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April 14 10.500 words in countingWell its the easter holiday and under the usual definition of the word I should be relaxing, feet up, a good book, better TV and absolutely no thinking, doing, or worrying about work. So much for that plan. They should rename the easter holiday or spring break as it is called in America to the Easter time study leave. Thats what we're expected to do for the three/four weeks we're away from lectures, maybe reading month would be a better term for this time period. I worked it out the other day, if you ignore the 10 page market research report i have to write and the 35 pages of group work currently underway each student on the MSc marketing course has to write 10,500 words. If any of the 24 people left on our course, and I suspect that they are then most of the 10500 words have yet to be written and time is running out! March 27 Balancing the quest for achievement and popularityThe category of this blog post is University, work and exams, and to all intents and purposes this has been the contents of my life for the past few weeks.
Last year when I ran for SWD in the exec elections (and lost) Alun tried to convince me I should run for welfare sabatical officer in this year's elections. It wasn't until three days before the close of nominations that I finally decided, yeah why not, what have i got to lose! It look me less than a day to find 15 people willing to second my nomination and I tried to get people I didn't know to sign it, get the word out that elections were coming. The hard part was putting a campaign together!
I started working on the printed material as soon as I knew I'd be needing them, I put together a well written but badly formatted leaflet and a not so stunning poster. I got 1000 leaflets printed up and 50 posters by K2. It was a nightmare trying to carry them home! I also worked on 20 hand drawn posters. I had both mum and Theresa hard at work with me, much to the annoyance of Louise who just wanted to draw scribbles all over the big paper. It must have looked strange to her as we were tracing the design through up against the window! It was gutting though on the first friday morning of campaign week when 10 of my hand drawn posters that I had so carefully put up the ngiht before were taken down and removed from existence. I was fuming! I should have put up the posters I had been given by the SU, I mean they took far less effort to create and nobody saw them anyway!!
I handed out all but about 8 of my leaflets in the week preceding the election days. I spoke to hundreds of people. I though I had them on side, I went round JCs most evenings, I knocked on house after house in the Student village. I seemed to be getting a good reaction from the people I was talking to, I was interested i think more in getting people interested in the whole election process then about getting me elected. It worked as well, I didn't get elected but more than 2100 people voted this year which is the highest count on record for the SUSU and one of the highest counts for Sabatical elections accross the UK. Even mum and Theresa voted over at APU for their sab elections. Theresa doesn't really care about these things, she was offered the manefestos of the candidates but couldn't be bothered to read them and ticked random names. I bet she voted for her RESPECT candidates without realising what that would mean for her union.
There were 29 of us who ran in the elections 28 who actively campaigned. For those of us running for welfare, Nick, Shem, Liz, Mat and I, we had all assumed that the RESPECT candidate would come last and that coming last was not a concern we had to face. To everybody's amazement Gilly didn't come last in fact she came fourth out of six. It was a real shock to the system, especially since the girl had no posters, had distributed no leaflets and did no visable active campaigning. It was really hard work! Trying to balance between the desire to get elected and the desire not to annoy my group members and get my share of our academic work done as well. I think I failed on both counts.
The two election days were amazingly hard going. We had been warned that it was going to be the longest couple of days in our life and Stuart wasn't wrong! Wednesday 14th March from 1pm I was standing with Richard, Marco and Alun asking people for their votes, trying to clamour some kind of attention away from Ipod Costumes, stilt walking guys and hidden shouters. Alun decided I needed a gimic, so I bought a Tweety bird costume, he insisted on wearing it. He got some attention granted and was called a legend and recieved high praise for his bravery. It did little to help my campaign! The photos are good though!! He was asked several times on wednesday evening for snap shots with various girls. I really wish he'd had the idea sooner, we may have got more votes!
Thursday, was a very very very long day. Richard stayed over and we all piled onto campus at around 8am to put up the recently constructed banner and claim our space in the corridor of campaigners. Richard, Alun and I had gone up to Dining room C to put our banner together, We discovered upon moving it into a less central place that we had tarnished the floor with the word WELFARE in big black letters! It was washable paint but I was still panicing! We can all laugh now, the cleaners washed it off and there is no lasting proof it ever happened.
The weather didn't help matters that day, it was cold and wet and I bought a jumper for Level2 which meant I didn't have my campaign T shirt on show. The depressing thing was I was asked several times - who are you representing? I think I managed to get a few voters to agree to put a one next to my name, but I discovered that by the time the ballot boxes are open that most people have already decided for whom they are voting.
There was some controversy with the counters. The names meant nothing to me but some people pointed out that Tom was Candidate X's boyfriend, Dick was on Candidate Y's campaign team and Harry wasn't trusted by some un named individuals. It meant that counting was delayed and the first result wasn't issued until after 12. The Welfare result came out around 4am and president wasn't announced until nearly 6am!! Im glad Alun wasn't the one translating the results this year, it would have been hell!
I have promised to help out on the campaign next year for somebody else, I can't run again but I think I'd like to enjoy the experience one last time before I have to go enter the real world!
March 05 my fine is...Smoked pot -- £10
Did acid -- £5 Ever had sex at church -- £25 Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next to you -- £40 Had sex with someone on MySpace -- £25 Had sex for money -- £100 Ever had sex with a Puerto Rican -- £20 Vandalized something -- £20 Had sex on your parents' bed -- £10 Beat up someone -- £20 Been jumped -- £10 Cross dressed -- £10 Given money to stripper -- £25 Been in love with a stripper -- £20 Kissed someone who's name you didn't know -- £0.10 Hit on some one of the same sex while at work -- £15 Ever drive and drank -- £20 Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk -- £50 Used toys while having sex -- £30 Got drunk, passed out and don't remember the night before -- £20 Went skinny dipping -- £5 Had sex in a pool -- £20 Kissed someone of the same sex -- £10 Had sex with someone of the same sex -- £20 Cheated on your significant other -- £10 Masturbated -- £10 Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close friend -- £20 Done oral -- £5 Got oral -- £5 Done / got oral in a car while it was moving -- £25 Stole something -- £10 Had sex with someone in jail -- £25 Made a nasty home video -- £15 Had a threesome -- £50 Had sex in the wild -- £20 Been in the same room while someone was having sex --£25 Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars-- £20 Had sex with someone 10 years older -- £20 Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27 -- £25 Been in love with two people or more at the same time-- £50 Said you love someone but didn't mean it -- £25 Went streaking -- £5 Went streaking in broad daylight -- £15 Been arrested -- £5 Spent time in jail -- £15 Peed in the pool -- £0.50 Played spin the bottle -- £5 Done something you regret -- £20 Had sex with your best friend -- £20 Had sex with someone you work with at work -- £25 Had anal sex -- £80 Lied to your mate -- £5 Lied to your mate about the sex being good -- £25 Tally it up and title it: "My Fine Is..." copy and paste, then repost as a new bulletin. My fine is £55.60 thats not too bad really February 16 According to EleriI seem to be writing a lot of blog entries these days that begin with the line "according to", i can see a pattern emerging. Sooner or later I'll get back to blog entries that start "as far as I'M concerned".
Eleri wrote on Liz's wall some chain mail rubbish, but for the first time ever, it wasn't rubbish, in fact it was quite amusing. Here is why
Find a guy, who calls you beautiful instead of hot. (Alun calls me gorgeous does that count?)
Who calls you back when you hang up on him. (This one not so great but he'll pick up when i call him back)
Who will stay awake just to watch you sleep. (he does this and it disturbs me greatly)
Wait for the guy who kisses your forehead. (forehead kisses, I like those)
Who wants to show you off to the world when you are in your sweats. (Alun and I met up again at the beginning of the 3rd year, I was wearing my Cheerleader hoody, comfy pants and buckets of post practice sweat and he still found me attractive - strange strange man).
Who holds your hand in front of his friends. (he won't blummin let go)
Wait for the one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares about you and how lucky he is to have you. (Love you, love you more, love you the most....)
Wait for the one who turns to his friends and says, "...that's her." (I am Alun's girlfriend to pretty much everybody on campus even my 3 year old niece knows im Alun's girlfriend).
So... According to Eleri, Alun is probably the perfect guy (if we ignore the whole phone thing). Don't go getting a big head Alun, You only scored 6 / 7, there is room for improvement! (He steals the covers at night and rolls over to the middle of the bed when i go to the bathroom. ) February 13 What my name means to me...When I joined Facebook, I vowed it was only because everybody said it was good, now I find that Im being judged by everybody in every direction. According to a Miss Samantha Bevan this is what my name means about me:
I like to drink (a lot) this statement occurs more than once (ok so it occurs cough five times) which probably suggests I am an alcoholic. According to this little test thing though I am also an awsome kisser and great in bed! Yay go me! Its reassuring though that this thing also tells me that people adore me (roses, where are my roses people!) and that Its easy to fall in love with me.
Did I mention though that it tells me I like to drink?
If i had a Y in my middle name though i'd be the best girlfriend in the world. Shame I don't really.
A : You like to drink B you like people. C : You are really silly. D : You like to drink. E : awesome kisser. F : You are dead sexy. G : You never let people tell you what to do. H : You have a very good personality and good looks. I : You are great in bed. J : People Adore You. K : You're wild and crazy. L : You like to drink. M : best kisser ever. N: You like to drink. O: Easy to fall in love with. P : You are popular with all types of people. Q : You are a hypocrite. R : Easy to fall in love with. S : Fuckin crazy. T : Easy to fall in love with. U : You really like to chill. V : You are not judgemental. W : You are very broad minded. X : You like to drink. Y : Best g/f b/f anyone could ever ask for. Z : Always ready. February 12 According to psychologyOn my emails today was a pyschology experiment, the questionnaire (which took ages) wanted to test my personality in relation to that of others. Here are the results and what I think of them! Openness to experience: this trait reflects your interest in abstract and philosophical matters. The average score is 119. You scored 96, which is very low. Well this didn't suprise me, I get a headache every time Nick and people start debating history, linguistics and other intellectual disucssions. I would much rather discuss things that actually exist, for example whether Im going to burn the chicken and the egg rather then which came first. Conscientiousness: this trait reflects the extent to which you pay attention to details. The average score is 157. If you score less than 140 you are significantly below average on this trait, if you score more than 175 you are significantly above average on this trait. You scored 145, which is low. So I guess I don't really care much about the details in life then, I wonder if that includes what time I get out of bed as apposed to the general fact that I did get out of bed this morning, I guess Im a more general person then the rest of the Swansea Uni Population. Extraversion: this trait reflects the extent to which you are sociable and outgoing. You scored 106, which is average. So im average? I don't think so. I may not be the most sociable person, but then I do spend a lot of time talking. The questionnaire asked questions about how verbal i perceive myself as beinig, how talkative my friends percieve me as etc. They also asked questions like did i strike up conversations with strangers and did i like to be the centre of attention at parties, well no, my mummy taught me not to talk to strangers and well the life and soul of the party is usually the one who has consumed the most alcohol which isn't usually me. Agreeableness: this trait reflects the extent to which you are tolerant, easygoing and cooperative with others. You scored 163, which is high. Well thats nice to know isn't it, that Im tolerant of other people - you here that Alun! ha. Now I have proof that I don't snap every time somebody annoys me and that I am an easy going person, or well at least more easy going then the average joe smuck. Cooperative, does that mean I have to work with them?? really? No I in team? I heard a saying somewhere though that sums me up quite nicely, there is no I in team but there is a ME in there somewhere! Great isn't it! Neuroticism: this trait reflects your tendency to experience negative emotions such as anxiety, fear and depression. You scored 225, which is very high. wow, i thought I was such a happy person, I need chocolate now, (happy hormones, happy hormones). Seriously, according to this thing I should be snapping at people all the time, jumpy and a recluse, my score is 98 points above average. Ok so im an easy going person but very fearful and nevous, does that work? I don't think I get depressed very often, I don't spend all day in bed avoiding the world and I always thought I was more cheerful then that. According to this psychology rubbish I should be on Prozac! Ok well now you've got an insight into my personality, I'll go get on with some work. February 11 The exams are over, it all begins againAccording to Blogthings.com (that site that keeps expanding on the number of stupidly addictive self test quizzes) I am a highly sarcasti person. No really?
I have now finished the first semester exams for the MSc Marketing course!! Yay. I don't get nervous in the traditional sense of the word. I get stressed. Usually because Ive left all the work until the last minute and instead of recovering what I've learnt previously im having to learn it the night before the exam. Its decidedly not the best approach to the revision process. There has been an email sent around the department stating that the board is meeting on 20th February to discuss our results and then they will be released to us after this date. I think I have done OK... I worry about Toni's modules and Quants but the other three I think are OK...
Everybody is complaining about Quants, so much so that 10 individual official complaints have been made about Liz Stone and her teaching methods and now a formal and group complaint is being composed by our course reps and is being sent to the head of Faculty. The module was really unfair and everybody believes they have done badly. The complaints thing will only work if enough people have done padly in the exam. For a math teaher though she isn't that great at basic arithmatic, adding up our courswwork assignments she came to 35% the course outline stated 40% - a flaw I think. I would have done OK in the exam, had I been able to remember the stupid formula. The formulae sheet we were given for use in the exam was utterly useless, none of the questions required the use of the formula sheet which means that the formula sheet was a real waste of paper. The formulae that we were likely to be using should have been on it, otherwise whats the point of producing it just to confuse us and lead us down a path that would eventually lead to us failing the module. 3 of the 4 formulae on the sheet came from one chapter so the obvious but fatal conclusion, that chapter is going to be on the exam.
On a lighter note, FAFfers isn't going to be a society, not officially anyway. The paperwork should have been processed by the Sabbs back in November but it got lost between me handing it to Chugga and reaching Owen Morris. There isn't enough weeks in the year to make it work the effort now, by the time its all processed, members gathered and committee trained there won't be any time left. I am however likely to be running for a Sabb posision!! Yeah me, really. IF, and it is a big IF I am allowed to suspend my dissertation for a year I will run for Welfare officer. Alun said i should have run last year but I wasn't convinced. I think the process would be quite fun and with a team of MSc Marketing students on my side it shouldn't be too difficult to drum up some publicity. The issues that I would put forward would include the dodgy crossing that Ive been meaning to draw attention to for the past three years, along with some accomodation issues and some more general issues, Alun has come up with a list. Im not convinced I could deal with all the meetings though, I get bored in lectures!!! I am going to speak to Ian Thomas Tomorrow and see if suspending is an option. I'll keep you updated.
Oh and lastly, I gave in, I joined Facebook. Yes I know, I hate facebook, but it has meant that I can make contact with people I haven't spoken to since HRSFC. If i do manage to make contact that would really be nice. Find out how uni went, where they're lives have taken them and how Susannah Street got on at Oxford.
Im going to bed now, night all January 09 Merry Christms Everyonewell it is that time of year again, Dad decorates the house with 3000 bulbs and mum tells him off for it, Theresa and Lee struggle to buy presents for eachother and I panic about the last couple of assignments and put of revising as long as possible.
This year I got to help host the annual Christmas party, I hadn't realised just how much work goes into one of those things, usually I turn up at 7pm arms laiden with cakes, biscuits and chocolate and its all been done. This year, i had to plan and buy most of the food, clean up my room as it was the largest space available for entertaining and of course help clean both the Kitchen and the bathroom and connecting hallways. Our house was really dirty!! On monday night (11/12/06) people started arriving around 7pm, Ryan, Gareth and Liz were the first to arrive and the first to dig into the table of food. For some reason those cocktail sausages really appeal to people and they were the first thing to be converted into an empty plate. There was plenty of food left over at the end which Alun and I happily tucked into the next day as a midnight snack!
It was nice to get everybody together, Alun invited a few of his friends, Gareth and Liz being two of them, the others included the double trouble twins Ffion and Rachel and they did not disappoint. As the pair were getting ready to leave Rachel decided that Nick needed to joing the party, although mooning him was probably not the best method for getting his attention. It did make everybody laugh though, a simpe case of unffortunate timings but the best moments usually are. Some of the people from my course came as well, Richard and Marco of course and Christine. It wouldn't be a party without "The Beanie Crew" and Christine is a great laugh as well. She brought two of her friends from Germany with her and although they made an effort kind of got on Donna's nerves, they puffed smoke into the hallway and not even a fake fire alarm gave them the hint. Donna sprayed room spray behind them but they didn't notice that either. The germans have a strange way of pulling crackers, they pull them individually, now where is the fun in that!
It was a good night and I think everybody had fun, Richard stayed over and as payment he helped clean up, only because he was sleeping in my room and it was probably a bad idea to sleep in a room that smelt strongly of a pub, a mix of wine, whisky, beer and coke is definatlely not the best smell in the world.
Tuesday (12/12/06) was the night of the long awaited postgrad social evening promised to us by Ian Thomas on our enrollment day. We all went to Bank Statement where the department had provided a buffett for us, the food didn't appeal to me and I had susupicisions that it wouldn't so i had cooked dinner for me and Richard before we left. It was strange to see Lecturers in an environment outside of campus. Lala was desperately trying to get Palmer to Dance and Richard to busy showing off the T shirt Marco and I had printed up for him that read "Palmer you rock! Tony Bra!" everybody understood the first sentiment but the later confused them and espceially confused Tony!! It made sense to the Beanie crew so thats all that matters!! I left early that night and Christine, Richard, Marco and the rest of the group moved onto revelutions, I just wanted to sleep, it was going to be a busy week and I was only half way through it. Richard arrived back, suitably drunk around 1am, we had a presentation with Palmer the next day.
We never got to give our presentation, Palmer allotted time slots acording to a random number system and our group was last, one of the groups presentation lasted double the specified time and feedback took longer than expected and so by the time the lecture slot was over we still hadn't given our presentation. It was a shame really because we had photos of Palmer in it which would have amused the class and well the wind was taken out of our sails when we didn't get to present. (Im not too worried though, the feedback was positive and the grade was great, "nudging 70%" that will do me!).
Thursday night was the annual BHF Christmas dinner and drinks. Coincidentally it was on the 14th of December this year and last year but I think that is more Fluke then forecasting, Alun was impressed though, well they say its the small things.... We went to China China and to my amazement even Alun found something to eat! I like the food there, I don't like having to push my way through lines of people to get it but the cheesecake helps. We then went onto Chicago rock and I really like that bar, its expensive but the atmosphere in there is a lot more mature then in a lot of the bars on Wind street and that appeals to me. I made a note of all the songs they played in there, I intended to put together a CD with them all on, a kind of pre night out collection but as yet thats not happened. Mainly because I can't afford to download them at the moment and I hate stealing music, mainly because of the risk of virus's not because i take the moral high ground. It was a good night but it seemed weird in a way, I haven't actually done much work for BHF in recent months, my course has kind of taken over everything and doesn't leave much room for a life outside of university. I know Syb is a little annoyed at my fair weather hours but I don't get paid for it and well I have priorities.
Friday was Ty Tawe night, It was only fair that I go to Alun's Christmas party as I had dragged him to mine (not that it took much persuasion), I think he enjoys their company as much as I do. It was odd though that Chris didn't turn up, he paid for the meal but never showed, none of us could get him to answer his phone, his loss, it was just a little strange. It wasn't the first time he had backed out of plans for no good reason and I doubt it will be the last. Anyway back to Ty Tawe, they've had a refurb since the last year, the bar area is twice the size the stairwell is brighter and the toilets don't have flickering lights and funny smells. It really makes a big difference even if the mail hall hasn't changed too much, or at all if you believe Alun. I do think however that the room looks smaller, but thats probably due to the edges of the floor being highlighted by a string of fairy lights that used to be hung around the ceiling. The music was good, although we arrived an hour early I did have fun.
Theresa and Louise came down for the weekend, it was nice to see them both again and Alun and I had planned out the weekend to make the most of their visit. I had a deadline monday morning and I was up until 3am Thursday night getting the essay done. We went to China China again when they arrived, i let Theresa chose where we ate and that is where she wanted to go. Keeping track of Louise thoug hwas a nightmare, she discovered the counters had cupboard doors and that the spoons were within reach. I noticed that there were lots of people floating around with hot plates of food and that the counter tops were boiling hot too. No drink accidents this time thought thank god.
The plans didn't quite go as we were expecting, we had planned to take them to the Winter Wonderland saturday night but Alun, Theresa and Louise all fell asleep and didn't want to get up, by the time we arrived up at the Waterfront museum the ice skating was closed and the fair was on its way to being shut. Alun won a couple of cuddly toys for Louise and we all had a go on the big wheel despite Alun being afraid of heights, strange, strange boy - its called a BIG WHEEL for a reason! We did manage to go see the Panto at the Grand Theatre, Alun's parents had given Louise £5 to buy something at the Panto and all she wanted was one of those flashing toy things. We all enjoyed the Panto although I got told off for using my camera. Its a real shame the way society is going when you can't take photos at the Panto because of Copyright!! Louise got a little scared at times, when the bad guy was on stage she snuggled a lot. She liked all the ladies when they were dancing and this was the first time I got to see Louise dancing, one leg in the air, the other leg in the air!! it was cute, and funny and akward all at the same time but she had fun and we had fun watching her.
The journey home was loooooooonnnnnng!! We decided to get an earlier train since we couldn't go Ice skating as it was raining and so we were home 2 hours earlier then we would have been otherwise, which is propably a good things ince all I wanted to do when i got home was sleep. I had put all of my valuables, debit card, highstreet vouchers and gift cards into an envelop prior to the lat few things I packed and now i've lost it. Its gutting it was worth about £90 and thats a substantial amount of money in anybody's books. Oh well I hope I find it but if I don't then it will just teach me to be more careful in future.
November 18 its all in the time management...apparantlyAfter spending two years effectively camped out in the study skills centre of Hills Road sixth form college you would have thought that I would have picked up a few handy hints, some useful advice, some knowledge that would help me handle an ever increasing mountain of work. All I can recall learning from those two years is getting to college just after 8 in the morning requires talking to the caretaker to let you in and secondly that the most effective brain food is banana and fish. Preferably not eaten together.
Why is it then with so many assignments due in in such a short period of time do I find myself playing an ever increasing amount of sims? Darren Dreamer has now married, The caliente sisters have seperated and even Alexander Goth has gone to College but I am no nearer completing the report for services nor do I understand probability distribution anymore then i did a week ago. The later assignment is truly beyond me I can not figure out factorials despite Liz Stones instructions and oh so (not) helpful lecture notes. Dr Stone has this unfortunate habbit of writing ad hoc on the white board which puts me in a great disadvantage while notetaking support avoids me. I was up until now able to cope but this assignment as I said a moment ago is beyond me. The services report is simply a matter of sitting my butt down in front of this computer and writing it out, finding a few sources to back up what I've said but genrally quite do able if i just put my mind in a more focused attitude. Oh and the many many group projects we have been assigned this year. I hate group work! The people they're fine, great but the work, it all has to be done together and getting 5 people together is difficult. It shouldn't be though not this year, not when our timetables are exactly the same. Kostas and Nick didn't want to work at the beginning, now that the deadline is drawing scarily near they want to crack the whip and get us all moving, my fear, its too late. One of the assignments is going quite well, at least the majority of the leg work is done, the focus group was held the questionnaires have been handed out and returned and the numbers have been inserted into what turned out to be a rather large spreadsheet. Now for the number crunching!! Oh yeah and a 20 page double spaced report. God help us. Oh and to top of this little problem we have another assignment which I am convinced nobody has started yet because we're all trying to get the first one complete first. We've really messed up on this one. I really worry that we're not going to get them in.
On another note. I turned 22 last week, Happy Birthday me. November 02 Almost a year of blog entries!I started this blog on the 29th of November 2005, seeing as it is now 02/11/06 that means I've kept a blog for almost an entire year! I tried to start keeping a diary again during the summer. I write in it occassionally now but more often then not I have too many things to do and not enough time to write about them. Its not fair really is it.
Take tonight for example, right now I have just "answered" part b of the second question of my economics assignment. I know everybody is struggling with the assignment but it probably doesn't help that I've only been on one hour of economics out of ten. I promise I'll go next week, its not as if I have any thing else to do and I could really use some help on the assignment from my fellow MSc friends. Hayley seems to know what she's talking about, maybe I'll ask her!
I had a presentation today for Services Marketing, I started working on it last week, reading the relavant chapter, making notes highlighting etc so I knew I was at least in theory prepared but this morning I felt so nervous. I woke up at about 5am and I could not get back to sleep. I kept running over things in my head about the presentation, had I missed anything, what else could I add, did I have enough outside sources, sources other then the lecturers book? My stomach ached. I have never felt nerves like that. Before an exam I get a little bit funny, a jump around the room and an hour on sims usually cures that but this morning all Iwanted to do and all I did do was lay in bed and try to avoid the situation. It went well. Kostas was cool, he asked me prior to the start of the lecture if I could think of any questions that he could ask me after my presentation. Palmer has this unfortunate tendency to go around the room expecting people to ask questions about the presentaion and Kostas being the genius he is decided that if i had "planted" some questions I wouldn't get caught out. It worked to an extent but Palmer decided to throw me a curve ball. He ran off a list of things I could have included in my presentation, political view points, why a soft launch, etc etc etc. I ended up writing half a page of extra notes. I thought I was going to leave with a low 50, maybe high 50 but he gave me 70 plus! That score matches Hayley's I think or beats it. Either way it is one of the top marks in the class, go me! You wouldn't believe how nervous I'd been about it. I do however have a lot of interesting things to add to my report now that I hadn't included in my presentation. I also made notes from Richard's presentation and the one in the middle by some guy who's name I did not catch. We have to answer in the report all three questions attached to the case study but with all that input it shouldn't be too difficult to answer the questions. It is however just a matter of finding the time to do it!
Speaking of running out of time, the GO Wales thing has been almost a complete disaster. I had worked it out that I could cover all of the 24 hours required over the 2 week period. I missed a few hours at the start of the week, it was wet and cold and I just wasn't in the mood on the first day. The first thursday however was a perfectly nice day, I just couldn't be bothered. I really should have done some then, i mean I had no lectures and nothing else to do. I have now worked it out that I have 19 hours to do over 4 days, which im afraid to admit just isn't happening. I couldn't do it without missing my lectures and I really don't want to do that, at least not on somebody elses terms. I have now planned to do two hours tomorrow 10 - 12 prior to the focus group and then maybe 2 hours after the focus group, I had it scheduled to do anyway so maybe I'll miss SAF and hand out lolly pops as people leave campus. Friday evening doesn't really seem the best time to do it though but as Alun said I'm running out of opportunities to get the hours done. Then on Monday I will do either 2 or 3 hours, 10 - 11am and then 2 - 4pm. That leaves me with just 14 hours to do. I will then do 3 / 4 hours on tuesday and the same on wednesday. This, if my math is correct will leave 6 hours that I should have done on the wednesday and thursday of last week. I hope I can get everything handed out, then maybe they won't notice that I've not done all the hours. I do expect to be paid for the hours I have done though. £6 x 18 = £108. I will be happy with that if they find out I've not done the rest. I have to record on the follow up sheets how many pens / lollies / flyers I have left to hand out and why I didn't hand them out. I can tell them that friday afternoons people were not interested in taking pens etc and wednesday afternoons foot traffic was slow. It was, thats why I stopped on wednesday but I really should have carried on and done another hour at least. Oh well we all live and learn.
I have learnt a valuable time management skill this week. Don't put off till tomorrow what you should be doing today... you'll run out of time. October 31 Halloween!! I love it!I have just written a review of the Gym Gym social for the Gym Gym blog but since like most things there are adventures, stories and goings on that shouldn't really be posted on official blogs I've decided an entry is warrented here as well.
Alun had a meeting to go to which meant I was left in peace to get ready. I started putting my make up on at 6 and since we weren't due to meet Liz until 6.45 I thought I had plenty of time. Please in future remind me not to have Charmed on the TV while Im trying to get ready for a night out, it really slows down the whole process. Anyway I finally left the house just after seven after trapsing up and down the staris four times forgetting, in order, Alun's costume, my phone, my devil stick and finally a change of shoes and the keys to get out of the house. Alun sat in the car watching the light in my room go off and on, on and off and thoroughly enjoying the choas.
We were supposed to pick Liz up from her house as I said at 6.45, she wasn't ready until 7.15 and even after that Alun decided to join us in our hectic lives and rip his cape as he put it on. We had to staple it together in the car which of course didn't last long and he was fiddling with it all night long. It wasn't the only costume crisis that we had. Eleri in her speech about the weekend switched from Welsh to English but nobody could tell because of her vampire teeth!!
There were two vampires last night, Eleri and Rhian. I thought Rhian looked more authentic but Eleri looked really cool too. There were a couple of devils including me. I wore my red Milan skirt and backless red jewelled top and completed the look with a devil stick and a face mask. I think I looked good, so did alun! Richard came along and I gave him the extra pair of devil horns I had bought in town and turned him into the Devil of Rock and Roll! He looked good too despite having come straight from Economics. He had that drained look about him, perfect for Halloween!! Liz looked good, a few key pieces like stripey tights and a bat hair band turned a black top and demin skirt into a really cool witches outfit. She should have won the costume prize because it wasn't a stereotypical look, unlike the rest of us.
We arrived at the Bryn-a-mor at 7.20 and Richard was sitting next to the Gym Gym, probably without really realising. He didn't really mix with the rest of them, although he is a member of the society. There were three distinct groups within one last night due to the friends of friends thing we all had going on. Richard decided though that he should hang out with the welsh posse more often, which is fine by me!! He's going to the Cardiff version of Ty Tawe tonight for a haloween party as an evil elf, partnered with a sadistic santa! An interesting idea but hope he has fun!
We had, thanks to Eleri, half price drinks! I love that girl (today anyway). She used to work there so employee bonus! We managed to get a double archers and lemonade, a pint of Carling and whatever soft drink Alun was drinking for £2.70. That is ridiculously cheap. I think Richard worked it out that it was 90p a pint! Bearing in mind how cheap the drinks were we managed, between about 12 of us to run up a tab of over £70! I think we should be very proud of ourselves!
There were some freaky events last night, starting with haunted hand dryers that turned on by themselves! It made Liz and I jump a number of times. On top of that Liz spotted or thought she had spotted a chainsaw yeilding frankinstein in Richard's half empty beer glass. I personnally couldn't see it and Im not sure Alun or Richard could either but Liz was impressed and that is all that matters. Alun scared some woman as he got out of the car and announced "I've just scared somebody and I wasn't even wearing my mask!" I think he should be proud of that as well. At the end of the night, after Richard caught his train and Liz, Alun and I got some food we came back to Liz's house. She only moved in there a couple of weeks ago and the house still has a funny smell. Her room is the equivilant of Donna's in our house and it doesn't smell. Alun announced it smells like every one of the other rooms Liz has lived in. On Halloween night the last thing you want to see is a black cat, the last thing Liz wanted was that same black cat in her house. It took three of us to get it out to the street. I tried to kick it out literrally and it ended up running up the stairs, it was obviously the opposite effect then the one I was going for.
I actually really enjoyed the Gym Gym social, I didn't think I was going to, I mean there were'nt that many of us who didn't speak welsh. Its the reason the Liz and I didn't go to Time/Envy, apart from the fact I hate time. Alun has convinced me that I should go to the gig in Aberystwyth because its the biggest Gym Gym event of the year and to top it off because im on the Committee it would be rather bad if I didn't. Im not sure how Im going to publicise it before or after wards. Alun, Delyth and I are heading down on Saturday afternoon, apparantly to watch the rugby and then the gig. I won't be able to get as many photos as I would probably like. Im not sure people like me taking as many photos as I would liike to but then how are people going to know what we've been up to if they can't see it for themselves. Im thinking of having a photo albulm scrap book made up so that at Freshers' fayre next year people can have a flick through it and see what we get up to. A gym gym publicity archive if you will.
Ok well I really have a lot of work to do, if im spending the weekend up in Aberystwyth Ive got to get on with my economics assignment, not to mention my presentation that I have to deliver on Thursday. Wish me luck.
October 22 Have I ever told you, I hate MATH!OK, for those of you that know me, and those of you who know me well then yes I probably have told you that I hate Math. I also know just as well that you're all sick of hearing those three little words. It unfortunately doesn't stop being true the more I say it so sorry, everybody you're going to be hearing as long as the fact remains to be true and that I am afraid is likely to be forever, possibly a day or two longer.
If you don't understand where this out burst of disdain has comoe from then let me explain. I have to take a masters module called "quantitative methods" this translates basically to business math. It involves anything that may be used in business to calculate wages, profits, investments etc etc. Many of us, especially those enrolled on the MSc Marketing course, have questioned in recent weeks what investment appraisal, iventory control and other little fun things contained the module, have to do with marketing. We have come to the rather depressing conclusion that the 21 or so of us enrolled on the course are there simply to make up numbers and to fulfill the math quotant required on the MSc course. I myself and many others would not be apposed to the idea of turning our course into an MA and cutting out all the management economics and quantitative style modules from the course entirely.
Our first math assignment is due tomorrow morning by 9.30am. I was intending to have it handed in, like most others by Friday afternoon as our lecture on Monday does not begin until 11am and we could all use the extra time in bed. Unfortunately due to the stressful nature of the assignment and my inability to do anything the simple way has left me with too much work and not enough time to do it in. I spent hours on the assignment thursday night. I successfully calculated the net present value or NPV of the two apposing projects. I worked my way through 10 - 17% IRR values for project A, only to find on friday morning that there is a formula I had been overlooking and it saved me hours. I did the method the formula way and yes it did indeed turn out to be far simpler and far less time consuming.
My only issue now however is question two of assignment one requires a graph. Those dreaded things that result in me having dots in the wrong lines, lines that go up instead of down and what not. I CAN NOT draw graphs, in the real world I wouldn't have to and I resent having to do them now. I have tried to tell Dr Stone how impossible graphs are for me, not being able to see the paper clearly and all, but I don not think the severity of the situation I now face has actually sunk it.
Although I do not have a knack for math, I do have a knack for turning a small minor problem which can be summed up in one small sentence, "I can't do this graph and I don't like the assignment" into a 4 paragraph blog entry with a lot of long and unnecessarily complicated vocabulary. Aren't you impressed?
You should also be impressed with the sheer lack of enthusiasm in progress Im making on the other modules I am enrolled on. I have finally tracked own, hunted out, bought, borrowed or stolen all of the books I need for Semester one. Now I can get down ot reading them, if they were not so utterly boring texts to read. The only one that is half interesting is the one writeen by Adrian Palmer who by the way teaches the module in which that book is being used. I have a presentation due for his class 02.11.06 and I am a little worried. I have not done a presentation solo before and although I am not worried about delivering the verbal element I am worried about my ability to use the computer to bring up my powerpoint slides and the completely irrelevant questions I am likely to get asked. I have little patience for people who don't know what they are talking about. I am going to have to do a lot of outside research on this topic, 3G phones and the service development process, yay!
WARNING!!!
There is going to be a new math assignment set every friday for the remainder of the semester. These assignments are due every monday at 9.30am. Please stand back, leave me alone and generally bear with me over the weekend period, I am likely to be stressed and dangerous.
Thankyou for your attention.
October 18 When everything looked so roseyHello,
When I last wrote in my blog I was on a real high. I had two job offers and everything seemed to be going really well. Now im 2 and a half weeks into my masters, the reading is a lot heavier then I was anticipating and I haven't been able to keep up and my two job offers seem to have turned into a big fat zero.
The job interview I had in cardiff has resulted in a lot of hanging around but no work. Its all supposed to kick off this weekend but nothing has been confirmed, arranged or decided yet and I don't know how long I can keep holding out not knowing what Im doing. Im not even sure that I want a job that would mean my weekend was basically taken up before I got any work done. I have got the Go Wales job, it starts next week. Its 24 hours over a 2 week period promoting the Go Wales service and the graduate fair on campus but the SU don't really want to get involved and Cardiff is a long way for students to go, so I tried to figure out whether I could get the bus for the day, to take a few students down to Cardiff for the graduate fair but no such luck its too much effort.
The masters is going well in terms of my understanding of all the material covered, as I mentioned before though I am not finding the reading too easy. I have to pick up the book, put it down, type notes, pick up the book, put it down, type notes etc etc etc. It takeing forever and a day to go through a chapter and that is about as much as I have read since the course started. One of my books, the first book i was asked to buy from the first lecture I have only got hold of today. A lot of the books we needed to order, they weren't readily available in the bookshop which annoyed me and has put everybody behind in the reading. The textbooks themselves are not easy reading, they are faint text and packed full of text and diagrams.
The assignments are piling in thick and fast, we're supposed to be working on two group assignments which we haven't started yet. We've had minimal discussions but we haven't started the planning or the actual work yet. I had enough problems with group work during my degree I really don't need it now. I like my group, Richard is cool and he came along to a gig in Tyrfe Tawe and Marco and the others are friendly enough but I really hope we get some of this group work started. We haven't made any group decisions yet and that worries me because we need to get started. We only have 6 weeks to get all the work done!!
I have a math assignment for Liz Stone that I can't do. I remember doing Investment appraisal before but in class she goes through examples but she only gives out small print handouts and then goes through them on the whiteboard so really not helpful to me at all. Im meeting with her tomorrow afternoon to go through an example so hopefully I'll be able to get the assignment done quickly. The economics assignment isn't easy either. We have to go through and explain different concepts using diagrams and I can't do that so Im a little concerned.
Oh well... Wish me luck October 02 An MSc, two job offers and a box of chipsI had a job interview today in Cardiff, Alun drove me there instead of making me get the train. He was always going to come with me but he decided it would be easier to drive because he knew where the place was. He didn't! At one point though I thought he was going to make me get out and walk. I got a phone call from a woman offering me a job, ok confused, yeah so was I thats what caused all my problems.
On friday I applied for two jobs, one with Campus Group for a Student Brand Manager, the second with Chris Rickett for a Brand Ambassador. I didn't catch the name of the woman who phoned me back on Friday all she said was "you sent me your CV over email this morning". Thats not the conusing part because it was true enough, I did indeed email her my CV. The confusion began when I made the assumption that Chris was Christopher and not Christine, so when a woman range me back i assumed it was Penelope. I have spent the weekend digging myself a hole and then desperately trying to dig myself out of it again with some hope of getting a job, either job at the end. Thats the bad news, the good news I got both, or it at least looks that way. A guy from Penelope's office rang me on the way to Cardiff and offered me work, hence the though that Alun was going to kill me. As far as I can figure I can do both, the work for Campus Group is casual and only lasts 3 days at a time and the work for RMG is at the weekends only. They both pay really well so Im not complaining either way.
Oh and to make my day even better, I was offered the job I had an interview for on Friday with Communications Direct. The even better thing, I have cause and the option to turn it down! Ive never turned down a job, I mean this time last week I was screaming for work and for once its being thrown at me faster then the work gets thrown at Alun. He says Im not allowed to comment about his work anymore because he'll just remind me about today. I don't think thats too bad if you ask me, being offered two jobs in one day and having a sucessful interview for a third isn't exactly a day I'd like to forget in a hurry.
Oh and on a different note, I started my masters course today. I only attended one lecture out of the two today, but not through choice. I had a lecture at 11am - 1pm and then a second 1pm - 3pm. I met a few nice seeming people in the first lecture, Richard who ran pubs for the past five years, and a few international students. We had to form groups for a group project, Im sort of hoping the same group will stand for all of the projects we have to do, It will make life a lot easier. Anyway at 1 all 21 of us (the number of people on the MSc Marketing course) moved down to the other room for the second lecture and were met with a corridor full of people and no space in the room. They moved the lecture to 4pm - 6pm and so clearly I couldn't go. Richard is picking up a module outline for me so I can catch up tomorrow.
I already have 4 chapters to read by next week, two for each module, its going to be a fuuuun week. September 23 Its all changing...As the weeks of summer drag on, they've been doing that for a while now, and life slowly starts to regain some kind of normality if not a lot of it, Im left to wonder why im so bored.
This is probably the last "summer" I'll get to enjoy, This time next year I'll hopefully have a job and be repaying my overdraft and trying to bring my savings balance up to the respectable figure it was before University began. So why is it that all I can think about is starting University again. I have nothing to do, I've been job hunting all summer, although weakily if I admit it to myself but apart from the occassional browse through jobshop and an even quicker browse through the evening post my days have been filled with mind numbing amounts of nothingness.
Its nice to have Donna back in the house. I missed living with her and it wasn't until this week that I realised that. She's a good friend and I like spending time with her, even if it is cooking dinners or messing up dinners as the case may be. I am sort of looking forward to having a full house although in fairness I'd prefer it if the house was filled with "the girls" and not two boys that I barely know. Muazam arrived on Thursday and although he seems a nice enough person and I'm sure we'll get along just fine he isn't one of the people that I would call friends, not yet anyway. Yesterday was a nightmare. Dean our ever so wonderful landlord arrived at 9am without so much as a text message as warning so I stroll to the bathroom in my winnie the pooh nightie with unshaven legs and bump into him "Good morning Dean"!! Anyway that wasn't the whole of the nightmare, Ian spent the day (9am - 3pm) building, yes building a wardrobe and a bed frame for Muazam's attic room. He tried to get a normal bedframe up there but failed miserably twice. I offered to swap my wardrobe with him as the photos I have from January show that this wardrobe did once belong upstairs. In all fairness it looks good, I mean a lot of effort went into building it. I persoanally wouldn't want a fixed wardrobe in my room. The amount of times i've rearranged the furniture in this room I'd feel very restricted if I couldn't move it all. Its Dean's choice after all though.
Nick moves in tomorrow, I hope everybody gets along, Donna and Muazam only met on thursday about 10 minutes before she left for the weekend and Nick and Muazam im not sure have ever met. Donna and Nick have met once or twice at
106 I think but they're going to need to get to know eachother too. I've tried not to say too much to either of them as I don't want my opinionis of people to influence theirs, im not sure how sucessful I have been in that endevour but we'll have to wait and see. Im glad not everybody is moving in on the same day as I had half expected to happen. It gives people chance to settle in before another housemate turns up. Nick is a little different I know in the sense that he's already lived here for a one month but he's had two months back home so he'll have to settle back in I suppose.
Things with Ryan are erm progressing. I won't say anything at the moment except that we (all three of us) are meeting for lunch in Cricketers on Sunday. Here's hoping it goes well.
September 15 so, its been a while....When i started this blog, i was writing in it more than i was writing university notes, which clearly does not say a slot about my accademic standing. Well would you believe its now September, well of course you would I mean its just a case of looking over at a calander and going, oh wow its September. Anyway I feel as though I have neglected this blog as i've not written in it since May! I Wrote a draft in July, it contained all of the activities and things about Fun week and all the things we got up to in Hannah's last week in Swansea but as Fun week finished June 9th and I didn't write it until 11th July, the details were a little hazy and I had lost enthusasm for telling you about it all.
I have just started a diary again. I guess I have phases of wanting to write and share my thoughts or at least have a paer copy of my thoughts and feelings and dreams but when that phase passes its sad because i loose the motivation to write down everything and when people, if people read these things in years to come they're going to have a very jumpy account of my life. What if for example in 2533 and my great, great great great and a few more great grand daughter is searching through the family archives and comes accrossed my diaries, what will she think if she gets engrossed in the comings and goings of 21st century me and then i stop writing. Will the diary still exist then? Will this blog still exist then? I wonder if this blog, MSN and all our input into the computing revolution that is the internet will just be at the back of some huge RAM disk in a warehouse somewhere gathering dust completely forgotten about. Its a shame to think that really. Maybe my great great great great and a few more greats grand daughter will be as stubborn as her great great.... grandmother and hunt down this blog and insist on it being read. I think however the more likely outcome of this blog and my diaries are that they will be forgotten by the future generations and the only enjoyment they deliver is the enjoyment I have in writing them.
May 25 A whole lots changed since i've seen you last...Well almost an entire month has gone past but what a crazy month that was. I went home for easter, did I tell you that already? Ok well I'll start from the beginning of term then. My dissertation deadline was as far as I knew 12th May. On the 5th of May somebody told me they'd handed theirs in about a minute before the deadline. As you can imagine i paniced and went to see Nicole who admitted she'd made a mistake and that yes in fact the deadline was today. She told me not to worry about it and that she would sort it out becuase it was her fault and not mine but to get it in as soon as possible. It would hurt my grade as I had it in late to complain about it, but getting it in sooner also saved face for her. Saving face is something this particular woman is very good at. She sorted it out alright. She negotiated extra time because of my disability. I was livid. I didn't need extra time, I didn't use extra time and I didn't want the department thinking that either, but you can you do about it. This revelation came during the campaign week for Exec (more on that later) and I told her that I can't be campaigning for disability equality and then doing things like this but she seemed to ignore what I was saying and carry on anyway. Im glad my dissertation is in though. Its a nice releif to not have to worry about place branding, residents views and Visit Cambridge!!
As for the exec elections, I spent a week asking people to second my nomination, which wasn't too difficult, I mean i have enough friends and flatmates who were willing to do that. Alun convinced Becki Student Union president to second me which is great cause it looks good having top level support. From the 10th onwards I spent every spare mintue making T shirts and posters for a full on campaign team. My flatmates had volunteered. When it got closer to the day of voting I was getting more and more disappointed by the process. Nobody else had posters, nobody else walked around in T shirts like I did. I wanted people to know about the elections, to vote but nobody else seemed to be interested. Even on voting day the candiates didn't have T shirts, posters appeared on faraday as they always do but there was very little interest in voting. About 200 people voted. 200!! Let me put that into context for you there are 10,000+ undergraduates in this university 800+ students living on campus. So less than one quarter of the number of people living on campus bothered to vote and im guessing the figure is even less then that because it wasn't all campus dwellers that voted. How can the university student body be so apethetic about their union, about their university?? The Student Union has a job vacancy in their promotions team, to promote thier non commercial activities. Im putting in an application, students will listen to me whether they like it or not. It drives me nuts this system. Im not saying that Elle did a bad job im not, although she spent the entire year rewriting the constitution and her motion to change it didn't even mention SWDs. Ironic really when she is SWD officer. She won the election too, 76 / 95 30 spoils 9 RONs. Not a bad result, she didn't have a landslide vicotry but a loss is a loss. I heard through the grapevine that she was debating whether to even stand again half an hour before the close of nominations. That doesn't show commitment to me and she has run for so many posts and positions does she even care who she is representing or only that she is on Exec. Im making any judgements. I didn't see Elle Hicks out on poling day, she was doing all of her campaigning behind closed doors. They say its not what you know but who you know don't they. I campaigned in and around halls for the whole week. I had posters up in every building, Terry put them up for me. The one in our building got taken down by Jon when he got back. I was so annoyed at him, I had Terry's permission to put it up and its not as though they didn't have our names on so he could have returned them to us or checked that we were OKed to put them there. On poling day I saw that the posters I had put up by the Arts Centre had also been taken down. I was annoyed by that too as I had permission for those as well.
I went and watched the count at the close of poles. I felt really annoyed at myself. I'd left Fulton house at about 2pm (four hours before poles closed) and slept for two hours. I should have been out campaigning. Im not sure it would have made any difference, thats what Alun keeps telling me but it doesn't make any difference I should have been out there and then I would know for sure. I was disappointed I was, but more about the effort I put in compared to the apparant lack of effort on Elle's part. She had no posters she had no T shirts she just stood there for an hour before the close of poles. I wish Alun had told me when he found out because I would have gone out there and campaigned again. Never mind its not important now and its not Alun's fault. Im just annoyed and disappointed. I can still do all the things I want to do, I mean I can campaign the local councils to get bleepers put onto the crossings and to erect one on Brynmill lane. It just would have more backing coming through the Union. I also won't have the politics to deal with or two minute speeches. So it'll probably be a good thing....
The exams have started. I have sat four out of my five exams already and my next one is on saturday afternoon. I have a lot of work to do for this one as I have not attended lectures as regularly as I should have done. I have a lot of catch up on in two days. Its marketing which helps, I mean its not a guarantee of a good mark but with all the prior knowledge I have from other modules and my ability to waffle I should be OK. The main concern that I have is his grading is really harsh. Rainbow and I got 46% on our coursework which was worth 50%. He gave us some feedback which seemed fair but not appropriate to a grade that low. Vicky only got 57% and she is always 65%+ so that makes me feel better that my work probably wasn't bad just normal in the bigger scheme of things and his marks are just harsh. It does mean however that I have a lot of work to do to make sure I can at least repeat that mark in the exam if not exceed it. Wish me luck. Oh and because of an exam clash two exams in one day with extra time one of my exams was moved. I had been under the impression that it was consumer behaviour so when I got to the exam and was told it was Organisational Behaviour and I hadn't revised for it you can imagine my horror. Alun just laughed, he said that he though he was dopey but he's never done that! Yeah well laughing didn't help me did it. I was able to remember enough I think to pass which is all I need from that module. I remember a time when I would have cried to get marks this low but now im be glad if i achieve a 2:2 how wrong is that. I just haven't put in the work that was needed. Especially this year, this term has been a nightmare its been a challenge and I backed away from it, preferring to play sims and do other things besides work. I got all my coursework in and graded and the marks were good but I just haven't been gling to many lectures and Im not really sure why. Next year I'll have to go, the class will be tiny in comparision and if im not there people will actually notice. Vicky is going to be my notetaker again. Not sure how that works I mean she won't be a student anymore but as long as I get notes im not really fussed who they come from.
I am getting so very pissed off with Alun's flatmates. They seem to be under the impression that I need their approval to be there, I don't! I put a note on the fridge yesterday reminding people that there are eight fridge shelves and 8 people in the flat so why is it that Alun and I don't have a shelf. I asked them to rearrange their food so that it was only on one shelf and to my amazement and Alun's somebody actually listened and we now have a shelf! The smallest of them but a shelf none the less!! I wrote a not on the fridge, just one word thank-you. It was genuine and Sarah wrote on the fridge, where did you note go, do you have a problem? Alun took it down. I have no time for people like Sarah. I have done nothing wrong to her and yet I am being laughed at. I don't need to be liked, I don't need her approval and I certainly don't need to like her. She laughed at me again this morning after I left the kitchen because I didn't speak to her. Why should I. I am not the one who has the maturity of a baby moose. I have asked for and stuck up for the things I am entitled to so why is that so wrong. Alun's not going to do it, he just says, oh its not worth it love, don't react to it, don't go down to their level. But he's not here, he doesn't have to deal with the tension on a regurlar basis. He says it'll all come back on him and admittedly he may get caught in the cross fire but his is a dispute between me and Sarah which he has made quite clear he's not getting involved with.
If you remember some bitch put my George in the bin a few months ago, well since then everytime I leave the room some idiot is putting it back in my cupboard. Oh thats nice isn't it, well no not really, not when its dirty and covered in fat. Today the stupid bitch put it back in my cupboard while it was still HOT, not warm but HOT. I'd finished cooking less than ten minutes before so the fat dripped over my hand as I took it back out. If they want to cause a fire then they're going the right way about it. I would have refused to pay the fine. I am aware the George is mine and my responsibility but I WOULDN'T have been the one to cause the fire it would have been whichever stupid cow put a HOT george in the cupbard with HOT fat! Idiots!. Oh and Raschel keeps using Alun's saucepan and leaving it out on the draining board. I can't complain becasue its Alun's saucepan and he doesn't care but its just rude, going into other people's cupboards for things that don't belong to them. Its even ruder not to put them back or to put them into the lost and found cupboard! It drives me nuts finding my stuff in there!
OK thats it, Im done, I have to go upstairs and clean the George now and hope that it hasn't been put back in the cupboard again, ive only been down here half an hour so hopefully it'll be cool enough to wash and would have been left alone. April 29 girls, dissertations, graduations and food!!THREE WEEKS!! I've deprived you of my thoughts, feelings and truly inspirational insights into life, the universe and everything for that long! People im so so sorry, however did you cope! Ok enough of the ego trip. How is everybody?
Eeaster was OK, I mean it can't be bad when your at home and you have a large supply of chocolate can it. I spent my first night at home sleeping on the floor of Louise's room because my bed was covered in stuff, and I mean stuff, clothes, chairs, boxes, giant shark toys (approx four foot long). I didn't have the patience or enegry to try and sort it out so I just left it until the morning and decided to sleep on the floor. It was the lesser of two evils.
Anyway, I didn't go out much during the break, I tried really really hard to get my dissertation written, I conducted a couple of interviews in a very non conventional way, which of course Im not going to mention to m lecturer I did. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. I was planning to use, Louise Ellis and Alun so that the surnames of the respondents didn't match mine so it looked like a professional interview and not an interview of convenience.
Anyway now that i've come back to Uni my supervisor wants to see a draft of my dissertation and I don't have one, I haven't finished yet. I was up until last night avoiding doing it again, I just can't be bothered. Anyway for some reason last night I had a brain wave and it all just started to click. Its probably not the best analysis and its probably not going to get me the highest marks but its interpretive, subjective and gives me primary insights into the thoughts and feelings of my respondents. The problem is only having two respondents kind of makes it hard to do any real comparative analysis, i need more!
I did ask Kate if she would answer some questions, I might still ask her, maybe over the weekend. Hopefully her answers will fit in with what the other two have said and it won't be too hard to change some of the analysis.
I have seen the girls twice this week, we went to Cricketers on Monday, I wasn't going to go and then Hannah sent me a half rude text that made me cry, until I noticed that she called Alun Aluminium so I laughed then. She didn't mean to be nasty!! I stayed for about an hour and a half and then came back to campus after hearing about everybodies Easter hols, well Hannahs and Lisa's Donna wasn't there and I'd met up with Louisa on sunday at Cricketers. Louisa Lai also came with us, she has been accepted with an unconditional offer to ABERYSTWYTH university. Im so proud!! It means she finally gets a chance to have a life away from her parents and the Raven and the Royal Kitchen. It means she finally gets a chance to have a life!!!
I then went over to their house on tuesday for Chinese Takeaway, that was nice, got to speak to Donna again. The food was nice, i had to go round the back to get my coke, some hospitality girls!! I also found out that I graduate on Tuesday 18th July at 10am, or at least the ceremony starts at 10am!! its scary now there is a date!
April 13 heaven, hell and all that life has to offer!I signed up to a webistie called Profile Heaven the other day. Theresa raves about the site and Marlee met her current boyfriend whilst hanging out over there. I enjoy the community atmosphere on the sims2community site so I thought hey why not. I figured it was a great way to spread dani-ism to unsuspecting strangers all over the world and expose them to my theories and way of thinking. I have put a link to this blog on my profile too so that they can have a closer look at the inner twisted workings of my worldfully interior designed student mind. My profile currently reads
Shwmai, Hello, Guten tag! Good morning, good evening and goodnight
My name is Danielle and yes I am a girl, and quite an opinionated one at that. I am full of life, i can't stand just sitting around doing nothing and I can't stand not being in control even less. I crave power, I don't believe in fate or destiny because that would take the control of my life away from me and im sorry but if I can't control that then whats the point. I enjoy watching the world, the mum who drives her kids to school because they're too lazy to walk, the dad who kicks a football around with his son because he's dying of cancer and he's desperate for his son to have fond memories of him despite the fact Charlie boy is 4 years old and the daughter who goes to school in knee high socks and glasses and on arrival is in ripped jeans and a leather jacket. The world is an interesting place people, open your eyes, open your ears and especially open your minds. One day the world will not be the place you remember and what you remember may not be all that reliable anyway. I am in college right now, im studying Business Management and Im not proud to say this but im failing or at least under performing. I don't like the books, I hate the lectures and I detest the library. I do like the college experience, the fun, the laughter the parties, the wine, the cheerleading, the chocolate, the wine, the friends you make and the friends you are yet to make. I have a theory about just about everything. If i don't have one already it doesn't usually take me long to come up with one. I like a challenge so spring something on me and I'll give you the real 411, the things your mum forgot to tell you, the things your dad would rather you never found out and the things your little sister is dying to know because she thinks you already do. Love life all, love eachother and somebody maybe even love yourself.
I was feeling in a theoretical and thoughtful mood, so shoot me. It is rather worrying isn't it. I mean its now 12.30 im tired, i haven't done a great deal of dissertation work today, Hayley is going to die in Home and Away and here I am worrying about my profile. I am going to bed soon and I hope I have a nice dream to tell you when i wake up. I also hope that for the first time in four days (the total length of time I have been back at home) that I will be able to get hot water out of the upstairs bathroom. I have showered in Lee's en suite already once this week, I am desperate for another shower but can't because there is no hot water!! I don't really what to think about what I'll be like at the end of this two week period with out my regular and relaxational shower therapy. Its a highly under rated technique to relieve stress, boiling hot water, lots of imperial leather foamy stuff and absolutely no reason to drag myself out of there until Im good and ready. HEAVEN! April 06 cricketers,dogs, bitches and balloonsSo many things have happened in the past two weeks that I can't really put it all into one blog entry!! Theresa came down for a visit and has been here since sunday 26th March. We are both heading back to Cambridge on 9th April so thats two weeks she'll have been here, in my room, taking over my bed!! I have been trying to capture as much of these past two weeks on film and I really feel that Im achieving my goal of annoying everybody I come into contact with by clicking my damn camera in their faces several million times!! Yes!
Theresa, Louisa, Alun and I have spent an absurd amount of time in Cricketers this fortnight. We went down for a couple of drinkds on the first monday night after Theresa arrived, or was it food? I can't remember. Anway during one of our food visits we were greeted with Louisa's bright pink hair! She dyed it again, I think because with Kris not here to tell her she can't she jumped on the phrase "while the cats away". I wonder what He'll say when he gets back!!
We made a few friends at the pub too! I think they were only after one thing.. no not that thing, food! I made a great comment, Louisa called Alun and pimp or something like that and i just observed that he was sitting with three bitches and two dogs! I thought it was funny, even if nobody else did. We came back on sunday and had the lamb dinner (thats going to be three weeks in a row come sunday when we do it again!) and then we ventured back again in the evening and took part in the pub quiz. We thought we were doing great until we scored 29 / 60 and lost. We only wanted arsing knobchops to be announced accross the bar! Alun, the rest of the arsing knobchops won the picture round in JCs in the last week of term but because I forgot to write it at the top of the page they didn't read it out!
Theresa and I spent all of saturday 1st April blowing up balloons! There was a purpose I promise. We filled Alun's room completely with balloons, well it was April Fools day after all. We started on friday night, we sent Alun upstairs telling him 'we're going to clean up a little'. Its a plausable excuse i mean my room is really messy. We hid the balloons in the shower over night so that Mr Chivers wouldn't find out. We got woken up really early on saturday morning because Alun had to go to Cardiff and he couldn't find his car keys (which just for the record were in his jacket pocket all the time). We were in town just after 9.30 and back again by 11 and soon after that we began the challenge of blowing up 300+ balloons. We decided to sit in the corridor and throw them into Alun's room so that we weren't trapped by balloons when we were done. We had a few laughs along the say, but we had a few bruises and sor hands and I really thought I'd go crawy.
Alun loved it though, we put a couple of balloons on his door to cheer him up after his exam, a couple saying "alun we bought you a couple of balloons". He opened his door and "oh....my....god, oh....my....god!!" I really wanted to be standing in his room to take photos of his face as he saw them but it was not to be. I got some really great pictures afterwards as you can see!
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