The End Of Life

My grandfather died at midday yesterday, of unknown causes, while on holiday in Barcelona. He is the first of my grandparents to die. We have to wait another week before he can be brought back again. I do feel sad, but I can't help thinking I should feel sadder. Maybe it's because it still doesn't seem real. Perhaps it hasn't sunk in yet. I don't know

Slumber Eternal

"Take care O Traveller" the mysterious voice warns. "Those without care may find themselves under a spell of sleep ... and may never wake up"

I do actually have something to talk about it seems. Last night I watched Body Shock: The Man Who Slept For Nineteen Years, and it was very disturbing. This particular man was in a vegatative state from 1985 to 2004. During this time, his eyes moved would focus on different places, leading his family to believe he was still, in effect, 'alive'. In 2004, he somehow regained the power of speech, but had lost many of his motor functions, including the full use of his tongue, meaning that his speech was slurred. He also lost parts of his brain which inhibited his primitive urges, such as sex and violence. But more importantly, he was left without the ability to retain new information. He believed it was still 1985, that his 19 year old daughter was still a baby, and that he still had full motor control. Any attempt to tell him otherwise would lead to threats of violence, and he would soon forget it anyway. Another man was also shown, who was unconcsious for only ten minutes after a car accident, but recieved damage to the frontal lobe of his brain in such a way that left him unable to feel love for his wife and child. A healthy family life, suddenly gone, just like that. It really made me think, how things can change suddenly, and how we shouldn't take what we have for granted. This may sound preachy I know, but I don't care. If you watched this, I'm sure you must have felt even part of what I did

A New Beginning

What happens when the beginning ends? Can it begin again?

I feel that it may be time for me to actually pay attention to this little blog, rather than neglecting it most horribly. It might even give me a sense of self actualisation. I decided that I wanted to keep a diary, before realalising that I actually already have one - this blog. So I'll blog in it more, hopefully. At this precise moment, I don't really have a huge amount to discuss, preach about, moan about or suchlike, so I guess we'll just do a quick snapshot of my life at the moment. Second day of mock exams today, which meant Government + Politics this morning. Think I did OK on the first question: Distinguish between positive and negative freedoms and explain the implications of each for the state. Hopefully I did better than the last time I attempted that question anyway, when I got six out of 20. The second question, about why Conservatives promote tradition, I think I buggered up a bit on, but I managed to get some points in there. Then the final 60 mark question, explaining Marx's theory of history: I got a lot of stuff down, but I couldn't quite remember all the details, so I just put down as much as I could. Hopefully it payed off.

Yesterday was Drama, which I think went OK. Speaking of Drama, sometime within the next three or so weeks, I have my final ever Drama performance exam, which we still don't have a final script for yet ... every time we try to cut it down its stil too long, we want to cut it to 20 minutes. First time we read it it took 2 and a quarter hours! So I'll be in school on Friday after my last exam, Law, slaving away. Oh well, I have the next two days off, so lie-ins all round!

Whats coming up in the not too distant future? Half term soon, but not much of a rest there. Still got two more open days to go to before I decide which Uni to go to. Leaving school in May, exams in June, and then its up and off to Uni I guess. A lot of times nowadays, I wish I could go back to year 9, 10, 11 or 12, just any time that gives me a bit more time before I have to rush headlong into the future