Confessions of a Shopaholic

by: Sophie Kinsella

*****

Meet Becky Bloomwood:

Journalist of a financial newspaper.

Big amounts of overdraft on her many Visa cards.

A shopaholic...

Becky is miserable. She is living off her best friend Suze's flat, (without paying a rent, of course) she doesn't earn much money but wants to buy everything and she has no boyfriends. Most of all...overdraft and consultant letters from her bank are interrupting her life every single moment. She doesn't have a single quid that she can pay back.

Becky finds ways to save money-from trying to skimp and make "curries that you can make for two pounds" for dinner and failing, and trying to earn more money by getting extra jobs at a clothes store called Ally Smith and getting fired without even lasting a day.

The whole book is about how shopaholic Becky tries to pay back her overdraft and about how she meets Luke Brandon, her future boyfriend during her struggles. It's funny, because everything she thinks and does is so childish even though she is an adult.

The best part of this book, I think was when Becky wanted this Denny&George scarf and she was missing 20 pounds, so she lied through her teeth and said she was buying a gift for her dying aunt. Luke Brandon lent her 20 quids and later on when Becky bought the scarf and was coming out of the boutique, Luke Brandon saw her. Of course, later on, the scarf becomes Luke and Becky's special thing.

Monk

Today, we watched an episode of "Monk" during English class. This episode was freaky. "Monk" is a mystery TV show. Three people died, each person receiving a voodoo doll a couple of days before their death, the dolls showing exactly how they would die. The niece of one victim, Angeline is depressed. Monk finds a horseshoe upside down at Angeline's house-it's weird but he was distracted. Monk's assistant, Natalie, receives a voodoo doll with its head cut off with a scalpel, which creeps her out completely. To cure Natalie's...craziness, Monk brings in Reverend Jorgensen(the owner of the shops where the voodoo dolls were sold) and does a little ceremony thing to uncurse Natalie. Of course, Monk doesn't believe in all this voodoo and curse stuff, but for Natalie's sake...but Natalie drinks the not-edible potion, and becomes sick. She is taken away in an ambulance, and Monk puts the pieces together and finds out who the villain is. Angeline. She was the one who was behind this all. She was a paramedic, and knew about the other deaths. She bought voodoo dolls, decorated it and left it in the dead people's house. She sent one to Natalie to put Monk off her trail. She had then killed her uncle, for his money. And left superstitious items around the house. That's when she nailed the horseshoe the wrong way.

Monk's Voodoo doll crime Profile:

Crime: Murder of Robert, Angeline's uncle

Detective: Monk

Villian: Angeline

Suspect: Reverend Jorgensen

Alibi: "I couldn't have mailed the voodoo dolls while I was running my shop. How can I be in 3 different places at the same time?"-Reverend Jorgensen

Victim:Robert

Tension: The chase of the ambulance scene

Red Herring:The coincidental death of other people

Evidence: Horseshoe that was placed the wrong way, the package with a sticker over the return address.

Clue: Packages with stickers, news article including Angeline

Investigation: Police investigation

Motive: Money

Plastiki

Plastiki......plastiki... it's the hot topic these days. But what exactly is the Plastiki? Guess what it is! Yes, it reminds you of the word plastic...c'mon, use your imagination, people! You can't guess? *Huff*. Fine. I'll tell you. It's a boat made out of plastic bottles. Right, it sounds like a tacky little sailboat but no-no-no! It's a super high-tech boat with solar panels, propeller turbines and a bike generator for backup. Cool, huh? The plastiki is made out of 12,000 plastic bottles, full with gas. It took 3 years to build the actual boat from the sketches. What is this boat for? It's on a mission, of course! David de Rothschild, and his team are planning to sail off from San Francisco(March 20th,2010) all the way to Sydney. They It's a long journey, all on a boat.

So why are they doing this mission? They planned this mission to notify the world about the plastic waste we are throwing away this minute. They want to show people that if they can sail around the world in a boat made from plastic, then plastic can be recycled and turned into household appliances as well. To sum it up, they want to stop throwing away plastic waste and recycle it. Help planet Earth!

It'd be very, very cool if Project Plastiki worked. It would leave a great message about recycling all over the world, since the Plastiki is world-wide famous now.

Cross my fingers-hope they can make it!

Picture vocab #10

1. Godsend

2. Probation





3. Despicable

4. Melancholy

5. Melodramatic

6. Primitive

7. Ambivalent

8. Impeccable

9. Beckoning

Overbooked agenda..

Wow...it's already February...already 6 months of school! For the past couple of weeks, I have not enjoyed school. Life has been miserable, miserable and you know what? Miserable. I had a Spanish test(Which I aced but I still had to study long and hard!), Geometry Summative(I finished already), Science Plate Tectonics presentation with poster, Pacer, The Mile, Sit-ups and Push-ups, Sit and Reach. I now have a Spanish culture project that I haven't even started and it's due in 2 weeks, a Math project(building a house. I am now making the roof and writing Paragraph 4 and 5. I have not started on costs. So that's on my agenda), and a Formative Science this Friday. I am going crazy. I stay up until midnight these days, and have only 6hr. 30 mins. of sleep because of all this homework. My Math lesson teacher piles me a whole load too, while I have to practice my cello and piano as well. I'm tired and crabby everyday,and all I can think about is sleep. It's not very nice. I am very tired right now as well. My head hurts and I have stupid String Chamber Music Society after school. I think I will sleep at midnight today. Again.Ugggghhhh. Here, let me show you my overbooked agenda.

2:40 p.m. class ends
3:00 Strings Chamber starts
3:45 Strings Chamber finishes
4:00 I get home
4:00-5:30 Piano practice
5:30 Leave for my Cello lesson
6:00 Cello lesson
6:30 Finish cello lesson
7:00 Come home and eat dinner
7:30 Finish dinner and start Math homework
8:30...Oh, well, you get the idea!

10 Vocab List #7

1. Cask-A wooden barrel usually to hold drinks like wine and beer.

2. Cynical-A negative attitude, uncooperative, serious whining.

3. Provisions-Supplies, usually meals like microwavable food and drinks.

4. Subvert-Sabotage, make things not work.

5. Accumulate-Build up, collect.

6. Congregate-Everybody/thing come together, a cousin of accumulate.

7. Ominous-Signal that something's going to happen, mostly negative.

8. Contradict-Go against, disagree, talk back.

9. Adversary-Opponenet, enemy

10. Flabbergast-Bewildered, but in an amazed way like "You got to be kidding me!"

Projects and Tests

The second month of 2010 has unfolded! Which also means the big pile of projects and tests were starting to leak onto our shoulders. Right now, I have a Math project, which is building a house. I have to design the rooms and furnitre, pick the materials and find out the cost of my dream house. It also has to be eco-friendly and I have to write a paragraph for each step. Where should I build my house? I want it to be a hot place, so the solar-power panels can work and but I also want my house to be in a cold place, so it will be useful for my spa and gym I am trying to install. *Huff*. I was thinking of Switzerland at first, because I wanted a big modern house somehwere clean, but...I guess my solar-power panels don't really work there. Hmmmm.......what should I do?????