A blabber?

I'm in a weird mood right now.
I feel very much like blogging.
But I do not have anything to blog about.
How are you today?
I'm tired.
I think I shall make some lists.

What I ate today
An orange.
A bagel.

That was a great list. It's 11:34 AM. Maybe time for brunch ... ?

What I plan to do today
Homework.
Make a giant cardboard vegetable (no joke).
Make a book trailer with my good friend Zoaby Juice.
Read.

Wooo ...

Oh! I think I know what to talk about.

Picnik

... is a website for editing photos.

It's fun.

I'd post some picniked photos, but I'm lazy. :/

And they're on facebook, and I don't know how to put them onto blogger besides saving them to my computer and then uploading them.

Which is too hard for my brain at this time of day.

Or any time of day, really.

*sigh*

I love how interesting my blog posts are.

I bet lots of people want to read this.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm enjoying fiddling with font size and allignment.

It's fun.

Parlez-vous Francais?

Oui.

Ca va?

Je suis fatigue

Moi auissi.



Has anyone else seen the Dalek Home Insurance video on youtube?

It's genius.

What about the 'historyteachers' videos?

You know you have no life when you find yourself sitting at a computer watching a song about the French revolution to the tune of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga sung by a history teacher  .... and you're enjoying it.

Yeah.

I'm cool.

Revolution (review-esque ... thing)

Yesterday afternoon, I finished reading Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly.
And I'm not really sure what I can say, besides this: It was the closest to perfect book that I have ever read.
Ever.

It follows the story of Andi, who lives in Brooklyn. She is trying to get over the death of her brother, Truman, which she feels is her fault.

Alex (Alexandrine) lives in France in the 18th century. She gets to know the Dauphin, Louis-Charles, and when he is locked away during the revolution (he was a threat to the throne).

Andi visits Paris and finds Alex's diary, and then, well, stuff happens.

Writing Reviews is not my stronghold, but I have to say, this book had everything I like to read about. It all combined to create a wonderful, gripping tale, with some of the most realistic characters and scenes I may ever read about.

It's the type of book I could only dream of writing.

.

Some Photography.

Bear in mind that I am a truly terrible photographer ... but I do a lot of it, so I thought I'd just dump some here!

 The sun just about to set - taken from my front deck, around October-ish?

 The most perfectly green tree in all of Australia, I swear. Taken around late-October, on holiday in the Southern Highlands.

 Late September - flowers in the back garden.

 Just before Christmas - set the camera on self-timer and ran around throwing tinsel in the air. Goodness, the house is ... messy.

 Around Christmas. The sun shining through clouds over the ocean, last time I went to the coast.

 January? At my friend Frances' ski lodge. Found some old candles and lit them. Spazzed a bit. Let out our inner pyromaniacs. Took heaps of photos. (Frances is lighting it).

 February? Not the best photo, but I love all these books ... almost all of them have shaped me in some way.

Had to document how perfect this cup of tea looked ...

The parsley in our garden is just so freakin' green!!

(November-ish)

November?

The sun looked really perfect with the window and curtains and stuff ...

-The End-

TAA-DAAA!

:)

Les Miserables

One day more -
another day,
another destiny
This neverending road to cavalry...

I saw first saw Les Miserables at our local(ISH) Grammar School. My mum's friend's son was in it, and they had been practicing for about a year ( - that's right. A year!), so we thought it would be good.

In the leading-up of seeing the show, we listenened to the soundtrack from Les Mis pracically ... religiously. So we had some pretty high standards when we went to see it. And those standards were more than met! The show was wonderful, they actually sang it just the way that it was sung in our soundrack (West End, of course) and it was stunning. Absolutely brilliant, moving on so many levels. It was the School Edition. My favourite songs are One Day More! and The Finale, which can make me cry sometimes. I also love Castle on a Cloud for an audition - however, I did not get the part, because I didn't look old enough. Which is pretty darn cruddy, since the minimal age for being in it is 11, and I'm 13. Anyway, I'm posting this, because guess what?!
I'm seeing it on WEST END!! In LONDON!
I mean, probably.
But I am going to London (see my next blog post, about my Europe trip....). And it's apparently going to be in Australia next year. (my mum says that maybe we should see something else then, but I'm not sure. I guess I'd like to see Phantom of the Opera... or Billy Elliot. I've seen the dvd of that. I've seen Wicked three times, but only in Sydney. I think I ought to stop going over all my favourite musicals now).


... Hmph.
Now I'm listening to music from Phantom of the Opera. And am painfully compelled to do a blog post about how much I love THAT as well.

My Three Worlds

I had three worlds;
I lived in them all.

The first world was filled with numbers and letters - meaningless letters. Cell diagrams, gum stuck under desks, swear words shouted down corridors, pointless drama, girlfriends and boyfriends making up and breaking up all over the place, tears and words and yelling, missing the bus, sport in blue shirts, new people, millions of classes. There were friends, there were. But those friends were nothing like the ones from world number two.

Number two was the world of gelato and libraries, laughing and walking, house to house. Purple hair, freedom, sunshine and shelter. Shops and books, food and candy. Friends, happiness, conversing, Converse. Jokes, brilliance, wonder. And when I got home, I would retreat to world number ... three.

Number three was filled with ... everything. I flew with The Flock, I cried for Rue. I read with Mo and Meggie, I studied at Hogwarts. I cried with Gemma, danced my way through the Bellezza. Yann and I explored the Catacombs, I stole for The Thief Lord, I lived in the pink house with the Boatwright sisters, painted myself black and ran with Rudy, fell down the rabbit hole again and again, I lived on Montmaray, I fell in love with Sam Roth ... everything in this world was fantastic.


But now, there are problems with the worlds. An explosion, a bang, caused One and Two to combine, mix together, ruin everything. They both turned on their heads, confusion spread like spilt water, soaking up everything in its path.
So now, what is there left to do but hide inside my third world? It was, I had to admit, a tiny bit neglected. And so I'm making it new again. Painting the walls in the houses, refurbishing, renewing and loving.

School!

Well, then.
It has happened. ("What has happened?" you may ask ...)
School started again for the year.



JOY!
Note the sarcasm.

Anyway, I'm in year eight this year. So that's alright. And my best friend is in year seven... I'm actually really happy that I'm not one of the new and oh-so-little year sevens anymore. Even though the classes are harder.
That's okay, really.
Some of my classes were too easy anyway...
but some most certianly were not.

Anyway, that's about it.
I just thought it was worth a mention, seeing as it's a rather big thing in my life right now.

Best Books of the Summer!

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, at the beginning of the Summer, I set up a pile of books in my bedroom, and planned to read them all throughout the Summer. Summer's basically over now, I go back to school in two days, so I'm nearly out of time to read through the pile. I was looking at the pile the other day, and I realised that, while I most certianly haven't read my way through the pile, I added books to it quite a lot throughout the Summer, and if I had not added to it, I would probably be entirely done with the pile! Which is quite great indeed.

Now, I read about fifteen books over the past six or so weeks. I'm rather disappointed, really. The pile originally seemed much larger than that, and yet, that is how many I read.

So.

I'm terrible at book reviews. TERRIBLE. But I'd like to give a small run-down on the books that I most enjoyed this Summer:

1. The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd

People have been trying to make me read this book for years now, and I truly don't know why I never have until now. It was a gorgeous book, that made me want to take a pencil and underline all the wondeful lines and phrases. It was composed brilliantly, put together like a masterpiece. It is a masterpiece.

2. The Red Necklace & The Silver Blade, by Sally Gardner

Sally Gardner is a genius. A brilliant, fantastic, genius. How wondefully and creatively she can make this brilliant, theatrical story of the French Revolution come to life in such gripping, heartfelt and heartwarming books is beyond me. She takes what was already so very interesting and multiplies it by ten.

The characters: Yann, Sido, Count Kalliovski, everyone ... they are unforgettable.

While reading both these books, I cried. I laughed. I did not put them down.



3. Wings, by Aprilynne Pike

Wings.

I read Wings in about one day, and it completely captivated me. The ... atmosphere was brilliant. I can't quite explain it, but I must say, I truly enjoyed this book! For the first half, Laurel, the main character, bugged me. She was so perfect, her life was just this is how it is, she seemed almost conceited in a way. But she grew on me. A lot of the reasons why she was perfect made sense to me as the book continued and secrets were unveiled. It is definetely a bit childish in a sense, but in another sense it was very, very good.

The Enemy, by Charlie Higson

I admit, I only began to read this book because all my friends were reading it. It didn't look too good; mostly just gruesome and bloody, the sort of book that's aimed at boys to get them to read.

It was nothing like that.

What The Enemy ended up being was a hugely believable, emotional, gripping, dramatic and action-packed book. I didn't want to put this down once, and I was constantly thinking about it. I'm not quite sure how to describe a lot of this book, but it was very, very good ....

4. Stravaganza: City of Masks

City of Masks was simply wonderous, fitting and gorgeous. Sometimes while reading this book, I felt as though it was made for me. Set largeley in an opposite version of Venice, the whole book was perfectly paced, with a gorgeous setting and fantastic characters, this book was a fantastic escape to a different world, and I loved it.

... And some other books I enjoyed:

-About a Boy

-The Lovely Bones

-Too Close to the Falls.

I'm also reading Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld, and it is awesome!

Masquerade

Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade!

Masquerade!

Hide your face so the world will never find you!

-Phantom of the Opera

Carnival Started as a time for celebration and expression throughout the classes, as wearing masks hid any form of identity between social classes.

-Wikipedia

The Mask is your new face;

The magic is your and everyone's.

It gives you wings.

Or a shroud, a cloak of riches, jewels, or threadbare fabric - that of a beggar, my friend.

But ah!- would you rather become my enemy?

An enemy's mask on a former friend and all hint of the past is gone, held inside the mask.

Tread lightly or stomp, free of judgement.

The mask is your new self.

Unless you wish.

For when you take it off again, you are nothing but who you truly are.

Summer

Before school broke for the year, I made a pile in my bedroom of all the books I wanted to read, and all the wisdom I wished to be imparted upon me. I had so many plans, I felt like Summer would be forever.
I took a breath.
And that's where I am now, at the end of the breath - it was that quick. I breathed and more than half the Summer past. I'm not even halfway through my pile, I've only spent a few days at the pool.
School is looming - I hate school. I hate how every afternoon I get home and just want to shower all the grime that the place seems to cover me in.
I don't know where the Summer went.

Today!

Today I cleaned my room.
CLEANED IT.
Every single surface, nook and cranny. The WHOLE ROOM. I sorted everything, and I THREW STUFF OUT. I moved things and rearranged, and made everything perfect. I dusted. Mum dusted. We got rid of everything I don't use.
MY ROOM IS CLEAN NOW! I mean, it wasn't messy before, but after about six hours straight, just cleaning things, I achieved a level of spotlessness that I really did not have before. I mean, half my stuff was missing, but was that really stuff I used?
-
For the most part, no.

Anyway, I am SO HAPPY to have a clean and neat room. I can actually MOVE and EXIST in that space.


So then. Cleaning is simply how I spent my day ...

On a different note, however, WHY do I find it so hard to speak to people?! I'm just like: "Blerghii har. Harr?" and they're just like: *walks away*
I mean, it's not that bad, but I just say dumb stuff all the time! I can't think of any examples right now, but ... yeah.

-Beth, the spotless and frustrated blogger.

My Sister and The Snail.

Today my little sister ran through the back door sobbing uncontrollably. I asked her what was wrong and she said, through her tears, that mum had stepped on a snail.

I thought it strange that most of the kids in her grade are the sort of people who run around and stomp on snails for the sheer pleasure of it, hearing the shell squish beneath their feet. But not her. The loss of one snail's measly little life sends her to absolute hysterics, and I love her for it. I think. There's no denying that it's sometimes incredibly frustrating, but any level of frustratingness is totally overwhelmed by just how reaussuring it is that someone - no matter how small, can care so much about the life of a snail.

Just a snail.

~Beth

Life.

Every day, more and more often, I find myself contemplating the meaning of life. The meaning of life ... - it seems like such a big thing, I know. It's more the sort of thing you'd want to mock, not contemplate. Maybe you might say, if someone was daydreaming, "so, now, tell me: have you figured out life's meaning yet?" and they might laugh and say it's 42.

I guess it's an opinionated thing, really. Maybe one person might have a belief that they live by, and that would be true to them, right? But another person might live by a different rule completely, and to each of these people - what they live by is the meaning of life to them.

I suppose mine would be to be happy as much as I can, and to not miss out on any opportunity. Maybe that's just what I'm saying now ... but hey- it's probably true. If I do that, maybe I'll find a more fulfilling meaning ... or maybe that's just the best one. Or Maybe I should stop being so ridiculously contemplative and sentimental. That too.

~Beth

New Novel ...

Back in November, the month of NaNoWriMo, I was struck with an idea for a story - but I could not write it down. This idea bugged me for the entirety of the month, growing and maturing as it sat in my mind. It tortured me, let me say, to keep on writing something else, and to have to completely ignore this other idea that I loved so much.

The idea which had taken me so very much was a story set in Paris, sometime in the future. The Government is tyrannical, making rules that make it impossible to have a different party elected, or for a person who was born from a family without much money to ever rise above their class. When a rumour that there is a rebel movement building underneath Paris - in both the catacombs and the abandoned Metro tunnels, reaches the government, they react sharply and begin bombing their own city. The upper-class families, not wanting to be disturbed or disrupted, began secretly paying the government so that their houses would not be bombed. Juliette Raquelle, the daughter of one of these families, has grown up, spent her whole life in absolute luxury. But when her family runs out of money and her house is bombed, she runs away and escapes to the place that she used to play as a child - which is actually part of the catacombs. She runs into a man called Marcello, who works for the rebel force, just as the tunnel collapses. He grabs her and runs away, that being his only choice besides letting her be crushed by the tunnel, and thus dying. When Marcello and Juliette return to the rebel base, nobody trusts Juliette. They all believe that Marcello just took her with him because he thought she was pretty.

Over the next month or so, Juliette begins to be trusted by the rebels. She wants to learn to fight in the army that they are building, but everyone believes that she is just this spoiled rich girl, who has never had to work a day in her life. So she secretly watches the army train, and begins to teach herself what they've been doing. When war breaks out and the army is fighting, Lorelei, a ten-year-old scout for the rebels, gets into trouble, and Juliette uses her fighting skills to save Lorelei's life.

Okay, it's a bit underdeveloped, and the plot near the end is really awful. BUT I love the characters, and I'm working on getting it better.

Also, I've been requesting character drawings from various NaNoers. Not many have been getting done, except for some of Juliette.

However, these drawings of Juliette are really wonderful!

I thought I'd share some with you:

~Beth

Twelve Words.

I've been writing some 'twelve word' poetry recently. Some of my best ones:

Things to do:

Sleep

Dance

Eat Peaches

Make Gnocchi

Write lists

And

Day drifted to night, drifting to day, floating away, fire and sea

To Blog.

Welcome to my blog.
My name is Beth. I'm thirteen years old.

I used to have a blog quite a while ago, but I sort of forgot about that ...
Anyway, I've decided to re-enter the world of blogging, hopefully with better outcomes. Probably I'll just post things that I've written, or maybe some things about books. I don't know. I'll post whatever I'm thinking of, so be prepared for some very strange posts.