- I’ve practically lost my voice
- Buttt… I’ve just printed final copies of my English and Maths coursework for this year! Double hurrah with sugar and spice and all things nice!
(Though don’t use ‘nice’ in your coursework cause you’ll be shouted at.) - Tomorrow is the final day of school before the Easter holidays! And I’m actually going to go to bed at a reasonable time tonight. Isn’t that swell?
- Daryl, who I respect immensely, e-mailed to say “I am very impressed with the level of discourse on your web pages”. Is it bad that I immediately scanned it several times for sarcasm?
- The Apprentice! Triple yay with bells and whistles! Hehe every Wednesday night is now a guaranteed well of deep amusement and joy.
- Never over-use exclamation marks! They make you look silly.
And then it’s the Easter holidays which I’m really looking forward to. Firstly as a rest from the constant late bedtimes and deluge of work, and as a suitable breathing space to really work on my Individual Assignment for History. By the time this week is over I’ll also have handed in my coursework for English and Maths: another two boxes ticked off the list before the end of school. The proper end of school! I’m also excited about visits from Lucy and Andy, too!
Maybe over Easter I’ll be able to sit down and write properly about the issues facing our group at the moment, too. At the moment it’s all too immediate – and I can’t write anything without imagining how certain people will take it. (‘Issues’… ‘certain people’… sound all very mysterious? Hardly, I’m sure most people reading this know exactly what I’m talking about, but it deserves more attention then I single paragraph.) In case you were wondering, I’m still happy 
if a little stressed and worn down by it all.
In the meantime you can all read Robert’s blog instead – he’s back at it now, hurrah! And other piece of good news – next week sees the return of The Apprentice and, of course, Doctor Who! 
Finally, Quote of the Day will come to an end on Saturday, 31st March, making it one complete year of quotes. I’ve never really known if anyone reads them – aside from my mother, who seems to have integrated it into her daily routine, and Alex Trafford has mentioned them once or twice. I’ve enjoyed doing it, but think the time has come to end it and move on to something new. The archive will, of course, remain in place
Kanj Morph!
As teasingly hinted at last time, I want to introduce you to Popims Animator. It’s a curiously designed free application which seems to be good for only one thing: face morphing! A quick demonsration appears on the left. Yes, apologises for the overly-large file size and reliance on the cliché that Mr Kanj = Ross from Friends. You can see how you can have fun with this thing though
Stunning
Hopefully it is also regarded as being in the spirit of Red Nose Day. The undisputed champion of Red Nose Day at our school, of course, is Mr Taylor, and this year was no exception. Alex Trafford has a better photo up, but I think Mr Taylor deserves the widest audience he can for his efforts Bravo!
I was also embarrassingly thrilled to have The Apprentice back, if only for Comic Relief. Of course, Piers Morgan had to be fired. It was just written in the stars. Sure, I happen to like Alastair Campbell and be slightly biased on this, but you simply cannot throw away an opportunity to fire Piers! It’s probably written in a bye-law somewhere. In the same way that I instantly recoiled in horror when Michael Winner turned up to their fair. (Update – it’s worth seeing Blair meeting Lauren Cooper too.)
Today (well, Saturday) was Emily’s very enjoyable birthday picnic in Queen’s Park. Featuring everything a picnic needs to be successful: bread, cheese, Pringles, cake, coke and… foam guns. Happy 14th birthday Emily! And since I’m in such a multimedia mood tonight, anyone care for a video of Saoirse leading a cheer for contraception? What’s that, you would? OK then!
Finally – I’ve made my final UCAS choices (Cambridge first choice, Birmingham insurance) after deciding I was really fed up with the whole application system. So I really have to pass my exams now
Oh, and! I’m rather touched by Alex’s comment on my last post that by mentioning planned posts in advance I’ll be building up “immense suspense” for my readers. So here you go then:
[voiceover]“Next time on The Musings of a Red Dalek! The family comes together for Mother’s Day, but will chaos ensue? Meanwhile, Dominic confronts a personal dilemma. And there’s disbelief at the Kings household when Andy wins a poetry prize. Followed by news & weather.”
[/voiceover]Happy Mother’s Day!
Over the past week I really, honestly, truly haven’t been sleeping enough. This is bad. Sleep is widely-recognised as being pretty vital for your ability to, ur, live, and therefore I am going to do it more.
Joshua doesn’t get enough photos
Which unfortunately means the rather cool blog I had planned about morphing faces into one another will just have to wait until the weekend. But it’ll be a better blog for it, I promise. Y’know, cause I’ll be, ur, alive.
That will be all.*
*Well it won’t really, because I’ve just realised I feel the need to include a picture or something to stop the blog being so dull. So have a picture of a Joshua snogging each and every one of you. Because he’s a lovely person and loves you all. He is Jesus after all.
This evening I attended a Socialist Worker’s Party public meeting. Future employers, upholders of the brutally repressive capitalist system and petty bourgeoisie alike – don’t panic! I haven’t signed up, comrade but it was a really enjoyable evening.
I went because Saoirse spoke so highly of Lindsey German, who was speaking about women’s liberation, and because I believe it’s only fair to turn the tables around a bit for a girl who I relentlessly debate with at school. Let’s make me the minority for once!
Anyway, Lindsey spoke eloquently and perfectly reasonably about women’s liberation – a flavour of which you can read on their website. To be honest, I didn’t disagree with much, because most of it was about diagnosing the issues we face in society today. The gender pay gap? How to support single mothers going into work? The pathetically low conviction for rapes? These are all genuinely important topics to discuss, and while I don’t believe a socialist overthrow of the capitalist system is the answer, they’re intelligently argued all the same.
The fun part, however, came afterwards as we all headed to the pub downstairs and started to talk. Slowly, more and more members of the public meeting seemed to encircle our table until I was surrounded by around 20 passionate socialists. Unlike, say, religious fundamentalists, their commitment to rational argument and debate meant that is was really fun and that’s not just me enjoying being the centre of attention as the black sheep to the party though that was fun too.
I don’t relish switching from being the most right-wing person in the room to becoming the most left-wing person in the room at certain Cambridge events, I have to say 
Linda Moffitt on Colombia: “Such a sweet memory of the four of you meeting up in Colombia!” Dec 2, 07:42
