My sixth form Blog: The Valentine's Ball

Hello again! Sorry for the long delay, I've been very busy. Also, the last blog was very well received, and when that happens, I tend to be unable to gather my strength to write another one -- my brain goes 'How could I ever top that?'

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is a very special day for couples. Last year, I wrote a mushy blog about the meaning of love -- this year, it's just going to be a regular blog. Also, as the title may (or may not) indicate, there was another social -- as usual, I will be describing other events before coming on to the social.

I had my Year 13 mocks in January. I'd like to say they went well...they did not go as well as they could have done. Year 12s, bear that in mind -- Year 12 mocks don't tend to go as well as people would like, Year 13 mocks are better but still not predicted grade level, and nearly everyone excels in the real thing. So don't be too discouraged in the summer if your grades aren't what you want.

Also in January, I got to look after the cats Frodo and Sam again! Poor Frodo got in a fight with another cat (not Sam) and had to wear a cone to stop him tearing his stitches out. And as another precaution against more fights, he and Sam weren't able to go outside. By the end of the weekend, Frodo was getting a little 'catty' at being cooped up and scratched me (it was minor, no bleeding. The shock hurt more than the scratch.) The weekend after that was a church board games night, organised by members of St Leonard's Youth as fundraising for a trip to Moldova. The trip to Moldova is a mission week for 'serving, learning and growing our faith'. I didn't go; only people who volunteered went. They are currently on their mission week, getting back on Saturday. I had fun at the board games evening; I played chess, and actually won a couple of times. My dad also left for Bangui that weekend; he was away for two weeks. Dad only got back a couple of weeks ago; he left most of his clothes, as he's going back again on Thursday. This time he's away for nearly a month!

My mum sold my old guitar in January as well, as I have a new one and the old one is too small. It ended up being sold to a friend of hers for his girlfriend, as full-size guitars are apparently too big for her. That led to a funny conversation with my guitar teacher later -- he was under the impression that it was being sold to my girlfriend. I don't have a girlfriend; I remain as solitary as the average RNA molecule, romantically anyway.

I did a Biology Olympiad in early February; a Biology Olympiad is a national Biology competition -- as the name would suggest, it's effectively a scientific Olympic event. I haven't ever done one before, I just decided I would quite like to. Handy Biology revision! I don't know how well I've done, though.

The social ended up being on the 7th of February; it wasn't held at the same venue, because the Senior Team had difficulties getting a venue. I assume the previous venue was still rankling over the knife-crime incident at the previous social! In fact, the repercussions of that incident were so severe (despite nobody getting hurt) that we lost out on the traditional Snowflake Ball! Usually, right before Christmas, there's a Christmas social; like the Cell Christmas Social, but more alcohol and less games. However, the Senior Team faced extreme difficulties in finding a venue -- so extreme, in fact, that there effectively was no Snowflake Ball.

Finally not cut out of my own selfie! The downside is that someone is still missing part of their face.

This social was a lot of fun; it did not get shut down early, thankfully. I still left early, because I had an applicant visit day to Reading the next day. At the social, the relationship bands made a return; less complicated this time. Red for taken, green for single; guess which colour I wore. When I got my band (green), when at the front desk, a group of boys behind me whooped and clapped me on the shoulder. I assume because it meant I was down to hook up, which I did not do.

Who deserves more sympathy, the boy who's still missing a face, or the boy who's completely obscured?

The Year 12s are a cool bunch

Pictured, to my left: How to be utterly stylish

The Reading applicant day was very fun; at risk of jinxing myself, I felt like I belonged there. I could properly imagine myself living there. The History staff and Student Ambassadors were very nice. I went with my parents and my sister; the Student Ambassadors made an effort to include her, even though she's not yet (officially) at the stage of Sixth-Form where she's looking at universities. Looking around with both me and my sister prompted my dad to note that it felt like we were looking around together -- i.e. that we're twins. It also reminded him of when we were growing up, and lots of people thought we actually were twins. Apparently, some are still under that impression -- when he was last in Africa, people were asking "And how are the twins?"

Speaking of Africa, after we had seen our fill of Reading University, we popped in on an old friend from Africa who lives in Reading. We last saw him when I was very young, so I did not remember him. He is a nice man though. Apparently, his mum has dementia, so we spent a fair chunk of time discussing the similarities between his mum and Nana, who had dementia and a habit of wandering out at night.

I also tended to Frodo and Sam on Saturday evening; Frodo's cone was off, so he was a bit happier. Still not allowed outside, though, so I compensated by letting him and Sam into the garage. Which proved a mistake in hindsight, as it was near-impossible to get them back out again.

On the Sunday after the Valentine's Ball was the Cell Celebration, when the youth group runs a church service. It was good, and the theme was patience. My cell did a prayer station about patience and waiting, whereby you'd paint your prayers onto a piece of paper. The name of the prayer station was "Paintience Prayer Station"; the pun was painfully bad. I spent most of the prayer station time doing therapy colouring -- the Year 12 prayer station was a Bible verse from Psalms, which you could colour in. I kneeled the whole time on the hard stone floor; my legs ached for days afterwards.

For the final Christian Union session (school-based Christian get-togethers, Tuesday lunchtimes during term, E5 if you're interested), several people did testimonies of their faith. These people included the leaders, naturally enough; I also did a testimony. Mine was a bit cobbled together, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I gave it to one of the leaders, expecting her to bring it in on Tuesday. She forgot. Secondly, I did not make a back-up copy of the testimony, having hand-written it. People still thought it was good, though, which was nice.

Half-Term has been good thus far; I've been staying with my grandmother. So that naturally means lots of pictures of very good lurchers (and one good spaniel, because Great Aunt Sally has spent the afternoon here).