...since I updated this journal. It's so strange, how all this time has passed and I've not even thought about writing in here. I suppose the reason I'm writing now is because Nuri wrote in her's and I want to copy (joke!). But seriously, she's sort of inspired me to update my own journal and so you can thank her that this thing is appearing.

So much has happened since my last journal update, not that anyone who reads this hasn't already been informed really. But I suppose it's nice to have it down in writing somewhere, as like, proof that it's happened, you know? It's nice to look back on it and think 'yep, I remember that' or just to write about what's been going on because...well...it just is, Ok?!

In April-June this year I took my GCSE exams and there were so many of them, but that also meant I got lots of grades as opposed to like...2 or something. But I got them back and I was very pleased: 5 A*s (A+s for anyone who's American), 4 A's and 3 B's. Needless to say, the 3 B's were mainly the sciences...

School has been quite a rocky road this year and I really wanted to escape GCSE's, and I'm very glad I did. I'm in my school's sixth form now, but it's easier to refer to it as college because it's shorter and it sounds cooler as well. Sixth form always seems to sound a bit poncy and childlike to me, but whatever. I've got 7 subjects on the go, including General Studies and something ridiculous called COPE, so I've been kept very busy over the past 6 weeks. Sometimes it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since I started, but other times I'll sit down and wonder why I seem to have been in college for months now. Well, only 2 more weeks until my half term break, which I am spending with someone special in Canterbury (you know who you are ).

I've also had some trouble at home over the past while and my house is in an absolute state thanks to builders and the fact that barely anything has been tidied up since the floods last July. Only now have we got sofas and carpets in our living room- yes, that is over a year we've spent with stone flooring and deck chairs. Not very comfortable. But my room is my retreat, and Ikea has provided me with somewhere rather homely to go- well, I've always spent most of my time in my bedroom, but it's nicer to be in now it has proper furniture and is actually decorated.

It's also a nice retreat from the outside world as well, not just from the rest of our dilapidated house. Though I've made quite a few new friends, there is one persistant person who keeps popping up and making my life a misery. No names mentioned (JOSIE) but I just can't stand her anymore. I've spent time trying to get to know her, and trying to like her for the sake of my best friend, but I've given up once and for all now. She's distanced herself from everyone except her ridiculous mother, but that's fine with me. Means I don't have to deal with her anymore, right?

A first in my life, recently, is that I've been given a D- in my first history essay. I know I've ranted about it before to people but it really did shock me and I couldn't speak for the whole lesson- I didn't want to speak. I felt so down about it that I cried as soon as I came home. The thing is, I wouldn't have minded as much if we had known the stuff and still failed, because then I wouldn't have felt cheated. But our teacher hadn't given us any information on A level essays and what we needed to include, so I did feel quite wronged, in the sense that I'd have probably been able to get at least a C if I'd have known what I had to do. It was like sending an 11 year old into a University and expecting them to know how to get a degree. Strange comparison, and I'm shutting up about it now, but that's how I felt and that's how much it shocked me.

Despite this, I still like the teacher we have for that part of history. However, I am far from keen on the one that takes us for Suffrage and British Rights for Women. I am making no exaggeration when I say she is the WORST teacher I have ever known. She waffles on about nothing, explains nothing to us, gets us to do work that should have been done in the lesson for homework (because she spent so damned long waffling about irrelevant stuff) and then adds about 5 pages extra. I am not kidding. She regularly fills up a whiteboard with homework for us, and expects it to be done to perfect standard, even though we have homework from several other subjects as well which they expect to be done perfectly as well. It is a bit too much, I have to say. Plus, she doesn't even make eye contact. She doesn't look any lower than the ceiling and repeats tasks purely because she has no idea what she was meant to be doing in her lesson. We have to sit at seperate desks because she photocopies that much junk for us to take home, most of which is irrelevant and pointless, and she treats us like we're children again. Anyway, rant over about her.

I think that might conclude my rant about school and possibly concludes what I've filled you in on since my last entry.

So, that brings me onto the present.

At the moment, I'm feeling quite crappy. This morning I found out that my cousin, who isn't my favourite cousin but is my cousin nonetheless, was beaten up on his way home from a friend's house, for no reason whatsoever, by a gang of older boys. He's had his jaw broken and has been transfered to specialists in a Cambridge hospital for the operation. I don't see him often but he is fairly close family. Therefore, it's shaken me up quite a bit and I'm not really in my right mind at the moment.

To make matters worse, I have a psychology exam tomorrow and so I should be studying for that, but it's difficult to when you're worried about something like that. I know it might not seem very big to anyone else, but from what they've said he seems quite close to have having his neck broken as well. And what would have happened if this gang had had knives on them? It makes me shudder to think about what could have happened, and I'm glad he's alive, but still very worried about him. He's having the operation today and his father has contacted the police, but I doubt they'll catch the boys that did it. As is life, unfortunatly.

I've also got a lot to do to tidy my room as well- I keep tidying and tidying, but it's not good enough for my mum. She keeps on at me and reminds me that we have a cleaner who "isn't there to pick up after everyone", even though that's her job. It confuses me, you know? It really does. And I'm very angry at my mum right now, not just because of this but because she's been so nasty and bitter with everyone lately due to an argument with my dad. That argument is a seperate story, one that I don't wish to write about, but she's complained and then done the same thing as she always does- lets him sweet talk her for a couple of hours and then goes straight back to him, and gets snappy with me and my brother.

Typical

So, 8 months and a day I was in pretty much a crappy mood as well, right? Strange, that.

I'd like someone to cheer me up right now. But I'll wait. I'll try and do some homework, tidy my room a bit, cook myself something to eat. Then I might have someone to cheer me up, I hope.