The scariest kind of shopping

I'm going viola-shopping tomorrow. It will be terrifying.

There are a number of reasons why this outing will be terrifying. The first is that I will have to test out numerous violas on the shop floor with people watching and listening and judging me. The second is that I've heard the man at the music shop is terrifying. The third is that I will be spending many hundreds of pounds on an instrument which might be secretly terrible and I just can't tell.

Scary.

Oops

The internet was broken. I swear. It really was.

Anyway, the last book I read was...um...The Grapes of Wrath? REALLY? That long ago? Oh dear. I'm doing exams. It's not my fault.

It's Terrifying

I have just spent the past hour researching Cambridge University. From this I have learned two things:

1. I am not a normal teenager.
2. IT'S SO SCARY.

First things first, I need to attain A's or preferably A*'s in every exam for the rest of my time in secondary school. I also need to write fantastic, provocative exams for submission to Cambridge. I need to begin reading the newspapers so that I know what's happening in the world.

Most importantly, I need to START READING. This is how I envision my interview would go in my current situation:

"Are you interested in a particular period of literature?"

"Oh, yes. I adore Victorian literature."

"Ah, Victorian! What are your thoughts on [enter the name of an obscure Victorian author]?"

"Um...what? I liked Great Expectations..."

"Right. NEEEEXT."

Terrified. I'm off to read some contemporary literature that doesn't help my case in the slightest.

Drama Drama Drama!

I had such an excellent day today. It began with Drama, in which our group is putting on an extract from Nikolai Gogol's 'The Government Inspector' for moderation. Today we sorted out our set (complete with an AMAZING door set piece) and rehearsed the first scene. I don't actually have a role in this scene (though I'm the government inspector himself in the next one - so. Many. LINES.) so I just sat around shouting 'suggestions' to people and eating sweets. It was such a wonderful rehearsal.

The rest of the day was just pleasant: Geography, English, swimming in games. After school I had another drama rehearsal, which was equally as fun as the first.

Good day. I'm incredibly tired now, however. Oh well.

An Abnormal Attraction to Japanese Authors

Have I ever talked about Haruki Murakami on this blog? Well, I adore him.

The first novel I read was 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle', which is an abstract sort of novel full of confusing symbolism, but was ultimately excellent due to its strange, wonderful characterisation and scantly elegant writing style. It also made me appreciate wells like I never had before.

Then I read 'After Dark' - 500 pages shorter, and arguably better. It was much more understandable but retained the elegant writing style and rich characters, without beginning to drag or inflict migraine. It was like a 180-page window into a square kilometer of Tokyo at night. Splendid.

Continuing my love affair with Murakami, I recently got 'Norwegian Wood' from the public library. I've been told that Murakami writes two distinct types of novel: the bizarre, otherwordly 'Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' variety, and the stable, flash-back type 'Norwegian Wood' variety. So far I've only read his strange novels, so I'm very excited to see what Murakami does in the real world.

Excited!

Other things to read:

• 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo
• 'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare
• 'The Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck
• 'The Sea, The Sea' by Iris Murdoch
• 'Finding Cassie Crazy' by Jaclyn Moriarty

The last one is a silly little teen tale that I'll read when my brain is melting.

Monday

I DIDN'T POST ANYTHING YESTERDAY. The world is going to fall apart.

The laptop is about to hibernate so this is just a quick little up date.

I just watched 'The September Issue'. It was very good. I'm not sceptical on the topic of fashion, so I didn't really need persuaded to see the 'serious side' of fashion. Grace Coddington is a fantastic human being - full of romanticism and creativity. Anna Wintour is...admirable.

Must dash. Skins!

Saturday's Thoughts

Oh dear. My neurotic friend has become increasingly neurotic because I go places without him. There's a whole big story that I don't really want to tell.

It will be Sunday in thirty-one minutes! I love Sundays. They're so slow and lazy. And the best part is the Sunday Times. Style! Culture! News Review! Travel! Home! Other sections! The paper takes an absolute week to read, and I'm in love with it.

Just a small post. Goodbye Blogger.