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Book Sixty Seven - East of the Sun by Julia Gregson

This tells the story of three young women on their way to India in the 1920s. Rose is going to get married, Tor is going to be her bridesmaid, and Viva is their chaperone. She is also chaperoning a young man, Guy, who has just been expelled from his school and is going back to India to his family. Viva is also going to get a trunk of belongings which belonged to her parents, who have now died. It talks about their journey, and what happens once they get to India. Rose has her marriage and tries to settle into her life with her husband. Victoria really enjoys India, away from her stifling life in England, and Viva finds a job which gives her a great sense of purpose and ability. Guy's story is a bit more shrouded in mystery, and he's a bit of a strange character. I really like to read stories about this period, and at first I really enjoyed this book. Rose's story really captured the feelings of a new bride who doesn't really know her husband and how their life will be, and the whole story portrayed the strangeness, the heat and the difference of India and its people. However, it did get a bit *too* mysterious, especially in regards to Guy, and I just wanted them to get on with the story and tell us what happened! Guy seemed a bit like he was just there to give Viva a reason to leave her job at an orphanage, and they all seemed to get a bit wishy washy towards the end. Its ok, I would recommend it if you like reading popular fiction, and books about the British in India, but I did get a bit disappointed towards the end. 7 / 10

Films 43 and 44 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I'm sure most people know these stories, and I will be here forever if I try and explain them, so I'll just give my opinions on these! The Order of the Phoenix is great for the battle between good and evil, and the characters are so well casted, especially Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix. Both films obviously miss out quite a bit of the books, as they are getting longer and longer as the series progresses! But despite this it's still good. I like the Half Blood Prince as it has more of the classroom scenes, which I really like, however I do think it reveals who the Half Blood Prince is way too quickly and doesn't make it prominant enough. They are great films though - I'm going to be sad when the last one comes out next July! Can't wait for the next one in November though :) 9 / 10 for both films!
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Book Sixty Four - Dracula The Un-dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt )

Film 41 - Repo! The Genetic Opera )

Book Sixty Five - Alastair McLean's UNAC - Hostage Tower by John Denis )

Gigs - Bad Pollyanna, The Mumbles, Specimen / Gene Loves Jezebel )

The new series of Who Do You Think You Are started on UK TV on Monday. It followed Bruce Forsyth as he tried to find out what happened to his great-grandfather, as he had recieved a letter from an american relative saying that he was a bigamist! I thought the story was really interesting, especially towards the end, and I liked the way it showed how you can use so many different types of documents (eg certificates, census, passenger lists, trade directories etc) to find out your information. One thing I wasn't so sure of is that Bruce seemed a bit fake at first, like he wasn't really *that* interested in what was being found out, but he got more interested towards the end. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series! :)


It was also Katie's graduation last week, which was lovely. A lot nicer than mine! I just wanted to go home and get away from uni, but Katie's was nice as she was surrounded by her friends and everyone was happy! The only annoying thing was that Patrick Stewart, the chancellor of the Uni, was not there, he was on the first day of graduations, but only attends one day each year apparently. After the graduation ceremony we went for dinner in a lovely pub in Holmfirth - and the portions were huge! Katie had a "jumbo" fish and chips (the only option for that dish - no small or medium! :) ) and it was the biggest bit of fish I've ever seen, haha. After that we (well, me and Katie, not our parents!) went to Warehouse, where it was a kareoke night. Which was quite amusing!

Last night it was my friend's hen night - I wasn't sure about it at first as it was a barn dance and I've never been to one of those before!! But it was fun, and funny watching everyone do the harder and harder dances. Then we went to the Function Rooms, which although it has a reputation of being a bit rubbish, was quite good! They have good music there on a Saturday, playing 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. Although I think I would have preferred more 80s than 70s and 90s, there were still some great songs played!

Anyway...am currently watching Harry Potter and I think Sirius is about to die!!! So will be back later with more reviews! :)
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Book Sixty Two – SS GB by Len Deighton )

Film 40 – Shrek Forever After )

My weekend was good, Katie was home so that always means its fun! Went to see a band called Bad Pollyanna on Friday, Katie had made some costumes for them, and they were good. And then went to Slimelight on Saturday – the music was as good as ever, especially on the goth floor, but there were a couple of annoying points, for a start it was so so hot (both inside and outside the club!), which made it quite uncomfortable, and for some of the night there was only me and one other guy dancing on the goth floor, which was so disappointing! Hopefully next week there will be more people on there as Specimen and Gene Loves Jezebel are both playing, which I’m quite looking forward to. Am a little bit annoyed though as it means that I will miss seeing Katie and going to the Wendyhouse – everything seems to be on the same weekend always!! But I’m going to ask her if I can come see her on the first weekend in August, so that’ll be cool.
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Some more books and films…

Films 36, 37, and 38 – Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire )

Film 39 – Good Morning Vietnam )

Book Sixty One – The Other Side of Me by Sally Vickers )

I am ever so almost at the end of SS GG by Len Deighton, a spy / crime thriller set in a time when Germany won the Second World War. Its good, although at times a bit confusing as to who is on what side and who is secretly working for the resistance. Quite good though. If I finish it at lunchtime I’ll come back and write a review of that too!
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Shaun of the Dead :)

At least twice a day for at least a month, and once every few days for at least a month before that...

I got a bit tired of it at the time, and of the whole situation I was in (uni related....), but I still love the film, and even almost know the commentaries off by heart as well as the script, haha. The whole cast just go together so well, and its even better as I know that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun and Ed) are best friends in real life, along with Edgar Wright, the director. I can't wait for the next (and unfortunately last!) installment in the "Blood and Ice Cream" trilogy that they continued with Hot Fuzz!

"Want anything from the shop?"
"Cornetto"

"Wait wait, what was that??"
"Err...Blue Monday"
"That was an original pressing!!!"

"Kill the Queen!!"
"What??!!"
"The Jukebox!"
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Book Sixty - Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

This book is the true story of Julie Powell, who cooked her way through a cookbook by Julia Child called "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", in a year, and wrote about it in her blog. It is a funny book, which describes how she manages to get all the ingredients for the french dishes in the cookbook, her attempts to make it, and also the impact on her family and friends, and some of the things which are happening in their lives. There are also short sections about Julia Child and how she came to write the book. It was a good book, but I've also seen the film and I think thats far better. It had more about Julia Child, which is the main reason I liked it I think, as Meryl Streep was amazing as her. But this book is quite good, recommended if you like cooking and food I think! :) 6 / 10

Film 35 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

This is the first book in the Harry Potter series, where Harry comes to Hogwarts for the first time, meets Ron and Hermione, gets involved in Quidditch and overcomes a series of obstacles and you-know-who to get the Philosopher's Stone, which makes people live forever. I like books and films set in boarding schools, for some reason, haha, so I would have liked more about the school routine and things, but it is a good film which has a great set of adventures and characters in it. I think it can be enjoyed by adults and children, like the books really. 7.5 / 10

And now I'm going to watch the second Harry Potter now! :)
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I am really quite behind with all my reviews, so I think I'll just do a few at a time!

Book Fifty Two - The Tiger In The Smoke by Margery Allingham )

Book Fifty Three - Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier )

Film 33 - This is England )

Film 34 - Sixty Six )

Some more reviews to follow in the next entry! :)
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...Reviews of:

Plague Child by Peter Ransley (8 / 10)
Alice in Wonderland (film)
Royal Dress by Valerie Cumming (7 / 10)
Runaway Bride (film)
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margaret Allingham (not finished yet, but will be by the time I get a chance to write these reviews... :D )
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Nearly made it...only two off my target now! I'm sure I will catch up with that later on in the year though, when I'm on holiday I read more as well, and I have some of those coming up! :)

Book Forty Seven - The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion )

Book Forty Eight - The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan-Doyle )

Film 30 - Robin Hood )

Came back in time to see our atrocious performance in the Eurovision song contest (well the results of it anyway!). Why can't we either a) stop giving so much money to it, or b) actually pay attention to what every other country does and actually put someone who is already famous in there for it, so we might actually do ok. How come other countries can have acts such as Lordi and Tatu who are already famous, but we have rubbish who have never ever performed before in their lives? Gah!
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Book Forty - On The Road by Jack Kerouac )

Book Forty One - Hitler and The Holocaust by Robert S Wistrich )

Film 28 - Hunger )

Film 29 - Remember the Secret Policeman's Ball )

I also caught up on "A Passionate Woman" which we had recorded from the TV a little while ago. It was great. Billie Piper played a young woman in the 50s who had an affair with a man who was shot by his wife when she found out he was having an affair, and then Sue Johnson played the same character in the 80s, still with her husband and still thinking about the other man she loved. All the actors were excellent, and it was a great study on "love" and why you stay in your relationships.

I'm currently reading "Birdman" by Mo Hayder, which although its good, I always think Mo Hayder's books go into a little too much detail about the sick side of the serial killers, instead of just focusing on the police investigation. I have read another of her books before, and I thought it was just that one, but its the same in this one too. But it is still good despite that, and, as with most crime books, I'll probably finish it today or tomorrow!

Slimelight again tonight - woo! :) I've been quite a few times recently, which is great! I really love it, now they've improved and refurbished bits of it its probably my favourite club. The mix of music is great, the drinks are cheap, it goes on for a good amount of time - and with an added bonus that tonight there are going to be five bands on - four goth bands before, and then XP8 during the night. The main goth band is Voices of Masada, playing their last gig (so I hope they aren't *too* good so that I feel bad that I've missed them before, haha), and I'm also looking forward to seeing The Mumbles, which is a band of a guy I used to talk to on vampirefreaks. They also fully show their influences - their record label is called "Mumbling Release" - I wonder where they got that from! :D
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Film 27 - Jesus Christ Superstar )

Book Thirty Nine - Riders on the Storm by John Densmore )

I’m just about to start “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac, I’ve read good things about it so I hope its good.

Oh and I bought tickets to see the March Violets today, woo! :D I can’t wait to see them again, especially as when I saw them in 2007 they said that was their only gig! And I will definitely buy a tshirt this time – I really regret not getting one last time.

Other good news...well good for me, not so much for other people...is that XP8 are playing at Slimelight on 15th May! I was planning to go anyway as there are some goth bands playing before Slimelight and the ticket gives free entry, so that’s a nice added bonus. They were meant to be playing in Sheffield that night, so that’s a bit rubbish about that gig being cancelled though – it seems like the Corporation have done that a few times. Although to be honest I don’t really mind, the less times we have to go to the Corporation the better really, as although it’s a good place for bands, its atrocious to get to and from!
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Film 23 - I Robot )

Film 24 - Labyrinth )

Film 25 - Inglourious Basterds )

Film 26 - The Boat That Rocked )

Book Thirty Four - Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell )

That makes the 35th book, which means to keep up with my (unofficial) aim of reading 10 books per month I need to read 5 in the next week - I might achieve it, as I'm going on two long train journeys and having a couple of days off work so might have time...but I doubt it. Maybe I'll cheat next month and read some either really short books, children's books, or crime books, as I always seem to get through them quickly!

I *still* need to write about Gotham 11 and Slimelight - I will hopefully get that completed on Monday. But then I will have my whole weekend to write about then - as I'm going to Whitby Goth Weekend :D It will be fantastic! I can't wait! :D And I'm also reading the most stereotypical book to read on a visit to Whitby :D
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Hmm, well I don’t seem to be doing too well in keeping up with this…I keep writing myself notes of what to write about, but as I end up with so many notes I never have time to write anything! There have been a few interesting things which I’ve done / read / seen recently, I hope they’re as interesting to other people! I originally was going to go on the communities I go on and ask people if they want to add me as a friend, but now I’m not so sure of that, it’s a bit like self promotion and I don’t like doing that – what if my writing is actually rubbish? But a few people have added me as a friend and seem to read this, so that’s good…if anyone wants to add me as a friend and continue to read, feel free! I hope my writing style has or will improve over the year, I sort of think my book reviews have already, but I’m not sure of the other bits. But anyway, on with the content….

Synth Britannia )

Film 21 – Mrs Brown )

Book Thirty – The Last Curtsey by Fiona McCarthy )

Film 22 – Night at the Museum 2 )

Enchanted Palace, at Kensington Palace )

Book Thirty One – The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin )

I’m currently reading “Phillip and Elizabeth – Portrait of a Marriage” by Gyles Brandreth, which is actually really good so far. The style is light and easy to read, and it has lots of anecdotes in it, which show that Gyles does really know them (well as far as the Queen and her husband can be known!) and knows what he is writing about. Next I shall probably read The Kite Runner – my mum has just read it and says that it is one of her favourite books now, so I’m looking forward to that.

Got a few things to look forward to actually – its my mum’s birthday tomorrow so we’re going into London for a surprise for her, which should be great :D And then on Saturday I have Gotham 11 and Slimelight – wearing my new boots out in London for the first time! Hopefully they (and my feet) will last that long. Its free entry to Slimelight after the gig, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to go. I wish Legion weren’t on first though – I really want to see them, and Clan of Xymox, but am not so bothered about the bands in between (although maybe I will be when I’ve looked them up on the internet!) so will be hanging around for quite a while. Hopefully I’ll see someone I know there though – I’m not very good at going to talk to people, but hopefully someone will come and talk to me!!
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And so that ends that weekend, now on to my birthday weekend! I didn’t do much on my actual birthday, as I had a horrible cold, but I had a nice day, got a nice present and card from work, and then in the evening opened my presents from my parents, had a lovely Chinese takeaway and watched the History Boys – such a great film!! I was planning to go to the pub with people, but hardly anyone wanted to / was able to go so I didn’t do that in the end…but oh well. I got a book (The Necropolis Railway), cd (Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band) and dvd (This Is It) from my parents, along with some Body Shop Cocoa Butter Body Butter and Body Shop Banana Conditioner! So I should smell nice for some months to come, hehe!

The day after, I went up to see Katie, meeting her and her friend Hannah in Manchester, where we did some shopping (bargain of the day – a cd case which holds 100+ cds from Whsmiths for £1.99!!!) and then went to the cinema. And in the middle of that went to Marks and Spencer for a scone, which was lovely, hehe. The film we saw was Shutter Island….

Film 20 )

After this we went back to Huddersfield (after waiting for an hour for the train after we missed the previous one by about 2 minutes!!) and went back to Katie’s, via Noodle Bar again! The next day I had a loooooong line in …went to bed at 2am and slept for almost 12 hours! However Katie wins that prize as she didn’t get up til about 4pm! The evening was really excellent though, we went to Leeds, to the Wendyhouse. We did plan to go to the Dry Dock first, a pub which apparently plays alternative music and is in a ship, but we were a bit late, so we just ate at the Wetherspoons at Leeds station and went to the Wendyhouse. We met some nice people while in the pub, a guy who just happened to be passing and noticed we were alternative, hehe. So that was nice, he was really enthusiastic about meeting some other Goths! :D Unfortunately he couldn’t come to the Wendyhouse, but we recommended he did come along some time.

The Wendyhouse was great! I came along with lists of songs I wanted them to play already prepared – I don’t know if that’s cheeky or not, but when I get to the club I can never remember what songs I want to hear! But it was great, they played loads of the songs I requested. And we shared the dance floor with an guy who could or could not have been Andrew Eldritch…hehehe! We met Kat and her boyfriend as well, which was nice. They did have a bit of a theme fail though, it was supposed to be nautical so I thought there would be lots of people dressed in sea themed things, but there was just a few pirates and a few sailors. The guy from Grendel was djing on the Mutate floor, but I must admit that I was enjoying the other floor so much that we didn’t see much of him… but the rest of it was good! Another plus point was that I wore my lovely new boots (see picture in previous post, hehe!) and they were wonderful :D They didn’t make my feet hurt much, and they were great to dance it. So now I might not wear my new rocks as much. They’re great, and so comfortable, but not really very “goth” particularly.

After this I was just exhausted, so I’m glad we didn’t do much the next day. Katie and Ben went to Manchester to buy Ben some shoes from Afflecks Palace, but it was closed! Which seems silly, it is a Sunday, but surely that would be one of the days where they get the most trade.

On Tuesday instead of going to the pub like normal I went to my friend Lena’s birthday celebration in Nandos in St Albans. I was a little nervous about going because I didn’t know anyone apart from Lena and her boyfriend Tom, but it was really nice. Everyone was so friendly and really nice. We got a party bag as well! Including bubbles, jellybeans, a skull and crossbones stamp, pencil and rubber, and other things. Which was lovely, hehe.

I realise that I haven’t talked about any books…I have read six books since I last wrote about them, so I think that will have to be in a separate post, as again this has gone on way too long… :)
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Well I haven’t written in here for a while – I’ll just say that all the book reading has meant I haven’t had time, but I have had a really busy couple of weeks. It was my birthday and Katie’s birthday so we went out a few times for both of those, and then I’ve been trying to get my second OU essay done, now I finally have the feedback from the first one. I did well on the first one though, just one bit where I forgot to answer a bit of the question – forgot to say which bit of the essay I found easy – but that was really hard as I actually found it all quite easy! So maybe that’s why I missed it out. The second one I will send off today and then get on with the third one at the weekend. Although I can’t submit it until June or something, at least I will have it done. And then I can get on with the archaeology course, which should be good! From the sound of the course it sounds really sciencey, but as I found the psychology one so easy, and the archaeology one is of the same level, I don’t think it’ll be too much. I am ok at science, just not as good as most people I know, haha.

For Katie’s birthday I went up to see her on the Thursday before, and then her party was on the Friday. It was great! The theme was Tim Burton, and quite a few people dressed up. Katie was in a black and white stripy outfit, Ben was Jack Skellington, Hannah was the white queen, and others. I was the ladybird from James and the Giant Peach! :D as I handily had a ladybird costume from Katie’s last birthday party, and luckily Tim Burton produced the film. Probably no one knew who I was supposed to be though. We had a bit of a party, including cocktails, fish and chips, pass the parcel, and lots of black and white sweets, then went to Camel, which was the same as normal! Too much music which I used to listen to before I really go into alternative music (ska, in other words) and no good metal, they’re supposed to be an alternative night and I’ve never heard an Iron Maiden song there, which is just not right! Although they do play some good songs, like NIN, Manson, Rob Zombie etc. I think one of the DJs likes NIN, we requested NIN and he played Capital G, which was great, as its not one of the most popular songs, and it cleared the dance floor (apart from us of course!) but he still played it. And then a slightly obscure Manson song (can’t remember what it was now!) which kept the dance floor clear, but it was great there was someone who was willing to play songs which aren’t the most popular ones of a certain band. The back room was playing indie, and they actually played some good songs, Joy Division and some other goth things. We finished that evening with some nice food from Noodle Bar – that’s becoming one of my favourite Chineses I think, along with the Dragon Garden and the one in Leverstock Green.

The next day we went to Bradford, where we had booked to see Alice in Wonderland at the IMAX. It was really great, despite the fire alarm in the middle!

Film 19 )

I will edit this later to add a great picture of everyone in their 3D glasses!

After the film we went to Frankie and Bennys and had dinner, which was really nice. I had a chicken carbonara calzone (I think that’s what it was called) – which was basically pasta carbonara with chicken in, in a folded pizza instead of with pasta! Yummy!

The next day was Katie’s birthday, and as she was going to see HIM in the evening in Manchester, we didn’t stay too long, but just travelled home. It was a really great weekend – just as great as the next weekend! :D which I think I should talk about in the next entry as this has gone on far too long so far…..
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Finally I have a chance to update the books I have read! This week has been a bit strange, as I've been quite stressed out with my OU course. I had to write a 1000 word essay, which I thought would be quite straightforward, but it was harder than I thought, as I ended up writing 1600 words and it was really hard to cut it down. Which really annoyed me, because I actually found the writing of the essay quite easy! Now I think I've got it down to the right amount...well...on one computer its 1127 words and on 1144, so I just have to take out one or two sentences. Apart from that its a really interesting course :)

Now on to the books I've read :)

Books Fourteen to Nineteen )

I am currently reading The Hidden Life of Otto Frank by Carol Ann Lee, its good so far. Last time I started it I couldn't really get into it, but this time it seems ok.

Films 17 and 18 )

I've had a lovely day today, went to see my grandparents in Rochester. Spent part of the day trying to explain to my grandad the different ways to transfer files and photos from his desktop to laptop computer, which was amusing as it always is when he tries to work out technological things..the classic quote today was "This is the slow computer as its not..you know, fast..." :D
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Just a quick entry to remind myself which books I still have to write reviews for - and the film I'm watching at the moment. Its in french so I have to actually watch it (for the subtitles) instead of half watching and listening, so can't really do this at the same time! So far its a good film, but the music seems a bit anachronistic, which is putting me off a little.

Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris - 4
World War One in Postcards by John Laffin - 5
Double Fault by Lionel Shriver - 4
From Newbury With Love edited by Anne Horsburgh-Porter and Marina Aidova - 10
Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah - 8

La Reine Margot

As well as reading all those books, I've also managed to get 5 weeks ahead in my OU course, and have finsihed the first assignment today! woo! :) Although it needs some work - its 1600 words long and only should be 1000!! So quite a bit needs to be cut out.

Will probably be back to update this tomorrow, need to get on with concentrating on the film! :)
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This week I have read lots of books! One of which is now on my top ten of all time list, and one of which really underwhelmed me. The other two were just funny, interesting reads.

Books Ten, Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen )

Films 15 and 16 )

In other rather exciting news this week, I signed up for an Open University Course – Starting with Psychology – and received the course materials yesterday. I was a bit worried about how much work there would be, and whether I would be able to do it with working, as I became really unmotivated when I was at uni, but I’ve decided I am going to snap out of my laziness and get on with it! In total I have to write three 1000 word essays / question answers – and as this post is probably over 1000 words, I think I should be able to manage that. I did expect there to be some more books etc, theres just one and a dvd, but it does look really interesting. I’m planning to read each chapter through, and then read it again and make notes on it, and then look at some of my other psychology books (I’ve got a few from my mum when she was getting rid of them at work) and read around the subjects covered in the OU book. I’m really looking forward to it now, as when I’ve done this I will be on the way to getting another degree, which is my aim, as I don’t feel that my other one is good enough to get a job that I want. I’ve got a list of courses that I want to do, so my aim is by the time I’m 30 (5 years!! I feel so old now! :( ) I will have another degree. I hope by then I also will have my own house, a lovely relationship and a job which I really love, but I’ll just concentrate on the degree for now!

This weekend its Assemblage 23 and Slimelight – which should be really excellent! Katie is coming down for it – as well as the rest of the Wendyhouse, it seems, haha – and that is really great, we should know lots of people there. I love Slimelight now it has the goth floor the majority of weeks now – its just that it seems to take up so much of my weekend, as I want a lie in on Saturday and want to just sleep as I’m so tired on Sunday, so that’s why I don’t go as much as I would like to. I really should go more though – I might make some friends there and have some people to go to things in London with, that’d be great :)

I’ve just done the word count on this (as I’m writing it in Word), and its almost 1800 words! I know I go on a bit, but I didn’t know it was that much. So now I think I will end, and will be back again a few days to write about more books and films :)
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