Ciao! Okay, so I'm guessing you are wondering about how my swimming classes are going, after I've told you about how they freak me out. Fine, I know you're not wondering. But I am going to tell you anyway so sit here and listen. I mean stay on this page and read.
Right. I have had a history of spending almost my whole week worrying about my swimming class. And when my class is over, feeling happy for a day or two about that, and realising that the next class is closer to today than it was before. I've been to quite a few swimming classes in my life, and that always happens. I used to think that ALL swimming teachers were horrible, but my last one nearly made me faint because she was so nice. The problem was that she tired us all out, too; we had to swim endless lengths. Fine, they weren't endless, but they were pretty tiring. They helped my swimming greatly, though.
Here's what worries me about swimming classes:
1. Shouty teachers
2. Cold water
3. Getting water up my nose
4. Not being able to breathe
5. Getting tired out!
6. Not being able to do things that the other people in my class can do
7. Diving
8. Not wearing many clothes - it's cold, and there's something about it that makes one feel vulnerable
9. Being lower than the teacher (You're in the pool; they're standing by he edge.)
This swimming class turned out to be okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I admit that that row of exclamation marks was grammatically incorrect but it really gets across my point: I was surprised, and happy, and relieved.
I was worried before that my previous swimming teacher (The nice one) was the only exception to the rule that all swimming teachers are horrible. But what if there is no rule? My current teacher isn't smiling every second of the day, but he smiles quite a bit, and he isn't horrible, and he doesn't make tire you out!
I hope it will still be like that next week at my class...
Friday 18 October 2013
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Chinese shop in Turnpike lane
There is a Chinese shop in Turnpike Lane that me and my family go to every so often. I love Chinese/ Oriental shops because they are a bit like museums in that they are full of exotic and interesting things. When I say museums, I'm not talking about galleries with two or three cool asian pictures and ten not-so-cool ones; I'm talking about unusual, fascinating, engrossing museums, packed with... different, novel things. This shop is quite small, but it's still fun to look around in. Here are some of the things you find there.
1. Giant prawns
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| GIANT prawns!! |
2. Snails!
4. Some kind of shell fish
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| Five spice flavoured watermelon seeds. |
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| Help! I can't close my mouth!! |
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| Looks like it's infectious. |
10. Fruity curry sauce.
11. Eel
14. And just so I don't end with number 13...
Taro chips and green tea pumpkin seeds.
Sunday 13 October 2013
Yay!! I'm not the only homeschooler who complains about DUMB questions!!
Here are some funny/ informative blog posts by other people about what home-schooling is really like.
1. http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/what-being-homeschooled-is-actually-like
I love this one! It's nice that it isn't made out of dense paragraphs that you have to read through carefully, but accurately describes home education in pictures with funny captions.
2. http://www.homeschooldiaries.com/10-most-annoying-homeschool-questions-ever-asked/
4. http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/ten-more-silly-questions-about-homeschooling/
This is one that, like, EVERYBODY quotes. I'm not sure if it's the original. I think it is.
5. http://community.sparknotes.com/2011/12/06/eight-questions-about-homeschooling-that-i-never-want-to-hear-again
1. http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/what-being-homeschooled-is-actually-like
I love this one! It's nice that it isn't made out of dense paragraphs that you have to read through carefully, but accurately describes home education in pictures with funny captions.
2. http://www.homeschooldiaries.com/10-most-annoying-homeschool-questions-ever-asked/
4. http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/ten-more-silly-questions-about-homeschooling/
This is one that, like, EVERYBODY quotes. I'm not sure if it's the original. I think it is.
5. http://community.sparknotes.com/2011/12/06/eight-questions-about-homeschooling-that-i-never-want-to-hear-again
Friday 11 October 2013
Have you ever started a story and not known how to finish it?
Hi! How are you? I hope you don't have a cold! I have one right now :-( It seems like winter's properly started; it was freezing yesterday! Or maybe it's just another one of the weather's tricks, like when we kept thinking Summer would start this year and then it got cold again!
Have you ever started a story and not known how to finish it? Or maybe you didn't have time - or you just couldn't get the words out. I'm worried that's going to happen to me soon, so I have to make an extra effort. Today I have decided to REALLY focus on writing this story that I'm in the middle of. And I'll tell you one problem with that: I started planning my story after I started writing it. When I started writing it, I only had the vaguest idea what it was going to be about. Then I decided that if I really wanted a story, I'd seriously have to work on planning. And now I have to do the planning before I continue writing. I haven't even finished the main character's profile! So I am going to go do that now!! Hopefully my story will turn out alright in the end......
Okay, bye! Seeya later!
Have you ever started a story and not known how to finish it? Or maybe you didn't have time - or you just couldn't get the words out. I'm worried that's going to happen to me soon, so I have to make an extra effort. Today I have decided to REALLY focus on writing this story that I'm in the middle of. And I'll tell you one problem with that: I started planning my story after I started writing it. When I started writing it, I only had the vaguest idea what it was going to be about. Then I decided that if I really wanted a story, I'd seriously have to work on planning. And now I have to do the planning before I continue writing. I haven't even finished the main character's profile! So I am going to go do that now!! Hopefully my story will turn out alright in the end......
Okay, bye! Seeya later!
Wednesday 9 October 2013
It's 16:41 and I REALLY need to write my story
Okay. It's 16:21 and I REALLY need to carry on writing this story that I'm in the middle of doing. So why am I writing my blog first? Because I know that if I leave my blog till later, I'll end up not doing it.
Okay, so about this story (And why I am only about to do it now!!):
Well, the morning went surprisingly well, workwise; a maths book came in the post, so my dad gave me stuff to do from there in the morning - and it wasn't too hard, but not too easy. Then, after that, I can't really remember the order of the things I did, but I know that I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO WRITE THIS STORY SINCE THIS MORNING.
It went something like this: my sister wanted to listen to some audio stories on Big Toe Books. But the archives weren't accessible and her and my dad spent quite a while trying to get it working. I didn't try (Well, I did, but I gave up pretty soon), because I'm not so good at that sort of thing. But I didn't do anything useful while I was waiting, because I kept thinking they'd be finished with it any moment. As it turned out, they didn't manage at all.
So then, my sister and I found this website online with lots of audio stories to listen to instead. It only had really olden day stuff, though, because it was for free, but I didn't mind that much - I mean, what do you expect? I thought Little Women would be okay, but the narrator talked slowly, and told the story really boringly, without pauses in the right places - so it was both confusing AND it made me sleepy. Also, the narrator talked quietly, so I didn't really get what she was saying. So I stopped the recording.
I thought Beowolf sounded pretty good, but first I had to check if it was age appropriate because there was a picture of a naked woman above the audio bar (You couldn't see her clearly though.) It turned out that yes, it was, very much so. And the internet was SUPER slow while I was looking it up - urgh!! I did some drawing with charcoal while listening, but that got a little bit uninteresting after 'd filled up a page. We began listening, but my sister said she didn't like it (It was in very weird old English) so we started listening to Emma, by Jane Austen. My sister said it was really boring; we changed audio books. And we spent ages changing audio books, with the internet being really slow, and having to move the computer closer and adjust the volume because the narrators talked quietly, and me pausing it to get my Magnum out of the freezer to see if it had re-frozen enough yet, and with my sis (Or me) getting bored of something, or not liking it - and it was all just so pointless and annoying.
In the end, we didn't listen to anything fully; my sister decided to choose something from Storynory. And I didn't do anything while we were listening, because how could I write my story while listening to another one? And I wasn't drawing, because I'd done some already, and got bored of it.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to write about lunch. Before the audio-book, "Channel surfing" I made prawns fried in butter with pepper and parsley (Or was it coriander?...) and the butter burned (So I added oil) but it was still very tasty. We had it with leftover pilau rice from last night's dinner (Delicious! My mum's a great cook) and leftover white rice. And spinach heated up from frozen (Which wasn't very nice - it was more than edible but something went wrong, I don't know what.)* It was all lovely, but *alas,* it took up time!
Then I spent a long time trying to find a certain tutorial for making newspaper roses, but I didn't make them in the end because they'll just end up cluttering the house once everyone's admired them a bit.
So now I am going to write my story!!!!!!!
*I don't know why I wrote that paragraph - No one cares what I had for lunch!
Okay, so about this story (And why I am only about to do it now!!):
Well, the morning went surprisingly well, workwise; a maths book came in the post, so my dad gave me stuff to do from there in the morning - and it wasn't too hard, but not too easy. Then, after that, I can't really remember the order of the things I did, but I know that I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO WRITE THIS STORY SINCE THIS MORNING.
It went something like this: my sister wanted to listen to some audio stories on Big Toe Books. But the archives weren't accessible and her and my dad spent quite a while trying to get it working. I didn't try (Well, I did, but I gave up pretty soon), because I'm not so good at that sort of thing. But I didn't do anything useful while I was waiting, because I kept thinking they'd be finished with it any moment. As it turned out, they didn't manage at all.
So then, my sister and I found this website online with lots of audio stories to listen to instead. It only had really olden day stuff, though, because it was for free, but I didn't mind that much - I mean, what do you expect? I thought Little Women would be okay, but the narrator talked slowly, and told the story really boringly, without pauses in the right places - so it was both confusing AND it made me sleepy. Also, the narrator talked quietly, so I didn't really get what she was saying. So I stopped the recording.
I thought Beowolf sounded pretty good, but first I had to check if it was age appropriate because there was a picture of a naked woman above the audio bar (You couldn't see her clearly though.) It turned out that yes, it was, very much so. And the internet was SUPER slow while I was looking it up - urgh!! I did some drawing with charcoal while listening, but that got a little bit uninteresting after 'd filled up a page. We began listening, but my sister said she didn't like it (It was in very weird old English) so we started listening to Emma, by Jane Austen. My sister said it was really boring; we changed audio books. And we spent ages changing audio books, with the internet being really slow, and having to move the computer closer and adjust the volume because the narrators talked quietly, and me pausing it to get my Magnum out of the freezer to see if it had re-frozen enough yet, and with my sis (Or me) getting bored of something, or not liking it - and it was all just so pointless and annoying.
In the end, we didn't listen to anything fully; my sister decided to choose something from Storynory. And I didn't do anything while we were listening, because how could I write my story while listening to another one? And I wasn't drawing, because I'd done some already, and got bored of it.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to write about lunch. Before the audio-book, "Channel surfing" I made prawns fried in butter with pepper and parsley (Or was it coriander?...) and the butter burned (So I added oil) but it was still very tasty. We had it with leftover pilau rice from last night's dinner (Delicious! My mum's a great cook) and leftover white rice. And spinach heated up from frozen (Which wasn't very nice - it was more than edible but something went wrong, I don't know what.)* It was all lovely, but *alas,* it took up time!
Then I spent a long time trying to find a certain tutorial for making newspaper roses, but I didn't make them in the end because they'll just end up cluttering the house once everyone's admired them a bit.
So now I am going to write my story!!!!!!!
*I don't know why I wrote that paragraph - No one cares what I had for lunch!
Tuesday 8 October 2013
New schedule of classes!
So, since a new term has begun (A good couple of weeks ago, actually - but some of my classes have only started around two weeks ago) I have a whole new weekly schedule! And I am now in year 8...
On Monday I now have a teenage drumming class straight after drumkit class.
On Tuesday I don't have anything!
On Wednesday, I have swimming classes.
Thursdays are art days for me! I have drawing club at The Royal Academy. The Bruce Castle branch shut down, along with half of the other branches! So half the people couldn't carry on, and the remaining half had all their different groups merged and broken up again, so now I am at the only one from the Bruce Castle branch, at the Royal Academy branch.
On Friday, I still have capoeira and drumming.
On Saturday I have Batala drumming, which I've just started.
On Sundays I don't have any classes.
Now I don't volunteer at the charity shop every week, only sometimes when I feel like it.
So I only have Tuesday and Sunday free of classes. Which is really good because it is important to have some days where you know you can just stay at home and take it easy, and do the work on your list without being interrupted by a class.
Obviously, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy my classes - just that it's good to have a break.
On Monday I now have a teenage drumming class straight after drumkit class.
On Tuesday I don't have anything!
On Wednesday, I have swimming classes.
Thursdays are art days for me! I have drawing club at The Royal Academy. The Bruce Castle branch shut down, along with half of the other branches! So half the people couldn't carry on, and the remaining half had all their different groups merged and broken up again, so now I am at the only one from the Bruce Castle branch, at the Royal Academy branch.
On Friday, I still have capoeira and drumming.
On Saturday I have Batala drumming, which I've just started.
On Sundays I don't have any classes.
Now I don't volunteer at the charity shop every week, only sometimes when I feel like it.
So I only have Tuesday and Sunday free of classes. Which is really good because it is important to have some days where you know you can just stay at home and take it easy, and do the work on your list without being interrupted by a class.
Obviously, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy my classes - just that it's good to have a break.
Friday 4 October 2013
What I DEFINITELY didn't want - and new headphones!!
I've wanted a good pair of headphones for 180 days. About. Not just a good pair, but a good-looking pair as well. The reason why I wanted them is because I have an electronic drumkit at home - and earphones are just too flimsy for that. And now I have the head phones. Actually, I don't think I'd been wanting head phones for that long, more that I vaguely sort of wished I had a pair, but the idea was more sort of floating in the air. When my birthday came up, I went with my mum to the mall in Wood Green to check out the head phones they had there, and I told her which ones I liked. There were some really bright pink ones which I told her I DEFINITELY didn't want, and there were some paler pink ones which I DEFINITELY, definitely did not want. There was a simple black pair which looked quite good. The other ones were a bit expensive, and I thought they didn't go as well with my drumkit. We didn't buy the headphones on the day; the point was just to tell my mum which ones I liked so that she could pick one of them and surprise me on my birthday.
On my birthday, I got the pair of headphones! (Surprise, surprise.) It turned out that they were actually from my aunt, who lives in Malaysia, but my got them from the shop (Living in England, she is closer to it than my aunt.)
The headphones (SkullCandy) are a lightish shade of blue and are adjuststable. They look really great, and they work very well too. The wire is really cool, because it looks like string. Unfortunately it's a bit short for the drumkit. Fortunately, an extension cable's just arrived in the post (Bought by my dad - surprisingly soon after I asked for one!)
The weird thing about the headphones is that they worked once plugged into my Nokia phone - but now they don't!! I have no idea why!
Anyway, they came with a couple of stickers, which you can take a photo of and send to SkullCandy - and SkullCandy say they might send you something too, if your photo is good. So I'm going to do that. They also came with a SkullCandy stencil, for you to spray paint onto things, and I think you can send them a photo of that too: Clever marketing: You advertise their products, they get you hooked by sending you more.
On my birthday, I got the pair of headphones! (Surprise, surprise.) It turned out that they were actually from my aunt, who lives in Malaysia, but my got them from the shop (Living in England, she is closer to it than my aunt.)
The headphones (SkullCandy) are a lightish shade of blue and are adjuststable. They look really great, and they work very well too. The wire is really cool, because it looks like string. Unfortunately it's a bit short for the drumkit. Fortunately, an extension cable's just arrived in the post (Bought by my dad - surprisingly soon after I asked for one!)
The weird thing about the headphones is that they worked once plugged into my Nokia phone - but now they don't!! I have no idea why!
Anyway, they came with a couple of stickers, which you can take a photo of and send to SkullCandy - and SkullCandy say they might send you something too, if your photo is good. So I'm going to do that. They also came with a SkullCandy stencil, for you to spray paint onto things, and I think you can send them a photo of that too: Clever marketing: You advertise their products, they get you hooked by sending you more.
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