I have read a lot of books about Elvis Presley. Of course, most people who know me well allready know this, but the book i am reading at the moment is probably the best. I have found one paragraph which i can't ignore. It is the only paragraph i have ever read about the man which my own oppinion completely agrees with, so i though i would wirte it out for the lovely people reading my blog. I do not apoligise in advance for the length; it is a good paragraph.

'He likes the company of women, he loves to be around women, women of all ages, he feels more comfortable with them - it isn't something he would want to admit to his friends, or even prehaps to himself. His aunt Lillian notices it: " He'd get out there at night with the girls, and he just sang his head off. He was different with the girls - i'm embarassed to tell, but he'd rather have a whole bunch of girls around him than the boys - he didn't care a thing about the boys." The women seem to sence something coming out of him, somethng he himself may not even know he possesses: it is an aching kind of vulnerability, an unspecified yearning: when Sam Phillips meets him just two or three years later, in 1953, he senses much the same quality but calls it insecurity... Bathed in the soft glow of the highstreet, he appears almost handsome - the acne that embarasses him doesn't show up too badly, and the adolescent features, which can appear course in the cold day, take on a kind of delicacy that is almost beautiful. He sings Eddy Arnold's "Molly Darling", a Kay Starr number, "Habor Lights", Bing and Garys Crosby's "Moon light Bay", all soft, sweet songs, in a soft, slightly quavering voice, and then, satisfied, takes his comb out of his back pocket and runs it through his hair in a practiced gesture clearly at odds with his hesitancy of manner. With the women, though, he can do no wrong: young girls or old ladies, they seem drawn to his quiet, hesitant aproach, his decorous humility, his respectful scrutiny. The men may have their doubts, but to the women he is a nice boy, a kind boy, someone both thoughtful and attentive, someone who truly cares. '

This is about Elvis when he was 16. In the courts, Memphis.

Hello. Haven't posted in aggggggggseeeeessss. Have been so busy with coursework is depressing. Have three massive pieces in this friday and two more next wednesday. Kinda sucks, but i am starting to get used to it. Can't wait for christmas now, it's coming so quickly. Am building up my itunes ready for my new ipod! Woo! About 5500 songs so far, tis looking good ;-)

New house is still looking lovely. We got a new table for our dining room last week, dad bought it off ebay which was a bit risky, but it's pretty nice. Since we have had it we have had tonnes of people round for dinner! Which is kinda nice, cause we didn't really have a bigger enough table before, and i always like having people around.

Apart from that, nothing really intresting has been happening at the moment. Just can't wait for holidays now, cause i am desperate for more sleep.

La Belle Dame Sans Merci

You discover something that you think you really like. You don't really understand it, but you're sure it's the best thing thats ever happened to you. You are thrilled. You focus on it. You give into the beauty and richness and pleasure, and let it overwhelm you.

Then the pleasure is gone. Far more than a normal letdown, the experience has left you crippled emotionally. At least for a while, you don't talk about regretting the experience. And it remains an important part of who you feel you are.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
Here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every section of the movie, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

Opening Credits: America the Beautiful - Ray Charles

Waking Up: Sing - Travis

First Day at School: We are family- Pointer sisters

Falling in Love: Brighter than sunshine - Aqualung

Fight Song: If I ever lose my faith in you - Sting

Break up Song: Bye bye love - Simon and Garfunkel (Ha!)

Prom: One - U2

Life's OK: Imagine - John Lennon

Mental Breakdown: Holding back the years - Simply Red

Driving: Achilles heel - Toploader

Flashback: Strangers like me - Phill Collins

Getting Back Together: I fought the law - The clash

Wedding: The Bartender And The Theif - Stereophonics

Birth of a Child: Never felt like this before - Shaznay Lewis

Final Battle: Hard to get - Rich Mullins

Death Scene: Hey Jude - Sting, Elton John, Eric Clapton

Funeral Song: The Who - Quadrophenia

Closing Credits: Message in a bottle - Sting

'The phrase "in the dark", as i'm sure you know, can refer not only to one's shadowy surroundings, but also to the shadowy secrets of which one might be unaware. Every day, the sun goes down over all these secrets, and so everyone is in the dark in one way or another. If you are sunbathing in a park, for instance, but you do not know that a locked cabinet is buried fifty feet beneath your blanket, then you are in the dark even though you are not actually in the dark, whereas if you are on a midnight hike, knowing full well that several ballerinas are following close behind you, then you are not in the dark even if you are in fact, in the dark. Of course, it is quite possible to be in the dark in the dark, as well as to be not in the dark not in the dark, but there are so many secrets in the world that it is likely that you are always in the dark about one thing or another, whether you are in the dark in the dark or in the dark not in the dark, although the sun can go down so quickly that you may be in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, only to look around and find yourself no longer in the dark about being in the dark in the dark, but inthe dark in the dark nonetheless, not only becasue of the dark, but because of the ballerinas in the dark, who are not in the dark about the dark, but also not in the dark about the locked cabinet, and you may be in the darkabout the ballerinas digging up the locked cabinet in the dark, even though you are no longer in the dark about being in the dark, and so you are in fact in the dark about being in the dark, even though you are not in the dark about being in the dark, and so you may fall into the hole that the ballerinas have dug, which is dark, in the dark, and in the park. '

The series of unfortunate events - The end -Chapter 9 - Lemony Snicket

Wow!

How totally bizaar!

Trick photography at lowdown... 

Two poems today; i am unsure of why i like this first one so much, but i do. It's called 'Once upon a time'.

Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts:
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.

‘Feel at home’! ‘Come again’:
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice –
for then I find doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’;
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare
fangs!

So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.

Gabriel Okara

I could write an essay including all the poetic techniques displayed in this poem, but i will save you the greif of reading it. Poem two- just because of the date, but also because it is surprising how many people only know the first two lines by heart:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
to blow up the King and the Parliament.
Three score barrels of powder below,
Poor old England to overthrow:
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!
Hip hip hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.
A farthing o' cheese to choke him.
A pint of beer to rinse it down.
A faggot of sticks to burn him.
Burn him in a tub of tar.
Burn him like a blazing star.
Burn his body from his head.
Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.
Hip hip hoorah!
Hip hip hoorah!

It may be a nursery rhyme, but I can't see children singing the full version of this!

Anyway, me and Lucy decided that in our english lesson, revision was the lesser option, and consequently wrote two poems, based on another two poems.

The first one is based on 'I shall paint my nails red' by Carole Satyamurti. So here goes:

I shall paint my nails black

Because Carol Satyamurti paints hers red.

Because i am a rebel.

Because black has more depth than brown.

Because my mother will be horrified.

Because it is less obvious than black lipstick.

Because it makes my hands stand out.

Because emo society dictates it.

Because it keeps me company.

Because it distracts me.

And I won't write the last line for sanitys sake.

The second poem is based on 'An unknown Girl' by Moniza Alvi. I love this poem, but i we have managed to destroy it completely!

An unknown German

An unknown German

Is filling my shoes

With gravel off the drive

And turf from the lawn.

An unknown German

Is saluting her Fuhrer

With a fake moustache

And a swastika badge.

Posters of the saviour

Slathered on the walls

Pictured on horseback

In a sea of glowing ambience.

An unknown girl bows down.

Hehe! You have to read the original to see the humor, if you even want to call it that!

I am reading two books at the moment, and they both have great paragraphs I just have to share with the world, so here is book 1:

'Chapter 1
If you have ever peeled an onion, then you know that the first thin, papery layer reveals another thin, papery layer, and that layer reveals another, and another, and before you know it you have hundreds of layers all over the kitchen and thousands of tears in your eyes, sorry that you ever started peeling it in the first place and wishing that you had left the onion alone to wither away on the shelf of the pantry while you went on with your life, even if that meant never again enjoying the complicated and overwhelming taste of this strange and bitter vegatable.'

Series of unfortunate events by Lemony Snicket - The end

Hows that for a first topic sentence?

And book 2:

'She reached down into his throat and grabbed his heart, pulled it out, threw it on the floor, stepped on it with her high heels, spat on it, shoved it in the oven and burnt it. Then she sliced it into little pieces, slammed it on a hunk of toast and served it to him, and then expected him to say, thanks honey, it was delicious.'

The girl in Times Square - Paullina Simons

Ha!

Well I promised pictures... 

Hello people. I am currently in Wales, having a lovely time. So many welsh accents, and did you know that the word 'beth' in welsh means 'what'? Thats so cool. Anyway, i am sure that i will update with more information when i get back and am bored enough to... Pictures will be included (!)

Well, we have moved at last! I am at Elly's using the internet; it's amazing how cut off you can get without using msn, bebo, etc. I missed being able to type any word of my choice into a search engine...

We moved house on friday 13th october, yeh, lots of people commented about that! However, the day ran pretty smoothly and to say it wasn't stressful would be a lie, but there were no added problems. It was really bizaar walking home from Ribler that day, even though i couldn't keep the smile off my face, and i almost wnated to run my way home. Notice the almost, i thought people might stare, and i had new shoes. Friday evening was fun, we only had half our stuff becasue the removal people decided to move us over three days. So, friday evening was indian takeaway on the floor, half of us eating on normal plates, half of us out of saucers. Elly and Tom were over for tea that night as aswell (neither of them like spicy food anyway), so a game of 'sit in a circle and say one word each' promptly began after food was eaten. That was hilarious! Shortly after that we all went to lowdown together, and i have to say, there was a lot of amazing conversation that night. The theme of the evening was 'chocolate', which of course attracted great numbers. The Epilogue, or should i now say Prologue (!) seemed to provoke a lot of thought and we didn't end up doing. It was baseed on 'If God is a God of love then why is there so much violence/destruction going on?'. A very asked question, but nevertheless, a very intresting and debatable one. This question was half answered, but was interupted by more questions, which was great. People were generally intrested in what we were talking about, i think a lot of people went home chalenging things, and really thinking about the issues we discussed. The topic we ended up with, before the talking ended, was judgement day, and whether it was actually something worth being scared of. We came to the conclusion that 'yes, it's going to be frightening, but it's also going to be amazing', for people who are not yet saved - 'yes, it's going to be terrifying'. It was a great night. Although, Ihave a feeling that people went home with more questions than they came with.

So, anyway, that was ages ago now. This week I am currently doing my mocks, which are going ok, I guess. I have only got one result back so far, and that was biology, and I got an A (WHOOO!). I have done 9 exams in 5 days and am currently pooped. However, next week will be fun. A whole 9 consecutive days off! Can't wait. Saturday, I think a trip to Ikea is in need, we have a pretty empty house at the moment. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, I have no real plans, but then I am going to Wales with Elly and her family on Wednesday, so that will be fun. Coming home on Sunday. Staying in Cardigan Bay, you can see the dolphins jump from the window. And according to Elly there is an old fashioned sweet shop aswell, and I love those! I will have to start saving up for the lovely beach/ surf shops! They are my favourite kind of shops! maybe I will get new board shorts ...

It's cool living so near to the village, you can go and get stuff whenever you need something. Elly and me always end up buying Mars Delights and whatever she chooses, when walking the dogs. Yesterday, I managed to lob my phone across the path, which caused hysterics from Elly, and serious panic from me! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... Walking the dogs is fun ...

So, i don't know when my next post will be, we are supposed to be getting the internet in our new house in ten days, whether or not it will happen, i don't know. I might be able to steal Ellys computer for half an hour in the near future...

The incredible exploits of nothing.

In the beggining there was Nothing. No world, no universe, no Ronald Macdonald, no humans and no Sumo wrestlers. Absolutely nothing.

After several million years Nothing got bored and decided to become Something. And it wasn't long before Something got lonely and decided to split into two. (Just by chance he found he had the ability to do this.) Each of Something's two halves joined the trend and they divided. There were then six Somethings.

Eventually there were so many Somethings that they decided to join together into groups and form into galexies and planets. Just by chance they all found that they could float around without bumping into each other too much.

Just by cance on one little planet - called 'Earth' because most of it's surface was covered by water (!) - there were lots of terrible thunder storms and, just by chance one day, in a particularly vicious one, a bolt of lightning hit a muddy puddle, which just happened to have the right chemicals in it to make Life.

The heat of the lightening caused these chemicals to join together and, just by chance, the first Living Something had been created.

Living Something like his Grandad, Nothing, got bored and lonely, and decided to grow up. After a long time Living Something just by chance found that he had grown up into a fish.

Living Something fish would occasionally look out on all the air and land, and get quite disatisfied with his watery living conditions.

Eventually one particular Living Something fish made a decision which was to affect the whole of the rest of history - he decided to grow wings and become a bird.

Foertunately for Living Something Bird he found there was just enough oxygen for him to breathe and enough things for him to eat (all by chance, of course.)

Zillions more years passed by and, just by chance, birds became animals, and animals eventually summoned up all their energy and put together all their best ideas and became Human Being Somethings.

Human Being Somethings just by chance got really clever - far more clever than any of their ancestors - and they found out a lot about the world they lived in. They found out that the earth was round and spinning, yet no-one had ever fallen off. They discoved that if the conditions on earth were just a little different - a bit more oxygen, a little less gravity, half as much forrest or a bit more ocean - it would be impossible fore Human Being Somethings to live on earth at all!

Humans looked at all this incredible evidence about their world and saw what a complicated place it was. They began to see how well-made it was and how each part seemed to have its own job to do. They saw all that Nothing had made and they said it was very good.

One or two humans began to ask sticky questions like, "If our world is so wonderful - almost like it has been cleverly put together - wouldn't it be more sensible to assume that it started with Someone, an Incredible Inventor, who planned things to be like this, rather than believing in hundreds of miracles making everything happen by lucky chance?" But everyone laughed at the idea that there was a Someone involved in making the Earth so beautiful and complicated. Instead they went on trying to discover how No One had got hold of Nothing and made Everything.

'He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But is was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.'

What a great last paragraph. One of the best books i have ever read.

On a recent visit to the hairdressers, i have come to the conclusion that i don't infact like them. At fist glance, they look attracting, modern, and colourful, some place you would like to be with all the shelves neatly presenting the latest gunk. However, when you are a more active participant in these places, you soon become aware of the reality, that is the hair chopping industry. There are several reasons why i do not like theses places:

1. The young, skinny jeaned, pink streaked hair, training assistants. They make me uneasy, and some of them should really not be wearing skinny jeans. Although, i have, fortunately, never had to come too close to any of these people, and therefore to not really have a valid oppinion.

2. The disturbing smile all hairdressers seem to apply when making rapid, and distictive changes to the back of your hair. I am never sure whether they are smiling becasue they are happy, they are smiling becasue they for some reson think you are funny, or they are doing something to your hair you asked specificly for them not to do.

3. The repetive questions. The ones that come up frequently, especially from the chavtastic students who wash your hair:

1. Are you going partying tonight, since you have had your hair cut?

2. Doing anything nice for the weekend?

3. Why do you want such drastic change to your hair?

4. Have you seen our latest products?they are on that shelf, over there.

5. So how is school life going? I remember when...And so on...

All of these questions, aimed to make polite convosation, and lead into a less dull one, never really capture my imagination, and i really don't party that much, even when i do have my hair cut.

I am sorry if i have affended anyone, who used to be a hairdresser, wants to be a hairdresser, or is one.