Holy crap!

it's less than a week til my 18th birthday. It is actually five days until I, me, that is, Leah, will be an official adult.

Scary huh?
not so scary is the prospect of using the new 'official adult' status to go out clubbing and buy my own booze - which probably means there will be a lot more rum drinking going on around here, not to mention the vodka (na zdorovye people!).

That said, it seems my education in booze from my parents is really quite middle class. I know little of what people have in shots and I don't drink alco-pops unless they're put in front of me, but I could tell you about why I like Chilean wine more than Australian, and have opinions on ales based on personal experience.
All the drama classes and youth theatre stuff hasn't helped either. I absorbed the speech teacher's advice like a sponge, so I sound pretty middle class too (and am actually known as 'BBC voice' to some people).

But hey, at least I'm not common!

hey guys!

We've finished school. This means the exams are here. Crap.
On the last day of school we all dressed up - by all I mean only those of us who are comfy in skirts, obviously - including that group of lads who are incapable of taking anything seriously, but are apparently very secure in their sexuality and/or think they're god's gift to women.
unfortunately, considering the circumstances - the historic event that is the last day of class of '09 - my camera decided that after two years of good and faithful service, it was going to give up. 'The coroners report' (courtesy of my 'dear' father) was "it's dead".

Comforting. In all seriousness, I really did adore that little compact. It's macro function may have been a little dodgy, the pictures a little grainy... but I loved it. Hopefully a new one will materialise in time for my 18th birthday party this week - that's definitely something which cannot go unrecorded.

(dudes, let me know you're out there, drop me a comment xx)

I don't get road rage

At least in part because I don't (and can't) drive. If I have to get places and my parents can't drive me, I pretty much have to walk. This means I walked to and from school every day for the last seven years, whatever the weather, done the two-mile walk to and from the centre of town, walked to and from friends houses in four-inch heels. I've dealt with everything the English weather throws at us, roadworks, speeding... and the one thing that still gets me really, really angry - is other pedestrians.
So I don't get road rage, I get pavement rage. Other pedestrians are often spectacularly unaware of the people around them - I was stuck behind a couple of girls the whole way down the alley between the road my school is on and the road my house is on, because they wanted to talk about how they'd rather do something other than go and get stoned in the park because it was raining on Friday.
Who dawdles on the way home from school?! Admittedly these two were year nine or tens (13-15 years old) so they hadn't had the same sort of week I had (your A-levels are coming up! you're all woefully underprepared! You can't structure an essay to save your life!) but there is still no reason to force someone who just wants to get home to listen to your inane conversation.

There are other habits of my fellows in pavement use that piss me off. Stopping, in the middle of the street with no warning or, in fact, purpose. Walking veeerrrryyy ssslllllooooowwwllllyyyy, right in front of me and zig-zagging across the path so I can't overtake you. Also, that perennial non-favourite of mine, cutting me up and complaining when I trip over you because I can't bloody see you shortarse! - that one especially for the lower school who don't realise that you should get out of the way of the damn great sixth-formers because they're bigger and more important than you.
Ahem.

I really hate this exam thing.pressure's on! Two weeks til my first exam, and then it's drama, geography, geography, biology, geography, biology, dram

pressure's on! Two weeks til my first exam, and then it's drama, geography, geography, biology, geography, biology, drama.... urg

The stress is definitely beginning to show in the sixth form - more bitching than usual, more spots than usual (mostly on my chin by the looks of it), fewer smiles than usual. There's truth in those UNICEF surveys that say Britain's a godawful place to grow up, and I'm in one of the nicest parts! (in fairness, those surveys are only of a few countries - it's almost certainly worse to grow up in one of those central African countries where people are killing each other over a racial difference which was arbitrarily decided by white colonists)

On top of the exams and spots thing, there's extra irritations. My mum tells me that before her A-level exams she lost a stone in weight from the stress. I'm gaining weight. Seems I stress eat even as I tell myself not to.

The food itself isn't helping. I usually would have a perfectly normal cereal bowl, filled with cereal for breakfast. On the back of the box, it always says that 30g is the serving size. Figured I might as well find out how much that is.

I got a cereal bowl, and the kitchen scales. Set the scales to zero with the bowl and got the cereal out. 30g of bran flakes is... one small handful. the quantity I usually eat (one, normal bowlful) is more than 100g.

How am I supposed to cope til lunchtime on one handful of cereal? it's possible the portion sizes are mostly to blame for my tubbiness and the more significant tubbiness of my parents, although mum does suspect dad of trying to keep her fat.

Sexy times? not so much

Last week, the biology department had arranged for a local sexual health nurse to come and talk to us about contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion and infertility. fascinating stuff, albeit somewhat revolting (that stuff about STDs? there were pictures).

people from all three classes were in the room for the talk, and we started with some examples of contraception - several brands of the combined pill, including the evil one that made both me and Hanna crazy (we did actually shout "it's the evil one!" when she handed it to us), a female condom (one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen), an IUD, an implant etc, etc. Then of course, she moves on to the diseases. Start with a list, fine. Then those pictures. Oh dear . There was a point when I looked across the classroom and spotted several of the boys looking very uncomfortable.

We were all given leaflets at the end of the session, including one about safe oral sex. This leaflet had some diagrams of how to use a dental dam. It's not terribly... descriptive. Luckily for us, the sexual health nurse was sat with the sixth form's admin assistant next door, so Celia, Hanna and me went to ask about it. She was of course well prepared and just happened to have one to hand that she could show us.

When we went back to our friends and explained what it is, the boys were all giggly and silly (no change there then). The dividing wall has a big window in it, and through this, the ever helpful nurse was waving the thing around like a bullfighters cape, stretching and bending it and generally (I suspect) trying to embarrass the boys - she succeeded.

Other news: More Blog virus outbreaks! Lysha has joined in here

It's an epidemic!

no, not swine flu, blogging. I started reading the knitting blogs - stumbled across The Panopticon in the course of my internet surfing, read up on the Yarn Harlot, hopped over to Mossy Cottage and Now Norma Knits. Then I thought.. ooh, wouldn't it be nice to join this community of lovely people and have my own! so we have Choctopus, where I shall continue to find excuses not to do things I should do (like tidying my room or preparing for my exams).

Then, it starts to spread. My dear friend Apoorva, who I last saw in 2005 (I think) before her family uprooted and moved back to India (Hi!) has started a blog: Here and now, after having a look at what I've got here so far, Hanna has the desire to blog too. It must be viral or something.

Edit: there are links now!