H.I.V.E Book 1 Review

Title: H.I.V.E - Higher Institute of Villainous Education

Author: Mark Walden

Genre: Children’s/ Action/ Sci -Fi/ Adventure

Publisher: Macmillan
Publication date: 2006
Paperback: 298 pages

Series?: Yes, it is a series of 8 books.

How did I get this book: I borrowed it from the school library.

Why I read this book: It looked like a really good, and my friends recommended it.


Blurb:

H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute of Villainous Education) is a top-secret school of applied villainy where children with a precocious gift for wrongdoing are sent to develop their talents into criminal mastermind. After all, 'villains have the best lines and wear the best costumes'. One small catch is that the children cannot leave until training is complete, six years later. With villainy comes a certain freedom of thought, and every year one student in particular will show exceptional talent - after all, it takes the best to produce the worst. This year there are two students: Otto Malpense and his new friend Wing Fanchu are both exceptionally bad, and they are definitely not keen on being held against their will for six long years...

Review:

• Loved this book as it was full of action and had unpredictable twists in the plot.
• It was interesting right from the start - which I always think is important.
• The characters were interesting and likable. 
• You could really imagine H.I.V.E and all the teachers and characters. Let's your imagination run wild.
• Makes you want  to read the next one!

Want top read more book reviews? Visit 'Worth the Read?'

Pepper's Paws Hartz Angry Birds Giveaway!

Today I found a great giveaway happening at Pepper's Paws blog. I thought it was a great giveaway so I decided to do a post about it on my blog here too!

You get the chance to win some great Angry Birds toys for your pet!

It is really simple to enter, so click here to visit the site.

Pictures taken from Pepper's Paws.

"One lucky Pepper's Paws reader will win their very own set of  all 4 Holiday Angry Birds from Hartz!!"

Unfortunately this giveaway is open to US residents only, but I thought I would write a post about it anyway even though I can't enter.

It is easy to enter, and is powered by Rafflecopter. It ends in nine days, so enter now!

If you want to win these cool prizes, CLICK HERE to enter!

L'Oreal - Harry Potter Styled

Ahahahah ;) As a Harry Potter fan, I loved this one!

Have a great Wednesday!

What is geocaching?

This post is just going to show you the basics of geocaching.

If you don't know what geocaching is, it is an outdoor sport or game of searching for hidden objects by using Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates posted on the internet.

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It is a high-tech treasure hunt in which small objects are stored in a waterproof container ("geocache") that can be located in the wilderness or in a public venue; usually not in public view. For more information on geocaching, click here to go to my geocaching blog.

Below is the official Groundspeak video from YouTube: 'What is Geocaching?'

It is just under 2 minutes long, and explains geocaching simply, covering most areas and making geocaching simple.

If you haven't geocached before I really recommend watching this as it is very easy to understand and shows you how fun geocaching is.

Hope you enjoy it and are now interested in geocaching - I love it!

Nativity 2: My thoughts

A few days ago I went to see Nativity 2. AND IT WAS HILARIOUS!

I was worried it would be exactly the same as the 1st one, but it really wasn't. I thought it was really funny and it had a really good story line which was not too similar to the 1st one.

I think it is a great family Christmas film, and really puts you in that Christmas mood which everyone (I hope) loves!

If you haven't seen it I would recommend going to see it in the cinema this Christmas, with family or friends.

Hope this review-type-thing was helpful!

I MISSED A DAY

AARRGGGHHH!!

I missed a day! I forgot to post yesterday!! C'est un desasteur!

(that is my appalling attempt at French)

I will be back to a post a day, I really apologize! :(

Causal Simpson character laughing at me....

I will be back to daily posts about general rubbish tomorrow. Sorry for the one day break!

Bored.

This is a slightly unrelated post, but I will post it anyway ;)

When I'm bored and doing homework, (like I was doing a minute ago), I always get distracted either by blogging or by general thoughts...

So, I decided to do a post about it!

The best way of doing homework when you're bored is to reward yourself. Force yourself to keep going and when you've finished, reward yourself with something you love. Maybe that is a bar of chocolate or watching a bit of TV?

If it's a long homework you can always have a break half-way through it. (That's what I'm doing now)

When I'm bored I usually write a quick blog post, (like this one), or I play with my hamster if she's awake. Sometimes I just distract myself on facebook or the such-like...

Well, time I stopped my break and carried on with my homework.

What do you do when you're bored?

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Christmas Lights!

Today is the day that the Christmas lights turn on in Guildford!

I am playing in a Jazz Band this year, which I hope will be fun.

Peter Gordon, Bonnie Langford and the mayor of Guiilford
turned on the Christmas lights in 2012.

If you go into Guildford when it's nearly dark at any time you should go and have a look at the lights. They are so pretty and it makes me feel so Christmas-y! Yay!

Serif WebPlus X5

A few days ago I got Serif WebPlus X5. I have really wanted it for ages, but it was so expensive (something like £60), so I never got it.

However, I signed up for the Serif newsletter and got an offer for Serif WebPlus X5 for only £10! I was so excited and ordered it.

I have been messing about with it a lot this weekend and making lots of different websites and getting used to the software. It is so easy to use, and it comes with 10 free templates which are really great!

It is so easy to make something professional looking - I love it!

If any of you reading like website desgining or want to improve your website/blog, I throughly reccommend getting Serif WebPlus. There is also a new one, Serif WebPlus X6, but I didn't want to get that one cause it's £80!

Hope this was helpful or at least a little interesting!

Intellectual Squirrel

Here is just an adorable and funny photo I found on Google.. It really did make me laugh.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Theme Hospital

When me and my sisters were younger we always used to play computer games like Zoo Tycoon, Barbie Pet Patrol, Theme Park Tycoon (or something like that)...

But one of our very favourite games was Theme Hospital. What a great game that was!

We went into PC World the other day and they had it selling for £5, so we bought it. YAY! (The other one stopped working cause it was designed for really old computer and it was really scratched.. blame the cat) 

[I'm so sneaky... we don't have a cat.]

Anyway, below is an image of the great game for those who want to be reminded of what it looked like.. For those of you who never played it... Well... you really missed out.

If anyone wants to buy it (which I recommend you do!), then type in Theme Hospital (by Bullfrog), and you can choose where you buy it from.

eBay, Amazon, PC World, Game, Sainsburys... You name it!

Cat Shoes...?

I bought this card for my sister, because it made me laugh so much!

I still laugh every time I read it... Oh what has my life come to?...

(Sorry about the bad cropping, my scanner was being stupid...)

Where's Wally

I found one of my old Where's Wally books the other day and I started flicking through it and trying to find Wally and his pals. And ..WOW.. it's addicting.

I think it's a great book because it teaches people to be more observant. It makes you look closer at things to see things you otherwise might not have seen.

- This can be a really useful skill, let me tell you. It really can come in handy cause you notice things like when your friends are unhappy etc. I actually notice a lot more than people think (people think I'm really un-observant), but I don't always ask if it's not my buisness... I'm guessing most of you out there can probably relate... If not then... umm.... Tuff.

"I love the idea of an exciting journey that never ends, filled with colour, energy and people smiling - what could be better?"
- Martin Handford (creator of Where's Wally)

It's fun and it teaches you some valuable life skills (in my opinion). Great! Get searching people in the books and in real life. (If you have one of the books at least! ;) )

The Coolest Sleeping Bag EVER?

Look what I found while causally browsing the internet. (Don't ask how I managed to find this on google- it beats me!) >

Isn't that just the coolest creation EVER?!

It is $200 (about £126 in England) and is made by ChumBuddy, and if you want to read the article thing I read click here.

I wish I could afford to spend £126 on a sleeping bag...

unfortunately I can't, cause I'm not a million air or a member of the royal family (and yes, I know that you don't actually need to have millions, you only need $200, but only a million air would spend their $200 on that... if you see what I mean) ;)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my entirely random post today!

The Lotus Flower

I am not a religious person, and I never was.
(although I have been baptized so technically I am a Christian).

But I learned about Buddhism in school last year, and I think the Buddhist teachings are really inspiring.

For those of you who don't know, the lotus flower is an important symbol of Buddhism and represents purity and enlightenment.

It grows at the bottom of a murky pond, covered in mud. The stem struggling to find enough sunlight to grow and reach the air. The stem reaches out, forever hoping to get to the surface.

After growing like this for a while, it suddenly breaks through the layer of water, and it has reached it's goal. It opens out into a beautiful flower, a completely pure colour. There is no mud on the flower, no stains on the petals. It is pure.

It struggled through all the growth and is now a beautiful flower.

   

I think that really gives people hope. If they're in a difficult situation they can think back to the lotus flower and realize 'I can do this'. I think that's why I like all the symbolism behind it. It is so encouraging.

Sorry about this weirdly religious random post. I will get back to the normal ones tomorrow ;)

My Hamster, Willow

Just thought I would share a few photos of my little hamster, Willow :)

She was born on June 20th, and I adopted her on September 1st (2012).

I hold her every day and she is a key part of my life, so I thought I would share it on this blog about my life! ;)

If you want to visit my blog about hamsters, visit Animal Tails.

Artistic Inspiration

My friend is an art genius.

Look what she calls a 'doodle'. I call that a work of art.

Amazing doodle!

All credit goes to Joanna McGowan (she drew it)

One end and one beginning

A teacher from my school dies yesterday. Yesterday. It's so hard to believe that a life could be ended over a weekend. So weird that you've seen a teacher walking around the school just the week before with apparently nothing wrong with her, and you come back on Monday and she's dead. Last week. (her last week anyway).
I was never taught by her, but it is still so hard to get over. I just can't quite believe it. She never got to say goodbye to her family and friends. She never got married and had kids. She probably never completed her bucket list. It kind of made me realize that there are things I need to do before I die. And I need to be grateful for what I have.
Yes it sounds cheesy, but it needs to be said.
It was remembrance Sunday yesterday too, and I remembered all the poor soldiers who have lost their lives. I think it's so sad that these people died because of man fighting one another.
It all really made me think.
So, I'm starting this blog.
I know I write loads of blogs, but I feel this one may be that something special... we'll see anyway.
This blog will be full of posts about my life, and life in general. Things I've done and things I hope to do. Things I think should be said, and things I think full stop. Funny things, creative things, amazing things. You get the picture.
So sorry to start this blog with a miserable post, but I hope you now understand the meaning of this blog. [don't worry- there will be lots of wit and humor in this blog too!]

Picture from here.