Let's compare life to...

A simple coin toss.


Fate or physics? Are we in control of the events due to unfold, or are we in the ever uncertain hands of destiny? 


I'm not sure anymore, whether life is controlled by us, or destiny.


We're all thrown into each-other through-out the duration of our lives. Not one person we encounter is controlled by us. We don't choose who are parents are. We can't decide who is waiting in front of us in Starbucks and we have absolutely no control over who we will fall in love with, or how we will meet them.


We toss the coin, we make it spin, but where it lands or what side it lands on is not up to us... it's up to something else.


And that "something else" always seems to put things right.


Lauren xxx


*NOTE: It was tails.*

Don't forget the victims of our hateful society

By now, you have probably heard of 14 year old Jamey Rodemeyer, a gay teen who was bullied to death for something as trivial as his sexual orientation.


Upon hearing of this story, I was moved to tears. I was appalled. I was disgusted... Like most of the world. It's an emotionally charged story that makes for incredibly hard reading. However, it is a story that we must pay attention to, as it reflects the frightening new depths that our society is willing to sink to.


Like many teens, Jamey was an avid blogger and enjoyed talking to his peers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The only difference (or perhaps, another similarity) between him and the rest of us is his sexuality... a difference that his classmates soon used as a pathetic excuse to abuse this poor young boy.


When Jamey blogged about his experiences with bullying, he was merely met with another wave of insults and nasty comments from his tormentors. 


Bullies wrote...

“I wouldn’t care if you died. No one would. So just do it … It would make everyone WAY more happier.

"Go kill yourself, you're worthless, ugly and don't have a point to live." 

There is no excuse for these kind of comments. They are tasteless, sick and down-right inappropriate. Telling someone that people wouldn't only be indifferent to their deaths, but would actually be happier as a result, is not only untrue, but incredibly malicious.


Feeling alone and hate upon, Jamey asked his online friends what it would take for him to be taken seriously:

"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens. What do I have to do so people will listen to me?"

In a perfect world, Jamey wouldn't have been bullied in the first-place.

In a just world, Jamey would have got the support he not only wanted, but needed as soon as the bullying began to get out of hand. 

Instead, Jamey felt abused and alone, with only his friends and Lady Gaga's music to support him.

Lady Gaga was one of his biggest influences, whom he thanked both in his It Gets Better video and his final tweet. The hope that he seems to have in the video for the future was tragically lost, or rather, destroyed by the homophobes around him. 

The homophobes need to realise that their words and actions resulted in a death of an innocent young boy, and there's nothing that they can do or say that can bring him back to his friends or his family...

You can't hide from the truth, and the truth is... they are the reason that he's not alive right now.

They cannot hide behind their religion.

They cannot hide behind their pathetic reasoning.

They cannot hide behind their opinions. 

There is no-where to hide, the truth tears through every single one of their measly excuses. There is no excuse for homophobia. A life is precious, regardless of the ethnicity, sexuality, personality, religion, tastes, opinions or morals of the person. Homophobic comments make people feel like pieces of dirt, and why? Because they dare to love someone? The only difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals is the gender of the people we love. And if that's a good enough reason to hate someone, then my heart truly breaks for how truly pathetic humanity has become.

One of Jamey's last posts were lyrics to Lady Gaga's 'The Queen', in which he almost makes a plea to his friends and his family not to forget him.

"Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door"

Word of Jamey's tragic tale spread like wild fire through the social media, reaching two of his idols, Lady Gaga and Hayley Williams, in a matter of days.

HAYLEY WILLIAMS: Realized that Jamey and I had actually spoken on twitter before... Puts it in an entirely new perspective knowing we connected at one point. My heart is broken for him.

LADY GAGA: The past days I've spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someones life. Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 yrs old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become be illegal. It is a hate crime. 

MSRACHELGARNER:  I never got to meet you, never got to know you but i still love you. #makealawforjamey 

ISPEAKTHEFAME: Life is hard but there's always someone that will listen. Be strong and never let bullies win. Rest in peace Jamey Rodemeyer.

DIXON MUNRO: Rest in peace Jamey Rodemeyer. You beautiful soul.  

Only a tiny majority of people affected by his story actually knew him in real life, and yet, we treat his death as if he was one of our own friends... one of our own family...

A generation weeps for a boy we never knew, naively praying for these tears to be the last.

Getting Started With ANTLR:Basics

Yeah! It's after a lapse of a month or so that there is a post in this blog! :)
Well, this post drives you towards the basics of ANTLR. Previously, we had learnt about setting up of ANTLR as an external tool. 

RECAP! It's here:
antlr-external tool:)
So, here we go....

What is ANTLR?
• ANother Tool for Language Recognition, is a language tool that provides a framework for constructing recognizers, interpreters, compilers, and translators from grammatical descriptions containing actions.

What can be the target languages?
• Ada
• Action Script
• C
• C#; C#2
• C#3
• D
• Emacs ELisp
• Objective C
• Java
• Java Script
• Python
• Ruby
• Perl6
• Perl
• PHP
• Oberon
• Scala

What does ANTLR support?
• Tree construction
• Error recovery
• Error handling
• Tree walking
• Translation

What environment does it support?
ANTLRWorks is the IDE for ANTLR. It is the graphical grammar editor and debugger, written by Jean Bovet using Swing.


What for ANTLR can be used?
• ""REAL"" programming languages
• domain-specific languages [DSL]

Who is using ANTLR?
• Programming languages :Boo, Groovy, Mantra, Nemerle, XRuby etc.
• Other Tools: HIbernate, Intellij IDEA, Jazillian, JBoss Rules, Keynote(Apple), WebLogic(Oracle) etc.

Where is that you can look for ANTLR?
You can always follow here http://www.antlr.org
• to download ANTLR and ANTLRWorks, which are free and open source
• docs,articles,wiki,mailing list,examples.... You can catch everything here!


Row your Boat....

• Basic terms

• Lexer : converts a stream of characters to a stream of tokens.
• Parser : processes of tokens, possibly creating AST
• Abstract Syntax Tree(AST): an intermediate tree representation of the parsed input that is simpler to process than the stream of tokens. It can as well be processed multiple times.
• Tree Parser: It processes an AST
• String Template: a library that supports using templates with placeholders for outputting text

• General Steps

• Write Grammar in one or more files
• Write string templates[optional]
• Debug your grammar with ANTLRWorks
• Generate classes from grammar
• Write an application that uses generated classes
• Feed the application text that conforms to the grammar

A Bit Further....

Lets write a simple grammar which consists of
• Lexer
• Parser

Lexer: Breaks the input stream into tokens

Lets take the example of simple declaration type in C of the form "int a,b;" or "int a;" and same with float.

As we see we can write lexer as follows:

//TestLexer.g

grammar TestLexer;

ID  : ('a'..'z'|'A'..'Z'|'_') ('a'..'z'|'A'..'Z'|'0'..'9'|'_'|'.'|'a'..'z'|'A'..'Z')*;

COMMA: ',';

SEMICOLON:';';

DATATYPE: 'int' | 'float';

As we could see, these were the characters that were to be converted to tokens.

So, now lets write some rules which processes these tokens generated and may it create a parse tree accordingly.

//TestParser.g

grammar TestParser;

options {

language : Java;

}

decl:DATATYPE ID (',' ID)* ;       

Running ANTLR on the grammar just generates the lexer and parser,TestParser and TestLexer. To actually try the grammar on some input, we
need a test rig with a main( ) method as follows:

// Test.java

import org.antlr.runtime.*;
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
// Create an input character stream from standard in
ANTLRFileStream input = new ANTLRFileStream("input"); // give path to the file input
// Create an ExprLexer that feeds from that stream

TestLexer lexer = new TestLexer(input);
// Create a stream of tokens fed by the lexer
CommonTokenStream tokens = new CommonTokenStream(lexer);
// Create a parser that feeds off the token stream
TestParser parser = new TestParser(tokens);
// Begin parsing at rule decl
parser.decl();
}
}

We shall see how to create an AST and walk over the tree in the next blog post...

Happy learning....! :)

Only love can cure us now.

Another month, another needless death caused by the hands of homophobic bullies...


What is there to say that has not already been said? Once again, I am shocked and appalled by the insensitivity that I have seen in relation to societies treatment of the LGBT community, and, once again, I am left baffled to why more people haven't spoken up on the matter...


Anyone who tackles such issues is labelled to be gay, my question is, why does having a caring attitude towards this persecuted community automatically earn you abuse or labeling? Since when did the word "gay" become an insult rather than a descriptive term? 


The popularity of the internet and the progression of social networking sites such as twitter and facebook should result in teenagers and other generations being better supported in their endeavours and soothingly convinced that their sexuality is not something that defines them as a person, that they should not feel judged, alone or ashamed. 


It's wrong that so many people will be bullied (a shocking majority of them online) to the point where they will attempt to take their own life. How can someone justify their actions when it leads to someone attempting suicide?


There is no justification.
There is no excuse.
There is no reason.


If we do not accept that our words and actions have a profound effect on others, the issue of gay suicide will only get worse. 


Remember the victims of homophobic bullying. Without them, history will only repeat itself. We need to keep their names and faces fresh in our minds:

Tyler Clementi
Seth Walsh
Asher Brown
Billy Lucas
Jamey Rodemeyer...


To show your support for these teens, along with anyone else that is struggling with the same issue, please join me in drawing a heart on your wrist every day for a week. 

I know it might not seem like much but...

A symbol of support is a symbol of support, it doesn't need to be exuberant or in your face to be powerfully effective... 


If we don't do something, the hate will only multiply into absurd new levels. Homophobia will become common, as will gay suicide rates. Perhaps drawing a simple heart on your wrist doesn't seem like much, perhaps it doesn't seem like anything, but it's a symbol of loving support. It's a symbol that you care.


As Martin Luther King Jr once wrote...

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that"

And with the level of hatred that is plaguing humanity at the present moment, one thing is certain...

Only love can cure us now.

Star Wars on Blu-ray

My shiny new Star Wars complete saga Blu-ray boxset arrived in the mail yesterday, I have to admit to being more excited about seeing all the new special  features than I was about seeing the movies again but now that the discs are actually here I find that I don't really care, I hope it's the combination of insomnia and fatigue rather than this geek fanboy's heart dying.

I'm not just stealing your ping pong ball, I'm stealing your dignity.

No doubt a filthy image would flash into

Ross' head right now if he saw the 

above image.

I blame Russell Howard.

Today is Monday (one of the three days which do not exist in Rebecca Black's calender, if you haven't noticed) and do you know what that means?

I pretty much get an extended weekend.

Regardless, it's my duty to drag my lazy ass out of bed and make my way (slowly) to school. For what?

Core P.E. and a skive self study art.

Linzie is all alone in registration in the Mornings if I'm not there, so I always try to make it to the bus stop on time... it doesn't always work. 

Today however, it did. Always good!

It was just really awkward on the bus, because it was horribly busy and therefore you couldn't look in any direction without feeling as though you are staring at someone... 

Buses bring out the worst in people.

Regardless, I was on time (Hallelujah.) and in perfect timing to watch Linzie attempt to, once again, sell tickets to the first and second years to a disco.

Key word here is attempt.

Like when you attempt to push a pull door.

Or when you attempt to grow facial hair.

Or when you attempt to show a PMSing tigress

the latest series of Jersey Shore.

You get the point, it was a disaster. Not one single person remotely interested in buying tickets.

*rolls eyes* First years. Spoil sports.

P.E.

Mr Shaw single-handedly solved the disco sales problem...

We should tell them that the new head of P.E. is going. Apparently, they love him.

You might think, "Awww, cute!" but we are speaking about the same year that have someone giving out blow-jobs to guys casually... THEY ARE TWELVE.

Half of them are wee monsters... the other half are truly adorable... it's hard to paint them all with the same brush. 

Regardless, we just hovered around a heater like moths to a flame and waited for the bell to ring. 

In P.E., not much happened.

I ran downstairs from fitness (Where, ironically, you don't do anything apart from laze about) to the ping pong area, waited for Laura to miss the ping pong ball and BOOM. I snatched the ball up and ran back upstairs with it.

Laura ran after me and as soon as she got upstairs... I launched the ball back towards Jennifer, her Ping Pong partner. 

She was so pleased.

SELF STUDY ART

Abbreviated form is SSA, which also stands for Secretly sit around, which is what most of our class does.

Borat approves of this display of 

authorized rebellion.

We were running about, trying to find Mr Whyte for Megan (she needed to find him so she could ask him about getting the rights to Oliver) and trying to find a jacket for Megan's super awesome Sponsored walk costume.

I'll try getting a picture of her, it's going to be good!

Anyways, he was in a meeting when we went to his office (A headteacher? In a meeting? What's that about?) so we waited and boom. He appeared.

Megan froze and pointed dramatically at him.

Like this, but not so aggressive.

He just pauses... and then slowly glances around him. She continues her gaze. He keeps a straight face as he begins to realise she's gawking at him.

MEGAN: I need to talk to you about a script!

MR WHYTE: *indifferently* What script?

MEGAN: *somewhat nervously* Uh... for Oliver? Can we do the play for the se...

MR WHYTE: Yes. *disappears* 

He's really like a ninja... a busy, stressed out ninja.


I don't know, he never seems to have time for us pupils. Criticism does not exist within the four walls of the school and voices fall upon deaf ears, their only concern now-adays lie with exam results and league tables... it's terrible! 


Had a nice time with Megan though, before she had to run off to Torry to do English.


Then I went home, grabbed my camera and went out again...


Got some shots, but nothing that's on my laptop, so alas, you'll have to do without my pictures, you're not missing out on much!


Bought impulsively... again. I shouldn't be trusted with money. 


This time, I'm going to blame Hayley Williams.

Her glasses.

I bought her glasses *sighs*

I don't even suit the glasses! And the lenses are really reflective, haha! They make me look cross-eyed, but I love them regardless.

As said, I shouldn't be trusted with money.

Lauren xxx

Friends With Benefits

Romantic-comedies. The mere sight of those two words will have males running towards the hills and your average art-house hipster tutting loudly whilst shaking his head in disapproval. They are the carbon copies of every single other film in the genre and remain popular despite the genre's reputation for having:

• A poor plot
• Terrible actors
• A high level of predictability
• Cringe-worthy "jokes"
• A lack of originality
• Embarrassing cliched moments

Yet, these films make million upon millions and why? Us women love a good old, soppy film and a slice of eye candy to satisfy our hunger. A satirical take on its own genre, "Friends with benefits" still has a "slice of eye candy" for us to drool over (in the form of ever handsome, Justin Timberlake) but adds another dimension for us all to enjoy, genuine hilarity, a good script and (most surprisingly) talent.


Much like previous 2011 release "No Strings Attached" (Female lead being played by Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis' cast-mate in "Black Swan"), the plot investigates what happens when friends become more than just friends, but in a purely physical manner. "Emotionally unavailable" graphic designer Dylan (Justin Timberlake) moves to the hustling, bustling city of New York after getting dumped by his slightly insane ex-girlfriend (Emma Stone) and a reasonable amount of persuasion by beautiful head-hunter Jamie (Mila Kunis), who is also recently single. Jamie and Dylan quickly form a friendship, and after watching a truly terrible romantic comedy, they conclude that friends should be able to have sex without it having to equate to anything more than that and immediately go about trying to prove their own theory to be correct.


Being a romantic comedy, you should be able to guess the ending from a mile off, however, the fact that director Will Gluck ("Easy A") was involved in not only the directing, but the screenwriting for this movie should be enough to convince you that this movie won't be entirely unoriginal. This is proven early on through use of pseudo-cynicism, poking fun at rom-com's cliches and cheesy dialogue. Gluck's directing is intelligent, with the impersonal first night of sex that Jamie and Dylan spent together seeming a world apart from first, genuinely tender night of love the two shared later on in the film. Through use of dialogue, music and camera shots, Gluck was able to manipulate the audiences reactions to the different scenes. Comedic moments came quick and heavy during the first half of the film, with recurring gags becoming apparent as the film progressed (Captain Sully and "John Fucking Mayer"). The second half focused more on character development and drama, but still contained a fair few laugh out loud moments (Dylan having to be rescued by helicopter being one of them). Following up the runaway success of last years charming comedy "Easy A", Gluck proves that he is without a doubt, a director to watch.


Mila Kunis proves herself fit for leading lady, with "Black Swan" already proving to audiences everywhere that she is more than a capable actress. Her multi-faceted portrayal of the seemingly tough, yet ultimately sweet Jamie makes it hard to not admire her acting talent. The audience genuinely care for the films characters and their tragic back-stories will move the most stone-hearted member of the audience, if only for a second. Justin Timberlake's portrayal of a young man struggling to deal with his Father's Alzheimer's was heart-warmingly realistic, despite the fact that it was shown in ridiculously small doses. His work on "Friends With Benefits" doesn't quite equate to "The Social Network", but it's an impressive performance none-the-less for such a mainstream musician. Emma Stone's short, yet hilarious cameo appearance in the film made me and my friend smile, as I'm sure it made many people in the audience. Stone is fast becoming everyone's favourite actress, due to her smart choice in roles, her sharp wit and her fantastic acting talent. The fact that this is the second film that she appears in that Will Gluck has directed is a promising sign that the two will have a working relationship to rival Nolan/Caine, Burton/Depp or Scorsese/De Niro. Despite my love for "Easy A" star Emma Stone, I was not certain about her previous on-screen Mother, Patricia Clarkson. The quirkiness of her character seemed to work perfectly for her previous role in "Easy A", but didn't quite seem to click during her portrayal of Jamie's alcoholic and somewhat promiscuous Mother. It was a hit or a miss for her character during the films run time, it's debatable whether this was because of the actresses' performance or the cluttered presentation of the character and her back-story in the script. 


The soundtrack for the movie was expertly chosen by Halli Cauthery and Ryan Perez-Daple, ranging from the melodic and utterly beautiful I Will Follow You Into The Dark, the thought-provoking Take A Bow to the upbeat, somewhat urban remix of classic New York, New York. It's a great soundtrack, that seems to fit the action on screen most times without sounding mis-matched. When compared to other films in the genre, this soundtrack sounds as if it were compiled by angels.


The reason however, that the film is memorable is not because of its fantastic soundtrack, but rather the razor sharp wit of the script. The film focuses more on the comedy than it does on the romance, I'm sure the majority of you will be glad to hear, and the few truly romantic moments that the film has are so beautifully written, you'll forgive the script writers for creating them. It's a fun plot, the script is filled with more quotable references than you'll know what to do with and a fair few scenes of heart-warming moments to display the casts' acting talent. 


Males of the world, rejoice. This might just be one "chick flick" you don't mind your girlfriend dragging you along to see.


And if you're still not sold on the film?

It's 109 minutes spent with the lovely Mila Kunis.

Have I managed to convince you yet?

Insomnia Sucks !

It really really does, over the last few days I've been exhausted but not tired enough to actually sleep, you'd think I would've caught up on some reading or something but no I was too tired to really concentrate either but it's getting better - slowly !

My Inspirations: Everyone.

No. I'm not cheating by choosing everyone. I could pick one person and discuss why they are an inspiration to me in great detail but seen as I've done that for the past four months, I thought I'd try something different this time, something that you could actually, practically use in your day to day life.

Think of everyone you know. Friends, family, enemies, teachers, celebrities, neighbours, bosses, colleagues, that one person you don't know the name of but always see.... everyone. 


Now, think about what they've taught you. It doesn't have to be a useful skill. You might not have even been aware that they taught you anything until you seriously sit down and think back to the moment.  


The people we know have shaped us into the people we are today.  

___________________________________________________


I'm going to miss some people out... it's inevitable. But I'm going to try my best to get those who mean a lot to me down here. 


Mum 
You should be prepared to do anything for your family.
Sometimes, you need to "become" a villian in order to save the day. The people you save will not thank you until the deed is long past done.


Dad
Appearances can be deceiving.
Good people are often taken advantage of, but they are the people that make life worth living.


Grandma
The best gift anyone can give you is their love.
No matter how bad off you are, there is always someone in a worse position than you. If you can give money to charity, then you should, because they need it more than you do. The money that you used to buy a pizza could save someone's life.
Bravery is not a man taking on a gang of terrorists armed with a gun. Bravery is a woman getting handed a biological death sentence and remaining strong to ensure that the ones she loves don't suffer.


Granddad
If you can help people by doing something you love doing, then do it. Money is so superficial and (often) unnecessary. If you can live with the money you have, then it's pointless demanding for more.
You don't have to be sappy or tell someone that you love them to know that you care. 
Strength is not physical, it's having the mental determination to pick yourself up after every single fall.


Auntie Nelly
Appreciate the people in your life whilst you can, because you never know how long you have left with them in your life. 
Sometimes, you have to do really difficult things in life for the best interests of  the loved ones in your life. Just keep reminding yourself of who you are doing it for.


Halle
Girls can kick. Ass. Literally.
Your best friends aren't the people you've known for the longest amount of time, but rather the people who are always there for you and make you smile when you're down.


Megan
True individuality is an amazingly beautiful thing.
You don't have to have a lot in common to be best friends, the fact that you like different things just enables you to experience different tastes in music, movies or alternate ideas to your own.


Michelle
To just have faith that, in the end, everything will work itself out for you. Life isn't always going to shove opportunities in your face, sometimes you just have to take some time out and reflect on who you are and what you want to be.


Chloe
Good friends don't need to phone each-other every single week or see each-other every month to still count one another as friends, a simple phone-call can prove that. You see, good friends can always find something to speak about, even if it's about nothing at all really. A conversation is a conversation, whether it's ridiculous or deep.


Kristina
Some people are so inspiring and they'll never be able to truly comprehend just how much of an impact they have on other people's lives. 
Genuine human kindness is not just a crazed over exaggeration on Hollywood's part, it's real and resides in the souls of the unsung heroes that hide among the rest of the filth in our community.


Steve
Music taste does not have an expiration date.
Sharing just one thing in common can lead to the blossoming of a wonderful friendship, and watching that friendship slowly grow is one of the most satisfying things in life.


Sophie
Movies insinuate that popular, beautiful, funny, smart and talented girls are nasty and non-existent. This girl proves them wrong on every level.


Calum
A year in a classroom together is sometimes all you need for a friendship to form. Calum is one of the nicest guys I've ever met and (although I hated the class), I'm so glad I took it because without that class, I would have never gotten to know him. 
There's an upside to everything, if you can't find one, you're not looking hard enough. 


Sara
So many amazing, talented, inspiring people don't realise how amazing, talented and inspiring they are. Reminding them of that fact every once in a while is something that should be taken into account.


Kelly
Life isn't fair sometimes, but there's no use complaining about it. We can only do what we can with the opportunities life throws at us.


Liam
Never be ashamed of who you are or who you want to become. 
Your sexuality changes nothing about you other than the gender of the people you'll learn to love. Anyone who thinks other-wise is truly an idiot and doesn't deserve the friendships the LGBT community.


Abie
Laughing is the best medicine in the world. Hanging around someone like Abie makes your day just that little bit brighter.
Assertive does not mean nasty and kind does not mean push-over. 


Lucas
Music can bring anyone closer together.
Always pay close attention to people's special skills. Lucas is a seriously talented little dude, but you wouldn't appreciate anything he can do until you've seen him do it. It's people's quirks that make life interesting people, don't look past them.


Laura (Ferguson)
Sometimes, you don't become friends with someone until the very end of the time that you could possibly get to know them in. Avoid that, treat everyone as your friend until proven differently. 
An optimistic outlook on life is essential to keep your sanity, smiling is infectious too, make others happy by making yourself happy first. Everyone wins!


Linzie
Never be afraid to do what you want to do in life, no matter how much the workload may be, if you want to do it, you'll find a way to balance everything in your life to be able to achieve it.
Being punctual usually means being alone. Just remember that ;)


Claire
The sweetest people in life are usually the ones that are least appreciated. Take time to hang out with these people, because they are the ones who give you some of the most rewarding friendships you are ever likely to have.
A massive ego doesn't have to be grouped with intelligence. Sometimes, absolute douchebags are blessed with intelligence, and don't they just know it? It's those that don't flaunt their intelligence in everyone's faces that you should respect and appreciate the most.


Jennifer
Gender roles and one gendered subjects are outdated. If you love doing something, then don't let the fact that it's "only" boys or girls that do that stop you. It's your life. Do what you want and screw the rest of them. They are just jealous that you have the guts to do what they wish they could.
Never attempt to predict what someone's taste in music is. Likelihood is, you'll be grossly wrong.


Laura (Shipley) 
Anyone that brings you a lot of hilarity is a good friend. Don't let them go. Don't take them for granted.


Lewis
Get to know people both inside work/school and outside. Sometimes, they are completely different in these two contrasting environments. Most of the time, they are just as likeable in one as the other.
Male friends are something that every girl needs. 


Emma
A simple smile can hide a lifetime of pain. If optimistic, constantly smiling people can smile, despite all they've been through, than you should be able to find at least one thing to smile about to.
You don't need to know a person very well or for a long time for them to make a significant impact on you.
___________________________________________________


Missed out a lot of people because I'm so ridiculously late with this post, so major apologies for that.


But you get the point... the people you know, the people you meet, they shape you into the person you are today. Be grateful for that.


Lauren xxx

Oh Williams, you dirty dog.

There's a story behind that title and it's truly... awkward.

STUDY

When I say I had "Study", I really had desk duty with Abie.

And when I say "Desk duty" with Abie, I mean sitting around and chatting with Abie.


We did do some work that being said. I tried to help her with some English... turns out, I'm a little rusty.


Oil me up Scotty.

Possibility of someone shouting

"That's what she said"?

High.

Abie brought in some lovely grapes, so we ate them for a while and just had a nice catch up.


Tuesday first is a good period.

FREE

Quickly helped Megan with her script. Not much needed to be tweaked however. So we just spun around on Ms Rankin's chair.

What? Office chairs are good fun!

DOUBLE ART

Megan sang a lot of songs from "Evita".


Sara attempted to read out Dougal's script, but anytime she tried to say a word, Megan would just sing louder, causing Sara to speak louder, causing Megan to sing louder...

I don't think I've ever seen Zoe laugh as much as when she was watching Megan sing. You see, Megan is a dramatic person, meaning that she sings in a dramatic fashion. 

Of course, most people aren't used to seeing someone in class, belting out a musical number, giving it their all.


Therefore, Zoe was in hysterics.


This Indian substitute teacher then came in, who is basically in love with our class. 


She told my Thursday study class that we were "the only good class in Kincorth".


Ouch.


Anyways, Megan ignored her and carried on singing, but anytime she stopped, the teacher would say:

"Oh don't stop, your voice is very melodic."

DOUBLE ENGLISH

You know how I tell you guys constantly about the awkward condition of our English class?

I'll take that as a yes.

Well, it was made more awkward, thanks to Tennessee Williams and his play "A streetcar named desire".

We were all given parts to read out, I volunteered myself for "Negro Woman" (because, deep down, I'm black...) and I had to read out this:

"She says St Barnabas would send out his dog to lick her and when he did she'd feel an icy cold wave all up an' down her."

MS STRUTHERS: What does that mean?

*Silence*

MS STRUTHERS: Have a guess.

DOUGAL: St Barnabas would send a prostitute?

Nope. Nope. The first lines of dialogue in the play is about what? A dog giving someone oral sex.

I am sorry little doggie, but after reading that

I can't look at you in the same way.

Also, Ms Struthers was getting very into the play.

MS STRUTHERS: Reeeed hot, Reeeeeeed hot!

As well as:

MS STRUTHERS:  *speaking for one of the characters, Stanley* I am a manly man, I like to play poker, I like my meat, I like my Woman and I like sex. I am a macho man. *realising what she's saying* I'm not saying that I'm a macho man.... although, I think I could take Stanley on.

That classroom never fails to confuse me.


Lauren xxx

Row row row your canoe, with your canoe sticks

Ahhh, oh so tranquil

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I love it when someone is adamant that something is right, when in fact, it's hilariously wrong.

We all do it. It a complete lapse in knowledge that everyone knows... apart from you.

Megan was told that in France, after they had their legs chopped off for food, frogs were given tiny wheelchairs so they continue living...

According to this artists representation,

Not only do they get to continue living...

They turn into athletes.

LIES.

Michelle was unaware that the UK was an island until a couple of weeks ago...

Just what I thought Tennant.

And me? Well... If I could list the amount of knowledge that I lack, it would take up a HUGE majority of your time in life... something I'm not willing to do.

So I'll just say that I constantly forget the words to Happy Birthday (you know, the one that only ever has five words repeated?) and quite a few other, possibly more embarrassing ones... you never really know what knowledge you lack until someone points it out to you.

STUDY

Linzie (along with a huge chunk of our year) went to an offshore oil conference thingy on Thursday.

ME: How did it go yesterday?

LINZIE: I got lots of freebies!

Always the most important thing, y'know?

So what kind of free stuff did they get you ask?


*cracks knuckle and puts on the most convincing "Generation Game" style voice you've ever heard*


Peeeenns! Pennncilllsss! Keeeyrinnngggss! (The crappy ones) Bouuunnccyyy ballss! Among other useless rubbish that you will never need to use in your life!


Mukhtar (Comedian in the making and thinks of himself as a modern day Romeo) was interviewed by a Radio station... Linzie, Laura and everyone else had to move away because they were laughing so hard...


Apparently, the interview was hilarious, but completely unusable due to the fact that:
a) All you could hear was laughing and
b) He was obviously slagging off the DJ


Linzie was then trying to sell tickets to the S1/S2 disco to the first years in our class...

LINZIE: *turns around enthusiastically* Would you like to buy tickets for the disco?!

FIRST YEAR: *Sceptically* How many have you sold?

LINZIE: Three. Would you like to come?

FIRST YEAR: No... but he would!

OTHER FIRST YEAR: What? NO!

Haha, it's not that bad!

LINZIE: *after first years were out of ear-shot* I haven't sold any...

 ME: Don't become a car salesman.

We had (another) Prefects meeting during study.

It went as smoothly as the course of the Titanic...


(I.e. Not very smoothly, you could say it was a bit of a disaster)


Mainly, this was down to our Captain Dougal.


They always say a good Captain goes down with his ship... is that still true if the Captain steered the ship towards the obstacle that would result in it's downfall? If that's the case then yes, Dougal is an excellent Captain.


*shakes head* Dougal, what were you playing at you silly boy?!


Here's basically what was said:

*Amiable chatter*

DOUGAL: QUIET!!

*Silence... followed by nervous laughter after we realise this tremendous shout came from Dougal's lungs*

DOUGAL: SHUT UP!

*Conor mumbles something, causing Abie to turn around and ask*

ABIE: Are you a prefect?!

CONOR: Only since the start of fifth year...

ABIE: Really?! I never knew that.

CHRIS: It's hard to miss him.

*We laugh cruelly*

DOUGAL: Shut up! *To Chris and Conor* Get out. I'm being serious, get out!

If that wasn't enough to get people hating on him...

DOUGAL: *Talking about the different prefect groups* They are fairly self explanitory, so I'd be wasting my time If I talked you through them, so the heads of the groups will get up and tell you more about them.

At this point, the heads really give him the biggest dirty look you've ever seen.

To avoid all the bitching that I knew would be going on in the common room following this outburst... I headed down to Science with Jennifer.

FREE

Whilst we were there, we booked a table for Pizza hut and checked the bus timetable.


You see, I was wearing a wristband so I could get into a Young Guns signing at Pulp at 5/5.30, then I'd meet Jennifer and Michelle so we could have something to eat and then go to Young Guns' gig at the Lemon Tree.


Michelle said she'd go in for Jennifer at quarter past five, but that means we might be a little bit late for Young Guns, so Jennifer phoned Michelle to tell her to come in for her half an hour earlier.


Of course, this was at quarter to nine in the morning... 

If you knew Michelle, you'd realise that she'd have probably only went to bed several hours before....

ME: *Directly after Jennifer dialled her number* Michelle will not be up now, you realise that, yeah? 

JENNIFER: *covers mouth* Oops. 

Also, let Jennifer listen to Paramore's new song, "Renegade", it's a live version because it hasn't been released yet, but I downloaded it (patience isn't something that I possess) and I kid you not, iTunes says that it's already got 100 plays. Urgh. Obsession.

DOUBLE ART

I just cut up some newspapers.

Our art teacher is a Grandad, so we briefly discussed that:

SARA: Awww, can you imagine Mr McDonald as a Grandad? I don't like him as an Art teacher, I...

BEV: *puts on funny voice* I love him.

SARA: I think he'd make a good Grandad.

BEV: Oh. 

At lunch, I spoke to Sam for a whiley (That kid is hilarious, gutted I'm not in any of her classes) before going up to Sara's newsletter meeting.


You see, no-one turned up the week before, so me and Bev decided to go for moral support. 


But guess what?


TWO OTHER PEOPLE CAME OUT OF THEIR OWN ACCORD.


Sara almost hugged them, I swear, haha!


Then Linzie came too, after coming from another meeting.


She's doing everything this year. It's the traffic light badges, most definitely.

Authority!

DOUBLE MATHS

This year, I actually like going to maths...

*feels head* What sort of disease is this?!

It's mainly due to Abie, Rachel, Jaye and Mr Shaw's seemingly perfect balance between joking comments and good teaching.

If Abie starts having a laughing fit, then believe me, we're all going down with her. She's got such an infectious laugh.

Ahh. That's where I caught my disease. Abie's infectious laugh. It all makes sense!

Anyways, we were talking about someone called Hayley, who is currently in a wheelchair (temporarily) due to having pins in her feet.

I couldn't hear the entire conversation because Rachel was laughing a lot, but here's what I think she said.

RACHEL: Whenever I see her, she sings "Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'" *laughs and does wheelchair rolling motion* "Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!"

We all laugh

RACHEL: I just want to push her down a hill, and sing "Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'!" Into a river... "Rollin', Rollin', Rollin' on the river!"... Can you roll on a river?

ABIE: No! *laughs*

ME: Maybe if you put her on a canoe?

RACHEL: With canoe sticks?

ME: What? Do you mean paddles?

RACHEL: No! Canoe sticks!

MR SHAW: *Lugging in* Wh...

ABIE: What do you call the sticks you use to move a canoe? Rachel thinks they are called Canoe sticks.

They are called Paddles... Paddles or Oars. Not Canoe sticks, bless her. 


After school, I went to the Young Guns signing in Pulp, it went by really quick because everyone wanted pictures with the band, but I got a few words in with Gus, Simon, Fraser and John. Ben (the drummer and one of my favourite members) was dragged away before I got a chance to speak to him but he apolgised and gave me a smile so hey, I'm happy with that!


Also, Simon gave me a wink. Happy girl!


After that, we went to Pizza Hut for something to eat and a quick listen to Every Avenue and Young Guns (Michelle knew NONE of their songs... which is despicable, seen as we were going to their gig!)

Got one of these at the gig, hasn't been off my

wrist since.

Dangerous were first on. To be honest... I could only admire their enthusiasm. Screamo is something I feel can only be taken in small quantities, so having an Australian man screaming at you constantly wasn't really my thing.

Steve then wandered from out of the mosh pit (he wasn't in the mosh pit, thank God, that was insane, but he wandered out from just behind it) and gave me The Swellers first album. Again Steve, Thank you! 

Recommend that album to anyone who can find it.

Every Avenue then took the stage, they were probably my favourite support band, I prefer them live to their recorded stuff if I'm being honest!

The Xcerts were the final support band to come on, and they got a huge reaction because they are from Aberdeen (ABERDONIAN PRIDE!), that and, they are pretty damn awesome.

Fast forward fifteen minutes or so (and seven or eight "I'm losing my voice!"'s from me and several "How's my make-up!?"'s from Michelle) and it was finally time for Young Guns.

I've been waiting since May in complete and utter anticipation to see these guys perform, and they didn't disappoint.

I screamed the lyrics as loud as I could, we were all jumping and headbanging, all of the venue, all together. It was such a great atmosphere. And the performance itself? Brilliant.

Gus screamed at us:

GUS: I don't care if this is just a small Scottish venue, tonight, we are going to treat it like a huge f*cking arena! Get down on your knees!

And so, obediently, and with great difficulty, we all got down on our knees. 


This was during "Stitches", so imagine that, at 2.40, after a ten to twenty second pause, a crowd all leapt up, altogether and gave it their all. 


If you imagine a boy getting, basically, punched in the nose and having blood dripping down him, congratulations! You have a good imagination.


Right at the end of the night, they played one of my favourite songs ever.

It's even better live! *swoons*

Haha, at 3.06, you see Gus crowd-surfing.

What's hilarious is the fact that we almost dropped him...

Sorry Gus.

Lauren xxx