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.

Nina was on Twitter!

It's #FollowFriday on Twitter today, so I wasn't expecting too much when the (1) popped up beside my Twitter tab. When I clicked, I realised this was far from the weekly recommendations and "thank you"s or "no problem"s; it was a tweet from Nina.

I'm not sure why I neglected to mention Nina's departure on this blog, but it may be because it was such a sad and sudden event. She told me that her dad lost his job and said that they might have to move house, but I didn't imagine she'd have gone less than month later, and as far away Scotland.

Since this happened 3 months ago, and no-one has contacted her since, I was very surprised to receive this tweet from her today, which simply said "-pokes jess-". We had a conversation, reminiscing about old times and discovering her new-found television favourites: Big Brother and Coach Trip! It was great to talk to her again; you don't appreciate how much people mean until they're not there.

Things that made me think of Joey McIntyre today

(Title pretty much says it all)

1. Listening to the Here We Go Again EP while walking briskly in PE (for obvious reasons) 
2. His initials on my maths book (I will post a pic at some point) 
3. Playing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in history (Joey was on the celebrity version of the gameshow in 2001) 
4. Someone said "take her out to dinner" on EastEnders (I'd take her out to dinner, treat her like a winner, I may be young but I'm no beginner! - Are You Down by NKOTB) 
5. It's now 8:09 pm and the date today is 8/09 in the UK format 

 I enjoyed today! :)

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!

I'm feeling ever so slightly bored, so I figured it was time for another blog post.

So far this summer holiday I have:

• rolled down a hill
• tweeted 536 538 times
• posted a lot on tumblr (139 posts in August alone)
• rediscovered my love for Animal Crossing
• celebrated my sister's birthday
• listened to "2 In The Morning" by New Kids On The Block at 2am 5 times
• blown up 5 balloons
• read "To Kill A Mockingbird"
• consumed 32 toasted cheese sandwiches
• written 21 diary entries
• admitted my Joe girl tendencies (to myself, at least...)

Here's to the rest of summer!

Achtung Baby: All Grown Up

Yay! U2 have finally announced the release date for the hotly anticipated remastered re-release of it's (in my opinion) greatest work to date: Achtung Baby! The 31st October 2011 is the date set, which coincides with drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s 50th birthday, and is just short of 20 years since the original album first hit the shelves on the 19th November 1991. The remaster is available in 4 physical editions as well as download, ranging from the standard CD with a provisional RRP of £13.20, to a limited edition Über Deluxe box set containing the original album, sister album Zooropa and 4 other CDs (presumably containing a lot of B-sides, reworkings and demos); 4 DVDs including Zoo TV: Live from Sydney and a new documentary about Achtung Baby titled "From The Sky Down"; a pair of Fly Shades; an 84-page hardback book; a sticker sheet; art prints and more, but it comes at a very hefty price: Amazon UK shows an estimated cost of £385.99. Other formats include the album with a bonus disc (for around £16), and the 6 CDs, 4 DVDs, a 92-page book and 16 art prints (£105.99).

Are you excited about the anniversary release of Achtung Baby? Will you be purchasing it when the time comes? If so, which version takes your fancy?

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!