Eurovision 2014: Chris's Grand Final Party

Conchita, Queen of Eurovision!

Held last night, Chris's 3rd Annual Eurovision Party was certainly the best ever! The twelve attendees cheered, squealed, grooved, joked, and sang our hearts out during the three-and-a-half hour extravaganza. Chris's decorations were second to none, with brightly coloured bunting, #TeamMolly posters and #JoinUs diamonds adorning the ceiling, walls and floor. When Austria's Conchita Wurst was announced as the victor, we were all delighted, especially Chris, who supported her from the start. We were also pleased with the UK's score, a respectable 40 points, which put us in 17th place. Here are the final standings in our group competition:

1. Chris - Austria - 1st place
2. Chelsea - Sweden - 3rd place
3. Jess - Armenia - 4th place
4. Wendy - Ukraine - 6th place
5. Steph - Denmark - 9th place
6. Jade - Finland -11th place
7. Emily - Romania - 12th place
8. Georgina - Switzerland - 13th place
9. Megan - United Kingdom - 17th place
10. Daisy - Azerbaijan - 22nd place
11. me - Malta - 23rd place
12. Rosie - Slovenia - 25th place

Yes, my beloved Firelight ended up four places above the bottom of the leaderboard, but I wasn't at all dispirited. Their performance was delightful, and I somehow managed to vote for them 50 times during the short interval. Amazingly, they were awarded 10 points by the UK, so the binge voting was well worth it! In total, they were given 32 points, which meant my pledge to eat one Malteser for each point they received was significant, yet easily doable.

32 maltesers

Daisy's tactical choice of Azerbaijan sadly failed to pay off; their 22nd place finish is the first time they've ever placed outside the top 8. After her win last year, Rosie was relegated to last place this time around. Chelsea and Chris both improved by 13 places on last year, and my first choice actually qualified this time around! The UK didn't do too badly, and the rest of the attendees' countries finished on the left hand side of the leaderboard. After the excitement of the contest, today I've felt rather melancholy, but I will look forward to Austria 2015!

Some of Chris's decoration

The artists we supported

Eurovision 2014: Country choices

Chris has continued his yearly tradition of getting each of us to choose a country to support, and this year, after much contemplation and soul-searching, I've gone for Malta! The song is called "Coming Home", and it's performed by the group Firelight, most of whom are siblings. I really like it's folky vibe and it reminds me of "Let Me Go" by Gary Barlow, a song I heard live at Gary's concert on the day we chose our countries. In truth, I can't see it winning, but I'm passionate about supporting it, which is ultimately the reason why I chose it, rather than one of the favourites like Armenia or Norway. I do think it deserves a spot in the final, and I shall definitely vote for it in the second semifinal on Thursday 8th May. However, as with last year, my choice will open the semifinal, which did not fare well for Austria's 2013 campaign, as the country did not qualify. Nonetheless, I believe Firelight has what it takes to earn a place in the 2014 final. I hope I'm correct!

Everyone else's choices are as follows:
Chris: Austria
Emily: Ireland
Georgina: Switzerland
Rosie: Slovenia
Chelsea: Sweden
Steph: Denmark
Wendy: Ukraine
Jade: Finland
Jess: Armenia
Megan: United Kingdom

May the best song win!

An Awesome Achievement

On Friday evening, Chris, Chelsea, Rosie, Jade, Emily and I were once again the only student team at the PTA quiz night. Despite protest from Rosie, we incorporated this into our team name, selecting the moniker, "The Good, the Bad and the Sixth Formers". We weren't expecting much in the way of success, due to our prior inability to place any higher than last, but we were hoping for a fun night of revelling, snacking, and completely failing at the music round. Peculiarly, the picture round was delivered to us at the beginning of the night, and the largely recognisable faces were just the motivation we needed when our team captain, Chris, fell ill and had to leave a quarter of the way through. Our performance was satisfactory, with four being our median score; however, we soon found ourselves in the dredded last place. Nevertheless, things began to look up after a  round featuring school-related photos, which  garnered us six points. This score was in part due to Chelsea's guesses of "Grange" for the ones we didn't know, as one of the answers was Grange Hill. After the interval, we continued to maintain a five point deficit, even after scoring just three out of twenty in the music round. As the end drew near, the leaderboard was displayed less frequently, so we were unaware that our score of eight in the joker round on the subject of "days" had brought us level with the team above us, "The Winos". The final round focused on history and with my and Chelsea's knowledge, we were able to snatch up four points, while "The Winos" obtained… two! We were delighted with the result, and we also made history, being the only student team ever who had not placed last! Woo!

Prom

It's been four days since the class of year 11 formally waved goodbye to compulsory education, and the celebration certainly didn't disappoint! We had pictures taken at school, then twelve of us, in a sea of blue and purple, squeezed into a fire engine limo and were whisked away to the venue.

Posing in front of the limo

The event itself was brilliant! We lapped up the American-style buffet, before heading to the dance floor.  There, we grooved to classics such as the Macarena, as well as recent chart hits and nostalgic requests. All too soon it was over, but the memories still remain, assisted by the flurry of photos uploaded within hours, and videos, including this keek.

Prom, Tom, and Chelsea

Two weeks ago tomorrow, Tom asked me if I'd like to go to prom with him; I said `yes`.

Today he asked Chelsea back out - via text - she hasn't said `yes`, but they "went out" before, and I didn't know they still liked each other. I'm not jealous, just a bit confused as to why he would ask me to prom - face to face and almost two weeks ago now - if he still had feelings for her?

Broken Dawn

Today, Em, Daisy, Georgina, Elisha, and the new couple, Chris and Chelsea, went to the cinema to see Breaking Dawn Part 1. We had a good time, eating loads of popcorn and pringles while Bella and Edward married, honeymooned and more on the 60 ft screen. After the film we said our goodbyes and departed, but Em and I will see Georgina, Elisha and the lovebirds again later as we're going to a film night at Chris's house!

RE: Rant to Chelsea Knight

Tom has broken up with Chelsea and Chris fancies Chelsea, but doesn't want to go out with her. Chelsea is giving them until next week to ask her out. Basically.

Meanwhile, I'm listening to this:

Rant to Chelsea Knight

Chelsea, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! If you still like Chris (as this tweet infers) why are you still dating Tom?? Especially after he ignored you in double German earlier... I don't get it! Either dump Tom or try and make a go of it, please! I don't like it when you're unhappy, it's annoying and pointless.



I don't understand other people.

That lovey-dovey stuff...

Direct message received from Chelsea on Twitter 21:41 15th September 2011: Tom has asked me on date!! I said yes
Direct massage received at about 5:30 today: Me and tom are sort of takin a break btw

Chelsea and Tom's seemingly dateless 3-week experience of going out is officially over for now. Oh dear.

First day back!

Today I started year 11. I could go on for ages about how I don't feel old enough to be sitting my GCSEs next May and how it only feels like yesterday that I was a nervous year 7 on my first day, but instead I'll outline the main events of today:

1. 6:45 am - get up my dad's clock is fast so we were up before 7, but at least it meant we weren't late to...
2. 8:07 am - meet Georgina a couple of minutes earlier than usual (only because it's the first day). Thanks to this, I subsequently miss seeing 8:09 on my watch, but the songs I listened to on the walk to school make up for it.
3. 8:31 am - at school Em, Daisy, Georgina and I are now at school, commenting on how small the new year 7s are and talking about TV shows. This area of conversation is lifted when Chelsea arrives; she will later attempt to work out how many hours of TV she watches in a week (it's a lot).
4. 8:45 am - tutor time we get our new planners (I predicted the cover would be dark and stripy), fill in our timetables, do a fire drill and Rosie's ruler makes my head bleed. Break follows, before our first proper lesson of the day:
5. 11:10 am - science work out our current grades in each module in science, and shake up our seating plan. We now sit (clockwise from the sink): Rachel, Chelsea, me, Chris Donati, Tom, Chris Green, Rosie.
6. 12:10 pm - RS same teacher, seating plan and module as before.
7. 1:10 pm - lunch hall closed so we eventually settle around the morning bench. I hold Em's mirror for her to put her brace bands in.
8. 1:55 pm - PE with no kit, there's nothing to do in PE except listen to sir talk for the best part of an hour. Luckily next lesson we can listen to music while walking. Good times.

I could go on, but assembly isn't particularly interesting and my right arm aches from the tetanus injection I had at the doctors earlier. See ya!

Chelsea the author?!

Based solely upon her hatred of our English teacher, Mrs Cross, Chelsea was the last person I'd expect to say she'd quite fancy writing a book. However, that's exactly what happened this morning as we waited to begin the dreaded lesson. Though born of a combination of this loathing and Chelsea's rather competitive nature, the project seems to have pretty solid foundations; the writer in question just sent me the opening via email (as is the norm these days) and I have to say, it's pretty good! Always one mark short of a B in our controlled assessment tasks, Chelsea could, providing she keeps this up, be heading far higher! And all because of a simple teacher/student tiff... inspiration arises from the strangest of matters!

Recent good times

So, topless Bono month on my U2 calendar is officially over (has been for days), and I'm still yet to compile a blog post in the merry month of July. What can I say, I've been not at all busy! Here's a few excerpts from the more interesting events of late:

Tuesday 28th - Brace date
I got braces a week ago today! They ached a bit at first but I'm getting used to them now.

Thursday 30th - Bad Teacher
I went to see the film Bad Teacher with Chelsea and Chris. It was fun, especially watching Chris on the dance game in Bowlplex.

Saturday 2nd - Georgina's party
I had so much fun around Georgina's house with her brother James, Em, Chris, Daisy, Chelsea and Elisha, especially trying to catch food in your mouth (I'm surprisingly good with small pieces of dorito!)

Here's to a fun-filled July!

Happy Breathe Day!

16th of June, 9:05, doorbell rings, man at the door says if I wanna stay alive a bit longer, there's a few things I need you to know... three!

Mangotsfield Festival

I had a great time today at the annual Mangotsfield Festival with Em, Chris and Chelsea; we bought random-flavoured ice creams (mine was cherry, apple and lemon), perused the wide variety of stalls, and sat in the bright summer sun (luckily I brought my shades!). We were just ambling around, looking at stock the library was trying to get rid of, when I found a U2 CD inamongst it. It turned out to be an exclusive All That You Can't Leave Behind promo EP from a newspaper, and I suddenly gained a keen interest in the content of these precariously stacked boxes. I discovered the full Batman Forever soundtrack, pounced on Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1, and was just about to leave when Chelsea picked up the Discothèque CD single! Perfect! Our shabbily organised outing to the Cleve rugby club grounds had yielded me 4 albums, 2.5 hours of music, and the opportunity to go mad in public, as well as help fund our local libraries. And I was home by 2:30. What could be better?

(As I write, the discs are scattered around the laptop after being uploaded to iTunes, except for OS1 because I already downloaded it, thinking that an event like this would be impossible, and basically being impatient.)

I should be revising...

I haven't posted a lot recently because I have a history exam coming up which is worth 35% of my final grade. Also I was feeling a bit ill at the end of May, but I'm feeling much better now! On the 29th, Em, Chelsea, Nina, Elisha, Jasmine and I went ice skating to celebrate Chelsea's birthday (which is in just over a week's time), then to Flavourz for the all you can eat buffet, which turned out to be very nice. On Tuesday it was my dad's birthday; we celebrated with a meal and a game of Monopoly at my grandparents' house. It's now the holidays, but rather than relaxing, I really should be revising...

Happy birthday Rosie!

Today is Rosie's birthday and I hope she's having a great one! She had a party yesterday which, like last year took place at Castle Quarry. We only got to canoe this time, but it was great, and I think I've improved since last year! Afterwards we jumped in the pond (and Chelsea was thrown in) then we got changed (Chelsea into her orange dress, and I into my lemon dress) and headed back to Rosie's for food; I couldn't stop "hav[ing] another grape" and also ate a few slices of pizza, as well as polishing off the strawberries. We played Buzz on the playstation afterwards, Chelsea, Chris and I came third overall but were first for most of the game. It was soon pass the parcel time; Tom won the first game and I won the second, as Chris, Chelsea and I fiddled with Rachel (Rosie's sister)'s iTunes. I put on Somebody Told Me and Human by The Killers, which went down well with the others (Tom and Izzy liked it) then Rosie unwrapped her presents. To end the night, we youtubed fun dance songs such as YMCA and Cha Cha Slide and Rosie took a few pictures which I hope will appear on facebook soon...

Happy birthday Chris!

Yay, once again it's Chris's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than with a maths test? He wasn't too disheartened though, as he received lots of (mostly chocolate) presents from us, and extra hair gel from Chelsea, as well as having a double lesson with Miss Ashford... ;)

Fun, fun, fun, fun!

Had a great day out today with Rosie, Chelsea, Daisy, Chris, Rachel and my sister Emily. We went to a park and enjoyed playing on the swings, roundabout and zip wire as though we were 5 years old again! I took a few videos on the camera including ones of Rosie falling off both the zip wire and a random spinning thing; luckily she wasn't hurt!