Ciao people!

What's up? How are you? I'm good - well, ok. But what is starting to annoy (Or rather, frustrate) me now is that I keep forgetting or not having the time to do things that I want to do/ be good at. It's got so bad that I've had to actually write down the things that I want to do regularly (Play guitar, read National Geographic, play drums, read history, etc.) and even now that I've written them down, I still don't really have time to do them. Also, our house is quite small so there isn't that much space to put things/ do things. For example, the only place I can do art without getting in anyone's way or cluttering the house too much, is on the living room table. And the problem with that is when I do my art, I don't like doing it all in one go (Also I can't really do it all in one go because I have to have dinner and things) so I leave my art on the table for a while before going back to it. Then, no-one can use the table until I get my art off it, and if I get my art stuff off it then I have to find another place for it, and then I have to set it up again later. So you see why it is hard to do lots of different things in one day. I'll probably need to take a few things off my list, or put some things aside to do another week. I will keep trying! 

Okay, bye! Have a good day.

More random creative writing

I am not going to worry about punctuation and spelling and things like that.

BTW the letter here is the kind you see in a book, not the kind you post.

You don't know what it's like to be a letter. You carry on typing and phoning and eating salad or whatever you're doing and you look at us for ages, but still you don't know what it's like to be like us. You don't know what it's like to be us. I'm a letter, an a. Or I was. I'm not really sure what I am now. You, see, the a key was pressed by one of those typing fingers. I don't know why I'm an a or what being an a means exactly but thats what I am. So there I was on the screen, after I'd been typed. And then I wasn;t me. Light travel faster that a gazelle can run. You should check up that fact but I know  that it's true already so I don't need to check it. Anyway, look at your computer screen. The light of it, the thing that lights up the screen is being replaced so so quickly you don't notice it's happening. But the letters you're seeing no are not the same letters that were there half a second ago, becaue the light that's showing them is being changed faster than - yes, than a gazelle. So anyway, there I am one minute, and then I'm not there the next because another bit of lght replaced me. I don't really know where I am right now, what I'm doing. But if I've been replaced, then I shouldn't be here so that's strange. that's really really weird. So as I was saying,  there are tons of bits of light that keep being used to show this letter a but they're all just fading so fast, and if you slowed your vision dowwn you'd see your computer screen filckering. But you don't so you don't notcie how many bits of light are being used. I know I said I'm a letter a but maybe really im just a bit of light - that isn't a bit of light any more because some more light has come to replace it. So maybe I'm just a bit of space or something. Whatever. Well, lets take a look at me as an a, not light. Say I'm an a, or rather, say all those bits of light that are replacing eache other so fast are all put together an given a mind, and call that mind the a. Or rather, pretend I am that a. Well, being an a, sometimes you get deleted. oNe of those fingers presses delete, and bam, you're gone. Then sometimes they rewrite the a, but it isn't the same a anymore, it's some other a, same font and format, yes, but the point is, all those bits of light that kept replacing each other, well. Well... there was a long gap between one bit of light and the other. Because someone pressed delete, which prevented more light from forming. and there was no a for a while. then they pressed it and voila, it being the a key, and voila, there was another a made from totally different bits of light. so when you press delete to delete any letter, not just a, and then replace it again - it's not the same a. Okay, right now I'm wondering what exactly i am. If im not light anymore and I'm not a letter a (we have stopped pretending that I am an a, I am a bi of light that was used to keep that a going now). So, yeah. am I space?? What is the chemical reaciton when light stops being light and it gets turned off and it's dissolved? Huh? that's probably what I am. Whatever that is. You don't know what its like to be a letter. you carry on typing and phoning and eating salad or whatever you're doing and you look at us for ages, but still you don't know what it's like to be like us. 





Okay, I know that was REALLY weird and stuff! And I know the spelling and punctuation are all over the place and the colour is like bleugh - but it would just spoil it to edit so I'm not going to do that. BTW it took me about 18 mins to write this (I don't know why I why I wrote how long it took me - it's not particularly short or long so whatever!)

Charity shop update (4)

I went to the charity shop yesterday. (Gawd, I have to work on my starting sentences.) The usual lady wasn't there; instead were two people that I've met before but are not always at the shop when I go. 

There wasn't much to do in the shop. Most things had been done already, so I spent ages on the bookshelf (Not on it literally) tidying it up, putting the books in height order, looking for ones to throw away and making putting adults' books back in the adult's section and kids' books back in the kids'. When I was done it looked really neat, so I was pretty pleased. Next, I tidied up this tiny shelf of purses, and then made the shoes look neater. Then there was nothing left to do so I went home. 

There were not many customers yesterday. Usually there are a lot more, but I think with the weather like it is, not many people want to be out the house.

How to make Selfridges staff think you can afford things

There's nothing more annoying then getting those looks from Selfridges (Or any other, "Posh" shop) staff, that say, "I know you can't afford to buy things from here, so please don't waste our time by crowding the shop and putting off potential buyers by hanging round here with your grubby shoes and backpack. This is not a museum. Do not touch anything, even if you brush it accidentally with your coat. You are under twenty, so you're obviously going to knock something over. Do not steal anything just because you can't pay for it." 

So, say you go on an impromptu trip to Selfridges. You are not wearing your best clothes. And you do not want to get those horrible looks from the staff. Here's what to do:

1. Go to the water closet and check your appearance in the mirror. Brush off any biscuit crumbs, pick off any balls of fluff or lint from your jumper/ cardigan/ top. Smooth out your clothes and neaten your hair. Dab at your face with a damp tissue. If you are female (Or male and not embarrassed) and you have make-up with you, put it on - but only if you think it will make you look better. Don't overdo it or you won't look, "Posh."

2. If you're wearing a shirt/ T-shirt/ jumper that's grubby, put on something over it, or take it off if you have something nicer underneath. Providing you don't have a bag with you, fold over your top (The one you're not wearing and sling it very neatly over your arm (You have to hold your arm like you do when you're holding a handbag.)

3. Take your hood off!

4. Get out of the water closet. Stand up straight. Walk with your toes slightly pointing outwards (Or however you think Miss Eliza Doolittle walks at the end of, "My Fair Lady.)

5. This is possibly the most important part: How you hold your head. Hold it high - not too high, or you'll look either snobby or really weird. Do not hold it too low or you will definitely get those annoying looks from the staff. When you look around, try not to stare in wonder at everything you see. Don't look too interested either. It's okay to do a bit, but if you do it too much the staff will think you've never been to Selfridges before, and therefore can't afford to be there.

6. Don't look too much at the staff - you're there to look at the clothes. Don't act as if they're not there, though, 'cos that's rude.

7. What do you say when staff say, "Can I help you?"? There are two reasons that they could be saying this. a) They want to help you. b) They think/ know you're not there to buy anything and that's their way of telling you to go away. Whatever your reason for being there is, do not say, "No thanks, I'm just here to look." If you do need their help,  obviously say, "Yes" and then ask them whatever you need to ask them. If you don't, say, "No thank you" politely and give them a nice smile. Then, if you think they asked because they wanted you to go away, stay a little bit longer looking around in that section of the shop, then walk off; you don't want them to win. If they are super snappy when they say it and glare at you, glare at them back when you walk away. If you think they asked you because they genuinely wanted to help, either carry on looking or don't, depending on what you feel like.

8. Be polite to the staff. If they're rude to you (Which they shouldn't be and probably won't be) use irony or glare at them (Or just be honest and tell them why you're there and why you don't like there behaviour. Then threaten to and/ or tell the manager - but only if they were really rude.)

Ta da! Hopefully now they won't give you those, "I know you can't afford to buy things from here, so please don't waste our time by crowding the shop and putting off potential buyers by hanging round here with your grubby shoes and backpack. This is not a museum. Do not touch anything, even if you brush it accidentally with your coat. You are under twenty, so you're obviously going to knock something over. Do not steal anything just because you can't pay for it." looks!

Mira Schendel exhibition

My mother recently took my sister and I to the Mira Schendel exhibition in the Tate Modern so we could take notes for a project we're going to do on her. I usually start to find exhibitions boring after the first seven minutes (Especially ones with modern art - I mean, who treks into central London to see a blue canvas slit in the middle or a table on its side?!?) but it was actually ok! Even a bit fun! Fine, it was fun. We spent about three and a half hours there in total, counting a lunch break after the the first 45 mins. I now have about four or five pages worth of notes which I am going to use for some kind of project. I don't know much about the project yet, what it will be about and how I'm going to do everything, so I will check with my mum in a minute. But I think I'm just going to read through my notes and try to remember what I liked - then see what I can do with that. Like, can I re-create one of her works? How would I change it? What ideas do I get from her? For example I know she like Chinese art so I could do some Chinese-style art and not try to make it like Mira's. Or mix a bunch of different things together, like Chinese-style art + Mira style art (This could mean so many different things) + Materials she liked to use or that were in her exhibition, that I like + A mix of her different works. So I am going to be thinking about that today.

You might be wondering about what my notes say (Or you might be wondering what you can have for lunch... There's always that tuna mayo leftover from Thursday, right?) Well my notes are just about which ones of her work I like, what's interesting, what materials she uses, stuff about her and some really quick, "Sketches" of her work.

About Mira Schendel - here are some things I know about her:

1. Schendel isn't her maiden name; she only got the name, "Schendel" when she married.

2. In her work she does something called, "Abstraction," which means simplifying something to its most basic form.

3. She uses, "Minimalism," which means not making her work really complicated or busy - just keeping it really simple. An example of minimalism is taking four canvases, painting one green, one blue, one pink and one yellow and putting them in a room together.

4. She was interested in philosophy, both Eastern and Western, and sometimes combined them in her art work.

5. Her job used to be making postcards.

6. She's very famous in Brazil.

My favourite of Schendel's work in the exhibition were the hanging pieces of paper with writing on them. They were at different levels, and some were further to the left, some to the right - and some were further forward in the room, some backwards.

Hans Camp Winter 2013

I've just come back from Hans camp (Winter) 2013 in Norwich. Hans Camp is a djembe/ dunnun drumming workshop, run by my mum's djembe teacher. For the whole camp we only focused on one rhythm: Tinsamba, so we could really get to know it - a couple of different breaks, lots of variations on the different parts for both djembe and dunnun. I'm really glad that we just did Tinsamba because it meant I remembered more than I thought I would; usually after my normal djembe classes, I go home and straight away I can't play what I've just been playing in class - it takes a few lessons for the rhythm to sink into my long term memory. Not that I throw away the rhythm when I get home, just that it goes to the bak of my head till I next play it at class. But at Hans Camp, because we focused on Tinsamba for two days, I remembered WAY more than I usually do.

The first day, not counting the evening we got there (The camp was for a weekend) I didn't get in as much drumming as I would have like to because I got tired and found some of it quite hard. But the second day I learnt a really good amount... and remembered it! :-)

What was cool about the camp was that there was always drumming going on - well, apart from meal/ break times (Fine, it wasn't going on all the time, but it was going on A LOT of the time) so you could just join in whenever (No complicated memorisation of timetables involved.) 

My mum and I were helping out in the kitchen, so I when I wasn't drumming I had something to do (I couldn't just read, partly because I'd finished my book on the second day and partly because I didn't want to.) Working in the kitchen was great 'cos 

1.  The kitchen was huge, and I got to use the jet spray for cleaning the crockery - and the dishwasher that you don't have to program; you just slide in the dish tray and pull down the lid.
2. It wasn't stressful AT ALL. The main lady who worked there and told us what to do was not stressy or bossy, and was great to be with.
3. It wasn't boring i.e. there weren't only stupid, "Un-fun" jobs like mopping the and sweeping floor and wiping the hob.

Something I found really neat that I noticed about playing djembe there: What I learnt at my other drum classes back home (With a different teacher) fitted in with a couple of the things we did there, like once or twice a call (That I hadn't been around for while they were learning it at camp) was played and I knew the answer phrase.

What I perhaps should have mentioned earlier is that the camp wasn't actually a camp; we were using a Scout hall that's sometimes used for school trips, with some activity walls outside. Upstairs were rooms with bunk-beds that we slept in.

Here's a video from a previous Hans Camp (I wasn't there when it was taken as this was my first Hans Camp)CLICK THIS.

So, Hans camp - yes, I would go again.

Juggling

I'm not very good at juggling. I've tried a few times, but not only am I not that good/ patient at it, but it isn't that fun either. Neither is figurative juggling. What I mean  by figurative juggling is when you have to try and do lots of things, some that are, "Fun," some that are, "Educational" and some that are, "Both fun and educational."But you have to try and balance them out, make sure that you aren't doing too much of one thing and not enough of the other. It's hard. What's worst is when you totally forget about one thing that you wanted to get  good at, like drumming or learning French, and you've just got really stuck into Spanish and guitar - and then you have to decide whether you want to cut down your Spanish/ guitar time and do more French/ drumming (Which isn't fun because remember, you're really into Spanish and guitar at the moment) or focus on what you're already doing and only do a bit of drumming + French. Which might work for a while, till you decide that actually if you want to get anywhere with French you're going to have to do way more than you're doing at the moment. And then you begin to think, "Which is actually more important? Language or music? If I just did music, would I get a job? Would I miss out on a, '*Proper Education*'?"If you dump languages you are missing out on quite a few possible future jobs. Same with dumping music. But is it actually all about jobs? What about your current interests? Then you have to think about the other things you've got to do (Like science, maths, art and whatever your other interests are) and try to fit them in (Not doing too much of one thing and too little of another.) So you have to prioritise, which is a lot harder than you think, and you have to remember to give yourself breaks.

You see what I mean about juggling?

It is really hard for me right now because there are so many things that I like doing, and I don't want to give anything up!

What I'm hoping won't happen is having to drop certain hobbies/ subjects in preparation for exams (I don't have to do exams but I want to) and then having to try get back into them after exams are over - without totally forgetting everything I learnt for the exams.

So it is rather difficult, and I am hoping that I won't have to stop doing any classes!

Check out this video: Japan's amazing lunchboxes.

I am really jealous of Japanese kids! I'm going to try to make some sushi/ rice balls in that style. They look fairly easy but I think they're going to be harder than they look as there are lots of small fiddly pieces. Obviously I'm not going to make an Obama, because that would take me, like two days, but I like the cartoon animal ones.

Have a look at this recipe too. I haven't tried the it but it's good for ideas, and the pandas are so cute!

Here's another one!





Related posts: Making sushi, A new recipe!

"Random" creative writing - and how to do it

I've decided to just do some creative writing right now. I think I might have mentioned the writing machine before. If not, here's the basic concept: You roll a die (Not a dice :-] ) and if it says three, pick three words (That you've written and cut out already. You can write out any random words to put in the box) from a box. If it says four, pick four etc. Then, time yourself five minutes to write a short poem/ story/ rap/ song/ mix of a couple of things, with those words. Obviously, you you mostly use your own words, and try to use as many of the ones you picked as you can. Otherwise, your poem or story will be really short. But if you want to try to write with just the words you picked out, then I guess you can try. P.S. you can add two extra minutes if you need them.
P.P.S this is REALLY IMPORTANT BUT I FORGOT TO SAY IT: DON'T WORRY ABOUT PUNCTUATION+SPELLING+GRAMMAR+HANDWRITING. YOU CAN EDIT THAT LATER IF YOU WANT. THIS WRITING IS FOR FUN.

That was actually quite a long explanation, but anyway, I've decided to do some, "Writing machine" creative writing on this blog for fun. I will then edit/ radically change :-) what I've come up with. If you want, you can use these words and post your writing in the comments section.

Words: Capture, through, juice, his, cold, dark, rain.

Okay, five mins. 1...2...3... go!

"Juice, cold and dark like grape rain hits the roof, tap-tap-tapping away like tomorrow there will be no more water. I worry it will come through and stain the sofa and the walls, and that it might even flood the house, but then I remember that it is not grape juice, but rain. I aslso remember that the roof is hard, and made of plastic, so of course the rain won't flood the house. it's loud, though. And it's hard to concentrat on anything else. He made rain, I think. The rain Is His. Which sounds like it's a passage from the bible, but really, I'm just trying to read a book, but it's getting jumbled up in my thoughts and the rain is distracting me, it's distracting me, and I cnt really think properly, properly, som I'm just listening to the thud thud thud of the rain (God, it's pouring!) and making it go round and round in my head, and jumbling up everything that it says in the book im holding because I'm so distracted, distracted, distracted... that I can't aread."

Okay, that was the story! It needs some serious editing. But when you write you don't have to edit it because editing is boring, and your story can be cool like it is (And you'll understand it anyway.) I don't usually edit, but I feel like it now (I don't know why!)

I FORGOT TO SAY THAT THE "STORY" I WROTE IS NOT ABOUT ME BUT ABOUT A MADE UP CHARACTER.

Now I am going to edit the story. With the editing, you can change as much as you like. There are no rules except that you have to keep the words that you picked out the box. You can use them in different ways though. Here's the edited version:

"Rain, cold and dark like grape juice hits the roof, tap-tap-tapping away like tomorrow there will be no more water left to rain. I worry it will come through and stain the sofa a deep maroon, seep in and spread. And I worry it will stain the walls, and that it might even flood the house, but then I remember that it is not grape juice, but rain. It's only dark because it's night, I tell myself. And it isn't even dark maroon, it's black. I also remember that the roof is hard, and made of plastic, so of course the rain won't flood the house. It's loud, though. And it's hard to concentrate on anything else. "He made rain," I think. "The rain is His." It sounds sounds like it's a passage from the bible, but really, I'm just trying to read a book, but it's getting jumbled up in my thoughts and the rain is distracting me, it's distracting me, and I can't really think properly, properly, so I'm just listening to the thud thud thud of the rain (God, it's pouring!) and making it go round and round in my head, and jumbling up everything that the book I'm holding says because I'm so distracted, distracted, distracted... Grape juice pours on."

So, that was the edited version. I like the las sentence being long (And, yes, I know, grammatically incorrect) because it shows the thoughts rushing around. The story's not amazing, but it was fun doing it, and I hope that you will do some, "Writing machine" writing too. If you do, why not post in the comments section? I would really like to read your writing! I WON'T JUDGE. Remember to post the words you picked out too. Also, how about doing one with the same words I used? Words: Capture, through, juice, his, cold, dark, rain.