.: Greetings, fellow Gerbils! :.

Greetings, fellow gerbils!
Hey there, it's Gerry here! As you may have gathered, I am a gerbil and this is a blog about my life on this planet. I appear to humans through a machine called the GerbilMaestro, which is an exact copy of my master. I control this machine and most of the time pretend to be my master in front of other humans.
I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Thanks a gerbillion!

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Friday 30 November 2012

Getting Christmassy...

So, just put up 'Chirstmas Corner' and switched to this wonderfully wintery wallpaper. You like it? (Note: Did you catch that alliteration?)

Quote Advent Calendar...starting tomorrow!

It's finally here! Starting from tomorrow, there will be a quote everyday in the countdown to Christmas, gosh, it's so exciting :)

Sunday 25 November 2012

Weekly News Round-Up #9: 18/11/2012

I think it's safe to say that everyone is pretty much worn out after this hectic week of mock exams. And it doesn't get any better next week because, guess what, there are more exams! Yay. (How enthusiastic. Jokes)

Somehow, the week's discussions began in our Biology lesson when Ruby, Wicks and Master were discussing textbooks. During their little chat, the notices the common trend that Letts books are often named very enthusiastically (e.g. Success!), so Wicks decided to come up with a few of her own names. It was suggested that, should Professor Brian Cox ever write a textbook, he should call it 'Wondrous!' The topic strayed to CGP books, before going completely off to discuss what TCP is. Ruby was rather surprised that both Wicks and Master didn't know what it was (For those still confused, TCP is a mild antiseptic).

Onto more festive matters, ANT put up her Christmas tree on Monday night! Yes, that's the spirit!

Now for our weekly assembly update: The assembly music act record is still being kept alive! Afterwards, the principal ever so cleverly twisted the lyrics of the song into one of the main messages of the assembly, which was to try our best in the mocks. Brilliant! (As ANT would say.)

Further on in the week, it seems that our History lessons are becoming much more debate-orientated. There was plenty of agreeing/disagreeing to agree/disagree with stuff between ConscienceSarah and BaffledHarrison. Whilst in thwe midst of this historical debate (for those interested, it was on Fleming and penicillin), Disney managed to creep into the conversation a few times, along with a fight of rulers (the measuring device, not kings/queens/leaders etc.)

On the topic of Disney, BaffledHarrison informed ConscienceSarah and Master of the film 'Cinderella 3'. Now, I've seen 'Cinderella 2', but I've never heard of this third film. It happens that it actually has quite a dark plotline (well, who'd have thought Disney would throw in such a twist?) To read the full polt synopsis, click here.

To round off this week, we have our lunchtime discussions. I must admit that we are slightly lacking this week, but oh well. ANT managed to bring up a matter that has recently been mentioned in the news: smoking licences. Should people have a licence to buy cigaretters? Discuss.
(Meanwhile, the topic of blind people playing boccia attempted to make a return as well, but it was not quite as successful.)

Until next week, have a good one :)

Saturday 24 November 2012

Good luck, ConscienceSarah!

Just wishing ConscienceSarah good luck for her dance shows this weekend! Even though I will not be there physically, I am sure I will be lingering somewhere in the back of your head ;p Have fun!

Very nearly here...

I hope you're all excited, because it's that time of year once again when we put up the Christmas tree and start this year's Quote Advent Calendar! Keep your eye on the calendar, because you won't want to miss it ;)
Exactly 1 week to go...

Thursday 22 November 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm sure we all have lots to be thankful for this year. I wanna take this opportunity to thank you all for reading this blog! Have a good holiday :)

Sunday 18 November 2012

Weekly News Round-Up #8: 11/11/2012

It has to be said that this week has seen many discussions, both in lessons and at break times.

Monday morning form time went up in fireworks (becuse it was Bonfire Night, get it?) and hysterics. ANT announced that she managed to spot a giant purple chicken on some motorway at the weekend...awesome!

So, onto the first discussion topic of the week: Monopoly (I cannot remember how we managed to dig this topic up, so don't ask.) It happens that no one is 100% sure on the rules of this classic board game, so everyone just ends up making up their own along the way (I'm still a little wobbly on the whole houses and hotels thing).

Then, the topic somehow changed to that of primary school playtime. We ended up discussing how, even as young children, there is a sense of ownership of games. For example, when someone asks if they can join in with the game you're playing, and it wasn't your idea initially to play this game, you say, 'Go ask so-and-so, it's their game'. What an interesting idea, it never dawned upon me that this sort of 'primary school game hierarchy' (as Wicks so brilliantly put it) was in action all that time.

Moving on...oh yes, once more here's a shout-out to our newest readers, DisneyLoverMolly and ConscienceSarah!

On Tuesday, the main topic was Boccia (if you don't know what it is, check this out: http://www.parasport.org.uk/sports-landingpage.asp?section=34&sectionTitle=Boccia&gclid=CKuC2KOax7MCFSnJtAod-ncAtw) It was first intorduced in our PE lesson, which later led to a heated discussion on whether or not blind people would be able to play. I must commend ANT for firmly standing her ground and arguing that it is definitely possible for blind people to play and there is no reason for them not to compete with people who are not blind. I truly think that ANT could make it as a political leader in the future, it would be a better world, who agrees with me?

Onto the middle of the week, we have our update on assembly. I can safely say that the assembly music act record is still being kept up. I think Wicks agrees that it has officially gotten to the point where no one cares how good the quality of performance is. All that matters is that every week we have people playing some form of music or other in assembly, full stop.

Thursday lunchtime saw ANT and Master betting on how long they think a balloon will stay in a tree for. The prize: the satisfaction of being correct.

Later on that lunchtime, ANT managed to concoct an idea for the ultimate quiz show: The Eggheads + Anne Robinson vs. The Chaser! (for those who don't know who the Eggheads are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggheads_%28TV_series%29
Anne Robinson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weakest_Link_%28UK_game_show%29
The Chaser: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chase_%28game_show%29) What do you think?

At the end of the week, our History lesson saw the realisation of many a good thing. First of all, ConscienceSarah sees the world in red (by holding up a piece of transparent red Quality Street wrapper). Then, DisneyLoverMolly found out there was actually a place called Balaclava. Afterwards they couldn't find where Crimea was. If anyone is still in doubt, here is the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea

Finally, as we conclude on this past week, Wicks has brought up an interesting take on the incredibly popular Harry Potter series. She questions whether or not Hogwarts was just a dream. Maybe Harry fell into a coma in the cupboard under the stairs and just imagined fighting Voldemort etc. Perhaps the part where he dies for a bit is where he wakes up in a white hospital room and Dumbledore is really a doctor? Well there's something for you all to think about ;)

Until next week, have a good one :)

Friday 16 November 2012

Children in Need

So, who's gonna get involved this year?
Head over to the BBC Children in Need website to find out how you can help this great cause:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008dk4b

Monday 12 November 2012

MouseMouseMonday #20: Books + Films

Hello there!

I hope everyone's had an awesome weekend and is now sat comfortably as we have a whole lot of stuff to talk about this week!

First up...the Divergent Series!
Many of you will already know about this incredible book, but for those who don't, it is by Veronica Roth and I really recommend it! It is followed up by a second book called 'Insurgent'.

To find out more about the author and books, head to http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

To read a summary of 'Divergent', check out http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/divergent-cover-and-summary.html

[Image from above website.]





Now, we have a whole bundle of new films this month. Let's start with...'Rise of the Guardians'
A brilliant way to get ready for the festive season, and gosh doesn't the Easter Bunny sound awesome? Check out the trailer:
'Rise of the Guardians' will be released on 21st November.
Official website: http://www.riseoftheguardians.com/

Next up...'Great Expetations'
A good ol' classic, this time brought to us by quite a few members of the Harry Potter crew and also the brilliant actor of 'War Horse', Jeremy Irvine. Take a look at the trailer:
'Great Expectations' will be released on 30th November.

Finally for today...'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'
What can I say. Such. A. Classic.
'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' will be in cinemas on 14th December.
Official website: http://www.thehobbit.com/

Well, I'm afraid that's it for this Monday. Have a good week, and I hope to catch you again soon :)

Sunday 11 November 2012

Wow! Over 7000 views?! (or am I hallucinating...)

Geez, I dunno what to say...7000 views...aaaaahhhhhh!
That is absolutely amazing, I cannot believe it! Thank you soooo much!
If you are the 7000th viewer, please comment on this post to be added into the 'Hall of Fame' :)

Remembrance Day...

I hope everyone's donated to this amazing cause today. Let us remember those...

Weekly News Round-Up #7: 04/11/2012

Sunday 4th November 2012 - Part 2 of Week beginning 22nd OctoberSo, onto part 2!

During the week, ANT and Master revolutionised their usual walk back home. Becaused they were fed up of waiting for Wadz and ArwaChihuahua all the time, they decided to walk ahead and not pay any attention to the others, in an attempt of silent protest. Striking back at this, Wadz promised Master that she would never ever do her Voldemort impression in from of Master again! I wonder how that's going to play out. We'll keep you updated on this ;)

Moving on into the middle of the week, we were once again presented with an absolutely brilliant assembly by the principal of Nasha Academy. (May I also comment on the wonderfully advanced PowerPoint presentation that was used.) This week, the topic was based on the book "'The Art of Being Brilliant', by the 2 Andy's" (Quoted by the principal). It was indeed a very meaningful assembly on the qualities of a brilliant person, how you must have good 'bouncebackability' (I know, whatta great word, commonly found in all dictionaries), or in other words, resilience, and also whether you are a radiator or a drain. Now that's what I call meaningful. Would you rather bring warmth wherever you go, or just be sat in a corner slurping up sewage? Think about it.

Further on in the week, Ruby, Wicks and Master attended the 'History & Science Enrichment Day' at Nasha Academy. It was a wonderful blend of, well, history of medicine and science. Pretty self-explanatory, if you ask me. However, I think Master had a little too much sugar on her Weetabix that day, hence she was rather hyper. She started off accidently pricking herself with an injection needle, which led to her loosing some blood, then expressed a lot of enthusiasm, by saying, "Isn't this so much fun?" to the person next to her, when they were dissecting lamb hearts (I don't think she meant it about the dissecting part). Oh, what a lovely day it was.

Finally, after such an action-packed week, I thought it was only right that we mention this week's lunchtime discussion topic: computer error codes.
As a follow up to our discussion about emails (which can be read about in 14/10/2012's Weekly News Round-Up), the topic of error codes just popped up (so much like an error code, lol), which I have no idea how it managed to, but that's besides the point. We talked about the most frequent error codes that we see, such as code 404, and also hypothesized about what error code 1 is. I think Wicks' best guess was that the computer just shuts down and self-destructs. What do you think happens when you receive error code 1?

Until next week, have a good one :)
[Reference: 'The Art of Being Brilliant' is by Andy Cope and Andy Whittaker. Why not check it out for a nice little read?]

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Our newest readers...exciting!

I have learnt, as of today, that we have new readers!
DisneyLoverMolly and ConscienceSarah, both from Master's history class, have started reading this blog! I hope they both like it here and you can find out more about them in the 'Awesome dudes I go to school with :)' section (Clue: It's at the bottom of the page!)

Monday 5 November 2012

Bonfire Night!

Well, even though there have been a few fireworks over the weekend, I hope everyone has been safe this 5th of November :)

Sunday 4 November 2012

Happy 2nd Birthday, Gerbil Blog!!

So, I was just going about my business writing this week's 'Weekly News Round-Up' and when I write the date, it occurs to me that it is November. So, one thinks to one-self, "It was November when this blog started, I wonder what the exact date was?" Then I go and check the date of the first post ever on here and find it was exactly today 2 years ago!

*In hysterics!*

I cannot believe how long we've kept this up for!
I cannot thank you enough for reading all the non-sense that I write!!
And I cannot hope enough that you continue to enjoy it :)
Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou... :D

(Gosh, I hope I haven't spelt one of the thankyou's wrong, that would be awks, as ANT would say ;p)

Weekly News Round-Up #6: 28/10/2012

Sunday 28th October 2012 - Part 1 of Week beginning 22nd October

Blimey, haven't we had an eventful week! There is so much to talk about, so without further ado, we shall get to it straight away.
Brief summary of the week: ANT had trouble finding her salt, Master surfed the Astro turf during Interhouse football, silently protesting, assembly, history and science day and error codes. (when I said it was gonna be brief, I was joking.)
You know what, since we have so much to talk about, I shall split it in two parts. This Sunday shall be part 1 and next Sunday (4th November) shall be part 2. Problem solved!

So, we started the week rather nicely, with everyone worried about their German Speaking exams, but ANT had an extra problem on her hands. It happened that at lunchtime when she went to eat her Salt 'n' Shake crisps, she could not find the salt sachet anywhere. To hear more about this strange case, tune in to Quote Week starting Monday 29th October...

Moving on the Tuesday...as usual, it was Interhouse and as usual, Master got dragged into participating along with Wicks. This half term it was football. May I highlight that before Tuesday, Master had not played football in what seems like an eternity, in fact, it probably was, literally, an eternity (No jokes or exaggeration.) The turnout was actually ok, they won their first game, then lost the other two. During the second game, Master managed to get into a bit of a tangle with a player on the other team. It ended somehow with Master losing balance, trying to regain balance again by running a few steps, which ultimately gave her the momentum to fall and surf the Astro turf on her side. Apparently it was rather fun and left her with a few scrapes and an impressive looking burn down her leg. Meanwhile, ANT managed to participate in a game aswell. You will not believe how amazing a player she is. Somehow ANT just manages to play in such an awesomely nonchalant way, which is highly comical to watch. I think it should also be mentioned how encouraging, enthusiastic and entertaining our team organiser/commentator is. I think Ruby and the Beckster will agree with me that he has a very promising future, as a sports commentator, ahead of him.

I think that should do for part 1. Next Sunday we shall look into part 2, which will include details on ANT and Master's silent protest against Wadz and ArwaChihuahua, Nasha Academy's principal's brilliant assembly on the art of being brilliant, adventures on the history and science enrichment day and this week's lunchtime discussion topic: computer error codes.
Until next week, have a good one :)

Quote Week: November - Day 7

"Snooze, ya lose!"
- A.T.

Story behind quote:
Such a typical ANT quote. Enough said. ;p

Saturday 3 November 2012

Quote Week: November - Day 6

"I woke up and one hand was more orange than the other..."
- A.T.

Story behind quote:
ANT happened to be looking for a little hand cream at the weekend. She stumbled upon a bottle of lotion and without reading the label, put the lotion on one hand (apparently she found some other hand cream which she used on the other hand). The next day she realised that one hand seemed slightly more orange than the other, and then it dawned upon her that it was in fact tanning lotion that she put on her hand! And the moral of this story, always read the label :)

Friday 2 November 2012

Quote Week: November - Day 5

"My brother, whatta douchebag!"
- A.T.

Story behind quote:
At the sight of her brother, this is the first thing that ANT says, almost as a reflex.

Thursday 1 November 2012

Hope everyone enjoyed Halloween!

As usual, it was a very quiet Halloween. The only people that came to knock on our door were ArwaChihuahua and her sister and ANT. I must admit that I do like ANT's new mode of transport: her brother's scooter ;p

Quote Week: November - Day 4

"Did you eat it?"
- ANT's mother

Story behind quote:
The next day, after the salt incident mentioned in yesterday's post, ANT tells us:
"So, I told my mother about there not being any salt in the crisp packet, and guess what she said, 'Did you eat it?' I mean, seriously?! The salt is in a dark blue sachet, how can I not notice it?!?"
Oh ANT. ;p