there are about 16 politics books on it. I won’t even be doing politics until after Christmas. Do I really have to read them all before October? Apparently yes. Am I going to? Ehh, no. In fairness, I don’t think I’d actually be able to read all of them properly before then even if I didn’t waste time on things like this and facebook etc. As it is, I’ll get through all the most important ones, I hope. scary scary scary.

I also have to think of a supervillain costume. Hmmmm. Hopefully I won’t be stuck going as the Joker or something blahhh like that. If I continue working on it at this rate though, I totally will be.

Anyway. I’m going to go get cracking on The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for that is how we Oxford Freshers of 2010 roll motha-fuckas! :p

It’s just that I’m so busy. . So I’m officially putting us on a break. I’m not going to be blogging again until the 25th of June, when I finish my Leaving Cert. I’m (belatedly) following Lizzie’s example and sorting out my priorities…

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I’ll see y’all on the other side of this ordeal!

x

Found these on icanread today. I love that site. Every time I go on it I end up smiling.

This isn’t good. I like to be busy, yes, but I was plenty busy enough before. Now I am merely overburdened and over stressed.

Ew.

In other news – I finally got my hair cut. I’m having trouble with electromagnetic induction in physics. And generally with getting everything done for school.

I continue to think that Clegg and Cameron are idiots. Clever idiots perhaps, but idiots.

Au revoir!

PS orals went quite well I think! French didn’t go as well as the mock, but that’s ok – Irish went better so I’m happy overall hope everyone else was happy too!

Well! I may complain about the lack of choice politics-wise here in Ireland, but they have it worse over there, quite clearly.

My favourite quote, repeated ad nauseum by Cameron -

We are going to cut waste, and save 6 billion

Bullshit. First rule of identifying bunkum, is would the opposite of the statement make any sense at all. Can you imagine ANYONE saying “We are going to increase waste”? no? Me neither. Thus, his statement is shown to be bumf. Cutting waste is an admirable goal, but it’s not going to save 6 billion. NHS is the 3rd largest employer IN THE WORLD. yes, there’s going to be some bureaucracy, some waste. Impossible to get rid of it all. As David Mitchell pointed out in a much funnier and probably clearer way.

Secondly, 6 billion?!? 6 THOUSAND MILLION? Out of their economy? When it’s just starting to recover? Again, here here Mr Brown.

“Call me Dave” was not convincing, for me anyway.

As for Nick “I know your face from somewhere, don’t I” Clegg, ha. Personable, yes. But Mr “I’m going to be open with you, honest with you, clear with you” Clegg . . well, as Andy Parsons, I think it was, said, it doesn’t really matter what he thinks anyway.  At least I hope not. Not much substance. ON the other hand, he was up there with the other two and didn’t embarrass himself, so well done.

God knows who did Cameron’s make-up, very bad call. Didn’t help much with making him not look like a rich Etonian. Oh well.

Brown’s the man for me. Not that I can vote.

(And not just cause David Tennant and Eddie Izzard say so either )

NOT.

Hopefully it’ll go well. I need it to bring my written paper up, but I’m reasonably happy that I’ll do myself justice. Irish oral is next week, however, and that I’m worried for. Again, mainly because I need it to drag up my written, but by a lot more than in French.

This week so far in school has been an utter waste of time. Most of my classes are half empty, and even when everyone’s in class, or nearly everyone, the teachers are well aware that we’re not focused, and so aren’t really covering much new. Which is all well and good, but honestly. I’d get more done at home than I do in school, by an-even-more-ridiculously-large-than-usual factor.

Also, it is sunny. Yes, this is lovely, but not when you don’t get home until 8:15 or so, and so can’t sit out in it at all, ever. Then it’s not so lovely. At all. But at least we’ve been able to sit outside for lunch the past few days – and I’ve actually gotten a little bit sun-kissed! Score!

Voila, c’est a peu prés tout. Á plus tard!

New Dr Who tonight happy about that I can tell you! And, I just noticed that I have over a thousand views last month I think that’s kinda cool.

Moving on from me and myself, apparently Brian Cowen is planning to join the twitterati. . Interesting. To be honest, I haven’t seen a single Irish politician use any social media in any meaningful way whatsoever. I hope this will be different, but I don’t think it will.

I’ve been watching Jeeves and Wooster,w ith Fry and Laurie, semi-obsessively for a fortnight now, and it’s just beautiful. It’s ruining me for normal television, to be honest. It’s just so much better. Witty and clever and yet not demanding when I need to relax. . If only they made stuff like it now. Dr Who is near-flawless, yes, but. . Fry and Laurie are just awesome. That’s one of the things I’m most looking forwards to about Oxford actually – the fact that I might be at college with the next generation of bright young things, the Stephen Frys, Emma Thompsons, Hugh Lauries, Rowan Atkinsons, John Cleeses, Michael Palins, etc, of my time. Cool. ON the subject of Fry and Thompson, this sketch, “Later that same Wednesday”, literally makes me laught ’til my sides hurt every time I see it Enjoy!

I ACCOMPLISHED LOTS TODAY SO FAR! Which I’m very happy about. Wanna know what time I got up? 7:30. Wanna know when I started work? 8am. I did my maths mock paper 1 ( not an official mock, just one my teacher’s given us for the mid-term, because she’s so nice like that and all). I don’t think I did particularly well, but I did it. 8am to 10:30 am. Wahey, go self-discipline and I’m getting this written. And I went out to breakfast with my family.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is going to be in 3D. I do NOT think this is a good thing. At all. I do like some 3D movies, but I don’t think the technology is that good yet, really. Yes the bit that comes out at you is clear, but the bits in the background are still kinda out of focus, and I don’t like that. Now I’m going to go to both versions and get ripped off more. Not cool.

I LOVE THIS NEW MAGAZINE I GOT. Frivolous, I know spending 5€ on a magazine – I could have gotten a book for that much – but it’s awesome. And since music makes you happy, the CD that comes with it – FREE – totally justifies it. The photo shoots in it. . normally I flick through the picture pages, but I’ve picked this up several times just because I had to see those pictures again. It’s just beautiful. What is this amazing publication you ask? Fashion.Music.Style. I love it. SO much. They have this feature where they look at 5 unsigned bands every issue – called FiveUnsigned, cleverly enough – and they give you two of their tracks for free. Included in the FiveUnsigned in one of last year’s editions? Ellie Goulding. Clearly, these people have their fingers on the pulse. I’m trying to find justification for dropping 20€ on getting the back copies. . soon. I will get them soon.

I HAD A DINNER PARTY. And it was HIGHLY enjoyable. Very nerdy. Mildy alcoholic. Very spicy. We had an indian from The Bombay Pantry, and The Debator ordered the hottest thing on the menu – whatta man – and The Doctor tried Indian for the first time ever – and liked it, obviously, since Indian is gorgeous. It was just lovely. We hung out for a while afterwards, and then people headed home. I think most of my socialising, til the exams are over, is gonna be like this. Much more chilled that going out clubbing, and not as expensive as going to a pub. Pubs are SUCH a rip off.

I AM GOING TO CONTINUE BEING PRODUCTIVE. I’m going to tidy my room and revise French, and do a little maths, before my mother comes home. Then have tea with her. Then do paper 2 of my maths mock. Then. . I dunno. Walk maybe? Or finish watching channel 4′s comedy gala. Oooh, and I’m going to try and get An Crisis online, dunno where I’ll be able to watch it but I’ll try – it’s TG4′s new political comedy, and as it’s in Irish it counts as revising Guilt-free television, wahoo!

Hve fun everyone

So, my review is late. Sorry! But here it is, my first Bloggers’ Book Club posting. Here are the other members: Marian, Treasa, Cathy, Marie, Lorna, Val, Edie, Catherine, Jenny, Kirsty, Steph, and Lily.

First things first – we read”A Thousand Splendid Suns”, by Khaled Hosseini, author of “The Kite Runner”, which I’ve read and enjoyed very much.

It focuses on two women, Mariam and Laila, who become friends. I loved the opening, where Mariam is living with her mother in a rural community, in a hut. She trusts her father, who visits her, his illegitimate daughter, and her mother, his mistress, from time to time, but her mother is all too aware that he doesn’t really care about Mariam. Sure enough, although he does take her into his home, he gives into his wives’ demands and marries her off, at 15, to Rasheed. He treats her tolerably well, but as she repeatedly miscarries, she falls from his favour and he beats her savagely.

In one scene, he thinks she’s undercooked the rice again, so he forces her to chew on pebbles. She cracks two of her molars.

The relationship between Rasheed and Mariam was so well established, so cleverly depicted, so powerfully evoked. It really spoke volumes.

I wasn’t as much as fan of Laila, as you can tell from how much I’ve focused on Mariam – I did enjoy her reunion with Tariq, her lover, but on the whole she seemed a less vibrant character to me.

Excellent book though, and don’t forget to check out everyone elses’ thoughts!

But more than that, I love the low low exchange rates, and the low low VAT rates, that mean that all the lovely clothes I bought yesterday were pretty damn cheap. Oh yes.

I gots me lots and lots of lovely lovely lovely clothes. And they were different too, which I’m proud of. I have a terrible tendency to wear the same kind of things quite a bit, but no, these were nice and different, I didn’t just buy more jeans and t-shirts.

So, I am in a good mood. Also, I had a Voices of Youth meeting today, which was pretty productive, so I’m glad about that. And when it was over, I had some time to kill in town before I got a lift home, so I went to The Winding Stair, which I’ve been meaning to do for ages. It was just as lovely as everyone says it is, very nice indeed – a proper book shop.

And I’ve got the best way ever of revising for my oral Irish exam planned – The Doctor and I are hitting Conradh in town, the Irish pub. Fun fun fun!

And. . this is such a nerdy reason to be happy. . but I don’t care. . New Doctor Who on Saturday! 6:20, BBC1 – see you there!

Here’s something to make you smile, toodles!