A Musical Week

This week I have had songs from musicals stuck in my head. In lessons this week I've been singing songs from Phantom of the Oprah and Les Mis in my head. I have always been a fan of musicals and enjoy going to the theatre. Some stage shows I have been lucky to see are Wicked, War Horse, Mamma Mia and Matilda.

Someone in my art class who is a big fan of musicals, let me borrow their DVDs of The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and Love Never Dies. I had not seen any of these shows before.

After watching them I can now say I'm desperate to go to the theatre and see them, particularly Phantom of the Opera. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed Phantom of the Opera. I watched the 25th Anniversary special that took place at the Royal Albert Hall. It was so much better than I could have ever imagined it would be. The whole cast was stunning. I must say Ramin Karimloo, who played the Phantom, and Sierra Boggess, who played Christine, were incredible. The music for the show is amazing and I am not ashamed to say that I bought the soundtrack of the show.

Love Never Dies is a sequel to Phantom of the Opera which is set ten years later. Once again the music is great and the show has surprising story lines that you may not expect. This is a production I would like to see at the theatre.

The film Les Miserables was better than I expected it to be. I had heard mixed reviews about the film, particularly about the casting of Russell Crowe. I have been a fan of Anne Hathaway for years and I think she gave a fantastic performance as Fantine. Overall the film was great and someday I would like to see the stage production.

Do you like Musicals and are there any you would recommend?

Hope you have a good week and I'll be back next Saturday.

My Summer List review

Back in July I wrote about what I wanted to do during the summer, which you can read here. In that post I wrote a list containing six things that I wanted to do over the summer. So I thought I would review how well I did.

I really enjoyed summer this year and did lots of different things. I will admit I did forget about the list by the end of summer as I had a lot of school work to do. Anyway lets see how well I did.

1. I spent three days decorating my bedroom all by myself and I am proud of what I have done. I painted all the walls, moved furniture, put pictures in the wall, etc. But I did need a bit of help building some of the flat pack furniture. I'm really pleased with what I have achieved.

2. In July I did get my second pair of ear piercings. I got my second set on my earlobes done. I'm really happy with them. Both of my parents don't want me to get any more piercing though. Part of me is tempted to get my ear cartilage done but I think I'm too scared to ever get it done.

3. Unfortunately I haven't finished my Wreck This Journal. I have done a lot of work on it over the summer but in the end I ran out of time. I would like to finish it before the end of this year.

I painted the front cover with nail varnish.

4. I did finish my summer knitting project. I enjoy knitting and felt that this summer I wanted to do some charity work while doing a favourite hobby. I didn't realise how many charities there are that incorporated sewing and knitting. I thought doing this knitting project would be good because I could do charity work without it interrupting my school work. I knitted 8x8" squares which I am sending to a charity to be made into blankets. The blankets are then given to orphan children in Southern Africa to help keep them warm when the weather is cold.

5. I have not started my Year 11 scrapbook. I have printed out my photos and have tickets, leaflets and postcards linked to school trips in my last year of High School. However I realised that there is so much stuff, I will need to make a scrap box instead of a scrapbook full of memories.

6. Finally I did achieve my goal of making 10 new blog posts.

If you are interested in any of the six things on my list let me know in the comments and I will answer questions or make a post explaining it more in detail.

Work Work Work

For the last couple of weeks I have had so much work to do. But that's what happens when you go back to school. My A-Level work has taken up so much of my time that I haven't been able to do a lot of things I want to do. I haven't had time to read any books, apart from A-Level texts. I'm a slow reader so it takes me a while to read my A-Level books. It would probably take me about two months to finish reading a book while doing all my A-Level work at the same time.

The main thing I have been wanting to do is spend more time on this blog. I am proud of my blog and want to devote more time to it. Therefore I have set myself the task of writing more blog posts. This means you will be hearing from me every Saturday and Sunday for the next two weeks.

So I hope you enjoy the rest of your week and I'll be back on Saturday. Was it just me who read 'I'll be back' in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice? Terminator reference.

Where does time go?

This is a question I ask a lot. With being back at school I feel like times goes too fast. Sixth form and homework now take up a lot of my time and I don't have much time where I can relax. Usually around this time of year I am eagerly awaiting the approach of half-term where I can finally have a lay in. Not this half-term though. I will be very busy almost everyday. By being busy I feel time goes by faster.

Looking back on this year as a whole I wonder where time has gone. How is it we are already in October? It has been four months since I started this blog and a lot has happened within that time. In the last four months I have finished High School, had prom, got my GCSE results, started A-Levels and so much more. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of everything that's happened. Things that happened months ago feel like they only happened last week.

We all need to make the most of the time we have for time goes too fast at times. But when we look back it would be good to know that there were some happy memories within that period of time. Memories we will always remember.

You can tell a lot about a person

As part of my media studies homework I was set to take a photograph that showed my identity. For this I decided to take a photograph of my desk in my bedroom.  Looking back at the photograph I realised how much you could tell about me. Therefore I thought I would tell you a bit about me.

Notice board: As I have said in a previous post here I like collecting postcards. When I changed my room in the summer I took all my postcards off my bedroom walls. I still wanted to put some of them back on display in my room. So I decided to make this notice board. I think the notice board could tell people I like postcards and travelling. It has not come out clear in the photograph, but on the notice board there are postcards from London, Paris and New York.

Photo Frame: The photo frame can show my love of photography. I always have a camera with me and take photographs of the world around me. I like to capture happy moments and the beautiful places I have been to. Also I love he photo frame itself. It's a blue camera and you put your photograph in the lens. How cool is that? The photograph in the frame is of me and my mum in case you were wondering.

Book: The book on my desk is 'One Day' by David Nicholls and is my favourite book. I really liked the storyline and was a book I could not put down. I would happily read this book over and over again.

iPod: I spend too much time on my iPod. I use my iPod to listen to music, go on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube, iPlayer, checking the weather, making notes, the list goes on.

Sketchbook: I enjoy painting and drawing so I decided to take A-Level art. This means I have to carry this A3 size sketchbook back and fourth to school with me. So my love of at does form a part of my identity.

Pen/pencil pot: There is not much meaning behind this. People looking at this can link it to the fact I like art which is true. I have the pen/pencil pot on my desk to store my pens and pencils that all. Sorry not a very interesting one to end on.

Keep your friends close

Well it's now September. The time of year I usually associate with going back to school. I don't mind going back to school as it means I get to meet up with all my friends and have a laugh.

But this September it is a bit different. I have left High School and started sixth form. This means that I am not at the same school as all of my friends anymore. All of us are busy with school work and settling back into the routine of school. It's odd not being with everyone. This has made me realise how important my friends are.

I know that throughout our life we will lose and gain friends on the way but I would like to think that I will stay in touch with my best friends for the next couple of years.

It is important to keep your friends close and not take them for granted. It does not take much to text, email, phone or write to them every now and then. It's good to let your friends know that you care and have not forgot them.

Never leave work to the last minute

This is something I would always advise people to do, but rarely remember to do myself. If there was a piece of homework I did not like or want to do, I usually forgot about it until the night before it was due. Therefore I would spend some evenings in a panic because I had forgot to do that three page essay.

Although when I was in my last year of High School I got into the habit of doing my homework the day it was given. But since being away for summer I think it will be difficult to get back into the routine of doing work. Already I am stressing a bit.

So the day before I start school what am I doing? Trying to finish all the school work that needs to be handed in tomorrow. Why do I do this to myself?