The Chronicles of Sam

England v. Portugal

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 16:40:10 GMT

What the fuck?!? 70-odd minutes in and I've seen so much diving , rolling, screaming and whatnot, mostly from Ronaldo that I feel physically ill. Bunch of tossers.

This is just a farce. Argentinian officials, Latin American or a start and people we had a war with not long ago for a second. And then the ref has a vendetta with one of our bloody players.

Then that bloody mess with Rooney. It was right under the refs nose and yes, he trod on the other guy. But the guy was holding onto him and coming in from behind. It was clearly an accident. Then bloody Ronaldo, Rooney's teamate for God's sake, comes in waving his arms, calling for a booking. Of course Rooney was going to be pissed off about that. That was calculated. He knew Rooney'd lose it over that. Pisses me off so much. Don't know if any of you saw it, but he slipped his mates a wink after he did that. Rooney shouldn't have shoved Renaldo but still, that guy is an utter wanker.

'Course we've also lost Becks. That's bad. If this goes to penalties, we're screwed. No Rooney, no Owen, no Beckham, Lampard's crap at the moment. It's ridiculous. Anyway, looks like the ref's gettting sick of all the diving and he's ignoring them.

Fingers crossed for the rest of the match.

Stuff. And lots of it.

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:15:42 GMT

Right, it's been a fair while since I updated and loads of stuff has happened. Exams, for example and....well, okay, just exams. Here's a rundown:

First Exam: English module 6. Not a nice one to start on. Three hours long, many unseen texts and it was in the bloody gym. Finally, memorising quotes for that meant I couldn't really revise much for my other subjects before it was over and done with. AND THEN the sources were annoying. Not particularly hard, but no front line stuff so it was boring. Didn't get to use most of my favourite stuff.

Then there were more. In one week I had six exams (only had eight overall though so I guess it balances out) which was bad. Two history on monday, English on tuesday, French on wednesday, GS module 6 on thursday and history module 6 on friday.

History was good, nice questions really, though for Mr Bulloch's module I ended up choosing between the more fun question and the one we'd done in a lesson. Chose the latter. S'odd, that's not like me.
English was wonderful. Seriously, couldn't have chosen better questions. A question on the Alchemist we'd pretty much done before and a Blake question on corruption in society. Ah, bliss.
French was...suspiciously easy. One question was straight out of a GCSE paper. Having looked at where I went wrong and where I might have gone wrong, and where I suppose I might just maybe have gone wrong I still think I got about 120 out of 140, which should be all I need.
Finally, because GS doesn't count, history. Odd question, not a period, but a man who stands astride two. Irritating really. Also, it worries me that people wrote pretty much their whole essay on foreign policy and I barely mentioned it. Oops. Ah well, probably only needed about half marks in that one so all will be well.

And those were my exams. Had such a crippling feeling of anticlimax. It's fine now though. Got a really good week lined up (at least it should be, fingers crossed) and life's looking good. Playing my sax more, though I'm not doing as much Japanese as I'd like for various reasons.

Hope to be seeing much more of all of you in the near future. Except you. You know who you are.

Wooo, partay!

Sat, 27 May 2006 03:35:42 GMT

I really should go through some of the important stuff I haven't posted about. Ending school and such, but I'm not in the mood. Thus, an update on my night out.
Was Jason's birthday. I think one person who reads this has met him, though there may be more. Anyway, we went to a pub for a bit to start off with, where I quickly realised that I knew virtually no one. Ah well, chatted to them anyway. Then we went to Wagamama which made me veritably squeal with delight. Had the noodles I'd wanted last time when I saw someone else eating them and showed everyone up for saying the chilies were too hot by eating them lots.
Then we went to another pub. By this time I'd found out that one of the guys does Muy Thai, one of the martial arts that's becoming very popular these days, and we talked about technique and style and stuff. I virtually always get on with martial artists actually. Maybe we're just a likable bunch. But anyway, another pub. Had Corona with lime which took me back to the Paris trip, where I sat in a Scottish bar and drank Corona with lime with a different set of people I didn't know very well.
Anyhoo, after a while we went into town and went to Ramshackle, which was absolute shite at first, but picked up after a while. Danced like an utter prat and had a wonderful time. Also, aftershock is nice. Anyway, got home at four which is a new experience and now I'm going to bed. Sorry this rambles and isn't very important but I'd like to remember it so it gets posted.

Stuff that happened to me lately

Thu, 11 May 2006 21:05:23 GMT

Fair few things going lately. Hmm...where to start...

Ah! Dresden Dolls on Tuesday. They were really good. It was a pleasant surprise because I don't think I've even heard a song from them before. They played War Pigs, it was so fantastic. The support were good too. There was DeVotchKa who were quirky (giant tuba, accordion, sitar thingy, switching languages) and really good. There was also a sort of Stomp thing who I gave a quid to for being badass. Incidentally, aftershock is really strongly aniseedy. Almost unpleasantly so. And the bar staff at the Academy are really nice, had a chat with one of them following his mate imitating the stomp group with some sticks and glasses.

That was after my french AS oral resit, which went ok. He said that I just need to speed up my responses a bit because it sometimes goes from thoughtfulness to indecision or lack of certainty. Had an A2 mock today and it went well, just need to brush up on the topics a little before Tuesday.

Few other things happened today. Strange things. Me and Hoi were in the park, lying on the grassy knoll and a little girl just comes up to us and starts talking to us. She sat on me and kept kicking me and/or treading on me in a certain place. Ah well, she was nice nevertheless.

Finally, I hijacked our English lesson with Mr Dinham. I sat in his chair, told him to sit down and took the class. It was a revision session on The Alchemist so I was fine teaching it, being as I am the ultimate Alchemist-knowing guy. Also gave Mr D three detentions and generally treated him like a child. And I got to make jokes about Arun having gay sex, which he failed to get.

Anyway, that's about all but expect more updates soon. Big plans for English next week...

18!

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:29:41 GMT

Had my party last night, despite the fact that about a third of the guest list dropped out over the last 48 hours or so. Ah well, enough people turned up so it's all right.
Got a load of stuff of family and such. I now have a nice watch and a really nice pocket watch, though the latter is so nice I can't make myself bring it into school. Kate got me a nice pendant to add to the pile and Sophie made me a delectable cake full of marshmallowy goodness. I also got wine. Four bottles. I'm very happy about this. Oh, also Hoi got me the world's greatest T-shirt. It's super fantastically brilliant.
Anyway, party. Had loads of Chinese food, which was great. Also got to see two thirds of everyone I like to spend time with at once which was nice. Karaoke was cool. Ian's rendition of American Pie had the whole room in tears. It was so....moving. Anyway, did some singing myself (sorry everyone) got to watch everyone else. Ranged from funny through to hilarious. Also, kamikazes are niiiice.
While I'm here, Hoi also turned 18. That was fun, barbecue at her house. I turned up early to help set up and no sooner had we got the gazebo up than it started to rain. Crap. Turned out okay in the end. We got the fire going eventually and had it under the edge of the gazebo. There was damn good chicken and such. We had some fun with a hookah-type thing. Think I charred my lungs though. I also got people chanting my name at one point. It was good.
In the morning Me, Sam, Hoi and her sister played giant Jenga. It was so much fun. I've got a brilliant video on my phone of it collapsing straight ono Sam's crotch. He didn't seem to mind, even when it happened a second time.
Oh, Sam Ho also turned 18 an had a party the day after Hoi's. A night of Chinese food that just kept coming complemented by karaoke...hang on, I think my life's caught in a loop. Maybe not, since everyone was in costume at that one and all the people were different. That was good. Talked to some people I don't know very well which is always fun and floored someone for a laugh. That'll teach him to stab me with foil. Ah, it's been a good week.

Game Gear

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 12:24:32 GMT

Found it and got it working. I forgot how good it is. Forget Game Boy advance, Nintendo DS and PSP, the Game Gear is still the king of handheld consoles. Can't find Sonic 1 which is right pain, seeing as it's one of my favourites. Nonetheless,we still have Shinobi and I still rule at it. Kicked my brother's ass at every game we found. Life is good.

Revolution + Party

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 09:21:38 GMT

Well revolutions certainly had its ups and downs. LOVED some stuff, like the Pokemon theme tune but some of it really wasn't my kind of thing. I almost cried when they did 'Stairway to Heaven.' As Liam put it to me in English, "You don't touch Zeppelin if you're not good enough and even if you ARE good enough you don't touch Stairway to Heaven.' It wasn't SO bad, I was expecting a lot worse except their guitarist a)couldn't count and b)couldn't keep up. Bloody Hell.
It was a shame Westwood and co. didn't get to come on, they were so fantastic in assembly. Bloody Lin refusing to get off the stage. Ah well, it was still mostly good.
Anyway, Vez' birthday party. Had good fun with Alex, Jen and Lizzy at the start. Lizzy has me flat beat on headbanging quality I have to say but I win on stamina. Neck hurts now though. I forgot how much I like wine, s'good stuff. Jen stole it and hid it after a bit. Just for the record Jen I was still mostly in control, definitely well enough not to go overboard and I don't appreciate being treated like a child. Ah well, no harm done, it was going to be my last glass anyway.
Played a fun drinking game in which I got to hear some amusingly embarrassing stuff from various people. Is it unusual that two people in the one relatively small group had masturbated animals? Moving on...
Got a lift home at 8 in the morning to go to Karate to find that my parents had forgotten where I'd gone and worried most of the night. Since my phone got stolen on wednesday (and my pocket watch, GRAR!) they couldn't call me and find out. My mum had to quiz Janice at Kumon just to find out that I'd gone to Revolutions. Not happy being up so early, though I doubt Karate'll make me feel much better, ugh.
Ah well, have to just see how it goes. French coursework to look forward to later as well, woo. Ah well, I'll intersperse it with more fun languages and it'll be okay.

Results and Trivium

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:05:35 GMT

First off, results. I got fairly good ones. History I got 105 out of 105 which is fantastic and has finally unlocked the secret to the seemingly supernatural intellectual powers of Chinese students. English was good, solid As, though nothing spectacular. General studies I got 34 out of 120 which is abysmal. I think my mum wants me to resit but I honestly can't bring myself to care. French was a B. Only two marks off an A. Thing is, I need all As. I'll probably resit the oral, despite being fairly confident I can make at least 242 on my A2.

Trivium were absolutely fantastic. We got in most of thee way into the first support band, who I quite liked but didn't mind missing. The second band, God Forbid,were fantastic. I'm definitely getting their album. Then Trivium me on. They are unbelievably fantastic live. I screamed my lungs out on most of the songs, which is the reson I'll probably be croaking and/or coughing blood tomorrow.
The encore was a bunch of little covers. Halfway through a Greenday song, he suddenly stopped singing to point and say, "Hey guys, boobs!" Sure enough there was a topless girl on some guys shoulders, shortly joined by another. Then they started pulling, to a chorus of cheers and camera flashes. Anyway. They made us wait right to the last songor Pull Harder on the Strings but it was SO worth it.
Got home tonight with sore lungs, throat and ribs and no hearing. Also drenched in other people's sweat. Having said that, or maybe partly because of...some of that anyway, I need to go to more metal gigs. Those Indie ones and whatnot just aren't going to cut it anymore. Anyway, I'm shattered so I'll bid you all goodnight.

Downfall

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 22:54:36 GMT

I'm just watching it now and I have to say I think it's fantastic. It really does help you see Hitler as a person rather than a two-dimensional monster. At the same time, I think the complaints that it humanised Hitler are unjustified. I think we still see him as a monster, he just happens to be a monster we pity to a degree.
I think this is epitomised in the scene with Speer. We get a rant about Jews and how glad Hitler is that he has 'cleansed' the fatherland but then Speer tells us that he's been betraying Hitler, though he claims that his loyalty has never wavered. We see Hitler so crushed by this and I think we really recognise the contrast between the pity and the disgust, without either being weakened.
Even if our dislike of Hitler isdiminished, isn't it stil better to see things a little more objectively? I don't think this leads us too far towards acceptance, after all. I don't think we come away from the film as putative Nazis, but simply as better-informed, with better-balanced views.

I bet you're already sick of Blake. Try studying him.

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:16:00 GMT

Went to the Birmingham Christian Centre today for some lectures on Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. The first one was pretty good. The second, while not as abysmal as some made out, was pretty crap. The woman said some fairly irrelevant stuff and didn't actually make many points. The third guy was great, really kept your attention and had some interesting body movements due, one can only assume, to being so excited to talk about Blake. I think the fourth guy would've been better if all his points hadn't already been made. Also he had a really weird habit of flicking his eyes up to the ceiling while he was talking, which put me off a little.
In considerably less than three hours I made more notes than I have all year with Mr Hill. They were mostly points he's probably made but he cloaks them in so much crap about organic chickens and such that you'd never know. I think we'd be so much better off heading over to Birmingham Uni once a week and sitting in on a lecture. They've got to have Blake lectures somewhere, right?

Another surprise update from Sam.

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 22:24:53 GMT

Couple of things happened so I thought I'd do the unthinkable and update. Char's party on Saturday was ver' good. I have to say, I didn't enjoy all of it. That was largely due to consuming ridiculous amounts of steak and such followed by sausage rolls, pork pie, breadsticks and grapes in stupid quantities. Danced Cotton-Eyed-Joe with Ed, as always and we rocked out to The Logical Song by Scooter. Ed's a party animal, I've never seen anyone dance quite like that. Especially enjoyed the break dancing. Didn't get drunk so that's my last opportunity before Lent gone. Ah well...
As if that weren't enough, I went to Laser Quest with a bunch of people from Kumon tonight. I tried to bet everyone a tenner that I'd slaughter them, but no one took it. Good thing for them. I haven't been in about a year and a half but apparently that hasn't dulled my incredible skills too far. First game I came in first by about 2,000 points, not bad. Second game I came in first by about 8,000. That was more than the person in thir got in total. In the third and final game I more than doubled the score of my nearest rival, thus completing my utter dominance of all who opposed me. BOW BEFORE THE LASER KING!!
Got pancake stuff tomorrow, need to try and expunge last year's failure in the races with a glorious vicory. Seems like my luck's in, I'll keep you posted.

Food

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:53:10 GMT

Just got back from Japanese restaurant. Already forgotten the name unfortunately. Anyway, it was really, really nice and the people I was with were great though Dom was occasionally somewhat scary. We got him to sing to the people behind us at one point, despite him being sober. SO full now.

Cambridge

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 22:02:19 GMT

Well, after a strenuous extra day of waiting......I got an offer! Now just to get those three As. Easy...

Hurray for humanity and buses.

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 17:35:40 GMT

They both suck.

Firstly, for the second time in two days, buses have gone straight past me when I've been waiting. That's annoying. What's also annoying is when you have to wait an hour and a half for a bus in the company of the people who have me depressed with the state of humanity.
First, there was a big stupid, blonde guy from Monkspath (my primary school) He must be 15 or 16 by now but he was just a gigantic child. A daft one at that. Just acting a prat, throwing littl things at his mate, who was clearly exasperated, chucking balloons at his mates girlfriend, generally acting a tit. That was a little annoying. Then the chavs turned up. Five of the little bastards. I'll take a guess at year eight or nine. Not only did one of them have the most obnoxious sparkly little piece of crap in his ear, but the second they sat down, they started spitting. Why? Why would anyone do that? They just sat there in a line and spat big gouts onto the pavement. No one wants to fucking see that, much less walk in it.
Then the old chav charm kicked in. "What you lookin' at?" Well, you little shit, considering the fact that I'm at a bus stop and looking up the road, I might just be watching out for the bus. Didn't say that, kept myself to a withering look.
What, you might ask, would happen if we combined the chavs with the big stupid fellow. Well, it happened. Basically, they threatened to beat him up, despite the fact he clearly could have eaten them if he'd had a big enough fork. Then, after he'd wandered away again, they finally came up with a 'witticism' You could see the cogs turning, honestly. "Hmm....he's fat, blonde, white....*gasp* we'll call him the real fat shady and try to rap!" Such wit has ne'r before been seen, by man or beast.
Anyway, they gave that up after a while and moved onto singing the first line of 'Big City Life,' not knowing any other words and then 'freestylin'
Then they started going up to people and asking where the church was. For those of you unfamiliar with either the 4 stop in solihull or chav wit in general, it was right behind them. Half of them were sitting on the wall to the graveyard. At that point, I had to leave. The minor irritation had just built up too far. Honestly, I don't know what the Hell is wrong with people. I can't get my head around why people are like that and why them and their parents aren't just sterilised for the good of humanity.

Ben's 18th

Sat, 10 Dec 2005 14:44:41 GMT

Fantastic party, really really great.
Finally met Kat, who I was supposed to say hi to from Kat, who teaches Kat and also teaches me who Kat told that she (Kat) would be at the party, and Kat told me that Kat would be there and that I should say hi to Kat from her (Kat).
Anyway, met lots of nice people and of course danced like a spaz with Ed when cotton-eyed-Joe came on. That was so much fun (that and teaching Chris H the macarena) even though halfway through I started shedding weapons onto the floor.
Got a lift home with Mike, have to concur with him about his dad being stupid driving like that, but hey, it was either that or have a go at walking home....as a ninja...at midnight....probably through the park.
Anyway, kickass party, good time had by all etc.

Also, scaring people by suddenly appearing behind them is so much better when dressed as a ninja.

Cambridge

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 22:40:00 GMT

That's the first time I've been to Cambridge, it's really nice. I can definitely see myself living there. The room they gave me was quite nice except for one tiny detail; I couldn't find a toilet. Eventually I had to go to the Porters' Lodge (which was as far away as it could be and still be in the same bit of the college) and ask, at which point a rather surly bloke told me it was outside, down a ramp, past the bike store. Plus it was a crappy toilet (excuse the pun) There must be one closer. Um...that's enough about the toilet, I think.
Went out for tea with my dad instead of eating at the college (which I really liked, by the way) and it was great. Found a really close Japanese restaurant which looked really good, lots of Japanese folk inside which is always a good sign. Anyway, we didn't eat there but at the place we went there was a group at the next table who were hilarious. One guy proclaimed as he came in, "People constantly assume that I'm boring when, in fact, I'm far more interesting than the vast majority of people I meet." He then proceeded to be both boring and a ponce.
Anyway, in the morning I got my suit on and went into interview mode. First interview was good. Really nice, if slightly camp, German guy. Friendly a guy as you could hope to meet. Think I gave a good impression and got to have a nice conversation about language learning methods and their application to children.
Second interview was a bit trickier. It was with a Japanese teacher but there wasn't as much language stuff as I was expecting. In fact it was really simple. I had to recognise about to kana, identify the common radical in a set of kanji and that was about it. Had a conversation about philosophy in which I think I held my own. Then things went a tad pear-shaped. She asked me about differences between English and French grammar. Uh oh. Think I got through that ok, with a little prompting. Then I was asked about a iece of art and what distinguished it. I did okay at first but then she asked a question that completely threw me (I thought of an answer about half an hour later, in the car) So that one was trickier. I think I did more or less okay though....more or less.
Third interview wasn't for hours. Cue boredom and re-reading the article I was given. I say article, it was a 35 page history chapter on 'Pre-modern economic growth in Tokugawa Japan' Went into the interview and was surprised to find that the doddery old man who'd brought me upstairs was, in fact, my interviewer. Seemed fairly nice. Had an interesting chat about literature and stuff. One slight snag in that when talking about literature, we wandered into Japanese lyrical poetic tradition, about which I know approximately nothing. He took a while to understand that. I then inserted a 'but' in the form of me currently reading 'Tale of Genji' (Classical Japanese novel, quite possibly the world's first ever proper novel, which happens to include an array of Japanese lyrical poetry) I told him that I'd just read the foreword, preface and first little bit and therefore couldn't give a very good analysis at all, but he kept talking as if I'd read more, talking about themes that haven't appeared yet. Anyway, that DID get sorted out, he said he'd enjoyed talknig to me etc. and I'd be contacted one way or the other by post in a while.
Then I came home and ate pie.

PS thanks to everyone who texted me saying good luck etc.

Dude, where's my week?

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:43:12 GMT

I can't remember last week, pretty much at all. I have a couple of fragments, that's it. People keep mentioning stuff and I just have no idea what they're talking about. If anyone can think of anything important I missed, can they please let me know.

Sat, 26 Nov 2005 20:10:57 GMT

I don't know why, but I really want to put something through something. Preferably at least one of the two somethings to be made of glass.
While I'm updating for a change, I got a suit today, ver' snazzy, but I think the shopping contributed to my current mood.

Interviewtastic

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 09:31:53 GMT

Got an interview on the 5th of December. They've also decided that they DO want essay work. 8 sides and they've given me two cover sheets. I don't know if I have any essays that big or if I'm going to have to churn a couple out. Suppose I could use my Shakespeare coursework for one, that was good. Maybe a Spire essay from last year for t'other? Or maybe my history course essay, if I'm allowed to use that.

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 19:22:04 GMT

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.3
Mind:	7.1
Body:	9
Spirit:	9.1
Friends/Family:	7
Love:	7.7
Finance:	7.6
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Interview

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 21:10:17 GMT

Went well. They said I made good eye contact etc. and that I cleared up the worries about me being too narrowly focused that my section 10 generated. I have to say I think we all wished they knew a bit more about the subject so they could ask me some more probing questions but that was never realistic.

Wine

Sun, 09 Oct 2005 20:41:38 GMT

Have gone through all the wines. Read mike's journal. Went from arver, through white and rose to end up at red. Twas a really odd day but damn was it fun. Best drunk typing ever!

Claptrap and whatnot.

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 20:18:42 GMT

My Japanese tutor is really nice. And also shocked that I'm not completely shite at Japanese. I have redeemed myself for not doing enough....any....practice over the holidays.

Also, people in chip shops are stupid. First the girl whos getting my kebab stops for ten minutes for a chat with another customer while my food' sitting there waiting to be sauced and then the food gives me some stomach issues that are feeling pretty urgent right now.

Finally...don't know, there was something. Oh yeah, I have to wear a dress and I'm pissed off. I wasn't consulted, just told I had no choice. So now I play an evil queen IN A FUCKING DRESS which is bloody hard to get in and out of to boot. Marvellous.

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 19:49:10 GMT

Wahey, I now have a Japanese tutor. This is very, very good. However, attempting to read/say a ew things has definitely showed that I need to get back into speaking practice or it'll be a complete waste of time.

On a lighter note, I got into a battle with a cranefly and kicked its arse all 'round the room but it wouldn't bloody die however much I crippled it. I finally got it to stop moving and a bigger one came altzing in. Bastards.

Parents evening

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 20:41:37 GMT

Well, it's hopeful. Very few exams but all As so everyone wants to predict me an A. Guess who the one exception is? Mr bloody Hill. Can't imagine why. Ah well, I'll get all As so screw him.
Sorry to be flippant but I know what I'm capable of and so do all my other teachers and he's known me longer than they have.