The Musings of Joel After Midnight (The miraculous tenth post)

I have realized just now that writing posts after midnight will lead to very sloppy posts. However, I will press on despite this. Two things have come to mind recently. The first one is that this blog is a little boring, and could do with a focus. So, I may begin to add in a few blog posts, once in a while, that are reviews of music and musicians (because if there is one thing I'm good at it's talking about music).

The second thing that has come to mind is the sheer lack of comments that I have been receiving. I'm sure if you read my blog you have an opinion. I would love to hear what you think of my blog, or some of the things mentioned in the blog. Nothing beats a nice bit of user generated content.

Finally I'd just like to mention that for this blog, and blogger for that matter, Christmas is over and so the decorations are coming down. I'm mildly disappointed that no one suggested an image for the Christmas background. However, if you still wish to suggest an image just drop a comment, or email the image to me if you have my address.

Deep and Crisp and Even (The miraculous ninth post)

...And here it is merry Christmas everybody's having fun. Well it is the day after Christmas and I am thoroughly content. My Grandmother and I went to the midnight Christmas eve service and afterwards we got to call my parents on Skype. It was priceless to see my parents who are seven hours ahead of us, open they're presents on Christmas day. My presents were also a huge success. Two presents which I will highlight are the present I got from my friend Beth, and my present from my parents. My present from Beth was what I would describe as the perfect gift. I had no clue what it could possibly be, but when I opened it, it couldn't possibly have been anything else. It was the special edition copy of "The Princess Bride". My parents sent me a box of what can only be described as the best instant noodles in the world. Mie Goreng Indo Mie. I opened it and clutched the box to my chest yelling YES for about five minutes. Incidentally while writing this post I was actually consuming two packets of noodley heaven. All is well in the world.

Fun Times At Quiz Night (The miraculous eighth post)

Well..... It would appear that my college's Biology department are about as organized as the rest of the college. In all honesty I do not expect to do a mock and then have it lost by the teacher. I mean we can't have all done that badly. I could understand if it was so bad that they didn't want to show them to us, but losing them is a poor excuse.

It turns out that, after losing the papers some time earlier last week, they managed to finally produce the papers by Friday (FINALLY).

Anyway, back on to the main topic of this post. Our sixth form held a quiz night and my group of friends felt inclined to put our best and brightest forward. Unfortunately they weren't all available so I ended up in the team. The Christmas quiz night had apparently been won by the joint chemistry and physics faculty team every year to date, so the challenge was to beat them. The night itself included a ten round quiz with soda and crisps on sale at the side, and a raffle. The night's entertainment also included according to my friend Dominic drawing moustaches on the photos from the picture round. In then end we had to confiscate the pen when maturity levels dropped to an all time low and unspeakable things were drawn all over David Bowie's head.
It's funny that things like quiz nights tend to show you which of your friends are really competitive, and oh did we learn who was competitive that night.
The vast majority of our team was satisfied when our team came a humble tenth place out of 26. A small minority were livid that they had not come in the top 3. All in all though, the quiz was a huge success as a student team managed to place first leaving the joint chemistry physics faculty team with the shame of having to accept second place.
I still have not had any drawings for the background of this blog submitted. So again, if you have drawn or wish to draw something for the background of my blog please submit it to me by email (leave a comment if you need an address to send it to). Please submit something or I'll get bored.

Friday to Sunday, Jon Mark, and Skype (The miraculous seventh post)

This weekend began returning home from School with my cousin (well sort of) and I received a call from the friend I grew up with in Indonesia, Jon Mark (no not Jon or Mark but Jon Mark), who is now living in England. He had decided he wanted to visit me that night. So we picked him up from the train station at about 9:15pm. We spent the rest of the evening drinking tea, eating cookies, and catching up. The next day we were dropped in Loughborough with my Grandma, and after dragging Jon Mark into a Games Workshop we got on the bus to the town I where I go to college and looked around. I managed to show him most of my college and most of Ashby. I even managed to show him the Ashby grill. Then we met up with Dominic in Costa and headed back home to play Star Munchkin (fantastic game). That night we Skype called our friend Bethany, with whom we both grew up. The next day was church, and then more Skype calling. Our families got together and Skyped the two of us. We Skyped Jon Mark's sister, another amazing friend of mine, we Skyped my cousin (well sort of) Sarah, and we Skyped our classmate and close friend Venessa. Then Jon Mark had to go. In all, an amazing weekend was had! I cannot wait to see Jon Mark again!

December (The miraculous sixth post)

Well it's the first of December and as you can see I have decided to decorate for Christmas. If you want to contribute a drawing to become a background just comment and I'll give you an email address. Alternatively if it's already an existing photo link it to me in the comment.

Enjoy your advent.
Pray that I get a job at some point.

The Long Promised Update (The miraculous fifth post)

As I said last post I have been considering studying Physics at university, and I have come to a decision. *drum roll*. I have decided to study physics. Unfortunately this did mean I had to change to maths. This far into term that could have been a problem. However I managed to ask the faculty nicely and set up a meeting with the head of maths. I took along my American high-school transcript and the head of maths took one look at the section marked Calculus class and decided to let me in. They were even kind enough to rearrange my schedule so I could drop psychology and keep biology. This I am very happy about. It was only by the grace of God that this actually all worked out. Thank you to everyone who was praying. The first few lessons went well. I learnt what a radian (something I have been using in maths for years) was.
In other news the day after dropping psychology for maths I received the mark for a project I had done for psychology. I had not lost a mark. Well, here's for funny little things in life that make it all worth living, and make people question my motives.

What to do, What to do (The miraculous fourth post)

I have a dilemma. I have wanted to study Veterinary Medicine since I was nine. However, recently I have found myself enthralled by physics. It may have been because of the mystery of quantum probability and mechanics, it may have been the visiting speaker from CERN, it may have been how much I have been enjoying my physics lessons. However, whatever it is in physics that has so captured my attention, it has managed to attract me so much that I am no longer certain that I want to be a Veterinarian. I think the decision to become a vet may have been premature. That said I don't want to make a hasty decision now that I will regret.

I dislike dilemmas like this. I will update everyone on the unfolding events surrounding my indecision. As for now thank you for reading and be praying for God's guidance.

Pizza, Parties, and Video Games (The miraculous third post)

Last Sunday was my birthday and yesterday was my party. This was rather entertaining for multiple reasons. The first reason is pizza. Pizza is great. I'm not going to lie the pizza was amazing. Beautiful Domino's pizza. However, the pizza was late. The pizza was very late. This was due to the fact that my friend Dominic who works at Domino's was bringing it. He was working till nine. So, we didn't get pizza till after nine. Note to self: never again. Other than that the pizza was amazing, and so were the cakes (yum).
Moving right along. The party was a huge success. My friend Ruth even waited an hour for a bus in order to come to it which I greatly appreciate it. I mean that is a real sacrifice, giving up Saturday evening to wait in the cold for an Arriva bus which may or may not have arrived. Fortunately it did arrive (for once).
Now, on to the other title of this post. Video Games. Skyrim came out on Friday, so, I bet the vast majority of you are assuming I'm going to review that. No, no I am not. You will just have to buy the game and play it yourself. The Video Games I am talking about is the song Video Games by Lana Del Rey. I think this song is a rather good song. It is a fine example of both a good love song, and a beautifully artistic indie pop piece. That said here is a link to a nice live version of Video Games by Lana Del Rey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu9V3Phfsf8&ob=av2e If you like this check out the official video for it.
Here have the link to that too (I'm that nice): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO1OV5B_JDw

November 6th (the miraculous second post)

It's my birthday, and now that the bildungsroman that is my childhood is approaching it's resolution, I would like to reflect on what has made the past year so special, and why so many people sing songs about when they were seventeen.

I have done many exciting things this past year since my last birthday. I completed my senior project presentation (may it burn in the fires from whence it came), I quit ASB (much to the dismay of some important members of staff), I went and visited my uncle and auntie in Australia for Christmas (bloody beautiful). After Christmas I decided to grow a beard. This coincided rather nicely with the part I was given in the mikado, Koko the Lord High Executioner (perhaps the best comedic musical part an amature dramatist could hope for). I met a man named Stephen Graham (he's a recurring theme. I'm determined to make him a meme), who taught me about literature and why the upper-classes are still the upper-classes. This same Stephen Graham taught me about why to avoid large groups of young girls. All those who studies literature with me know why. By the way all of you who studied literature with me, I got 5 on AP Lit. 

This last year there have been some massive changes in my life, also. I graduated from high school. On the night of my graduation I said goodbye to several of my best friends in all the world, indefinitely. Over the next few weeks I watched more of my friends leave to walk into the next stage of their lives, some more reluctantly than others. Eventually it was my turn to leave a country I loved, and friends I loved, and a home I loved, and pets I loved, and a school I loved, and family I loved, and instant noodles I loved. Sometimes it hurts when you're an missionary kid. You grow kind of close to the seven other members of your class. I returned to England, moved in with my Grandma (YAY COOKIES), and said goodbye to my nuclear family. Finally I started College in England, made some great friends, and have been reunited with family members I haven't seen since I was ten. 

The ups and downs (CLICHE MUCH) have been extensive this past year. As you can see it's been interesting being seventeen, to say the least. I do not regret a single moment of it, even some of the stupid decisions I have made along the way. I will thoroughly miss being seventeen. I can see now why so many people write songs about it. To all my friends who will be turning seventeen this year: make the most of it, and don't take it for granted.

I don't think my life will change much now I'm 18. I don't plan on drinking excessively, and I don't plan on using my legal right to marry without parental consent any time soon. However, we'll see, maybe being eighteen will be every bit as good as being seventeen, if not better. And hey, at least now I can make money off of this blog! Look out for the new advertisements!

why you may never see another post on this blog

I have an unadulterated desire to write the things that have been happening in my life down. This is probably because my life has all of a sudden become somewhat interesting. I have for example this summer moved back into the country which people assume that I call home. More recently I have been down to the somewhat visceral county of Norfolk in order to visit a good friend of mine Stephen Graham. Currently I'm living on my own until my grandmother returns from visiting my parents in South East Asia. So I have no shortage of things to write about. All of these experiences would be rather good topics for a blog post. I could even go down the road of writing about my experiences with certain videogames, as a good friend of mine has done in the past. Why then, you ask, will we never see another blog post.

As I've already said topics to write about is not the issue. The real reason you will probably never see another post on this blog is that I am absolutely awful at finishing this kind of thing. I have absolutely no clue why I even bothered to start a blog. I'm not a particularly good writer, I'm not all that funny, and I don't have the time. Count it as a miracle if you ever see another post on this blog.