Musings of a Perfectionist

Exams are over (for now)! Yay! I'm sorry if you personally are still doing exams, or looking forward to them, but I'm happy now. Not that I was too stressed, but it was exhausting and I'm so incredibly glad that they're over. Until next year, anyway. But that's after Christmas and all, so I'm not too worried. No fear, I will be doing some revision over the holidays, mostly because 'The Forgotten Ones' will have been published (17 days!) but also because it is good to do small (SMALL!) bits of revision over a longer period of time than to cram it all near the actual exams. I read an interesting article in The Guardian about this. Don't stress yourself out too much over the holidays though- make sure that you relax and actually enjoy Christmas. Personally, I'm not going to start relaxing until after my flute exam (Grade 6 yay), which is on Saturday. I practised with my accompaniest today and, while it didn't go terribly wrong, ...

My friend (the artist one who is designing the cover for my book) and I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody yesterday in the cinema, and it was amazing!! We both love Queen, and we both spent most of the film crying, but I urge you to see it (either in the cinema or when it comes out). There was a scene in the film where Freddie Mercury has bought a mansion and says that each of his cats has their own room. Eliza just looked at me and I knew she was looking at me. I'm going to be a mad cat lady when I'm older, and apparently, I'm going to be rich and famous with a mansion so that each of my cats can have their own room. Yay? What's wrong with cats though? There's nothing wrong with being a mad cat lady (trust me). And I'll have a mansion. But I just thought I'd share this with you, as well as urge you to see Bohemian Rhapsody at some point.

Hi! Well, I made it through the week of exams- although I did have an interesting Thursday (as predicted...) But I haven't really done anything but revise for the past week, which is a bit worrying. The date of release is fast approaching and I have so much to do (aghh) and I also have a flute exam next week that I need to practice for. Yay. First of all, there is something that I accidentally stumbled upon this morning while poaching eggs for breakfast and it is really, very annoying. Classic english grammar rules- no one says 'an European' because it is actually 'a European'. Even though 'an' + vowel is grammatically correct. I hate English. Also, speaking of language, I've noticed that I've started using French grammar when speaking English. As in, 'the dog black'. Which is quite a big problem as I honestly believe it's correct when I say it. What else do I do? Oh! Of course- I often forget words and so have to...

So, I've only had two days of exams and I'm already completely exhausted. I'm not even that stressed about the actual exams/grades and stuff, it's just that doing exams wiped you out both mentally and emotionally. But Thursday, I'll be a mess. 😢 But that's not for a few days now, and I'm sure that you have some knowledge of how you feel during exam season! It's such fun, isn't it? However, as delightful as this topic is, that's not what I actually wanted to talk about in this post. And the next thing that I'm going to say is not the main topic either (not that I actually say anything- it's you who is reading this in your head, with that weird little voice). Next thing (on the list of things): 'THE FORGOTTEN ONES' WILL BE PUBLISHED IN 25 DAYS! That's Saturday 15th December , by the way. For regular reminders, like my Facebook page (@larahagger) and/or follow my Instagram page (@lara.h258). Make sure that you also s...

Hi! I'm back again, don't worry. Basically, I haven't written anything for (what seems like) ages because I simply haven't had the motivation. It's been a sad time. And, because I still don't have anything to say (apart from yay exams are soon) I've gone to Pinterest (handy, isn't it) to find an idea for a blog post. Isn't that sweet. So, without further ado, welcome to today's post: the top ten things that make you really happy! What is happiness? According to the wonderful Google, happiness is   that feeling that comes over you when you know life is good and you can't help but smile. It's the opposite of sadness.  Happiness  is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel  happiness . Therefore it's pretty subjective, isn't it? What makes me happy might make you sad, so while this list might not mean anything to you, I think that everyone should think a...

Good news, guys! I had another Values and Experiences Day at school today (slowly counting down the days until I don't have to have one ever again) and so I have some more information for you all! I can almost hear the cheering. It started with revising for quite a few hours, so I spent (however long) making Biology flashcards and totally not talking to my friend at all. Then we had the *wonderful* experience of learning about various STDs. The images will forever be seared into my mind. Basically, kids, don't have sex and you'll be okay. After this fun experience, we had a session about stress and happiness. The first question put to us was this: what makes you stressed? It tells you a lot about the mental health of teenagers nowadays that mostly everyone said something about exams, revision, the future, and life in general. But, as the government seems to be doing, let's just ignore that, shall we? To 'make' ourselves happy, we...

Good morning, everyone. Today, as you probably know, is Armistice Day, and as it is 2018, it signifies 100 years since the end of the Great War that swept across the globe. Even though it was 100 years ago, I feel that it is still incredibly important today, and I guess everyone else does too, as poppies are still worn. When you're younger, it's just a day when you listened to someone play The Last Post and Reveille in assembly, but as I've grown older and I've learnt more about the war, it's definitely a time to think and reflect and pray for all those who were affected. The end of the war signified the end of a major conflict, yes, and it also brought a beginning to a worldwide (apart from Australia) pandemic (Spanish Influenza) and eventually lead to WW2. And that's why at the church service we have, we remember all those who have served in all wars, even more modern ones. At school, we had a House competition where each form had to make a poppy wreat...

Good evening, folks. Today was an eventful day in all areas, linking back to two previous posts-  Geography Fieldwork  and  visiting a Sixth Form . Also, as I'm writing this, my cat is trying to sit on my laptop, so some of this may make no sense. Let's start with the Geography Trip, shall we? Basically, we went to London to research the effectiveness of cycling schemes (hint: not too effective). We had to tally up modes of transport and (the best bit), we had to ask the public questions about their use of the cycles. We ended up getting told that we couldn't talk to people where we were talking to them, which was strange and also funny at the same time. Then we went to the Olympic Park (one of our many case studies is about it) and had a very very quick look around, before we went back home. (I slept on the way back. I'm pretty sure I'm secretly a cat- I woke up when we were about 15 minutes from school, told myself to stay awake, then went to sleep again...

Happy burning Catholics day! I'm joking, of course. But, don't you think it's a bit weird that we still light fireworks and 'celebrate' the King nearly getting blown up by a group of desperate Catholics? It's an incredibly bizarre celebration, if you think about it too much. This is what Google says:  On the very  night  that the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, on November 5th, 1605, bonfires  were set alight to  celebrate  the safety of the King. Since then, November 5th has become known as  Bonfire Night . The event is commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of  Guy Fawkes  on a  bonfire . ...yay? Ignoring this, I have a reminder for those of you who have cats/other pets, to do with fireworks . And because I love pusheen cartoons, here's one for you: Look after your pets (and younger siblings I guess) when it gets too noisy! In other news, I played Junk Art on Saturday! If you've never played it, I urg...

First off: go to Goodreads and do some voting for the books awards. It's like the Oscars (is it? I've never seen the Oscars) but it's better because it's books. There are various different categories, like biographies or horror, and it's just pretty cool. The link is  here , so go check it out! And welcome back to my next post. To be honest, there's not really anything to say today. I just thought that I ought to post something, because I'm supposed to have a regular posting schedule and all that. Apparently. I don't really have too much planned this weekend (because I have no social life) but my friends are having a party- so have fun, friends! I'm also going to a Christian Union evening meeting (which will involve eating pizza and listening to Rend Collective (hopefully)), but basically, tomorrow is flute practice, revision/homework, and working more on 'The Forgotten Ones'. Speaking of my novel, d'you think I could ever get...