When I look at 2012

The end of the year is finally here, and I'm taking the opportunity to look back on 2012.

When you look at 2012, what is it that you see?

(Partly inspired by this tumblr post)
In the future, my 2012 will be memorable to me for the reasons listed here. Enjoy!
FF54B0 32 Emilys Candy

Concerts!
I attended six this year and each one was marvellous for it's own reasons! NKOTBSB kicked off the year back in April, memorable for the insane energy and wondrous excitement (and some crying). I saw Twenty Twenty in May, the evening after my RS GCSE exam and it was awesome; I was into it as soon as the first support act performed "Good Vibrations". July 1st was the next concert date, T4 On The Beach. We woke up at 4:15am and queued in gusty wind and intermittent rain for over 4 hours, but it was worth it to see and hear acts such as The Wanted and Labrinth. In September I went to see Aiden Grimshaw with two of my best friends from primary school; we managed to get second row and the concert experience was great, very comfortable. Exactly four weeks later I was back in the O2 Academy watching Labrinth along with my mum and sister. It was horrifically sweaty but I loved seeing him and hearing the songs live. Just 8 days later the three of us were off to London for the last concert of the year: Owl City. It was wonderful, we met the support act, Matthew Koma, and we weren't at all disheartened by not getting to meet Adam when we stayed outside after the concert till almost midnight.


School changes!
Despite staying at the same establishment, lots has changed education-wise for me this year. I'm now a student because I choose to be. Many of my friends have gone to different places; Rachel now resides in Australia! The last few days of year eleven were lovely, but I knew things would never be the same again. Thankfully, it's not unmanageably different now, and we all seem to have settled in well to our respective courses and locations. Lunchtime in the common room is becoming the norm, and it's pleasant to get to know different people better. Also, signing up to Envision has been a great decision this year, I've already gained great experience and helped to earn £500 for our project via a pitch and video.


NCIS!
I'm not quite sure how my obsession with love of this show began, but I started watching it in mid-February and have been enthralled ever since! So far, I've managed to see all the episodes in seasons 1, 2, 3 and 5, plus most of season 8, quite a lot of season 6 and the first third of season 4 on my DVD box set. In some ways, it has defined my year, [psychology part] each episode acting as a retrieval cue for events around the time I watched them [/psychology part] and I'm sure it has helped my happiness. It's safe to say my exploration of the series has been emotional: on numerous occasions it has made me laugh, cry and almost cry with laughter! I think Kate and Palmer are my favourite characters, but I adore them all, and I don't think it's possible to watch an episode too many times (I've seen one, About Face, 5 times already!).

Turning 17!
My birthday was only 12 days ago, so I'm still getting used to this new number, but I've never been this old before, and I'll never be this young again. It's scary to think that this time next year I'll be an adult... probably best to not think about that for now! My birthday itself will be memorable because I was ill and barely got out of bed. I had my cake today though!

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a bit late, but I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. Mine was full of festivities; we spent the big day at home this year, rather than at our uncle and auntie's or grandparents', so with no travelling we had more time than usual. Em and I still received stockings containing little presents such as pens and chocolates, then we migrated downstairs to tear in to our main presents. Mine was the new PRODUCT(RED) iPod touch this post has been written using, and it's wonderful! Christmas dinner was scrumptious and afterwards we watched TV and opened presents Granny had brought round. Later on some of the leftovers became our tea and I became acquainted with Siri on my iPod in addition to sending a keek, while watching NCIS until 1am. A very merry Christmas indeed.

She was just turning 17...

The "she" is me; I am now a 17-year-old! My birthday was the 19th December, but rather than celebrating I spent almost the whole day in bed, recovering from illness that had overcome me in the early hours of the morning. My mother and sister were ill too, and my dad stayed home, so in a way it was nice because we were all together. I didn't open my presents till the following evening; I was very happy to get them! Also I've already watched 8 NCIS episodes since my birthday.

It's December!

If I had a favourite month of the year, this would certainly be a contender. My birthday, all the festivities, looking back on the year, celebrating and getting ready for a new start, all rolled into one: that's what December is for me.

Purchases that are not clothes

I saw this nail polish in Boots yesterday and felt compelled to buy it; the colour reminds me of the grape hyacinth plants in my grandparents' garden that I was fascinated with as a child. It's called "Bleu fabuleux" and I put it on as quickly as soon as I was able to, during the adverts of NCIS S05E03 Ex-File. One coat was all I needed to ascertain this level of vibrance, however it has chipped slightly since I applied it yesterday.

In addition to this, I got a bright green polish called "Lime catwalk", and some Palmer's lip balm.

Nails close up

Quick post before The Chase is on

Hello! In the past few months, what with school starting up again and getting stuck in with my A levels, time for writing a blog post has been rather scarce. My free time has been usurped by homework, or often sitting and staring at homework, in addition to reading back through notes. Aside from the necessities such as meals, I only really make time for a few minutes on Animal Crossing, a diary entry and the odd television show (although in recent weeks, NCIS has been reduced from greater than six episodes per week, to a single season 2 episode each Thursday and the occasional random s3 on a Saturday).
I can't remember where I was going with this, but The Chase is on in two minutes!

Homework time

I've managed to leave my homework to the final two days of the half term holiday, although it isn't all my own fault. Sure, I could have commenced chemistry yesterday, or got going with German the day before, but after the hectic schedule of the past nine days, I thought it necessary to spend time winding down. On Thursday 25th October I was up before 7am to go to London for Owl City, and we didn't return 'til Friday night. Saturday was provisioned as a "chilling" day, in addition to being Derbyshire preparation day. We stayed there until Wednesday; it's now Saturday. I should do some homework.