MouseMouseMonday #34: ConscienceSarah's rant

As mentioned in WNR #67, ConscienceSarah was having a rather stressful time writing her History coursework, so she decided to produce a mock-up. Here is said article:

MOCK-UP: What, in your view, were the short term economic impacts of Alexander II's reign?

I can't actually write about the economic impacts of Alexander II's reign because it's been so long since I've done a formal piece of writing I can't remember how. Having spent so much time on social media, my spelling and grammar has gone down the drain and the lack of decent Autocorrect means I actually have to think about each word I type out of fear of the dreaded red squiggly line. I could, however, write for hours about dragons, ancient kingdoms, friendship, lies and old feuds. Unfortunately though, this won't help me pass A-level History and get into university. I really need this coursework as well, or you'll find me, around exam time, huddled in the corner of an empty room crying because I can't write an essay under timed conditions, despite having been practicing for my entire school career.

I'm starting to realise how long I'm going to have to spend writing about Russian economy when I buck my ideas up and actually start writing something worth handing in. I'm pretty sure Da Vinci wouldn't have put up with this, or Einstein, Newton or Aristotle. They would have just walked out to go and discover something that modern life is based around. They might still have got detention though, or the equivalent of.

Great people are so misunderstood.

Unfortunately, I'm not a great person, I'm just really lazy and I can't be bothered to do my work. You know who else is lazy? Pandas. They can't even get off their fat butts to save their own species. And I think that's marginally worse than not handing in your History homework on time. They're decisive inaction could actually shape the future of Planet Earth, whereas my slight inability to concentrate on the task in hand would surely only cause problems for me. That's what the teachers love saying at Sixth Form. Nothing to do with pandas, just that if you don't hand your work in on time, it's only yourself you're causing problems for. And as they so frequently remind us: they've "already done [their] A-levels." Well that's just great isn't it? No words of motivation or encouragement. Just a straight up reminder that all your future academic pain will be self-inflicted. I think I'll end this here, you know. This is roughly how long my economic paragraph has to be so, yeah, why not leave the rant and actually pay attention to the work that will SHAPE THE ENTIRE FUTURE OF MY EXISTENCE!

[End of ConscienceSarah's rant.]

At the end of the day, Sharah managed to complete her coursework.

All's well that ends well :)

Weekly News Round-Up #66: 20/07/2014

Ladies and lads, welcome to this week's edition of Weekly News Round-Up! I hope you've all had an ace week, we're gonna share some of our top moments...

Monday saw a bunch of us peeps, who opted to stay in school rather than go home, discussing some ideas for Sharah's new Shtory. We were just bouncing some ideas around, but I feel like we shouldn't give too much away right now. Exclusive first-hand information was revealed to the few of us that stuck around, so if you weren't there, you know now that you missed out. What I will say is that Sharah has confirmed that she now has at least 2 chapters completed, reassuring us all that good progress is being made. Watch this space for plenty more Shtory talk in the upcoming weeks.

On that same lunchtime, Wicks started off a discussion about the origins of Israfel, which we compared to the popular character os Israphel, and as the conversation went along, we ended up with a brand new character, Israphael. Make of that what you will ;p

We've been having a pretty busy time during the middle of the week, with The Voice of Reason and Master being involved in Academy taster days for first years. This included the opportunity to witness the Principal's inspirational speech, where the Academy was frequently referred to as 'The Land of Opportunity.' Well, indeed it is!

On Wednesday afternoon, Sharah, DisneyLoverMolly, Cap, Wicks and Master went into town. Cap needed some materials from the Witches shop, however Wednesday is apparently the only day in the week that they are closed in the afternoon, leaving us pondering to ourselves what in the world does the shopkeeper have to do so urgently on a Wednesday afternoon?? *grumbles moodily*
It wasn't all bad though, as we took a trip to the comic book shop, which is oh so conveniently on the opposite side of town [sarcasm detected], but nevertheless open. Master was most excited as she bough her first comic, The Wicked and the Divine, as recommended by Wicks. After making the purchase, the crew went to a nearby coffee shop to chill out, which included Wicks and Master eagerly reading their comics. All in all, a good afternoon was had by all.

Friday morning saw DisneyLoverMolly and Master battling it out in a 15x15 game of Squares. It was quite a long game, with the contestants initially not realising that they'd end up with a total of 225 squares between them. Overall, DLM scored 98, whilst Master won with 127. Both of them walked away with respect for each other and pride in the concentration, professionalism and strategic excellence showcased that morning. Here's a look at the area of gameplay:

DLM vs. Master in a game of Squares

Generally towards the end of this week, we've all been preparing for Messy Twister, whether it be physical or mental preparation. The match has been scheduled for next Monday (21st) afternoon and it seems that we are pretty much all set! Sharah has acquired a Twister set, Wicks found a load of paint, whilst we've decided that shower caps would be a good addition to our set of gear. As a final reminder to all participants, please remember to bring some old clothes (preferably light-coloured) and a spare change of clothing.

Until then, may the luck of the honey badger's claw/eagle's wing/platypus' tail (depending on which team you're in) be with you!

Let the challenge begin...

Happy Birthday to The Voice of Reason!

Hope you have a wonderful day :D

Weekly News Round-Up #65: 13/07/2014

Hello, one and all! I hope you've all had a fantastic week, it's been a busy one for all of us, but here are the highlights...

Cap. kicked off the week by sharing with us that she has created most of the Sandwich Crew on Sims and compiled a video of all the best moments from the game. Our characters all live in the same house, where hardly anyone eats normal food. Sims ANT is obsessed with 'snow cones', Sims Wicks is a witch and gets around town by broom, whilst Sims ArwaChihuahua simply loves to boogy in the attic that's been converted to a dancefloor. We hope that Cap. will make this into an on-going series ;p

At lunchtime on Tuesday, true colours showed through as the lads revealed ust how much they were afraid of losing their seats at the table. The Appalling One compared the situation to the sort of competition 'in the jungle', then promptly got owned by Master. Meanwhile, Ray went from his seat to the bin and back again at what seemed to be the speed of light! It was incredible to watch and had The Appalling One laughing hysterically for quite a while afterwards.

Tuesday evening saw a bunch of us at the Academy's annual music festival. Naturally, it was cold and rainy at the beginnning, leaving our clothes damp and ensuring that we were cold for the rest of the night. But all in all, I think it's fair to say that we had a fun time, plus Ruby managed to take some interesting pictures of people without them noticing.

Nearing the end of the week, Cap. found a balloon in her pocket, so she decided to blow it up and ultimately created Balloon Cat, as shown in the following picture:

Balloon Cat, by Cap.

On the same day, ConscienceSarah announced that she will be writing a new story in the following weeks, which may be posted on the Book Blog. Alongside this, there's also a book review in the pipeline, so methinks it is time to get psyched.

Until next week, have a good one ;)

Weekly News Round-Up #64: 06/07/2014

G'day everyone! Boy, have we had a busy week sorting out the Summer Ball. It's been hectic, stressful, exciting and crazy but we couldn't have been happier with the result.

Early on in the week, the main issue was that we were struggling to sell tickets. To meet our target, we had to sell more than 100 in 4 days, a task which seemed nearly impossible judging by current sales. To make sure that people who wanted tickets got them, Sharah and Master devised a ticket hit list to keep track of things. Indeed, that ninja school training really does come in handy.

Most things had been booked already, however The Voice of Reason and Master did have to sort out the balloons in the middle of the week. At the idea of ordering 100 balloons, ConscienceSarah did consider the possibility of an army of Balloon Jen's...

As Friday morning rolled around, a whole bunch of us were sent to pick up the balloons and bring them back to the Academy. What made it more difficult was the wind, blowing the balloon bags into our faces and making us hold on even tighter. Aside from getting 100 helium balloons back to the Academy, the preparation process went pretty smoothly. Tables were moved, flowers put into vases and balloons placed strategically (with the odd one floating to the ceiling, out of reach).

Now we get to the actual event!

At the beginning of the evening, ANT's shoes proved to be most troublesome, causing her at times to be sinking into the grass. There was also a large stretch of gravel, which I doubt she enjoyed very much.

I think it's fair to say that we really splashed out on food. Aside from the hog roast and noodles, we had a spectacular chocolate fountain, which was enjoyed by many, plus an ice cream van. I think it has to be noted that DisneyLoverMolly had some suspicious-looking sherbet on her ice cream, whilst Master's neon pink cup with purple sauce looked down-right toxic.

There was also plenty entertainment-wise, with Wicks and Cap. getting remarkable caricatures done. And of course, no party is complete without a disco. Naturally, we danced for around 2 hours with frequent breaks outside of the marquee. The inside was almost like an oven, with the smoke machines only adding fuel to the fire. At one point, visibility in the marquee was perhaps a mere 45%. All in all, I think we danced our socks off, sticking by the philosophy of 'go hard or go home'.

At the end of the night, the issue of gravel arose once again. Indeed, gravel was surely the bane of almost everyone.

What a week it's been! I think we can all agree that this Summer Ball could not have been any better. We all had a fantastic time and the hard work and stress has most certainly paid off.

Until next week, have a good one :)

Quote Week: July - Day 7

ConscienceSarah: "It's like the seats at the cinema."
Wicks: "Or the theatre, if you're cultured."
ConscienceSarah: "Oooh... *sneeze*"
- S.A. H.W.

Story behind quote:
A broken chair was all it took to inspire this conversation.

Happy Birthday, Alexis!

Have a good day, mate! Try to lay off the chair-spinning ;)

Happy Birthday, ArwaChihuahua!

Hope you have a fantastic day! :D

Weekly News Round-Up #63: 29/06/2014

Dear all,

It's been an incredibly busy week filled with prep for the Summer Ball next Friday. We've had very little time to relax, with the task of selling tickets proving to be most tedious!

We do however have a particular story that is worth sharing. On Monday afternoon, Wicks, Sharah and Master were on their way home when Sharah was telling them about how her sister used to skip around the coffee table to In Dulci Jubilo at christmas. Wicks and Master thought that it sounded like so much fun, so the three of them went back to Sharah's and the two who were interested skipped around the coffee table for 3 minutes straight. Now let me tell you this, 3 minutes feels much longer when you're listening to a rather repetitive tune and skipping constantly. All in all, it was a fun experience!

After the skipping, Sharah contemplated whether to ask her mother if they could play Messy Twister in their garden some time in the summer. Since Sharah was struggling, Wicks and Master decided to compose a letter asking for permission. Apparently JK hasn't gotten back to Sharah about it yet. We'll keep you posted on any progress.

As many of you will know, Wicks and Master went LARPing this weekend. I'm sure they had a fantastic time and have plenty of stories tell. Stay tuned for a Podcaast coming very soon, including tales of an uncanny resemblance, nasty bugses and the most epic fall ever!

Don't forget, the Revival starts here from Monday 30th June, so be sure that you're around for our current best content, coming very soon...

Until next week, have a good one ;)

Quote Week: July - Day 6

ANT: *Looks at old photo* "I used to be well ginger didn't I."
KrazyK: "Still are."
A: "Um, I don't really th-"
K: "Shut up you ranga."
A: *Confused* "What's a ranga?"
K: "An orangutan, because it's ginger like you."
A "..."
- A.T. K.T.

Story behind quote:
Just a typical conversation between ANT and her bro. It almost reminds us of this: http://lifeofgerrythegerbil.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/exam-quote-month-bonus.html

Quote Week: July - Day 5

"It's so modern these days, we're literally buying things on the line..."
- H.W. J.C.

Story behind quote:
Wicks and Master marvel at the prospect of online shopping.

Quote Week: July - Day 4

"*Presents shopkeeper with a jar of tuppences* A can of your finest Cola, please, Madam."
- H.W.

Story behind quote:
The best and most inconvenient way of paying. #Tuppences

Quote Week: July - Day 3

"They're like sleeves for your legs."
- H.W.

Story behind quote:
Wicks on the matter of trousers.

Quote Week: July - Day 2

"KrazyK's on it before the song's even over."
- A.T.

Story behind quote:
When it was ANT's birthday, her brother just couldn't wait to take the candles off the cake...