I managed to bump my head twice today, badly, and now it hurts to raise my eyebrows. Ouch.

However, it is a good day!

It is a good day for the summer holidays are upon us; it is a good day because I went up to Bookmarks after school to combat post-school boredom and got to talk to OtherDominic again; it is a good day because today is the day I finally got to play Portal.

Wow: Valve are impressive. The last time I felt so immersed in a game was the first time I played Psychonauts, and that was, what, two years ago now?

Wednesday through Thursday were spent at work, doing a million and one things. On Friday, I played communal Solitaire; I like working the till a lot. The weekend was spent swapping e-mails with OtherDominic and trying to understand how big clouds are as I watched the sun set sitting in the park. Yesterday, I went back to the place of "education", and the debate club party (including Eliezer lip-syncing to Still Alive from Portal, and cake, which was not a lie).

I watched five movies, listened to about 139 songs , and read three books.

It was a good week.

Saoirse1: Oh, are we blogging, then?
Saoirse2: Yeah, well, it's been a week. I mean we really should have blogged on Thursday-
Saoirse1: Ah, yes, the Birthday. Are you mentioning that?
Saoirse2: Uh-huh. I thought I'd say something like: "I am now half-way to thirty; fuck."
Saoirse1: You like that line.
Saoirse2: I do. I think it's the semi-colon.
Saoirse1: I think it sounds kind of stupid, really. Crude.
Saoirse2: You middle-class snob!
Saoirse1: Do I really need to explain Marxism to you-
Saoirse2: Oh, God, no. I know about the means of production already.
Saoirse1: If you say so. Hey! Maybe we should blog that.
Saoirse2: A political blog?
Saoirse1: Yeah! Why not?
Saoirse2: Because it's boring, that's why. You just miss debate club.
Saoirse1: Yes; I do. But so do you.
Saoirse2: I miss the people. You just miss the arguments.
Saoirse1: And? As great as Bookmarks is, there's not much to argue about.
Saoirse2: God, you're obsessed.
Saoirse1: You like arguing!
Saoirse2: I like shouting. Not the same thing, you know. You're all into the way it has a logic to it. An emotional logic.
Saoirse1: Look, anyway, we're meant to be writing a coherent blog post.
Saoirse2: I hate it when people refer to commenting as "posting"... We should mention lunch with Dominic and Joshua's birthday party.
Saoirse1: Advertise the lasagna of Silva's? Sure. It was a nice meal. So was the dinner party.
Saoirse2: Oh my god, caterpillar cake!
Saoirse1: Yes, and the caterpillar cake. (Smiling)
Saoirse2: Patronising.
Saoirse1: Sorry. What else has happened? Oh! Book club!
Saoirse2: Yes, I can't believe we're in a book club. Sure is you.
Saoirse1: It was great! I mean, you liked seeing Sanna and Dominic, and don't go and tell me you hate reading now!
Saoirse2: Of course I don't. It was fun, yes.
Saoirse1: Anything else? We should probably introduce OtherDominic?
Saoirse2: Why? I've met him twice!
Saoirse1: That's true. And I guess we don't really introduce people on this blog.
Saoirse2: No, we don't.
Saoirse1: That's it, isn't it? Has anything else happened?
Saoirse2: Micheal Rosen came into the shop!!!
Saoirse1: Oh, yes.
Saoirse2: I'm still starstrucked.
Saoirse1: But that's it, right? My Week (edited edition), by Saoirse?
Saoirse2: Mm.
Saoirse3: Oh, God, now I have to make this coherent. Ah, fuck it, I'm too tired. And maybe it'll work to just literally show my thoughts.

NOTES: Not literally how I think, although I do sometimes get the two separate personalities that are me arguing. Obviously, I have not included suppressed thoughts, nor ones that aren't in words.

So! So! So!

Marxism!

Right!

(And here is the fight for coherency.)

The entire event was incredible. The meetings were great, the debate was fascinating, the people were brilliant (and even more talkative than usual, it seems). I had a great time, as I always do.

Perhaps the best thing about Marxism is that suddenly, your views are valid again. I spend the whole year arguing that Communism is possible, that it's not bloody immoral; I spend the year being told that my views are stupid, or at least that they "only work on paper". And there are some very very strong arguments against communism. They make a lot of sense. After a year of that, you begin to believe it. You begin to wonder if things can get better- or maybe you still think they can, but you wonder how. You forget, perhaps. It starts getting lonely. A lonely fight for a better world.

And then, in July, you are suddenly being reminded that capitalism is not a good system to live in. You hear people who know why, who have seen why, talk. You are told again and again that communism will work. That it has to work. And maybe it's propaganda. And maybe it doesn't really make much sense. And maybe I'm just dazzled by the singing and the conversation and the people and the life.

But it feels wonderful to be part of a movement again.

The workers, united, will never be defeated. Maybe we need Marxism to keep us united.

Seen the Discovery Channel's latest advert? Well, you should.

Other than that:

It's the last week before work experience, so everything's been crazy-busy coursework-wise while remaining pretty quiet otherwise.

So that is my blog for this week.

By the way, I think Debate Club saved my life today.