addiction to the slumber of disconnection

the beautiful vocals of twin sisters interweave with dreamy synthesizers to create this lovely track, my favourite off alpinisms.

i've become SO lazy. just been kicked out of bed by my fourteen-year old sister cause i spent the last 2 hours sleeping. (and me actually getting up at all is a miracle; mostly motivated by my desire to see what happens next on skins). damn whoever it was who introduced me to power naps (even though i know perfectly well who it was...and you're going to pay ;)) as far as i can tell, they're rubbish...they: a) make me feel groggier than usual b) make my contacts dry up in my eyes...nice. c) take a massive chunk out of my day d) intensify my nocturnal habits.

so why have i got such chronic napatitis? (it's like the anti-insomnia...)

gotta write an article for the oriental society we relaunched at school this week. *adds to ginormous workpile in for tomorrow and contemplates it momentarily before heading downstairs to watch skins. good choice*

p.s. to add insult to injury after my extended nap, i decided to do a couple of posture exercises after getting up and smashed my lamp. NICE ONE.

<3

say cheese

i'm tired tonight.

have a snapshot of my life as a SOTD substitute? sorry.

I AM...
-listening to: franz ferdinand's new album. (favourite track) also, THE VIRGINS. alsoalsoalsooooo, i can't believe i've jumped on the be your own pet bandwagon just as they've disbanded. sob.

-watching: SKINS!!! okay, the new season isn't as good as the last two, not even close...but dammit, giraffe-necked freddie's a cutie...
ooh and it looks like fear and loathing in las vegas is on film4 in 10 minutes...might watch the second half of that if i get my history of art essay done in time.

-reading: just finished breaking dawn, the fourth and final part of the twilight saga. yes...i am a PROUD MEMBER of the twilight fanclub. anyway, now i'm tackling proust's 'the way by swann's' (à la recherche du temps perdu), which has a few more intellectuality points than twilight, i guess. i usually eat books up like they're oreos (mm), but lately i've only had time to read on the tube, so i'm slower than a sleep-deprived snail. only 58 pages through so far >_<

-eating: chocolate a plenty. dad has been forcing it on me since my little fainting episode yesterday. mm, phenylethylamine. oh, and anything that tastes of artificial cherries (cherry soothers, cherry tictacs...)

-wearing: my newish clare college hoodie :) thank you dom! plus my blue teacosy hat, pretty much every day, cause it keeps my ears warm. the mercury on the thermometer is currently at about 4ºC but it feels warm, due to the fact it read -12ºC a couple of weeks ago. oooh...give bloc party's mercury a listen if you haven't already, it's brilliant. another grower. i speak from experience.

and OH GREAT i've just stereotyped myself. typical brit behaviour, talking about the weather.

one last thing: read this yeats poem, it's so sad and lovely...

never give all the heart
never give all the heart, for love
will hardly seem worth thinking of
to passionate women if it seem
certain, and they never dream
that it fades out from kiss to kiss;
for everything that's lovely is
but a brief, dreamy, kind delight.
o never give the heart outright,
for they, for all smooth lips can say,
have given their hearts up to the play.
and who could play it well enough
if deaf and dumb and blind with love?
he that made this knows all the cost,
for he gave all his heart and lost.

right. i'm going to go collapse into bed now, armed with my moleskine notebook, a pen and a printout of botticelli's birth of venus. it's essay time! zzzzzzz. <3

hijack my heart

i'm in utter lust with dusk till dawn lately. mmm, can't get enough of that delicious 80's echo.

i fainted on the tube today :o! i'd woken up a bit late, so i skipped breakfast and positively sprinted through baker st station to catch the tube to school. my heart was pounding and my breathing laboured when i pushed my way on, but i'm seriously unfit, so i thought nothing of it. then i started feeling all cold and clammy, so i yanked out my headphones ("spitfire" by prodigy was playing, which makes my heart palpitate anyway) and seized the pole in front of me for support, but my knees buckled under me and i passed out. i felt people grabbing me by the arms and dragging me off the tube and on to the platform. when i came to i recognised my surroundings (euston sq). there was a jolly station manager clutching a first aid box in front of me; he brought me a glass of water and made me lie down on a bench. though i saw i wasn't worst off - there was a woman in shock next to me who'd tripped over a banker's bag strap and broken her middle and index fingers. her bones were protruding through her skin. i nearly fainted again. i know i really should get over my squeamishness, but YUCK.

anyway, i was lucky because my dad works near euston square, so he picked me up from the station and bought me breakfast at the nearest greasy spoon. he was going to let me go home but i wanted to go to school (missed far too many lessons for my own good lately) and he insisted on driving me. thanks dad!

got my provisional timetable for AS exams today, and they are approaching faster than orcs gunning for gondor. DAMMIT. mocks are even sooner. and since my mother has imposed a midnight bedtime tonight, looks like i'll have to do work now and play later. grr. til then. <3

never mind an sms, what you need is a sweet caress

get your lovin' here. official video's been removed, so it's adolescents jumping around instead. ah well.

i know some people who are vehemently anti-PDA. are you? alrite - yes. my stomach does turn somewhat when i see new couples practically swallowing each other's faces in public - but come on, they're not trying to do anyone any harm. so if you're tempted to accidentally-on-purposefully whack that blonde kissing her boyfriend in the back of the head, RESIST. they're wrapped up in their own little world :) aww. and everyone knows the start of a new relationship is one of the best feelings in the world!

ohhh and while we're on the subject of new love, i've developed a sudden yet violent crush on russell lissack, lead guitarist from bloc party...

it's been a tiring weekend. and yup, i discovered smatterings of bruises all over my body post-paintballing, which pleased me in a morbid way. (i like having injuries to show people, like battle scars!) let's just say i wasn't the most proficient paintballer on my team, which is probably why we lost by roughly 24 points. oops...

spent sunday hyperventilating over possible interview questions. example: "franz kafka said that literature is the axe for the frozen sea inside us. do you agree?" i want to paintball kafka in his damn frozen sea. an axe would have no effect on a frozen sea anyway...nnngh

today's chinese new year! the year of the ox. my good friend wikipedia tells me that those born under the sign of the ox are good leaders, dependable, calm, modest and capable of achieving great things...chinese new year means red packets, and red packets mean MONEY. YAY! i'm kind of short financially right now 'cause i keep frittering my pocket money away on sherbet and music magazines. i'm going to try and get a job at the local library this week.

anyway, gong xi fa cai! later <3

i've got holes in my new jeans for you

i can't actually remember how i discovered this song...discover it here :)

hello friday! you're my favourite day of the week. friday means i get to dump my bag in my room and take the night off, watch some music tv, go out for duck noodles with the fam, catch up on missed eps of gossip girl and heroes, hang out round islington with my friends. tomorrow it's a friend's birthday which means i've got to be in ZONE SIX (outskirts of the city...GRR) at the unearthly hour of 8.30 AM. so i'm going over to a friend's house now so i can get up at 7.30 rather than 6.30 tomorrow to get there, she lives closer to the tube station than i do. cue a night of watching cheesy movies, painting nails, having a good nattaaaaa...sounds good to me. exactly what i need to wind down after this week, it's been hell.

tomorrow we're going to go paintballing ^_^ it'll be my first time, so i'm excited, but it'll probably leave me quiiiite bruised-up. hence the song of the day. hurray! ohh you should probably know, i'm the kinda girl who'll spend most of the session hidden in a bush only shooting my precious paintballs when i'm TOTALLY sure i'll hit someone...i got the GRANNY score in laserquest when i was 11 cause i spent the whole time camped out in the reload area worrying that i was going to get shot. THESE THINGS DON'T CHANGE WITH TIME.

and oh god, what happens if i get shot in the head with a paintball?! yow. <3

this world has turned to see-through

bah. let mumm-ra get you high here.

dammit, willa holland. she's the type of girl i'd aspire to be if i had the guts. she's only half a year older than me, yet she's already achieved that effortless cool...you know, that vibe that says, smirkingly, "you can't stop looking at me, can you?" and everyone just falls in love with her. grrr. *jealous*. right, going to turn off the girl love tap now.

anyway. speaking of things that get me high...i've got maximum adoration for this t.s eliot poem we read in english a coupla days ago. i loved it so much i wrote it out and stuck it up on my wall. here's a condensed version (which would probably make eliot turn in his grave, but hey, they're my favourite parts, and that's what counts):

marina

those who glitter with the glory of the hummingbird, meaning
death...
are become unsubstantial, reduced by a wind,
a breath of pine, and the woodsong fog
by this grace dissolved in place
what is this face, less clear and clearer
the pulse in the arm, less strong and stronger -
given or lent? more distant than stars and nearer than the eye...
this form, this face, this life
living to live in a world of time beyond me; let me
resign my life for this life, my speech for that unspoken,
the awakened, lips parted, the hope, the new ships.

like it? read the full version of marina here

one day 'til the weekend! <3

your heart sings to me

get down to vanished here!
when i first listened to crystal castles' eponymous debut, i thought "nngggh, not sure i like them..." well, it's true, the splashy electro mixed with white noise isn't exactly a soothing balm to the ears, but they've really grown on me now. especially since at the moment, i'm really into any music that sounds like its old home was a 80s games arcade. and crystal castles fits under that genre nicely.

no post yesterday because i had a pile of history of art which, when sat on my desk, was literally higher than my head. no jokes. the homework task was an essay with a side summarizing each topic theme we've covered this year (subject & genre, materials, techniques and processes...you get the drift). i was up 'til 3.30 am trying to finish it off >_<

2009. it's the year of uni application - filling out the dreaded UCAS form, writing a personal statement, hopefully getting a couple of interviews, generally stressing out. i spent the second weekend of this year going crazy in the charing cross branch of foyle's (when i mean crazy, i mean i spent £84 on guides i probably don't even need) and with a panic drumming away in my breastie, went on a frenzied prospectus application spree on the internet. i now have about 9.

but it's okay. i'm a girl, i'm allowed to freak out over these things :)
later! <3

i hope this song will guide you home

listen to "such great heights" here.

ooh. looks like i've finally found a place to sound off...
so. i've named this blog MIXTAPE GOLD and that's what it'll be - a blend of awesome, of the many things i feel are deserving of my love - fashion, people, food (mmm), inanimate objects in general and music OF COURSE. oh, and because i love making/receiving mixtapes. OLD-SCHOOL STYLE.

'til next time <3