December 30th: Happy new year!

Wow. Sorry for my complete absence over the last week or so, but it's been a bit crazy round here, as I imagine it has been everywhere. So much to say though, and only a few minutes to say it in - methinks I might have to continue this post tomorrow.

Firstly, let's start with Christmas day, so we're all up to date. I GOT A NEW MIC! It's tiny - it must only be about ten centimetres all in all, but it's so good. It's fabtabulous to be able to record without my voice being accompanied by a load of static and of course it means that I now have to re-record everything I put up on YouTube with a bad quality mic, but oh well. Plenty of time for that (though I know it will just be one of those things I never get round to doing). It folds down into its own little case thing, which, when you fold out the microphone, becomes a clip which attaches onto the top of your computer (if you have an LCD monitor or laptop) - this means that I won't drop it on the floor, which I do a lot. Hence why microphones break on me so much. But it's not my fault; they roll off the table!

I haven't broken the mic Cora gave me yet though, so it's all good.

(Random point: I just clicked on a video on YouTube in the related videos to my newest video, and the first sentence in the description box was "MOLLY WATCH THIS."

Obviously the girl in the video isn't talking to me, but it's a coincidence nonetheless. And I used the word 'video' far too much in the above paragraph. Wish I had a thesaurus in my head. Oh wait, I do, it's called my brain. Well, doesn't that just suck? I can't even come up with a synonym for 'video'. Any suggestions? Speaking of which, I saw a pocket thesaurus when I was in town with Becky yesterday. I want one. And I'm getting increasingly off topic here so shattap, Molly.)

Anyway, so other Christmas presents: lots of chocolate (fattening but wonderful), the third book in the Wicked trilogy, "A Lion Among Men" (fabtabulous), a sparkly blue purse + sparkly blue nail varnish (awesome), a book entitled "How To Be A Wicked Witch" from Freddie (absolutely freaking AWESOME), a multicoloured caterpillar necklace from Octopus that I've wanted for ages (amazing), perfume which I bought in a charity shop ages ago but run out of and my mum tracked down for me (wonderful) and some other stuff which I can't recall just now.

I have to go now, but I'll be back tomorrow, so return then for more details of my boring life. :)

Molly x

December 24th: Christmas Eve! Oh yeah.

So what if I'm using the significance of the current date as a replacement for the interesting title I can't be arsed to make up? There is no other day in the year which is as widely recognized and important as the 25th of December and its surrounding dates, so I may as well make the most of it while it's here.

So. Christmas Eve. It still doesn't feel particularly Christmassy, especially as my mum's in OMG-IT'S-CHRISTMAS-MUST-TIDY-HOUSE mode and is running around like a headless chicken, as she is every Christmas. Every year we say we'll be more organised, but this is us, and it never happens. Welcome to the madhouse!

Actually I quite like it that way. It's how my family has lived for the past sixteen and a half years and, I imagine, how we will continue to live.

Ignore the total crap I'm writing. I don't have anything new to tell you, because nothing interesting happened at work last night, and I'm listening to Bad Romance so I'm a bit distractified. Listening to music whilst writing is always an interesting combination, so I've discovered.

I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need... well maybe not that specific, but I do want an actual good quality microphone so I can finally record for YouTube without sounding like I've got a busy motorway plus a clock in the background. Not a good look. Or sound.

Basically everything else on my list is from the Wicked the musical merchandise shop (though most of it's from the American one so I doubt my parents would have bothered with that). But as long as I get the mic, I'll be happy. (That makes me sound really ungrateful; obviously I won't be too upset if I don't get it, but I'd really love it.) Still, we'll have to wait and see. How exciting!

I'm impossibly bored, as we have people coming over at 7:30 but it's still only 5:00 and it's too early to start getting ready, so I'm looking up my teachers on Facebook... as you do. Don't worry, I'm not going to add them or anything really nerdy like that - it's just funny to see their display pictures. So far I've found Hannah, Zoe (my media teacher), and about four teachers from my old school. I think John, my history teacher, is too much of a generic name (John Bennett) to be able to find him and Victoria, my IT teacher, is just not a Facebooky person, methinks, despite being a computery person.

Okay now it's time to get ready. Half six. That time went quickly; as you can probably infer from the understood knowledge that the above paragraph would not have taken me an hour and a half to write, I got distracted by other things. Probably Facebook, knowing me.

So. Merry Christmas, mon amies, and I hope you have/had (for all you people celebrating today) a great day.

Rawr!

Molly x

December 23rd: Two days until Christmas!

I'm really getting lazy with this blog. It's only three or four weeks since I started it and I'm already leaving five day gaps between posts... my excuse is that I'm not at college so I don't have my free lessons in which to write here. (But we all know that it's really just because I can't be bothered.) Oh well, I'm here now and I have so much crap to tell you that I can't remember any of it. Which is always useful, innit.

Well on Saturday my dad decided that I should get a phone contract after all (I think he might have been abducted by aliens and replaced by something... different) and we went shopping to have a look for some good deals/phones. I actually like the iPhone, though it's way too expensive and sort of pointless considering you can get phones just as good for a lot cheaper. And since my dad only wants to pay a certain amount of months for the contract and is making me pay the rest, cheap is a pretty big factor in which one I choose. Any suggestions?

After we'd finished shopping on Saturday, we called in at our friends' house (Katy and Pippy - my mum's best friend's daughters) and we watched St Trinian's, which was fabtabulouso because I hadn't seen it and I wanted to see the second one because Mr Gorgeous Tennant is in it (well, what can you do? I may not be obsessed with Doctor Who anymore but it's practically in my blood. David Tennant. Yum.) anyway yeah, so we watched St Trinian's and now I want to see the second one even more.

(I should really think about getting food instead of writing here since I'm getting quite hungry, since I haven't eaten all day (I was too busy tidying my room "because Father Christmas doesn't come if your room's not tidy" - you'd think my parents would realize Father Christmas doesn't exist by the age of almost fifty), and I have to go to work in two hours, but I've got too much to say. Even if none of it is particularly interesting.)

So on Sunday I went to work (where we surreptitiously sneaked out of the kitchen when nobody was looking and had a snowball fight), but even more excitingly than that, we finally put our Christmas tree up! Not one, in fact, but two - we have the fake one we always used to use in the hallway to Christmasfy that area a bit, along with some fairy lights round the mirror, and the main tree is in the lounge. It's massive though and the bottom branches are sloping towards the ground so we can't see any presents which happen to be there... the cats love to sleep under it, as well, because it's next to the radiator and the heat emanating from it gets caught by the branches of the tree, so it's nice and warm down there. (Actually, I noticed on the label of the tree when my parents brought it home that it said "DO NOT PUT NEAR RADIATOR" and, though my parents insisted it was fine, being as scared of fire as I am, I sneaked downstairs with a pair of scissors and when nobody was in the room I snipped off all the branches that were nearest the radiator. What? I may be paranoid but it's better than burning your house down. Innit. It was only a small radiator, anyway.)

So yeah. Now my house is nice and Christmassy and the Christmas spirit is building nicely - as well it should, being two days away.

On Monday, as I said previously, I went to the pantomime with my mum, dad, Freddie, auntie Ruth and cousin Hannah. (Only one Hannah will be mentioned in this blog, I think, so don't panic.) It was Peter Pan, which was a refreshing change from the normal boy-meets-girl-gets-married story they usually have.

Then after the pantomime, we went to Ruth's house, taking half an hour to get there, which is usually a ten minute trip (there was a traffic jam because a mini couldn't get up the icy hill) and she had booked a meal at Pizza Express, and having been on the waiting list in order to get a space there, she was determined that we were going, despite the fact that it was snowing incredibly hard and the snow was already thick on the ground from Friday's snowfall. So we walked.

As you do. We walked for twenty minutes in the snow and arrived at Pizza Express completely soaked due to snowball fights on the way (my dad scooped up an armful of snow and dumped it on my head - lovely of him, I know - so I naturally had to return the favour.)

Last week I got bored and I randomly searched for recording studios in the UK and ended up emailing one, Aardvark, with a link to my original song "Candles" on YouTube. They said it could take them up to two months to reply and I wasn't expecting any reply at all, but I checked my emails on Monday, four days after I emailed them, and a woman called Jan had replied:

"Hi Molly

Thank you for your email giving a link to your YouTube site. Unfortunately we only consider signing an artist when they have supplied us with a fully recorded and mastered album. Having listened to your track on YouTube it appears that you haven’t reached that level yet.

However, you do have a good voice and if at some time in the future you do have a fully recorded and mastered album then please come back to us."

I don't know how exactly they expect me to get a fully recorded and mastered album without a recording company - I was under the impression that that was their job. Still, it's exciting! And since I am working on Candles with some musicians my step-grandma knows up in Scotland, it could happen. If I think really, really, really positively. Which we all know I'm not that great at doing. But I'll try my best.

I did some nice Christmassy recordings for both of my channels today - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas on RubberDucki12 and a nice spoof of Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid on WickedSpoofs. Have I told you about WickedSpoofs? It's a channel I share with Cora, because I've been writing spoofs for quite a while now and figured there's no reason I shouldn't make a new channel for them. Because Cora and I are so vocally diverse (i.e. she can sing high and I can't) she can sing the spoofs of high songs which I can't do. Which is fabtabulous - because one of my best spoofs is my Phantom of the Opera one but I don't see myself being able to sing that any time soon. Anyway yeah, WickedSpoofs is just an outlet for some of my huge amount of randomness. It's great.

Ooh. The lights went out for a second. It has been raining here today - FINALLY the snow is melting! We can leave the house again! But typically, we might not get our white Christmas. So close! - and there was a little thunderstorm as well; I say "little" and I mean one flash of lightening and a few rumbles of thunder. Honestly, English weather! It never can make up its mind. Especially because it snowed again on Tuesday night and then it was thicker than ever.

Random point: have you ever noticed how the E and the A in heart actually look like a heart?

Ooh. I'm listening to Oliver Tompsett's CD right now. Ooooh, his voice absolutely makes me melt. It's like mmmmm, encase me in warm melted chocolate and let me stay here in the comfort of your eyes... never let me escape, I want to stay here forever in your arms... *drool*. Okay so maybe I am infatuated. So what? Go look him up. Trust me, nobody except my weird friend Zoe can escape the same fate. He's like an immortal child. (For those of you who know Twilight).

Anyway so you're pretty much up to date with life right now. Nothing really happened yesterday or today, and now it's time for me to go to work, so I bid you farewell and I shall be back tomorrow.

Innit bruv.

Toodles!

Molly x

Only Troy's head is left on my advent calendar... muahahaha!

December 21st: Pantomime, pantomime!

You may have inferred from the title of this post that today my family and I are having our annual visit to the pantomime, which my grandad used to take us to. We thought we'd carry on the tradition, even if we are getting slightly too old for the pantomime now...

This is just a quick post to say I'm not dead and that I'll give you a full and extensive description of the weekend's activities tomorrow and, of course, to wish you a merry Christmas.

Have fun guys!

Molly x

December 18th: I could be mistaken, but I think it's snowed.

Yes, I was being sarcastic. It has most definitely snowed and college is closed. I woke up at 6 this morning and looked outside just to check, and the first thing that crossed my mind is "We are so not going to college today."

It's because Henley's students come from pretty much everywhere, with journeys ranging from five minutes to two hours to get to college. (I only live half an hour away by car, but it's a very hilly area and it's dangerous in the snow, which is why Henley closes immediately in extreme weather conditions like these. It's also because the college is on two sites, so the more creative subjects like media and art and also the boring ones like maths and computing are up the massive hill, whereas the others, like English, history, IT, French, psychology, drama, music, and everything else really are all at the bottom. I'm not joking, this hill is HUGE. It takes ten minutes to walk up in good weather, so if it's raining/slippery we have to be really careful. I swear, since I started college, I've fallen over at least five times in the space of two months (funnily enough, I stopped wearing those boots after that). But yeah. So when I turned on the radio this morning to see about school closures (very quietly, because my family were all asleep, the lazy bums), I smiled to myself when I heard the presenter say "We've only had one school closure so far; Henley College."

Then again, it was quarter past six in the morning. We all leave by half seven at the latest though (quarter past in my case) so we have to be notified quite early incase of closures.

My brother's school was closed as well in the end, so it was all good. But then I don't know if there's a school in the whole of the UK open today.

Obviously there is some truth to this global warming lark; this is the third heavy snowfall we've had this year, if we count the fact that there were two in February in the same week. That's quite a dramatic change, considering we've gone for years with no snow in the past. It's supposed to snow again on Tuesday as well - a white Christmas?

I remember when it snowed back in February and people I know in Norway thought it was incredibly unfair that our schools were closed at -2C and theirs were still open at -15, but it's because the UK is so unprepared for snow that when it comes, everything pretty much shuts down. It's crazy.

There's this girl I know who really pisses me off. She's so depressed all the time, and always complaining, and obviously that's fair enough sometimes because everybody does it, especially me, (and Becky) but all the time! It makes me feel like saying to her "Get a grip, we all have problems, not just you!" Ugh! I know I sound like a total hypocrite because I complain a lot as well but I don't think even I'm quite that bad.

I'm looking through all 332 pictures of me on Facebook and laughing at myself. God some of them are incredibly embarrassing. Especially the ones from when I was with Cora in summer and we were at Legoland with Heidi... the face I make when I'm laughing my head off isn't very attractive and Cora put them on Facebook anyway, the boring poo. Aww, but looking at the pics of that week just make me miss her and all the amazingness of staying with her and I can see in my eyes how happy I was then. I can't wait until March/July when I can finally see her again... you try having your closest friend living a thousand miles away. It's not easy, I can tell you, and I don't mean to sound like a stamp collector but Cora and I are pretty much the personification of cheese within our friendship. Seriously. Metaphorical cheese, that is; real cheese is disgusting.

Ra ra, ah ah ah, roma, ro ma ma, GaGa ooh la la, want your bad romance... Lady GaGa used to annoy me but she has seriously grown on me. Her songs are too catchy to hate, I've discovered, so it's easier to just give in.

Now I'm off to the cinema, so I will see you guys later. Have fun!

Molly x

_________________________________________________________

Back, I am! To quote Yoda.

Nativity is such a great film! I know it sounds pretty childish in its description but it's awesome. It's such a good feel good film and so Christmassy. I really recommend it!

Well, it was a fairly eventful day. With tiny little events that really mean nothing to you, but who cares? I'm going to tell you anyway. That's is what this blog is for, is it not?

I met up with Becky and Charlotte to watch the movie, but yesterday my mum and Freddie decided that they wanted to come too (yeah I know; super cool, going to the cinema with your mum, your brother, and your friends) so the plan was that my mum would drive into Reading earlier and I'd get the bus with Freddie later. However, because of the snow, and because I live so far in the middle of nowhere, nobody bothered to grit the roads up here so I thought the bus wasn't running because I sat at the window for twenty five minutes waiting to see the one before go past so I'd know it was working. It was, according to the website, but it was really late, so I thought it wasn't as I didn't see it. So I persuaded my dad to take Freddie and I to the station instead, and my mum got really angry with me because I 'cocked it up again' and didn't get the bus (even though I was positive they weren't working and to be honest, I could see why. It's so slippery on the roads here at the moment... thank God I'm not having driving lessons right now or I just might chicken out).

So then I met up with Becky and Charlotte and they gave me my Christmas presents (a Hello Kitty photo frame and shiz from Charlotte, very cute; and a little Accessorize Russian doll necklace, which I'm wearing now, and a small packet of Lindors from Becky. Yummmm.) and then we found my mum and Freds, coincidentally, in McDonalds, which was great because I got them to buy me food. Though I had just bought their tickets for the movie, although the money with which I bought them was technically my dad's... but shattap. You know what I mean.

As we were going into the cinema, Charlotte spotted a poster for St Trinian's 2 and shouted "Look! David Tennant!"

Becky and I immediately looked up and yelled "Where?!" whilst turning round in circles. Oh, we got some funny looks, but it's David Tennant, for God's sake! If there's even the slightest hint that he's around somewhere, one must take extra care to spot him. Innit.

We bumped into Alicia and her friends Ruby, Lora and Catherine on the way out of the cinema. They were going to see St Trinian's 2, so naturally a discussion about the hotness of David Tennant ensued... I mean - yum. Seriously. Who cares if he's thirty seven/eight?

I banged my leg against something sharp on the way to the carpark and now I've got a massive bruise there. Ouch. Although it's not as bad as my mum, who somehow managed to fall up an escalator and really hurt her knee, and had to drive all the way home from Reading impossibly slowly because not only could she not move her leg, but it was also incredibly icy and very dark, especially on the roads near our house. Not good. She was literally driving at a snail's pace, and we still skidded... it was really quite scary actually. Still, we appear to have survived, so it's all good.

One week until Christmas! We're getting our Christmas tree this weekend apparently (although this is the third week in a row my parents have said that so I'm not getting my hopes up too high. We have been known to put our tree up on Christmas eve before - though that was my mum, not me. I'd have it up much earlier, but not as early as Zoe - first of December every year is a little crazy, methinks.

Ugh I got home and found my computer locked; it needed a password to get into it and my dad was like "I think you'll be locked out of that for life now" and I was like NOOOOOOOOO! I can't be! That would mean losing everything, and that would be so undescribably horrible. Imagine having your entire life on your laptop and suddenly being locked out and losing everything, and that means college work as well as personal things - it's totally destroying for the soul! Luckily, when my dad came to look at it, he found a way of unlocking it and I'm now safely installed back in front of my darling laptop, tapping away as usual.

(Random bugbear: Don'ttt yooouu hatee peopleee whoo writee likee thisss?

It's SO annoying. Seriously, people, if you're going to bother writing the whole word and not using contractions, why add god knows how many extra letters to the end of the word? It's not time saving and it doesn't add anything; it just makes you look stupid. Obviously it's acceptable once in a while to emphasize a word, or as an accent stylisation, for example "Hiiiiii!", but otherwise it's unnecessary. Ugh!

Sorry about that. It just gets on my nerves - funny how the annoying people at college are the ones who write like that in their Facebook posts.)

It seems I've finally come down off my high from the concert and I feel quite normal again, so not particularly hyper anymore. I'm not sure when that happened - possibly our scary drive home earlier? I'm cold now though... maybe I'll go fill up the hot water bottle Hollie gave me.

Love you, bye!

Molly x

December 17th: Well, have I got news for you!

I've got soooo much to tell you! Where should I start?

(Probably by reading the post before this one, so I could continue some of the 'storylines' of my life, as it were. But I've already done that.)

(And I apologize incase I sound full of myself at any time in this post - I don't mean to, I just want to write it all down as it was so that I can remember it properly in the future. But those who know me well will know I'm so not the full-of-myself type.)

So. After I finished writing here yesterday, I went out of media and found it was raining - the snow was almost gone and my auntie and cousin (incidentally also called Hannah) were able to come, which was great. I was already at the rehearsal when they arrived, so I didn't see them until they actually arrived at the concert (we had to practice from 5.30 until 7.00, and the concert started at 7.30 - four hours of constant singing, including the concert itself, after having done hardly any for two and a half weeks; needless to say my voice isn't in peak condition today - is it ever? - but it's worth it.)

(I think we're going to need a key of Hannahs in this post, since I'll be mentioning three. Firstly we'll have Cousin Hannah, then we'll have Octava Hannah, and then of course there's Hannah-my-English-teacher. It's all so confusing, knowing so many Hannahs. I can think of at least six off the top of my head.)

Anyway I got to Langtree (my old school, where the concert was being held) at about 5.20, and we set up all the Christmas decorations and made the room look all amazing and Christmassy. Marion had made so many decorations, it was crazy! We put up mini Christmas trees, nativity scenes, fairy lights, tinsel, baubles-hanging-on-tinsel which we hung across the room, little flameless candles... it looked awesome. We only needed those for the second act though because that was when we were doing all the Christmas songs. We had a costume change for that, in which we wore scarves and gloves to achieve the carol singer look. I wore a Santa hat... how cool am I?

We had a very rushed rehearsal, since it does take more than an hour and a half to do all nineteen of our songs (we had twenty, but we cut Jingle Bells. I don't know why - I'd have preferred to cut Oh Happy Day to be quite honest, but oh well) but we had to stop at seven to let us have a break and pee/eat (not at the same time, obviously) and all that jazz.

Just before the concert started, Amy got us all into one of the little side rooms, and made us all hold hands, saying "Let's pray". (None of us are actually religious.)

Then we must have all had the same thought - because we all simultaneously said "Joyful joyful Lord, we adore thee. God of glory, Lord of love. Hearts unfold like flowers before thee... hail thee as the Sun above. Melt the clouds of sin, sin and sadness, drive the dark of doubt away. Drive it away! Giver of immortal gladness, fill us, fill us with the light of day."

Which, if you don't know, are the main lyrics of Joyful Joyful, which is our 'signature' song - you'll hear more about that later. Marion came in when we were just finishing it off and started laughing, which set us all off, and when we'd calmed down she stood between Octava Hannah and I, put her arms round us and said "I love you all. Be yourselves, have a good time; now let's rock!"

And we did. There weren't too many mistakes either - I messed up California Dreaming because I missed the cue but I think we recovered okay. I was mostly happy with my solos, except halfway through the second song, right before my most complicated solo, my throat somehow locked, and I couldn't go high or low. It was like having a ceiling in my throat - and if you've ever heard 'crazy verse four' in My Love is Your Love by Whitney Houston, you'll know a ceiling in your throat whilst singing it is not a good thing to have. I don't think it was too horrible sounding, but it's so frustrating when you know you can do something better than you did it.

I managed to unlock my throat somehow and survived the rest of the first act - Joyful Joyful was so much fun! It was the last song of the first act and we've sung it so many times at various places with the bigger vocal group (before we left Langtree, we were in the choir there, and it was massive. There must have been about fifty of us, of all ages and vocal ability) that it's become our sort of signature song and it's incredible fun. We actually did that again as an encore at the end of the concert.

Our first act songs were:

Lean On Me
My Love is Your Love
All That Jazz
Fallin'
California Dreaming
I'll Be There
Halo
Oh Happy Day
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Joyful Joyful

We all adore all these songs. Except Happy Day, which we all hate, because we can't do it justice on account of not having gospel-enough voices.

The second act was just as awesome. We sung all our Christmas songs:

Silent Night
In The Bleak Midwinter (it seems not many people know our version)
Winter Wonderland
Away in a Manger
O Holy Night (Marion sung a solo on this one and she was amazing)
All I Want For Christmas
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Oh Come All Ye Faithful

The song I haven't listed was Ave Maria, which Annie sung with Marion doing a harmony, so the rest of us didn't sing that. Halfway through, though, I thought I was about to get a coughing fit and I was just praying that I wouldn't - so embarrassing, seriously. I didn't, though. Luckily. Although I did have to drink a hell of a lot of water and I kept bending down to get my bottle between songs - I must have looked a bit stupid, but oh well. It kept my voice alive enough to do the concert, so it was worth looking daft. Besides, I am a daft gherkin after all!

My mum said later that when we sang Halo it made her cry, because it was played on the radio when she was visiting my grandad in hospital before he died back in May and it made her think of him. When we were singing I knew she would be thinking that and I was just looking at her and trying to let her know that I knew what she was thinking... if that made any sense at all. Eye contact is a wonderful thing. Like when I knew how much my entire family dislike Happy Day and I raised an eyebrow at my dad whilst we were singing it and made him laugh. Which, in hindsight, probably wasn't a great idea as it almost made me laugh right along with him.

God, I've never felt so at home performing in front of people! I've done stuff like this a few times now - obviously never with Octava - but I've never felt so nerve-free and as if I belonged there. The nerves that I had yesterday all disappeared halfway through the first song and I was just remembering every piece of 'advice' my mum has ever given me - head up, keep smiling, dance from side to side a bit - which obviously we'd already planned to do - and it seemed to work. I just had the most incredible fun. I've been in such a good mood ever since and I just keep wishing I was back up there, doing it again.

My mum is one of those parents who will tell you exactly what's wrong with something and that can be very depressing sometimes, but at least I know that when she gives me a compliment (which she's been doing a surprising amount lately - I wonder if I've done something to please her) she really means it. Last night she said she was really proud of me and (shh, don't tell the others) that I was the best singer in the group... which of course every parent will be saying right now, but shh. It's still lovely to hear.

This is where I'm going to sound full of myself, so ignore me for a few minutes.

Annie, who I swear doesn't like me, came up to me at the end of the show and said "Molly, I'm in love with your voice... give it to me!"

That made me so happy. I replied "You can have it, if you give me yours"... she has a fabtabulous and high voice (I so wish I could sing high) and she replied "You don't want mine! You want to keep yours and give me yours..." and she also said "Your solo in Joyful Joyful just sends shivers down my spine."

I was like awww! But to be honest I think it's the solo itself rather than me - Genni Simpson, who is a year younger than me so still at Langtree, sang it when we were in the big choir and she was amazing. I think that if you're an alto, that line will make you sound good. Seriously.

Annie also apparently said to my mum that she didn't realize how good I was until last night - despite having heard me sing a lot (she's exaggerating, I'm not that good. I was just not giving it everything I had in the rehearsals and last night I really did my best. Dan, the sound guy, also managed to position the alto microphone right in front of me, which is a good thing because although I can sing quite loudly, other people can sing louder and it's hard to sing loudly when you're singing low.

Marion's husband Massimo apparently said to my dad that I was one of the good ones and 'a performer'. I have never thought of myself as a performer in my entire life. I just didn't think I had it in me, but I'm beginning to think I've been bitten by the bug of performing... and I'm loving it!

Then, when I sang my solo in Joyful Joyful, the second time, Becky whispered "Lovely" to me when I stepped back. I think I just managed to avoid pulling a face at her, but only because people were watching. Marion also told me later that she saw Becky give me a "Holy crap, you're amazing" look when I sang it as well. What is wrong with these people's hearing? Honestly! I'm really not amazing at all.

But that reminds me: in the interval I was telling my mum and my auntie how amazing Marion is (because she really, really is) and I told Marion what I was telling them and she was like "No, you're amazing! You've got a lovely voice and you've got so much more confident lately! You're amazing!" and I denied it and said she was and we ended up having a "You're-amazing-no-you're-amazing" fight. It was quite amusing, especially when we had another one later on. ;)

Then of course there were all the comments to everyone about "It was fantastic, excellent, brilliant" etc. That's always nice to hear. And then at the end Marion gave us all cards (which she had made herself - it said Marion Nicolosi cards on the back. Very exciting) which had a lollipop in them. Love it. She'd written something in everyone's card and for everyone I looked at she'd written something along the lines of "It's great having you in the group, your energy and positive outlook makes it really nice to work with you" or something, but in mine she wrote "It's been great to see your confidence grow and then see your true ability starting to shine through. Well done!"

She's so sweet. I gave her a Christmas card too and Becky, Zoe and I gave her some chocolates (though they haven't given me their share of the money for them yet so technically it was only me who gave them) which a label which said "Thanks for being so amazing" in it. We do love Marion. I actually sent her a very cheesy email earlier which thanked her for all the work she did for the concert and said how great it was and how amazing she is and all that jazz. I kept telling her how amazing she is last night but she didn't believe me and she sent a mass text to Becky, Zoe and I to say thanks for the chocolates, in which she wrote "Molly: sorry if I seemed weird, I was just embarrassed" so I had to tell her I didn't mean to embarrass her.

Actually, going back to what I said earlier about wanting to sing high: my dad was saying in the car on the way home that it was nice to have a lower voice, that one expects girls to sing high and not husky, and that it's rarer and therefore 'more special'. (I don't believe that for a second. I'd still love to be able to reach high notes and sing all those beautiful high songs like Pie Jesu). On the other hand, though, I actually agree with him to a degree; I know that being an alto is rarer than being a mezzo and I do like being different (and it gives me a real sense of satisfaction to know that even though I'm not so great at the high notes, I can go pretty low. Therefore it is very depressing to know that Cora, who claims to be a mezzo, can go far higher than and just as low as me - being friends with that girl is extremely depressing sometimes, especially if your self confidence isn't the highest it could be. She's just too good at everything. But she has this effect on people where you just can't help loving her anyway. Don't you hate it when perfect people are too nice to hate?)

Moving on to stuff a little less me-related: since the beginning of term, my tutor group has been looking for a name for ourselves and ages ago, since Hannah's last name is Edwards, I suggested 'Team Edwards'. Yes, I know very well it's from Twilight; that's why I said it. Now, this was a couple of months ago, and I thought Hannah had forgotten - until she said in tutor yesterday "By unspoken consensus, we are now called Team Edwards."

It actually made me ridiculously happy that she chose my suggestion, but then the alternative was Bionic Bunnies, which, as Hannah pointed out, sounds like some kind of sex toy.

I talked to her again today after the lesson (which I'll write about in just a sec) and said "I find it so funny that you actually called our tutor group Team Edwards. I didn't make it as a serious suggestion."

I can't remember exactly what she replied, but I know it was positive. Which is always nice to hear.

Ooh! Remember that mock exam? I didn't fail the second one either. In fact I got a B again, and I beat the boy who used to be Langtree's biggest nerd. (Okay, I am boasting here, but I love doing well in English. It's just so much my thing!) Like last time, I wrote "That was bad" on the back of the paper and this time Hannah replied "No it's not! Quite the opposite!"

I am so determined to get an A in English.

Today, since it was the last English lesson before the Christmas holidays, we did a Christmas quiz, and one of the questions was "In Doctor Who, what planet is the Doctor from?"

Hannah was like "I don't think any of you will know this. If you do, you're freaks."

Needless to say, being the Whovian I am, I knew it, and so did Steve (who is actually called Jess, but there's already a Jess in our class and Hannah wants to distinguish between them. She's perfectly happy to have three Hannahs in our class though, including herself. I wonder if it's because she likes the name...). When we did the answers and it came to light that Steve and I knew the answers, Hannah pointed at us one by one and said, very slowly, "You're a nerd."

I am. But she loves it. And at least I'm a nerd at her subject. :)

There was also a question in the quiz: "What song is the line "You're gonna be the one that saves me" from?"

I only knew this because of a grammar group on Facebook which I joined, in which someone pointed out the incorrect use of 'that' in the line above. I said to my group "The grammar in that song is crap" (which it is. Just look at it!) and I looked up to see Hannah giving me a raised eyebrow look. Honestly, I can't help it if I'm a grammar freak.

We ended up drawing with another group to win the quiz. We both got thirty-five out of fifty, but my group lost on the tie-breaker question. However, I can't say I was that disappointed; the prize was to leave ten minutes early from the next English lesson and since I love English way too much, I dislike missing even a bit of it. Besides, our lessons finish ten minutes earlier after Christmas anyway.

So I was talking to Hannah after the lesson and she was showing me pictures of a very snowy Welsh beach, which is where she comes from (not the beach, obviously, she has a house) and she was all excited because she's going back home to see her family tomorrow. Ages ago, I bought Becky a Gavin and Stacey book for Christmas, but she already has it and yesterday Hannah mentioned in tutor that she liked Gavin and Stacey, so I was like "I am so giving it to her." So I told her how I came to be stuck with it and asked her if she'd like it, and she was like "Are you sure? This is fantastic! Where did you get it?"

"The pound shop. But don't tell anyone."

For some reason Hannah found that incredibly funny. Then she said that she was taking it back to Wales with her and that I am now her favourite student: "You just rocketed to the top of my list. If you keep this up you're going to get an A whether you deserve it or not!"

Then she said "If it wasn't illegal, I would give you a great big hug. So consider yourself verbally hugged. Have a great big verbal Christmas hug."

Later on, I was talking to Becky and her friend and telling Becky about the fact that Hannah now has the Gavin and Stacey book that was intended for her, and Becky saw Hannah walking past and goes "It's the best book ever!"

And Hannah reiterated the fact that I was to consider myself verbally hugged, and then somehow a conversation ensued about the fact that The Lion King is based on Hamlet because Hannah's Literature class are watching it tomorrow - "but if anyone refuses to sing Hakuna Matata they will be forced to leave the class" - and when Hannah went into her classroom Becky turned to me and said "Your English teacher is the best!"

I was like "I know."

This is why I can not leave her class next year. She has to teach me, or I may be forced to eat somebody. (Yes, it could be you. Fear for your liiiiife.)

On the bus, on the way home, Zoe said to me "You really like talking to your English teachers, don't you?"

(This is because last year, because my English teacher was half Danish/half Scottish and I adore Danish things, I would talk to her about it. Actually I do believe it is a year today since I missed the bus because I was talking to her and ended up getting home when my mum was out and had to wait in the freezing cold and dark until she got home at six, and then go babysitting. Not a great evening, that. But it was worth it to talk to her; I enjoyed it. In the end, when I told her I was going to Denmark to see Cora in the summer, she gave me her little Danish/English dictionary for my birthday, which I thought was very sweet of her. It's very helpful too, even if I didn't actually use it when I was there because it was easier just to ask my 'live translator' (whom I really miss! I hope I see you soon, Cora, or I'll die!))

But yes, I do like talking to my English teachers. For some reason I always get given very interesting people to teach me English, with whom I get along very well, which has got to be a good thing.

I'm something of a 'Golden Dorothy' at the moment because I'm wearing VERY sparkly gold shoes. I wanted something Christmassy to wear, even if these are slightly too small. I haven't worn them for years but they're gorgeous and I couldn't resist. You've got to have a bit of sparkle at Christmas!

Oh and Hollie got me an amazing hot water bottle for Christmas! I'm so going to use that like all the time; it's bloody freezing here. It's been snowing quite a bit lately and apparently we're expecting a lot more snow before Christmas (i.e. tonight). I hope it doesn't ruin our plans for tomorrow though; since college finishes at twelve, Charlotte, Becky and I are going into Reading to see Nativity. Nice Christmassy movie to get us into the spirit of the holidays.

I think that's it for now - I've probably forgotten something but I have to go now so I'll stick it in tomorrow's post if I have. (Blog post, that is, not letter post.) Sorry for my terrible writing today but when I have a lot to say, I sort of forget about making it interesting to read and instead I just bung it down on the page and hope it makes sense.

It never usually does.

Molly x

I even bought an adult ticket for the train on the way home yesterday, and no evil ticket collector even came round to check. How rude. So I bought a child one on the bus, just to spite him.

December 16th: Concert day!

Oh shit.

That is what I'm thinking right now. It's what I'm always thinking when I have things such as this to do; things that scare the absolute pants off me. Don't get me wrong, I adore singing and I'm growing to love performing, but I still get the craziest nerves/excitement before I do anything. I also didn't get much sleep last night which really doesn't help and I was too hyped up to eat breakfast this morning... so. Also my cough seems to have got worse overnight: RUDE! I just want it over with now, because we've done soooo much work towards this, and it's been crazy with preparations for it for the last month.

But enough of me complaining. When I get the recordings back I'll stick them on YouTube for you guys to have a listen to and you can tell me if we messed up (though I think we'll already know).

(Random point: my IT teacher just randomly goes "Ooh! It just reminded me of my birthday" to nobody in particular. I love it when teachers say stuff out of the blue like that. Once, when I was in year seven, my science teacher - who is like middle aged and very proper - said "Oh, she's such a bitch!" and the entire room went completely silent. It's like now when a teacher says fuck and everyone starts laughing in a shocked oh-my-God-did-he-just-say-that kind of way. My history teacher does it all the time; yesterday he was trying to put the DVD on with the lights off and he couldn't see what he was doing - it resulted in a lot of "Oh, fucking hell!" - Love it.)

Sorry I didn't write here last night, by the way, but I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything organised for the concert. I usually have to leave to go to vocal group half an hour after I get home, but today I'm getting the train/bus home so I'll be home an hour and a half earlier. I adore not having anything on a Wednesday afternoon. I don't think I'll have time to write here tonight either (hence why I'm doing it now) because we probably won't finish until nine at the earliest. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Oh my God, I heard the most horrible thing yesterday! I must not have heard her say it, but my friend Charly told me that Hannah said that we might not have her for English next year because she might not be teaching second years. This absolutely can not happen! I need her teaching. I can't have anybody else for English now that I've got used to her! I love English to bits, but when she was away (she had swine flu for two weeks) it just wasn't as good. She is the most amazing teacher and yes I know I sound like I'm totally sucking up but it's all true! I just love her. (Not in a stampy way. D'oh.)

(I should probably explain "stamp collecting"; when my friend Georgina was little, she asked her parents what a lesbian was and her parents, reluctant to tell her, said it was somebody who collected stamps. When she told us this, we found it hilarious and have called lesbians stamp collectors ever since. It can be so funny when one finds something talking about actual stamp collectors (as in the kind who collect those sticky pieces of paper one puts on letters) and reads it as lesbians such as "this is a serious matter, and we're treating it as if it were stamp collecting!")

Anyway. Back to Hannah. Charly and I intend to beg her at the end of tutorial today to teach us next year; we simply can't have anyone but her. Besides we're in her tutor group so we can't be in another teacher's class... oh God, I absolutely refuse to change tutor groups. She's amazing! And she's a really good teacher and it's just so depressing to think that we might not have her next year.

Anyway I'd better be off now since IT's over, so I'll see you tomorrow. Wish me luck! *Hint Cora* :)

Molly x

_________________________________________________________

I don't see the point in starting another post since it's still the same day, but I'm in media and since Zoe's put music on and seems not to mind that nobody's doing any work, I figured I'd give you 'orrible lot an update in what's been going down in my "crazy" life since I stopped writing here two and a half hours ago.

Firstly: IT'S SNOWING!

Usually this would be fabtabulous news, but my auntie and my cousin are only going to come to the concert if the weather's good because they live an hour away and I so want them to be there. I do understand that it's dangerous on the roads when it's icy, especially in the dark, so that's why they can't come, but it's still disappointing. Bloody weather and it's definitely snowing. And settling. I ask you! The one time it actually snows in December - and I do believe this is the first time within my memorable lifetime when it has - is the one time I don't want it to. And it usually never settles either! Honestly. I don't want it to snow tomorrow either because I freaking love Thursdays. And we're having a Christmas party in English tomorrow.

Oh, speaking of English, I talked to Hannah after tutor and she said it was unlikely that our class would be split up because we're block 2 (which won't make any sense to you - it's just the blocks of time in which our lessons are etc) and it depends on whether she teaches second years next year, but she'll try to. Or, she whispered to me conspirationally, she would try to get me in her friend Anna's class "because she's lovely". I've met Anna before actually; she taught the creative writing enrichment classes I dropped out of ages ago because they clashed with Starbucks Friday. Did I already tell you that? I forget these things. But yeah, I think Anna and I would get along well because she's a grammar freak who loves David Tennant. Now where have I heard of someone like that before?

I'm sure I would like her, but Hannah's still the most amazing teacher I've ever had and I refuse to be given someone else for English. It's just simply rude.

Ooh! All I Want For Christmas just came on the radio and it's one of the songs we're doing tonight, so I was singing along. Hannah (-from-media) was as well, it's not just me. I still don't understand why Marion gave the lowest singer in the group the highest solo in the song... but hey, I like a challenge.

Anyway, I'll be off now (for the second time). I don't think there will be any more posts today so I'll catch you later!

Molly x

December 14th: Oops, I did it again.

I missed two more days! I'm so bad at this. The blog was set up two weeks today and I'm already slacking. How rude indeed! But I'm trying my best to keep up.

Nothing much happened over the weekend. I've still got this ridiculous cold/flu thing which is not leaving me no matter what medicine I take and how much rest I get, so I've given up. I can't miss any college anyway, especially not now because I've got exams in January (right after we get back from the holidays). Sucks, but that's life.

Well. Eleven days until Christmas, but even more pressingly exciting: two days until the concert! Oh. My. God. And I can't sing. Just great. Bloody cold. >.<

And yes, an emoticon was of great importance right there.

I may have mentioned last week that I did a mock exam in English and I was so positive that I'd failed that I wrote "this is so bad" on my page at the end of the exam. I got the results back today and didn't actually fail, which is fabtabulous! I actually worked out my grades and ended up getting four marks off an A, which is annoying but it was my first exam so there's plenty of time for improvement. Charlotte, who is in another English Lang class to me, got the results from her mock too; she got one mark off an A in the classifying texts exam and an A in the other (which I don't have my results for yet). I was already determined to get an A in English but now I'm even more determined... nothing like a bit of competition to get one the top grades in one's favourite subject.

We did the mock for the second part of the exam today and again I wrote "now this is bad" at the end of the paper. Last time Hannah actually replied: "No... it is really not!" - so I wonder if she'll reply again this time. I have a better feeling about this exam, because it's easier, but I still don't think I did very well.

Then again, I got an A in GCSE English Lit, and I wrote a load of absolute crap for that.

So tomorrow is Tuesday. I like Tuesdays; free, history, lunch, English, free. Nice timetable. Except the girl with whom I spend my first free isn't here this week due to the fact she's doing a health and childcare diploma and they're spending all week at their work placements instead of in college. But I'm sure I'll find something to do. I'll get the results from my history essay and my other English mock... oo er.

Today in media, my teacher Zoe was so pissed off with the people who hadn't done the homework that she made them leave. I've never seen that happen before... teachers threaten to do it all the time but never actually do. There ended up being five of us left, which was actually really nice because we were all doing separate things anyway, so it would have been crazy if we'd had everyone there. It was just lucky that I'd already done the homework (we had to write a story that we could script for our final movie and I was using a story that I used for GCSE) because I don't remember Zoe actually setting it as homework so I probably would have been one of the ones leaving.

Ooh, one of the hot boys in my IT class is slooking at me. Me like.

And yes, I did mean to put an S before looking. Don't ask. Okay, don't ask because I'm going to tell you anyway. Ages ago, my brother and I were watching Doctor Who [the one with the Ood and Rose, if you're wondering; with the black hole <3] and one of the characters said "Don't look, don't look at me!" but he let the T from "don't" slur into the "look", so it sounded like "don't slook, don't slook at me". Cora and I have said slooking ever since. Tis fabtabulous, darling.

A while ago, in English, we were talking about Christmas and somebody suggested we bring mince pies at the end of term, and then Camilla, Beccy and I were like “But I don’t like mince pies!” so Hannah said she’d bring an assortment of food. Then she was like “Well we won’t be doing anything that last lesson anyway... we’ll be watching a DVD or something. Well the Lit class have The Lion King so I guess we should watch something... because The Lion King is really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really loosely based on Hamlet.”

She then went on to explain why it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really loosely based on Hamlet and oh my God, it actually is. It’s been years since I watched The Lion King and I’ve never seen Hamlet but she said somebody (Scar I think) kills somebody else and then the son, “Hamlet... or Simba, if you like,” comes back to claim his kingdom. Seriously it’s true. And how awesome. I mean I knew Disney's stories were hardly ever original, but Shakespeare? Really?

Now it's four o'clock and both college and IT is over for this wonderfully dark Monday. (Dark as in outside; I'm not depressed.) So I'll see you horrible lot later.

Love you really!

Molly x

December 11th: Two weeks until Christmas!

Howdy, pardners!

(Okay I don't know why I greeted you that way; I'm not a cowboy.)

Anyway. Twenty minutes until the end of IT and I am booooored, so I thought I'd let you guys know what's been going on in my life since I stopped writing here last night. And that is... well, not much.

It's two weeks until Christmas! I'm excited already! (Well right now I'm not that excited, because I'm too hungry to focus on anything except my stomach right now. Thank God it's almost lunchtime.) I think I'm getting my Christmas tree tomorrow, which is fabtabulous, but you never can tell with my mum. She may well decide that the house isn't possibly tidy enough to bring a tree into it - because of course trees are the most critical of all visitors who call into your home. They can be so rude, those trees. Still, Christmas is a friendly time and a hell of a lot of people seem to entertain trees at Christmas, so obviously they haven't alienated too many people with their 'prickliness'.

Okay sorry. I just love word play. You should know that by now. (And don't worry, I love my mum really.)

It's... *drumroll please...* Starbucks Friday! And not only that, but it's the very last Starbucks Friday of the year! It's a sad occasion, and although I am on a frap diet because I heard that a large one has as many calories and five doughnuts, I feel that I must have a frap to celebrate it being the last Starbucks Friday of the year. (We could of course have a SBF next Friday, but because it's the last day of term we finish at twelve, i.e. lunchtime, and we have to get the bus home unless we'd rather get the train later on. But that's expensive.)

Ooh. 8 minutes left and people seem to be logging off and bogging off, so I guess I'm going to go join them. See you guys later!

Molly x

December 10th: No, you didn't miss 8 and 9; they don't exist.

I really am most rude, having not written here for two whole days. I mean what's up with that? Perplexed tofu much? (Don't ask.) But seriously, I do apologize and at least today's post should be nice and long as I have mucho crap to say.

Not that I can actually remember anything that happened over the last two days.

Oh yes. Well, Tuesday started off pretty normally, except I found out that the Christmas present I got for Becky needs to go on eBay as she already has it. Don't you just hate it when that happens? I don't even know anyone who loves Gavin and Stacey as much as she does. See, this is the problem when one buys a specific gift for somebody based on a favourite thing of theirs rather than just a generic I-can-give-this-to-anyone-I-just-haven't-decided-who-yet present (which of course I don't do *whistles innocently*) - there's a chance they already have it, which rather buggers up one's plans somewhat. Now I have to find something else to give her with one week until the end of term and no money... all I can say is, thank God I go to college somewhere with quite a few shops.

And about the I-can-give-this-to-anyone-I-just-haven't-decided-who-yet presents; when one goes to college and meets a hell of a lot of new people four months before Christmas, one doesn't really have time to get to know them, which means one doesn't have a clue about their likes/dislikes. Therefore one must get a classic "female" present (assuming the friend in question is female of course; I don't recommend doing that if you're talking about a boy here) such as makeup, bath stuff, jewellery etc. That just seems terribly impersonal, but sometimes it's the only way.

I think I've used up my entire use of the word "one" for the entire blog in that last paragraph.

Anyway yeah. Also on Tuesday: I was in the vintage shop in Henley in one of my frees when I discovered a gorgeous Ted Baker dress - kind of dark turquoise with black netting and black sequins - and although there was no changing room, the upstairs level of the shop (which I was on) was empty so I surrepticiously put it on and it fit me perfectly and looked amaaaazing. (Modest as I am.) It was thirty five quid though and I didn't have the money so I said I'd buy it the next day (actually I accidentally-on-purpose mentioned to the shop lady that my mum would kill me for buying a dress that expensive and the lady said she'd do it for thirty two just for me (she probaby wouldn't kill me, but I like getting discounts and that works like a dream.))

So when I got home I told my mum about it and she was like "Well actually..." and she produced this present from behind a plant pot. Basically my grandad died in May this year and my mum said she wanted to give my brother and myself something "from him" as a little acknowledgement (okay shush, my mum isn't crazy and I think it's a really nice idea. And no, not just because I get another present). So she handed me this present, saying she'd been going to give it to me on Christmas day but I'd 'twisted her arm' by telling her about the dress. When I opened it, I found this amazing short sparkly green dress, which is gorgeoussss, so I don't know about the other dress anymore.

To complicate matters, my mother decided on Tuesday night that I was ill so I couldn't go to college on Wednesday (and do you know, that's the first time I've ever felt guilty about missing a day of education - ever) and so I couldn't go and buy the dress. I'm not sure if they've sold it now but I think the shop lady might be just the tiniest bit pissed off with me for not turning up. Oops.

So yeah, I stayed home on Wednesday and watched West Side Story (because Hannah-my-English-teacher told me I needed a day when I wasn't going out anywhere to watch it because it will "break" me - it's that sad apparently) and today, after English, I said to her "West Side Story didn't make me cry."

(Just to let you guys know, I don't cry at anything. I have cried at two films in my entire life and even then it's just been like one tear. Those films were A Walk To Remember and Time Traveller's Wife, incase you want to know. But Time Traveller's Wife is bloody sad!)

So Hannah was like "You must have a heart of stone!"

To be honest, it's not like I don't feel stuff, I just don't cry. I must have a shortage of water in my eyes or something. I don't even cry much when people die, but that doesn't mean I'm not just as sad as everybody else - though I do feel slightly strange when I'm the only one at the funeral not crying. But anyway, moving off this morbid subject...

We did a mock exam in English today. I have an exam in January so I'm having a slight spaz about it, especially as I am super convinced I failed the mock... I said to Hannah on my way out, "By the way, the exam... I kind of totally failed, so..."

She was like "You mean so be gentle and nice when I mark it?"

I replied affirmatively to that and Hannah's response was "Persuasion won't get you anywhere. Doughnuts and biscuits, however..."

Seriously. This is why she's awesome. XD

I was like "Just remember that you like me, Hannah."

I was so convinced I failed the exam that I even wrote "this is so bad" under my last sentence. Trust me, it isn't good.

So as you know, I have really long frees on Thursdays due to the fact that I have a lesson, free, lunch, free, and then another lesson. To occupy myself today I was with Hollie and Charly in Starbucks (yes, I do live there - sometimes. I also live in the charity shop where they sell hot chocolate for 50p. Mmm.) and we went a bit hyper on our Boots-meal-deal lunches... we ended up daring each other to come into college wearing tights, boots and a long coat with nothing underneath and then thinking of who we could get to do it for us. We then ended up pulling faces at people going past Starbucks (oh, the beauty of window seats) and in the end I actually jumped against the window, several times, causing quite a few people outside to give me funny looks. It was mucho amusing. Then I ended up doing a Jedi mind trick kind of hand movement to a person standing outside (and since there's a bus stop outside Starbucks, it wasn't just one person) and he gave me a funny look, walked on, then turned around and gave me another one. It was awesome. Best frees I've had for ages!

Anyway I'll see you guys tomorrow (after a test essay in history... oh joy.)

Molly x

I ripped off Sharpay's face today. Why did I never think of buying a High School Musical advent calendar before? It's so therapeutic!

December 7th: Today I chased Michael Jackson.

I was in Starbucks with Hollie in my free lesson this morning, sheltering from the rain (it is bloody wet here at the moment and I typically forgot my umbrella this morning. Again.) when I broke off mid-sentence and said "I swear Michael Jackson just walked past!"

Hollie was like "Oookay." but then a few minutes later she broke off and said "Look, it's Michael Jackson!"

I was like HA. I told you so biatch. So we grabbed our stuff and rushed out into the rain, but Michael had already disappeared. Then Hollie saw him walking towards the outskirts of Henley and we started running after him, laughing our heads off, scarves trailing on the floor and Hollie's umbrella hitting people in the head. We eventually caught up with Mr Jackson, only to find out that his costume wasn't half as convincing close up (his wig was falling off) and that he was only advertising a new Domino's Pizza place that has just opened. Disappointing much! Although I do like pizza so maybe that Domino's will come in handy in the future.

Incidentally, we saw a storm trooper later on when we were on our way back to college. I must say, dressing up as a storm trooper to advertise pizza is a great idea; think about it, nobody would even know who you were. It would be freaking awesome walking around Henley in Star Wars costumes!

I would so do that. I walked around London green, for Oz's sake, and I didn't even have a mask to obscure my face then!

(I did have three other people with me, so it wasn't just me who looked stu-- I mean, who embraced my childish side and celebrated my love for the world's most awesome musical.)

It was a bit embarrassing, though, when I discovered a video on YouTube of us at Wicked day, in our costumes and actually speaking to the camera. And I wasn't even aware it existed until the owner of the video subscribed to my channel. O_o

Woop! Only my third imitation of paralinguistics and prosodic features (e.g. emoticons) in my entire blog. I'm getting better at this cutting-down-on-smiley-faces business. I used to use them in almost every sentence, but writing here has kind of helped me to break the habit a bit, which I had to do as I found that I was losing the ability to convey emotion through writing without using one, for example amusement by the use of "XD". However sometimes emoticons are simply necessary and there's nothing one can do about that.

My blog has now been running for a week, people! That's longer than I've ever managed to keep a diary, so you know, maybe this will work after all. I have had my doubts, especially since I keep forgetting to write until just before I go to bed and then I just can't be bothered, but it's been fun so far (even though only one person is actually reading this. I think I'd feel a bit weird if the blog had lots of followers and I knew everything I wrote was on show for the world to see. Even though it is. But you know what I mean. I may even have to start - heaven forbid - censoring stuff!

On the way to IT today, I was with my friend Hannah-from-media (not Hannah-my-English-teacher) and we were talking about how the hell she's not cold with tights on in this weather.

"I never really get cold..."

So the only reasonable option was to call her a werewolf. Naturally. But her response was quite amusing: "I'm not a werewolf!"

She called me a vampire in response and we ended up just hurling Twilight insults at each other all the way down the hill:
"Parasite."
"At least I don't smell like a wet dog!"
"You can get dog shampoo."
"No, that won't help you."
"Sparkly bitch!"
"Big furry growly space heater!"

Yes, I know. Mature. But hey, I'm "little"! (Shut up, Cora.) Anyway, that's not as immature as when I went a bit hyper in media and was making Hannah's swivel chair go up and down, and telling her there was a spider under her chair and then laughing at her face.

That's what makes me so nice.

Hannah is eighteen and I have dubbed her Grandma and pointed out some of her wrinkles. It's amazing how young one seems to age these days...

Just kidding, of course. Not a wrinkle in sight.

I did see a grey hair though.

No, really, Hannah doesn't seem to mind. She just said she'd make me some cookies or something grandmotherfied. (Cora - I'm totally laughing here! Don't worry, if Hannah's eighteen and she's my grandma, you can be my great aunt. Just kidding, I love you. XD)

Again with the emoticons.

Now I'm sitting in IT doing no work and eating the Angel Slices that Isy brought with her - a fabtabulous idea to bring food to IT, it really lessens the boredom. I'll have to try that in future with some of Sainsbury's 74p very addictive chocolate fingers. Mmm.

Urrgghh. Forty-two minutes to go until the end of college. I really, really can't be bothered with this and I have a load of English homework to do later. Ghastly, innit?

I can't believe I just said ghastly. The amount of time I spent trying to convince Cora she'd never make me say it... but noooo! That girl's phrases are just too catchy and if we're not careful, she'll be Corafying the entire world before we can even blink!

I must Mollyfy the world before she gets there first.

You know, I find it incredibly rude that my name is the only name in the entire world for which the "-fy" ending doesn't work. Say it out loud if you haven't realized why already... why, out of all the names in the world, is it mine which, when the "-fy" ending is added, means to pacify or appease? How rude is that?

No need to respond; that was rhetorical. But STILL!

Actually I've never had anybody answer the question "How rude is that?"... except one person. My brother.

Nuff said.

Ooh, apparently Lexi was looking for me at lunchtime today. I was still in Henley with Hollie so I forgot to join Becky and Charlotte for lunch, and they told me later that she was looking for me. No doubt she'll pounce on me on the bus or something (not literally! That would be weird.) and make me wait for her in tomorrow's frees or something. This is really getting weird now... especially when you put it together with the fact that the annoying girl from my lessons has been getting less annoying lately - I even had a conversation with her today because she sat next to Hannah and I in media.

Anyway I'm off now, so see you guys later.

Molly x

December 6th: Do you believe in Father Christmas?

My thirteen year old brother does. Much as I wish I was younger again (and what a thing to say at the age of sixteen), I do think that's going a little too far. I remember what it was like, though, believing in Santa; the total magic of it all, of a man flying around the world in one night and visiting every house to deliver presents to every child, so that everybody would be happy on Christmas day. It's such a sweet idea - even if it is impossible. Bloody laws of physics.

Well, Danyl is finally out of X Factor. Okay so now you know I'm really stuck for ideas of what to write here because X Factor is so has-been now! (Just have to get my opinion in here - well, it's allowed, it's my blog): Olly should have gone instead of Danyl. Of Stacey, Olly, Danyl and Joe, Olly's the worst, followed by Danyl. Ideally, if it was really a case of the best singer, Joe will win, with Stacey second. But of course it's not a case of the best singer - as some people at work today were discussing (I very nearly went over and told them I agreed) - it's all about being a stereotypical "pop star", i.e. having the looks and not so much the voice. I bet it's all fixed anyway. But yeah, somebody - I think it was Zoe - told me the other day that the manager of the UK's biggest recording studio said that very few artists actually sing like they sound on their CDs these days and that most of them even change the pitch of their recordings so that they sound in tune. They also said it wasn't cheating... um, hello, it kind of is cheating if you're changing the way your voice sounds and pretending it's you. There are loads of people in the UK and indeed all around the world who can sing amazingly, and yet they choose these piles of crap to be the nation's "best loved" singers...

Sorry, I'll stop now. It just pisses me off.

Anyway, now I've got that out of my system I shall proceed with the interesting (well...) stuff.

I woke up this morning, as you do, with this thought on my mind: you know you either love your college or hate your job when you wake up on Sunday morning wishing it was Monday. And it's bloody true! Although in some cases it can be a bit of both. Trust my wisdom here. Having English first thing on Monday is fabtabulous and I never get that Sunday-night "Oh-God-school-tomorrow" feeling anymore. It's great!

Ugh my boss pissed me off today though. I work in a restaurant and the swingy door, through which we take the food, is annoyingly heavy. It has a window in it, but you can only see clearly through it when you're going into the kitchen and not coming out of it. (This strikes me as a bit stupid - why have it so the guests can see into the kitchen but the staff can't see into the restaurant? Maybe they put the door on back to front.)

Anyway so I was coming through it with some stuff today and my boss was coming through it from the other way. Like I said, I couldn't really see him, so I pushed the door and it was only when I felt some pressure from the other side that I realized there was somebody there so I stepped back, and in walked my boss, snapping at me that I should look where I'm going when I know perfectly well that he could see me better than I could see him. Honestly, the French! How rude!

(For the sake of political correctness: just kidding. I'm sure the French are perfectly nice people.)

I've just realized that this is becoming less like a blog and more like one of the emails I frequently write to Cora, in which I say a whole load of utterly pointless, boring and irrelevant crap which nobody but Cora actually wants to know. (She's weird - she says she likes to know all this shit... but maybe she's secretly just too polite to tell me to shut the hell up.)

On the other hand, she's not exactly shy with me and I think she'd tell me so if she found the stuff I tell her as pointless as I do.

Anyway, I'm off now, so I'll be back tomorrow to spam you with yet more pointlessness. :)

Molly x

Damn it, forgot to open my advent calendar again!

December 5th: I've already run out of titles.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday:

For ages, Amy, a girl at my bus stop, has been saying that when she gets off the bus she can hear little children calling her name from the house behind her. Of course everyone thought she was making it up as she is quite a drama queen (but an amusing one) - except then, yesterday, I heard it too. I got off the bus and I could hear young-sounding voices calling "Hannah, Molly, Amy" as I walked away. (There is also a girl called Hannah at our bus stop.)

I looked behind me and there was nothing, just a lit-up house with drawn curtains. But it really creeped me out, especially as it was almost five o'clock so it was dark and we have to walk through this little passageway to get home, which makes it darker. I was with another person but he had headphones in (the anti-social manbitch!) so I couldn't talk to him to disperse my creepy feeling, which obviously made it worse.

I intend to talk to Amy about it on Monday morning. She said "They're doing it again!" as we got off, so I guess she heard it as well. It was really weird though!

Anyway, moving on to less supernatural topics, I went Christmas shopping with Rosie today and managed to get almost all of my presents. I still need to get my family's and part of Cora's but I know what they are and where to get them, so that should be easy. I'm obviously not going to tell you what I got people - are you mad? Some of my friends do read this, you know - but I know people are going to love them. Which is a load off my mind. I also bought fifty Christmas cards after my mum insisted that I should buy my own, only to come home and realize she'd bought me some after all. Never mind though, at least I won't have to bother buying any next year!

Oh and I found these fabtabulous brand new Jones shoes in a charity shop - they're white with pink, blue and yellow plastic bows on them. They sound weird, but trust my wisdom, they're awesome. It's just a shame they're flats; with legs as short as mine, wearing heels - or even just not flat shoes - is a good idea. But I couldn't resist and anyway I have practically no flats anyway.

Crap, Lexi just commented on my Facebook status with one kiss, then when I replied she wrote back: "don't worry, we have exactly the same frees so im sure one day soon we'll meet up and have a catch up, most likely in starbucks yes? :)ly bee xxxx" - this is really weird now. This girl hasn't been my friend for four years - why is she being nice to me now? Not that I'm complaining, I like people being nice to me, but it is ood. Apparently she's fallen out with her friends, which explains something, but she was sucking up to me before this alleged argument.

I know I sound really rude here, but I just don't trust her. I used to trust people so easily and it's been my downfall more than once...

Anyway. About my day. Hmm... my parents gave me a lift into Reading so I had to wait for Rosie's train to arrive, and I realized that it's exactly five weeks since Halloween and therefore the last time I saw Cora. I realized, when I was waiting for Rosie, that five weeks previously, I was in exactly the same place, at exactly the same time, just waiting for a different person. Except my brain seemed to think that it wasn't Rosie I was waiting for, and I had to keep reminding myself that Cora is still in Denmark and not about to step off that train and come and hug me like she did five weeks ago...

The excitement I get when I see her is like absolutely nothing else, seriously. It's completely incapacitating - if you ever get that, make sure you have somebody clear-headed with you, or you may be slightly screwed. Trust my wisdom.

Okay, just have to add this in quickly:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=194107497693&ref=nf
I don't even like Harry Potter, but this is freaking awesome. Seriously.

Ugh one of my friends told me that the boy I almost went out with last November/December had been "sort of involved" with her just before that... i.e. they'd had a sexual relationship and when someone had asked why he was with her, he'd replied that it was because she gave good head. Then, after it had spread around the whole school, my friend found out and was obviously really angry with him, and he had the cheek to ask why! When I found this out it only strengthened my opinion of him; i.e. he's a manbitch - to be avoided at all costs. Thank God we only got as far as kissing... I had a lucky escape, as many of my friends have reminded me. (Actually we mutually agreed that it wasn't going anywhere and two days later he casually slipped into conversation "My girlfriend says I should believe in myself."

I was like "... excuse me?"

He's a fickle prick and I'm glad now that Cora told him to bugger off on MSN.

God that was funny.

Molly x

(High School Musical head removal: 2.)

December 4th: Three weeks until Christmas!

The big day is three weeks today people! Twenty one days! I hope you've all been getting on with your Christmas shopping and aren't as disorganised as I am. I'm going tomorrow, have a huge list of people to buy for, and intend to raid the pound shop as I have no money.

(Just kidding. Although actually that's not a bad idea, as long as nobody finds out.)

Honestly, buying presents was so much less complicated when I had fewer friends. Everything comes at a cost these days!

I got home from college today and mentioned to my dad that I was thinking of getting a Tesco Mobile SIM for my phone (remember I said my SIM got locked? I had to get a new one) instead of a Vodafone one because my friend told me they do good deals and still have good coverage. My dad, in reponse, said "Maybe I should think about getting you a contract."

I was like "Excuse me?"

I mean seriously. I text Cora far too much (when I have credit) and sending international texts is pretty expensive. Especially if they're long and my texts are all written in full, grammatically correct English, not to mention long-winded simply due to my writing style. (You can see that. I mean look at my sentences; they're like double the length they should be. I can't help it. I did history GCSE - they want a lot of detail.)

But my dad seems to be seriously considering the idea, which is - well, absolutely bloody fabtabulous. But still.

Then, as if that's not enough, I realized that college's Christmas party is the day before Octava's concert, and as I was thinking "Crap, maybe I shouldn't go, I'll need sleep that night..." my mum suggested that I take the day of the concert off college.

"You won't be missing much. What have you got, one real lesson?"

I suppose she's right - but this is my mother we're talking about. The mother who won't let us stay off school unless we're dying and who thinks tiredness is solved by going to bed early (which I can't do, I'm far too busy writing here) has just voluntarily suggested me skiving off. Admittedly it is two days before the end of term but still! We're not in primary school anymore!

Then again, she does work in a primary school. Obviously she thinks the last week of term before Christmas is still spent making snowflakes out of paper and messing around with glitter.

Oh, how I miss my primary school days. Although we still do make snowflakes out of paper. I've found that one's mind matures much more slowly than one's body.

My "hanging out" session with Lexi didn't actually happen today as I might have disappeared to Starbucks and found Hollie, Becky, Zoe, Charlotte, Alicia and various other people and forgotten about her, and then ate an entire packet of chocolate fingers with Hollie's help... they were 74p in Sainsbury's, okay? Don't look at me like that.

Besides, one is allowed to stuff one's face on a Friday afternoon. It's Christmas.

Anyway, it's almost half ten and I'm exhausted, so I'm off to bed. (Yes, I know that's impossibly sad, but shattap. I get up at 6 these days.)

(Shattap = slang and ellision. Sorry for talking in English terms all the time but if you're going to keep reading, you'd better get used to it. Bruv.)

And no, I don't talk like a chav because I am a chav, I talk like a chav to 'extract the Michael' or take the mick out of chavs. Hannah says 'innit' quite frequently and it's surprisingly catchy. Watch out or the innitmonster will get you! Innit!

As my Facebook status stated recently:
"You're not a chav, you're a linguistically challenged homosapien who feels the need to revert to colloquialisms, vulgarisms, taboo language and generally informal English in order to communicate your brain's infrequent and insubstantial activity."

See you guys tomorrow, when I shall be laden with Christmas presents. Pound shop here I come!

Molly x

December 3rd: Don't mess with me, I'm the Wicked Witch of the West.

Well, the understudy anyway.

A guy I know from YouTube is doing a full fandub of The Wizard of Oz and I got the 'Secondary Cast' Witch - I'm so happy! I don't have time to be the principal one anyway but hopefully I'll get to do some of it. I'm just flattered that he picked me second out of four as the others are fabtabulous.

I'm feeling fairly Christmassy right now because college has been decorated to the absolute max. Decorations everywhere, including two Christmas trees in one building! It's awesome!

So, what happened today? Well... not a lot, to be quite honest. See, my life isn't usually as eventful as yesterday and I quite like it that way. (The dramatic times always seem to be - well, quite shit. Except for exciting drama, like when I see Cora, which of course I love.).

Anyway. I shall now proceed to tell you about my fairly mundane day. So I had history first lesson, as I usually do, and we watched a video about Spain... we've watched four videos now, and only one of them has been in English. It's great! Italian, French (ugh), English and Spanish; though I'd love to watch a video in Danish. That would be the absolute cool beans. Unfortunately we don't study Denmark, but then we don't study France either. The French video was some random French director guy who'd made a documentary about an impoverished Spanish village complete with wild idiots due to incest (that was so funny. Imagine a stupid-looking guy slowly poking his head out of a cave - maybe get your brother to do it and you'll see what I mean. No offence intended to your siblings). Such cheerful topics we study! Especially as we can look forward to the excitement of Nazi Germany next year. (Okay so I am looking forward to that, it's the most interesting thing I've studied in history in all my sixteen years of life).

(Just to clear something up before I continue; the reason I put "ugh" after French is because I studied it for five years, can barely string a sentence together (despite getting full marks in three of the four sections - at foundation though) and have decided it's not for me. I'm sure the language itself really is beautiful, just as everyone says it is... I just can't see it anymore.)

I also managed to have a complete coughing fit in history (luckily before we started watching the film.) Seriously, I'm talking can't breathe, drink doesn't help, makes-you-cry kind of coughing fit. My eyeliner was completely gone from my eye by the end of it - but, to add insult to injury, only one eye. And then, just to make it worse, I had another coughing fit in the library later - and the Henley College library is so ridiculously silent. How very embarrassing.

So after history, Hollie and I encountered our looooong free, just as we do every Thursday. She has the same free lessons as I do and on Thursdays we have lesson-free-lunch-free-lesson, so we do a hell of a lot of waiting around. For me, add the hour I wait around before college and the fifteen minute wait for the bus afterwards, and I wait around for five hours and thirty-five minutes on Thursdays. It can be so bloody boring if there's nobody to spend it with or no homework to do... see, this is how bored we are! Forced to do homework to occupy ourselves!

No, just kidding, of course.

But seriously.

Today we managed to occupy ourselves reasonably well though; there's this charity shop in Henley which has a bookshop attached, and the coffee machine there sells gorgeous hot chocolate for 50p - so much cheaper (and, incidentally, nicer tasting) than Starbucks. Though nothing beats a good old frappuccino.

Soooo. After that I headed off to the awesomeness of English, which really is better than a free - but you wouldn't believe the looks my friends gave me when I admitted that. I can't help being a nerd in English! I've never been a nerd before and I'm finding that I quite like feeling clever. Besides, as Hannah says, "I love it! I need more nerds in my classes." - and I quite like pleasing her - okay, sucking up - because she's grading my coursework, after all.

See, I've totally thought this through!

Aaand after English I lingered in the classroom until there was nobody left (I frequently do this - I like talking to Hannah and oh my God I actually do sound like an utter creepy nerd... when did that happen?!). Hannah was logging onto her computer to check her emails and she showed me her computer's wallpaper, i.e. the lead singer from Kasabian, whilst making the sort of growly noises one does to indicate sexiness. I have to say I agree with her there. Yum, and I said that to her - before adding that David Tennant was hotter. I mean come on! David Tennant is positively sex on legs. I would. But Hannah just looked at me and said "Oh. My. God." and disappeared through the door with a call of "Wait there a sec!". She returned alone, but she'd been looking for her friend Anna, who apparently also has a crush on Mr Tennant and has never met another human being who does. (What the hell? There are loads of people who love him!) I've actually already met Anna - she teaches the creative writing class I used to do on Friday lunchtimes but quit because Starbucks Friday was more inviting. Hannah mentions her to me a lot though, because apparently she's also a grammar freak. I must get talking to her someday... sounds like we have a lot in common!

So anyway, when Hannah came back we continued our conversation on the hotness of David Tennant until I went "But oh my God, you have to see Oliver Tompsett" and demanded that she look him up immediately. (I've mentioned him to her before - at the beginning of term we did interviews and picked names from a hat, except there was an uneven number so I ended up interviewing her and vice versa. It was great fun.) She looked him up and exclaimed "But he looks like David Tennant!"

He so doesn't! Look him up, if you haven't seen him. He really doesn't - although as Zoe said when I told her about this, "All the guys you like look the same."

Okay seriously. I can't help it if I have a very specific type. It is a very good looking type, you have to admit. And yes, Mono does look a hell of a lot like Oli Tompsett... but if you saw him, believe me, you'd react the same way as me.

So anyway, after Hannah had dropped bits of paper and pens and I'd picked them up for her and told her it was an epic putting-stuff-in-bag fail, we continued our conversation about hot people and I said I hugged Oli Tompsett when I'd met him. The following conversation ensued:

Me: I can't believe I did that. It's so embarrassing now. See, I'm not just a nerd!
Hannah: Yes, you're not just a nerd. You're crazy too.
Me: But that's why you like me.
Her: True. That's not all the reasons though; it's because you're so keen in my lessons.

Innit. Nerd right here.

When Hannah and I were concluding our conversation, I said to her "Sorry I kind of ramble on at you about random things," and she replied "No, it's very enjoyable! I like it."

And that's pretty much our whole conversation, excluding things about how I now think about how I talk in terms of Grice's Maxims, and how Cora and I have become adept at knowing what the other is saying without hearing voice intonation due to the fact that we've built our entire friendship on an Internet connection.

(Hannah's response to that was "Awww.")

Oh, and at lunchtime Lexi came up to me and asked me if I wanted to 'hang out' in my free tomorrow. I said yes, despite being... well, completely freaked out, but we'll have to see how it goes/what she wants. I refuse to believe she's just being friendly, it's just not her. Check back tomorrow for feedback on that!

When I got home I actually managed to get inspiration for songwriting for the first time in about a month, and although I'm not finished yet, so far it's looking a bit like it's written about Edward Cullen. That was obviously not intentional so I'm a bit worried now - is Twilight stalking me?

I believe that's it for today. I'm still trying to get my old phone number to my new SIM card after my bag managed to lock my phone last Friday; imagine being without a phone for almost a week. Not good. Trust my wisdom.

Marion's just emailed me the set list for the concert... only thirteen days to go!

And bloody hell, twenty songs. Oh well, I'm excited already!

Molly x

P.S. I have opened days two and three (and one, obviously) on my advent calendar. Vanessa Hudgens' face is no more.

December 2nd: I've lost my voice!

You have no idea how bad this is. I love to talk! Seriously, I never shut up. Except when I'm on Skype with Cora, or talking to Becky and Charlotte - then I can't get a word in edgeways. But usually, I never shut up. Also Octava's concert is in two weeks and we have a hell of a lot of work to do on the songs... hopefully Marion will just let me mime at our practice tonight but it's still Annoying with a capital A (and you know this serious - as a grammar freak I will never put a capital where there isn't supposed to be one).

Well it's only 10:03AM and usually I write here in the evenings, but I'm in IT and we're having a "playing around" session. Apparently we need a full lesson, an hour and a half, to learn how to use PowerPoint - despite the fact that we all chose A Level IT and therefore must be fairly able to use a computer. Although you do only need a C in English Language at GCSE to be accepted onto this course, so maybe some people really don't have a clue. Seems unlikely though.

But yeah. After this I've got tutorial, which is awesome as I've got the fabulous Hannah, but extremely pointless because we never do anything anyway. Then media's been cancelled because my teacher's daughter's ill - so basically there was no point in me coming in today at all and I could have stayed in bed for another few hours (not to mention try and coax my voice back into life). But still.

Well. Now it's 9:17PM and I'm at home, and I swear that was the most pointless day ever. So I decided I was going to go home after my non-existent media lesson, and I got to the station in time for the 11:39 train after having decided to take the 12:24. I quickly changed my mind and boarded that train, but obviously I didn't have enough time to buy a ticket, so I figured I'd buy one when I got to Reading (the big station, from which you can get basically anywhere). It was just my luck that the ticket inspector came round for the first time in my entire life travelling on that route...

It was a really mean Indian one as well (not only was he mean, but I couldn't understand what he was saying half the time). I asked him if I could buy a ticket and he said "Why didn't you buy one at Henley?" and I replied that it was because I'd almost missed the train. Then he tried to charge me for an adult fare (fair enough since I am an adult with train fares) but I pretended to be a child to get a cheaper ticket. However he didn't believe me and asked me if I had proof - which, of course, I did, but it showed my real date of birth and that was obviously no good to me. The problem was, I didn't have enough money for an adult fare and he started shouting at me, then kicked me off the train at the next stop, which was the absolute middle of nowhere. I've mentioned before that I hate confrontations and I was standing there alone on this platform, completely embarrassed, upset and with no clue what to do. I didn't know where I was, I had no money and a creditless/batteryless phone. So I kind of stood there for about half an hour thinking "Shit."

Then these two men came up to me, going "Excuse me!" and I was in such a state I thought they were going to shout at me for trying to get a cheaper ticket than I was entitled to. Of course, I was being paranoid and they just wanted to know how to get to Twyford, and it kind of snapped me out of panic mode and into "Come on, I have to do something about this" mode. (These guys were awesome; they were from London, had incredibly camp accents despite not being gay, and were still pissed on account of 'going back to some bird's last night'). They were perfectly nice people, but I was feeling slightly uneasy about being with them when there was literally nobody else around (there wasn't even a ticket machine on this station: that's how dead it was) and I ended up getting on a train back to Henley (it was only one stop - I sat facing the window and hoped nobody would bother me and they didn't). Then I went to Starbucks and sat in there for three and a half hours, reading my book... I can't believe they didn't kick me out, to be honest, since I was in there for so long without buying anything and even eating my Boots meal deal lunch in there. I was sitting in a fairly un-obvious place though so maybe they just didn't notice.

Then I felt a tap on the shoulder, and this old woman was standing next to me. She said to me "I need to go to the toilet--" and I was thinking okay, great, thanks for letting me know -- "but I can't close the door because I'm claustrophobic. Could you...?"

So I ended up standing guard next to the toilet to make sure nobody went in (which they didn't). The funny thing is that after she'd thanked me and walked off, I saw her with somebody else. I wonder why she didn't get him to help. Hmm.

So after my three and half hours occupying Starbucks, I got the college bus home and went straight out to vocal group - and because of my non-existent voice, I wasn't singing very much and two of our other members weren't there. As Marion said "You haven't got Annie or Jenny, and you haven't really got Molly either." We have two weeks left until the concert and with so much still to do, we're all slightly... well, doomed.

I think that's all there was to report today, so come back tomorrow, when my day will hopefully have been... slightly more normal.

After all this fuss, I haven't even opened my advent calendar yet! Maybe it's the thought of ripping Zac Efron's face off that dissuades me.

Though I'm perfectly happy to rip the faces off others from the HSM cast. Believe me.

Molly x