tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2009-11-12:/You know what a blog is. You might know who I am. MokoFeed2009-11-12T03:16:04+01:00tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-09-11:/2008/09/11/on-and-off-4714716/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-09-11T19:53:01+02:002008-09-11T19:53:01+02:00 <p>Christ: I didn't notice quite how many ads there are on this site. Therefore, and because Amber seemed rather annoyed by them, follow me if you will to Livejournal, where I am setting up shop despite its rather-rubbishness. Because, mostly, no-one else I knows blogs there. Semi-originality, see? But also because that's <a href="http://untoward.livejournal.com/">where Joey Comeau blogs</a>, and I do like his blog. Oh, and I think it's probably the closest site to this one, this being an outrageous rip-off et al. (LJ's not ad-free, but there are fewer. I'm not sure I'm willing on giving up the irony involved in advertisements completely. Of course, I can always buy a paid account if I do. (And, ur, if I get a lot more money from some-place.))</p> <p>But, anyway: the "new" blog is called Semi-Political Linguistics (Pretentious?! A fifteen year old girl on her blog?! Never! (Sarcasm, too?! My God!)) (Sorry.), and can be found <a href="http://so-he-said.livejournal.com/">here.</a></p> <p>It'll be rubbish until I get back into the swing of things. But isn't the theme pretty?</p> <p>Farewell, O blog.co.uk. Farewell! Maybe I will see you again someday!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/09/11/on-and-off-4714716/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-08-31:/2008/08/31/on-sicily-of-course-what-else-4661340/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-08-31T12:43:34+02:002008-08-31T12:43:34+02:00 <p>Actually, it was rather annoying: even when I was sitting on the side of the pool in Sicily, knee deep in cold water and in the shade of a tree that may have been a palm tree and may have been a banana tree and may have just been a tree, watching the sky with a copy of <em>American Gods </em>on my lap, all I could think about was how to blog it all.</p> <p>I'd hate to put all that thought to waste, so I suppose I'm still blogging.</p> <p>(It's almost as if I see everything as being made valid only once it's been posted. Which reminds me of an argument, actually, that I really need to lose. Do we actually have any right to space travel? Do we even need the right to? And the like.)</p> <p>But, yes: the house, to clarify, had a pool, and also a pool table (and a massage chair and CCTV and a steam shower and and and) and was rather like someone who had never seen an expensive home but had read a description of one had designed it. The decor, see, didn't quite fit with the fact there was a pool table. Nor did the fact that the room I shared with Sean had neither A/C nor a window, despite the fact that every other bedroom had both. I sound bitter, but we're talking thirty-one degrees on a cool night, and my room's unopenable high-up block of glass that lets in light also let in the last of the sun.</p> <p>While I'm complaining, actually, let me say this: <em>eighty-four mosquito bites. </em></p> <p>But apart from that, yes, it was good, it was good to watch the pile of books by my bed (eleven) shrink to none just as it was good to watch the moon rise over the ocean and to see, ha, yes, a meteor and also! My God, there were bats. Awesome, I do think.</p> <p>But this could easily become a very very very long post even if I decided not to actually talk about any of the ruins or the food or the people or the, Christ, the politics. And god knows I mostly wasn't thinking about any of that: just blogging, and wondering what e-mails I was missing and whether I'd ever be able to swim properly and how long my freckles will stay out for and whether I really missed lurpack more than the internet and whether I really missed the internet more than, say, London itself, or my bookshelves or, you know, gaming, or, hey, any fellow human beings?</p> <p>Or debate club? </p> <p>(It is good to be home. It is very very good to be home.)</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/08/31/on-sicily-of-course-what-else-4661340/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-08-13:/2008/08/14/on-yesterday-4585740/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-08-14T00:41:06+02:002008-08-14T00:41:06+02:00 <p>Here is a fact: yesterday, Legoland was closed due to drainage problems. And here is an opinion: that'd be bad, but yesterday was good anyway, because Kew gardens is.</p> <p>And here is an aside: I was happy. </p> <p>And here is something else: I very almost decided to stop blogging yesterday. </p> <p>Here is an explanation: I found myself typing "I can't care, anyway: I blog and, well! Look at all those great poets, writing beautiful miserable angry things twenty years later; look at their greatly symbolic suicide attempts; look at their messed-up lives. They cared; they made monuments to their tragedies, in their poetry, and in the poetry of their day-to-day. They did it right, Saoirse, girl. Why do you get it so wrong? You are just an attention-seeking adolescent, and you know it. You really ought to shut up and try to actually feel something.", and feeling oh-so-very angry with myself on several hundred levels; guilty, too. </p> <p>(Because this isn't what he wanted. But, really, what did he expect? That I could laugh it off? He's dead. Sha lalala lala la. Yeah. ((And I will never be lonely. Said I'm never gonna be, lone-ly.)) And what does it make me that I forget what he wanted? And what does it make me if I carry on?)</p> <p>And a conclusion: I don't know whether I will be blogging. I may wait until I get this counselling, wait until I am not just pouring everything onto you, online, and then see if I can do it again. In any case, I am in Sicily on Friday, and I doubt I will have access to the internet there. Wait; we'll see, I suppose.</p> <p>Nine months, by the way, in fifteen days; I like the analogy to pregnancy that can be found with tumours (Oh, you did not see his stomach swell.) I want to say, the birth is now, but no: the child is instead nine months old now. He may now be crawling; he may now realise he misses his parents when they leave the room and he may cry when they do so. </p> <p>(I can't cry any more, did you know that?) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/08/14/on-yesterday-4585740/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-08-04:/2008/08/04/on-why-the-past-eleven-days-have-me-smil-4543599/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-08-04T22:34:30+02:002008-08-11T21:21:58+02:00 <p>God: the one thing I love about the summer holidays is how normal and natural life suddenly becomes. It may be the sleep. Not having to wake up in time to be late to school means I tend to dream more, I tend to smile more, I tend to read more. (Today I finished <em>No-One Belongs Here More Than You </em>, by Miranda July, which I can describe only as charming.)</p> <p>On to the recounting of events, I suppose:</p> <p>Alice slept over the night before last (it was also her birthday, although that was mostly a coincidence. It was an excuse to celebrate, though), which was definitely nice, if tiring; I am Bad With People, and find spending so much time in company exhausting- which is entirely my fault, understand.</p> <p>Anyway: I saw The Dark Knight with OtherDominic some time last week (Thursday, that was it), which was rather good, despite the rather dodgy politics of the entire film (Oh, it's an amazing film, but, Christ, you know that already). Even because of it; there's a nice argument to be had there.</p> <p>Going further back into the recesses of my memory, Alice and I saw Her Naked Skin, about the women's suffrage movement, at the National Fri-or-Satur-day before last, which was good, even if the twist was rather unsurprising. Maybe it was just my boredom at some of the more tedious scenes, but I was thinking that they- yes, those two, it's obvious, isn't it?- were about to lunge at each other. Which makes it sound like a bad play; it wasn't. Far from it, it was clever, and entertaining and interesting and would have been useful if I hadn't <em>just done</em> the History coursework. And the rotating stage mechanics broke half-way through, so we all got free ice-cream.</p> <p>What else? </p> <p>I was working on Saturday, and received my First Ever Wages. (Thirty pounds, which is good, considering my age and such, and the fact I would very nearly work for free there. It feels very good to have a job, something like routine and structure and normality, which I know is a very adolescent thing to say. I'm good at it, in a way that is so utterly ordinary; I like the customers, and the pricing gun is so macho and I love putting on Pulp and chatting with communists about what Common People <em>really</em> means and finding out that, actually, I know how the till works and, and, God, it's so me, working in a bookshop, so much so that I never even realised).</p> <p>And tonight, I will read until I realise I am not understanding the words any more, and then I will sleep until the sun is too bright, and then I will have breakfast. Maybe I will go to the exhibition on skeletons at the Wellcome Centre, or maybe I will simply take a walk to the park. It will be a good day, because there is no reason for it to be anything else. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/08/04/on-why-the-past-eleven-days-have-me-smil-4543599/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-07-23:/2008/07/23/on-heads-and-portals-4490536/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-07-23T23:20:18+02:002008-07-23T23:20:18+02:00 <p>I managed to bump my head twice today, badly, and now it hurts to raise my eyebrows. Ouch.</p> <p>However, it is a good day!</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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?</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/07/23/on-heads-and-portals-4490536/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-07-22:/2008/07/22/on-my-week-in-one-hundred-words-plus-the-4485437/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-07-22T21:21:51+02:002008-07-22T21:21:51+02:00 <p>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). </p> <p>I watched five movies, listened to about 139 songs , and read three books.</p> <p>It was a good week.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/07/22/on-my-week-in-one-hundred-words-plus-the-4485437/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-07-14:/2008/07/14/a-dramatisation-of-my-thoughts-with-note-4448224/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-07-14T21:09:52+02:002008-07-14T22:38:04+02:00 <p>Saoirse1: Oh, are we blogging, then?<br> Saoirse2: Yeah, well, it's been a week. I mean we really should have blogged on Thursday-<br> Saoirse1: Ah, yes, the Birthday. Are you mentioning that?<br> Saoirse2: Uh-huh. I thought I'd say something like: "I am now half-way to thirty; fuck."<br> Saoirse1: You like that line.<br> Saoirse2: I do. I think it's the semi-colon.<br> Saoirse1: I think it sounds kind of stupid, really. Crude.<br> Saoirse2: You middle-class snob!<br> Saoirse1: Do I really need to explain Marxism to you-<br> Saoirse2: Oh, God, no. I know about the means of production already.<br> Saoirse1: If you say so. Hey! Maybe we should blog that.<br> Saoirse2: A political blog?<br> Saoirse1: Yeah! Why not?<br> Saoirse2: Because it's boring, that's why. You just miss debate club.<br> Saoirse1: Yes; I do. But so do you.<br> Saoirse2: I miss the people. You just miss the arguments.<br> Saoirse1: And? As great as Bookmarks is, there's not much to argue about.<br> Saoirse2: God, you're obsessed.<br> Saoirse1: You like arguing!<br> 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.<br> Saoirse1: Look, anyway, we're meant to be writing a coherent blog post.<br> Saoirse2: I hate it when people refer to commenting as "posting"... We should mention lunch with Dominic and Joshua's birthday party.<br> Saoirse1: Advertise the lasagna of Silva's? Sure. It was a nice meal. So was the dinner party.<br> Saoirse2: Oh my god, caterpillar cake!<br> Saoirse1: Yes, and the caterpillar cake. (Smiling)<br> Saoirse2: Patronising.<br> Saoirse1: Sorry. What else has happened? Oh! Book club!<br> Saoirse2: Yes, I can't believe we're in a book club. Sure is you.<br> Saoirse1: It was great! I mean, you liked seeing Sanna and Dominic, and don't go and tell me you hate reading now!<br> Saoirse2: Of course I don't. It was fun, yes.<br> Saoirse1: Anything else? We should probably introduce OtherDominic?<br> Saoirse2: Why? I've met him twice!<br> Saoirse1: That's true. And I guess we don't really introduce people on this blog.<br> Saoirse2: No, we don't.<br> Saoirse1: That's it, isn't it? Has anything else happened?<br> Saoirse2: Micheal Rosen came into the shop!!!<br> Saoirse1: Oh, yes.<br> Saoirse2: I'm still starstrucked.<br> Saoirse1: But that's it, right? My Week (edited edition), by Saoirse?<br> Saoirse2: Mm.<br> 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.</p> <p>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. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/07/14/a-dramatisation-of-my-thoughts-with-note-4448224/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-07-07:/2008/07/07/on-post-marxism-happiness-4417457/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-07-07T22:30:40+02:002008-07-07T22:30:40+02:00 <p>So! So! So!</p> <p>Marxism!</p> <p>Right!</p> <p>(And here is the fight for coherency.)</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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 <em>immoral</em>; 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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>But it feels wonderful to be part of a movement again.</p> <p>The workers, united, will never be defeated. Maybe we need Marxism to keep us united. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/07/07/on-post-marxism-happiness-4417457/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-07-02:/2008/07/02/on-boom-de-yada-and-nothing-else-what-co-4394820/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-07-02T18:41:56+02:002008-07-02T18:42:21+02:00 <p>Seen the Discovery Channel's latest advert? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ">Well, you should.</a></p> <p>Other than that:</p> <p>It's the last week before work experience, so everything's been crazy-busy coursework-wise while remaining pretty quiet otherwise.</p> <p>So that is my blog for this week.</p> <p>By the way, I think Debate Club saved my life today. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/07/02/on-boom-de-yada-and-nothing-else-what-co-4394820/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-06-23:/2008/06/23/on-the-london-debate-challenge-finals-4353025/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-06-23T18:42:31+02:002008-06-23T18:42:31+02:00 <p>Second place is far from bad when the winning team was a grammar school. Eliezer, Miles and Pritesh were amazing. Go QPCS! Go Brent!</p> <p>Damn Grammar School Zombies.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/06/23/on-the-london-debate-challenge-finals-4353025/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-06-11:/2008/06/11/stream-of-thought-post-4303517/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-06-11T21:03:12+02:002008-06-11T21:03:12+02:00 <p>It's amazing how often I find myself defending the earthly. I'm always arguing that we need to disregard religion or ceremony or tradition in the name of saving lives, of ending war and poverty and much preventable death.</p> <p>It's part of Marxism: nothing comes from dreams. We're materialists, the lot of us. </p> <p>I was saying this to John today: we don't understand the universe, and we don't understand the constructs we make to deal with it. There is no definition of art, for example, that satisfies us all. And we still don't really know how anything works, not really. </p> <p>I was also saying this: I am a sceptic when it comes to reality. And a lot of other things, but reality is what I've been thinking about. I don't think it is possible to prove, at all, that the world- in the sense of the physical world, not the planet- is actually real. And that it may just be possible to prove that it isn't. Of course, you can't prove anything- but it's that feeling that you can never know. It's the sense that I can never, ever know the most basic thing about these things I interact with that has begun to drive me mad. </p> <p>I keep feeling trapped by gravity. Like I can't move in enough dimensions.</p> <p>Maybe I'm just tired. I don't really have reason to be. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/06/11/stream-of-thought-post-4303517/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-06-08:/2008/06/08/on-community-and-whot-4290379/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-06-08T22:22:14+02:002008-06-08T22:22:14+02:00 <p>Since I wish to lose no geek points, here is the follow-up post for yesterday.</p> <p>We- Amber and I- went to the place in-between platforms thirteen and fourteen of Waterloo station, where we found a whole bunch of geeks immersed in playing Ticket to Ride, which seems to be the fourth most (as opposed to forth most, which is reserved for War on Terror) complicated board game on Earth. Since the two of us were rather late, we instead played <a href="http://www.pagat.com/com/whot.html">Whot,</a> although not without adding the Prime Number rule, the Multiplication, Addition and Division rules, the Wind rule, and, eventually, the Justifiable rule, which made it actually entertaining.</p> <p> I love Geohashing, in all its geekiness. Maybe the true joy of it is that it is amazing, poignant, even: an utterly random location is picked, and, without two words being said to one another, people assemble there. It's a sense of community, really. (Pictures are <a href="http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/2008-06-07_51_-0">here</a>, BTW.)</p> <p>I feel like there is community everywhere now. <a href="http://www.marxismfestival.org.uk/">Marxism</a> has always been like this. You feel safe for once, at home. Strangers, who all share at least one aspect of your ideology. Geek culture is like that. But it's quieter, more subtle. That feeling, though, of finding out that someone you know is a geek too, is incomparable. </p> <p>Geek points for saying that? Loads, right? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/06/08/on-community-and-whot-4290379/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-06-07:/2008/06/07/on-gathered-thigns-i-really-really-don-t-4285259/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-06-07T15:10:13+02:002008-06-07T15:33:09+02:00 <p>I thought I had something vitally important to blog, but on inspection, it turns out it's just that I dreamed I promised Alice I'd blog about my week.</p> <p>Which would have been a brilliant post. I'd start it: "I killed a man on Monday."</p> <p>Even in my dreams, I always say the things that make me sound mentally unstable in front to Alice. </p> <p>Anyway, I should probably go and get ready so Amber and I can <a href="http://www.xkcd.com/426/">hang out in-between platforms thirteen</a> and<a href="http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/London_West%2C_United_Kingdom"> fourteen of Waterloo</a> Station because <a href="http://www.xkcd.com/">a webcomic </a>told us to.</p> <p>Geek points for today? If I add that I went to a debate club thing already today? Pretty high, I'm guessing. Maybe thirty-one? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/06/07/on-gathered-thigns-i-really-really-don-t-4285259/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-06-02:/2008/06/02/on-reasons-to-say-w00t-without-sarcasm-4259055/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-06-02T16:44:35+02:002008-06-02T16:44:35+02:00 <p>Ha, yes. We- QPCS's debate club- won the Brent Heats. We are, sometime this month, going through to the London ones.</p> <p>Oh, dear Lord! This is... this is good. This is very good. This is brilliant, this is fabulous, this is wonderful, this is fantastic. I really care too much about Debate Club, but, Christ, we all work rather hard for it. And it's fun, obviously.</p> <p>The only real competition was JFS: St. Gregory's were mostly reading from sheets of paper, and we didn't end up arguing against Preston Manor and the other school who turned up. (Two schools dropped out at the last minute). We had beaten JFS before, of course, in two debates, but this time it was purely the years nine and ten team and they have gotten a lot less formal and a lot more confident. Somehow, and I think it was mostly Mile's speech (the team for this debate was him, me and Pritesh), we beat them again. </p> <p>Seriously, w00t, minus sarcasm. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/06/02/on-reasons-to-say-w00t-without-sarcasm-4259055/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-05-30:/2008/05/30/on-john-thomas-4248249/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-05-30T19:14:05+02:002008-05-30T19:14:05+02:00 <p>I have found a birth certificate, in amongst the papers my father left behind him. The birth certificate for a John Thomas Mac Dermott. Born in Londonderry in 1950, three years before my father. He is the son of Patrick and Ellen MacDermott.</p> <p>I was sent a family tree for this side of the family a while ago. There is no John Thomas, and no Ellen. There is a Patrick, of the right age, but he is dead, and the paper says he had no children.</p> <p>What on mankind's Earth is going on?</p> <p>Why did my father have this man's birth certificate? And did he want me to find it? Why isn't John Thomas McDermott or a John Thomas Mac Dermott or a John Thomas MacDermott on the tree? Who is he? Who was Patrick? Who was Ellen? Am I even meant to find this all out?</p> <p>And for Christ's sake, why does this all sound quite so much like that book I read ages ago, about a boy, a gamer, who had to find his not-as-dead-as-thought uncle Patrick? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/05/30/on-john-thomas-4248249/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-05-29:/2008/05/29/title-4244423/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-05-29T21:21:59+02:002008-05-29T21:22:15+02:00 <p>My new favourite word is "aleatoric".</p> <p>It is six months since my father died.</p> <p>I feel fine.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/05/29/title-4244423/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-05-14:/2008/05/14/on-mild-but-annoying-loss-and-other-thin-4174781/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-05-14T21:01:40+02:002008-05-14T21:19:03+02:00 <p>The debate teams (James, Pritesh and Giggy for the, ur, "junior" debate, and Sarah (since Otis abandoned us), Miles and I for the "senior" debate) lost pretty damn badly against Hamstead today. The motions? Well, the Junies were opposition for "this house believes that exam culture is detrimental to education", and we were proposing that "no news is good news". Which may be the crappiest motion ever, but, hey.</p> <p>Owen thankfully didn't show, although the entirety of their team knew (and ours, obviously, since I had pleaded to not have to be part of this one)and I got to find out about the song they made of my name to tease him during English classes. Ha- I love teenagers. </p> <p>To follow up on my last post, the demo was small, but considering the time and day and location and fact it was an emergency rally was really pretty good. Speakers were good; Martin Smith in particular, but I may well be biased here.</p> <p>(AND OMG! THE FIRST MARXISM 2008 TIMETABLES ARE OUT! And the speakers rock and, and, and, I won't have to miss any of it because it's during work experience and I am totally working for Bookmarks and they're at Marxism! Ha ha, this works out so well!)</p> <p>Aside from debating and politics (and school and family and making CDs for Amber and reading not enough and blogging, but you knew about those), my life has consisted of nothing. Seriously, this has been a boring couple of weeks. </p> <p>Don't really know why I'm blogging, then. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/05/14/on-mild-but-annoying-loss-and-other-thin-4174781/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-05-04:/2008/05/04/on-lots-4131263/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-05-04T21:16:03+02:002008-05-04T22:52:11+02:00 <p>LMHR was wonderful, and long ago now, but still great. I promised I'd mention the guy who both played the flute and beatboxed at the same time, since he was so obviously the highlight.</p> <p>But it turned out to be futile, because unlike the event it was trying to recreate, it had next to no political effect. Or so it would seem, because there was of course the disappointingly high number of votes the BNP were given. In Brent- Brent!- and Harrow they got twice as many as Left List. And while this may be because Left List is a stupid name or because everyone thought they were to do with Galloway or because it's so new, it nonetheless has to be partly because of the way the BNP has begun to tempt people. They aren't happy with Labour, because of the war and the economy and, oh, everything, and they have begun to find scapegoats. It's scary, yes, but I'm more angry. </p> <p>I wasn't going to blog politically at all today, or until the whole thing had died down and I could go back to ranting about revolutions- Communism isn't too important right now, see.</p> <p>But I really want to say this: there's hope. There's hope in the Anti-Nazi League, and all the other remnants of the last fight against British nationalism. They fought and won, and now it's our turn.</p> <p>And the fight begins this Tuesday, at six o'clock, outside the Greater London Authority Building. There we can show the BNP that they have not won, and will not, not as long as we are around. They will not win in London. They will not win in our beautiful, diverse and oh-so-fucking-great London. They will not win in London because it is our city, and we will not let them.</p> <p>Come fight with me. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/05/04/on-lots-4131263/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-04-08:/2008/04/08/on-why-is-this-house-so-dark-4017572/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-04-08T20:25:48+02:002008-04-08T20:25:48+02:00 <p>I bought a dress today, a dress that deserves a "the", a dress with its own soundtrack (The Boy With the Arab Strap, by Belle and Sebastian, I was thinking), a dress that changes the entire way you think about clothes. It was twenty pounds, and from H&M, both things that are odd for me. If you care, it's very 1950s, red with white dots, and button-down. It's brilliant.</p> <p>For one reason or another, it reminds me of a day in a summer, maybe two years ago, maybe not even that, when OtherRobert (ur, SWP member, friend of the family. Nineteen, I think) was doing some gardening for my dad in exchange for our old armchair, and I was sitting on the new one, reading Female Chauvinist Pigs for the first time, while August and Everything After played on the ancient stereo. Life makes its own soundtrack, and there is a song for everything.</p> <p>My father is the "shalalala" at the beggining of Mr. Jones; my mother Out Of Time (by Blur). </p> <p>Everyone has a song. </p> <p>And I always listen to The Good, The Bad and The Queen when I blog.</p> <p>(This is the most musical blog you will ever get from me. I accept that at least half of you will hate at least half of the sons mentioned. This is because I only listen with half my brain, according to John Baker, who I must e-mail.) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/04/08/on-why-is-this-house-so-dark-4017572/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-04-02:/2008/04/02/on-losing-winning-and-winning-again-3987498/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-04-02T20:08:03+02:002008-04-02T20:08:03+02:00 <p>So today was the debates against the Jew's Free School (name recently changed from Jewish Free School, for obvious reasons.) The title is the results. Yay!</p> <p>The year eights lost, but by barely anything. The motion was "This house would enforce the use of DNA as proof of identification". We had some good points, but so did they, sadly. What was really really odd in this debate was when they linked a DNA database with the discrimination and scapegoating of Jews during and before WW2. Ignoring that this is nonsense because one's religion is not in one's DNA at all, I was, and still am, amazed by the extent to which they sort of played up to the stereotype. It was odd, that's all, really. </p> <p>My team- I was first speaker, Eli second, and Alice summarised- won our debate, on "This house would abolish anti-social behaviour orders". </p> <p>The last debate was undoubtedly the best, and was won, by Giggy on first speaker, Pritesh on second, and Sarah summarising, by eighteen points. Let me say that again- eighteen points. Those guys rock, right?</p> <p>Here's A Fact:<br> Every single one of the JFSers started their arguments with the same two sentences: "Good afternoon, Ladies, Gentlemen, Timekeeper, Madam Chairman, and learned opponents." This may be the Proper Way, but Christ.</p> <p>Another thing:</p> <p>Why all the emphasis on structure? The JFSers got tons of points for it, but all it is is "I am going to talk about A, B, and C. AAAA, BBBB, CCCC. I have now spoken about A, B, and C." And then the summarisers say "Today we have heard about A, B, and of course C." Why? I don't like it, personally. Neither does Eli or Alex. I mean, if it's done well, great. But it often really isn't, and then it really doesn't flow. It just doesn't sound good! It wastes time! Whatever happened to moving speeches? Why is it all structure, structure, structure? Is it really effective, or do people only get extra marks for it because all the pieces of paper have it written down? What do you people think? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/04/02/on-losing-winning-and-winning-again-3987498/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-03-30:/2008/03/30/on-ooh-ey-things-3969351/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-03-30T20:31:00+02:002008-03-30T20:31:00+02:00 <p>Oooh-</p> <p>The Sims 3 has recently been announced! And it looks wonderful. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of emphasis on making it more game-like, which I would love to say annoys me because I am one of those recolouring, architectural, story-making players, but really it just annoys me because I want to be one of those. But, it will be good, because there will be no bladder bar, and because the whole town will sim at the same time. I just hope my laptop can take it.</p> <p>There's an <a href="http://thesims3.ea.com/">official site</a>, and <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167001&p=1">1up has a good article about it</a>, if you want to actually know about it.</p> <p>But that isn't out until December oh-nine, and there's <a href="http://www.spore.com/">Spore</a> and <a href="http://www.brutallegendgame.com/splash/">Brutal Legend </a>to look forward to before then.</p> <p>Now the gamer in me has finished, I can tell you all that the Counting Crow's new album is finally finally out over here, which will be good if I can ever afford it.</p> <p>Oh, and:</p> <p>Two days ago, it has emerged, this goddamn attempt at a blog finished its first year of existence. I'm amazed I managed to keep anything going for this long. Commitment! </p> <p>Neil Gaiman gave American Gods away free for his blog's birthday, and Christ would I like to do something like that. But I cannot. Thought that counts? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/03/30/on-ooh-ey-things-3969351/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-03-23:/2008/03/23/a-remarkably-short-note-not-on-anything-3924951/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-03-23T12:50:07+01:002008-03-23T12:50:07+01:00 <p>Jesus Christ, it's like in all the films! Finally, a proper white Easter! (Is it snowing this much in London?!)</p> <p>Happy Easter, blog readers. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/03/23/a-remarkably-short-note-not-on-anything-3924951/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-03-14:/2008/03/14/on-the-thankfulness-for-fridays-3877666/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-03-14T19:35:58+01:002008-03-14T19:35:58+01:00 <p>It's been a long nine days since I last blogged. Why?</p> <p>Because there has been History Film Club, and annoying revision lessons for the upcoming end-of-years, and International(e) Evening, and the Hamstead Debate (we drew, dammit), and too much preparation for tomorrow's demo, and trampolining and oh, yes, that was why I was blogging:</p> <p>Today is both Emily's birthday and Pi Day, so this blog post is dedicated to fifteen separate circles. Happy both occasions to you all. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/03/14/on-the-thankfulness-for-fridays-3877666/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-03-05:/2008/03/05/on-semi-related-things-3822509/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-03-05T22:40:59+01:002008-03-05T22:40:59+01:00 <p>Well, I made the team for the year ten's Hamstead debate which is, of course,</p> <p>"This house feels the 2012 London Olympics should be cancelled", with us on proposition.</p> <p>It's a badly worded motion, really. A better one might have been something like:</p> <p>"This house believes the 2012 Olympics should not be held in London"</p> <p>or even</p> <p>"This house feels the Olympics are tedious, so let's argue about feminism!"</p> <p>Actually, speaking of feminism, today in Sociology we learnt that the Feminist movement is directly responsible for "Lad's Mags". Not even as rebellion towards it, as you might think made sense at least, but through making females more confident, leading to their success in schools: "Lad" culture is, apparently, a response to this, leading of course to the media catering for it.</p> <p>This is nonsense.</p> <p>Anyway:</p> <p>Last night was the Mark Steel/ Tony Benn/ Forgettable Woman meeting, which had six people from QPCS there. (Sarah particularly gets a mention, since she only knew about it on the day.)</p> <p>It was of course a good meeting, and like any good meeting, had two conspiracy theorists in attendance who spoke at the end- 911 ones, I should say. I won't go into it here- this post is bound to be too long as it is. </p> <p>What other news is there?</p> <p>I made fudge last weekend, which turned out okay, I suppose. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/03/05/on-semi-related-things-3822509/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-02-17:/2008/02/17/on_purple_jeans_no_actually_i_didn_t_buy~3741865/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-02-17T21:19:15+01:002008-02-17T21:19:15+01:00 <p>Hullo! </p> <p>Three things to blog about today, and structure is always meant to be a good thing. So, in this blog I shall:</p> <p>1- Discuss Cambridge and its Shire, including a short mention of the Genius Cloud.<br> 2- Advertise something, but nicely. (Bonus: a discussion of why this does not mean I need to quit the SWP.)<br> 3- Be Generally Happy</p> <p>But not in that order, because that order's stupid.</p> <p>I'll start with the ad.</p> <p>(Imagine that the following is a voiceover, ooh, by Eley himself, why not?)</p> <p>"SF is whatever we point to when we say it, and this means that we can really be creative. Escape Pod is a podcast produced by Escape Artists Incorporated, and if you like SF, or just free-thought, you really should head over to <a href="http://www.escapepod.org">escapepod.org</a>. Whether we're being provocative or just thought-provoking, we're always interesting- and you can be sure of that. Or at least, that my brilliance when doing a girl-voice will entertain you. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy this subtle and strange-sounding reference: it's Story Time."</p> <p>(Why does this not mean that I am a traitor? Because since I live under capitalism, it is impossible for me to escape it, except through revolution. This is also why boycotting is of limited effectiveness: it doesn't change the system. Not talking about science fiction podcasts on my blog does not change the system. You could, if you wanted, argue that I re-enforce the values of capitalism. But to that I would say: perhaps, but I wear enough badges to balance it out.)</p> <p>So, onwards.</p> <p>This blog is being typed on a really stupid-looking, supposedly ergonomic, but really really stupid-looking keyboard, in my aunt's house, which is of course in <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlon=0.18&mlat=52.22&zoom=15">Fen Ditton</a>, in Cambridgeshire.</p> <p>It is cold here. I miss the heat island effect- a lot.</p> <p>But, it has been good seeing the cat, the nerd, and the academic (Radar, Jim, and Rosie, respectively.), and it was also good getting to meet Dominic's Cambridge Friends yesterday. How do I describe them? Irfan looks a lot like <a href="http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/horroronline/images/china.gif">China Mieville</a>, if you squint. Joe, the Nazi, was too quiet to argue with; Sophie is quite obviously a lovely person, despite her private-schooled past; Michael is a cynical Irishman who likes Salad Cream on chips, so that's all good; Owen isn't studying architecture at all; and I can't remember anyone else properly. However, I feel the very most important thing to blog is: these strange, strange students <em>actually have their names outside their doors. </em>Like in the films; like in the books (oh, I should mention the libraries, shouldn't I? Oh, this counts.)! Honestly...</p> <p>And now: for general happiness:</p> <p>I'm happy today, because I have bought two new necklaces that could only be improved by being unicorns, but so could everything, so, oh well. I also bought really Nice Socks to be Worn in Drama, a one-pound red, shiny purse that looks a little Colleen-ish, but will scuff and look rather nice when it does, and two DVDs (Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Oddesey. As Amber said: "The second one has famous music."). I'm going back to London tomorrow morning, so that will be nice, and I swear, with Steve Eley as my witness, that I will work on my case study.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/02/17/on_purple_jeans_no_actually_i_didn_t_buy~3741865/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-02-10:/2008/02/10/on~3708830/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-02-10T22:48:18+01:002008-02-10T23:00:00+01:00 <p>So, yesterday, Emily and I went with Sophia to The Otherwise Club Ball (Ur, it's a club for HSE people, who are, by the way, <em>utterly normal and <em>very</em> good at coping and being sociable when meeting new people</em>. It provides non-school trips, game-things, and non-lessons, as far as I can tell.) </p> <p>I should really talk about the main event, so: it was in three main parts. The first had a live band, with a really quite cute guy on the 'cello, playing classical music very well indeed. The second part, and the most awkward, was the Specific Quiz, during which the teams (I managed to get the 'Cellist on our team) had to answer twenty-one questions. An example: "Where was I going when I was only an hour and a half late?". Another: "Who died twice in one week on the Canoing Trip?".</p> <p>It goes without saying that this was much harder and more annoying than Trivial Pursuit. Emily and I played with balloons and the twirly things on sticks stuck into the piles of stale sandwiches.</p> <p>Then we sang "Happy Birthday" seven times.</p> <p>Then there was rather acidic champagne. Sophia had half a glass, and was really very drunk. I had the same. I really was perfectly sober.</p> <p>Then there was cake, and music. This time it was what was referred to as "rock". Yes, you guessed it, it was The YMCA, and The Jackson Five.</p> <p>Nonetheless, it was a nice night. It was good to see Sophia, and really good to see Emily- I hardly ever get to talk to her these days. </p> <p>EDIT: The following has been brought to my attention: Sophia is a lier; she drank five-and-a-half glasses, not one half of a glass. This is of the cheap, acidic champagne. Infer what you will. </p> <p>Further EDIT: That may seem mean. I don't mean it as mean. I just mean, "Wow, she drank a lot. And of that quite bad champagne! How remarkable!". Also: I know I know nothing of wine. I am not claiming it had a bouquet of anything at all. I swear. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/02/10/on~3708830/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-02-06:/2008/02/06/on_coincidences_that_are_good~3690266/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-02-06T22:14:36+01:002008-02-06T22:14:36+01:00 <p>Don't you love it when, in a moment, two completely different long-term strands of thought are pulled together? By an author blogging about your favourite song, or a quote you know being found in another context? I like it, anyway. </p> <p>This has happened three times, and every time it has been something to do with Neil Gaiman. I believe I should therefore name him in my blog, and also subtly recommend him, as well as link to his blog, which I think is polite bloggingness, <a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/">here.</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/02/06/on_coincidences_that_are_good~3690266/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-01-22:/2008/01/22/on_tuesday_the_twenty_second_two_thousan~3616331/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-01-22T18:37:18+01:002008-01-22T18:37:18+01:00 <p>Today I:</p> <p>-Learnt that only one member of the cabinet in 1992 sent his two children to state schools consistently, and that his name was Newton.</p> <p>-Argued with Alice over whether the shape and size of the (naked) fairies in her (naked) fairy book isn't misrepresenting the female fairy populace and leading to poor self-esteem amongst other naked but slightly curvier fairies? She said: "Oh, you argue about everything! Politics, religion, and now faries,..." I bet you can guess my response.</p> <p>-Blogged</p> <p>Yay! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/01/22/on_tuesday_the_twenty_second_two_thousan~3616331/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-01-17:/2008/01/17/title~3590854/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-01-17T14:40:51+01:002008-01-17T14:40:51+01:00 <p>So I think it's finally hit me, that he's not coming back,yesterday. Bad timing; it meant I missed debate club. That makes it sound like nothing, doesn't it? </p> <p>God, it's really quite lonely. That might be the worst thing about it all. Normally, when I feel this depressed, I'd ring my father. And now I'm having to cope with the hardest thing yet and I know he's not about to phone.</p> <p>I'll cope, I suppose, somehow. Right now it looks like re-runs of Ugly Betty might be what'll pull me through. Go escapism. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/01/17/title~3590854/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk,2008-01-12:/2008/01/12/on_bloggabiltiy~3565804/SaoirseIsASocialist2008-01-12T14:10:26+01:002008-01-12T14:10:26+01:00 <p>What an interesting and eventful week I have had! Really, I wish my life would be as blogable as this more often. I need fewer brackets this way, you see. </p> <p>So, my week:</p> <p>Went back to school on Monday, which was good. Tuesday was TripSci with Kanj (which is a lot better than with Jabine. She's a nice person, but she did really only teach the 10C geniuses) and seeing The Kite Runner with Sanna and Joshua and Dominic (who is of course going back to uni today- good luck to him)and Abby, who is as nice as everyone says, somehow at the same time as being a manager (and not one particularly supportive of trade unions!). The film was utterly brilliant- Dominic's covered that on his blog, I think- and it was, of course, lovely to see everyone. Wednesday was Wednesday, and I love Wednesdays. And Thursday was a progress review day! So no school, just in case you don't know about QPCS's odd perks, which gave me a chance to finish Sam and Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die (which is free, by the way, so if you're an adventure gamer who mourns Lucas Arts' dreadful state, go and see how great TellTale Games is) by which I of course mean, my George Best essay.</p> <p>So, yeah, good week. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://saoirseisasocialist.blog.co.uk/2008/01/12/on_bloggabiltiy~3565804/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>