Hills..

...was pretty good, except me and Sim tried to make friends with this lonely kid and scared him off :( ah well. Humourous, though. Anyway, didn't do much except enter some data into the computer, etc. Afterwards me, Sim, Dave, Dan and Brier went and got some food, and Bigs met up with us. The food was really good, but when we sat down there were tons of flies around. After that I went over Bigs's house which was fun. And that was pretty much it. I'm really tired though. I should exercise, but right now I cba. I'll do it later. We watched a bit of Amelie today, which was very good. Anyway, I thought I'd write about some things I like and dislike:

I like:

• the smell of autumn leaves
• parallelograms
• waking up before the alarm clock goes off
• watching good movies when the weather is bad inside
• perfume and mini alcohol bottles
• comfy beds
• going to sleep when I'm really tired
• Digestives
• surprises
• feeling really blissful when I first start running and listening to good music
• perfect symmetry
• circular or curved objects
• the smell of good food cooking
• feeling really proud and relieved when you complete something
• Bourbon Creams
• really cold yougurt
• finding a song that exactly fits my mood
• putting on clothes with good material
• complete darkness
• having a fluffy duvet
• being really tired and collapsing into bed
• soft material
• having really good conversations
• looking at the sky
• cold weather
• really nice coats
• shiny things
• shadows
• crunchy, spicy or soft food
• anticipation
• really nice shoes
• when people are friendly and helpful to you
• seeing pastries
• tea in the morning
• cool showers
• when people are thoughtful to you for no reason at all

I don't like:

• when it's light out when I go to sleep
• oily things, especially oily crisp packets
• loud noises when I'm tired
• knowing I need to do something
• forgetting something and nearly remembering it
• not working hard enough
• grass getting in my shoes
• hot, humid weather
• when things get out of control
• being hungry and not knowing what to eat
• feeling guilty
• arguing with someone who I think is stupid, and them refusing to listen
• forcing myself to exercise
• waking up too early
• when people rub their eyes really roughly
• when people embarrass themselves
• pressing the stop button on the bus and holding my hand out for the bus
• when things are not aligned properly or symmetically
• seeing drunk people
• dirty toilets
• losing things
• mood swings
• disappointment and feeling frightened
• waking up feeling scared and not being able to turn the light on
• flaky pastries
• being scared at night

Once again...

...I feel obligated to post. Anyway, met up with Ollie to go swimming. Swimming was fun, have a bump on my head from going down the water slidey things. I used to be a really good swimmer, but now I'm really slow :( Ah well. Haven't been since I fainted last time! Went for about an hour, and then went to Nandos to get something to eat. Had a salad, which was really, really tasty, but it was really not as spicy as I expected. Then I went through the bus routine through Hills a few times, which was actually not that boring, and then I ran into Jasmine and Dora so I went with them to Costa where Kaisa met us later, which was a pleasant surprise! Then I went home, and jogged 3 laps, had dinner, talked to the LAN party crew for a bit and am now watching Inuyasha :) It sounds like they're having fun, and apparently my cookies were well-received, yay! I don't think I'm allowed out tomorrow which is a shame, as I was hoping to meet up with Brier, but I'll see what happens! I haven't seen her in ages properly :( but if I'm not allowed out tomorrow, then I should be able to see her next week! I also thought it would be a good idea if a big group of us met up and went to the pool on Saturday, as it was actually really fun swimming today, and I thought it would be a nice last bigish event before going to sixth form :) But I'll have to see. All in all, pretty good day!

Today..

Nothing much happened. I just feel obligated to post. I'm annoyed again, because like last time, I forgot to set the alarm so I didn't get to jog this morning. However, I did do 4 laps and ran a quarter of a lap before dinner. And I ate pretty healthy too :) well, relatively. Well, actually, no, not at all. But for some reason I feel like I did, so that's good. I've started drinking lemon water because apparently citric acid helps digest food better, am eating spicy food because it helps with arthiritis, (which I have in my wrists and am getting in my fingers and toes, it is painful) speeds up your metabolism, stimulates your brain so it makes and also helps with depression. I don't have depression, but it's always nice to feel happier. It releases endorphins, supposedly. I'm also trying to eat more fruit and vegetables, eat less food, drink more tea (speeds up metabolism), etc...and I'm trying to eat less junk food, which unfortunately I have been eating quite a lot of recently. So I'd better get back on track! I'm swimming tomorrow, which is uber healthy, so that should be pretty fun! I like swimming. I haven't been in ages, maybe years, and after seeing Michael Phelps (whom I love) I really wanted to go again. So it shall be fun. Ollie came over today, which was also very fun, it was one of those lazy and relaxing days. We watched the Terminator, which was actually really, really good, and then we threw a ball around for a little while, and my wrist got scratched up because he pushed me into the spikey bush. Grr. Then I went jogging and me and my brother wikied some very...disturbing...things. That have scarred me. Permanently. Then Bigs came and picked up the cookies for their LAN party tomorrow. I hope they don't get really hyped on Mountain Dew and sugar and stuff, but I know they will. So I hope they have fun :) and I hope they like my cookies. There weren't that many left though because we have been nibbling on them. Ah well. Then we watched Sopranos again, which is a great show, and now I'm writing this post before I exercise and stretch and go to sleep. So, all in all, pretty good day.

I'm annoyed...

...because I woke myself up really early to go jogging, and it was raining. However, that isn't the worse bit- I set my alarm last night for 8.30, but I accidentally changed my clock so it was one hour forward. So I ended up waking up at 7.30, not realizing it, and then waking up every 30 minutes afterward because I kept on setting my alarm back. So when I finally realized my clock was one hour ahead and it was actually 8, not 9, I slept for an hour and then woke up to find it was raining heavily. So that was very aggravating. I did run in the middle of the day, 4 laps around the field, but by that time it was really humid and not nice out. Grr.

Other news...I've been trying to revise Latin, but really cannot be bothered to learn. However, there's not much to do around here. I was looking at J-horror on wikipedia, so now I'm very scared and going to have a pretty restless night :( Having that movie thing tomorrow and used the excuse to make cookies! I love baking, but don't have much excuse usually to make anything. Damn. I've also been looking at other things on wikipedia, but they're a bit gross so I won't write about it here.

In conclusion, I'm bored and wish I was allowed out more.

GCSEs

Finally it's all over! I got all As, 5 A*s in English, Maths, Science, Geography and History and 2 Bs in French and ICT. I'm a little disappointed with the French and ICT, but I am very pleased with the A*s in Science, Maths and Geo, especially since I only expected an A in Geo. Apparently I was shaking before I got them, and really, really started shaking afterwards! Today was a good day, I was relieved to get my results (you were right, Bigs, I was alright after all!) and of course got there straight at ten. It was good because all my friends were there, but we had to wait until the end (12, 2 more hours!) for Brier to get there. Then we all went into town. Everyone split up, so I ended up staying with Bigs, Brier, Zac, Sim and Ollie to go to get tea which was rather fun except I spent a lot of money. Then we went around Jesus Green for a little while before going to a pub for a snack, and then we went to Clowns and Ollie left. We stayed around Clowns for quite a while, which was very relaxing, and then Bigs left to go to the airport and me, Brier and Sim went to this great Chinese restaurant and got wonton soup for only 4.80! It was really good, too! Normally the soup we get here is really watery and not very good, but in this one the noodles were really tasty and everything was really flavoursome / flavourful (depending whether you're English or American). Brier got something else that was the same price that was also really good! But ugh, spend waaay too much money today- 6.85 + 2.00 + 3.00 + 4.80 = too expensive. Ah well. It WAS a celebratory day. I do regret not being able to see the Dark Knight though- apparently it's really good. Ah well. That would be waay, waay too expensive!

Good news- I got my results and they are good, except for French and ICT. I'm very, very relieved. Phew :) Also, I'm allowed to have movie day! Yay!

Bad news- I have to get shots tomorrow. I hate shots. They just puncture your skin...*shudders* it's awful. I hate, hate, hate them. And I have to get a lot I think too. It's very upsetting. Also, I just have to watch them inject the stuff, so it's really awful. I don't mind getting cut, or bruised as much, but getting punctured...is so upsetting. Bleugh.

General

It's really getting very hard to think of post names. Anyway, tomorrow's practically our last day because we leave on Monday. I don't count Monday really as a day because we'll be too busy doing last minute packing and it'll be too stressful to be enjoyable. Anyway, what have I been doing...I went into NY last Thursday which was quite fun. We wandered around Soho, the Village and Chinatown all day which was very enjoyable. I went around Chinatown trying to find gifts, but couldn't find anything which was extremely, extremely annoying! I really liked the Village; there were a lot of nice shops including this place called 'le petit puppy.' Silly name, but adorable shop! Here is the link:

http://www.lepetitpuppynyc.com/

I got to hold one of the little pomeranians and I am SO in love with it. I think we might be close to getting another dog, which is just great! My dad is thawing... :D We want another pom. That would be great. Fuji might be a little mad though...anyway, unfortunately we didn't buy anything, but it was fun just walking around. We went to a really great diner which was, once again, very good and very cheap. We also went on the subway and there was this group of buskers walking up and down the train singing which was quite fun to listen to. Altogether it was a really great day. I love NY. What else have I been doing...

I haven't been revising anymore; it's the last few days and I've packed my stuff away. We also have tons of junk food to eat, and I've been having a hard time exercising. But who cares? Today's the second to last day so it won't make a difference anyway. This morning we went to Ihop which was really, really tasty, but I've found that after eating healthy and exercising so much for so long I find that I can't eat much of it anymore. Which is great. I'm quite happy with that :D Tomorrow morning we're going to our very last yum cha for a while. I have to remember though, there's a new place in Cambridge that does it that's not as expensive as Charlie Chans! Where was it...from that big place where cineworld is, right near Hills, down that long long road into town. I'll have to go search for it. I have no money, but it might be fun to go with some people when I have enough money. So that's good.

I've also been watching the Olympics. I am such a huge Phelps Phan :) I am so in love with him :P I just watched him do the 100m butterfly last night and it was SO AMAZING! He won by one 100th of a second! It was so stressful, but so brilliant! It's his last race tonight- and his last gold medal! I am praying for him and will be cheering for him when he races and hopefully wins!!

I'm sort of looking forward to coming back, but at the same time I'm really not. I've stayed here for too long really; there's been nothing to do except revise, I have no human contact beyond my family so I miss everyone and it's getting stressful. However, I will be very, very, very sad to leave my grandparents and I am also really freaked out about getting my results. I know I can't worry about it now and I probably- no definitely- should have revised harder, but still...stressful! And I'm starting Hills soon, which although undoubtedly will be a lot of fun, it will also be a lot of hard work. I've been looking forward to it for a long time, but now that it's here it seems rather intimidating. Weird. Well, we still have a little while before sixth form, so I'll be able to see all my friends and everything. Fun fun fun :) As long as I get good grades...

'Tis quite depressing

I just had my last meal of bagel and lox :'( The thought of it is just so depressing I can't even comprehend it. Ego non laetissimus.

I will be back in England next Tuesday! The visit here has been quite fun, if a little bit boring. I'm still revising Latin (Latinam nimus odiosus) and I'm learning it quite quickly, so yay! I'm going into NY again tomorrow I think, which will be quite fun. I've been exercising lots, which is quite fun, and have now started going on the treadmill for an hour every day :) The Olympics have been really great, America just beat France in the swimming which was just amazing to see. Go Michael Phelps! And China got the gold in the gymnastics, which was brilliant. Go China!

The bad news...I'm completely broke. I have spent $102 in the last two days (it sounds really bad, but that's the most I've spent so far in this trip! I want to keep everything I've bought, but if I don't return something I'll be completely broke for a while. :( ARGH! Why don't I have more money!? Ego ammodum iratus! GRR!

Ipod

My ipod is fixed! Well, not really my ipod, but I got new earphones so now I can listen to music while I jog again. And it helps SO MUCH! I haven't jogged for the last 3 days, the first because it was my rest day, the second because I went into NY so I didn't have time, and the last day because I was too tired. Anyway, today I went back and partly because I was well rested, and partly because I had my music I was able to jog the whole 3 miles again! And, not only that, I was able to do it a lot better than I have been recently. I've been finding it hard to run because my legs have been so sore and because I have no music, so I could only do these really weird little steps which of course made it a lot harder. Today I could do it normally, like I did when I first started, so I am a lot happier :)

On a second note, I'm watching the Olympics right now and revising latin. The opening ceremonies were AMAZING!

中国加油!!!

My computer is fixed!

Finally, my computer is fixed after much hardship, time and money. Anyway, nothing much has been happening here- my aunt, uncle and cousin left on Sunday, the day after my mom's birthday. Me and my dad had stayed up way, way late into the night preparing her gifts, until 2am to be precise, and she didn't even like them! We spent hours and hours writing 'Happy Birthday Hil' on these little pasteries she likes, and she said she didn't like the icing and that we ruined the stupid pasteries! Grr! She did however say she liked my birthday card (which I spent 1 1/2 hours on) which is good, because it took a lot of effort. It was 3-d and homemade, and it had colours and borders! Which doesn't sound like a very big deal but it was. I was very proud of it :) I think she was being sarcastic, though, when she said she liked it, which is really not funny when you spend so much time on something! :P I am quite pleased today because I finally finished my maths book- all 121 pages of it- so now I'm onto Latin and Cantonese! No time for rest, lol. I also have been exercising, but unfortunately I'm down to 2 laps because for some reason by the end of the first lap I usually have stomach cramps, and by the end of the second they're really intense. I don't know why. It's weird. I hope they go away. Tomorrow we're going into NY to wander around a little bit, and then we're going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is also nice :) I bought some new stuff recently too, but haven't spent as much as my brother! Bought a nice Ralph Lauren jacket yesterday for $20, suggested retail $176. Bargain, and I love it! My brother says it looks like a straitjacket, but I love it. So I am happy. Forgot to mention I also bought some of my favourite chinese candy- mung cookies! They taste like sawdust :) but I love them. We also bought some green cake, my custard bao baos and these enormous soft yellow sponges, as well as DURIAN CANDY and, amazingly, PHOSPHORUS WATER!! I tried the durian candy and now I realize what the big deal is. We got the whole family to try it :) and now I realize...well, I'm not going to write about it here because some of the people who I want to try it read this blog. Just assume it's either mind-bogglingly good or mind-bogglingly bad. You'll find out! Anyway, about the phosphorus water, it's lime green and iridescent and I love it. Well, the look anyway. I hate the taste. I just bought it because I wanted to display it. I'll put some pics up later just because I'm so happy I bought it :D Anyway, that's basically what I've been doing recently. I probably left out some stuff because I'm too tired to think of it. Oh, I've been researching Confucianism and Taoism too, and reading a bunch. Just finished Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov. Really, really, really good. Just brilliant. Incidentally, my brother wants to name his future son Vladmir. Isn't that weird?