Practically Alice

Exams are thrown at you as soon as you begin going to school. Don't get me wrong, I sincerely value my education and I enjoy learning but I strongly dislike exams. Since year 10 (since I was fourteen) I have either been learning things for exams, revising for them or actually doing them. The way we're assessed, I feel, is rather subjective to the examiner and plays to some people's talents and not others. I find that if I am given a week or so I can right a substantially good essay, I will work hard at it and I won't hand it in late or unfinished. In exams, however, I panic and find it so hard to write stuff that is consistently good! I don't feel there is any strict criteria, so to speak, and it's hard to know what to do and what not to do. In all my AS subjects you have to know a hell of a lot of stuff (fair enough - it's AS level) but you have to have intricate and perfect phrasing and have to have extremely good essay writing skills, which I've had...

I am sitting in a classroom on a rather ancient computer with a slightly broken keyboard. I am admittedly tired and the flickeryness of the screen is not helping too much; plus the fact that I don't actually have my glasses on. I am procrastinating - despite having all my work done and I'm pretty on top of things at the moment, I haven't finished reading this book that I need to read for four pm today. I like a challenge as much as the next person but my mind seems to work in a peculiar way... I split things I need to do into two categories: leisure and work. This book that I'm reading falls into neither of these categories. I spent Saturday as an invalid, confined to my sofa and reading for pleasure and since now I'm on top of my work so I just want to spend my time relaxing... such as watching "Fight Club" (which I have taken from the school library, as it was recommended by my philosophy teacher). This book doesn't fall into work or leisure so ...

I love books. If you know me, you probably know that I love books, because I am now on a leaflet that is advertising Young Volunteering over however a larger area. It's rather disconcerting (and, to be quite frank, the picture could be nicer too!) that people can see my face whenever they want to... not that they can't do that anyway, what with making the YouTube videos and what have you thingy ma bob. This book to your *works out left and right in head* right (? I have no idea... my brain is sleepy) is the book that John Green recently recommended and I have also recently purchased because of this recommendation. I learnt last time ( Anna-and-the-French-Kiss- last-time) that John Green is pretty damn good at book recommendations! I run a reading group with some of the people I volunteer with at my library and we're just  getting started. We've had three people turn up so far ( I know. ) but we're working on it! I'm currently annoyed because I wrote a lovely...

So there's this thing that you just may have heard of called "growing up". Despite the fact that it indicates that you will grow in the motion of upwards (whether that be 'up in the world' metaphorically or just get taller I'll leave you to decide), there are - from what I have experienced myself and through hearing other peoples tales - many ups and downs. I've been listening, or rather watching, "The Miracle of Swindon Town" today... John Green's commentaries entertain me immensely and it was really interesting to see things from a guys perspective, especially from a particular man that I have immense respect for! He talks a lot about college and his final years in high school, which are what I am currently experiencing. It's so odd to think that he was at the stage I was once at and now he's there  just being so incredibly awesome! I'm going on some University taster days (by taster days I mean one at Oxford. Oxford. ) soo...

You know something that is really  annoying me lately: slimey YouTube comments. I posted a video, admittedly yes because I knew it would get attention because I'm a girl talking about Skyrim, wearing a vest top because that happened to be what I was wearing at the time and I've had really... objectifying comments. It's not even as if some of these comments are commenting on my looks, they're commenting on my body. I don't even care if guys think when they see a girl in a low-cut top "ooh, boobs!" but they don't (usually) voice this in person, so why should they be allowed to do it on the internet? It annoys me greatly; imagine if I was two years younger and had done the same thing? It would put me in a very vulnerable situation, and it still does in a way. I want people to view my content because they like what comes out of my mouth, not because I'm female and film in casual clothing. I've even had someone accuse me of angling my camera so ...

I've been battling with my confidence since I was 12/13 years old, and I finally feel comfortable with who I am. This is not going to be a sob-story... more of a gushing of annoyance, really. I honestly, hand-on-heart, don't understand hateful commenters on YouTube and as many times as people say "they don't matter" "ignore them", they do get to me. Admittedly, some of my videos are terrible - I can accept that but most of them I put effort into and I think about what I want to say and do and try and make people smile or laugh. Two of my videos in particular have had people being either crude or just plain hateful on them; I'm not going to take them down because I worked on them, I made them how I wanted them to be and yeah, they might be bad, but that's the way I made them. I mean, it's not as if I really care what these people think, but some of the comments make me feel so humiliated and wonder why I even bother. I'm not saying I...

During this week I gave myself a break from reading my school books and decided to re-read LFA (something I've been wanting to do  for a while). I post reviews on Goodreads and I decided to copy mine across to share on my blog. Why? Because I feel it shows a bit about me. This book didn't change my life, but the way my life has changed has made be able to appreciate it more and relate to it more. Growing up is a funny thing, huh? Having read this for the first time in the summer of 2010 and having come back to it after nearly two years I find that it has a much bigger impact on me. Back in 2010 I was only just fifteen years old, I was going into year 11 (the year that practically changed my life) and I was - not to be condescending to any 15 year olds out there; this was just me personally - simply unable to understand some of the things discussed in LFA. I am now the same age as Miles, I am in Sixth Form (so my schooling is more like his) and I can relate to all the char...