Two parties, two nights

OK, I've been to two parties this weekend and y'know what? I think I preferred it when I had not social life to speak of. It was so much less tiring!

Anyway, yesterday painted an awesome pic of an arctic fox (like Townsen!!! Love Townsen. To find out who Townsen is, click 'Abominable Charles Christopher' in 'Online Comics' down below).
Either way, it was fab. Tried to reproduce on canvas today. Didn't work out so well... *sigh*

Anyway, interesting times. Last night went to a slightly posh party (for an 18th, anyway). Parents served cocktails (strawberry cocktail. Yum) and then some fancy nibbles and cake. Very fancy. But there was beer as well. Abominably loud music.

Party tonight was more fun. More people I knew there, and had some fun times. Unfortunately, needed to get a lift, which meant I had to leave early :( But I am tired, so maybe it's for the best. Also, a friend was getting a little... promiscuous when she had too much to drink. Very worrying. Especially when she gets a little intimate with a friend. That must make things awkward O_o Had a vodka and coke. Vodka doesn't taste that nice with coke... rum is better. But, with my inexperience of mixing drinks, I think I put too much vodka in the cup O_o Oh well, it was fiiiiiiine.... Then had two beers. Well, one and a half while there. Finished the second at home. Still drinking it, actually. I try to make a point never to drink too much. I'm ridiculously careful.

Now I'm talking to my friend about the Jungle Book, for some reason, and we're comparing King Louis to a teacher in our school. We even once heard him singing the song 'King of the Swingers' O_o And this is man was the Vice Principal for a while. Our school is awesome :D

Anyway, sleep beckons. Away, to the realm of dreams and wonder!

Exams and other things

Exams are OVER! Yay! Sort of. It's feeling a little anti-climactic...
On the upside, my friend linked me to an image of drowning lemmings! Yay!
Well... not that yay. Another friend posted pics of adorable baby animals to cheer me up and under that someone posted, you guessed it, lemmings being pushed off a cliff by Disney.

I have strange friends.

Anyway, had my Japanese exam today. That went quite badly. Oh dear. Nihongo wa kantan ja nai...
History not that bad, but not fab. Had to write about Anglo-Irish Treaty Negotiations. THAT was fun... *facepalm*
Stalin and Lenin: Totalitarianism. A more interesting topic, yet couldn't remember a thing. Annoying.
Hitler's foreign policy before World War 2. Um, declare war? Maybe? No, I know there was Lebensraum, Anschluss and... bleh. Dunno. I know he invade Czechoslavakia before war broke out, and militarised the Rhineland... but I'm not sure what counts as foreign policy and what's domestic. Oh! And he expanded the army, and built weapons, which helped the economy. Say what you like about Hitler, but he really did help the economy...
Just kidding. Please don't kill me *quails*

In more interesting news!
Music! Great new band: The Farewell Circuit!
Also liking The National :)

Today had an interesting conversation about dreams. A friend, H, had a dream last night in which there were two elephants in the room. Real elephants. Not the phrase. She has an attic bedroom, and in her dream the baby elephant (it was a mommy and a baby, you see) wanted to go down stairs. So she picked it up, as you do, and carried it down. Dream!Holly is apparently incredibly strong. But it didn't like being downstairs, so she carried it back up. In her dream, this made perfect sense.
We told tales of sleep-walking and sleep-talking (I once started talking to the dog I seemed to think was beside me in sleep and trying to pet it, while my brother was unfortunately in the room and saw me doing this),  and then tales of drunken orals, for some reason. The moral of THAT story was clearly do not go into your French oral drunk, because you will end up speaking in English in a French accent. Which is a bad idea, generally. Just a tip.

I'm knitting a Hufflepuff scarf. The summer after next I mean to go to a Harry Potter convention in the States. Yeah, I said it. We just don't have those here. And I really want to meet Team Starkid, and they might be there! That'd be coooool. But I want to knit my Hufflepuff scarf and embroider 'FIND' on the end. Fun fun.
Didn't you know? I'm a Hufflepuff. I know most HP quizzes tell me I'm a Gryffindor, but I think that, deep down, I'm a 'Puff. They're very under-rated. Just think of all the great, and admittedly barely mentioned, Hufflepuffs! There was Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts Champion and great Quidditch player. There was Susan Bones, whose aunt was awesome, whose relatives were in the Order and who was in the DA herself and hexed Malfoy. She's just cool (I like obscure characters *shrugs*). Best of all: NYMPHADORA TONKS. She's fab. And a Hufflepuff. So there. Case closed. So I want to be a 'Puff, and since none of it exists I figure I can be, Muggle or no!

Nerd spiel over, exam ranting over, for now.

TO DO list for the mid-term break (off for a week, woot!):
History project on Che Guevara
Japanese study
History Study
Painting (arctic scene, or fuzzy animal?)
Guitar -- practice Fast Car + learn new song
Writing -- new chapter of LITS. What's LITS you ask? Nothing but fanfiction, I'm afraid...
           -- also, work on original story idea that I had in the middle of the night last week. That was inconvenient. Had to get up and write it down :P
Reading -- New Mistress of the Art of Death book, + Bridget Jones' Diary + The Name of the Rose
Knitting
Listen to all those CDs I have
Spy* on Maynooth College
Spy on Trinity College
Spy on UCD
Go see the King's Speech
Go see Black Swan
Go see Tangled.

I've come to the conclusion that, even during a week's break, there are still not enough hours int the day...

Sayonara! Sleep beckons!

* My friends and I are going to take a look around colleges to help us decide. Technically you're allowed, but it's more fun if it's spying. Dark glassed, dark coats, theme music, flattening against walls... such fun

THEME SONG: Duder's A Spy (from Little White Lie)

Harry Potter Fridge Logic - how much of a nerd am I?

OK, I've adored these books since I was six years of age and my brother read the Philosopher's Stone to me. He then refused to read the Chamber of Secrets to me (the third one wasn't even out then!) and so I had to read it myself. This was how I discovered that I actually loved reading. So this can all be blamed on my brother, really. Damn his hide... :P Nah, gotta love it.
But I've read the books over and over since then. I am a gigantic Harry Potter nerd. I know almost everything there is to know about the books (don't ask about the movies. Despise them).

Just now, I was reading the third HP book while I should have been studying (er... oops?) and I suddenly lrealised - didn't Dumbledore very DEFINITELY know about the tunnel  between Hogsmeade and Hogwarts through the Shrieking Shack? He planted the Womping Willow there and everything! So, when Sirius Black was on the loose, why didn't he think to block it or guard it? Sirius obviously knew about it... after whole 'trying to kill Snape' incident that Dumbledore tells Harry about in the first book!
The other passages is understandable, Dumbledore might not know about those, but why did he make it so easy for Sirius? He thought Sirius was guilty... I'm just confused.

Believe it or not, I never thought about this before. Maybe you did. I can be slow. F'rinstance, I didn't notice that the Mirror of Erised's mysterious writing around the frame was 'I show not your face but your heart's desire' backwards until a year or so ago. Hey, my defense is that I decided it was gibberish when I was six, not really an age for great deductive thinking, and then took it for granted when I was older, just skipping past the strange language. *shrugs*
Similar thing here. I just took it for granted that Dumbledore didn't know about all the secret passages. But he clearly did know about that one... Ugh. 10 year Fridge Logic.

For anyone who does not know what Fridge Logic is (a lot of people, probably... it's another Nerd Term :P) read this page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeLogic
For anyone who can't be bothered reading that, Fridge Logic is when something seems to make perfect sense, but later (for example, when you're down in the kitchen getting a midnight snack) you suddenly realise 'Hey! That doesn't make sense!' and you notice that there was a giant plot hole that you overlooked.
Fridge Brilliance is the opposite. Don't relevant enough to explain. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeBrilliance

WARNING: It is all too easy to get stuck on tvtropes. It's highly addictive, for all it's nerdy information. Yet one of the most intelligent websites I've read. Because of its nerd population. Particularly interesting if you do have a great love for books or movies. Or TV. Or anything, really.

Anyway: Any theories on the whole Harry Potter issue? Defense of ol' Dumbles? Do share.

English Exam

My English Paper 1 Mock is the day after tomorrow *gasp*.

I quite like English, though. I'm fairly good at it. I like Paper 1 especially. It's just comprehensions and a short story. Easy, and I love writing short stories. Great fun. Quite a bit of pressure on this one, though O_o

Paper 2 is on Wednesday. That's poetry (Eavan Boland, Robert Frost, W.B. Yeats, G.M. Hopkins, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth. They'll ask me about one of them, so I have to know all of them), for which I seriously need to memorise my damn quotes, Hamlet, for which I also need to learn my quotes, and the Comparatives Studies question, in which I must compare The Kiter Runner, Emma, and Casablanca. What fun.... I hate Paper 2. So much to remember...

POETRY

Robert Frost: Very pretty poetry, but can be a little depressing.... Mostly I like, because of excellent imagery and style, beautifully expressed emotions and interesting speculations ('Design', creepy O_o).

Eavan Boland: Sort of pretentious, but tells a good story, and I appreciate the Greek Mythological references. My opinion on her poetry varies greatly depending on my mood.

Yeats: Beautiful imagery, beautiful style, very structured and intelligent. On the other hand, he's rather judgmental and a bit of a snob.

Hopkins: Nice enough, a bit strange and manic. Over-zealous in his religion, perhaps. Yet I adore the poem 'The Windhover'. Beautiful.

Dickinson: Delightfully insane. Quite like her. Hard to learn, though... Gotta love those hyphens :P

Wordsworth: Flowery language, delight in life and the world around him, beautiful imagery and beautiful ideas. Lovely. Possibly says bad things about me that this is exactly what I like. Probably shows me to be a little naive.

Hamlet

The title character is a little... whiny. I know his father just died, I know he is being told to kill someone, I know everything is falling to shit. But.... I don't know, it just makes him a little unlikable. All the evidence we have that Hamlet is a great guy is many people telling us that he's a lovely person. But he's not showing it, to be honest. Also, it's supposed to be a deep flaw in his character that he procrastinates killing Claudius. I suppose one could take the view that if Hamlet had killed Claudius sooner, then most of the characters would still be alive. One the other hand - would it have been morally right? Revenge is not the same as justice. Justice must be seen. I would see Hamlet's inability (for most of the play, anyway...) as a virtue. And didn't we see what happened when Laertes went the other way? That, equally, led to many deaths, including his own.
Also, Ophelia: I hate her. She's rather weak, and simpering. She's an awful female character, as is Gertrude. They're incredibly pathetic. Though the play I saw recently did include a slightly more ballsy, less whiny, more insane Ophelia than I envisioned from watching, so there you go. You never can tell.
In a far less intelligent analysis, I kind of like Claudius because he's just so much like Scar, from The Lion King. Because Hamlet is Simba. Everyone knows that :D Ophelia is Nala, though she wishes she were that cool. Does that mean the Hyena's are Rosencrantz and Gildenstern? Hmm...

And these are the things I think about. Scary insight, no?

Quote: "There is something rotten in Denmark, and it's that piss-poor attitude of his!"
"He has been rather hard to deal with lately..."
"Ophelia, he stabbed your dad through a curtain!"
~ Sassy Gay Friend: Hamlet -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvgq8STMGM

"Hey! Hamlet... is like a Ham Omelette!" ~ A friend of mine. Gotta love her ^_^

Irish Oral

It went fine. Mostly. Could've gone worse. Dunno what I got.... but still, I don't think I failed or anything... have to wait and see :( I was scared to ask xD

I'll do better in the real thing. I have to! Now I need to give myself a motivational speech - excuse me a moment...

...

OK, all done. It wasn't a very long speech, considering...  I'm crap at self-motivation. Anyone want to give me a pep talk off the top of their head? Go on, hit me. Can't be much worse than mine!

Did you notice my new and improved page? I actually added LINKS and LISTS to the end! Finally. Yeah. Looks quite shiny. I have links to Youtube vids down there, such as A Very Potter Musical, I have book lists and movie lists and music lists and even *gasp* a fanfic list, of some of my favourite fanfics. Mostly Harry Potter - be warned xD
And my lion - pretty cool, huh? I drew him a couple o' years ago, and quite liked him. Then I scanned him onto the computer and turned the image negative and WHOA! Instantly awesome! 'Twas fab. So he became my sig. Modified the image slightly to fit on this site. I need a better logo/signature beside him, so I've been designing one today, to block out the awful Irish memories.
Got asked a Modh Coinniolach question. For those of you who are not Irish, An Modh Coinniolach is the conditional tense, and we don't like it xD It's a little awkward. But Des Bishop (American comedian, learned Irish, and did a series on it) had a brilliantly hilarious joke about it. Might not get it if you don't speak any Irish, but you might *shrugs*. If you DO speak Irish, it's frickin' hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfLuFHdUG6k

In other news, my older brother got a beautiful new guitar for his birthday. Attempting to keep the jealousy in check and not become the Incredible Hulk. Not the most attractive of people, to say the least.

Guitar

Enough of depressing things! Time for a little personal philosophy.

Is music not the most wondrous of human creations? Well, along with storytelling and art. These are the things that make us human. Our imaginations and interpretations of sounds and expression are what makes us different. Our intelligence has evolved to the point that we know longer just think about what is, but what could be.

It is the ability to ponder what exists outside of our little world that makes us truly special. We wonder if there is a God - and interesting question, one that has seemingly been asked for many thousands of years. Many different cultures, very diverse in methods of living and surroundings, often come to the conclusion that something else exists. That we are not alone. They wonder how we have been created, how we should live, what will happen in the future. Has any other creature on this earth wondered such things? Doubtful...

But this leads to many of the most beautiful and awful things, such as love, hate, revenge, empathy, understanding, kindness. Creative cruelty. War.

But it also creates music, emotions and stories expressed through sounds. It's beautiful and wonderful.

I was playing guitar a lot today, after my oral. I'm not very good. Pretty bad, actually. But it makes me feel... whole. Not always happy, 'cause I might be singing a sad song, but at peace. My fingers are sore now, though xD But I love it so much. Wish I could play the piano. Never had the patience though. Ah well.

Do y'know what's an awesome instrument? Violin. It'd be amazing to be able to play the violin. It's just amazing, in both classical pieces and more modern music - it just makes any rock song infinitely cooler to have a violin.

I love to sing, as well. I sing while playing. It's the main reason I play guitar, so I can sing. Just wish I was better, so I would be able to play some of my favourite songs.

I'll post about the Oral tomorrow. No one cares about the oral anyway :P

OK, done philosophising about Life, the Universe and Everything.

Quote:


"Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it."


~ The philosophy of Wen the Eternally Surprised, from Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett


Always thought that, for all the jokes of these books, they often managed to be surprisingly beautiful.


"Against one perfect moment, the centuries beat in vain" ~ Wen

Storms, Irish and Pancakes

Gale force winds, terrifying. Almost got blown onto the road today O_o I was on my way to an Open Day at a college for PLCs (Post Leaving Cert.), for those (generally) who either don't wish to go to college or don't make  the points. It's my back up, just in case. It's a creative writing course because, surprise surprise, I adore creative writing. It's what I want to do with my life. It's my calling. In the meantime ('cause I'm just not good enough yet) I'm gonna study History and English. Unless I fail my LC, in which case Creative Writing course! Woot! I'm sure it'll be awesome, and it can lead to English in NUI Maynooth. So, it's a possibility.
How did I get onto that? Oh, right, the wind. It tried to KILL ME.

But, earlier today, I had to fill in a questionnaire type dealy for my Yearbook. Mostly funny questions. For example, one question was

Who (couple) will most likely end up married?
Almost everyone I know suggested two girls who (while being straight, to the best of my knowledge) are very close best friends and have declared themselves married. And many people said Hannah would be President of Ireland some day xD

My one was mainly just filled with obscure quotes, even more obscure songs and random facts. For example:
Where will you be in 10 years?
On Mars, with Rumbleroar. He's a lion - who can talk.

Theme song of your life at the moment?
Knuckleball Suite by Peter Mulvey (a song all about remembering a special place and time, filled with people who were a part of it. Reminded me of my school, which I'll be leaving soon T_T)

Favourite quotes/words of wisdom?
"When I rule the world I'll have SNAKES"
and
"Trains are beautiful wizards!" Just 'cause it's confusing xD
I suggested that Kim's words of wisdom be 'You think killing people will make them like you, but it doesn't. It just makes them dead.' Brilliant.

Anyway, that's just funny. They also asked my first year crush O_o I'm not going to TELL them that! Even if I could remember who they were (which I'm not sure I can, the years tend to blend together a little...) it would be mortifying. Why would I tell them that??? Apparently some people filled that in, though *shrugs* Some people are crazy.

Went to Hamlet last night. Surprisingly hilarious, but a slightly odd interpretation at times... For one, they went a bit Freudian with Hamlet and his mother, with Hamlet (during the closet scene) dry humping his mother's leg like a dog, as a classmate so eloquently put it. My English teacher was somewhat aghast at this phrasing (she said 'made sexual advances' may have been more fitting) but mostly we all agreed that that was really the only way you could accurately put it. Another weird factor was that Horatio was a woman... And no, not just being played by a woman, but was acknowledged in the play to BE a woman. Which added a strange new layer to Hamlet and Horatio's relationship... Then again, a friend of mine was convinced, even within the original version (with a male Horatio) that there was a little something there. Sexual tension, love - something.

My friends and I have strange conversations. Anyway, Ophelia's actress was fairly amazing. She had much more personality and fire than I envisioned her when reading the play - in which she seemed slightly pathetic as a woman, let's be honest. But this one was fab. She portrayed such confusion, and love, and anger and betrayal - beautiful. And her insanity scene - brilliant. She tore out her hair and handed it to people instead of flowers! Creepier, far more manic interpretation, in comparison to the slight whimsy of the original (or the impression I got from reading).

Hamlet, too, was far more manic, and less mopey, than I originally perceived. Very well done. I didn't think he was very good at the start, but he just got better and better. Very funny, especially when baffling Polonius.

I loved the way the play managed so well to make small, insignificant characters some of my favourites. Rosencrantz and Gildenstern - so very hilarious! I loved them.

My favourite though (which is odd, 'cause I hated him when reading the play) was Polonius. His actor was amazing, Very very funny, great presence - yet there was practically a Large Ham warning, in the way he entered a room. Brilliant. So oily and slimy and such a suck up, yet I loved him. The same actor, after Polonius had died, played the Comic Gravedigger, also brilliant.

It's weird, but almost all Shakespeare makes me think of Discworld (series by Terry Pratchett) at some point or other. The curse (and joy) of having read Wyrd Sisters (parody of Shakespeare, mainly Macbeth and Hamlet). But there was a gravedigger in Night Watch called Legitimate First (his mother was very proud...), who was reprimanded by Sergeant Colon:

"Stop that right now. You know you've been warned before. None of that 'comic gravedigger' stuff. It's not funny and it's not clever."

Just makes me laugh whenever I think about it during Hamlet. Oh dear... Best not write any of that on my Leaving Cert.... Wouldn't go down well.

IRISH ORAL:

It's tomorrow, folks. The shit is about to hit the fan. In fact, me writing all this crap is mostly just slightly-constructive (but not very) procrastination. That's right. You, my dear imaginary readers, are being used. I'm sorry. Sort of.
Oh well. I hate Irish much worse than I hate French. Ugh.
Is mise Cáit Ní ---, conas atá tú? Tá tuirse an domhain orm! Tá mé go holc!!
What's upsetting is that I actually love the IDEA of learning the ancient language of my country, that was stolen from us centuries ago yet never completely relinquished. It sounds romantic, no? I love the way the words sound, I love the history behind it, I love the language and it's connection to my country. I HATE exams!!! They kill everything. I hate Irish because it's hard, but it SHOULD be something I love. *sigh*
Is fuath liom Gaeilge (I hate Irish). Tá sé an-deacair.
Cáit is ainm dom - my name is Kate. Pronounced: Coyt (sort of...) iss a-nim dum. Just in case you were wondering, dear make-believe person.

Tomorrow I make Canadian-style pancakes following my exam. Because I'll need cheering up, and I love pancakes. They're my aunt's recipe, she's been living in Canada for the past... I dunno, 20 years? *shrugs* My cousins are Canadian, born there, but obviously half Irish. Their other half is genetically Indian, culturally from British Guiana (in South America). So, interesting blend there. So I get to have a healthy amount of jealousy for my favourite cousin (closest in my age while being the same gender) Priya, who has beautiful coffee coloured skin, exotic black hair and beautiful features. What do my genetics give me? Pale skin - ridiculously so, I burn, don't tan - and red hair. Oh the Irish... ugh. Why couldn't my dad have Indian blood? Aside from the fact that no Indians ever really lived in Ireland until recently... And, even now, not many.

How did I get this from 'pancakes'? I'm just chattering too much to distract myself. Ugh.
Pancakes: delicious. We have maple syrup from our trip to jolly old Canadia last summer. I'll have that. And maybe some nutella... mmm, chocolatey goodness....

OK, I think I should stop now. Rereading the Kite Runner for pretend revision (doing it for the LC, comparative studies - Kite Runner, Emma and Casablance, excellent choices - but just love that book and want to reread it). So beautiful...

"For you, a thousand times over"

Hamlet - to go or not to go? Now THAT'S a question...

Not really though. I'm going. Have to. The Mocks are next week, and I haven't seen it yet and it's on my course. So I really need to see it. But I'm just so tired and just so annoyed and I had an Art exam today and I'm just in a REALLY bad mood...

Quite a turn around from the last post, huh? I'm not in the mood to get hyped up right now, but the concert was AMAZING, everything I hoped and more. More on that when I have the time, because I want to make sure I remember as much as possible for ever and ever.

Also good: had Fried Rice Friday today. Yes, I know it's a Thursday. I'll explain another time. But FRF is the best thing in the world, and it stops Thursday from being supremely awful every week.

Irish class may be kind of shit, but at least I get fried rice. Teacher gets mad because I don't have the homework? Well, at least I get fried rice. It also helps that, as a sixth year, I'm allowed leave the school during Lunch to get my fried rice, and it's a rather nice feeling, getting OUT of the school for just twenty minutes. A feeling of release. Possibly one of the reasons I like FRF so much. Can leave other days, but there's never as much of a need or an excuse. 'Sides, I always end up spending way too much money when I go, so I try limit my self to twice a week, tops.

Anyway, I've got deviance to see and a novel to finish.
Not really. It's a quote. Can anyone (of my imaginary readers) remember the film? Watched it the other day, again. Love it.
But I AM going to a play. So I'ma gonna skidaddle (if that's how you spell that made up word).

B'bye now!

Freelance Whales

In just four hours!!

!!!

So excited!

Can't even type properly. Gonna get ready.