Grade boundaries released

... but I've decided not to peruse them. What will they really do for my nerves? Is the risk of seeing them and making me feel more nervous worth it.

I couldn't help seeing on a group chat that some grade boundaries were looking 'low'. Science (OCR) and English (AQA) included. RS seems to high-ish, but that has always been the norm as by nature it is quite an easy test.

My friend reacted poorly to the economics (OCR) ones so they may be high. Economics being my favourite and best subject, I am still expecting an A*. Economics is usually high though, apparently a low percentage of people across the country actually get an A*.

Otherwise, I've been reading a book called How To Speak Money. All these key vocabularies that I am learning help me understand the financial world better, but also I'm excited to try and impress my teacher and peers when school comes.

Good luck to anyone else getting their GCSE results tomorrow.

My first business venture?

I'm doing World Challenge (an expedition to Costa Rica next year if you must know you cheeky devil) next summer and I need to get fundraising. A suggestion the sight gave me was selling USBs with the school logo on. While not original exactly, it separates itself from the usual (and probably unprofitable) doughnuts that fund-raisers sell.

This is the first sort of business that I am doing so it is going to require some research and investment. Thankfully, I have a few weeks of summer left to do exactly that. The head is all for it, although I suspect he may try to intervene with the price, as the "Good Service vs Good Profit" spokesman. But as a start-up I'll need all the advice and guidance I can get. Talk about red tape wherever you go though! I find it exciting that I get to talk to the guy on top about money matters and business, and I'm raring to do it.

My target area is Year 7s and 13s, although all are free to buy. I'm thinking about getting different colours, to make it more attractive and give more variety. I was thinking of doing different colours with different houses, but with six houses, I feel like there would be too much stock potentially left over! Although people could choose their favourite colours; poor orange Wellman house will feel disappointed though... I'll keep you updated.

Results nerves

Results are out in just under 2 weeks now and I'm beginning to feel nervous. I get horribly nervy feeling in my stomach, imagining myself opening the envelope. I'm not scared about not getting back into my school, but I've put such pressure on myself to achieve the top grades that it worries me. What will people think of me if I don't get what I said to many that I wanted to get? If I have any advice for young people doing exams, always be humble and refuse to say what you expect to get- only say you want to do your best.

Perhaps I should be more worried about Year 12? I'm more excited than anything. Because I'm a sad (but aspiring) student I actually miss it; I miss my routine and the work and the community. I hope everything turns out fine.

Wild swans

Thought I might as well write about books I read before school starts. I finished Wild Swans today. I encountered it as it was on my IB history reading list. I discovered it was much more than just some suggested reading.

I love stories about families. The names can be confusing, and it reminded me of One Hundred Years of Solitude in that names sound similar and you're wondering what's happening to whom. Like said book, it gives the reader great insight into a different culture, but Wild Swans to a nuance. I now know much more about 20C China than most in the Western world, all thanks to this book.

I made notes as I went along, and the perspectives of officials and officials' children gives something which a normal historian could not give: a first hand account of a normal person who was being persecuted. Jung Chang is a fantastic writer and I commend her.

This will definitely be of help to me when I do history next year and study Mao. Whether Mao actually believed in what he was doing, or was in a Stalin-esque way paranoid about power, who can really know? He seemed to protect himself best by making sure everyone resented each other, but not him. To the Chinese, or most of them at least, Mao was God.

Interestingly, the most recent edition of The Economist (Aug 1-7) discusses a What If about China: what if Chiang Kai-shek had won the civil war? Perhaps progress would have been quicker, lives would have been saved en masse, and relations with the West would be better. Whether this could be true, I'm not going to doubt experienced historians who have studied such a matter for years.

But had that happened, this book never would have entered my life, and it is one of my favourites now. Next I'm on to Watchmen, something completely new; I'm excited.

Why are euphemism so popular?

Euphemisms, to me, is usually a failure in the way that we use language. Of course it has its uses, but generally it is used to blunt the blade that is our words.

For example: "That's been going on for a long time". 'For a long time' often means 'too damn long' but people are afraid to say such things. Candour is a concept many can't grasp, even if they are trying to be direct.

Death is also a common one. "Kick the can". Recently I heard 'cancer' as "the thing". I think people should stop shying away from this sort of timidness. The world is grown up and so too should our language be. This sort of self-censorship restricts our thoughts, instead we choose to use words spoken by many, many a time. But I'll stop with the Orwell.

So next time you speak, think about what you just said. Did everything you communicate come out in the way you wanted it too? Why are you speaking in such a way? Is it because you want to present yourself in a certain type of way? We should all make a conscious effort to go away from the comfortable norm and venture into new language territory.

Go Set A Watchman Review: ATTICUS FINCH IS NO LONGER GOD

I finished Go Set A Watchman yesterday and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. I actually had to receive a second copy from Amazon because the first had a printing error. I very rarely buy hardbacks, but as soon as I heard a new Harper Lee book had emerged from under the attic covers, I pre-ordered it without a second thought. Then I wondered what it would actually be like.

It's certainly more intellectual than To Kill A Mockingbird. The adult scout quotes Dorian Grey, we get old songs (a literary technique that I seldom acknowledge). She also smokes and drinks, and offers to have an affair with her old childhood friend, Hank. This is strange.

But it is only strange because we have all read the prequel to GSAW. In TKAM, Scout is a child, and only now do I fully appreciate the child perspective from which she wrote it. This book would seem much more shallow if we didn't have TKAM to start with.

And of course the main surprise (SPOILERS!) is that Atticus is not God. Jean Louise reminisces about how she always thought "What would Atticus do?"- echoing the phrase what would Jesus do. In TKAM, Atticus refuses to fight Bob Ewell (Those that live by the sword die by the sword)

A main criticism of TKAM is that Atticus is overly-moralistic, and now we know why: because to Scout, Atticus was God. And now that Scout has grown up and discarded her childhood nickname, she has to come to terms with the fact that Atticus does actually have flaws.

I'm saying this honestly that I always thought there was something fishy about Atticus. The way he spoke to Tom was courteous of course, but sometimes brusque. It is even more apparent now that Atticus cared most about the law- he valued the concept of the court beyond anything. He appreciates the black community, sure, he loves Calpurnia, but everything he does, including his visit to Helen after Tom's death, now feels like a triviality.

It's a strange, short book about Southern life. It is clearly a pre-manuscript of TKAM, with excerpts describing Aunt Alexandra identical to the descriptions in TKAM. It is funny,but subtely, and it feels like one has to force oneself to enjoy it at times. Nonetheless, pick it up, because it is an easy read and gives context and new perspectives on TKAM which would never have been thought of beforehand.

A solid three stars I think. However, this is hardly the book to stop the rampage of Farage and Trump,but it was only three days of my life anyway.

Sleep: enemy of the cool ideas

Something that has happened frequently over my life and I'm sure has happened to everyone else at some point in their life: the dreaded sleep taking your cool late night ideas and shovelling layers of ash and soil onto it, always to be forgotten.

I'm sure last night I had a really cool concept that I was thinking about and I was going to write about, but now it's gone.

All it would have taken would have been a quick note jotted down on the paper, but the loving warmth of my covers prevented such a thing. ALWAYS write down a cool idea, whether tired or drunk, for ease of mind and you'll regret very much not having done it the day after.