Exams looming

Hey,

So as I am sure you are all very aware, it is the end of February. Obviously. However, this month ending has meant it is just over 70 days until my first AS level exam (psychology unit 1) and I am absolutely terrified.

It’s not the actual exam itself i’m worried about – i’m pretty happy with that topic in psychology. It’s just the idea of exams in general. I would hate to fail these exams and it is just stressing me out just thinking about them.

I revise one subject at least one hour a day but it isn’t really settling my nerves. If anything, it’s somehow making it worse. I often revise in the mornings so I can have the evenings to relax but I am considering starting to revise in the evenings too now…

I even have my practice ISA next week.  That’s right, PRACTICE ISA. The ISAs used to be so easy and predictable but now you actually have to revise for the papers that they come with as well as performing the practical perfectly. This is gonna be a nightmare.

Well, to relieve my anxieties and stress I met up with a bunch of my friends today and had a meet up. This particular group was a mix of ages ranging from year 11-13 and it was honestly really fun. We sat on a far too small sofa and watched movies including Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc, A small part of Jesus Camp before we all got freaked out and Shark Boy and Lava Girl.

We’re all teenagers, I promise. We also sat and ate a lot of food including vegan nachos, pizza and birthday cake. The food didn’t last too long as there were about seven of us there though! Therefore it isn’t too bad. We made fun of each of the movies we watched, threw shoes at each other and argued over what to watch.

I also got my hair trimmed again! Instead of looking like a slightly deformed pineapple my hair now looks like it’s supposed to! I’m so happy. I really have grown to love this and I will probably keep my hair pixie style for a little while.

Well, I guess we shall have to see what next month brings!

Until Next Time,

-Megan

What colour is it?

Hey,

I know this isn’t exactly a post about my day-to-day teenage years, but an internet phenomenon has occurred.

So overnight the world moved on from making jokes about auditioning for musical roles to obsessing over the colour of a dress. The world seems utterly split on whether it is white and gold or black and blue and even lead to it trending on Twitter! It even led to a giant group debate on Facebook between many of my friends. Many were claiming to see just one set of  colours while others claimed to have the colour they see change.

This debate carried on into college and actually led to discussion of the dress being banned outright by the head of sixth form as we were spending too much time discussing it and not enough working.

The #blackandblue and #whiteandgold hashtags started to trend early last evening and are still trending now as I am writing this! This hashtag emerged after a photo of the dress emerged onto social media websites such as Tumblr and Facebook with the question ‘Help settle a debate! What colour is this?’

Suddenly the world went mad. Millions were claiming the dress was black and blue, with another million claiming it was white and gold! The internet sure is a strange place.

Many theories emerged from this as to why the colours change. These theories ranged from eye sensitivity, cones in your eyes, theories ranging from the hunter gatherer day or the colour you saw varied depending on how stressed you are!

But fear not, friends. This question has been solved by the team at ASAPscience! Can we do something more productive now?

Until next time,

Megan

Valentines Day

Hey,

So as I am sure you are all VERY aware of, a few days ago it was Valentines day. As this was technically my third Valentines ever, it still meant quite a lot.

I knew he didn’t have a lot of money to spend on me for Valentines day and I wasn’t that bothered. As long as we could meet up I was happy. I bought him a box full of Malteasers (his favourite) and a card. His present was actually really thoughtful – he’d gotten me about seven boxes of various herbal teas (I am obsessed) and had drawn out little pictures with messages on them. I think my favourite was a drawing of a ring. He’d simply written ‘I like it.’ I loved and still do love the present.

However, I was mildly confused where the money come from. I was aware he had very little money so how he’d been able to buy seven boxes of tea was beyond me. (Tea can vary in Holland and Barrett from £2 to £5 each). Later on in the day, it was revealed to me accidentally that my Mum had paid for the tea. It was all entirely his idea and he picked everything out – she just paid for it.

To be honest, I know this would definitely bother some people. ‘Why didn’t he/she spend money on me? Am I not worth it?’ But to be honest, I’m just happy I got to see him that day. The new teas were just a really thoughtful-yet-awesome bonus. We spent the rest of Valentines goofing around in my bedroom playing stupid games and chatting. It was really nice.

We then spent the following Monday (today) in Worthing Town, just us two. He’d managed to get £20 pounds off of his Mum to pay for the day. It was a really fun day that involved being nearly Mauled by seagulls (again), eating an extortionate amount of tea, meeting and helping lost Spanish exchange students, exploring shops and sitting on the beach. It was really fun and as much as I love meeting up with my friends, it was nice to meet up just with him and goof around. We didn’t have to cater to a lot of people’s wishes so we could do what we want. Sure it wasn’t exactly fancy with Mcdonalds for lunch but hey, we’re happy. That is all that matters!

We got there super early at 10 so by 12 we had done everything we needed to do. The weather was also cold and suddenly threatened to rain.

We headed back to my Mum’s workshop and hung around there until she was done so she could give me a lift back. (His bike was literally two minutes away so it made sense for him to hang around). She didn’t mind too much either which was an added bonus.

Well, that was my Valentines day. We don’t make a big deal out of it as our anniversary is next month… he has no idea what i’m doing for it! Somehow i’m not convinced he’s sure what he’s doing either. But, only time will tell.

Until next time,

Megan Stapleton

The Dreaded PSHCE Day

Hey,

So every year at my school we have this really rather dull PSHCE day. The actual objective of this day is to try and assertain what career you want to aim for, to help you write CVs… and to play boring board games in a room full of people that don’t want to be there – teacher included. It was like this every year since I first started at the Academy!

However, as I am now in sixth form I was off timetable. We had our own roles and goals for the day than the rest of the school.

My timetable was fairly simple really: Turn up, go to assembly and have a girls only revision session, break, have a guest speaker, ‘This Girl Can’, Lunch and then a session on healthy relationships. If you can’t tell, it was a very gender segregated day.

The start to the day wasn’t the most pleasant. People within my household seemed to find reason after reason to scream and yell at each other from the moment we all woke up. This then put everyone in an even worse mood. Eventually I arrived at school (ridiculously early  as always) and sat and read my book for a bit until my friends arrived.

Eventually we were all led through to the theatre and were subjected to a rather dull assembly. It was full of ‘motivational’ quotes and animal pictures that were meant to be relatable but nobody seemed to find it that way. The girls and boys were then separated from this point, where I was led to a room where I could partake in fifty minutes of revision. However, this didn’t go too well as one of my friends kept disrupting me everytime I tried to work. I eventually gave up and chatted with them.

After break, we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about apprenticeships in engineering, graphic art and mechanics – something nobody in our sixth form was interested in. The girls and boys were also in the same room again.  This led to the poor woman giving the talk trying to engage us through a series of ‘games’ such as would you rather that very few partook in. I felt rather sorry for her really.

However after this talk the guys remained in the theatre whereas girls took part in ‘this girl can’. For those who don’t know what this is, it’s an initiative my sixth form is running to try and get girls to engage more in exercise. But by making it fun. This session was set up as a circuit. We had to pick  partner. While one partner was doing the exercise, the other had to run outside all the circuits until the time was up, then swap over. This went on for easily half an hour. I have to say, as fun as it was my thighs felt like jelly by the end of it! I definitely needed the drink I went and got after the session. Everyone that arrived seemed to find it fun too which created a rather happy atmosphere.

After lunch, we then had a session on healthy relationships. This talk was led by Ms Scott, well known for her red lipstick, heels and feminist attitude. I knew as soon as she said ‘it’s not a sex talk… but it’s a sex talk’ that the session was going to be interesting. We learnt about Freud’s theories on men and women, that women in the early nineteenth century used to sit in circles on chairs with mirrors and look at their… areas (we were then encouraged to do this too), we had some sheets to fill in about rape scenarios, we talked about what makes a healthy relationship, what consent truly means… and we talked about feminism. In great detail. I mean, I was already a feminist but this discussion easily went on for over twenty minutes about what it means to be a feminist. The talk was then deemed ‘traumatizing’ by Ms Scott just so we could all go home twenty minutes earlier than everyone else. That was actually pretty cool of her.

So, in the end the ‘dreaded PSHCE day’ wasn’t actually that bad. Sure, the assembly was kind of boring and my thighs STILL hurt, 48 hours later but it was fairly fun.

Also, as I am sure you are all very aware, tomorrow is Valentines day. Our school ran a charity even where you can pay £1.50 and send a rose to someone else. The money then went to a children’s charity. A lot of my younger friends had just gotten out of bad relationships so I spent about £6 buying roses for them all just to get a smile out of them. They all seemed to appreciate it. I even got a rose back from my ‘Wife’ whom is also called Megan! That made my day to be honest.

I also won an award! I have won an award for being ‘student of year 12’. This basically means that I am a pupil that (apparently) stood out to the teachers and made a positive contribution in some way. I’ll be honest, I was completely surprised as I didn’t feel I made any sort of impact to the sixth form.

Now we’ve broken up for half term, I have just over a week to take a break but also to try and get at least an hours worth of work done each day. It should be fairly easy as I have next to no plans for this next half term. In fact, all my plans are after the break such as getting my hair recut and going to a meet up! How typical.

Until next time,

Megan Stapleton

I became an organ donor!

Hey,

So as you probably guessed from the title, I am now officially an organ donor. For those who don’t know, this means that when I die, all of my organs that are usable can potentially be used to save the life of someone else. The idea of that just really appeals to me.

Thing is with signing up is it’s pretty much up to you what you want to donate and keep. Want to donate your heart but not your lungs? You can sign up for that. That means when you die if your heart is usable and someone needs it, it can save a life. For free. It’s actually surprisingly easy too!

For me i’m not overly attached to any of my organs specifically so when I die, anything can be used. But it may be different for others. For those interested in signing up or just want to know more about it, there is more information here.

Don’t get me wrong, i’m not exactly rushing out to go die. I’m only sixteen years old for crying out loud! But I WILL die one day. Unless the Egyptians had it right, I doubt i’ll need my organs when I pass on. Someone else more deserving than me will need them more. Plus, who knows! Maybe they’ll go on to do something great with their lives too. (Someone may even be reading this in the far distant future that has one or more of my organs. If you are reading this – hello!)

Well, until next time!

-Megan Stapleton

My card!

First Date Of 2015

Hey,

So as you can probably guess, instead of doing the revision I was meant to do (i’ll do it tomorrow!) I went on a date with Him. The original plan was to get a train to Brighton, walk several miles, go to Cineworld then head back. However, logistically this ended up being a nightmare… so we ditched that plan and went into Worthing town instead. We went to the Dome cinema to go see Night At The Museum 3 and Kingsman: The Secret Service. I have to say, as much as I love NATM movies, Kingsman had it beat with hilarious scenarios, pugs, chavs, spies, a killing virus – and did I mention pugs? It was great.

I woke up at 8:30, got dressed and headed into town to get a train at half nine. I arrived far too early and had to hang around at the station. Besides the cold weather, this wasn’t an issue. Eventually, I got onto the train and quickly arrived at Worthing station, and could see him standing on the other side of the gate smiling. Naturally, my ticket wasn’t working so I had to get this older employee to help me out. Great start.

We walked to the cinema, bought tickets for both films at the same time, bought popcorn and went upstairs to the screen we were meant to be in. However half way up the stairs we got stopped by the lady who served us popcorn. Apparently she served us the wrong flavour – salty instead of sweet. She quickly rushed away with us following behind her, and gave us another bag… also salty but I wasn’t gonna bother her about it.

We watched NOTM and then went to go get lunch at Mcdonalds. The place was filled to the brim with people so we decided to eat on the beach. Big mistake – it was freezing and we were literally surrounded by seagulls from every direction all anxious to steal some food. They were pretty fearless too, each trying to come near us and see if they could steal our food.

After we’d eaten, we realised we still had an hour and a bit to kill until the next movie so we wandered around Worthing. We even popped into Old Simm’s Sweetshop and bought a Twinkie each to try (really nice, very sweet though!). I also ran into an old Acquaintance when in WHSmiths buying drinks.

Eventually we found ourselves back at the cinema with still just under an hour left till the film that was playing in the screen we were meant to be in even finished. This meant we hung about in the hall way, talking quietly and watching everyone who walked around at the cinema. Eventually the film emptied. We went to go use the bathroom and when we came back there was a huge queue to get into the theatre as the staff cleaned.

Eventually we got into the cinema screen we needed to be in (Same screen, same seats!), watched trailers, ate food and watched Kingsman: The Secret Service. When the film finished, it was ten to six and I could feel the blisters on my feet from all the walking. However, we still needed to walk to the cinema so we walked quite quickly. He even put his coat around my shoulders over my coat as I was shivering.

The train I needed to be on wasn’t for just under half an hour and he already had insisted on walking through the subway with me, so he hung around until quarter past where he decided he should probably go before they lock the gates. Just about this point, I noticed the rather loud half drunk leering men on the same side of the platform as I was on, making me rather uncomfortable.  As he was about to exit through the gates, my Mum appeared from the other side of the gates and insisted I get a lift home ‘as it’s freezing and your train is ages away’.

All in all, I had a great day. Two movies, PLENTY of food, the beach, and wandering around Worthing with my best friend in the whole world. What else could I want?

I have school tomorrow once again but half term isn’t too far away. However, I am slightly dreading half term as it means my exams are going to be really close… and I am SO not prepared for AS level exams. I passed my mocks (C1 in Sociology, D in Psychology and a B in Biology)  but that doesn’t lessen the nervousness very much.

Well, until next time.

-Megan