Shameless plugging ahead...

I've finally updated my myspace with the fully produced tracks that I recorded at Rockfield studios!! They were produced by the amazing Mood Bungalow and (if I do say so myself) they sound wicked :D I would absolutely LOVE it if you could go listen and give me your thoughts (Seriously, any thoughts at all that you might just have - if you don't like something, tell me!)

My myspace is:  http://www.myspace.com/annastainton

let me know what you think :)

5324 / 7000 words. 76% done of the whole thing!

1449 / 1100 words. 132% done of section one!

1123 / 1100 words. 102% done of section two!

1562 / 1100 words. 142% done of section three!

1126 / 1100 words. 102% done of section four!

Just realised I forgot to post about this, because I was too busy being angry... but on Wednesday, whilst I was doing my tour, I saw both President Obama and the President of Mexico! They both went past in their armoured cars, so I was about 10m away from them. It was kind of amazing... London was CRAZY on Wednesday. My tourists got some lovely pictures posing with the riot police though...

( Probably TMI to the nth degree, but I need to rant... )

In other news, I've been making random lists of things I'm going to do once I've finished. It keeps me entertained hehe :) I'm going to attempt to make a set of LJ icons for each of my interests... that should keep me busy for a while!

Also, anybody who can listen to BBC radio, tune into Radio 6 between 7 and 9 and you will hear my sister playing live on Tom Robinson's show! Woo :)

Oh, I am seriously the QUEEN of procrastination. I don't even want to type how much I still have to write before Tuesday at 4. Bloody hell.... sooner or later what I need to say will all come together in my head, and then I can make it make sense on paper, but until them I'm screwed. Summarising each section is helping though. I just always know that if I allowed more time to write essays, I could write them much better. But on the other hand, no matter how much time I allow myself, I always seem to end up procrastinating until the very last minute. So maybe I'm just incapable of writing essays in plenty of time? Blergh.

On the other hand, I got an A on one of the essays I've already had back, and an A+ on the other, and I wrote both of those overnight and at the last minute, so maybe writing stuff like that just works for me? It's definitely not good for my peace of mind though... :/ Meh.

Lookie... the BBC has made some *amazing advances* in iPlayer technology: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/04/bbc_iplayer_now_available_on_a.html iPlayer on a toaster? genius!

I also kind of like the Guardian's approach: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/01/guardian-twitter-media-technology hehehe :)

Plus, who wouldn't like a trip to Econoland? http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13395767&source=features_box4

In other news, I just got a record contract in Poland ;)

I know that you think you're not good for anything
The world makes you feel so small

Yup. :(

It's time like this that I'm glad that my own little corner of the internet is exactly that - little, and a corner. Because I think what I'm about to say would turn into major wank if I was a BNF or the like.

I've just started seeing post about what is being called 'RaceFail '09' - obviously a tad belatedly, cos apparently it's been going on for a couple of months now. So I read the original post which started it, some of the summaries and the responses on both sides... and I still don't get it. My ultimate thoughts are as follows: (bearing in mind that I use terminology which is as far as I know, politically correct IN THE UK. And that I can only speak from my own experience)

- as a white person, whatever I said in comments would not be right, because I'm white. Which to me feels like just as much prejudice as the other way around.

- I live in one of the most multi-cultural areas of the UK (the East End of London) and I have never seen casual racism here - not in graffitti, not on the streets, not on the public transport. Nowhere. Now I may just not go to the right places or watch closely enough, I don't know. Or maybe this area is simply so multi-cultural that there is no racism. I think that's probably not actually the case, but it's not OBVIOUS here. I don't look at what colour people are. It doesn't appear that other people do either. I feel more likely to be judged by the posh-ness of my accent than the colour of my skin. On the other hand, within my university racism has been a major theme this year - our SU president allegedly said some racist things at a NUS forum, was then cleared of all charges, but was fired anyway. I have no idea if he did or if he didn't. Also, there is of course tension between Palestinian students and supporters and Israeli and Jewish students and supporters, including an occupation of a lecture theatre on behalf of the former, which has sparked some accusations of racism on both sides against each other and the college. Here, it almost seems like an easy way of furthering their arguments - rather like arguments which descend into likening the other side to the Nazis/Hitler.

- I grew up, conversely, in an area so white that there were only about three non-white kids in my school out of a thousand students. But again, as far as I'm aware those children never experienced racism. In school, we studied literature and history and RE and all sorts of other things which happened to cover things from other cultures. Sometimes those things dealt with racism. Sometimes not. There was never a feeling that studying something by someone of another colour to myself was something unusual or noteworthy - in fact, I don't remember particularly thinking about it being anything more than just another thing we were studying, in amongst all the other things. Of course, we probably studied far more things written by white, British people than anything else - but that's because we mostly studied the history and literature of Britain, which for most of its history had a population consisting almost entirely of white people.

- ultimately, I am trying to say that I am unable to understand most of the reactions I have seen. Not that those people are not entitled to those reactions - they most certainly are - but I am incapable, because of how I think and the experiences I have had which formed that way of thinking, to fully understand how they arrived at those reactions.

(As a final note... I'm sorry, but every time I see someone put 'PoC', I read it as Pirates of the Caribbean. Which stops the flow of the argument for me a little!)

I'm not trying to be facetious, or say that discussion about racism is not important - but those are my thoughts. If someone can explain to me (possibly in words of one syllable) how I can understand a bit better, then go right ahead... Feel free to disagree with me/agree with me. These are very unformed, uninformed thoughts. I do not believe that what I think is what anyone else should be required to think (that applies to pretty much everything I ever say or do, really).



Plus this... which started as a point, and turned into its own mini-argument:
- I think that my thoughts on this are a little like my thoughts on feminism, if I can draw parallels between the two. In my own experience (which is, after all, all I have to go on) hardcore feminism is no longer necessary today. It seems to me it requires the balance to be tipped the OTHER way, which for me is just as wrong, and prevents open discussion. Of course, prejudice in any way, shape or form against women is wrong. But reading prejudice into everything is also wrong, and as a woman, feeling forced to behave in a certain way in order to uphold feminism is wrong too. Maybe I, as a woman, feel that my life will be more fulfilled if I put having a child before my career. I know I can make that choice, or choose to do both, and that's what's important. I don't want to to be made to feel that I am going back to the Middle Ages if I don't choose to put a career first. What I mean in relation to the above points is that open discussion from white people about race is just as valid as open discussion from men about gender rights. I hope this makes sense.

OMG! I've only just made this connection... but there's a film that's just come out called 'The Secret of Moonacre', and it's a film adaptation of The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, which is pretty much my favourite childhood book ever, in the world. Sooooo seeing that. :D

Agh. I honestly can't deal with life right now. Too much to do and too much to feel, I guess. I need to work out what I want to DO with myself... but do I do the sensible thing, or do I assume that I've only got max 100 years on this earth, if that, and do whatever the hell I want to do? Do I go for happiness (hopefully) in the long run, or happiness right here, right now? I have no idea.

So, I actually wrote something I like! Wonders never cease... And if anyone wants to review, you would make me very happy indeed ;)

Title: A Sorting, of Sorts
Author: mk_tortie
Pairing(s): Albus Severus/Scorpius
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: The night before Hogwarts, Albus worries that he might not fit into any House at all.
Word Count: c.7000
Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.
Author’s notes: Thanks to a very short-notice beta from L, who is always reliable.  Written for hp_nextgen_fest 2009.

(Story behind the fake cut!)

Just realised I forgot to ever post about these!  I received a couple of gifts here on LJ at the beginning of January that I think need to be shown off:

First of all, from the lovely chalada, not one, but TWO fantastic Luna drawings, to be found here: http://chalada.livejournal.com/178973.html?thread=1411613#t1411613

Secondly, I took part in the hp_nextgen_fest (nqdonne made me!) and received a fantastic fic, which has Teddy/Victoire AND Albus Severus/Scorpius!  It's a really sweet read, with Teddy as a nervous new teacher and appearances from all the Potter kids :)  Find it here: Forwards, We Turn
Reveals are on Saturday so I will make a grand post about which fic I wrote then!  (I am actually very proud of it, hehe)

Just think... after April I should never have a reason to tag my entries 'essays' ever again! Now THAT'S an inspiring thought....

Essay is going badly. (I'm beginning to think I should just copy-pasta previous essay entries, since they all read exactly the same. I am nothing if not predictable when it comes to these things!)

What is the likelihood of me writing 3500 words tonight and still getting to sleep at a decent time for work tomorrow? I'm thinking small...

FINALLY. I've managed to formulate essay ideas in my head to actually produce a vaguely coherent plan. For such an 'easy read', Der Vorleser is bloody complicated once you start looking into it! I should really go and see the film once my essay is done - has anybody seen The Reader? Is it any good? They reviewed it on Radio 2 and the reviewer on the Claudia Winkleman show got all the facts wrong (he claimed the book was by Richard Yates :/... not too sure where he got that from! And he had totally the wrong end of the stick about what the point of the plot structure is, although I suppose they may have messed with that in the film). Anyways... back to work. I really need to write 1000 words before I sleep!

I am 22! And I played a gig on Wednesday night which went pretty well, considering my voice was a bit dead. And I've just been offered two more gigs today! Hurrah! So... happiness :) Now I'm going to go and tidy my flat and clean in prep for tomorrow night, when I am having my bday party, which is going to involve making pancakes and cocktails and playing twister. So life is basically pretty good :)

Trev and I just decorated our Christmas tree. It looks very pretty! I'm really getting into the Christmas vibe now - last night I went out on London's South Bank with the cast of Forever Godard (the play I'm directing) and sang a mixture of German and English carols at the German Christmas market that's there right now. We made £25 in an hour which I think is pretty impressive! I'm sure it'll all just get spent on drink after next week's rehearsal, but oh well...

On an unrelated note, I've been listening to the Weepies a lot recently, and I think one their songs really sums up this year in some ways:

Not Your Year

Scattered shadows on a wall, you watch the long light fall
Some impressions stay and some will fade
Tattered shoes outside your door, clothes all on the floor
Your life feels like the morning after all year long.

Every day it starts again
You cannot say if you're happy
You keep trying to be
Try harder, maybe this is not your year.

Movies, TV screens reflect just what you expected
There's a world of shiny people somewhere else
Out there following their bliss
living easy, getting kissed
while you wonder what else you're doing wrong

Breathe through it, write a list of desires
Make a toast, make a wish, slash some tires
Paint a heart repeating, beating "don't give up, don't give up, don't give up."

http://www.last.fm/music/The+Weepies/_/Not+Your+Year if you want to hear the track!

Nothing like a bit of good, old-fashioned meme-sheepageness... ;)

( Cat meme! )

I found out today that John Barrowman lives in my building! How cool is that?

...That is my news for the day.