The view from my bedroom window.

I’ve been off since the 18th June, which means I’ve had a lot of time not doing site related things. Just mentioning a few of the things I’ve done: I went to see Wicked for the second time, I went shopping several times, I went to the cinema (Toy Story 3, Wild Target, Get Him to the Greek,) I almost went camping and I ate Krispy Kreme doughnuts for breakfast. So clearly I’ve been very busy…

I’ve also been sorting out my room to make way for new sixth form clothes (my school has a ridiculous strict dress code) I’m having difficulty finding any suits though, they either don’t match or I look ridiculous in them. I feel like I’m not old enough to be going into sixth form in September. I’m twelve, I swear!

Aside from mental breakdowns, I’ve been getting ready for my holiday too. On the 2nd of August I’m off to Cuba for two weeks. I’m really looking forward to it, so is my camera as I haven’t had much of a chance to take photos with exams and such. If you were wondering, while I’m away I will pause the Thirty Days of Me and recommence one I return :) I think that is pretty much all I have to say. Goodnight!

Favourite book. Enter sigh here. It is pretty much impossible for me to chose. I love to read, and therefore have many, many favourite books. I could talk about the Harry Potter books, which I adore, but even then I wouldn’t be able to pick just one. I could say my favourite books are those written by Jodi Piccoult, but again, I can’t pick just one of her books. I could pick a book that I’ve loved all through my childhood, or one I’ve just recently discovered, but that would be unfair to all the other books out there :’( Looking at my bookshelf now, there are so many books I want to write pages and pages about. Is it acceptable to just list the contents of my shelves? No, I don’t think so.

The only solution I can think of is to talk about the books I’m currently reading. (I read at least two books at once, I don’t know why, but I’ve done it since I was little) The first is a Jodi Piccoult book, called Songs of the Humpback Whale. It was the first book Jodi published. It’s taken me a little while to get into it, as the narrative jumps around in time a lot, but I’m about a third of the way through now, and I’m really enjoying it. So far, it’s not like her other books, which normally involve some kind of court case. Here’s an extract from the beginning of the book:

“When I was three and a half, I survived a plan crash. Ever since, my mother has told me I am destined for something special. I can’t say I agree with her. I do not even remember. She and my father had a fight — one that ended with my mother crying into the garbage disposal and my father taking all the original paintings off the walls and stashing them in the trunk of his Impala for safekeeping. As a result, my mother took me out to my grandparents’ breezy yellow home near Boston. My Father kept calling. He threatened to send the FBI if she didn’t send me back home. So she did, but she told me she couldn’t go with me. She actually said, “I’m sorry honey, but I can’t stand that man.” Then she dressed me in a little lemon knit outfit with white gloves. She turned me over to a stewardess at the airport, kissed me goodbye, and said, “Now don’t lose the gloves. I paid a bundle.”

I don’t remember much about the crash. The plane broke all around me; it split in half right before row numer eight. All I recall was trying so hard to hold tight onto those gloves, and the way people didn’t move, and not being sure if it was all right to breathe.”

The second book I’m reading is part of my summer work for sixth form. It’s called The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. I’m just over halfway through, and would definitely recommend it to anyone studying philosophy. It is quite interesting, but as soon as I am told I have to read a book, it becomes a struggle to do so. However, as I already said, it is really interesting, and I’m looking forward to studying it as a class next school year.

What are your favourite books and quotes?

Now I must draw your attention to the new links in my sidebar asking you to Save Japan Dolphins. Channel Four recently aired a documentary called The Cove on More4 which followed the attempts of a group of people to uncover the secrets of a small town in Japan. The small town in Japan was home to the cove where every year over 20,000 dolphins are slaughtered. Not only is this a horrific act of cruelty against beautiful, intelligent creatures, their meat contains toxic levels of mercury which is dangerous for human consumption, and much of their meat is being labelled as whale meat. This means that many people could be suffering from mercury poisoning, which can led to deafness, blindness and eventually death. So please, follow the links and sign the petitions to end this now. Thank You.

Now moving on to some of the other films I have to mention. The Harry Potter films – I love them, but they don’t draw equal to the books, so they can’t be my favourite films. Little Miss Sunshine – This is a glorious film, the kind where you can cry and laugh within five minutes. The Young Victoria – My love for history films about Queens. The other films that have to mention are the Disney and Pixar films from my childhood. Talking of which, I went to see Toy Story 3 today with my mum and my older sister. I absolutely loved it, it was fantastic. However, a word of warning for the soppy, I sobbed for the last five minutes of the film. Which brings my sobbing-at-the-cinema total to three and a half films. (Marley & Me, Dear John, and Tarzan is the half because I was six or seven at the time.)

What are your favourite movies, and what is your sobbing-at-the-cinema total?

I adore the melody, and the lyrics, and I love Corrine’s voice. I really love the whole album, which is a rarity for me, as there is usually one or two songs that I don’t particularly like. I also love the song because it contains memories, like I can recall listening to the song on my walkman(?!) on a long car journey. For those who are interested, you can watch the video of the song on youtube here.

As I am incredibly inclusive by nature, I felt the need to also share the nine runners up to my favourite song. I will only give a one sentence explanation or comment, but if you are the curious type, feel free to ask why they failed to meet the top spot, or indeed why they are even on the list. Okay here goes:

10. Let’s Get F***ed Up and Die – Motion City Soundtrack (Don’t judge it by the title)
9. Puppy Love – S Club Juniors (Embarrassing, but I was completely obsessed with this song for at least two months in my childhood.)
8. Wannabe – Spice Girls (A childhood song, along with an amusing story about lyrics)
7. Don’t Look Back In Anger – Oasis (I recall singing along to this on the radio, as my parents liked them, and I still like Oasis now.)
6. There’s A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of It Yet – Panic! At The Disco (I like this one for the lyrics)
5. Flightless Bird, American Mouth – Iron & Wine (I absolutely love this song, please don’t judge it just because it is off the Twilight soundtrack)
4. I’m Just A Kid – Simple Plan (I remember singing to this in my thirteen year old angsty stage)
3. Clair De Lune – Debussy (I like to think of this as a soundtrack song.)
2. Ultraviolet – McFly (McFly are my guilty pleasure, I have adored this song since it was released.)

Talk about eclectic taste. What are you’re favourite songs?

The website I found it on is called Girl and City. I only discovered the website today, but the writer of the blog, who goes by the psuedonym of SassyGirl, writes fantastically – her blog could pratically be a book. All of her posts are incredibly interesting (Especially the ones about her recent trip around Europe, her descriptions make me want to leave the country immediately.) You should all definitely go and check out her blog, it is well worth it.

Anyway, back to the ‘Thirty Days of Me.’ The topics are:

Day 01 → Your favorite song
Day 02 → Your favorite movie
Day 03 → Your favorite television program
Day 04 → Your favorite book
Day 05 → Your favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobby of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy

Anyway, I have to go because revision is calling me. Expect updates, posts and love from Saturday. No, make that Monday. I cba.

So, in true ‘oh-revoir’ style, I have a new layout before any one really saw the old one. However, this one greatly surpasses the old one, so it is completely acceptable. The ‘hellgoodbye’ layout encompasses my first attempt at a ‘vector’ of the beautiful Forrest Kline. Let me know what you think of it. It also incorporates Hellogoodbye lyrics, as expected, and some Beatles lyrics which I believe inspired the name for Hellogoodbye.

In other news, today was my first day of study leave. A joyful and horrific time. School is over, but exams are upon us. My first exam is tomorrow, but it’s this finance thing where the pass mark is 10 out of 40, so I should be okay. I had my French oral a few days back, it was very scary, but my teacher said that it was fine and that I had nothing to worry about – whatever that means. The day of my French oral I went to see Sean Lock. He was very funny, but the people in my town were very embarassing, yelling out rude and racist things. Sean was very good about it though, turning it round so everyone just laughed at him, but I doubt he would come back. Well, if I was him, I wouldn’t, as someone in the audience the town where I live is very nice, a very nice place to leave.

Now time for a bit of topical new? The General Election. If I had the vote, it would’ve gone to the Conservatives. A lot of people in my school only started supporting Lib Dem after the debate, which annoyed me a lot, because most of them couldn’t name any of his policies that they supported. Someone actually said that they would vote for him because he was the most attractive of the three. It does make me worry. Anyway, the point I was actually going to make is that the power Lib Dems are currently holding over the two parties which got the most votes and seats is not exactly fair. If I was Cameron, I’d just convince 20 M.Ps to change to the Conservative party and then march up to number 10 downing street and be like “Bam! Majority. Get out of my house” haha. No, I’m kidding. I think Lib Dem should stick to what they said before the election and support the party with the most seats and vote, Conservatives.

Second Paragraph, right time for some site plans that I won’t stick to. I am aiming to get my portfolio up as soon as possible, but I am looking for a different way to showcase it because the Polaroid Gallery I had last time took FOREVER to load, and it annoyed me which would surely mean no one ever bothered to look at it. I have also, some what optimistically, added a ‘more’ button to the image-mapped navigation. I’m not entirely sure what ‘more’ will exactly compromise of, but it is going to happen. I also want to get lots of little minions, hostees to the normal folk, because I want to share the oh-revoir love, so I must set up an application page shortly. So stay tuned kids.

Now, I really must write something of interest. Films, I think, would be good. So last night, I watched Paranormal Activity. It scared the hell out of me, but I was actually quite impressed there was no constant gore or CGI monsters, it was all just mind-messing filming. Still, I’d rather watch Saw because that lets me sleep at night. Another good film I’ve recently watched is Gran Torino. My parents bought it, and I knew nothing about it and was generally feeling negative about watching it, but it was seriously good. It was funny and dramatic. How is that even possible? Moral of the story: films are good. Let me know of the best and worst you’ve watched.