Cleaning Up and Hamsters

Cups of tea: 6

Weight: 8st 12lbs

Song of the day: Neopolitan Dreams by Lisa Mitchell

Mood: Restless

...And the relatives came unto the Bowles family, and with them there came a madness in the mind of the mother that caused a great tidying to fall upon the land...

As it is my Grandma and Grandad's Golden wedding anniversary soon, a lot of my relatives are going to be at my house this weekend. This is good in many respects; I shall see my Uncle and his girlfriend again, and we are going out for a lovely sounding meal. However, I have had to scour my room from top to bottom, as my grandparents will be sleeping in it. I have been evicted to sleep in our caravan on the drive. Awesome.

...And with the madness of the mother there did come restlessness and disease amongst the livestock, until the nights were filled with their frenzied cries...

I have had tragedy and annoyance from my hamsters this week, and more than enough to last for the rest of their lifespans. It all started when I discovered an odd tumour on the underside of Ratchet. He was acting very poorly as well, to the point where I was willing his death on him to put him out of his suffering; he looked so helpless and miserable.

Nonetheless, I couldn't spare him too much sympathy. He and Clank sometimes scrap a little, but it's mainly play-fighting. Feeling ill clearly made him vicious, as they were suddenly at war with each other, screeching and scrabbling around until... Blood everywhere. I'm not too sure of what my initial reaction was, but I remember prising them apart with a pencil, and I remember muttering to myself "Oh, sweet Jesus..." as I saw what had happened.

Ratchet had bitten Clank's tail clean off. Needless to say, I have separated them now. This morning I awoke to find a lot of blood on Ratchet's bedding and the tumour gone. Looks like both of my pets are going to live to fight another day. Or not, as the case may be.

Yours tiredly,

Emma

Different Seasons - Stephen King

Aha! I have finally managed to drag myself away from Procrastinationville in order to write about one of many fabulous books by the King. Perhaps this might be a little biased, as adore almost every aspect of King's work seemingly unconditionally, so it might not be so much a review as a recommendation. Either way, let's crack on.

Overview

'Different Seasons' is a collection of four short stories (one for each season); 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption', 'Apt Pupil', 'The Body' and 'The Breathing Method'.

The stories are vastly different, and are all hypnotically captivating. I had to take this book in to work in order to continue to read it during my breaks, despite the fact that they are only 15 minutes long, as I was so desperate to find out what would happen next.

I read the stories out of sequence; the first one that I read was the last one in the book. 'The Breathing Method' is the tale of an unmarried pregnant woman in a time when society shunned her for this very reason. The ending is a gruesome twist that is oddly empowering towards women.

'The Body' had many elements in it that I believe inspired the masterpiece that is 'It'. The similarities are clear, and both stories show the loss of childhood innocence in chilling ways. However, I feel that there is a certain amount of self-insertion in this story that is also present in 'It', and several other King stories, which is a little uncomfortable to read.

The other two stories are equally spellbinding, but I shall leave them out in the name of space-saving.

Pros

• Four times the captivating plot lines!
• As always, King manages to word so concisely intricate areas of human thinking.
• The characters remain believable no matter how wild their actions or situations are.

Cons

• At times the narration can be long-winded.
• The aforementioned self-insertion

All in all, this book is a must-read! I would recommend it to people that have attempted to read King before but have found the books difficult to sink into. These stories are short enough for the "interesting parts" to be relatively quick to get to.

Rating - 9/10

Ideas For Posts

"No, it's not a very good story - its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside." -Stephen King

Once again I find myself wondering what to write. I could follow the whiny teenage girl's version of a blog, I suppose. Why doesnt he notice me, all of my friends are prettier than me, i hate my parents their so annoying they wont let me go to that awesome party, i think im gonna kill myself.

It makes for dreadful reading, all of the petty problems of a teenage girl. I know; I go through them myself. I just don't see the point of sharing them with the world. Since I remembered about this blog this morning, I want to add a little variety to it. It came to me whilst I was at work. I live to read, so perhaps I should write about the books I've been reading recently?

I have bought three books recently, and I shall write the first review tomorrow. I have lent the third book to a friend, so I will not be able to read it myself for a while, but the other two were excellent. The books are:

• Different Seasons by Stephen King
• Ugly Shy Girl by Laura Dockrill
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Looking forward to writing my first review,
Emmy

An Update!

Cups of Tea: 1
Weight: 8st 13lbs
Song of the day: Gone In The Morning - Newton Faulkner
Mood: Sleepy

It seems that I have somehow managed to succumb to my habit of forgetting about blogs and diaries after a much shorter period of time than usual. However, I feel somewhat justified by the amount of different things that have been happening recently. My apologies.

The main event of my life over the past few weeks has been my extraordinary good luck in landing a job at Eskimoo Milkshakes. I have discovered how tiring it is to work, but I have also discovered how rewarding it is to earn money. The shop has always been one of my favourite places to buy drinks - I prefer Cafe Nero, but I prefer to go there alone, with a book. It's a very different world on the serving side of the counter.

Prom has come and gone, and despite the fact that it was barely a week ago, I still feel odd nostalgia every time I think about it. It's been an event that I've been looking forward to for a long time, and it seems strange for it to have passed so quickly. I had the wonderful surprise of being crowned Prom Queen; despite my friends asking people to vote for me I was never particularly optimistic about my chances. The ever-charming Will Wivell mentioned me in his blog, so it seems that I should return the favour - he was the Prom King (unsurprisingly).

If you should ever find yourself in need of a confidence boost, become the Prom Queen. It was so lovely to know that so many people voted for me. Nonetheless, I couldn't help but feel a tiny amount of bitterness when congratulated by people that I know only usually mentioned me in order to take the mickey of me. Not even part-way to being enough to ruin how happy I was, but still enough for me to dwell on. It was a rather befuddling feeling just knowing that I had my moment in the blinding social spotlight after spending the past five years behind the red curtains with the people that really matter.

School has also blessed us with the Sixth Form induction, which was actually relatively enjoyable. I always enjoy seeing people from school, and I thought it was interesting to see what I'm letting myself in for next year. It's a good job that I did, because I decided to change my options whilst I was there. I'm now taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology. Unfortunately I'm no longer 100% certain as to whether or not I want to be a veterinarian; the idea of becoming a doctor is also inspiring. I shall have to see where my interests take me.

Speaking of interests, the discovery of the Radio One Live Lounge albums has been enough to satisfy my love of acoustic music for a long time to come. Some of the covers are undoubtedly terrible, but the ones that are good more than make up for it.

Well, that's enough rambling for today. I need to get ready for work.
Love,
Emmy

Day Three

Cups of Tea: 5

Weight: 8st 12 lbs

Song of the day: I'll Make A Man Out Of You - Mulan Soundtrack

Mood: Excited

Many new things today! I got my new glasses, and I think they look rather striking. They're dark brown and match my hair. I don't wear glasses much any more, but these ones may get a bit of use, since I like the way they look so much.

I downloaded a load of Disney songs today. Sad? Possibly. I don't care though, because Disney films have some of the most wonderful musical scores. The Lion King is my personal favourite - I could listen to the native chanting in the background for hours. The different layers of instruments in Mulan is also beautiful.

I grew up on Disney, and I don't agree with the people that say the films are racist and wrong. I think the corporation is evil - the workers that make the merchandise are paid next to nothing and the head gets thousands per hour! But the films still remain on my favourite films list, even today. They're funny and romantic, and the older ones were absolutely gorgeous. When they stopped hand drawing them, they slipped, but the classic films are wonderful.

As well as indulging in children's films, I also managed to find one mature thing today - I've finally been called for a job interview. It's at a milkshake parlour in town, and the job is only temporary, but it's better than no job at all. I'm a bit nervous about the interview, but I'm sure it will be fine. I might end up earning some money this summer after all!

Love,

Emmy

Day Two

Cups of Tea: 4

Weight: 8st 11lb

Song of the day: Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows

Mood: Content

I have had perhaps one of the nicest days of the year. Again, taking advantage of my family's absence, this morning I relaxed in the living room. I had to clean out my hamsters, Ratchet and Clank, which obviously wasn't the most delightful tasks of the day, but afterwards I sat outside in the garden with them. I let them run in their exercise balls on the patio, so they could eat daisies and bugs, and I could enjoy the sun. There was a minor black spot when a slug was run over by one of the balls... but a little tissue paper removed the spatterings of slime.

After relaxing with pets, which is always awesome, my dad came home for his lunch, and we sat around watching 'The Incredibles'. I love hanging out with my dad. I look up to him so much, and when it's just us two together, we don't seem like father and daughter, more like college room mates or something. It's nice.

Then town! I've been spending a lot of time with my favourite people just recently. I hope to spend a lot more with them during the holidays, and have a lot of ideas of things we could do, but today was just about hanging out and picking up a few things in town. Mainly from Subway and Eskimoos. I also managed to find a lovely new top that I can wear this summer.

As well as all of this, I've gone back through my music library to all of last year's summer songs. So, coupled with the memories of last year and the prospect of having just as much fun this year, I'm all set for the holidays.

Lots of love,

Emmy

Shopping Cycle

New clothes! I love having new clothes to wear. I bought a top today that is made of organic cotton. I now have several organic pieces of clothing, but I don't really know how it helps anything. The plants might not have been sprayed with pesticides, but the workers probably haven't been paid anything. At the end of the day, I think that the lives of the workers in the poor, cotton growing countries would be improved more if they could afford to buy food, rather than knowing that the food that they can't afford is pesticide free.

Speaking of not being able to afford things, I desperately need to find a summer job. I've handed out no end of application forms, but there just don't seem to be any available positions at the moment. The places that did accept them haven't replied. Do you know why this is? The credit crunch! Which means that I can barely afford to buy the clothes that don't pay their workers, so they lose profits, so they can't afford to buy their organic food. See the pattern emerging?

Maybe the government ought to try to do something about the state of the economy? I mean, in their own time though. Just a suggestion.

Love,

Emmy