www.pagette.tumblr.com

Vingt - Cinq Choses

1.Okay, here's the one that you've either heard a million times or you haven't, and you'll go "ooh, really?". I have three kidneys! Not three bladders or livers, as some people think, but kidneys; the things that look like kidney beans funnily enough.

2. I play the recorder, and have done for 10 years, although I'm only on Grade 6, as I think that playing should be for enjoyment and leisure, not a parent-driven-compulsory activity. I know people who hate playing an instrument because it's something that they've had no choice in. I can play the descant, treble, tenor & bass recorders, which you probably didn't even know existed! I also teach the recorder to complete beginners, which is fun.

3. My taste in music varies from acoustic to rock, classical to (rarely) pop, dance to alternative. I love soundtracks to film, but hate how they're more expensive than regular albums. I'm a CD person and only download from iTunes - don't steal!

4. I'm a fan of technology and would love to live somewhere that has various automatic things and ingenious gadgets to help with everyday life. I want a MacBook, as I'm slowly being converted to Apple (although it may just be because of the badge that goes with it) and I love my iPod - the invention of the MP3 player was one of the highlights of whatever century they were invented in :-)

5. I am a practising Christian (as if you didn't know already ;-}) and find it hard to tolerate people who say they are but then contradict themselves with their actions. My faith is something big to me and don't like it when it's something that separates me from people, rather than something that is accepted. I try not to be judgemental and I think that I'm a pretty nice person!

6. I've come to realise that my heart is in the country, although I don't know where. I really don't want to spend the rest of my life in London. I love the city and all that it has to offer, but I miss the quiet and clean of the countryside/highlands/other parts of Europe.

7. Par contre, I LOVE London, Paris & New York for the cosmopolitan cities that they are, with their bright lights and thriving culture. Maybe I'll live in a city before I settle down and become a bumpkin... :-)

8. I believe that laughter is the best medicine and that those who laugh and smile often are generally happier. Apart from the comedians who HAVE to be funny all the time and get depressed.

9. I'm a little bit obsessed with Stephen Fry... although not in a freaky stalker way, mainly in an admiration way! I love his books, films, documentaries, humour and wit and just think that he's generally a legend.

10. Education is important to me and I think that with the system that we have in Britain, there isn't an excuse to be a drop-out or a bum who doesn't work because he knows that he can earn more off benefits. That's plain lazy. I love learning and am full of useless facts, although when the opportunity comes to share one, I feel elated!

11. My mum was born in Detroit, but her family comes from Scotland. My Dad was born in South East London and we think that older generations came from Greece, as my Grandma has the maiden name 'Bezodis'.

12. I want to live an eventful and unrestricted life - I think that I would be miserable in a 9-5 desk job in the city; work experience was bad enough!

13. My favourite films would have to be Amélie, Australia, A Beautiful Mind, Little Miss Sunshine, Benny & Joon, Moulin Rouge, Brokeback Mountain & I enjoyed the Matrix films, Star Wars & most of the superhero ones.

14. I am studying English Literature, French, History of Art & Photography and aspire to go to probably Warwick or Bristol University to study History of Art, maybe after a gap year. I really enjoy all of them, apart from the volume of homework that I get in French!!!

15. I am enjoy writing and creative things, although it doesn't feel like I have the time to do them enough. I would love to live by myself somewhere serene and peaceful for a week or two to just be and think and create and spend time with God.

16. I love taking photos but don't want to be a kid who has a DSLR and doesn't know what they're doing - I NEVER use auto mode!

17. I have met some of the most amazing people and I value my friends a lot, although sometimes I don't act like it.

18. My parents have taught me a lot and are two of the best people on earth, in my opinion anyway! I love them and enjoy spending time with them, even if it's not cool.

19. I'm not a cool person - I'm awkward, nerdy and strange, but that makes me who I am, I guess!

20. I still have Christmas cards up in my room. I should probably take them down now.

21. I miss aspects of high school, although years 7, 8 & 9 were the most miserable of my life. I hated that time.

22. I keep all of the old Vaseline pots that I have used. I don't know why.23. I like long journeys when you're not in a rush to be anywhere. I enjoy going for wanders and enjoying time to myself. I want to travel more when I'm older and have interesting experiences.

24. My Great Uncle, Peter Page, was the head chef at Buckingham Palace and cooked for the Queen. He would bake Prince Charles' birthday cakes when he was young. I have met Arthur Smith, although I didn't know who he was at the time, so I don't know if that counts! I haven't really met many famous people, but would love to get stuck in a lift with Stephen Fry!!!

25. I can't wait to decorate my house/apartment when I'm older!

Lugubrious

My Art History teacher set homework to find the definition of 'lugubrious', which is now my new favourite word. Not the definition (gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree) but the way it sounds and rolls off your tongue and feels as it leaves your mouth.

Just about all of the blogs that I follow talked about the snow, reinforcing my belief (if you can call it one, perhaps just a passing thought) that the snow has had a profound effect on everyone, as London NEVER gets snow like this! At least not for 18 years, but I wasn't alive then, I was an embryo in my mum's womb.

Walking through it, watching it out the window, playing in it, hearing about it, feeling it, hearing the silence that it brings as it blankets everything around you.

Snow makes me feel poetic.

Not in a 'I'm going to go write a poem about the snow' feeling, but everything becomes symbolic or significant and you find yourself thinking more.

I love the cleanness of the snow; crisp, stark, soft, white, new. Everything looks different and everything becomes more romantic and poetic.

I love the cycle of snow; the new fall that surprises every man, woman, child and DOG, waking up to a winter wonderland. No cars come out to play, buses are cancelled and no aeroplanes are soaring above to disturb us city dwellers. Peaceful.

Ironically, it was on Monday that I felt the more Christmasy than I had in December; it was as if we had stepped into the set of 'Last Christmas'. A day full of snowball fights, 'fort' building, snowmen, sledging, igloos and talking whilst romping and stomping in the wonderful snow. {Photos credited to the cuz}

On Tuesday, I became disillusioned by the neige.

It had become brown, grey, slushy, icy, slippery; a hindrance rather than a present. I stayed inside, and only ventured out to get ingredients for dinner and to test out our new car :)

I filled my time with reading and talk amongst old friends who visited from Norway. I want to live in Scandinavia now.

On Wednesday, we reluctantly returned to college, slipping and sliding all over the place and getting stuck outside because of a false fire alarm. Sigh. Thursday was a good day too, I came home feeling perfectly happy, for no good reason, as nothing extraordinary or exciting had happened.

Yesterday was an amazing day for me, although to others, it will sound like a day of nutters gathering together and talking about something that doesn't exist, to them anyway. I met with God and learned about how to become better at communicating with him and I learned of wonderful things that he has done. I'm a pomegranate.

I feel that today is going to be a good day - well, it has already been a good day! I've done my French homework (bien sur!), written a blog entry, HAD SUM OJ, tasted some of my Mum's shortcrust Strawberry tart and can smell her making pumpkin pie and meatloaf for the Thomas' who are coming round within the hour. I'm looking forward to them coming, as I'll get to talk to Abi and find out how Paris was, how her mocks went and generally catch up! Good food, good friends, good times.

At the moment I can hear Snow Patrol, who my parents have gotten into recently and I did hear my brother listen to How To Save A Life, but set to a video someone made of the Gorrillaz. I liked it. HAPPY MUSIC TIMEZ.

Let's hope that we can get through this week without any scratches or bruises and then enjoy half term without too much work! I'm looking forward to seeing people again :)

Adieu!

Pinch punch first of the month and all that

HI I'm feeling so excited because I've just found blogs of the EWS people which is fun, because not that many people use blogspot. Well obviously millions do, but not people that I know. Soooo it'll be easier to keep in interesting contact with them (just because you're friends on Facebook doesn't mean that you're in regular contact or that you're even FRIENDS) and see what's going on.

I've decided that I want a MacBook when I go to University and it'll be MINE and I can put aaaaaaall my music, photos & documents etc. in one place and it'll be MINE. I just have to save up for it now. Hmph. Because I've gone Apple crazy, I'm using Safari (web browser) which I leik. I didn't at first because I didn't think it had tabs, BUT IT DOES. Which is tres bien. I also want an iPhone. As if I would even use it properly. Or, more importantly, as if I'd even have enough for one. Ah well, I'm sure it's just a whim and it should pass....

PHOTOGRAPHY IS FINISHED! Hurrrraaaaah! No more late nights, no more lost lunchtimes, no more staying in the library till SIX PM! Well, it will be in about 5 weeks but lets not think about that. I was the only one in my class who gave it in on the deadline. Wow.

HOWEVER (I don't know what's with all the capitals today!?) the root of most of my excitement is from the fact that tomorrow we finish college at 1pm (yippee) and then we're going to Regent Street Apple Store to queue to see Stephen Fry!!!!!!!!! That's assuming that we get in, of course. I'm prepared for disappointment, but I'm game to try and I think it'll be fun anyway. 

I've started reading Emma by Jane Austen which should be good. Well, by saying starting, what I really mean is I've read the blurb and put my bookmark on page one. Haha. I'm really going to try and read more than I have been recently.

Ha, we're doing internets stuff in French and on Thursday we did blogging. She asked the class if anyone blogged and obviously I didn't put my hand up. Ha. Probably because people had been slagging it off. In French.

Hokay, I'm going to go eat and do French homework and for once go to bed before 11 :s!!

Adieu!

My First Published Article

Annie Leibovitz
A Photographer’s Life, 1990 – 2005
By Amy Page

Annie Leibovitz is one of the most acclaimed and popular photographers around, making her name by shooting the world’s most famous and working for magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue and Rolling Stone. If you hadn’t heard of her before, you probably have now, as her exhibition A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005 is showing at the National Portrait Gallery at the moment, leaving her name on the lips of everybody in the art and media world. Those of you doing photography probably know more about her than others, as she is someone recommended to study if you are looking at portraiture for the open brief. This is the perfect opportunity to see her work ‘in the flesh’ and learn more about this amazing woman.

To name all of the people she has photographed would to take a long time, but to name a few… Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman, Sting, Whoopi Goldberg, John Lennon & Yoko Ono (taken 5 hours before John Lennon was shot), George Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, Bruce Springsteen, Scarlett Johansson, Demi Moore, Uma Thurman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julianne Moore, Sandra Bullock, Roger Federer, Tina Fey, David Beckham, Beyoncé, Michael Phelps, R2-D2, C3PO, Bruce Willis, Meg & Jack White, Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Ed Norton, Forest Whitaker, Sharon Stone, Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Dolly Parton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ben Affleck, Jessica Alba, Robert Downey Jr., Kirsten Dunst, Jim Carey, James Franco, Pete Townshend, Tobey Maguire, James McAvoy and Susan Sontag.
With a list like this, it’s easy for Leibovitz to photograph anyone in the showbiz world. This, however, has caused spectators and critics to question if it’s the celebrity who makes the photo popular, or the way it’s taken. Would Annie’s photo of Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk still have the same effect and circulation if the woman in the bath was unknown? I think that it would because Leibovitz’s creative ideas are so plentiful and unique that her photos would be popular, whoever the sitter. What her contact book to be envied has done however, is show celebrities how they want to be shown and depict another side of them which we, as media-hungry people of this day and age, are curious to see and admire.

The exhibition is only of photos from 1990-2005 and merges her professional and personal life. She says “I don't have two lives. This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it.” Walking through the various rooms you see a cosmopolitan collection of photos: landscapes in Georgia, family holiday snapshots, politicians posed in offices, family portraits, elaborate celebrity portraits, documentary photos from Sarajevo in Bosnia, recognisable magazine covers and a lot of pictures depicting the life that Leibovitz shared with her mentor, friend and lover Susan Sontag, who died in 2004. There are some unsettling photos of Sontag while ill and at her deathbed, but hung alongside photos of the two of them in various countries and at home, enjoying themselves.

There are two underlying themes throughout the whole exhibit which are life and death. There are photos that celebrate her life, her family’s life, the lives of the internationally adored (and hated too…) and also her children’s lives. Leibovitz took photos whilst giving birth to her first child Sarah, demonstrating that her love of taking photos shows the love that she has for the subject, as seen in all of her family photos. Then you see the photos of Sontag. One is of her being loaded onto a plane on a stretcher, another shows her lying motionless, dressed in the clothes that Leibovitz chose for her to be buried in. Stark contrast is present throughout, especially in one case. Leibovitz shot Johnny Depp and a naked Kate Moss, an extremely attractive couple (however much I dislike her) on a bed together when they were going out. This is hung next to a photo of a bicycle on the floor, next to a smear of blood on the ground which belonged to the boy who was riding the bike. He had been hit by some sort of conflict in Sarajevo and had died on his way to hospital. The differences are monumental!

I really enjoyed the exhibition, although looking at over 200 photographs is a little monotonous. I recommend it to everyone who is interested in documentary, celebrity, photography or art, not just those who are taking photography A/AS. I look forward to what Leibovitz’s imagination will bring us in years to come.

I Love You Bay-Beee

I just wanted to highlight the fact that it has been a YEAR since our beloved Heathy Babe died.






Everyone's reaction today was "REALLY? It doesn't feel like it's been that long." Probably because of all of the media coverage and Dark Knight etc. It's so stupid to miss someone you've never met, I know, but it's just such a tragic and unfortunate shame.

~

I feel strange. I'm generally positive: photography is going to be finished on time and the photo shoot went well, I'm on top of my work load, the future looks bright, I've been praying more often and I get to see SEDA on Saturday as it has been absurdly long since I last saw her!!

I'm also looking forward to little things, like listening to last weeks New Quiz, Jonathan Ross on Friday/Saturday(?) and the joy of surprising conversation.

I'm going to upload my photos from the photo shoot now, so keep your eyes peeled :)

Luhrmann's Great Gatsby

I don't know if anyone has heard, but Baz Luhrmann is making his own adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's amazing novel, The Great Gatsby. There are a lot of unhappy people about who don't think that he'll do it justice, but I, among other Australia lovers, are so excited and cant wait to see it in 2010!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2008/dec/30/baz-luhrmann-great-gatsby

There are a bunch of curious cats wondering who will be cast as whom? People are making their own suggestions, so I thought that I would make my own list of who I think should play who, although I'm bound to repeatedly change my mind over the next few months.

Gatsby
Nick
Daisy
Tom
Jordan
Myrtle - Helena Bonham Carter!

Hmm, this is harder than I thought.
I like the idea of James McAvoy being in it. Maybe Casey Affleck as Gatsby? I don't want Nicole Kidman to be in it, that would be too much after Moulin Rouge and Australia. Other suggestions have been to cast Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, but that would be too Notebook! I like the idea of Leonardo DiCaprio, but that could be too Aviator! Ho hum, I love Kate Winselt, but she's too old. Ewan McGregor - 'nuff said! Ooh, Adrien Brody. Probably my favourite for Nick. Matt Damon as Gatsby?
WHAT DOES EVERYONE ELSE THINK?

I almost wish Stephen Fry were directing it, as Bright Young Things was amazing, although his Gatsby would be like an Americanised BYT. He would bring a sensitivity to it and maybe exploit the decadent side of the story. Ah well, he would do a fantastic job whatever.

Writing English homework. A chapter summary of chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby. That will be read by all the class. I feel vulnerable writing it.

Will people laugh if I use the word delicious or divine?
Simply, rather, terribly, alas, hurrah hooray!

What I want to say: The language used in this chapter is a platter of adjectives that make your mouth water and leave you savouring the taste of each one as it leaves your tongue.

What I did say: The language used in this chapter is made up of a variety of adjectives, sentence structures and varied pace which make it enjoyable to read.

Hmm, is this something that I should be concerned about? I need more confidence in this sort of thing. Although writing the summary, is not an article or a blog, it's more like coursework (although I get "Amy, it needs to be more formal!" from Alison, one of my English teachers) and should be sensible and coherent.


Now I have to find information about Carla Bruni, who I have chosen for my French discussion topic for the speaking exam. Will I regret this? I have to say, I haven't warmed to her yet. She has that husky, french, 'sexy' (I never use that word!) voice and can play guitar herself which makes her music okay, but she seems to be a bit... je ne sais quoi. I can't find a word really to describe her. We shall see what I think at the end of this!

How Rummy!

Looking back on the last couple of blog posts, all I seem to be talking about is Garden State and Australia haaaa... I'm just trying to subliminally pressure you guys into seeing/listening to them, obviously.

My blog posts seems to occur when I'm putting something off/meant to be doing something else and are always rushed and not what I want them to be (whatever that is). This post comes to you as a distraction from photography coursework, even though it's not even hard. It's finding photos from the internets, printing, cutting, sticking and then writing "I leik it." I tell myself that I won't go on facebook whilst working, so I log onto blogger/blogspot (PLS MAKE UP YOUR MIND ON WHAT YOU'RE CALLED!) to see if there's anything new and I get distraaacted. I wish I wrote blogs for the sake of writing blogs and enjoying it. What a whinger I am. Sooo, to make this worthwhile for me and for you, I shall think of a topic and WRITE (quickly), so that this isn't a complete waste of time (even though blogging generally is).

P.G. Wodehouse
If you gaiz want to be cool, you know that you saw WOODhouse, rather than pronouncing it how it is spelt (like I did for ages, until my Dad told me), which is a bit ridiculous if you ask me. Why can't some aspects of the English language be more simple?! Should, would, could, pneumonia!
Anyway, I'm reading 'The Inimitable Jeeves' by P.G.W. (because I'm obsessed with all things Fry) and feel like I've found a hidden treasure! Wodehouse isn't as widely known as some authors and hasn't had his books turned into Penguin Classics (which obviously DEFINE which books are good or not) and a lot of people who ask what I'm reading at the moment haven't heard of him. This makes him (and his wonderfully characters) special. To me anyway.
The books are out of date, they're ridiculously English, they're formulaic, but they're 'bally' hilarious and well written. I find myself wanting to quote words and phrases that haven't been used for years and probably never from the mouth of a seventeen-year-old girl from Ealing.
There's a running story line and continuous characters, but each book is made up of little stories that take about 20 minutes to read, which is perfect just-before-bed reading :) They follow Bertie Wooster and his Butler, Jeeves (apologies if I'm completely patronising you) who find themselves in various pickles, but Jeeves is always there to save the day with his clever ideas and solutions. Of course while reading, I imagine Fry & Laurie as Jeeves & Wooster, as they are just perfectly suited to those parts.
This installment feels all over the place, but I don't care because I'm not being marked or judged (hopefully) for it and I need to reeellaaaaaax and not worry or be shy about things like this. Nerrrrrr... I felt that I wanted to write about Wodehouse because I finally saw the last episode of Paul Merton in India, in which he was asked to repeatedly kick a man in the balls. But he also found a group of men who for the last seven years, have met every month to talk about Wodehouse and enjoy his delicious humour. It was surreal hearing middle-aged Indian men call P.G. a 'good egg'! It's brilliant how literature unites people all over the world.

I need to carry on with coursework now, as I have less than two weeks to finish the project AAH but I should be fine... I just need to try and not get distracted like I am now.

Adieu chums!

Deux-Mille-Huit

New Year Resolution #1:
Stop making constipated faces when I take photos.

New Year Resolution #2:
Carry on shifting the lb's!

New Year Resolution #3:
Make sure that I've read 60% of the books on my book shelf, alas, if I buy a book, I have to read one or more...

New Year Resolution #4:
Be tidy, organised, well-read, well-spoken, cultured, happy, good company, successful (in finding a university and AS exams) and more in touch with God.

I'm ignoring how late this post is.

Album of the year: I would say Garden State, but I got that in 2009, so it has to be... Age of the Understatement - The Last Shadow Puppets.

Track of the year: Tough. One Day Like This - Elbow.

Film of the year: AUSTRALIA. But I saw it on New Years Day... So it would have to be Juno or A Beautiful Mind. OR PRINCE CASPIAN, OBV. :)

Favourite book read this year: The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde or The Hippopotamus - Stephen Fry.

Favourite gig/show/play this year: Has to be Tom Baxter in January and French & Saunders live in November!

Worst gig/show/play this year: Jack Penate. Hated it.

Amyzing

Here is another entry, because everyone so obviously cares.

I'm feeling happeeeee because...

~ I've now got the Garden State soundtrack. Which was only £5. It's amazing.

~ I saw Australia!! I LOVE THIS FILM. Everyone MUST see it. It's amazing.

~ I found out that dearest Sophaaa has a new blog! (Although I can't figure out how to follow it :( - I think you've hiden the link!) which just seems sooo Sophie-ish. It's amazing.

~ I don't have French tomorrow! Little things make me happy.

~ I get to see these on Friday


~ Questors starts again (I think?)

~ My room is finally resembling the room of a teenager! Bye bye teddies! Urgh. It will be amazing!

~ Friends are good. Very good in fact.

~ I'm going to Paris for a week! Avec Alice :) In June or July... my memory fails me :/. It will be amazing.

I wish I could find better adjectives than amazing. Pah. Ah well, I couldn't exactly say that they're LANGUID could I?

You can't see it well, but search this on Google and you can see an amazing (again! And I didn't even realise...) photo series by Annie Leibovitz.

Rober Downey Jr! ^

Adieu, I'm off to make korma :)

Get Your Priorities Right!

I reeeeeeally need to write something.

What I should be doing is writing an article about the Annie Leibovitz exhibition for the college magazine, but instead I randomly decided to re-do my blog. WHY?

Now, I have to do it reeeal quick so that I can help hang these gorgeous curtain things in my room and possibly go to B&Q...

NEW BLOG COMING SOON.
PROMISE!

Sing A Rainbow!

Yep, new colour scheme guys, how cool am I? Not very is the answer, seeing as I'm posting a blog about the fact that I changed the colours of my blog... Although you should be proud about how I've broken away from pinks & purples! I'm an addict, seriously.

I have to help with dinner but I suddenly have the urge to write a blog, so it'll be short, sweet and rushed! And I've just been told to get off, so this may just go as a draft or an edit...

BIRTHDAY!
Was amazing. Just amazing. Thank you to everyone who made it great; I loved ALL my presents and cards and all the thoughtful things that people did for me that made me feel so loved :)

LASER BRIDGE!
A fantastic night, whatever all the killjoys say. Will probably edit this with a couple of photos (from birthday too) just to commemorate the occasion :) Lovely people, beautiful views... I sound so wet, but it was just nice. However much I hate that word.

COLLEGE
Haven't really said much about it, but I'm loving it so utterly and completely; such a change from high school (best days of our lives? whatever.). I'm meeting the most brilliant people and learning about interesting things (for once!) and apparently, it generally gets better after the first term! Bring it on!

ME
I'm on the way to loving myself and not feeling so hateful towards the way I look, how I dress or who I am basically. I like me and that's all that counts, to be perfectly honest. I'm taking control and becoming who I want to be and just step by step improving the things that I want to be improved and detoxing. I love being me and I love life!

As you can tell, I feel CHIPPER! Which is a nice change. Hope you guys like this hurried blog, and I'll be back soon.....

Adieu!

Happy Birthday To Me...

Well, I'm 17 today! Doesn't feel much different, but I like the difference between being 16 and 17; I feel more like an adult (ignore that I just contradicted myself!).

I could write a whole speech on growing up and memories and whatever, but I honestly can't be bothered and want to go enjoy my birthday!

Bye! hahahahahaaa

By the way, thank you to everyone who made my day so great!

Purple Predicament

"If you pass by the color purple in a field and don't notice it, God gets real pissed off." ~ Alice Walker

I love purple. You don't have to know me well to know that; you can tell by my clothes, pencil case, pens, scarves, accessories... I've always loved it.

I don't have a topic in mind for this entry, I just felt that I needed to write stuff down (well type, if I'm going to be pedantic) although I'm not sure about what. I do however, have a feeling that it's going to be some sort of rant, seeing as that's the easiest thing to write as the words just flow because if you're angry, you always have something to say! That's not to say that I'm angry; I'm actually quite calm at the moment, although a little aggravated because of Primark. Well, just clothes in general and how they don't fit me. I'm now thinking do I really want to carry on with this post? Will I regret posting it if I do? I'm in the kind of mood where I want to post it because I've spent time writing this and there seems to point to letting it go to waste... What a predicament.

Well you've all been saved by the bell - I have to go take the washing in from the line, have dinner and go to Links, so I don't have the time to waste my time ranting... Shall I hit publish? I probably will, but I don't think you people will mind reading this, because if you are reading this, you probably know me well enough and don't mind....... Ah, I'm driving myself crazy!

Goodbye, friends! Just wait for the next post where I'll be groaning about this post.....!

Bookworms Of The World, Unite!

"A rose shook in her blood, and shadowed her cheeks. Quick breath parted the petals of her lips. They trembled. Some southern wind of passion swept over her, and stirred the dainty folds of her dress. "I love him, " she said, simply. The girl laughed again. The joy of a caged bird was in her voice. Her eyes caught the melody, and echoed it in radiance; then closed for a moment, as though to hide their secret. When they opened, the mist of a dream had passed across them."

~ Oscar Wilde

I was recommended 'A Picture of Dorian Gray', but was apprehensive about reading it, because of all the classics I'd tried to read but had found too horrible because of the way it's written. Buuuut I found it just fantastic (I still have 20 or so pages left, so no one spoil it for me!) and the way it is written is just beautiful, like the example above, which made me stop and read it again, because it was so wonderful. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to be adventurous and branch out from the easy-sleazy trash that is so safe to read!

I've come to the conclusion that I have far too many books for the time and space that I have... My shelf is overflowing; I'm going to have to stack stuff up to the ceiling soon and I haven't read about a quarter of the books that I have! The reason for this is the amazing new charity shop near my house called ARC, which also has too many books, so sells fully decent books for £1, or if you're lucky, 25p! Today I bought Enduring Love by Ian McEwan for 75p, Orlando by Virginia Woolf for 25p and Friends, Lovers and Chocolate by Alexander McCall for 75p! Who knows when I'll read them, but it makes me happy buying them and there's no need to feel guilty because it's a charity and they don't put me much out of pocket.

However, there is such a thing as over-indulgence and waste; so where should one draw the line?

"In a consumerist age we would do well to pause and reflect on the extent to which our indulgence in pleasures and pastimes has lost its innocence and humility. Our hobbies should be a means of losing ourselves in sheer delight in those things that appeal on account of the divine image we bear. Have they now become proud demonstrations of calculating self-centred attempts to remake ourselves in an image that we imagine carries greater cultural kudos? Has the acquisition of things, and the status that their ownership brings, become more important to us than any actual pleasure they impart?"

This from an article that I read about a man who has collected over 2 million pieces of Lego and it made me think about all these books that I've accumulated over the years. What is the likelihood that I will read all these books and when (or if) I do, will it be worth it? I'd like to think so, after all, as a letter from the English department at school said, "reading is the greatest journey of all" and I believe that there is no such thing as a wasted read, because you learn something from everything you read, be it a new word, an insight to a new way of writing or that you don't like that author!

I love reading; it's an escape for me and a deep pleasure that thrills me. Getting a new book, from a charity shop, book shop or library, is something I'll never become tired of. I think it's in my genes to be a bookworm, as my parents are avid readers and will go through two books a week gladly. I actually feel sad and disappointed that I haven't had the time to read my book in the past few weeks, although I can happily while away the time on Facebook, which irritates me. Getting back to books (Facebook is a worthy of a whole other entry by itself!), I do feel reluctant to buy several books at a time, because it takes away from the enjoyment of a new book to read straightaway. This is me being incredibly anal and odd, but I'm allowed to feel that way and allowed to write this!

I should probably wrap up now, as I've written more than enough and I know how length can put people off reading something... I just hope that from reading this, people can take away my passion for reading. I hope this has inspired someone to try reading again or get a good book out the library!