Call me Jake

My holiday so far

2005-08-09T11:30:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of the summer holidays here, Mum, Dad and I went to the south of France. A small village called Barjac to be specific. We stayed in Mum's friend Mary's chateau. She's from NZ too. Mum's bestest friend (also a kiwi), Brendan and his boyfrend Martijn (said:Martain(not martian)) came too.

Martijn had been to the south of France before and was tired from the journey, so didn't come on our expeditions. In their car (RED CONVERTIBLE!!!!!) on the first day, we went to a market and bought food, then went to an abandoned chateau and had a picnic. After that we went to a river and went swimming with tiny fish! There were some larger ones as well but only about five.We went out to a fancy resturant for dinner. It was really, really good!!

The next day we went to a medieval town called Uzes. There were some fountains you could drink from dotted around and there was a bigger one you could dip your feet in. I did. After Uzes we went to the river again. For dinner we bought pizza.

On our last day we drove in to Avignon and there was a festival going on. It was really cool! There was a guy doing magic tricks in French, some women singing in French and a bunch of people walking around dressed up really weirdly having a conversation in French. They speak a lot of French in France. :)

A couple of days after we got home from France, my Nana and Grandad came to stay for about 5 days.They taught us the card game 'Stop the Bus'. I love it! I'm not too good at it but it's lots of fun. We went to an embroidery shop in a place called Rugeley so Nana could get some fabric. We went to a kind of park there and had a picnic.

We went to Coventry and saw the old cathedral in all its glory, except for the fact that there was a ginormous stage in the middle of it! They were preparing for a performance of 'Beauty and the Beast'. Oh well...

I've seen two movies so far but want to see more in the holidays. I've seen Fantastic 4 with Mum. It was fantastic (pun intended) and left it open for a second film. With the school holiday programme thingy (the Arc), two school supervisors, a girl from my class called Natalie and I went and saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. That was a scarily bizzare at points, but overall, a very good film.

I went on another trip with the Arc, we went to Warwick Castle. It was awesome! We missed the firing of the Trebuchet but we saw jousting, archery, swordfights and the birds of prey like owls and vultures (my fav) and eagles.

I got a new PC game lately called Scrapland. You're a robot journalist called D-Tritus on the remains of earth. There are no humans as they're hated and feared. Solve the dark mystery behind the murders that threaten to destroy the world of Scrapland. Your role has been decided: how you play is up to you!

Dad's downloaded the first two series of 'Sports Night' and the first one of 'Lost'. 'Lost' is SOOOOOOOOO good!!!!! And I love 'Sports Night'! I've been staying up late watching them.

Last Sunday I started Capoeira! It's really cool but my muscles hurt, especially my stomach :(
Capoeira is like a mix between a martial art and a dance. You start off slow but as you get more experienced you can go faster and faster.

Unlucky Visitors

2005-07-10T18:16:00.000+01:00

This weekend we had some guests over. Sam and Anna-Louise from NZ. I kindly let them have my room, while I slept on the airbed in Mum and Dad's room.

I wanted to show Sam my Enter the Matrix game on the PC, but it crashed! That was just the beginning of their unluckyness (actually it really started just before they came over, in Edinburgh with the riots!) ...

The next day we were all in town at a dragon festival. It was really fun and there were performers, free table soccer (football) and boat races. Mum went home first, Then Dad and I, but Sam and Anna-Louise stayed to go to the movies. That was when their bad luck struck again!! When they went into the movie, everything was normal, but when they came out, there was a bomb scare going on! AAAARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20,000 people were evacuated! All the hotels, everywhere except the bars.

They got home OK and no one was hurt.

Last week I didn't do a lot. A test in science, preparing for the end of school, boring stuff like that. sigh...

Edinburgh

2005-07-03T15:32:00.000+01:00

Yesterday my parents and I went to Edinburgh for the day. We woke up a 2 in the morning and left for the coach at around about 3.15. We took a taxi to where we needed to go and waited for everyone to arrive. Eventually we split up onto two coaches and left.

At about 8 in the morning we stopped for 15 minutes at a service station called Moto. We arrived at Edinburgh at about 11 am.

We were all given arrest cards just in case and then set off. Mum, Dad and I went and got a vege burger and it was goooooooooood!!!!! Then we went to wait to go on the march.

Two hours later we left because we saw the Maori independence flag and hung out with them until they started marching. We followed them for a bit then went and joined someone else, they led us to the now moving march and off we went!

We took ages to get out of the gate and everyone was pushing. We marched with them for about half an hour then went and had a milkshake. I had toasted marshmallow flavour, Dad had butterscotch. Mum didn't have a milkshake, she had lentil soup. :}

Then we went and listened to people ranting and some music. At 3 o'clock everyone had a minute of silence, then a minute of NOISE!!!!!!!!!!! I ran out of breath twice.

Next we bought some chips and went on the coach home. I was so tired, I went to sleep before I closed my eyes! Weirdly!!

I'm back!!!

2005-06-12T14:11:00.000+01:00

I haven't written for ages - but here I am.

School's okay, getting better because the Summer holidays are coming up! Six weeks. The classes are just as boring but the last week will be almost non-stop movie watching. Mmmmmm...

I suddenly have a Star Wars games obsession. I've ordered one off E-Bay (7 days overdue!! Grrrr!) called Star Wars Battlefront, and this morning I downloaded a demo of one called X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter where you fly an X-Wing in space and blow stuff up! I like almost every game except the LEGO one. LEGO, Star Wars and PC games do not go together.

This is my homework, poetry for science! I had to write a poem describing an animal, without using the name, and see if the class could work it out! I did it as a sonnet. Here it is:

Chameleon
An animal with very sticky feet
It is about the same size as a shoe
It’s nice to look at but not good to eat
It’s green and red and brown and purple too
Its tongue is just as long as head to toe
Some look like tigers but they’re really not
They don’t move fast they are extremely slow
They’re reptiles so their blood is cold not hot
It looks around with really wonky eyes
Its skin is made of mirrors but not glass
It really likes to eat bugs not mince pies
It lives amongst the forest trees and grass
I wish we had one right here in our class

My second Jakecast

2005-03-24T09:25:00.000Z

Now you can hear my amazing voice once more... in my second Jakecast! WOOOOOO! YEAH! Happy Easter to all readers of Call me Jake (and listeners now too!) .

Download the mp3.

Parental advisory

2005-03-21T23:29:00.000Z

Hi - this is Jake's Dad.

As an experiment, we've let Jake try a podcast rather than a blog post - though he will be strongly encouraged, reminded and cajoled into writing more on his blog. There will probably be lulls like this again, but the rule is still supposed to be one a week minimum.

As you'll hear, he doesn't have that much of a problem telling stories verbally. He'd be better off practising his writing. But this will do for now.

Click here to download the Jakecast mp3.

The previous week

2005-03-06T13:13:00.000Z

In answer to your question Steve, I didn't get a mark, I got a comment from my teacher. I was very disappionted. They said it was very good, but I got no mark!! Grrrr.

This is what she said:

Jake, this is so imaginative. Well done! The last two chapters are particularly good and have the elements of a myth that we asked you to include. You worked very hard on this.

Today is mothers day over here! It's in a different place in the year to NZ. Dad and I gave Mum a fancy apron and a nice card, which I wrote in (the card, not the apron). I've been trying to do cool magic tricks, but they're either not watching or not interested. Oh well. :(

I made breakfast in bed for Mum, and Dad and I ate the leftovers. Strangly, Dad keeps on saying that HE made the breakfast! He must be going crazy from old age!

Dad and I have been trying to get a LAN connection between our two computers so I can play NWN with Dad! We can't get it working and that's annoying. Also, NWN keeps on freezing with a black screen, forcing me to restart the PC! That's a grrrrrrrr type of prob. More ram should fix it.

On the whole though, I've had a pretty good week. I'll post again soon.

My myth

2005-02-26T17:54:00.000Z

Here is the myth I wrote. Please reply with feedback and/or tips on how improve it. In this I had to include a : Title, main character, creature, good and evil, hero, moral or message, God, test, and something magical.

Here goes...

The Maths Test

PRELUDE

In the days of Gods, mythical creatures, and no electricity, the Creator God Xoiave created a magical quill. This quill had the power to write exactly the right answer to whatever was on the page.

As Xoaive passed the quill to his best follower, Elliott Rudolph, a huge, black raven swooped down and took the quill. Xoiave fired a lightning bolt at the raven, and hit its left wing. Spiralling down, the raven hit a muddy patch of dirt, and sunk into the ground. The quill was never recovered.

CHAPTER ONE
21st century

Robert Swindells was an ordinary kid. He had short, dark hair, baby blue eyes, and wore glasses. He was a normal height, not too tall, not too short, and was extremely thin. In fact, he was so normal, hardly anyone ever noticed him. He had no friends, no enemies, the only people (if you can call them people) who liked him, were his 37 worms.

Robert was in English, when a small, red insect flew up to him, and landed on his desk. Robert leant down and said, "Hiya there little buggy. What type are you?"

"One of a kind, buster!" replied the insect. "And I'm not a bug!"

Robert screamed. "Aaaaaaauuuuuggghhh!!"

No-one noticed.

CHAPTER TWO

There was a new kid in Robert's class. His name was Elliott Rudolph. He wore white, baggy clothes that looked like robes, and tight leather shoes. It was as if he was from ancient Greece or something! But the strangest thing him, was that he noticed Robert. He talked to him, and tried to be friends.

Robert wasn't sure what to make of this new kid. Whether he was actually trying to get to know him, or whether he was mocking Robert.

Robert had passed off the talking red insect as a trick of the light, an illusion. With almost no human contact, Robert thought he was going crazy. He had talked to a bug, and someone had tried to be friends with him in the same week!

Elliott strolled up to Robert and said "Hi Robert, how are you?"

Robert replied, "F- f- fine th- thanks." Robert stuttered when he was nervous.

"Okay," said Elliott, "bye!"

"Wow!" whispered Robert when Elliott had gone.

CHAPTER THREE

Robert had just got to his home, the orphanage. He went to his bedroom, and on his bed was the small, red insect. Robert was exhausted from school, and wouldn't have been surprised if he was attacked by ninjas wearing green and pink polka dot uniforms.

Robert said, "Hi there, what do you want?"

"I want you to follow me," replied the insect. "I'm Vijay, by the way."

Vijay flew out the door, and beckoned for Robert to follow.

They ended up in the garden, under a huge oak tree, in a muddy patch of dirt.

"Dig!" said Vijay.

"What?" asked Robert.

"Dig."

And so Robert dug. And dug, and dug. Until he felt something furry, fluffy. Robert pulled it out, and screamed.

CHAPTER FOUR

Three days after finding the preserved raven with the quill, Robert was still shaky, still pale white. He hadn't gone to school in those three days, but nobody noticed. Vijay had told Robert that the quill was magical, and Robert believed him. Why not? Robert was not at his best, and would have believed anything. Robert sighed, and went to sleep.

The next week, Robert was back at school. He had brought the quill to use, as he couldn't find his pen. Vijay now followed him everywhere, not that anyone would notice, and just chat happily about the quill.

Robert asked him what was so good about this quill, but Vijay just said, "Oh, I just like it."

Later, he suggested Robert use the quill in a maths test on Friday. Robert wondered why he couldn't just borrow a pen from Elliott, but didn't like to argue.

Robert trusted Elliott not to laugh at him, and told him what had happened. He told him about Vijay, and his request for Robert to use the quill. Elliott took him seriously, and said "I don't think you should use that quill."

"Why?"

Elliott opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but then closed it. After a long pause, he said "I just don't."

CHAPTER FIVE

Vijay had convinced Robert that Elliott was just jealous because he wanted to find something cool like that as well.

On Friday, at the maths test, Robert had just gotten out the quill. Elliott stared at it like he was possessed. When Robert put the quill on the page, it started writing! Without Robert's help, it started writing in answers! Robert almost cried out, but stifled himself. It was then that he realised, the answers were all correct! Every single one of them.

'This must be its magical power! Vijay was right!' thought Robert.

The answers poured onto the page, and he was finished in two minutes flat!

When he got home, Robert was exhausted, and flopped onto his bed. Then he heard manic giggling. Quiet, manic giggling. It was Vijay.

"What's so funny?" asked Robert.

"I got you to use it, to use the quill!" replied Vijay.

"And?"

"Look at your hand," ordered Vijay.

Robert did, and to his surprise, he could see through it!

"Help! Help me!" begged Robert.

Suddenly, Elliott rushed in. Robert was fading away fast now! Elliott chanted some strange words, and snatched up the quill. Then, he snapped it. Vijay burst into flames, and started writhing in mid-air.

Elliott stepped over to Robert and said more strange words.

"Aahngh clarh flughre kunftez."

CHAPTER SIX

Robert was okay. He had stopped fading a while ago, but was very confused. Elliott was still there, talking Robert through everything.

Robert said, "Have the quill parts, you've been the best friend a kid would ever want."

"Thank you Robert," replied Elliott.

Elliott took the quill pieces and said goodbye. He then turned into a worm, and disappeared. Robert rushed up and looked around his room, but couldn't find him. He checked on his worms.

There were only 36.

THE END

The moral of this myth is not everything free is good – and don't cheat.

We used to have snow

2005-02-26T09:35:00.000Z

Yes, we had snow. It's gone now and I'm very annoyed. Now according to the BBC all we'll have is sleet. Grrrrrrr!

On the other hand, I've got a new favourite website! It's called Bioware, they make computer games! It's really fun just exploring the site and finding out what you can do (Well it's fun for me anyway).

For homework I'm writing a myth. I'll post up my progress soon. If you could help me by just giving me tips or something like that, that would be a great help.

I'll post again soon, but now I have to go shopping with Mum. Bye.

Since last we spoke

2005-02-16T18:12:00.001Z

Sorry I haven't posted in such a loooooooooong time, I haven't had internet access for a while. Mum and I were staying with Aunty Kerryn and Uncle Haydn in London and they didn't have internet, plus the internet-cafe down the road from them was closed down!

They live in Wimbledon and just up the hill is Wimbledon Village, it's a nice area. There's a bookshop, Argos, supermarket, everything you would ever need, just around the corner. If I lived in London, I would like to live in Wimbledon. I wasn't paid to say that by the way.

Aunty Kerryn is 26 and a half weeks pregnant, and we felt the baby move! We also just watched her stomach move. It was really exciting! They didn't have a TV so watching the Tummy was quite cool (only 1 channel though)!

London was all right, but while I was over there, it SNOWED in Birmingham!!!!! AAAAUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! grrrr. I did have loads of fun though.

We went to the Natural History Museum which was really cool, but when we got back to Kerryn and Haydn's place, we had blisters cos the building was so huge! Inside was everything I've ever learnt about nature and science... and more!!! It was amazing!

We also went to The Tower of London! That was awesome! We met a New Zealander Beefeater and he's the only kiwi to have done that for the better part of 700 years!! There was a whole building filled with olden day weapons from when Dad was 30-something. Exciting eh?! I was - however - devastated at the fact that they only showed two torture mechanisims!! :( Oh well.

I must get back to my computer games, I can hear them calling my name. Until next time, see ya!

P.S. I didn't see any Wombles in Wimbledon.

Me again

2005-02-04T18:53:00.000Z

Hi. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been doing my mountain of homework. Anyway...

At school I have the usual classes, you know, English, Maths, Science, History, blah blah blah. But I also have really awesome classes like German (I get to choose another language next year as well as German) and IT (information technology). I have DT (design technology) and RE (religious education). We also have the worst class ever, PE. In PE, we are doing basketball and gymnastics. These are OK but we have had such bad ones like football and tennis. I hate PE because our teacher is really mean and doesn't explain what we have to do, just expects us to be mind readers.

Out of school, I like doing Parkour, playing on the computer, reading, blogging, and various other activities. I like practicing my German and, killing two birds with one stone, watch my Mum confuse herself trying to decipher it. I've started back at djemba drumming and really enjoy it.

I'll be back soon to do more blogging, but in the mean time, please comment on my fantastically amazing blog.

P.S. Hey Nick, nice to hear from you, maybe we'll see you in Germany?
P.P.S. We missed you and Jicky at Christmas, Steve!

Thanks and sorry

2005-01-30T17:50:00.000Z

Thanks Bizgirl and Jesse for commenting on Nat's blog. Good suggestions too! Anyway, sorry I have fallen behind on informing you about my life. Here we are then.

On Friday, my friend from school came round and stayed the night! We spent most of the time playing Need for Speed Underground on the computer. Nick (that's his name) brought round three DVD's. Taxi, The Italian Job, and Garfield. We didn't watch Taxi but watched almost all of the others.

I have had a pretty lazy weekend, and don't want to go to school. Please tell me how to at least have fun at school, and maybe even enjoy the classes! I hope you do 'cos I'm really bored there and would like something to do.

If I've lost your attention whilst I've been avioding my blogging duties, I'm sorry. If I have, please tell me so I can maybe talk about something less depressing than school. The upsides in my life as a Tweenager maybe?

Me pleading

2005-01-22T19:47:00.000Z

Hi, this is me pleading you to go to my friend Nat's blog and leave a comment so she doesn't get upset, and blame me for 'forcing' (I suggested it politely) her to make it. Pleeeeeeaaaaaase at least have a look!

Please?

At school

2005-01-20T13:40:00.000Z

At the moment I'm at school! I'm kind of showing off to my friends but they don't care. I'm in I.C.T. class, and I'm not really allowed to do this so I'll keep it short. My friend Natalie is getting a blog now! See ya!

Nev cam

2005-01-18T07:33:00.000Z

If you get the time, you should check out the new Nev cam. Nev is a little puppet on a telly programme called 'Smile'. He's really cute and I like his voice. It's really funny and there is a new one every week!

Click here to watch!

The latest news in my life

2005-01-17T07:45:00.000Z

Yesterday we went to Coventry. It was OK but could have been better. We went to the old cathedral that got bombed and had lunch. We had a walk around looking for Medieval Spon street, but couldn't find it. So we went to a shopping mall and bought Dad a mug.

Earlier in the week, I got a present from my best friend in NZ, Henry. It had lots of food from home, like chocolate, Raro, and hot sauce. It also had a really cool CD player carryer, with a pocket for CD's and another for money, or anything small!

I'm going on an exchange trip to Germany this year! I am really excited, especially 'cos we do it in school time!! It's a trip organised by school and their twin school in Frankfurt.

We bought a DVD player at Kwiksave for about £30! It does work, even though it was a supermarket brand. Unfortunately, we only have one DVD. AND we've already watched it!! Oh well.

The other day, after school, I had a haircut. It wasn't very eventful, and they didn't cut off much anyway! It does feel nicer without it covering my ears and eyes.

Well, I have to go to school now. Have a good day!

Stuff

2005-01-09T18:53:00.000Z

Today we went to Ikea, and it was sooooo boring! And we only ended up spending £5.00! Oh well. Next time we'll do somthing useful.

I've taken up Parkour, but have only been doing it a few days. It's great fun 'cos there are no rules, and there is nowhere you can't do it! I was inspired to do it from a tv show called 'Jump Britain'.

Someone has done a link to my blog on their blog! It's really exciting 'cos it means someone knows who I am!! Yay!

In October I'll be going to Germany for 5 days on a school exchange trip! I have to really work on my German so I don't make a fool of myself. So far I can say what I do and don't like, I can greet people and have a really short conversation! Not ideal but a journey of 1000 miles began with a single step, or so says my German teacher. Can some people tell me some helpful words and what they mean please?

Have a good week! I have to go and do the dishes now.

Test results, washing up, starting late, etc.

2005-01-07T20:03:00.000Z

Since today is a Friday, we started late at school. 9:15 to be precise. This allowed me to lie in, and go on the computer!

In science we got our test results back from our reprodution test. I got the second highest mark with 96%! My best friend got the highest with 100%!! In english we talked about the Holocaust and prejudice and stuff.

After dinner Dad made me do the dishes and clean the kitchen! It wasn't too bad but I would rather not. Dad said that 'in his day' all the kids had to do the washing up! Without dishwashers either!!

What do you think?

Stratford-upon-Avon

2005-01-03T19:04:00.000Z

Today I went to Stratford, home of Shakespeare. It took an hour by train from Birmingham.

It was lovely, but was a bit like they couldn't say good-bye to Summer. People were walking around eating ice-cream and chips (not together of course)! There was a performer doing tricks with fire and a unicycle. There were boats going on tours and trips.

I bought a poetry book called 'Pippa Passes & Other Dramatic Poems' by Robert Browning. They're plays really. It has a dramatic one, and two tragedies. It's a really old book - 1903 - and I bought it in a little dusty bookshop. I love stuff like that! :)

We went on a canal boat tour up and down the river Avon, and saw the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

It was really cool!!

Hi, call me Jake

2005-01-02T17:25:00.000Z

Hi, my name's Jacob but I prefer Jake. Jacob sounds too formal.

This is my first blog post.

I came here from New Zealand, and I miss it a lot. England is rather wet, silly me. I was looking forward to 'Sunny Birmingham'!

It's my New Year's Resolution to post a weekly Blog.

I like Runescape and other fantasy games. I play the drums and I'm learning djembe from a Gambian master drummer called Jahman.

For Christmas we went to Amsterdam. We went ice skating without skates, which made it a lot more slippery. We stayed at our friend's place for the first few days, then went to Dad's cousin's. He has the coolest place!

On New Year's Eve I stayed up till midnight and watched the fireworks. They were great!

I go back to school on Tuesday and I'm not looking forward to it. Our first lesson is PE!! AND we start early! How unfair is that?! I mean, we've been away for two weeks and then we just have to do manual work!!! Aaarrgghhh!! It should be eased upon us, not forced!!