So I’ve finally finished my AS Levels. My last exam was on Thursday (Modern History) and I’ve been doing some hardcore chilling out since then – playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (awesome but buggy), watching the second series of Father Ted and making Oreo cheesecake with Mum.

I’m really looking forward to next year, it’ll be like this year but with less stupid people (because they’ve dropped some of their lessons, or just dropped out) and with more challenging work.

It’s so nice to think that I haven’t got any more exams until January. A bit mental though. I’m halfway through college. One more year and then I can go to uni (or hopefully on a gap year). Crazy-town

You play by dropping a sushi-loving rubber cat into a complex game of bagatelle. The soundtrack is a kind of oriental reggae, which is amazingly cool.

It’s one of the weirdest, awesomest games I’ve played in a long time.

In other news, I got really bored at Costa during a free lesson and ended up making a woven mat out of wooden stirrers. I also got a B in a history essay about the Votes for Women campaign. The question was: ‘Using your own knowledge, how far do the sources support the interpretation the Votes for Women campaign was gaining ground before the First World War?’ It then gave 5 mind-numbing and sexist quotes for me to analyse. Fun fun…

My study leave started yesterday, Monday the 11th, and was the day of my first and only exam (meaning my ’study leave’ is effectively just a week-long holiday). It was in English Language and although I was nervous, I’m actually pretty confident about how I’ve done. The test is divided into two parts – Section A and Section B. The whole exam’s about text analysis, but the first part looked at how the texts conveyed information to their intended audience. The second part is all about bias. How the author uses rhetoric devices, semantics and register to convince the reader that the author is right. I’m confident because of what the texts were.

Section A was based around two texts, one a newspaper article and another an eyewitness account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I figured they’d be really boring, but were surprisingly graphic. For example, despite being shot in the head, it took Lincoln like 10 hours to die. I especially liked the over usage of the word ‘oozing’. Nice. Section B was a review of a Star Wars toy, the Ewok Village. Just awesome. In GCSE we got given a story about a tall woman married to a short man and the wacky fun that ensued (not wacky at all!). For AS we get gory assassinations and Star Wars! I love college.

During my free time I usually practice silly hobbies like juggling and balancing. Well, I have a new one. I was taught how to complete the 3×3 Rubik’s Cube by a new friend at college called (Crazy) John a few months ago. It took me weekend to learn, but I’m still getting time down. I started at about three minutes, but my record now is one minute and nine seconds, with an average time of roughly a minute and a half. I’ve started recording myself solving it everyday and putting it Vimeo. The first of these is below. I don’t know how often I’ll be able to blog with all my college work, but I’ll try to do one at least once every few weeks from now on.

I like meeting new people though. I’m really looking forward to new friends, new teachers and new lessons. I’ve chosen English Language, Art and Design, Music Technology, Modern History and Philosophy. I also chose a Musical Activities ‘Enrichment’ course, which is pretty much playing in a jazz ensemble, soul band or orchestra. There’s a choir, but I really don’t sing. Halfway through the year I’ll have the opportunity to do the AQA Baccalaureate. That’s just some extra stuff like an Extended Essay and some work experience. I’m excited about it.

I’ve had a pretty chilled holiday. I didn’t do much at all really. I started playing Magic the Gathering again. It’s a trading card game that dad and I used to play a lot. The aim is to get your opponent’s life from 20 to 0 as fast (or my favoured technique – as brutally) as possible. You summon creatures, cast spells and have a whole lot of fun. I started teaching Hannah a month or so ago and she’s picking it up really fast.

We also went to Shambala again this year (’We’ being Mum, Dad, Hannah, Ethan, Jo, Brendan, Suzy, Juliet, Louise and me). It was awesome! Hannah, Ethan and I spent most of our time in the tipi hanging out, tending the fire or eating Mum’s excellent baking. We did go do stuff though. We saw some bands, loitered in a fenced-off forest chopping wood for the fire and in fact I was so active I managed to go and have two massages in three days! I fell asleep during one. Dad got a little too relaxed during a massage and fainted. He spent most of the rest of Shambala asleep in the tipi.

It’s been a really nice holiday, possibly even my favourite so far. Not the most active break ever, I didn’t go overseas or stay away from home for over a week. I didn’t even leave the house much really. I just can’t wait for the fresh air tomorrow.

On Friday I got back from Berlin. It was a school-based exchange trip with Danish, German and English people. I had a great time and I’m making plans to go to Denmark and visit the Danes again. They were cool.

Monday

I had to get to school at the normal time to catch the minibus to Nottingham (that’s where the plane was leaving from). I had to hand in History coursework, but I didn’t need school uniform so overall it was ok.

The flight to Berlin was about ten minutes faster than expected which was cool. We then took a bus and a tube to the school and did some drama excersises and that thing where you sit in a circle, taking turns to stand up and say your name. It was a little lame, but bearable.

After that we took our bags to the hostel and got settled in after a nice meal at an Italian restaurant. We played Truth or Dare for a while then went to bed.

Tuesday

The next morning we got up early and had a typical German breakfast. Bread, meat, cheese, cereal, coffee and a whole bunch of other stuff to which you just helped yourself. I’ve been to Germany six times now, so I was used to that way of eating, but the others had never been before. They were a little annoyed that Germany wasn’t exactly the same as their house.

We then went to the school and practiced the song we had to write for the trip. It was actually just a rewrite of Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis making it a little more cheery. May I just say that I had nothing to do with the choosing of this song

After a spot of convincing the teachers, I was allowed to play the drums instead of singing (I don’t sing). A few of the Danes helped out by playing the guitar, bass and keyboards. As usual I was the only ‘English’ person on the trip who played an instrument. Sadness…

After all of that we went off in groups and checked out Berlin. I was with two of my friends (Shahalum and Vijay), a few Danes and a couple Germans. We went to the Reichstag (amazing), visited the holocaust memorial thing (confusing), saw the British Embassy (weird but cool (wool?)), walked around the Brandenburg Gate (big) and looked at stupidly tall banks. Unfortunately I’d forgotten my camera that day so I have no record of all this awesomeness.

Wednesday

Wednesday was essentially the same as Tuesday. We went into the school, practiced our song (others had songs too, and there were a few group ones which were practiced too) and were let out for the afternoon.

We went bowling. I came fourth out of about thirteen which was pretty cool. We then went shopping in a huge shopping center. I used most of my money that day. I bought Hannah a bear, a few keyrings and a bracelet.

After that we all met up and went on a bus tour. It was pretty interesting and we got to stop and get out at the Berlin Wall, but I fell asleep for most of it. Also my battery ran out that morning so I had no photos again! That sucked.

Thursday

This time I’d charged my camera. I’d slept with it taped to my face so I wouldn’t forget it. And it worked! I managed to take a reasonable amount of photos that day. I was proud. Quite lucky too as the performance was today so I’m glad I remembered about my camera.

Once again the day was pretty normal. We practiced our songs, I did a drawing and read some of my book. It was at lunchtime that things picked up a bit.

I managed to get the teachers to leave me in the auditorium while everyone went off and ate. A teacher had to stay with me, but he’s pretty cool. He plays the bass and all the instruments were there so we had a little jam session.

He had a go on the drum kit too and shamed me. He does play drums in a Venice-based death metal band though, so he had the upper hand a little. I then played around on all the other instruments. It was all right, but I eventually got hungry and went and bought myself a falafel wrap thing. It was good.

The performance went really well, better than expected (by me anyway). Everyone was great and we got many claps. I even took a few photos whilst singing one of the group songs. That’s me playing the drums to our song. The guy on the guitar is Danish, also a pretty nice guy.

Afterwards we had a party at the school which was lame so the Danes, Natalie (a friend of mine) and I went back to the hostel and had our own party. We drank some beers and played cards. All was good, but I was really tired after the performance so I went to bed.

Friday

We didn’t really do anything on Friday except go shopping for a bit and then fly home. I gave Hannah and parents their presents, which they liked. In the end a really cool trip.

I’m thinking about flying to Denmark after I get my GCSE results. Also, if I get five A grades in my GCSEs then I’m allowed to get a lip piercing. I’m hoping to get that before I go to Denmark.

Glad to be home in the snow…

I know I haven’t been blogging as regularly as I should, so to make up for it I’m writing more than I usually do.

I’ve actually been quite busy recently with jobs, Christmas and New Years. I’ve decided to jump into the world of work early to get an idea of what it’s like. Not bad…

I designed a website for a singer songwriter called Heather. She has a blog about women like herself and wished that she could have a better website. I thought this was a great opportunity to try out my web design skills, so I gave it a shot.

Heather is now the proud owner of LyricalVenus.com. She wanted it turquoisey so that’s how I made it. I personally preferred it a heavy dark green, but I’m £165 richer than I was a week ago so I shouldn’t complain.

Additionally, if anyone would like a cheap, hosted Wordpress blog I would be happy to design it for you. I charge £200, but out of that I pay for the hosting of your new website. A fresh set of graphics created with your input comes standard. If necessary, blogs and comments can be transferred from your old blog to the new.

I’ve also been messing around with coding. It’s difficult to say what I can do, but given half an hour I can solve most problems I’ve come across. Of course, as I get better at coding, I’ll be trying more advanced things and creating more complicated problems for me to fix.

My New Year’s resolution is to learn CSS to a point where I don’t need to constantly seek help. That’d be a pretty awesome thing to say I can do.

Christmas was good. I enjoyed Christmas. Mum and I were woken up by my Dad at 8am and opened presents which was fun. I did go to bed at 5am, but after a few cups of strong coffee I was fine.

I won’t list all my presents, but off the top of my head, my favourites were a MetroGnome, a Dark Knight t-shirt (from Hannah, my girlfriend), brushes for my drums and a cinema voucher (saving it for the premier of the remake of the first Hellraiser movie).

After a day of too much food, Sam (my dad’s friend and colleague) came over and we had a little jam session – Dad on his new keyboard, Sam on the guitar and me on the drums (with my new brushes bought by Sam). It was really fun and we had a great time.

Hannah came over too, but she couldn’t be convinced to sing or play her clarinet. Fair enough, we were a bit cringe-worthy for one to want to associate oneself with us (plus Hannah’s quite shy).

On New Year’s Eve we went to Juliet and Louise’s place for a night of card games and hilarity. Some of their friends came over and all was good.

Clutch also came round and taught us how to play Spoons, a brilliant game requiring only a mad hunger for cutlery and the fastest hands in Kings Heath. Mum is a naturally a competitive woman and thusly won a lot of the time. This is probably not because she has the fastest hands, but the sharpest nails.

I did win one game, but it was a hollow victory. Everyone was a really good loser (sportsmanship-wise) meaning I just got congratulated, not cursed at for my lightning speed hands, drummer’s timing and a cutlery hunger surpassing everyone else’s (that round anyway).

That was pretty much all we did that night, but I really enjoyed myself. Plus, it snowed! Real snow, covering the floor and cars and drunks. It looked amazing, but unfortunately it only snowed in Moseley and Kings Heath, not Hall Green. KHAN!!!

That’s pretty much all there is from me, until something interesting happens again. Some day…

The aftermath of my sixteenth birthday party was horrifying. Like, it wasn’t hugely messy (by my standards anyway) but the mess wasn’t clothes and cd’s.

It was soggy crisps, wads of cake and moist patches in the carpet. That’s just unhygienic. And gross…

The party was from about 8:30 PM until 3:00 AM. It was a mostly awesome party, but there were a few annoying things about it.

1.) Leah was meant to turn up as it was a joint party (joint with her), and she didn’t.

2.) The garage (where the party was held) was freezing.

3.) I now have a cold.

However, apart from these, the party was really, really good. We had pizzas, crisps and chocolate cake (which Sam made), a necessity when alcohol is being consumed. Whilst eating and drinking we talked a lot. That was pretty much the whole party. We just sat around and told jokes which was fun.

Cleaning up this morning wasn’t the most fun I’ve ever had, but some people stayed and helped out which I guess was pretty cool of them. Setting my drum kit back up took a while.

Most enjoyable party I’ve ever been to? Maybe. I enjoyed hanging out with all my friends and having a laugh, but this cold really sucks.

What’s the best party you’ve ever been to? And most sucky sickness?

Oh yeah, it feels good to be 16. I’m all old, manly and cool. Well, old and manly. Well, old. But the point remains, I’m 16 and it rocks. I’m also sick and can hardly speak, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that I’m now one of those guys that I used to look up to and say “Wow, I wanna be like him! Older and responsible. He has HIS OWN fish and a phone!”.

Speaking about things that are mine, I have the coolest birthday pressie ever. My new Wacom Bamboo pressure-sensitive tablet is amazing. The cartoon above was drawn by me, on Photoshop! It’s so freaking cool! I haven’t used a mouse since. Buy one!

Ethan bought me a professional dartboard so we can play. I haven’t played properly before, but it’ll be a cool skill to have when I get a bit better. Sam got me a cool leather wrist band and two surfesque necklaces. They’re pretty cool. Hannah painted me some awesome paintings. The Superman logo, the Batman logo and some other indescribable thing, it’s pretty cool. Photos shall be uploaded soon.

I’ve also recieved a drum kit which is just amazing, but I doubt I’ll be getting any presents again until I’m 18. It’s a red Yamaha Stage Custom and it just sounds so good. My new drum teacher (he’s my sixth!), Nobby, has taught me how to tune the drums, another cool way to set up the kit and a couple of beats.

Last night Mum, Dad, Hannah, Ethan, Sam and I all went out for dinner at Frankie and Benny’s, then had a couple of games at the bowling alley. I won the first, but absolutely lost the second. This weekend I’m having a party (PARTY party, not dinner party) with some friends of mine. Leah’s birthday is on the sixth so we’re having a joint party. It’ll be cool.

I’ll stick a blog post up about it on Sunday. Until then…

The three Germans assigned to be my partners were Martin, Micah and Samantha. Martin was 18, Micah and Sam were 17 and they were really cool. Normally I got assigned 12 year-olds, but I was the oldest ‘English’ person on the trip apart from the teachers, so I became a helper. I just had to do head counts and make sure people didn’t mess around. That’s what my partners were doing on the trip, so I was assigned them.

Throughout the week we went to the National Sealife Center, my school (we did karate workshops and a tour of the school), Black Country Living Museum and we went to the town hall and met the Lord Mayor. The current one is the third Pakistani Lord Mayor, so that was cool. We were given soda water, orange juice, tea and sandwiches. How very English of us.

At my place we had Indian takeaway for dinner and played cards until the early hours. It was a game my parents and I had never heard of, Micah had brought it along with her. It’s called Phase 10 and we liked it so much, we ordered it from Amazon immediately. Eventually we all got too tired to play properly so my parents, Juliet who was playing with us, and the girls went to bed. Martin and I went on the computer and watched Batman Begins. We fell asleep about half an hour from the end. Our plan was to watch that, then Donnie Darko, then Transformers and Forrest Gump. Wake everyone up at about 8, have breakfast and go to the airport. Oh well…

There are however some new games I’ve discovered.

Tojam Thing is a game where you have to inflate and pop bubbles, collect collectables, make chains of pops and enjoy the music.

Off-Road Velociraptor Safari is just the awesomest idea for a game ever. Check it out.