with my parents. Also I had been awake for about 34 hours and hadn’t eaten much so everything was extremely surreal. <span style="font-style:italic;">I feel tired just thinking about that level of tiredness. Never. Again.</span><br /><br />MOST ANNOYING NEW THING<br />The Coalition Government because they are making stupid, annoying and idiotic decisions and no one can do anything about it. <span style="font-style:italic;">Grr.</span><br /><br />There we go. Wasn't that nice? I know we're already 3 weeks into 2011 but I forgot about this before and I have started to enjoy blogging more than I did before so I'm going to do more. I'm aiming to beat the measly 16 blogs I did last year. Rubbish! It's also a good way to procrastinate. Yay! Right, back to the stupid development pages... xMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-78376628963873174872011-01-11T22:23:00.005+00:002011-01-12T22:22:58.820+00:00Everyone else has learnt how to talk to each other. Why haven't I?WARNING - MY LAST EVER (hopefully) BIT OF SELF DEPRECATION IS IN THIS BLOG. Could get annoying. But I hope you like it.<br /><br />I don't know whether what I'm about to write applies to lots of people, I reckon it probably does, but it's been a bit of an issue for me for the last 4 or so years. I guess this is because I've become more self conscious as I've got older. <br /><br />I find it pretty hard to have a conversation with anyone I don't talk to everyday. I say something stupid, then worry about it so I'm not concentrating on what I'm saying afterwards. This is quite annoying. I wish I were better at social stuff in general. It's as though everyone else has been taught how to interact with other people in general life but I missed out on that lesson. I just don't get it. I don't have a clue what to say in a lot of normal situations so I've got paranoid that people don't understand what I'm trying to say and I get in a flap. Awkward.<br /><br />It is similar but slightly different on twitter. Everyone else is really witty but I'm not so I usually sound ridiculously serious about trivial things. This isn't always the case but I'm noticing it more and more. I wish I could do something about it but I genuinely don't know what to say in some conversations, whereas other people seem to be able to fire off witty replies. If you have been slightly bewildered by something I've said to you in a twitter conversation, I am truly sorry, I sometimes just don't know how to answer so I come up with some rubbish. I suppose I just don't want to upset anyone so I go for the safe option. Boring.<br /><br />I'm alright with my main tweets though. They can be thought out and structured whereas conversations are harder to do on the spot because it's a 2 way thing. I probably think about these things too much. Maybe I should stop picking apart all my tweets and just type whatever I think of first. Right, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I really cannot thank the people on twitter enough for being so amazing, even if I sometimes say the wrong thing. If you haven't noticed and don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I should probably stop worrying. I love you all so much and it really makes my day when I get friendly tweets. You're all SO supportive.<br />THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU etc etc.<br /><br />THE SELF DEPRECATION ENDS HERE. xxxMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-1121724212656996982011-01-11T22:15:00.007+00:002011-01-12T21:29:02.238+00:00Some things about meEveryone (i.e. About 3 people) on Twitter has been writing a series of interesting facts about themselves. It's rather fun to read so I thought I'd do one myself. However, I do not want to clog up everyone's timeline or make reading it compulsory so I have decided to write a blog which no one has to read but they can if they want. Isn't that nice of me?<br /><br />So, here we go...<br /><br />1. I do not know how to spell my middle name. (might as well get the freaky stuff out of the way first!) Well I can sometimes spell it. Sort of. After several attempts. But I hate my middle name so I never use it apart from for exams.<br /><br />2. I am crap at social interaction. I'm also pretty crap at Twitter conversations. If you've thought a couple of my tweets have been a bit confusing or I've said something odd in a conversation to you, you might want to read my next blog to find out why. I really don't mean to.<br /><br />3. I enjoy organising things in height, colour, chronological, numerical etc etc order. I'm pretty pedantic too.<br /><br />4. I love palindromes. Love them. Lots. Especially numerical palindromes.<br /><br />5. I do not like celery. At all. Ever. Eugh.<br /><br />6. I used to be hugely shy and quiet in primary school but got much louder and bolder in secondary school - to the point that I got a bit annoying and no one in my class could imagine me being shy. I think (I hope) I might have calmed down a bit in the last year or so. Mainly.<br /><br />7. I hate going on the London Underground but I love the map. I have the map on my bedroom wall and I spend a lot of time looking at the interesting locations and the pretty colours.<br /><br />8. I also have a poster of the 'Tree of Life' on my wall because it is fascinating, along with three World War II posters (Dig for Victory, Kitchener Wants YOU, Keep Calm and Carry On), lots of photos, a Tim Minchin Calendar, four Harry Potter Lego posters (they used to come in the Lego boxes) and a London Baker Street street sign. <br /><br />9. I still own a Tweenies umbrella from when I was little. I know. I'm sorry. <br /><br />10. I love my family more than anyone else in the world - especially my mum, dad and brother Ben.<br /><br />11. As you may have noticed, I'm quite self deprecating. I think this is because I don't want to disappoint anyone. Basically, I don't want to let people down so I tend to downplay things a bit. Then they're not disappointed if it's crap, but if it turns out to be quite good, it's a pleasant surprise. When having conversations, I say sorry quite a lot just in case I've said something stupid. This does of course backfire quite a lot and can make people annoyed that I'm so bloody pessimistic about everything. Hmm. Basically, I try my hardest not to alienate people and or make them think I'm strange and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I'm sorry if I have alienated you somehow. I didn't mean to. (There I go again!)<br /><br />12. I LOVE Christmas and everything festive. Even though I'm an atheist, I still get a wonderful feeling in my tummy when we get all the decorations out (including the Nativity set - we just treat this story as we would a fairytale. Quite sweet and fun but absolute bollocks.) Every year I make a list of things I am planning to do in the run up to Christmas, including watching Tweenies Christmas Specials, Winnie the Pooh Christmas video, The Bear, Father Christmas and The Snowman just because I do it every year and Christmas wouldn't be the same if I didn't. GCSE mocks really screwed up my Christmas routine this year though. Grr.<br /><br />13. I have lots of obsessions/phases. When I was younger it was stuff like Postman Pat and Winnie the Pooh and Tweenies (they were <span style="font-style:italic;">long</span> phases. I don't think my parents have ever forgiven me!), then it became things like Madeline (the French girl in the boarding school - great books), Milly-Molly-Mandy (also great books), then more grown up things like House and Billy Elliot and Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, and then I went back to all the old children's stuff like Thomas the Tank Engine and Tweenies etc. I think this is because I like getting nostalgic about my childhood because it really was a bloody brilliant childhood. Can't recommend my parents enough. Oh and of course Harry Potter has been a recurring obsession since I was about 7 (see <a href="http://meg72.blogspot.com/2010/03/ipod-touch.html">this</a> blog).<br /><br />14. I love pasta rather too much. In every form. Yum. And quiche. And moussaka. And lots of other things. Basically I just love food. Mmmm....<br /><br />15. I have taken a liking to binary. Don't know why, but it's awesome! (Incidentally, 15 is 1111 in binary. My favourite.)<br /><br />16. I have two stripey colourful scarves which I wear every day at school (not at the same time obviously) and I love them. Lots. <br /><br />17. I love Lego. Best. Toy. <span style="font-style:italic;">Ever.</span><br /><br />18. I do not like crayons. All waxy and yucky and horrid. Ugh.<br /><br />19. I am fascinated by circuit boards. They look wonderful and are so complicated and lovely.<br /><br />20. I have just realised why most people kept these lists of things on their twitter feeds - it restricts them to 140 characters per fact. Doing a whole blog has allowed me to waffle on and on and on. If you have not got bored reading all that, thank you very much. I salute you. I hope I haven't scared you with my weird personality too much.Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-87537134765916925442010-12-19T22:15:00.002+00:002010-12-19T22:29:40.042+00:00People I may mention on Twitter - A GuideBit busy at the moment but have realised that on twitter I mention lots of people who mean a lot to me but followers who don't really know much about me will not have a clue who I'm talking about. I will usually explain who people are but there are some names that I use so much, there's no point explaining every time and it would be a waste of my 140 characters anyway. So in these cases, you've either figured it out or have been thoroughly confused since you started following me. So here is a vague guide if anyone is wondering who I'm talking about. You may not really care but just in case...<br /><br />Mum/Kate/<a href="http://www.twitter.com/kateeroberts">@kateeroberts</a> – my wonderful mother<br />Dad/Nick/<a href="http://www.twitter.com/nickkroberts">@NickKRoberts</a> – my amazing father<br />Ben/Benedict/brother – my lovely but occasionally difficult autistic 12-year-old brother<br />Granny – my Granny (obviously)<br />Harry – lovely ginger cat<br />Phoebe – mad black kitten<br />Emma/<a href="http://www.twitter.com/emmadpearce">@emmadpearce</a> – best friend<br />Izzy/<a href="http://www.twitter.com/_izzyy">@_izzyy</a> – best friend since I was born<br /><br />Most other people I talk about on twitter are on twitter themselves so I mention them with their @username. There are probably more but you are probably bored now and my back hurts and I need to go to bed. Bye bye xMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-73966184152151376982010-11-26T18:40:00.009+00:002011-01-09T13:09:21.836+00:00Education, Education, Education (Part 1)On Wednesday, students all around the country walked out of their lessons protest at the rise in university tuition fees, the cutting of EMA and general cuts to education. I think these new policies are appalling. Yes, we are in a huge amount of debt and the government need to make serious cuts. But I think that they're cutting the wrong things. Why not cut the bankers' bonuses or reduce the enormous amount of money being spent on renewing Trident rather than the next generation's vital education? The government have no idea what they are doing. They help the rich and leave the poor and in this particular instance, they are leaving middle class people too. £9000 a year is not on. How do they expect us to make a life for ourselves with £27000 (for a 3 year course) debt to pay off.<br /><br />People keeps saying, 'Do you <span style="font-style:italic;">have</span> to go to Uni?' or 'Higher education is a privilege, not a right.' I understand that far too many people have been encouraged to go to university who aren't suited to it, just for the sake of getting a degree or because it now seems to be the 'done' thing. A huge number of people would be better suited to something more specialised like a vocational course. But this does not mean that all the people who can't afford to go to uni should have to do a vocational course or apprenticeship. Not just rich people are intelligent enough to get into university - people in all situations are capable of getting in and whether you go or not should depend on whether it is right for you and not your position in the British class system. This country needs educated people who have been to uni in order for this country to run. Education benefits everyone, not just the individual. A generation of well educated people will help the economy even more in the long run. We as a country have so much to gain from having the right balance of people who have a good general academic background and people who have specialised in a certain area. The two work hand in hand and we as a country should support both equally. <br /><br />Addendum: This is part one of a couple of blogs I am going to write on the subject of education. The next one is about the actual student protests. I have half written it but it didn't sound right so I'm going to edit it and post it tomorrow. I might also extend this blog to include an exemplum ('exemplum, exemplum, an example from one's own life, etc, etc' - only Watsonians and Radio 4 listeners will understand this) involving myself and my good friend Emma. The relevance of this will become apparent tomorrow or whenever I post it. This has been rather a long addendum. I'm going to bed now. N'night x<br /><br />EDIT: As you may have guessed, I never got round to the second blog and now I'm not in the right frame of mind to attempt it and my draft was pretty rubbish anyway. Actually this blog was a bit rubbish and angry and ranty too but it's less rubbish than the one I didn't post. So I'm not going to post it. Sorry everyone. And sorry Emma who was looking forward to being in a blog. She will be in one one day. Bye bye xMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-45212862919411163852010-09-13T21:33:00.003+01:002010-09-13T22:22:09.100+01:00My nice thingLast Friday, Mark Watson set a task on his <a href="http://www.markwatsonthecomedian.com/web/2010/09/10/departure-lounge-act/">daily blog</a>. This was the task: "Help someone. Do it however you want and to whomever you want." This made me think about things. I made a list of all things I have done and will do in the next couple of weeks to help people. They are all quite trivial but I hope they make a few people's lives a tiny bit better. But then in an RS lesson at school today, I suddenly realised what I could do to, not so much help, but certainly make someone feel good about themselves. I wasn't really sure whether to go through with it because what I was thinking of doing could seem a bit odd and out of the blue. But I imagined how I'd feel if someone did the same thing to me and it made me feel all warm and happy so I decided to go for it.<br /><br />So at the end of the lesson I went up to my teacher, who had taught me History in Years 7, 8 and 9 and had just started teaching me RS. I asked him whether he remembered the time when he told our class in Year 7 how he had gone into teaching history and religious studies because he had had a fantastic teacher who had completely inspired him. I remember how happy it made me to imagine myself telling people the same story, about how I too, had had a wonderfully inspiring history teacher who had fuelled my fascination of the past. But I never told him. It was only today that I realised the impact that this teacher had had on me and how all of my current ambitions are a result of my interest in history that he had stimulated and encouraged when I was 11. <br /><br />He said he remembered, and I went on to say - slightly embarrassedly - how this was the same case for me and how I was now hoping to do A Levels in History and Politics and later a degree in history because of his amazing and inspirational teaching. I attempted to express the huge gratitude I felt towards him and when I had finished talking, he was nearly in tears. I suppose we teenagers tend to not think about how much better it makes a teacher feel when a student says thank you for teaching me. I think that if every now and then, a student did something as simple as thanking their teacher for their lesson, it would make teachers feel an awful lot happier. My teacher said that what I said to him really made his day and that made me so pleased that I'd actually said it. My friends commented on how I was smiling for the rest of the day and I hope that my teacher was too. Because I really owe a huge amount to him.<br /><br />So thank you Mark Watson for giving me the guts to say something to him. And thank you to my teacher for my interest in history, for which I will always be grateful. xMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-57997708492113403322010-07-11T14:52:00.005+01:002010-07-11T21:15:48.498+01:00ArtYesterday my parents and I went to the Tate Modern in London. It is a fantastic building and most of the artwork is amazing. I really like modern art - especially art with bright colours. I don't really like boring art and going round boring art galleries can be horribly tedious. In an art gallery I went to in Venice, almost every other painting was of Jesus or Mary or some other religious person. And all the colours were really dull and dismal, like brown and grey and black. Even the reds and yellows were quite dark and faded. So I didn't like that. <br /><br />But the Tate Modern is full of bright, bold modern art - the kind I do like! When we went round yesterday, I saw loads of stuff that was brilliant. I particularly liked the Pop Art section. We studied Andy Warhol's stuff when I was in year 4 and even then I loved the colours and style of painting. There was also a room of Russian propaganda. There were loads of posters of Stalin and Lenin (I recognised Lenin because I drew him in my English book last year - I was bored) There was also a huge amount of photography which was nice. Some of the pictures were absolutely mind-blowing! A lot of the sculptures were great, such as a large black felt thing that had squiggly bits coming off it. But there were a few which I really didn't like. <br /><br />One piece of 'art' was an ordinary mirror, supposedly encouraging you to see yourself in a different way. The 'artist' who made that is probably making thousands from buying a cheap mirror and making up a nice, thought-provoking story to get it into the Tate Modern. That can't be real art! And some of the paintings - I could have done them when I was in nursery! There was one which was just a canvas painted white. On the little description next to it said that it was meant to make you think about how even things that are difficult to see are always present whether you want to see them or not. Or some rubbish like that. These pieces really annoyed me. <br /> <br />I don’t like art that looks like it took 5 minutes to make. Some modern artists are making thousands from ideas that are vaguely linked to the actual piece of art. It's not fair on hard-working artists who spend a lot of time on their work and give it a huge amount of care and attention. It seems that nowadays, some artists just make something easy and come up with a complicated meaning to explain it afterwards. Art shouldn't need words to explain itself. It should express itself in the actual artwork, not the hidden meaning.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Addendum</span> (never thought I'd use that word!)<br /><br />I don't actually know much about art. I just have very strong opinions about things that I don't think are fair. If in an art lesson, I presented a mirror with a description next to it saying was showing the 'real you', I would be told not to be so lazy. I don't see how people are making thousands of pounds from doing the same thing! However, that is just my opinion and I'm sure lots of people love mirrors. But I don't think it's art. But then I don't know anything about art. So really I shouldn't have an opinion. But I do. And you shouldn't have to know about art to have an opinion of certain paintings and sculptures. But again, that's just my opinion. <br /><br />Anyway, this addendum is going on for too long so I will stop now. Bye bye.Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-9300038303646232732010-05-22T16:24:00.009+01:002010-05-22T17:06:24.707+01:00My Saturday - (sort of) Live BlogHello all. Today is Saturday which is the day I've been looking forward to all week! Firstly, it's the weekend and that's always good. Secondly, we are getting two kittens today!!! And thirdly, IT'S DOCTOR WHO LATER!!!!!!!<br /><br />So I am doing a live blog of today. It's just occured to me that Twitter basically is a live blog of your day, every day. So this isn't as exciting as i'd thought it would be. But oh well! I'll just have to keep the stuff I put on Twitter quite basic and put all the good stuff in here! Also, this isn't exactly live. It's live when I write it but it's quite a while after all the stuff's happened when I put it up. So there will be two parts. This is the first part of my day:<br /><br />9:41 am<br />I am currently sitting on my bed, putting my socks on. We are meant to be going to collect Georgia in 10 minutes and I'm not dressed yet.<br /><br />10.01<br />Yay! 10.01 is a palindrome! Well I'm dressed now and we are in the car. I am wearing nice trousers, my Royal Air Force t-shirt, stripy socks and my awesome red Converses! I have just had a banana muffin, a babybel and paracetamol for breakfast. Yes I am that cool.<br /><br />10.16<br />We are now in Oxford. I like Oxford. My mum grew up in Oxford. I didn't. We lived in London (Chiswick) until I was about 4 and then we moved to Oxfordshire just after Ben's first birthday and just before Christmas. I still remember all the boxes! Anyway, Oxford is nice. They have good shops and good cookies. Ben's Cookies in the Covered Market are the best cookies IN THE WORLD!!!! Yum.<br /><br />10.22<br />It's soooooooooooo hot in the car! We are playing 'Spot the Expensive House' - it's very easy to play in Oxford. Oooh we've just been past Granny's old road! That's brought back lots of good memories :-)<br /><br />10.26<br />Okay we're here! Now to get Georgia!<br /><br />10.44<br />Got her! She's terrified, poor thing. The lady that was looking after her (Niki) is lovely and has given us loads of advice and information. Ben is talking to Georgia in the back seat and she is trying to get out of the cat basket. It's fascinating to see Ben connecting with a new animal. He really wants her to like him and keeps saying 'Hello. Do you like me?' It's very sweet.<br /><br />10.54<br />She's very chatty! She's meowing a lot and sticking her paw out of the cat basket which is adorable but also shows she is scared which is sad.<br /><br />11:43<br />We're home and Georgia is getting to know the sitting room. She's very timid and scared but she seems okay. She's veeeery sweet! She likes going behind the sofa. Her head keeps bobbing up and down because she's sniffing everywhere she goes. Now I'm going to find old, staggering Molly in case she feels left out.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHfDgzKbzVLujH67ua7E_sLxidRaXIjwEBoBk8i74vDss7_BAqqUTvVQ6lwjV7qT0fFH-azqKDhDkHG236Cz-g1e3-OG50vw0-0oJt9hZGX4k9M2Hpk-kNS2VYOJJuqCdsshaNpmGxwY/s1600/Photo090.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeHfDgzKbzVLujH67ua7E_sLxidRaXIjwEBoBk8i74vDss7_BAqqUTvVQ6lwjV7qT0fFH-azqKDhDkHG236Cz-g1e3-OG50vw0-0oJt9hZGX4k9M2Hpk-kNS2VYOJJuqCdsshaNpmGxwY/s320/Photo090.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474124420421243570" /></a><br />11:49<br />Molly is covered in muck, outside in the leaves. I thought she was dead at first but then I saw she was breathing. That would've been a real downer. When my dad has finished teaching, we are going to get Harry. We're a bit worried about Harry because he doesn't seem to have had a very good start to life. He's grown up on a farm without much attention so he may need to be house-trained and fed up a bit. But hopefully he'll be okay.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsB4lX7er4OK8Gz1FRXfa_yOXqJXMRNOxaJjVEAw3gm0-Pjk9xxLJ4xOI5leOs_EaRBvVNyJoe5VErPLQusdFJcUjyoXUIdthyARMbQgL9J71Ku45qoR2qOLDxocCfbN166NJzWZ5X9Xo/s1600/Photo239.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsB4lX7er4OK8Gz1FRXfa_yOXqJXMRNOxaJjVEAw3gm0-Pjk9xxLJ4xOI5leOs_EaRBvVNyJoe5VErPLQusdFJcUjyoXUIdthyARMbQgL9J71Ku45qoR2qOLDxocCfbN166NJzWZ5X9Xo/s320/Photo239.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474124844005102354" /></a> 12:13<br />Georgia has just eaten some dry kitten food! Now she's washing! We're making progress! She almost went to sleep minute ago. She must be knackered! She likes the wand thing we bought. She loved playing with it when she was at Niki's house with her brothers and sister.<br /><br />Haha now she's on the Wii Fit Balance Board!<br /><br /><br />12:36<br />Now we're in the car again on the way to the farm to collect Harry. I'm eating Mini Chedders and they are tasty. I am also wearing Dad's Indiana Jones hat. I look very good in it (if I do say so myself) and it suits me much more than it suits him. He only got it because it was the only hat that would fit on his head! He has a very big head.<br /><br />12:56<br />We're here! It's very farmy. Lots of pigs and horses and chickens. The kittens are all a bit dirty. Harry is very sweet though. A bit scared. His sister was VERY VERY LOUD!! The farmer was talking about them with the same terms you would use for horses and pigs and he said he's never had kittens before so I doubt Harry and his siblings have had much housetraining.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwUym6IA1SDjfefwZmMEpFT6E57OKVNzcnbOkp_u8XpNsq5QVbN512HGjv07Xq6oRU5XKNBchlbMxrG_8z-ZQkKIMq90x62fNPwqwOpjdDmoqD9ZRzKmz77hvfNt6FtA9FTwXGinjj1g/s1600/Photo244.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwUym6IA1SDjfefwZmMEpFT6E57OKVNzcnbOkp_u8XpNsq5QVbN512HGjv07Xq6oRU5XKNBchlbMxrG_8z-ZQkKIMq90x62fNPwqwOpjdDmoqD9ZRzKmz77hvfNt6FtA9FTwXGinjj1g/s320/Photo244.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474122240745962482" /></a> 13.12<br />He's sitting quietly in the corner of the cat basket, staring out at Ben and the front of the car. I think he's going to need a lot of care and attention (or TLC as people seem to say.)<br /><br />13:58<br />Harry was terrified to start with and cowered under the chair. But he seems okay now. Hahaha Phoebe just hissed at Harry! She is terrified of him but Harry isn't bothered! He's just tucking into his kitten food. He must be starving! Oooh Phoebe's very annoyed! He's just drunk HER cat milk! Her fur is standing on end and she's creeping around, staring at him.<br /><br />14:12<br />He loves the litter tray! He doesn't seem to understand that it's where you're meant to pee. He's rolling around in the litter, purring!<br /><br />14:14<br />Harry is absolutely tiny compared to Phoebe! He's only a week younger but I think he's slightly malnourished :-/<br /><br />14:19<br />Harry is purring! He likes me! He doesn't run away anymore when I stroke him! This has made me very happy :-)<br /><br />15:27<br />Phoebe is asleep on the top of the sofa, above Ben, where she had been watching him playing Zelda. Harry is asleep on mum's lap while she is on her laptop. I think we've worn them both out!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVyN9_Fump0D9lFXSoRUYH0mhZa04-9A1gCsGHqlh9dG2gk2UwlSxs5Yz7RH8tsLlL_tBZBmeSSYBMco_Wj1nM8toN4YmIYiMVz-a0HiDZUB0NYJEe62Sa9GVByMDWDhXeaDTB3-YlMBw/s1600/Photo246.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVyN9_Fump0D9lFXSoRUYH0mhZa04-9A1gCsGHqlh9dG2gk2UwlSxs5Yz7RH8tsLlL_tBZBmeSSYBMco_Wj1nM8toN4YmIYiMVz-a0HiDZUB0NYJEe62Sa9GVByMDWDhXeaDTB3-YlMBw/s320/Photo246.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474122927974700914" /></a><br />15:34<br />Ooh Ben's taken Phoebe off the sofa and has plonked her into the bed/scratching post we bought. Not sure if she wants to be there. I expect she'll jump off soon.<br /><br />15:35<br />Yep she's jumped off!<br /><br />15:37<br />Humph I'd better do some homework.Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-66169572365588139772010-05-21T18:36:00.009+01:002010-05-21T19:23:12.786+01:00The second last of the Time LordsI think my dad is a Time Lord. I really do. He knows absolutely EVERYTHING!! The other day, we went round to some friends' house and we were talking about the election and things and he suddenly started talking about some political movement that happened in the 50's (or some other time - I wasn't really listening.) He talked about this thingy for about 5 minutes with huge passion and intelligence while the rest of us just sat there, nodding, completely bemused! But my dad has a brain like.... the opposite of a sieve. He reads long history books and remembers all of it! He literally knows everything there is to know about Oliver Cromwell and the Civil War and most of everything about the rest of history. He's also reeeeeeeally knowledgeable about science (probably mainly chemistry, although I have no proof of this.) And he knows everything there is to know about politics. Trouble is, he's very, very opinionated. Which is good but can get in the way sometimes. Like when he loudly tells Cameron to "Sod off" in the middle of his speeches. It is quite funny though!<br /><br />For his job, my dad is a cellist so he knows all there is to know about music. This comes in useful when you do music related things at work all day. He got a scholorship for the Royal College of Music so he left school at 16. This really worked out for him, in a way that it doesn't for others because my dad is awesome at playing the cello. Mum says he is one of the best in the country. Which he probably is. When I have been to his concerts, I have noticed that he is <span style="font-style:italic;">very </span>good. I never really notice that at home though because he's always practising rather than performing. And also I would rather listen to my own music than hear Schoenberg blasting out of the music room. Dad is now in a quartet which is nice. They have recently got a new viola player called Rose and she is very nice.<br /><br />Anyway, apparently my Grandpa Joe used to say that if my dad had gone to university, he would have almost certainly got a 'first.' And I agree with him (although I'm not entirely sure what getting a 'first' means.)<br /><br />And therefore, I think my dad is a Time Lord because he is the cleverest person I know and he is brilliant and he has a magical cello case which is very light because it is made of carbon fibre or something so it could also be a TARDIS. And he could be a retired Time Lord because he enjoys being with my mum and me and Ben more than he loves travelling the universe so he has decided to stay on earth. Or he could have just seen all of the universe already so he thinks it's time to settle down. Which is nice of him.<br /><br />However, you may be thinking, "Ah, but why hasn't he regenerated?" Well, silly, if there are no alien threats or monsters around to get involved in (he leaves all them to David Tennant and Matt Smith), he won't necessarily get killed so he won't regenerate. Unless he gets hit by a bus, in which case he will have to tell us that he is a Time Lord and prove he is still my dad in order for us to trust him again. What with him being in a different body an' all.<br /><br />And so, there we are. He is a Time Lord.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl0swzn5HJ12UiZe_zV8ubuM4zQhWm6WfCuIEm7VN7gOUcsMmGYiqDefs0-9k2H7LD4SlwumMZ-L6xeJMArQw_k6wH4tE4bikFpFXPCr2M66dYSSJsdBia7nOKLV1en3_YhG_1v7cGs10/s1600/275px-Versions_of_the_Doctor2f.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl0swzn5HJ12UiZe_zV8ubuM4zQhWm6WfCuIEm7VN7gOUcsMmGYiqDefs0-9k2H7LD4SlwumMZ-L6xeJMArQw_k6wH4tE4bikFpFXPCr2M66dYSSJsdBia7nOKLV1en3_YhG_1v7cGs10/s320/275px-Versions_of_the_Doctor2f.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473790411847181554" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5TcDXW1iF6-4IKyEP3mNzSOb4p62vlBCtQXSWvdqNAnShxe07epBe1n4i1oloWzrCOXGP8upjzAP7QGDtKMJtgFSi-5gUkMykycarCZe8Ei8Ogrb_q8KU0vwUlOKsoL68qGFzAhBVWk/s1600/275px-Versions_of_the_Doctor2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5TcDXW1iF6-4IKyEP3mNzSOb4p62vlBCtQXSWvdqNAnShxe07epBe1n4i1oloWzrCOXGP8upjzAP7QGDtKMJtgFSi-5gUkMykycarCZe8Ei8Ogrb_q8KU0vwUlOKsoL68qGFzAhBVWk/s320/275px-Versions_of_the_Doctor2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5473790534076016562" /></a>Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-87038947299441963452010-04-21T17:36:00.001+01:002010-04-21T17:37:33.442+01:00The Lovely BonesHello. I apologise for the lack of blog for so long. I have been very busy with one thing and another, e.g. cat, granny, friends, Tweenies, Doctor Who, twitter, Easter, London, homework, Ben and various other things. In the last few months, I have been to 2 films which is a record for me. Before I went to The Lovely Bones about 3 months ago, the last film I had been to see was Harry Potter 6 (which incidentally, I really enjoyed and rank it lower than HP 3 and 5 but higher than 1, 2 and 4. I didn't like the beginning because I thought it was unnecessarily confusing but I loved the end which I thought was a fitting tribute and had a great soundtrack - which my dad played the cello in!) anyway...<br /><br />I went to see The Lovely Bones with my friends Emma and Amy. I was looking forward to it because:<br />a) I like Emma and Amy,<br />b) I hadn't been to the cinema for ages,<br />c) I wanted to be able to be smug because I don't have to pay full price for cinema tickets whereas they do because they're 15 and I'm 14,<br />and d) we have a family friend with the same name as the main character so I could chuckle all the way through, happily pondering the hilarity of this coincidence.<br /><br />We went into the film with plenty of time to spare so I read an article about Alistair Darling on the Guardian app on my iPod while Emma and Amy talked about things like pop music. Or something similar. I wasn't really listening. Then the film began....<br /><br />Unfortunately, some annoying people at the back of the cinema chose that moment to start giggling and shouting about something or other. It was very tedious and I was agitated by the quality of their grammar. It was appalling! Then a woman turned around and started shouting at them and saying that she wanted to watch the film because she had paid for it. This provoked more giggling but they eventually settled down. Good.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0Y6P4PyFALfykxjMWZy6o5RAvkGU4HW8T4DIOX60mFjKCUMT7an8MkExah23S4PG-VitGfIPpsDLQe4b8T6o_nnBcFRmCxZkCn18pan_JoF6GUQjMwlYl4r-XWcZKXzOikMTR2bDZ1Q/s1600/The+lovely+bones+film+poster.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 163px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0Y6P4PyFALfykxjMWZy6o5RAvkGU4HW8T4DIOX60mFjKCUMT7an8MkExah23S4PG-VitGfIPpsDLQe4b8T6o_nnBcFRmCxZkCn18pan_JoF6GUQjMwlYl4r-XWcZKXzOikMTR2bDZ1Q/s200/The+lovely+bones+film+poster.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462628722606406738" /></a><br />Now the main problem I have with this film is its creepy-ness <span style="font-weight:bold;">all the way through<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>!!! It started off with the main character going on and on about her death and trying to make you suspect certain people before saying that actually it wasn't them, it was this person - no <span style="font-style:italic;">actually</span> it was this person... or was it THIS person? No it wasn't. These attempts did not succeed and just left me feeling rather confused which is not the best way to start a film in my humble opinion. We then had to endure the boring, wet, annoying scenes of adolescent love. Yes - the main character fancied a boy and oh no, he doesn't know she exists! Oh yes he does. Now they're talking to each other and he's going all lovey-dovey and quiet and - ooh they're almost kissing! Oh dear, someone's burst in and broken the moment. I felt myself thinking, 'who cares?' while everyone on screen was looking sad and awkward as though it was the end of the world. Those sort of moments have been done <span style="font-weight:bold;">over and over again</span> in films and on television. Its got so <span style="font- style:italic;">boring!</span><br /><br />Then there was a spooky bit with a big field and a scary man and an underground den. Then it cut to the protagonist's family wondering where she had got to. Again, that's been done <span style="font- style:italic;">so</span> many times. Then lots of other things happen and the police decide she is dead while the murderer consoles the <br />family and then goes back to playing with a dolls house. I didn't really see the point of the dolls house. It didn't seem to serve any purpose other than allowing the film makers to do some clever camera shots through the miniature windows and doors.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0tQJmW5pAfB9-4Fbcb258jA4Jtg8hBzTxuRFVxVrpwC6ctSxttNrKcL1WG5WyTgUvRc__F0ren7_6psi-d0e0CBMm2UBE0UDC9_EpxaC6roEJDCk8lIdj0m32LK_BERaoM79ybDce748/s1600/galaxy12.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0tQJmW5pAfB9-4Fbcb258jA4Jtg8hBzTxuRFVxVrpwC6ctSxttNrKcL1WG5WyTgUvRc__F0ren7_6psi-d0e0CBMm2UBE0UDC9_EpxaC6roEJDCk8lIdj0m32LK_BERaoM79ybDce748/s200/galaxy12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462629470558299986" /></a><br />And then some other stuff happens (I wont specify because I can't be bothered and some people might still want to see this film so I don't want to give to much away. But my advice to them is: Don't.) Then we get to see the afterlife. As my favourite film critic Mark Kermode said, it looks like something from Super Mario Galaxy. It actually does. There are spherical fields and seas and enormous ships in bottles, (oh yeah, the main character's dad has an obsession with making ships in bottles. Don't ask me why. He just does.) there's even a magical tree.<br /><br />In my opinion, no one should even attempt to put the afterlife on screen because everyone has a different idea of what it is. Personally, I don't think the afterlife exists - just like God doesn't exist. I believe that when you die, you just stop. Your brain shuts down and that's it. It's fine for other people to believe in heaven and paradise and stuff and I wish them well but this is how I see things and I am confident enough of my opinion that death doesn't really worry me. Not my death anyway. Hmm, this review has got rather morbid. But I suppose that sums up The Lovely Bones. It is a horribly morbid film.<br /><br /><br />But the thing I really hated about this film was that I was allowed to watch it. I shouldn't have been allowed in, it should have been a <span style="font-weight:bold;">15.</span> Not a 12A - a <span style="font-weight:bold;">15.</span> I am 2 years above the recommended age limit and I have been completely <span style="font-style:italic;">traumatised</span> by this creepy film. There's one scene where the evil guy is in a bath, cleaning up after murdering the girl, and there's blood and mud everywhere. First of all, it is disgusting! Now that would be okay if the scene was justified, but there doesn't seem to be any point to it. It doesn't add anything to the film, it just doesn't fit. All three of us were confused by that one scene. It's not explained properly and it just adds unnecessary gore and confusion. And the fact that this film scared me certainly doesn't make it a good film! It's a rubbish film with a stupid set-up, a very confusing storyline and a rubbish script. The actors did their best, the creepy man (played by Stanley Tucci I think) was brilliant - he alone is the reason I can no longer feed the rabbit in my garden in the dark without someone next to me or watching from a window. But even exemplary actors could not make up for the poor camera work, lack of interesting plot and stupid film cliches. And I talk about exemplary acting, but the main actress was awful! She was wingey, boring and wet. The voiceover <span style="font-style:italic;">all the way through the film</span> was agonising! I was <span style="font-style:italic;">literally</span> cringing in my seat!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oPoIEryc3aQCaUhTD4Po8ojGEcrrT7ZjkwAI-itwLlCUV_IhGtvSBwp3QSSUaC-uCHeaF0m1ZfVxqY1x8-0fV7ogE-tlhNAXoN7EyFfv74qF2TJ6WzMPsBiKj28ozRMOgFDm0tS9XNc/s1600/the_lovely_bones05.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8oPoIEryc3aQCaUhTD4Po8ojGEcrrT7ZjkwAI-itwLlCUV_IhGtvSBwp3QSSUaC-uCHeaF0m1ZfVxqY1x8-0fV7ogE-tlhNAXoN7EyFfv74qF2TJ6WzMPsBiKj28ozRMOgFDm0tS9XNc/s320/the_lovely_bones05.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462627708082311378" /></a><br />So as you may have gathered, I didn't like this film. I am told that the book is good but creepy, however I have no intention of reading it because I'm only just about getting over my fear of evil child murderers - 3 months after I saw the film (very, <span style="font-style:italic;">very</span> late review - I apologise) As I have said, the one good thing about this film is the spectacular performance by the guy who plays the evil murderer guy. His performance really freaked me out which from an acting point of view, can only be a good thing. Except he's not the one having to feed the rabbit in the dark every night, convinced that there is an axe-murderer hiding in the shadows of the bushes *shiver*.<br /><br />So yes, good evil guy, terrible film. That is all. Goodnight!Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-52022265385933436272010-04-07T17:33:00.003+01:002010-04-07T18:05:26.737+01:00OopsHello. Just a quick blog to explain why there haven't been any blogs recently. I've been horribly, horribly busy. And everything is pretty rubbish at the moment to be honest, despite the fact that its the easter holiday. Having said that, I do have a lot of really fun stuff planned - Billy Elliot (for the 6th time) tomorrow with Emma, sleepover with Izzy at the weekend (we will probably make some sort of film or song like we usually do! Our Silent Movie was legendary!), going to see Jackie Schneider and going to see Allie. Most people reading this blog probably won't have a clue who I'm talking about but as they say 'just go with the flow...' Hmmm. I don't like that phrase anymore. I shall never use it again. <br /><br />Anyhoo, the reason I am so busy and things are rubbish is that granny is in hospital/care home and has been for weeks. Also one of the the cats died and we are all really upset (especially Ben) and we are looking for kittens to cheer us all up but being worried that kittens will finish off the other cat who is still just about alive, staggering around and smelling. Additionally, we went to Wales the other day to stay with our grandparents (not the granny in hospital - it's all very confusing) and my grandpa has alzhiemers and vascular dementia so is very forgetful and agitated which isn't very nice to watch and is awful for Caroline (my step-granny) because he is always getting at her. And its really hard for my dad too because he is seeing his dad deteriorating rapidly which is horrible. AND I have loads of work for the holidays but can't bring myself to do it because I want to stay as far away from school as I can. But I need to do it at some point. Grr. And most of all, all of this has made my mum really stressed and upset and I hate seeing her unhappy. I have been trying to help around the house and stuff and have lots of hugs but I'm not very good at things like this. So I'm really stuck and feeling really low. I apologize for the rambly-ness of this blog but I'm trying to do it quickly so I can get on with a work experience application form. <br /><br />So if I don't do another blog for a while, I'm sorry. When I have a spare moment and I feel like writing, I will do another one but for now you will have to make do with my twitter account which I update a lot because it is quick and satisfying. So bye for now and again, I'm very sorry. :-)Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-21833454635431195292010-03-06T18:41:00.000+00:002010-03-06T18:42:00.843+00:00iPod touch??Hello. This is an experiment blog. I'm seeing if I can blog successfully on my Blogger app on my iPod touch. I am currently listening to a Harry Potter audiobook. I love Harry Potter! Soon there will be a HP Lego game! I'm really looking forward to it. I have a huge collection of HP Lego. It is under my bed at the moment in a big box. I have a Harry Potter phase every year or so, when I read/listen to all the books, play with all my lego, play all the computer games watch all the films and listen to the soundtracks. Tis fun. <br />Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-57281651946072560162010-03-03T20:51:00.010+00:002010-03-07T18:00:42.231+00:00Goooood Evening!Good evening! Due to popular demand, I have decided to do another blog! When I say 'popular demand' I mean a couple of people mentioning that they liked the last blogs - namely my good friend from Germany, Säbba! Säbba is great! He is a really nice friend, he helps me with my German homework and he likes my blog :-) :-) I'm not very good at german and most of our conversations are more in english than german because he is very good at english. He is also <span style="font-weight:bold;">brilliant</span> at making films! This is his website: <a href="http://jotes-studios.de/jotesfilms">http://jotes-studios.de/jotesfilms</a> (not entirely sure how to do hyperlinks)- my favourite film is called 'Fast World' which is here: <a href="http://jotes-studios.de/jotesfilms-fastworld">http://jotes-studios.de/jotesfilms-fastworld</a> - The bit where he speeds up and reverses a rose wilting is <span style="font-style:italic;">amazing!!!</span> (that bit starts about 1 minute, 40 seconds in.)<br />Anyway, onto the main subject of today's blog. I will eventually do one about the BBC and how much I love it but I shall wait until I have more time because that'll take me a long time. Today's blog is about my Granny.<br /><br />My Granny is brilliant. She is always there for me and I love her to pieces! I have very happy memories of being at her house, going back to when I was 4 or 5. We made paper dolls and played imaginary games and board games such as Snakes and Ladders and The House That Jack Built. When I got older, we played Monopoly and Uno, but we always went back to the old classics. She had a lovely little stove which kept the whole house warm and a lovely Grandfather clock which now resides in our dining room because it was too big to fit in Granny's new house when she moved. I adored staying overnight at her house because the evenings were so cosy! We played with paper dolls all afternoon, then ate supper (she always cooks broccoli just how I like it), then had a choc ice (a tradition), then we got ready for bed. I loved that spare room - especially the duvet! I have one quite similar on my own bed, all these years later! We then talked for ages and ages. I always wanted to know about when she was younger or when my mum and aunt were growing up or how she and my grandpa met. These conversations were very special to me and still are! We have similar ones nowadays. I pop in on her almost every day after school because I walk past her house to get to and from school. We have a biscuit rule too - we are only allowed a biscuit on tuesdays, wednesdays and fridays. We very good about this rule! We only ignore it when i've had a rubbish day or an exam. It's lovely to be able to sit down and relax and talk to someone who understands everything I'm talking about. Granny remembers who all the people I'm talking about are and never disapproves of anything I say. Or if she does, she doesn't make it obvious. It is often hard to get up and prepare for the next half mile section of my journey. Sometimes we ring home to let them know that I am on my way - in case I die on the way. This is unlikely but it's better to be safe than sorry! <br /><br />Anyhoo, I'd better stop. I can understand that this blog could have been a bit boring for anyone who isn't a member of my family.... which is most people. But writing about 'the good old times' has made me very nostalgic so it makes me want to write more and more! I just wanted to convey to everyone how much I love my Granny! I didn't even mention Hippo or brioche for breakfast! Oh well. Another time :-) need to go to sleep now. G'night everyone. G'night Granny. XxxxxxxxxMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-40801008889754836662010-02-26T21:22:00.005+00:002010-02-27T21:15:54.915+00:00Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station (Part Three)Hello and welcome to: Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station (Part Three). I honestly did not envisage this story going on as long as it has done, so for that, I profusely apologise. I tend to ramble when I am writing. And talking for that matter. Luckily, I have got out of the habit of doing this at school. Well sort of. I do it a lot less than I used to anyway. But I still do it when writing, so sorry about that!<br /><br />Anyhoo, back to my <span style="font-style:italic;">gripping </span>story! Then we went to the massive boiler room so we had to put our earplugs in again. We were one level above the floor and it was quite a way down and there was only a railing stopping us plummeting to our deaths. I have to admit that I couldn't help thinking, "Oooh Health and Safety wouldn't approve!" I'm sorry but I couldn't stop myself. As we were walking round, Zoe slipped on some water and Emily had to catch her. That really freaked everybody out! We all noticeably slowed down and were more careful as we made our way to the staircase at the end of the platform. At this point, Fred decided to tell us that 2 men had fallen down the chimney things on the roof and had died. Everyone went very quiet and started to hold onto the railing. It took ages to get down the staircase because everyone was taking on step every 5 seconds. Again, I thought to myself, "Oooh those stairs don't look very safe! Have they had the Health and Safety checked?" I am still ashamed of those thoughts :-( Then we went back to the classroomy bit we went to at the begining. Oooh whoops! Forgot to mention the classroomy bit in MAADPS Part One!! Sorry!! Yeah, when we first got to the power station, we went into a classroomy place and got talked to about power stations for a bit. It was very boring but they gave us biscuits! And the diagram of the power station they showed us had lighty-uppy things so that was nice to look at. That was the point when they gave us luminous coats and bob the builder hats and yellow earplugs. Don't know how I managed to forget that! Anyway, so we went back to that place and then realised that 'Oh-my-gosh it's 2 o'clock already!' So we had to get back to the bus quickly and I never got a chance to say goodbye to Fred :-( On the bus, we had to fill in a questionaire about the trip. It was one of those 'strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree etc' questionaires. The questions were things like:<br /><br />1. Did you learn a lot from this tour? (my answer: Strongly agree) <br />2. Did you find this tour useful? (my answer: Strongly agree)<br />3. Did you find this tour enjoyable? (my answer: Strongly agree)<br />4. Are you now considering becoming involved in any aspect of our production in the future (or something like that) - (my answer: agree)<br />5. Are you interested in taking part in future tours? (my answer: Strongly agree)<br />6. How could we improve the tour? (my answer: making the tour longer)<br />7. What are 3 things that you have learnt from this tour? (my answer: ummmm)<br /><br />I think for no.7, I copied someone elses. I did learn something but it's quite hard to list. Looking back on those answers, I look like a real teacher's pet!! Oh well. I really enjoyed myself! Everyone was really suprised that I enjoyed it because from the sound of it, everyone found it boring and tedious. On the way home, I played Cubefield on my iPod touch and texted Emma while she was in German. I'd forgotten she was still in lessons. Oops. At least she didn't get into trouble. She seems to use her phone all the time at school. I'm rubbish at texting secretly. Well I'm rubbish at texting generally. <br /><br />So that concludes the 'Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station' series! Hope you've enjoyed it! I have. I'll admit that it is full of irrelevant waffle. But it was fun to write and I hope fun to read :-) I shall certainly continue blogging because I like doing it and I think that's what matters. Although it is great to have lots of readers! I love you guys! Till next time :-) xxxxMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-36363555649367182662010-02-25T20:55:00.009+00:002010-02-25T22:03:42.973+00:00Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station (Part Two)Hello again! Right, where did I get to? Ah yes! The cooling towers!<br /><br />Then we went into a large building with masses and masses of machinery in it. It was deafening! We had to wear the earplugs we had been given. They were bright yellow. I have always been a bit apprehensive about earplugs. I just don't like the idea of sticking something in your ear. I've always been quite careful about my ears! I try not to go to discos (partly because I hate them - I hate dancing and I hate dressing up and I hate the music the rest of my year like and I hate social events like that) and I have a limit on the volume on my ipod. I think it's stupid having a roaring noise belting into your eardrums. That and numerous discos could completely ruin your hearing! I'm starting to sound like an old fart (excuse the phrase) so I shall go back to describing my 'Adventures At Didcot Power Station' as the title promised! Then we discovered that the lift that would take us up to the control room place was being used by another group being shown around so we had to take the stairs. I continued my enthusiasm, saying "Come on guys! It's good exercise!" Now, those of you who know me will know that a loath exercise so everyone in our party did a double take! Hannah said, " But you hate exersice." I said "Ah, no, I hate <span style="font-style:italic;">sport</span>!" She did still look slightly confused, but I just carried on up the stairs! We got to a sort of viewing area that overlooked the main boiler thingys. There are 4 units apparently. The are all identical (he didn't know whether they were identical to the last pipe when I asked, but he said the plans were all the same) but they work completely separately so that if one breaks down, the others will still run. They do something to do with boiling something which makes something else happen. It all got a bit confusing but it was good to look at! Then Fred showed us the shifts of engineers. They work shifts of 12 hours but they get about 15 days off a month - 8 all in one go at one point! I was debating in my head whether I should consider being an engineer in later life because I loved the sound of 8 days off in a row! But then I decided that, no. It wasn't the right career path for me. BUT... <span style="font-style:italic;">then</span> we went to see the control room. There are 4 areas of control panel desks and 9 MASSIVE screens - 3 for each unit. Apparently, the computer engineer staff people stay at their desks all day working the computers and making sure nothing goes wrong. Fred said "They even have their lunch in there!" At the word 'lunch', I decided that <span style="font-style:italic;">this</span> was the job for me! Sitting at a computer all day, chatting and eating lunch! Sounds like my perfect job! Well, my <span style="font-weight:bold;">perfect</span> job would be doing something or other at the BBC, preferably radio and preferably Radio 4 or 5live! But being a computer person who eats lunch would be almost as good! I wonder if they have any pasta.... Anyway, I'd better go to bed now. But 'Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station Part Three' will be up some time tomorrow, probably about 10pm because that's when I seem to be doing most of my blogs - just before bed! Right then, G'night everyone! xxxxxMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-74094286757051518332010-02-24T21:35:00.006+00:002010-02-24T22:14:04.613+00:00Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station (Part One)Today I went to a power station for a school trip! I was expecting it to be really, really boring because other people who had been before said it was just walking round, trying to hear a boring man talking over the racket the generator thingys were making. But I was pleasantly surprised! I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and I really want to go again. We were all given yellow hard hats and luminous jackets, so I had a great time pretending to be Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam! I have to confess that I do have the theme tunes of both those programs on my ipod - along with Postman Pat, Noddy, William's Wish Wellingtons etc. The 90's was the best decade for children's telly. I'm sure many people would disagree with me but that's what I think. Anyhoo, we got into groups of about 5 or 6 and were assigned to a guide and off we went. Since everyone else looked bored and uninspired, I decided that we needed some enthusiasm to get us through the day so I started acting very enthusiastically, saying things like "Right! Lets go!" or "Come on guys!" and asking our guide lots of questions. Our guide was called Fred and he was lovely! First of all, we talked about the process of electricity generation at the power station, eg. burning coal, putting it through a turbine, doing something with a generator and a transformer and huge towers. This went on for a while and it was really interesting. Then I asked him about the implications the miners strike had had on the power station. This turned into a long political discussion about the effects of privatisation and the Tories *shudder* and the economy. I found this immensely enjoyable! Then we went somewhere else and Fred explained about the cooling towers (the massive chimneys like at the beginning of the simpsons) which was fascinating! Everyone thinks the smoke coming out of the top is a really dangerous pollutant but actually it's just condensated water! Its ironic because the really lethal gases are clear so you wouldn't be able to see them anyway! <br /><br />Anyway, I need to go to sleep (in bed on my itouch again!) so I shall continue this story tomorrow in 'Meg's Adventures At Didcot Power Station Part 2!" I'm sure everyone is looking forward to it! And even if they aren't, I'll still write it because I'm really enjoying doing this blog! <br /><br />N'night xxxxxxxMeg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-75026982665424924482010-02-22T21:26:00.006+00:002010-02-22T22:50:02.634+00:00Books :-)I received some 'constructive criticism' from my mum yesterday. She said not to start my blogs saying 'ummm.... not sure what to say...' etc because it gets boring. Which is perfectly true so I wont. <div><br /></div><div>Back to school today and everything is pretty much the same. I've got 3 GCSE exams in the next 2 weeks - maths, history and science. Fun fun fun! Oh well, once they're done, I can forget about them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Todays (short) blog is about books I have decided. I happen to be reading 5 books at the moment. They are all really interesting but it's quite hard to read 5 books at once. I am re-reading a book about how Russell T Davies wrote Doctor Who scripts. It's a very good book! I am also reading Mark Kermode's book about his life and films. I haven't got very far in that one. And I'm reading my great friend Allie's book which I am really enjoying. It is my school reading book because we have 10 mins at the start of each lesson to read because it's meant to boost our vocabulary - which it does. I am reading Allie's book most at the moment because I don't have a huge amount of time for reading at home at the moment what with work and stuff. I did more reading in half term. Umm... and I'm reading a book called English History 1914-1945 which is very interesting but the print is tiny and it uses very advanced language. It takes me 5 minutes to read every page! I'm only on page 25 or something. Anyway, I'm reading a book about money and banks too, so I can understand the recession and everything. I can proudly announce that I finally understand Interest!<br /></div><div> Right, I'd better go to sleep. I have been writing this in my bed on my iPod touch! Ok then, nighty night! xxxx<br /><br /></div>Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-30136387177337251072010-02-21T15:36:00.003+00:002010-02-21T17:32:14.293+00:00Hello againRight! Blog number 2! Err... not really sure what to say in this one. I'm not doing anything very interesting at the moment - english essay. Actually, I'm also eating a Thornton's chocolate santa which I have only just got round to eating. I got SO much chocolate for christmas! I'm gradually getting through it all. Just finished my massive slab of Hotel Chocolat Rocky Road - it was delicious!<div>Anyway, my good friend Emma gave me this santa as a present and she even got them to put my name on it! Awww :-) So now I need to work out how to post pictures.... ah, I see. There's a button saying 'Add Image.' I shall click that!</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvHIbOOIUUO58mNSk-Sz9-y6m_kS70nbG6Itu1Bu5rqIA8Tb0ppJ4AhdwmVgc-Nzgv2bgQnOUG3e11TMBJvo9eyFKrFszAv0bACNKw-JhHcGfSGxfj1KO7pz6-IYft4D1FWyInqRLygM/s1600-h/Picture+48.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvHIbOOIUUO58mNSk-Sz9-y6m_kS70nbG6Itu1Bu5rqIA8Tb0ppJ4AhdwmVgc-Nzgv2bgQnOUG3e11TMBJvo9eyFKrFszAv0bACNKw-JhHcGfSGxfj1KO7pz6-IYft4D1FWyInqRLygM/s320/Picture+48.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440746338129920178" /></a>There we go! Not a great quality picture, I took it on my webcam. Ah well :-)<div>Anyhoo, not sure why I'm going on about chocolate. I shall go on about Twitter instead. </div><div><br /></div><div>I joined Twitter in January last year. It was just before Jonathan Ross came back to the BBC after being off for 3 months. I was googling him because I wanted to know when he was coming back. Then I came across his Twitter page. I had literally no idea what it was about - it took me a while to realised that the most recent post was at the top and past ones were below. Then I found Stephen Fry's account. I asked my mum if I could have an account like a good little girl and she said I could so I did! I quickly worked out how it worked and really started to enjoy it. Excited by my new discovery, I went straight on to MSN and asked all my friends to join. Most of them weren't as excited as me and did a couple of updates and left it at that. But a few months later, my good friends Emma and Izzy became as addicted as me! And I got my mum to sign up too! She loves it!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Since then, I have made loads of Twitter friends. Well... a few. But everyone is really nice! I don't have Facebook though. Not sure why. I suppose I see Twitter as a lot more sophisticated and adult which is what I prefer. I can tweet about politics and my views and Billy Elliot without being told I'm weird, which is nice :-) I really like the atmosphere. I have Twitter friends from all over the world - Germany, USA, Sweden, UK, umm think thats it. Well 4 countries is a good start. I'm begining to ramble so I think I should stop.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for reading! </div><div><br /></div><div>Meg xx</div>Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1601781410930598991.post-27170384534495218882010-02-20T20:00:00.003+00:002011-06-10T22:04:03.576+01:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Umm... hullo. I have finally decided to start a blog. Not sure whether I'll be very good at it but I'll give it a go! Should be fun! Please dismiss any spelling/grammar mistakes. :-)</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm babysitting my brother tonight because my parents are having a meal at a friends house. The occasional cackle of laughter or excited shout can be heard through the wall that divides our rooms. This is normal for when he is playing a computer/wii/ds game. I sometimes hear, "Meg! Come and look at this!" which is the signal to go and observe what he is doing, make a comment and be told an interesting fact about Nintendo or Mario or game controls or something like that. These facts can go on for several minutes. Ben can memorise paragraphs and paragraphs of Wikipedia articles about his favourite subjects. This will probably serve him very well in future exams (although he is only in year 6) however, he is very selective of what he remembers. It is generally about Mario, Nintendo, Sonic the Hedgehog, stickmen or computers. He comes out with this stuff most meal times and, although we are very impressed, it can get a bit tiring.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I should probably stop writing this blog now because I need to do some maths homework. And then tomorrow I need to finish my english essay, write some stuff about poems and finish my review of a film I </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">hated</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> - from the point of view of a Christian. I have to say whether it represented Christianity well - which it did. So I have to write a positive review of it even though it was the worst film I have seen for ages! This blog has become quite negative now so I must stop.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Byebye :-)</span></span></div><div><br /></div>Meg Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09586170234500201738noreply@blogger.com6