This Week In School: Tis' One Week Till Christmas....

Ok, now I'm exited. JUST ONE WEEK TO GO NOW! The last/stretch before Xmas! Yep, this Week everyone was in the Christmas mood (Teachers included), my Class was barely even controllable! Its been slowly boiling inside each of our minds since November:  


Christmas is coming.... 
                                 
                    Christmas is coming..... 
                                                            
                                        Christmas is coming....
                                                                
                                               ...CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!! 
                                                                 
                  
Yep, the finish line is now in s I was really feeling that Christmas vibe this Week, so much so that the moment the Week began I just couldn't WAIT for it to end! Because not only was it near Xmas, it also marked the start of the winter Holidays! Of course, the School wouldn't just let out of the door Friday evening without having first undergone several challenges and hurdles now, would they? This Week had it all, from Parent Evenings to hard, pressure-ific Tests, to Mornings in Church, sad goodbyes and even me singing! And also lots of boredom, but you throw Christmas into the mix everything becomes boring in comparaison I suppose...

So lets start with Monday the 13th. German I find is one of those lessons where I can be absolutely outstanding at it one minute, and then completely crap at it the next. I always feel uneasy during this particular lesson, and for all I know the Teacher could throw a surprise Test at us on something that we have completely no idea what we're talking about! Monday wasn't that day however, and things went fine, apart from the announcement of a big Test on Thursday. Science was probably the highlight, as experimenting with pure carbon dioxyde was pretty fun. Art was a real treat: as the Maths Teacher was away on a School trip with the 3emes Class, the Art Teacher gave us two options: we either work on the computer (doing the the same 'mysterious element' thing like last week) for an hour and then we can just do a bunch of Maths exercises that the Maths teacher had prepared for us...OR we could just work on the Computer for TWO hours. NO CONTEST. It was mainly just me fiddling around with all the photoshop tools for two hours and learning how to make some kick ass pictures (the demon portal one I am especially proud of). 
In contrast to the fun Morning, the afternoon was quite boring, perhaps because I really wanted the day to end at that point (every day now feels like a mileston overcome). I can basically describe it like this: HISTORY = ZZZZZZ, FRENCH = ZZZZZZ, FLE = ZZZZZZ. Job done.

Tuesday was more of the same, Maths turned into a complicated Brain teaser (I hate fraction problems!), but at least I made an effort to get them right...and surprisingly enough I really did get all of them spot on (for once)! THE MATHS GOD HAS STRUCK MERCY, YEEHAH! The three hours (THREE HOURS!) of History and French were once again one BIG bore fest (I was seriously losing interest at this point, even for my Class, who became increasingly hard to handle, chucking bits of paper and rubbers across the room from behind the Teacher's back, we just didn't care at this point and wanted Christmas to come NOW!). I noticed several people had started wearing Xmas hats in the playground too, and the giant School Christmas tree had been put up too, so there was definately a strong Christmas vibe going about. English had a certain sadness about it though, as the Teacher, M. Onno, confirmed that he was leaving at the end of the Week (due to a few health issues and a long overdue retirement), and that he was to be replaced by a new, younger, healthier Teacher that was in actual fact English! Apparently this new guy was born in New Zealand, raised in England and has only just come into France. The Class gawped when the Teacher said that he knew little French (obviously NOT a problem for me). German was sadly another bore fest, along with Extra Maths (Its like Maths, but more of it!), so not really much to comment about there.

Tuesday night was the Parents evening, and for the most part, it went extremely well. To be honest, the Teachers didn't have alot to say to me, just that I'm the best pupil in the world (could participate more though), and with scores like 18/20, there isn't really much to say other than that. The Maths Teacher said that she is really trying her upmost to help me, simply because she knows I can do much, much better than this. What shocked me the most was when she said that most people who enter 4eme (who have all had extremely good reports in the past) do tend to drop a few a points in the first Trimestre. It was almost like she was creating excuses for me being bad in Maths, when perhaps she was just forgetting to think that: 'I'M JUST THAT BAD IN MATHS, PLAIN AND SIMPLE AS THAT, OKAY?' She also expressed her opinion that 4eme is much harder than any of the other Classes before it, and she was amazed at what good Results I have garnered. In French the Teacher explained that although I am good in some areas of the subject, she feels that I kinda drop the ball when it comes to grammer. Can't argue with that, cos' I suck (S-U-C-K) at grammar. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not just going to sit idly by and watch every Maths and French Test go down the drain and just dismiss it as a: 'What can I do, I always suck at these subjects!' , because I (at least most of the time) really try to put an effort into getting the highest Result possible, even if I can only truly aspire to get a measly 10/20 every time. In hindsight they were almost too positive about me, as I could now write right down quotes about what the Teachers had said to me that are so full of praise-fulness and adoration it would just blow your mind out. Basically, what I'm saying is that its almost too good to be true. You'd think I was their favorite student or something listening to half of the stuff that they said!

'6eme was a hard time for you, lots of difficulty in the language, hard relations with certain students...but in 5eme its like you just sort of found yourself, its like we found this polished diamond that grew and grew until now, where you're the Top Of The Class! Every subject superb marks, I mean you learn your History, you learn your Technology, you learn your Art, you know your stuff: Tim, its just quite simply incredible at what you've acheived in two Years!' - M. Riallin.


'Polished Diamond'? 'Incredible'? 'Top Of The Class'? Could that truly be me? Or perhaps its just a little bit over exaggerated: I mean, for starters, my Results aren't that incredible (admittedly they are good though), I only got a 14,89/20 Overall score and that was just because of my best subjects, and I'm only fourth in the Class Overall, not the complete Top. It was undoubtably a positive reaction though. And in case you were wondering, yes, I am overwelmingly chuffed. The only problem now is that I really have to sustain this amount of excellent Results, I can't really slip up once or my perfect scores will go down the drain (if it wasn't for that stinker of a German Test, I'd bet that my Score would be at least three points higher than the measly 15,50/20 I got). That's mainly one of the problems that I have with getting all these great Results, it's just the sheer pressure, the absolute weight of everything that's expected of you and what ultimately...does decide your future. To put that weight onto someones back, someone who's future that hasn't yet been pathed out like the future of a man who's employed and is currently earning dosh, is just colossal when you get down to it. Because it's at this stage when everything clicks into place, this period where we get our first job/house/life where all the main decisions are made and set in stone. Here we decide who we want to be, where we want to be and how do we want to be for the rest of our life. And thats the emotional strain that is, ever so slowly, starting to tug upon me, because this is the point when we get to choose our future. Kind of like in Mass Effect 2 (oddly enough), because all of those decisions that you make threw the course of the game does ultimately decide how the Game will end. Maybe I'm thinking to much about this SH*T for right now, although every time I go to School, it's present in my mind. God it sucks going into adulthood, when you was a kid things were so much simpler and less complex... 

Wednesday....oh boy. The good news is that because the Sport Teacher, M. Dany has gone to Spain with another School, there is no Sport. YAY! Bad news is that because we've got no Sport we had to sit through another hour of Perm (we already have one Hour of Perm on a Wednesday anyway), with no Homework to do what-so-ever. B-O-R-I-N-G. At least in Technology we got an Hour on the Computer (I've finally found that light/mouvement detector thingy, so thats good). And even worse, it turns out that my Geography Test didnt quite go as well as I had thought. A score of 18/20 in the first Trimestre for History/Geography, was no mean feat: I had to get near perfect marks in EVERY single Test. Looks like my hope for beating/matching that score has now been dashed, as my latest Test has earned me an awful, pitiful, down-right-evil score of 15/20. 15/20! Can you believe it? Its like all my nightmares put into one! ME GETTING A 15/20? ME?! How could this happen? It turns out, it wasn't what I got wrong, it was what I forgot to put on the Test. A few of my answers weren't complete enough, and I had colored in Spain with the wrong colour! I made *GASP* five mistakes! FIVE! I WILL NEVER LIVE THIS DOWN! Its been my lowest score in the subject for nearly a Year. A YEAR! This kind of failure only deserves the EPIC FAIL title:

Thursday, was a bit of a mess. I had big two Tests to revise for (Maths and German) and I wasn't even really sure if either of them would turn out to be good or not. Well I failed the Maths Test due to a simple error that I would normally never commit in Class, so it was a bit of a by-product of the short time limit to complete the Test plus the added stress factor of it being a Test (you can see how this can send someone completely insane, can't you?). Thats not to say I failed it completely though, I managed to put in enough good stuff to warrant a 6/10. I felt a little bit inferior to be honest, most of the Class had got good marks. Score No 2 for the EPIC FAIL this Week. 'CHRISTMAS IS CORRUPTING MY BRAIN!!!' M. Radenac, my Sports Teacher when I was in 6eme took the reins from M. Dany (who was still absent) and we were forced into Ping-Pong. M. Radenac is one of those Teachers where, although being as strict as hell, does alot of charm underneath that rough exterior, so he was for the most of the time alright. But that didn't stop him from writing a dozen words to the Parents of the kids that had forgot to bring in their Sport's bag (bit unfair if you ask me, they didn't bother to bring their bags in because they thought there wasn't going to be any Sport anyway, what with the Teacher being absent and all). And mark this Day in your calenders folks because for once I wasn't bad in Ping-Pong! Can you believe it? I DIDN'T TOTALLY SUCK THIS TIME! This time the score board was about even-even, with two draws and one very close win (another five seconds of match and I would have won, GOD DARNIT!). After the Holidays its the Test, so I had better not lose that sudden winning streak that I had going at the end! After Ping-Pong it was time to head down to the Church, for the annual Christmas celebration: 

 
Sorry, did I just say Christmas celebration? More like a shambles, It was sooo poorly prepared. Every time the music didn't work the Head would just give the microphone over to the batty priest, to again recite how good Christmas was and that we should all believe in Jesus. It was very much the whole: yadda....yadda...yadda...believe...in...us...or...you'll...burn...in ...hell-type thing. I almost fell asleep half way through and the songs were just one big 'WE LOVE YOU JESUS!' The only good thing about it was that we were all given Chocolates at the end. Heck if they did that every sermon I'd come! Once the ill celebrations were over we all retired for good ol'lunch. 
After lunch was the longly feared German Test, one that had scared me for Weeks on end. I was so paranoid of getting a bad Result that I even revised during Lunch, a feat that I rarely do. The Test was really, really hard (Just as I expected). Alot of it was on words that we hadn't even seen before, but the Teacher was generous enough to add in a few bonus questions that could help to get the Score up. Well the Results are in, and I can say, that despite hours of preparation, I only garnered a 14,5/20 in total. Much better than the people around me, but still another failure in my eyes. SIGH. Are my 18/20 days truly over, or is this just the Xmas spirit corrupting my brain? Hopefully things will pick up after the Holidays. Music was, as per usual for this Week, BORING. 

                 NO, GO AWAY, I'D DON'T NEED YOU INSIDE MY HEAD CORRUPTING MY BRAIN!

Friday couldn't really be classed as 'an average School day' mainly because of one reason: the entire day was one big excuse for a party...
In Fench we watched a film on one of Guy de Maupassant's classic fables (seen as we're currently studying him), and it has to be one of the most depressing things I've ever seen! Okay, so its about a rich married couple, who, for some reason can't have a baby and want to adopt a child from a Family in exchange for a ton of money. The first family they meet refuses, but the second Family, who are poor and in much need of money have no problem what-so-ever in giving their six-year-old son away to a Family they don't know ANYTHING about and will probably never see again! Lets just say it doesn't end well, by the end its pretty much one big messed up disaster of a family. The mother commits suicide, the Dad dies of alchohlolism (ouch big word) the kid dies of an illness, people get put in prison....the whole thing is just one big depression-fest! If you don't want to commit suicide by the end of this movie 'Aux Champs' I'll be amazed. And S.V.T was no better, because in that we saw a movie about the Pompei fiasco (we're currently studying volcanoes remember..) and you know that doesn't end well! 'Happy Christmas everybody, now let me show you this cool movie about a gigantic volcano that explodes and wipes out thousands of people in a whole manner of increasingly gruesome ways!' Okay so for starters EVERY single character in the movie dies at the end: A pregnant woman dies of gas poisoning, while her boyfriend takes poison and kills himself! Earthquakes that quite literally (finally got that spelling error fixed) tears people to shreds! Ash clouds that not only fills your lungs up with fluid and burns you inside out but then encases you in your stone tomb amist thousands of people suffocating! Wasn't the happiest of mornings was it? At least we had no lessons. The afternoon was one big farewell party for M. Onno, who was almost in tears. The amount of goodbye things I had to sign...from postcards to drawings to posters to books to...well just about everything! He was overwelmed with the all the gifts and cards he recieved from his students. The last hour was all of us sat in the canteen, being served hot Chocolate (it is Christmas, afterall!) and cake and even more Chocolates, it was a veritable party! He made a very emotional speech about how much technology has changed since he first arrived, and he said that the first photocopier he saw cost nearly £1000! It was all very heart-tugging, to be honest I don't think I've ever felt such a way about a Teacher before! Then again, he is the Teacher that keeps giving me scores like 20/20...so that's probably it. And just before the final minute doomed, we all got up and sang his favorite song: 'Imagine' by John Lennon (http://youtu.be/XLgYAHHkPFs). And yes, even I piped up and sang for once. I must say, if I was a Teacher that had spent this long in a College then this is certainly how I would want to go out. Even his wife showed up, who seemed equally as sweet. Good times, and for once I felt grateful for going to School (These feelings rarely happen though, maybe once or twice a Year at best...). And that was it, now I can just revel in my pre-Christmas Holiday!

So all in all it was quite an emotionally charged Week, with the odd case of SEVERE BOREDOM thrown in for good mesure. Hopefully things will calm down a bit after Christmas, so I can really get my head down and work hard after all the Presents have finished being unwrapped and the fire-crackers have all been burst, and even when all the festivities calm down....not forgetting the Doctor Christmas special, of course. Well until then, or maybe before New Years Eve, don't really expect much from this blog, perhaps I'll do a post on all the pictures from Xmas day but nothing of this magnitude. So long (for now) and I wish ye' all a very merry Christmas!

'So long, M. Onno, I hope you have a happy retirement.'   


P.S Only five more days to go, the wait is just KILLING ME!!!!!!!!

              

Mass Effect 3 teaser trailer! (SQUEEE POST!)

MASS EFFECT 3 HAS JUST BEEN ANNONCED! ITS SCHEDULED FOR A HOLIDAY 2011 RELEASE! I. CAN'T. WAIT!!! THE REAPERS TAKING ON THE EARTH/GALAXY? OMG!

'Set to take place on Earth, the game will see players traveling the universe attempting to rally the races of Citadel Space to take the human homeworld back and defeat the Reapers and their Collector army once and for all.' 

THIS IS EITHER GOINGCTO SUCK ASS OR BE THE BEST GAME EVER! I REALLY NEED TO CALM DOWN NOW DON'T I?!

HERE IT GOES ANYWAY: SQUEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Report: First Trimestre 2010 (September - November)

French: 9,60/20. 
Teacher: Mme Carre
Comments: 'Altogether Insufficient! But Tim does many things right in Expression Ecrites! He must not negligate the grammer and spelling. Don't hesitate to ask questions!'  
Class average: 10,54/20 (ouch thats bad!). 
Highest Score in Class: 16,13/20.
Lowest Score in Class: 6,47/20 (would REALLY hate to be him!).
Personal opinion: French is for me a pointless, illogical and needlessly complicated language. Whoever invented this language should be shot in the head (along with the guy that made Ping-Pong). Unfortunately, me already being English doesn't help matters one bit, and its a miracle if I get more than half the score in a Grammer Test. Not really one of my high points is it?

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History: 18/20.
Teacher: Mme Carre
Comments: 'Excellent work! Very good understanding. Please continue!
Class average: 11,74/20 (not a good year for my Class...).
Highest Score in Class: 18/20 (me, of course).
Lowest Score in Class: 6,50/20 (OUCH!) 
Personal Opinion: Well its History isn't it? You'd hardly expect me to get less than 15/20 (hope the day doesn't come). This is a lesson were if you learn everything, you're garaunteed to get outstanding results. NO. INTELLIGENCE. REQUIRED. 


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English: 19,73/20
Teacher: M. Onno
Comments: 'Excellent mastery of his original Language'
Class average: 12,72/20 (another lukewarm Result). 
Highest Score in Class: 19,73 (again me)
Lowest Score in Class: 8,54 (I really hope this isn't the same guy!)
Personal opinion: I'm English/British. What do you expect? Its hardly even considered an effort for me!


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German: 15,50/20
Teacher: Mme Etore
Comments: 'A little drop at the end of this Trimestre. The work will win quality if Timothy is less reserved'
Class average: 16,19/20 (everyone was more or less good).
Highest Score in Class: 19,25/20 (no doubt one of the kids that redoubled last Year and already had more extensive knowledge than us)
Lowest Score in Class: 14,33/20.
Personal Opinion: I did have a bad Test at the end, and the better Tests after that one didn't count in this Trimestre so it lowered my score quite a notch. Really tough subject because there are already people in the Class that know more German than you, its a real dogfight to get to the Top I can tell you.

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Maths: 8,86/20.
Teacher: Mme Gandon-Desbois
Comments: 'Insufficient Results despite a 'constant' attention in Class. You must try to participate more and not be discouraged'.
Class average: 9,89/20 (aka piss poor).
Highest Score in Class: 15,29 (This is a guy that is crap in everything else but good in Maths...for some reason)
Lowest Score in Class: 4,14/20 (if they're still alive after seeing this result I'd be shocked).
Personal opinion: Maths has never been one of my strong points. I can't even bloody work a calculator, let alone write down calculations on a piece of paper! I admit that there was a point mid-way through the Trimestre when I just kind of 'gave up' on Maths. Lately it has picked though, I've had a string of 15-16s/20 so I can assure you that already my Results are getting better.


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S.V.T: 13,75/20.
Teacher: Mme Gandon-Desbois.
Comments: 'GOOD TRIMESTRE!' 
Class average: 12,14/20.
Highest Score in Class: 17/20.
Lowest Score in Class: 9,50/20.
Personal opinion: S.V.T has always been a lukewarm subject for me, and I can't really pinpoint why. My Tests are generally less polished than that of my other lessons and it just doesn't really interest me...I'll continue to try hard though.


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Science: 16,20/20 (my highest score yet!)
Teacher: M. Begoc.
Comments: 'Very good Trimestre. Timothy does very serious work indeed. Continue.'
Class average: 12,27/20 (again, lukewarm).
Highest Score in Class: 19,30/20 (I struggle to believe this, I must find out who this person is so that I may smite him/her).
Lowest Score in Class: 6,15/20 (piss poor).
Personal opinion: Science is probably the lesson that I bring out my 'A' game more than any other. History and Technology are all easy, but its in Science that I am truly proud of. Overcoming Science Tests are like slaying a Dragon in my mind.


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Technology: 17,50/20.
Teacher: M. Bastide (yes, you heard the name right, Bastide)
Comments: 'Very good Trimestre, serious work'.
Class average: 15,16/20 (no surprises there Technology is easy for everyone).
Highest Score in Class: 18,50/20 (If the Teacher didn't take away all those -1 points for presentation I would have beaten that!).
Lowest Score in Class: 10/20.
Personal opinion: Technology = Easy. What more can I say?


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Art: 15,88/20.
Teacher: M. Riallin.
Comments: 'Excellent Trimestre, the work is serious. You must continue. Felicitations!'
Class average: 12,40/20.
Highest Score in Class: 15,88/20 (me).
Lowest Score in Class: 9,63/20.
Personal opinion: I'm good in Art. Not because I'm good at drawing (the hight of my drawing capabilities are stick-men!) but because I come up with quite a few ingenious ideas (not that I'm boasting of course...). 


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Music: 16,76/20.
Teacher: Mme Jouet
Comments: 'Excellent Trimestre, Felicitations!'
Class average: 13,86/20
Highest Score in Class: 17,50/20 (ooh, so close!)
Lowest Score in Class: 7,84/20.
Personal Opinion: Music is alot like History. Learn it off by heart and you're garanteed to get a great Result. So many of these lessons require so little thought or effort, well, apart from the next one....


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Sport: 12/20.
Teacher: M. Dany
Comments: 'Altogether correct'.
Class average: 13,24/20.
Highest Score in Class: 17/20.
Lowest Score in Class: 11/20 (WHAT, NOT ME???)
Personal opinion: I am not a sport-y guy. I'm the kind of shy kid that spends all day in Bed slobbing out and playing video-games, reading Books, surfing the Internet and just doing all round geeky things!    


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Overall School Life Score (attitude in Class ect...): 20/20 (what can I say, I'm the perfect student...)


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Overall Opinion: 'Very good altogether! Although there are a few difficulties in certain lessons that you must not neglect! Tim proves that he has a great amount of seriousness and effort in his work. Continue!' - Mme Carre, Head Teacher.


'Bravo, Tim! Continue your efforts!' - Mme Philipe, Head Mistress.


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Overall Score: Well, Maths and French (and a few other lukewarm Results) did bring my Score down quite a bit, but my Overall Score of the entire Trimestre is 14,89/20! And to think the Highest Score of the Class was 15,15/20! I WAS SO CLOSE! I bet that if the Teachers were less nitpicky then I'd have topped that! Oh well, 4th place doesn't totally suck.


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Personal Opinion: Well I think 'start of the Year fever' had a few effects on the overall score, I didn't really have alot of time to pull myself back onto my proper feet. I did start to lose hope in Maths and French but Results do seem to be picking up quite nicely now, hopefully I can really bring out my 'A+' game in the 2nd Trimestre (German and Science are a bit dodgy, they could anywhere in a heart beat). But Overall I'm very pleased with the Results.

This Week In School: Christmas is a comin...

Its been somewhat of a slow Week, all the Teachers have been swamped with School meetings, bad weather, Brioches and Xmas trees. But I digress...

The Week was off to a heavy start with the previously delayed German Test that was supposed to have taken place last Thursday but seen as half the School didn't show up it was cancelled and was then scheduled to Monday. The Test was on the time, and was fairly easy to do (which was surprising, although I did have an extra four days of revision time). She showed you clocks and you just had to write the time correctly, after that you had to relay the corresponding times with the correct phrase: so for example if you saw 9.20AM then you drew a line from that to Neun Uhr Zwanzig (or Zwanzig nach Neun) and so on...I got a deserving 18/20, which is nothing to be sniffed at.
Technology was ok, we were still on the hunt for a mouvement/light detector sensor that would turn the lights on or off depending on if you were in a room or not and also switch's lights off if there was natural sunshine shining in the house.      
Art was a cool lesson, our task was that we had to take an ordinary photograph or still of anything we wanted and just distort them in any fashion we want on the computer so that it wouldn't resemble reality (I came up with the idea to photoshop in a picture of a barren desert with a School classroom, but later scrapped that idea and just drew in a bloody big black hole that would start chucking out demons onto a field of cows...the things I come up with...)
Maths was essentially one big bore fest with the Teacher just giving us a boat load of Maths exercises to do (at least it was easy).  And by the way for those of you that had spent time on my Maths conumdrum from last Week, the answer is 12 minutes.
My Brochure was coming along well in Geography, really well in fact. I hate to chuck praise up my ass, but I think its the closest thing you can get to an actual brochure with Microsoft Office!
French was okay, you had to create a story out of a picture (I didn't really have anything to work with, the picture was a painting of a woman crying).

Tuesday was fine, albeit I cocked up a bit in a Maths exercise that you had to hand in to the teacher (so she could evaluate our 'level' or something) and French was hard, the Test on Le Passe Simple didn't go well at all, and the pictures I had to create a story from got EVEN worse (this time we were presented a field of Poppys!) and  there was quite a few barriers made in the whole English-French language thing that stopped me from writing 'a vivid description'.  
In English, (god the English Teacher is funny, god help the kids that can actually understand what he's saying, which is pretty much a form of English but maxed up to 1000mph! He's all over the place doing weird sounds coupled with odd body language! Quite frankly he needs to calm down a bit, I would recommend him as a stand up comedian!) We had to fill in a form about what we have and what we don't have and make a survey out of it covering the whole Class! So for example, 50% of the class don't spend more than half an hour on their Homework! 
German was full of weird pronounciations that would give even a tongue twister specialist a twisted tongue, which led to some awesomely hilarious results (luckily the finger of doom didn't pick me out to say a few tongue twisters, but it would get me next time).
Also the Brioches came today (the ones that we had ordered from the School to help raise a charity fund or something nice like that) and boy do they look D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! I say they're at their best when toasted and buttered, YUM!

Wednesday, isn't really alot to comment about other than the fact that I still can't get past Level 4 on the High Jump, the Teacher just puts it up so ridiculously high, ARGGH! And the Technology Test went well, I'd be shocked if I get a low score. And I did fail in the French Test (at least the one on Tuesday anyway), a crap 7,25/15. I made up for it though, getting 9/10 in the Dictation from the previous Week and 9,5/10 in the Geography Test.

Thursday was so faustrating! Maths was fine enough, but Sport was just two solid hours of PURE FAUSTRATION!!! Now, I'm sure that everyone who reads my Blog already know of my pure hatred of Ping-F*CKING-Pong (or table tennis, but Ping-Pong sounds much funnier), but here it was just awful. Do you know what my problem with Ping-Pong is? Is not that I'm crap at it (although I admit that it would be more enjoyable if I was brilliant at it), its that I'm ALMOST good at it. Today was the perfect example of that: 1ST Match: 12-13 (I lost), 2ND Match: 14-15 (I lost), 3RD Match: 16-19 (I lost), 5TH Match: 12-14 (I lost), 5TH Match: 15-14 (I won!), 6TH Match: 16-17 and finally on the 7TH and final Match I won with 13-10. Notice a pattern there? I ALMOST won every single time by just a mere 1-3 points! I'm under 3 points away of winning EVERY single match. Isn't that just UNBELIEVEABLE?! Sure I started off crap but now I'm pretty good, but I still somehow manage to lose EVERY single Match? It's almost like the referee cheated! EVERY SINGLE TIME! But every Match has a new referee so how is that possible? They ALL cheated? Or am I really just ALMOST there? I don't believe in things like 'Bad luck' but here it seems to be exactly the case! I CAN'T %$£&* BELIEVE IT! And S.V.T hardly improved either: I had revised sooo hard on Wednesday night for the Test (on volcanoes) and out of all the things I could have forgotten I forget TWO words that were almost FATAL to the Test! What were these two words you ask? Well an effusive volcano eruption has what the French call 'Lave Fluide' (fluid Lava, much more fast than the other type of Lava) and an Explosive Volcano Eruption has whats called 'Lave Visqueuse' (much more gloopy, like porridge) and I (of course me being me) mixed them up! I put on the Test that an Explosive eruption has 'Lave Fluide' and a Effusive eruption has 'Lave Visqueuse'. OUT OF ALL THE THINGS TO FORGET, WHY THIS??? And this question was asked THREE times during the Test (If you think this volcano is a ????? volcano then it has ????? lava and so on...). *SIGHS* 
So the morning was terrible, the afternoon was fine, in Music we are now currently studying an exerpt from the Hunchback of Notre Dame musical (you can catch the exact same vid here: http://youtu.be/Of1SGJesmlE). Mme Jouet our Music teacher has been in our College for years now, and while she started off acting all nice she now holds our Class under an Iron Grip of Silence. If you so much as breathe right now, she'll cut your head off! She told off a girl in my Class: 'You talked...would you say this was normal? TALKING in Class? I should think not..." *GULPS!* No wonder we never put our hands up in Class, shes so bloody scary!

 

Friday morning was much calmer, we spent 3 hours on the computer that composed of either doing Maths exercises (the website is Mathenpoche.com if your interested), coloring in a map of Europe (that we found online) or finishing the Diaporama about what job do we want to do when we grow up (IF that day ever comes, which I'm assured that it will). We had a French Test in the afternoon, which was (surprisingly) the 'look at picture, create a story from it' Test, which went pretty well (hardly surprising considering we have been practising all week). Science was pretty cool, dare I say interesting, we are basically preparing to do one big science experiment, which involves studying carbon dioxyde, a big heater, a cool glass bowl-type-thingymajig and alot of Test tubes full of liquid. Monday is going to be a proper mix-liquids-together-and-hope-they-don't-blow-up-in-your-face-type-of-thing! And we've got to bring our Science jackets. Now why can't we do this all the time? For once I'm hoping the snow doesn't fall...    

This Week had a few ups and downs, but we've got Christmas coming up and School is a good way of passing the time...as long as theres no F*CKING Ping-Pong involved. NOTE TO GOD: PLEASE MAKE IT SNOW NEXT THURSDAY, PLEEEASE! DON'T LET ME ENDURE PING-PONG ANY LONGER!!!


P.S My Report for the first Trimestre came in the post Today, will post a Blog about it soon...

ITS CHRISTMAS!

In order to really decompose Xmas we have to split into two seperate groups, both the positives AND the negatives (I don't think any kid has any...). Of course me being me lets start with the negatives:



LONGEST MONTH OF THE YEAR:
God, December MUST be scientifically proven to be the longest month of the Year (Every kid out there would agree, while the Parents can't wait for it to be all over)! Although not really a bad thing about Christmas, I really wish Xmas day was on the 1rst of December! For me this has been the longest Week of the Year! all the other months feel twice as short as one Week in December! But why is it so long? Well in December, every day feels like a step further to acheiving your ultimate heaven...YAY, PRESENTS! AND ITS FREE! ITS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED AND MORE! THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF THE YEAR!! December is the longest month of the Year because it represents every kids dream all rolled into one (I'll never forget the day when I saw the Peter Pan Adventures: Hook's ship advert on T.V)!

CHRISTMAS = ONE BIG MARKETING PLOY:
While Halloween represents everything dark and instinctive about the Human soul, Christmas is like the complete opposite of that, aimed at giving and loving and everything nice and innocent about the human soul...and its also a great marketing ploy for practically every business and retailer out there to squeeze just about every spare penny you've earnt (with ridiculously overpriced presents) and to give it to your spoiled and undeserving kids (I'm not complaining at all though, but I dread the day when its ME that buys the prezzies and not your overly giving parents)! MERRY CHRISTMAS  (SMALL PRINT: WILL BANKRUPT YOU. IS MAKING YOUR KIDS SPOILT. MAY LEAD TO BEING NICE FOR ONCE)! Heck, Christmas is such a money-maker that pretty much every economy sky-rockets on Christmas Day. The Coca Cola Xmas advert, while being a bit of a silly family tradition for us (we don't officially call it Christmas untill we see that advert), is just Coca Cola's little marketing stategy to make you want a Coke. Father Christmas drinking Coke? His Teeth must be revolting! 

And now for the Positives:


ITS THE SEASON OF GOODWILL:
You can always count on Christmas to bring the best out of people, Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is not one of the most famous pieces of storytelling for absolutely no reason you know! Despite mainly being wrote as a Victorian Ghost Story, it's a book about a man who's heart was so cold that nothing could cure it...except Christmas (and maybe a few bottles of Whisky that might lead to a few hullucinations, what can I say, Scrooge was either mentally ill or drunk!). Christmas is the symbol of all goodwill, the whole concept of gift-giving is to symbolise the good-ness in all our hearts. Either that or its just an excuse to give your kids presents so you can shove you arse full of "I'm a great Parent!" delusions. Remember all the Christmas movies we've seen over the past 50 years of cinema? Sure its a cliche now (you see one Xmas film, you see them all) but the main theme out of all of them is just getting into the holiday spirit and forgetting about all your troubles (ex: Its a wonderful life). They all have happy endings, and even the coldest, most evilest of men, is shown to have an Xmas tree. Ultimately Xmas is a representation of what we would all like to be, a season of much fun (decorating the tree, being given presents, watch the annual Doctor Who special, having fun with the family, all the Xmas dinners...) and showing the purety of the heart. Yes its a great sales booster and a ridiculous excuse for the Catholic church to shoehorn in a birth of a guy that probably never existed, but its also one of the best things to come out of the Human race (well that and Doctor Who, and maybe Capt. Hook...).

GETTING PRESENTS IS FUN:
What is the best thing about Christmas? Anyone that doesn't say Presents is quite frankly lying. What is the first thing you do in preparation for Christmas? Make a Wishlist, of course (or as what I would call it: This is what I want and I'll be VERY unhappy if I don't get it list!). Its easily the best thing about the season, a chance for kids to live out the ideal life: endless piles of toys just waiting to be played with! The hardest part is choosing whether you want to play the new Call of Duty first or Mass Effect 3 (TBA but come on 2011!). God, so many gifts, I don't know which one to choose! I couldn't give a crap about celebrating Christ's Birth or admiring the Christmas tree once i've got my grubby hands on that gleaming pile of gold, those things were just fillers to waste time and make Xmas day come ever closer. Not saying that those things are boring, its just that without Presents Christmas wouldn't be the phenominal celebration that it is today, billions of kids all over the world right now are just waiting for Xmas day and to chance to release the Doctor Who Blu-Ray boxset out of its prison of wrapping paper. BILLIONS! 

What it all comes down too is that Xmas is a great Holiday to celebrate. Winter is a cold, lifeless time and Christmas turns it into magic, its the one time of the Year when everyone can forget their troubles and the onslaught of oncoming Tests that await them and just relax and have fun! Its Christmas time, everyone, lets put the Music in the player, snuggle down and watch T.V and enjoy playing with your new gifts. It truly is the best time of the Year...

The Gone Series: Best Books I've read?

"Why did I write the GONE series? Well, in my head I imagine this reader. Sometimes it's a girl, sometimes it's a boy. It changes. But in any case there's this reader. And I want that reader to pick up GONE, and to be unable to put it down until they have read every word. I want that reader to forget everything else going on around them and become completely engrossed.
When they're done with the first book, I want them to need that next book desperately. I want to surprise that reader and scare that reader and make and make that reader fall in love. In the end I want the reader to put down the book and think, "Man, that was fun." - Michael Grant.

You know, he pretty much summed up what I think of the Gone Series right there...


Ahhh the gone Series, how I love you to bits! 1300+ pages of pure bliss. The (so far) three books are definately up there with some of the best books I've read. I think these books broke my record for how long I can read without stopping: six-and-a-half hours! But all they the best I've read? Lets see...

The entirety of the Books take place in an area known as the FAYZ (FALLOUT ALLEY YOUTH ZONE). It's (or was, we don't know yet) situated in Southern Californa by the sea, in Present day, and was once your average Californian landscape, and contains the doomed Perdido Beach: a small Town with your average population (Families, Tourists, nice beaches, great for surfing, Schools, Banks, MacDonalds ect...) but on one day, every single adult in the town, past the age of Fifthteen disappears. GONE. Not only that, but ala Simpsons Movie, it seems that a large area of Land (20 miles long) has been trapped by this weird transulent-ish barrier that cuts everything inside the dome out of touch with the outside World COMPLETELY. No communication, limited electricity supplies, not alot of food, and no one to cuddle them and say it'll be all right. Its a terrifying situation to be in, Kids having to fight for their own survival, and a jouney that will take them to the darkest recesseses of the Human soul. What makes things far worse is that, some kids are developping Powers. The power to control Gravity, Run at 300mph, shoot light from your hands, heal the wounded...and as you can guess things only start there, after that they have to deal with mutated animals and phycopathic nut-jobs with whips for arms! So minus all the Supernatural, dark thriller-y, Lost-ish style mystery plot (the main Villain of the piece isn't fully established untill the end of Book 2!), the big question is this: What would happen in a World without adults? The answer, as you expect, is painfully realistic, gritty and quite frankly horrible to endure...but it still makes for great reading. What's wrong with us? We like to see movies about Cannibals and Murderer's and watch horrible, depressing things on T.V like a Father having to shoot his own kids (ala Torchwood: Children Of Earth), stuff that just makes you want to cry and shoot yourself...and yet we love watching that kind of stuff! These books tapp into that raw, primitive instinct of survival..and thats basically one of the reasons why I'm so hooked to these books, its because they're sooo DARK! And I mean dark DARK! Really awful crimes are comitted in these Books, acts of cruelty and harsh violence and well...its just plain evil! But something about these Books just draw you in unlike anything I have ever read. Apparently alot of people refer to these Books as a hybrid of Stephen King + Lord Of The Flies and I can definitely see that (Stephen King himself says he loves these Books) . And I've read a Review where some guy found these Books really boring, and I can sorta see why they would think that but I haven't felt an inch of boredom while reading any of the Books, in fact, they get more gripping as they go along...but then again, that is just my opinion ( ex: I think The Lord Of The Rings books are one of the most boring books known to man, heck about 53 pages of the thing is donated to the characters eating dinner! And alot of people love them so opinions can vary...but I loved reading the Hobbit, now THAT was a good Book). So moving on from the basic premise, things (after not even the first day!) quickly turns into utter Sh*t for anyone who is still alive in Perdido Beach. Think about it, if all the Parents 'poofed' all of a sudden then who looks after all the poor Baby Children that are left in their homes or wherever they were when their Mummy's and Daddy's poofed? There's a scene in the Book where one of the main characters is searching a house for supplies (food is very scarce at this point, people just sort of sit around and loot shops, not really thinking about the future, so the brain-boxes out of all the helpless teens who are trying to create some sort of society around all this chaos decide to recover any loot they can find...) and encounters the body of a dead baby who, without any care after its parents had disappeared, eventually died of starvation. Its a chilling scene, made worse by the fact that one of them has to pick up the corpse and 'dispose' of it, Its pretty awful to read. Bully's in the School that were once just wedgie lovers have now turned into physcopathic Killers, who form groups (or rival gangs) and beat people to death on the street, creating laws of their own and bullying anyone into submission. The Book quickly demonstrates that this a World without rules: Mutant kids with super powers, kids disappearing out of thin air, Torture, starvation, tyranny, abuse, kids that start picking up bottles of vodka and eat crayons just to stay alive: the FAYZ is a brutal, brutal place to live in.
One of the horrible things about it is that if this were to actually happen in real life (maybe minus all the Super powers), THIS is how things would turn out. Any Character that has an ounce of sanity left by the end of the Book should be applauded I think! In the end its a climatic battle between the two opposing forces (Team Sam Vs Team Caine) that decides who gains control of Perdido Beach. Gone is a very harrowing, draining experience but don't get me wrong: it has a nice little 'romantic interest' plot carefully snuck into it and quite a few scenes of suberb Human emotion, and perhaps just a dash of macabre humor to balance the sides a little bit. When comparing this Book to the next entry in the Series 'Hunger', this book might as well just be an innocent children's fairytale in comparison!

Oooh the Darkness is palpable in this one (it even turns out that the 'he who overlooks all' style baddie is called 'The Darkness'!), and probably has the best ending of the Series so far: Perdido Beach, now a mere withered husk of its former self, has got quite a few Food problems, some kids are even starting to revert to Cannibalism ('if your mate dies, eat him' is practically the motto of this Book!) and the newly formed 'Council' are having trouble keeping the population under control, alot of this has to do with the growing divide between the 'Humans' and the 'Freaks', the Freaks get along fine, its the Humans, who hate being inferior, that have the 'issues'. Just 'surviving' isn't enough though, add in a nuclear reactor, a radioactive alien that controls peoples minds, a nutter that has seriously stepped over into the darkside, a kid hungry for power (plus a dozen little sub-plots and new characters that all, in the grand scheme of things, eventually add up into one huge Finale) and you pretty much have this Book. Its like the Book keeps piling on the threats and amping up the tension, which slowly starts to eat away at any 'organised' society these Teenagers have created. The final...ooh...200 pages are just one rollercoaster ride of emotions and a sense of real helplessness that takes you from one side of the scale to the other. Theres a neat point in the book where one of the main characters, having been swamped with problem after problem after disaster, just bursts out laughing. Why? Because thats the only way his mind can cope with all the pain and stress! I may be making out that these books are a bit of a endurance Test for me (how far can you read before you put the Book down and shoot yourself-kinda-thing?) and a grueling experience...but they just have this addicting adrenalin quality to them, and you genuinely fall in love with these characters, you really want them to succeed and be happy(for once). To be honest, I was surprised to find out that there was another book in the works after this one: I mean sure, they're still trapped in the FAYZ by the end and not all of the questions have been answered, but the ending had such a final feel to it. Hmmm, well I've just finished 'Lies', heres my initial reaction:

Wow. This was still one of the greatest Series I've read! To call this book 'Lies' is wrong, more like 'Chaos'. Tensions are still growing in the FAYZ, the 'Freaks' are still under attack (more than ever, the Humans have turned into peusdo-Terrorists, setting half the town ablaze and screaming CHAOS!), Food is EVEN more scarce (at least they have a proper economic system up though, bullets are now traded for food and items), the main Character has finally gone awol, cracking under the pressure and strain of being a Leader. And it turns out, a character that has long been buried and dead...rises up from the grave. Fear is just growing and growing, and (as nutty as it sounds) apparently a Freak who's talent is to look into peoples dreams says that she has contacted the Parents 'on the other side' and reveals that killing yourself may be the only way to escape the FAYZ and to return to the real World. Its tackles quite a few religious themes, mainly the 'belief' category and is just as dark in that respect. Mary (also known as Mother Mary, a 14-year-old who looks after the really little kids) is suffering from depression and is quickly subdued into thinking that this is true. The end of this Book is THAT close to complete and utter bloodshed of three-year-olds. AT LEAST the Books having touched the whole rape/sex subject yet, perhaps thats just a step too far. I have only one real gripe with this Book: it doesn't exactly feel like an individual contained story like the previous two Books of the Series, it feels like you're slap bang in the middle of a much bigger Story arc (one that will be explored in the final three Books: 'Plague, Darkness and Light'), almost like a Skirmish or a prologue before the 'real' thing. The ending is a bit too left out in the open, and doesn't really resolve anything other than eliminate any immediate threat. Its just moves the Bad guys and the main Characters (almost like chess pieces) exactly where they need to be for the next Book. Back onto the positive side of things, I also love how the previous Books all have these little tie-ins that gives you almost a sneak peak at what might be in store for the next entries (In Lies, it seems a few of the Characters have come down with a rather nasty cold that doesn't seem to go away and is highly infectious...the next Book is called 'Plague'....hmmm I wonder if that has something to do with it?). At the moment, there doesn't seem to be a ending in sight, although the Author has confirmed that there are indeed three more Books planned, and I can't help but wonder what he has in store for us. One request though: The Final Book 'Light' must have a least half the book dedicated to how Life is now wonderful for the main Characters and everything is sweet, happy and fun....because I don't think I could live with myself knowing that these Characters don't have a happy ending, THERE MUST BE A HAPPY ENDING! The Books are sooo dark, you've got to have at least a bit of happiness at the end to balance things out!I just want Sam too be happy for once! Anyway, thats it for for my opinions of the Gone Series, truly a terrific pieces of literature, all of them (for me). Here's the big question though: Best Books I've Read? Well if the Series continues with this level of quality...then yes. The Gone Series, are one of the best Books I've read. PERIOD. GOSH! I've just looked at the Wikipedia page, and it turns out that the Books are written at an alarming rate, Lies (having only just recently come out) is soon to be shoved into Plague, who will be moving into stores on April the 11th 2011. CANNOT WAIT! C-A-N-N-O-T  W-A-I-T!!!!    

This Week In School: Walking in a Winter Wonderland....

            

       Somewhere beneath all of this lies the BBC's School Report image from previous Weeks!

ITS CHRISTMAS! Well okay we still have got a good portion of the Month left but with all this Snow you can't help but get into the Xmas 'spirit'. Is it just me, but is Christmas seemingly coming earlier and earlier for these past few Years? Not to mention its also getting colder and colder (Day after Tomorrow style apocalypse coming?)! All this bad weather we've been having has put all the Schools in France into a massive standstill. I hear its just as bad in the UK, so I hope you guys aren't freezing to death over there! Bit of a mixed feeling here cos' 1: Yay because less School! And 2: Damn because of more Homework and all of the catching up I'll have to do and the (seemingly endless) amounts of Tests which will start spewing out onto the floor! Luckily that hasn't happened yet, as we've only had two days off so far. But just you wait...

Monday, despite being broadcasted to be a complete snowy blizzard turned out to be just a normal day in School (much to the dissapointment of my Class), although when I got up in the morning it was pushing -8! It was so cold the AIR had frozen! No Ice on the roads though, those Bastards had gritted it. I was breathing out smoke all day (many smoking jokes were exchanged the playground). Nothing much happened to be honest, German was a bit tricky (we're studying how to say the time at the moment, I'm fine untill you have to use words like 'Es ist Funfundzwanzig nach Funf...' and so on), Science was a bit boring (We are currently studying carbonised wood of all things!), Art was fun (still working on that map from last Week) and I got a whopping 16/20 in Maths! 16/20! Can't believe that, so far my Results have been bad, good, bad, bad, bad, bad, good, good, bad, and good! Didn't help my Score though, unfortunately only the first five Tests in Maths counted in the first Trimestre and seen as they were mostly (par one) terrible my Overall score in Maths is 8,45/20. C-R-A-P. Not the worst in the Class though, the lowest score was 6,24/20 if that counts for anything. The Teachers comments are that we are a nice Class to work with, but half the time we don't understand a thing and refuse to ask her for help. Basically we're about as smart as a bunch of sticks...could have been worse. In Geography we were each tasked with creating a fake Holiday Brochure (directed to the Amercains, who apparently know NOTHING about Europe) and show off what this continent had to offer Culturally, Religiously and languistically. I came up with the idea that seeing as your average brochure offers several different languages, and I am fluent in English and am sufficient enough in French, I should do a Brochure with both languages being available (cos' when you think about it, this is supposed to be aimed at Americains, they don't understand a word of French), I could have done a German language on it as well, but that might have become a bit too hard so I decided against it. Its going well so far, I hope the Teacher likes the whole multi-languages thing. The Test (also in Geography) went well, except when the Teacher tells you learn every country in Europe off my heart...and you do exactly that....you would think she would ask you to currectly put on a map the name of every country in Europe for the Test? I only had to put a few countrys on the map (approximately 15 out of the 27 countrys I had learnt). Bit annoyed, so I didn't really have to learn all of them did I? Another thing that Grinds my Gears (here we go again) is that she told us to put all the easy  names on the Map, like France, UK, Spain ect... EASY ALERT! In French the Dictation went very well (I think I only made a few mistakes) so that was all good. FLE aka French Language Education (every Monday I have a 50 minute lesson with the Science Teacher that is designed to help me with my French) was a real shocker, Mme Philippe (the School Headmaster) came into the deserted Classroom and asked the Teacher with he had some cables he could hook up to a Car battery (I think one of the Teachers cars had broken down and he was the only teacher to have them in his Car) and he left WHILE Mme Philippe tutored me in his abscence! The Head? Teaching me French? On my own? It could have gone better, she had this very loud growl every time I got a question wrong...

After Monday, Tuesday was more of the same: We were still studying the time in German, still working on the Brochure in Geography (Plus in History my Overall score for this Trimestre is 18/20 which is the highest score in the Class by the way *ACCEPTS APPLAUSE*), doing endless exercises in French (I was given my score for this trimestre as well: 9,45/10. Well its French, it was hardly going to be a miracle, was it?) and solving tricky Maths problems in Maths (Okay, In a news program that lasts half-an-hour, three thirds of the programme is dedicated to reporting and the rest of the time is donated to the commentary of the presenter. What is the length, in hours, of the Presenters commentary? Get it right and I'll reward you a gold star). 

Wednesday started off badly, I injured my leg while doing the high jump in Sport and failed BAAADLY. In Technology we had to look online to find a device that could run the houses electricity automatically (ex: if you were to walk into a dark Room, the lights in the House would automatically switch on, and it would switch off when you were no longer present). 

I got up on Thursday to find out that it had Snowed a BIT overnight, the roads were clear, and there was quite a bit of Frost but NOTHING that would stop the School from opening. Turns out, practically NO ONE turned up for School. There was SIX people in my Class that showed up (including me!). Where is everybody? I had no idea, either three quarters of the School are lazy buggers or we must be the only area that isn't SWAMPED in snow. I had to endure two hours of Permanence (some of the Teachers didnt show up as well, even the Maths Teacher was late) and, because the Sport Teacher had made it, one hour of Ping-Pong/Football that I sucked at, and loads of what I would call 'filler classes' where we would watch a boring Documentary about boring things. The Teachers could hardly continue normally with only six of us, so we were playing a board-game in German, a few Maths exercises in Maths and cleaning up classes that need a good scrubbing in the place of Music (basically we were doing errands for the Head). Very pissed off, I mean did half the School just throw their hands up and refuse to go to School, just over a bit of Snow (It wasn't even 5mm thick!)?  
  

Friday, didn't exist, because the School had shut down. I'll put a few pictures up, and email you even more, but its quite literally a WINTER WONDERLAND OUT THERE RIGHT NOW! YAY! SCHOOLS SHUT, ITS SNOWING! *RUNS OUTSIDE LAUGHING HAPPILY* Snowball fights, sleeping (getting up at 8am in the morning is too FAR early for me) and just a general 'Xmas fun' feeling insued! 

Now, I hope the Snow lasts (as everyone), but Im dreading the amount of Homework I could get on Monday! Thats this Weeks recap, Tim.