End Of Day 2: Below The Line

So it's the end of day 2, and we've hit our target! As of eight o'clock Tuesday evening, there is £110 in the sponsorship pot. As a result, I've raised the target to £200, since we hit the first target so quickly, I think we'll be in with a chance of making this one.
It's been an okay day, I felt pretty good when I woke up, and had my porridge and tea. Around ten, elevenish I was getting quite tired and peckish, so had a quarter of a jam sandwich at  morning break and the remaining quarter in the late afternoon. For lunch I had 1.5 jam sandwiches and some carrot sticks. 
I have to say that the afternoon kinda sucked, I was extremely tired and a couple of jam sandwiches isn't really enough to keep you going through a school day. It's also a bit rubbish when everyone around you is eating cake and big mugs of hot chocolate. I have a very intense craving for cheese. And cake. Mostly the cake. Much of this seems to be quite psychological - even though I'm having plenty to eat, it ain't great knowing that I can't have a nice cup of tea or a snack when I get home. 
I had a portion of soup and some of the pasta, again with sauce and sweetcorn, for dinner. I mixed some of the kidney beans into the soup to make it go a little further. 
Mum and I are considering going to Morrisons on Thursday evening to try and pick up anything going for under 50p before it hits it's sell by date. I may have cake after all.
But now, it is half eight and I finally get another cup of tea, then bath, porridge and bed.
It could be worse.
Please carry on donating, we're doing so well so far!

Morning; Day 2

Morning all!
Woke up to have Mum screaming "Choose your carrot!" in a slightly geordie, slightly Scottish accent at me, while I tried to make my lunch without getting any jam in my eyes.
Feeling much better about the whole thing this morning, after the success of yesterday. Wasn't hungry when I woke up, and did't get a single cat hair in my porridge! (There was one in my tea, though.)
I feel very guilty every time I think I'm hungry, because I know there are so many people out there who are an awful lot more hungry than me. I at least have the power to stop my own. Which reminds me, thank you so much for the donations last night! We're half way to my target now, although I did set it deliberately low (hint hint).
Many thanks!

The End Of Day 1

It's bedtime, and I've just had my evening mug of tea and bowl of porridge. I had some milk left over from my daily ration, so decided it would be better to use it than go to bed hungry. It's been easier than I thought it would be so far, if not as easy as I'd like. The gap between getting home from school and waiting for dinner was peckish making, but I have my wonderful jam. I have 49p left of my budget, and I'm considering using it to buy extra jam rations.
We used the veg pot to make a massive vat of soup. Pretty basic, chop everything up, fry it, and blend.

So we freeze half of it, and whack it out for dinner. Tonight I had pasta, with sauce and sweetcorn. It was oddly worth waiting for. I had a small amount of jam for pudding.

One day down, four to go. Thank you so much to everyone who's donated so far, it means a lot. Please carry on donating, I'm aiming for £100 by Friday.

PS Here's some photo's of Bonnie Wright with some breakfast.

Going Below The Line

So most people have found out by now that I'm doing the Below The Line Challenge this week, although no one really knows what that is. It's a fundraising event, where people get sponsored to live for five days on £5 worth of food. That gives you £1 of food a day, or 33p a meal. I'm doing my week to raise money for Save The Children, if you want to sponsor me then you can do here. The reason why £1 is set as the amount per day is because that is the "technical" poverty line - to be living on $1.25 a day - or £1. However, for me (and most other people doing the challenge) that amount is only for food. For people actually living in poverty, that pound has to cover heating, water, housing, education, transport. I'm finding it hard enough as it is.
I did my Big Shop on Sunday with Mum (she's the organised one). This is what I have bought.

With any luck, that food will get me though till midnight on Friday. I know looking at it, it seems like quite a lot, but in reality it feels like an awful lot less. It's been tough, and it's only the first day. It's been odd knowing that I probably won't have a full meal when I get home. I usually have a snack when I get home from school - today that was a quarter tea spoon of jam and some carrot sticks that I saved from lunch, because I was paranoid I might need them later.  I can still have tea but not with sugar, and I have to measure out how much milk I'm using. And even so, I'm enjoying it. I think.

To last till Friday I have:

1. A loaf of wholemeal bread
2. A jar of strawberry jam
3. A can of sweetcorn
4. A can of kidney beans
5. A 'stew pack' containing carrots, parsnips, an onion and a turnip (This was the most expensive item I've bought; £1.50)
6. A jar of pasta sauce
7. A carton of UHT milk
8. A bag of pasta
9. A bag of porridge oats
10. A box of 80 tea bags

I think it'll go okay. For breakfast this morning I had a cup of tea and porridge with a spoonful of jam (same as Bonnie Wright - campaign ambassador). For lunch, two jam sandwiches and some carrot sticks, some of which I still haven't had the heart to eat. Later I'll be making a batch of soup to eat later in the week, and hopefully be having some pasta. Wish me luck, Starlings x

Some useful links:

My sponsorship page

More information on the challenge

Information on Save The Children

A video from Charlieissocoollike about the charity and the IF campaign

Shut Up

New thing
I hate all teenage fangirls
Well, not a new thing, quite a few of them are dicks anyway. But usually it's the Sherlock, or Doctor Who fandoms that get on my tits. I thought the Merlin fandom was better than this.
See, Colin Morgan (who plays the lead in Merlin, if you've been living under a rock) is currently the The Globes production of The Tempest, playing Ariel alongside Roger Allam's Prospero. So far, I haven't heard a single word about his performance, even though he's playing the lead. All I've seen online so far has been teenage girls screeching about Colin, and how much they adored his performance.
I probably wouldn't mind so much if anyone actually put forward a decent write up of his acting or how he interpreted the script, but mostly it's just... well, swooning.  One which throughly made me want to put pens in my eyes said (and I quote); "he was stood at the front of the stage shouting in Shakespeare..."  
You do realize that William Shakespeare wrote in English, right? It's not a different language. All words that we know and use now. Idiot. The rest of the 'article' (I use the term loosely) was dedicated to how Colin held eye contact with the writer for a few seconds. Of course he sodding did. He's an actor. When you're on stage, you hold the audience's gaze. It's how you make sure they're playing attention. It's his job.
Roughly three seconds ago, I saw a set of photos taken of Colin during a tech rehearsal. In the description  the poster had mentioned that there was a sign outside asking for photos not to be taken, but she took them anyway. RE, if you take photos, you are not doing the wider world a service, you are just being highly disrespectful to some very hard working people.
I'm sure Colin knew his would happen, he knows about the fandom and he's not stupid. But he doesn't deserve this. Fair enough, tell him you enjoyed Merlin, but let him know you enjoyed The Tempest as well. 
And please stop acting like Shakespeare is so impossible to understand.
Rant over.

This post dedicated to Nikki, who thought all fangirls were annoying, even when she was one. It turns out you were right.

Oh Good God, Is That Summer?

It’s been getting warm. Like, warm enough to go outside, which I’ve started doing voluntarily. I don’t think I’ve gone outside willingly since last March, the last time it was actually warm. We had a fire drill today, and I think it was the first time ever that no one was wearing gloves. Well, I say fire drill. I hope it was a drill. It would be awkward to find out it’s actually been warm just because my school was burning down. 
I bought a pair of walking boots last week, in an attempt to make myself leave the cave of Undermyduvet, and so far it’s been working alarmingly well. I have been for a walk every night this week, mostly down by my local river, which has been hilarious. With the rise of the warm weather, the wildlife has finally come out of hibernation, and it’s been a joy to watch. There’s the usual crowd of ducks, moorhens, coots, and the surprisingly violent trout (Don’t throw bread in the river while all of them are around. The fish bite the ducks feet to get more.) 
There’s a pair of swans that come back every year to have babies, and the lady swan is currently sat happily on her nest on the island, while her husband chases down walkers to try and get food. Swans are essentially very pretty muggers. I’ve seen him follow a small family for almost half a mile down the river, just because he knew they had a loaf of Hovis with them. 

The frogs arrived yesterday, and I think it’s a pretty high chance they have come as a plague from God to tell us that Gangnam Style really needs to stop now. There are quite a lot of them. It’s become a habit to walk down by the river and scoop any frogs out of the path and back into the water, in case they get trodden on. They are adorable, and make the sound of kittens crying. Although it does get very tiring trying to explain to them that interspecies threesomes with toads probably won’t work. Especially because they usually just run away. 

I think the finest specimen to reappear so far has been the rock climbers. You can usually find them hanging around in groups of around four or five underneath cliff faces, try and failing to look busy. If you’re lucky you may witness one actually adventure up the rock face to build a web made from a thick, rope like fibre. They can be easily identified by their bright coats, long fur, and public school accents. 

How To Get Married

I get asked for relationship advice a lot. As an eighteen year old lesbian, who hasn't had a relationship in over a year, I can see exactly why people ask me. I am clearly an untapped well of dating wisdom, who is too kind and busy imparting my knowledge unto others, to have any time to work on the whole thing myself. “Ariane!” They cry, “You’re capable, witty and daring, will you help me win the heart/console/seduce my boyfriend/girlfriend/non-sexy friend/lizard?” 

Well, first off, if you ask me about your lizard then I will report you to the police, but only after laughing quite a lot, and quite possibly fleeing from you. Second, I have decided to make this all much easier for you, by scribing a list of some of my favorite dating tips. If these don’t work, they’re clearly not worth your time, darling, so I suggest that we go and get hammered on gin and ice cream.

1. Cook them a medieval banquet. This demonstrates many good qualities in a partner. First off, that you have the time and patience to go to a certain amount of effort for them. Also, that you can cook, an essential skill in any time period or location. I suggest braised boars head, quail curried in white sauce, and an oak tree crafted from marzipan for afters. If in doubt, I there’s a Chinese in Rhyl that does something pretty similar. 
2. Kidnap them. Quite an obvious choice I know, but one that’s regularly over looked. It gives you a chance to demonstrate that you wish to spend more time with them, and show them what it’s like to be around you. Find some fun, pro-kidnapping activities to do, such as racquet ball. If you’re looking to take the next step in your relationship, consider imprisoning them in a small dungeon to give them a feel for what married life could be like. Bonus points for decorating the dungeon like your future home - complete with photos of your children that you made on MorphThing.
3. Try to stand out from the crowd. Try to make yourself noticeable – this way you can remain aloof and mysterious, allowing them to come and talk to you. One method is wearing something a little unusual, such as a vintage scarf, block colour shoes, or an ostrich feather headdress made by a blind Italian man. 
4. Read their favorite books. This way you’ll feel closer to them emotionally, and you’ll have a good start for a conversation. Simply break into their house while they’re sleeping, and read as many books as you can before they wake up. If you like, you could make it into a sort of competition with yourself – try to read one more book each night than you did the night before. 
5. Take them out to dinner. Actually, don’t even bother with this one. The conversation will be awkward, and the food under cooked  Plus, halfway through the evening, someone will spill red wine on someone else, resulting in having to go home early. Waste of both time and money.

PS Yes hello it's been a while hasn't it. I've been to London, Berlin and Wales since we last spoke. I'll update with photos as soon as Papa Dean sends me my camera home. Also neon Frida Kahlo is now a thing.