Of Grades And Toilets
The toilet was my best friend last night. Why? My friend Katie had a party, the first couple of hours were fun. My problems started after two and a half cans of Strongbow. Somehow, my alcohol tolerance isn’t as high as it used to be, but perhaps that’s because I never used to drink so much in such a small amount a time. After starting to feel very dizzy, I managed to make my way up the stairs (falling at the very top - I have many bruises on my knees from such events) and into the guest bedroom to lie down. Many tears (you’re reading the blog of a depressed drunk) and declarations of how pathetic I am later, I made my way into the bathroom and proceeded to hug the toilet waiting for the inevitable sequence of throwing up, flushing said toilet and then complaining about how much my throat hurts. Jon stayed with me pretty much the whole time (’cause he’s awesome that way).
A while later, I asked Jon to call my mum and she came down and took me home. You’d think I would have learned from the last time this happened to not do it again; obviously not the case. But as of this morning, I have vowed never to drink alcohol at a party ever again. Yes, I’ll look like such a wet-blanket and a bore, but it’s for my own good and especially the well-being of my voice because at the moment, it doesn’t work too well.
Before all this trauma, however, I had been into school a few hours earlier to receive my AS-Level results. I’m really pleased. I came out with four A grades and a C grade. The C being in chemistry, but I was kind of expecting that to be fair. IT came top, followed by General Studies (which doesn’t really count), Maths, Psychology and then Chemistry at the bottom (obviously).
I go on holiday tomorrow with Jon and his family for a week. We’re going to Scotland! I just hope I can walk properly by that point.
Posted on 15 Aug 08 at 11:40 am. Comments (3)My Precioussss
I went to see Lord of the Rings on stage yesterday in London. It was absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t leave without a program, a book full of pretty pictures, a poster and some paper that fell from the ceiling.
The musical - yes, that’s right it was a musical - was being put on at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Of course, that meant a nice three hour train journey down to Kings Cross. But one of my friends, Katie, managed to get us free 1st class tickets! I was so excited about it, I’d never travelled 1st class before and it turned out to be so cushy. It was 1st class seats on the way back as well.
We did have a little mishap on the way there though. Our original train was cancelled, so we had to rush on to an earlier train otherwise we would have never gotten there in time. We weren’t impressed. It was a good thing that I insisted we arrive at the train station and hour earlier than the departure time.
I have to say, the staging was just…amazing! And that doesn’t even begin to describe it. Four of the boxes were unavailable because they were covered by the staging. The whole stage itself could rotate and on top of that, it was segmented so different parts of the stage would rise up to different levels. They did a great job with the huge spider and the Balrog too. Shame photography was banned really, but I understand the reasoning.
The acting itself was great too. I really admired the guy that played Gollum. He did it so well! I think Gollum is one of those characters where it’s either played successfully or it’s an epic failure. This guy was the former of the two options. The only thing that bugged me was how the elves were played. I felt there was too much with the flourishing arm movements. It didn’t ruin the experience though.
The only thing I would have to say though, is that if I hadn’t watched the films prior to seeing it on stage, I would have never understood what was going on because I haven’t actually read the books yet. I’ve started reading them though, but slowly.
After leaving the theatre on a high, I reached an all time low during my stay in London and that was caused by the Tube at rush hour. Oh it is absolutely awful! Everyone was pressed up against each other or the doors. I literally got out of the trains smelling like other people, and not the nice kind either like when you leave a heavy rock concert. It was hot and horribly humid, despite being under the ground. My other complaint is the price! It cost me £5.30 for a single zone ticket for the entire day - that’s about 3 times the amount I pay at home for a similar thing. To put it bluntly, I couldn’t ever experience that on a regular/daily basis and it’s just strengthened my resolve to never live and/or work in London.
Other than my experience with the Tube system, I had a wonderful time in London. A bit too dusty and fast-paced for my liking; I much prefer places like Newcastle, Glasgow, Edinburgh and even York! It’s a shame that the staging cost more to maintain than the money they were bringing in - they’re stopping the show at the end of July.
Posted on 11 Jul 08 at 4:51 pm. Comments (2)