Musings of a Perfectionist

Hello to all, and I hope that wherever you are you have not been too affected by bad weather. It's actually quite nice where I am at the moment, although it was raining a lot earlier as I was DRIVING- but I did not stall, or crash, or skim the curb, or anything. So yay. First of all, some small things about IB to make you smile. One : I seem to spend half my life filing work away (go ahead and laugh- we're not told this when signing up to do IB). Two : only whilst studying history can you find yourself writing a report to Lenin advising him to seize power and kickstart the Bolshevik Revolution (the report is, of course, signed Comrade Hagger). Three : we did ToK in Maths (how is maths linked to all the different subjects that you can study at school, dance for example?) and Maths in ToK (is mathematics discovered or invented?) Another story from yesterday (not to do with school) which I'm only really writing because I like being dramatic and also I'm hoping my dear ...

Greetings! I apologise for the length of time since my last post, but my first week at Sixth Form has been rather hectic and I've spent a lot of time sleeping. Yes, that's correct- I survived my first week at Sixth Form! I was one of the last ones out of my friends to go back (lucky?) so we're all at school now. I've exhausted (waking up earlier only one day of the week though, but also doing so much more walking than normal) and I think that my average sleeping time over this week is about 10 hours. That's a lot of sleep. But Sixth Form is going okay. I have (already) lots of homework, but Maths/French weren't too bad, and History is brilliant, so everything's alright. Even the bus isn't that awful. So for you Year 11s who are worried about next year: justified, yes, but it will also be fine. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. I have done rather a lot more crying that I'd possibly have liked (stress, exhaustion, whatever) but ...

So I thought that I ought to write another post, as I haven't done so for 17 days. Crazy. Last time I wrote a post nothing much had happened- now, Result's Day is just around the corner (on Thursday) and those who did A-Levels have received their grades (congratulations to those who did, by the way). This is not a post about Result's Day, however. If I remember (I'll add it to my list) I'll write a post on Friday, so after I've read through my results and enrolled in whichever Sixth Form I end up choosing. See, people who are worried about Year 11 because it involves choosing a school? I haven't chosen yet! Oh, and happy birthday to my friend, lovingly nicknamed 'Falafel'. We're going to be famous together when we're older, so I suppose I should start adding to the collection of stuff that proves we knew each other. What is this post actually about? To be honest, there's not much, as this week will be my busiest week. I have a fri...

Yesterday, I had my prom. I've been looking forward to writing a post about it probably longer than I've been looking forward to prom (this is mostly because I was fairly nervous about going to prom in the first place). And this post was going to be a slightly satirical account of my time: foiled by the fact that I did actually enjoy myself a lot. Pre-prom was fun simply because all my friends were basically just hanging out in my garden as various people did hair/makeup. The only unfun thing was that my sister kept poking me in the face when doing my makeup because she is evil and mean. I'm joking. She's lovely. She did my makeup and my hair. What bad things could I possibly say about her now? One of my friends actually started crying when she saw us, which was lovely because being told that you look amazing is wonderful, but it was also worrying because makeup and tears do not mix well. But we did all look beautiful, and I now have so many photos- some are nicel...

We had our Leavers' Day at school today. For those of you who have no idea whatsoever what this means, here's a quick guide: basically, we all gather outside and collect our yearbooks/leavers' hoodies, then sign each other's shirts and take pictures with friends. It's an incredibly English experience, especially as it's always slightly awkward trying to sign shirts as people are wearing them. Then we had an assembly- in which, I don't think that I've laughed that hard for ages- then we heard the last ever school bell (or I didn't hear the last school bell because it was too loud in the hall) and we left. It was surprisingly enjoyable, although very hot, and the pictures taken were all very lovely. The assembly contained a slideshow of all of our Year 7 photos (highly embarrassing, although most were actually very cute) as well as videos of the Senior Tutors wishing us good luck (apart from one, who teaches Physics, who simply sang the Electromagnet...

Hi! It's me again- how long has it been since my last post? Oops. Anyway, it was my friends birthday yesterday, and we had a party for her last night-this morning. I thought that she should get a shout out, because she's awesome and because it's the only interesting thing that's happened this week. Apart from my French Speaking Mock (is that interesting? I don't know). But we had a party, which isn't really my thing, although I did enjoy myself for at least a few hours (are you proud of me?) and I even danced! I know. Amazing. Also, isn't it weird how songs can remind you of things? Like 'Mr Brightside' instantly makes me think of my Silver DofE expedition, and 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' always reminds me of the New York/Washington DC trip. Or how 'You Give Love a Bad Name' (or anything by Lawson) takes me back to Saturdays before revision, when we used to tidy/clean the house while the music played at the top of the st...

Hello all, here's a post to brighten your grey day! (Although, I do actually quite like these kinds of days- if I'm inside, of course) Today's post is about a website/book/quiz that I think is actually pretty cool. It's called '5 Love Languages' and you can find a link  here , although I suggest reading through this post before finding out your Love Language. Basically, there are these five types of ways that people show love, and would like to receive it. The five types are: Words of Affirmation Acts of Service Receiving Gifts Quality Time Physical Touch The point of finding out which one/s you are is so that other people can be more mindful of what yours is, and hopefully build better relationships. For example, someone whos Love Language is Physical Touch will hug you, or pat you on the back, but if your Love Language is Words of Affirmation, this isn't actually what you want people to do in order to show their love. Hopefully, that make...

Hello! We had our Sponsored Walk today, so I've walked about 8 miles and eaten far too much sugar, but a cup of Earl Grey Tea has solved all my problems (apart from, perhaps, my need for real food). ALSO: I've suddenly had 42 page views today?!? Welcome, all of you!! Have you subscribed...? 😂 There should be a post coming soon with an actual recipe! (Are you excited?) It's the recipe for the Lemon and Raspberry cake that I made for my friend's 16th birthday. I felt very bake-off, designing it all out and then forming my own cake. So look out for that post, coming soon. At school yesterday, we had a half day, and two of my friends came round (one to see the new house, the other to see it again). We went for a walk in the woods that live near our house, and I must admit that I got some pretty awesome pictures. Some of them look rather creepy, like the one of my sister just standing between some trees in the distance, and some of them were pretty cool, like one of m...

NOTE: I'm using the word 'literally' in the informal sense-  used for emphasis while not being literally true.  Therefore, while this afternoon was pretty stressful, it was not necessarily  the most stressful time ever. (Also, I may have  overdramatized  some events because my mind tends to blow things out of proportion) Anyway, to the context. MasterChef at my school. My friend and I had won the heats for our house, and were into the final along with pairs from the other five houses. She came over so that we could plan and practise our two dishes, and everything was fine. Until it wasn't. I obviously read my email wrong (and then couldn't double-check because the school emails are down!) and we found out in form that the competition was today. Today. We had no ingredients , no recipe, no nothing. I was on the verge of crying, so my friend stood up and took me to see my mum (who works at the school, so it's not like we went home) so that we could ask ...

So, this half term, I'm supposed to have done loads of revision for my mock exams that I have soon (in two weeks- yay). What have I done? Absolutely nothing. I mean, I have done stuff, but it's not really related to revision. Like this afternoon, I was supposed to do some Biology and some History, but instead I bought a new book for my Kindle and read it. Oops. I also managed to play my flute and my guitar to put off doing revision, which I guess is a good thing (?). My friends and I were talking earlier today about revision, and our lack of it, when one of my friends said/texted, " What I find funny is that we as a group are supposed to be the smart ones that do revision and collectively we have done nothing ". My reply was that we have been defying expectations since 2002, which then led to her calling me mate (considering she is the poshest person ever, that's really weird) and then two of them ganging up on me to call me old (direct quote: " the...

For those of you who have been to Ikea, you will agree with me when I say that it is a wonderful place. For those who haven't, think of a restaurant mixed with furniture and you pretty much get the idea. (Besides, you must have heard the glorious tales of losing one's way and one's family...who hasn't?) My family go on a day trip to Ikea. We start off early (it takes an hour in the car- eugh) and have breakfast when we get to Ikea (apart from my youngest sister- she threw up once because she hadn't eaten anything and we had to go home and it was a sad day for us all). Then we walk around the Showroom section, looking at how the rooms are all set out and choosing which kitchens we'd like. (I basically adopt the one bedroom apartment- if you've gone to Ikea, you'll know what I'm talking about). After this wandering, we enter the Market Hall and this is where we spend most of our money. (*cough* over one hundred pounds *cough*) (I only bought a ne...

This may be a rather long title, but I wanted to make you think for a bit. What would YOU do for a piece of millionaire's shortbread? Bear in mind, if you will, that this isn't a regular piece of millionaire's shortbread from the supermarket. This is homemade millionaire's shortbread that (I'm pretty sure) everyone who has tasted it has said it is better than the pieces from Costa. High praise, naturally. But anyway. What would you do for a piece of this wonderful millionaire's shortbread (by the way, in case this wasn't clear, I make it)? Maybe you are now wondering why exactly I am asking you this. The answer is this: I made millionaire's shortbread on the request of my mum, and so I also made another load because my friends like eating it. Two of my friends, who do not sit on my table at lunch (because yes, we do have 'tables' like in Mean Girls) wanted to eat some, and so I let them have one piece. But apparently, these two love it ...