I've received a conditional offer for my post-graduate course! Woooo! Now I just need to meet the offer and get a First...
As soon as I'd settled down after getting the letter, I decided that I really needed to apply for funding. Therefore I dutifully went to the appropriate website and downloaded the form. After scanning through it and checking the advice at the bottom, I discovered that they expected the form to be word processed, rather than printed out and filled out manually. No big deal, I thought. Then I tried to do so...
Along with most other people, I hate long forms at the best of times. This form, however, has been put together by a muppet. A total muppet. Let me illustrate this claim with examples:
1. The instructions told me that inputting my initials and surname in the boxes provided in the header of one page would automatically copy it to all pages. That's how headers work, right? Wrong. It resolutely refuses to copy it out. Furthermore, the first of three boxes for initials refuses to let me write anything in it.
2. Although the font stays constant, the size seems to vary box to box, making the finished product look like the product of a slightly deranged mind.
3. They give tick boxes, then no way to tick them. Seriously. I presume that I am meant to print it out and then tick them, but they could have mentioned this somewhere. I've been putting capital Xs in them instead. Of course, they could just have learned how to insert tick boxes if they's wanted. Bizarrely, they manage to take this latter suggestion, *but only in the Equal Opportunities Form*!
4. No effort has been made to line up answers with the middle of the box provided, meaning that they often hug the top or bottom. Again, this looks stupid.
Would it be too much to ask that they hire someone who is either competent at writing forms in Word, or can at least be bothered to learn? Really?
On another note, I can't believe I have to write *another* personal statement...
Showing posts with label My Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Life. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Sunday, October 08, 2006
New Blogger, New Term, Same Pejar!
My 50th post! And as a present I've been allowed to upgrade to Beta - thank you Blogger!
You see, for ages I have had to word verify to post here. Thanks to Abi, I eventually realised that the reason was because this blog was marked as potential spam (no comments about incomprehensible content please! :-p). I clicked the link to inform Blogger that this was not the case, and I got an email back saying it had checked out fine. Then about a week ago I looked and it turned out that it was marked as spam again (or had always been)! So I clicked the link again and sent an email as well, and this time it worked. Not only was I off the spam list, but I was invited to upgrade to Beta! (This pretty much confirms Abi's idea that I was being denied because of the spam thing.)
So I had a fun break from revision categorising my posts on both blogs and tweaking the templates (although in truth, we are talking minor tweakage here). It made me happy, in the midst of learning about covenants and mortgages in Land Law again. The reason this post wasn't earlier was because of my frantic attempts to look through last term's work and try to understand what it all means. Now that the collections are over though, I can relax and post about my summer. Some highlights (and a lowlight!):
* Abi's birthday. We went bowling with friends from both uni and her school and then we stayed up late watching DVDs on an OHP screen in her living room. If I remember rightly at least one person stayed awake all night, but I was certainly having none of that! Possibly most memorable moment was Gam introducing himself to one of Abi's school friends with the line "Justify your existence!" Sadly, I'm not sure it endeared him to her...
* The Northern and Southern Tours! The Northern Tour embraced Durham and Newcastle, as we stayed with Rich and his mate Dave. We saw Durham then had a night out at the (in)famous BAJA Beach Club in Newcastle, where we were...entertained by Em and Sarah. A fun (if very quick) trip. The Southern Tour was first to Abi's place in London then Em's place near Birmingham. We got guided tours through parts of both cities and tried some local cuisine (okay, Chinese from London and Pizza Hut from Burmingham, but still).
* Youth Hostelling with Andy and Gwen. We headed to Welsh Bicknor to stay for a few nights. The first was in a teepee and the other two were in a room. During the days we did activities like go round a castle, Forest of Dean's Sculpture Trail, Clearwell Caves and a cool maze. We mostly made our own food in the Youth Hostel kitchens, and it was all in all a pleasant time. It was a nice way to remember Andy and Gwen as a couple, since they have now split up :-( (hopefully not due to being driven crazy by us on holiday!).
* Centre Parcs with my family and Abi. We did the same this year as last summer, only at a different CP site. However this time we had the sense to book activities earlier, and as a result we have been able to do both high ropes and crossbow shooting! Both were on the same day and it was raining, which made walking along slippery beams with a harness seem all the more daunting. Also as part of high ropes we had to individually climb up a high wooden pole and leap to a trapeze, which was actually pretty daunting once you were up there... I'm quite proud that I managed it, although I still have no recollection of the moment of truth! Crossbows was excellent. Abi was much more accurate than me although at least I could load them without the instructor's help! :-p. Yet another wonderful holiday this summer.
* Dav's party. Although not to the extent of the massive event last year (his 21st), this one was still memorable. We went go-karting in Aylesbury, and although Abi didn't enjoy it and quietly retired quite quickly, and one of Dav's friends also pulled out to prevent the reoccurance of an old hip injury, the rest of us had fun. In Ian's words, I was "pottering along at 6 miles per hour" and I came last, but it was still fun! That evening it ended up being only me, Abi, Andy and Dav out in Park End for clubbing. Still, it was an excellent night and we all had a good laugh at the expense of Dav's t-shirt which, well, follow the link. Needless to say it brought him far more positive responses from males than females!
* Group filming. A tough one to explain to the unitiated, but I'll have a go! As I have mentioned before, I like writing satirical scripts involving people I know (I have been told by Daniel that I should really call them parody because they have no purpose other than to entertain, but I will probably still use the words interchangeably). After previous endeavours with Southman (starring teachers from my school) and The Matriculatrix (starring some students from Hertford) this summer's effort was Back To The Forum!, a Back To The Future parody involving the remaining regular posters on my school forum. Here is the original script and here is the second draft (with an extra introduction for filming purposes and more on Jimmy which I really should have thought of for the first version!). Anyway it went down well on the forum and Dav and Grum were quick to decide that we needed to get together to film it. So, to cut a long story short, we have started to do so. Dav is the director, Andy the lead photographer, Grum the sound guy and me the writer. Various among us count as producers. We have filmed most of the introduction including a scene with all nine of the principle characters except Ming (whose house we were supposed to arrive at, for which we actually used Dav's). The film may or may not ever come about, given various constraints. But it was still great fun to get all of us together for filming. Thanks guys.
* Talking of writing, I managed to write a short story I had planned for a long time. It is called The Goldens and it in the fantasy genre, like all of my serious stuff. I commenced work on my third book (in a series of five) but only got half to two-thirds of the way through it, possibly due to other projects. I finished the first entirely in a summer and the second took longer, so my feelings are mixed about my progress on it. Never mind though, I will get the series finished one day...
* As for the lowlight of the holiday, that would inevitably be the temp work I performed once again. I've written before about it, and now I can add more jobs to my wonderful temping CV:
I unloaded traffic cones from a lorry and put reflector strips on them.
I loaded leaflets into a machine for packing them in plastic.
At the place where I did labelling last year I put warning labels in safety guards and put studs in each corner.
At the same place I put filters into gas masks.
I did more work at the computer game packing factory as I had two years ago, stripping Game Boy boxes.
The last of these was the same job that I had previously decided was the worst I had ever done, and boy did I feel it. On the second day I had to do the exact same thing the entire day, in the same place, standing up and still. Seven hours, of which a total of two 15 minute breaks. It was bad, very bad. Still, I chose it over the egg packing place and I don't regret that. At least I didn't get sticky this way.
I really, desperately don't want to do this again next summer. I am going to try to make sure I find something better than that without signing away my whole summer, dammit! I just hope that this time I actually remember how bad it is...
Anyway, that's my summer summed up. Now for some fun, go see Ming's new blog entry and the whole of his blog if you haven't before (because he is the king of hilarious blogging). Also check out Weird Al's latest song, because he is as ever brilliant. Now to prepare for a whole new term of law (Labour and EC), and being Secretary of the Oxford Secular Society. The fun never stops!
You see, for ages I have had to word verify to post here. Thanks to Abi, I eventually realised that the reason was because this blog was marked as potential spam (no comments about incomprehensible content please! :-p). I clicked the link to inform Blogger that this was not the case, and I got an email back saying it had checked out fine. Then about a week ago I looked and it turned out that it was marked as spam again (or had always been)! So I clicked the link again and sent an email as well, and this time it worked. Not only was I off the spam list, but I was invited to upgrade to Beta! (This pretty much confirms Abi's idea that I was being denied because of the spam thing.)
So I had a fun break from revision categorising my posts on both blogs and tweaking the templates (although in truth, we are talking minor tweakage here). It made me happy, in the midst of learning about covenants and mortgages in Land Law again. The reason this post wasn't earlier was because of my frantic attempts to look through last term's work and try to understand what it all means. Now that the collections are over though, I can relax and post about my summer. Some highlights (and a lowlight!):
* Abi's birthday. We went bowling with friends from both uni and her school and then we stayed up late watching DVDs on an OHP screen in her living room. If I remember rightly at least one person stayed awake all night, but I was certainly having none of that! Possibly most memorable moment was Gam introducing himself to one of Abi's school friends with the line "Justify your existence!" Sadly, I'm not sure it endeared him to her...
* The Northern and Southern Tours! The Northern Tour embraced Durham and Newcastle, as we stayed with Rich and his mate Dave. We saw Durham then had a night out at the (in)famous BAJA Beach Club in Newcastle, where we were...entertained by Em and Sarah. A fun (if very quick) trip. The Southern Tour was first to Abi's place in London then Em's place near Birmingham. We got guided tours through parts of both cities and tried some local cuisine (okay, Chinese from London and Pizza Hut from Burmingham, but still).
* Youth Hostelling with Andy and Gwen. We headed to Welsh Bicknor to stay for a few nights. The first was in a teepee and the other two were in a room. During the days we did activities like go round a castle, Forest of Dean's Sculpture Trail, Clearwell Caves and a cool maze. We mostly made our own food in the Youth Hostel kitchens, and it was all in all a pleasant time. It was a nice way to remember Andy and Gwen as a couple, since they have now split up :-( (hopefully not due to being driven crazy by us on holiday!).
* Centre Parcs with my family and Abi. We did the same this year as last summer, only at a different CP site. However this time we had the sense to book activities earlier, and as a result we have been able to do both high ropes and crossbow shooting! Both were on the same day and it was raining, which made walking along slippery beams with a harness seem all the more daunting. Also as part of high ropes we had to individually climb up a high wooden pole and leap to a trapeze, which was actually pretty daunting once you were up there... I'm quite proud that I managed it, although I still have no recollection of the moment of truth! Crossbows was excellent. Abi was much more accurate than me although at least I could load them without the instructor's help! :-p. Yet another wonderful holiday this summer.
* Dav's party. Although not to the extent of the massive event last year (his 21st), this one was still memorable. We went go-karting in Aylesbury, and although Abi didn't enjoy it and quietly retired quite quickly, and one of Dav's friends also pulled out to prevent the reoccurance of an old hip injury, the rest of us had fun. In Ian's words, I was "pottering along at 6 miles per hour" and I came last, but it was still fun! That evening it ended up being only me, Abi, Andy and Dav out in Park End for clubbing. Still, it was an excellent night and we all had a good laugh at the expense of Dav's t-shirt which, well, follow the link. Needless to say it brought him far more positive responses from males than females!
* Group filming. A tough one to explain to the unitiated, but I'll have a go! As I have mentioned before, I like writing satirical scripts involving people I know (I have been told by Daniel that I should really call them parody because they have no purpose other than to entertain, but I will probably still use the words interchangeably). After previous endeavours with Southman (starring teachers from my school) and The Matriculatrix (starring some students from Hertford) this summer's effort was Back To The Forum!, a Back To The Future parody involving the remaining regular posters on my school forum. Here is the original script and here is the second draft (with an extra introduction for filming purposes and more on Jimmy which I really should have thought of for the first version!). Anyway it went down well on the forum and Dav and Grum were quick to decide that we needed to get together to film it. So, to cut a long story short, we have started to do so. Dav is the director, Andy the lead photographer, Grum the sound guy and me the writer. Various among us count as producers. We have filmed most of the introduction including a scene with all nine of the principle characters except Ming (whose house we were supposed to arrive at, for which we actually used Dav's). The film may or may not ever come about, given various constraints. But it was still great fun to get all of us together for filming. Thanks guys.
* Talking of writing, I managed to write a short story I had planned for a long time. It is called The Goldens and it in the fantasy genre, like all of my serious stuff. I commenced work on my third book (in a series of five) but only got half to two-thirds of the way through it, possibly due to other projects. I finished the first entirely in a summer and the second took longer, so my feelings are mixed about my progress on it. Never mind though, I will get the series finished one day...
* As for the lowlight of the holiday, that would inevitably be the temp work I performed once again. I've written before about it, and now I can add more jobs to my wonderful temping CV:
I unloaded traffic cones from a lorry and put reflector strips on them.
I loaded leaflets into a machine for packing them in plastic.
At the place where I did labelling last year I put warning labels in safety guards and put studs in each corner.
At the same place I put filters into gas masks.
I did more work at the computer game packing factory as I had two years ago, stripping Game Boy boxes.
The last of these was the same job that I had previously decided was the worst I had ever done, and boy did I feel it. On the second day I had to do the exact same thing the entire day, in the same place, standing up and still. Seven hours, of which a total of two 15 minute breaks. It was bad, very bad. Still, I chose it over the egg packing place and I don't regret that. At least I didn't get sticky this way.
I really, desperately don't want to do this again next summer. I am going to try to make sure I find something better than that without signing away my whole summer, dammit! I just hope that this time I actually remember how bad it is...
Anyway, that's my summer summed up. Now for some fun, go see Ming's new blog entry and the whole of his blog if you haven't before (because he is the king of hilarious blogging). Also check out Weird Al's latest song, because he is as ever brilliant. Now to prepare for a whole new term of law (Labour and EC), and being Secretary of the Oxford Secular Society. The fun never stops!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Where Is Blogger Beta??
It's probably quite sad, but I am desperately waiting to be allowed to move my blogs to Blogger Beta. No, that's not the sad bit. The sad bit is that I am waiting so impatiently not because of all the snazzy upgrades that it will undoubtedly offer, but because it will allow me to do something that every other blogging service seems to already allow: Categorise my posts.
It probably won't make much difference to this blog, since it is a bit random and scatty. Maybe I'll sort it into Diary and Humour aspects or something, but I can't see it being major. On the other hand, I crave the ability to label my Unified View posts, as much for myself as for readers. I will probably have labels along the lines of Abortion, Animal Rights, Nature of Ethics etc, since those seem to be the main issues I deal with at the moment.
I realise that caring enough to post about this may seem odd. Still, this is after all a place for random thoughts.
Update:
Abi has been allowed to upgrade to Beta. I am quite jealous! :-p
It probably won't make much difference to this blog, since it is a bit random and scatty. Maybe I'll sort it into Diary and Humour aspects or something, but I can't see it being major. On the other hand, I crave the ability to label my Unified View posts, as much for myself as for readers. I will probably have labels along the lines of Abortion, Animal Rights, Nature of Ethics etc, since those seem to be the main issues I deal with at the moment.
I realise that caring enough to post about this may seem odd. Still, this is after all a place for random thoughts.
Update:
Abi has been allowed to upgrade to Beta. I am quite jealous! :-p
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
More Temp Work
Yesterday I spent 8 out of 9 hours either sliding leaflets into plastic sheets or using a machine to put studs in said plastic sheets. It wasn't too bad actually. I can happily live with mindless work as long as A) I get to sit down while I do it, B) there are no bloody conveyor belts and C) it doesn't involve dangerous equipment. This job almost satisfied all three.
I say almost because the studding machine did seem slightly menacing, although with a little care there were no hairy moments. There was this classic conversation when I was being shown how it worked though:
Pete: Um, how dangerous is the machine? How careful should I be?
Boss: Don't worry, if the guard won't go down all the way, the mechanism won't work. See?
[Puts pen in and pushes foot pedal. End of pen is smashed, shattering.]
Boss: [Pause.] Ah.
[Does it again. Same result.]
Boss: Hmm, that's not supposed to happen. [Pause.] Well, I'm sure you won't make any mistakes.
And I bloody didn't after that!
Probably the most annoying part of the day was that after the boss showed me where to put the leaflets, the old guy next to me came up and told me to put them in a bit further. Thinking I had misunderstood the instructions, I did as he said. Later, the boss came back and told me that was wrong, I should be putting them more out to the edge like he originally told me. Annoyed, I shot a glance at the old guy, who was watching. The boss must have noticed as later he asked me if that guy had told me otherwise, and when I confirmed it he told me that I shouldn't pay attention to him. So what, was it some kind of practical joke at the expense of the temp? If so, it was a bit rubbish. They've just now got a stack of them done wrongly. Doesn't hugley bother me. Maybe it was an honest mistake, although given how long the guy assured me he had been working there, that would be odd.
The experience wasn't bad really, and apparently I'll be going back there for a the rest of the week. Hi ho, hi ho. And all the rest.
I say almost because the studding machine did seem slightly menacing, although with a little care there were no hairy moments. There was this classic conversation when I was being shown how it worked though:
Pete: Um, how dangerous is the machine? How careful should I be?
Boss: Don't worry, if the guard won't go down all the way, the mechanism won't work. See?
[Puts pen in and pushes foot pedal. End of pen is smashed, shattering.]
Boss: [Pause.] Ah.
[Does it again. Same result.]
Boss: Hmm, that's not supposed to happen. [Pause.] Well, I'm sure you won't make any mistakes.
And I bloody didn't after that!
Probably the most annoying part of the day was that after the boss showed me where to put the leaflets, the old guy next to me came up and told me to put them in a bit further. Thinking I had misunderstood the instructions, I did as he said. Later, the boss came back and told me that was wrong, I should be putting them more out to the edge like he originally told me. Annoyed, I shot a glance at the old guy, who was watching. The boss must have noticed as later he asked me if that guy had told me otherwise, and when I confirmed it he told me that I shouldn't pay attention to him. So what, was it some kind of practical joke at the expense of the temp? If so, it was a bit rubbish. They've just now got a stack of them done wrongly. Doesn't hugley bother me. Maybe it was an honest mistake, although given how long the guy assured me he had been working there, that would be odd.
The experience wasn't bad really, and apparently I'll be going back there for a the rest of the week. Hi ho, hi ho. And all the rest.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Popular Music
As most people who know me are aware, I have what is generally considered to be a pretty poor taste in music. I like a range from really cheesy pop to hardcore rock and metal, which means that to anyone who takes a firmer stand somewhere on this scale, some of my choices are going to be odd. Case in point, my first two albums (which I got at the same time) were by Avril Lavigne and Rammstein. Go figure.
On the metal side of things some of my favourites are Rammstein, Placebo and InMe. On the pop side some of my favourites are Girls Aloud, Busted and Brian McFadden. For some inexplicable reason I get more embarrassed about this side. :-p
So I appreciate that I have a rather eclectic taste. Still, the current chart hits which I'm into are a little baffling:
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
Infernal - From Paris to Berlin
Rihanna - Unfaithful
Nelly Furtado - Maneater
Okay, Muse is no shock as I loved their last album. Infernal more so but then dance tunes have occasionally really appealed to me. The real shock with Nelly Furtado is that it's her doing the song! I mean come on, she did "I'm like a bird"! Still, it's in the category of Latin sexed up R'n'B derivate which I tend to be completely turned off (think Britney songs like "Slave to You" and pretty much any Christina Aguilera). Perhaps most shocking is Rihanna, whose song is the kind of slush which normally makes me roll my eyes and switch off. Yet despite that and the fact that it is, as my brother puts it, a drama queen anthem (no love you're not a murderer - it's called adulterer), I still find myself sucked into it. What gives?
Still, I can say with some confidence that the only album of these I will buy is the Muse one. Maybe a single or two of the others, but it's very rare that I buy singles (I bought three Girls Aloud singles before realising that I had paid more than I would for the album...).
So, anyone else want to put down what embarrassing songs they enjoy, or what popular songs, or anything? I'm now on the look out for anyone who enjoys all four of the above songs, to prove myself not completely bizarre.
Edit:
I have just remembered that another current song I like is Smile by Lily Allen, although frankly she scares the hell out of me in the video. Just found out it's UK Number 1!
On the metal side of things some of my favourites are Rammstein, Placebo and InMe. On the pop side some of my favourites are Girls Aloud, Busted and Brian McFadden. For some inexplicable reason I get more embarrassed about this side. :-p
So I appreciate that I have a rather eclectic taste. Still, the current chart hits which I'm into are a little baffling:
Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
Infernal - From Paris to Berlin
Rihanna - Unfaithful
Nelly Furtado - Maneater
Okay, Muse is no shock as I loved their last album. Infernal more so but then dance tunes have occasionally really appealed to me. The real shock with Nelly Furtado is that it's her doing the song! I mean come on, she did "I'm like a bird"! Still, it's in the category of Latin sexed up R'n'B derivate which I tend to be completely turned off (think Britney songs like "Slave to You" and pretty much any Christina Aguilera). Perhaps most shocking is Rihanna, whose song is the kind of slush which normally makes me roll my eyes and switch off. Yet despite that and the fact that it is, as my brother puts it, a drama queen anthem (no love you're not a murderer - it's called adulterer), I still find myself sucked into it. What gives?
Still, I can say with some confidence that the only album of these I will buy is the Muse one. Maybe a single or two of the others, but it's very rare that I buy singles (I bought three Girls Aloud singles before realising that I had paid more than I would for the album...).
So, anyone else want to put down what embarrassing songs they enjoy, or what popular songs, or anything? I'm now on the look out for anyone who enjoys all four of the above songs, to prove myself not completely bizarre.
Edit:
I have just remembered that another current song I like is Smile by Lily Allen, although frankly she scares the hell out of me in the video. Just found out it's UK Number 1!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Start of the Summer
As a commentator pointed out, it has indeed been quite a while.
I did finally get my floor prizes from the Union: A haircut from Matthew Clulee, a meal at La Tasca and a pair of tickets for The Phoenix Picturehouse. I've only used up the first of these, which was an experience. I had my head massaged, then my hair cut, then my head massaged again, then my hair styled. It looked cool, but unfortunately it wasn't cut very short. I did pick up a new way to style my hair, however. It would have cost £43 (£38 with student discount) which, compared to the normal £10 I spend elsewhere, means that I won't be returning now that I have no more vouchers!
We Simpkins lads produced an edition of the magazine which seems to have gone down well, despite the ban on us putting any gossip in. I wrote 12 of the 20 pages, which I think certainly justifies my involvement. Alex did nothing, apparently in protest at the limitations they put on us. I was quite proud of it until my dad saw it and pointed out that when he'd been at Hertford, when Simpkins was started, its raison d'etre had been gossip. It's true, the PTB are killing it slowly. We're just trying to keep it alive as a beacon of humour in an overly sanitised world.
The Stuart Anderson Society dinner went fine, despite some hiccups. We overbooked, counting on more people saying yes after the booking date that in fact did. We just about salvaged it by allowing partners to come along, so my Abi was with me to enjoy the hilarious drunkeness which was to ensue... Rachel went across to some first year Medics who were revising for their exams, and proceeded to come up with comedy answers to their questions (like 'periods' for no apparent reason!), and demanded chocolate sauce on her syrup waffle, because she was in the mood for chocolate. Eloise took the prize though, as she flirted with one of the Slaughter & May (our sponsor) guys and told our poor tutor Alan a filthy story about Beast! I was just glad Alison wasn't there...
I've watched all the films I mentioned in my last post, the best probably being The Da Vinci Code despite it having, as Dav had warned me, a bit of a cop out ending. The DJ himself took me with him to see Mission Impossible 3, which was fun but nothing unexpected at all. All in all, plenty of film fun.
Having been involved with the Oxford Secular Society all term, having failed to get the position of Press & Publicity officer last term I was going to try again but was persuaded to go for Secretary, and got it! That makes me responsible for the newsletter, The Secular Student. For those who don't know yet, secularism in this sense means separation of Church and State, something I am quite passionate about. The website is www.oxsecsoc.com (although it needs updating).
I enjoyed this term, although was a shame to see Abi worrying over exams. :-( Still, holidays for everyone now. Holidays are when I suddenly become all creative and do interesting things which are not law-related. For instance, I have been writing articles for Simpkins, another edition of which will hopefully come out at the beginning of next term. I have also written an article for The Secular Student. I finally write up a short story I have had planned for a while, and when I get enough feedback will hopefully submit it to a few short story magazines. I have also polished the first draft of my second novel, which was pretty much completed near the start of this last term. Onto the third one now.
Meanwhile I have to find a job so that I can fund my way through the post-grad course I want to do (the BCL) and the training course for barristers (the BVC). If maybe I could get my novels published, that could be a lot easier! :-P I'll update again, possibly even recounting a night which has left a terrible scar - Dav, Smo and I at Park End (they know what I mean...)
I did finally get my floor prizes from the Union: A haircut from Matthew Clulee, a meal at La Tasca and a pair of tickets for The Phoenix Picturehouse. I've only used up the first of these, which was an experience. I had my head massaged, then my hair cut, then my head massaged again, then my hair styled. It looked cool, but unfortunately it wasn't cut very short. I did pick up a new way to style my hair, however. It would have cost £43 (£38 with student discount) which, compared to the normal £10 I spend elsewhere, means that I won't be returning now that I have no more vouchers!
We Simpkins lads produced an edition of the magazine which seems to have gone down well, despite the ban on us putting any gossip in. I wrote 12 of the 20 pages, which I think certainly justifies my involvement. Alex did nothing, apparently in protest at the limitations they put on us. I was quite proud of it until my dad saw it and pointed out that when he'd been at Hertford, when Simpkins was started, its raison d'etre had been gossip. It's true, the PTB are killing it slowly. We're just trying to keep it alive as a beacon of humour in an overly sanitised world.
The Stuart Anderson Society dinner went fine, despite some hiccups. We overbooked, counting on more people saying yes after the booking date that in fact did. We just about salvaged it by allowing partners to come along, so my Abi was with me to enjoy the hilarious drunkeness which was to ensue... Rachel went across to some first year Medics who were revising for their exams, and proceeded to come up with comedy answers to their questions (like 'periods' for no apparent reason!), and demanded chocolate sauce on her syrup waffle, because she was in the mood for chocolate. Eloise took the prize though, as she flirted with one of the Slaughter & May (our sponsor) guys and told our poor tutor Alan a filthy story about Beast! I was just glad Alison wasn't there...
I've watched all the films I mentioned in my last post, the best probably being The Da Vinci Code despite it having, as Dav had warned me, a bit of a cop out ending. The DJ himself took me with him to see Mission Impossible 3, which was fun but nothing unexpected at all. All in all, plenty of film fun.
Having been involved with the Oxford Secular Society all term, having failed to get the position of Press & Publicity officer last term I was going to try again but was persuaded to go for Secretary, and got it! That makes me responsible for the newsletter, The Secular Student. For those who don't know yet, secularism in this sense means separation of Church and State, something I am quite passionate about. The website is www.oxsecsoc.com (although it needs updating).
I enjoyed this term, although was a shame to see Abi worrying over exams. :-( Still, holidays for everyone now. Holidays are when I suddenly become all creative and do interesting things which are not law-related. For instance, I have been writing articles for Simpkins, another edition of which will hopefully come out at the beginning of next term. I have also written an article for The Secular Student. I finally write up a short story I have had planned for a while, and when I get enough feedback will hopefully submit it to a few short story magazines. I have also polished the first draft of my second novel, which was pretty much completed near the start of this last term. Onto the third one now.
Meanwhile I have to find a job so that I can fund my way through the post-grad course I want to do (the BCL) and the training course for barristers (the BVC). If maybe I could get my novels published, that could be a lot easier! :-P I'll update again, possibly even recounting a night which has left a terrible scar - Dav, Smo and I at Park End (they know what I mean...)
Saturday, May 20, 2006
It's Been A While
I realise that I haven't posted anything for a while. It's been a busy term and this kind of thing often happens. Another reason though was that I knew that if I logged on, I would have to put up my work timetable again, and it's not so easy to motivate myself to do that. That's one reason why I've decided to stop putting my timetables on the blog, along with the feeling that it's a tad self-indulgent - no-one else cares, and some might think I'm boasting about how much work I do. I still find it very useful to record my hours, but will do so on my computer from now on. I think I'll still do a summary of each term on here, but that's all, leaving it free for more enjoyable posts.
It's been an interesting few weeks. At the Oxford Union I volunteered and made a floor speech in opposition to animal testing, as masterfully captured in Abi's detailed account of the debate here. I'm not sure that the audience was impressed with my philosophical contribution, but I was awarded runner up prize (although the Union still hasn't got around to distributing the prizes).
I, along with three others, have been voted in by the JCR to edit college gossip magazine Simpkins. We are going to have to tread carefully as the last set of editors were threatened with rustication and forced to resign for being offensive. Luckily, one of them is now a Welfare Officer charged with censoring it to prevent that happening again, so that makes me feel a bit safer. Our tutor even told him to protect me on this one! I trust him to be as harsh as necessary, especially given that some of the editors aren't as keen to stick to the rules as I am.
I'm also co-president of the Stuart Anderson Society, which organises Hertford lawyers' social events. We're trying to organise a meal for 8th week.
We had this year's Hertford Ball in 2nd week, which was fun. Last year I asked Abi out just after the ball, so it felt like the start of our first anniversary, even though it was a day earlier this year. On our actual anniversary we saw Tristin and Isolde, which was a good film, even if a bit cliched. The day after, we went for a meal. It was a good way to celebrate a very happy year.
Along with that I've been doing Jurisprudence, which is fun but a lot of reading, mostly in the Bodleian Law Library, as well as the tail end of Land Law, which is less interesting but probably a bit easier. It's shaping up as a good term, all in all. With fun films like The Da Vinci Code, X-Men 3 and Pirates of the Carribbean 2 coming up, there should be enough amusement, too. Tonight Abi and Rich have their 'official birthday,' a celebration of birthdays which actually fall in the summer holidays, for the benefit of uni friends. I'm looking forward to it, especially since it's been a fortnight since I've had a day off! I'll post again when I next feel like it. :-)
It's been an interesting few weeks. At the Oxford Union I volunteered and made a floor speech in opposition to animal testing, as masterfully captured in Abi's detailed account of the debate here. I'm not sure that the audience was impressed with my philosophical contribution, but I was awarded runner up prize (although the Union still hasn't got around to distributing the prizes).
I, along with three others, have been voted in by the JCR to edit college gossip magazine Simpkins. We are going to have to tread carefully as the last set of editors were threatened with rustication and forced to resign for being offensive. Luckily, one of them is now a Welfare Officer charged with censoring it to prevent that happening again, so that makes me feel a bit safer. Our tutor even told him to protect me on this one! I trust him to be as harsh as necessary, especially given that some of the editors aren't as keen to stick to the rules as I am.
I'm also co-president of the Stuart Anderson Society, which organises Hertford lawyers' social events. We're trying to organise a meal for 8th week.
We had this year's Hertford Ball in 2nd week, which was fun. Last year I asked Abi out just after the ball, so it felt like the start of our first anniversary, even though it was a day earlier this year. On our actual anniversary we saw Tristin and Isolde, which was a good film, even if a bit cliched. The day after, we went for a meal. It was a good way to celebrate a very happy year.
Along with that I've been doing Jurisprudence, which is fun but a lot of reading, mostly in the Bodleian Law Library, as well as the tail end of Land Law, which is less interesting but probably a bit easier. It's shaping up as a good term, all in all. With fun films like The Da Vinci Code, X-Men 3 and Pirates of the Carribbean 2 coming up, there should be enough amusement, too. Tonight Abi and Rich have their 'official birthday,' a celebration of birthdays which actually fall in the summer holidays, for the benefit of uni friends. I'm looking forward to it, especially since it's been a fortnight since I've had a day off! I'll post again when I next feel like it. :-)
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Last Day Errors
I'm back home now, ready for a holiday. However, I managed to make two somewhat foolish errors today which bear repeating:
Error 1: The Laundry
An error of almost Ming-esque proportions. Going somewhat against the trend of students, I always wash my clothes at the laundry in my halls of residence, rather than lugging it back for my mum to wash (seriously, the number of students who send a big load of washing home with their parents after a mid-term visit and take another with them at the end is quite high). So I fished out the mass of used clothes from under my bed and sorted them into white and colours. Finding out that I had three plastic bags' worth of colours and a total of two items white, I decided just to do the former. So I hefted them to the laundry and continued packing. 40 minutes later I returned to transfer them to the dryer. 30 minutes later I returned but, screwing up my plans, it had not been long enough to get them dried. I set them to 30 more minutes, and my parents arrived soon after that.
After getting all packed up into my mum's car and heading home, I was sitting on the couch with my feet up watching TV when...
Mum: So Pete, how much dirty laundry have you got for me?
[Pause, then Pete's eyes widen massively]
Pete: Oh crap!
This was followed by a dash upstairs and a hurried phonecall to Abi. Yes, I had left all that laundry back at college in the tumble dryer. Now it may not be a long way off but I had handed over my key, and did not fancy my chances getting it back. Luckily Abi was still there packing up, and she mercifully collected together all of the laundry for me. I suggested she put it behind the Lodge at college for me to collect but she preferred to take it home with her to bring when she visits. However, not too long later she and her mum showed up at my front door with all three bags, so I am not without clothes after all! Many many thanks Abi and Eleanor for saving me from that particular idiocy...
Error 2: The Curry
That evening we had a take away curry to celebrate my return. Now I am quite used to the 'medium hot' curry, but always tempted to try one step up. So when the curry place we used didn't have a medium veggie curry, I was not too put out to go to the 'fairly hot' vegetable madras. Mistake. I wolfed down perhaps a tenth of it before my mouth managed to scream at me to stop. It was just a little bit like swilling acid around my mouth, except without the relief of being able to spit it out. My tongue was bad but my lips were worse and my throat felt absolutely on fire, contracting and leaving me desperate for air. I managed to sort out that problem by gargling water - a lot. My dad took a couple of bites and then his eyes almost popped out of his sockets, so at least it wasn't just me! He wasn't quite able to enjoy his curry after that, and the rest of mine had to go. I also had a stomach ache for most of the night, so I think I've learned a lesson here - from now on in, it's mediums all the way.
Still, it's nice to be home!
Error 1: The Laundry
An error of almost Ming-esque proportions. Going somewhat against the trend of students, I always wash my clothes at the laundry in my halls of residence, rather than lugging it back for my mum to wash (seriously, the number of students who send a big load of washing home with their parents after a mid-term visit and take another with them at the end is quite high). So I fished out the mass of used clothes from under my bed and sorted them into white and colours. Finding out that I had three plastic bags' worth of colours and a total of two items white, I decided just to do the former. So I hefted them to the laundry and continued packing. 40 minutes later I returned to transfer them to the dryer. 30 minutes later I returned but, screwing up my plans, it had not been long enough to get them dried. I set them to 30 more minutes, and my parents arrived soon after that.
After getting all packed up into my mum's car and heading home, I was sitting on the couch with my feet up watching TV when...
Mum: So Pete, how much dirty laundry have you got for me?
[Pause, then Pete's eyes widen massively]
Pete: Oh crap!
This was followed by a dash upstairs and a hurried phonecall to Abi. Yes, I had left all that laundry back at college in the tumble dryer. Now it may not be a long way off but I had handed over my key, and did not fancy my chances getting it back. Luckily Abi was still there packing up, and she mercifully collected together all of the laundry for me. I suggested she put it behind the Lodge at college for me to collect but she preferred to take it home with her to bring when she visits. However, not too long later she and her mum showed up at my front door with all three bags, so I am not without clothes after all! Many many thanks Abi and Eleanor for saving me from that particular idiocy...
Error 2: The Curry
That evening we had a take away curry to celebrate my return. Now I am quite used to the 'medium hot' curry, but always tempted to try one step up. So when the curry place we used didn't have a medium veggie curry, I was not too put out to go to the 'fairly hot' vegetable madras. Mistake. I wolfed down perhaps a tenth of it before my mouth managed to scream at me to stop. It was just a little bit like swilling acid around my mouth, except without the relief of being able to spit it out. My tongue was bad but my lips were worse and my throat felt absolutely on fire, contracting and leaving me desperate for air. I managed to sort out that problem by gargling water - a lot. My dad took a couple of bites and then his eyes almost popped out of his sockets, so at least it wasn't just me! He wasn't quite able to enjoy his curry after that, and the rest of mine had to go. I also had a stomach ache for most of the night, so I think I've learned a lesson here - from now on in, it's mediums all the way.
Still, it's nice to be home!
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Aborted Pancakes
A Pancake Day recipe (which we successfully made the first couple of attempts to make actual pancakes):
Requires:
Pancake stuff
Students
1. Attempt to make pancakes.
2. Fail.
3. Keep moving the pancakey mess that should have been a pancake around until it all looks vaguely cooked.
4. Drench in syrup (or jam for authenticity) and eat.
I will leave it to your imagination why they are called aborted pancakes...
Requires:
Pancake stuff
Students
1. Attempt to make pancakes.
2. Fail.
3. Keep moving the pancakey mess that should have been a pancake around until it all looks vaguely cooked.
4. Drench in syrup (or jam for authenticity) and eat.
I will leave it to your imagination why they are called aborted pancakes...
Monday, November 21, 2005
Journalistic Exposure
As part of the ongoing saga of the OUSU referendum campaign, I was asked to give a comment to the Oxford Student, one of the student newspapers. The picture (one of Abi's favourites) hasn't turned out badly, but the editor did somewhat hack away at the piece I originally wrote ("It took five motions..." doesn't even make sense in the context! It was supposed to be "I took five motions..."). Still, slight annoyance at that aside it is my first real piece of journalistic exposure for something I've said, so here's a link for all to see:
OUSU Under Fire
Don't worry, I will try to give some idea of the context later (hopefully without boring readers to tears).
OUSU Under Fire
Don't worry, I will try to give some idea of the context later (hopefully without boring readers to tears).
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Sick Days
Bah. I'm ill. I've had this damn cold for a week now and although it has got better, it has seemed to level off into a perpetual state. This is annoying.
I first remember feeling it over a week ago, on Wednesday 12th. Its peak was Thursday, when I woke feeling dead. I still managed to drag my way through a respectable amount of work though, and attended the (surprisingly poor this year) "No Confidence in Her Majesty's Government" debate at the Union. The motion failed, so apparently the Union favours the Government now... I didn't get nearly enough sleep, so felt bad the next day. Events did not help. I ended up looking through my notes for my first week of Trusts in Burger King (Mmm...) and fighting against the wooziness in my head when trying to argue against my new tutor. Was Hunter v Moss correctly decided? I thought yes, but my tutor has come close to persuading me otherwise. I realise this probably means nothing to anyone likely to read my blog. Oh well.
Unfortunately, despite my request that I leave a bit early to get to the lecture (Trusts, no less - the very one she had strongly recommended we attend!) it didn't happen, so I had to dash across town. And feel ill once in said lecture. Bugger. Once I got home it was soon time to go out to the Socrates Society drinks with Abi. It's a philosophy society, and we have both now joined. There is a SocSoc meal on Sunday discussing ethics and hedonism, so I'm looking forward to that... We had to stay beyond the end waiting for Michelle (from Exeter college) because as Treasurer of the Society she had to stay to clear away.
The three of us then headed back down Abingdon Road, but beyond Ab House to Edith Road, home of the Exeter Massive, including Steve and Blath who were having a joint par-tay. Woo! It was a fun one as well. There had already been quite a bit of revelry before we arrived, evidence by people complaining about food having been smeared in strange places, and the fact that Sarah was drunk. She of course denied this at the time. But the fact that she was going around trying to trick people into drinking her vodka and orange (mixed in a 1:1 ratio, no less,) did give it away slightly.
Rich and Steve were also getting there drink-wise. Steve kept apologising for spiking my drink the previous weekend, appearing quite guilty about it. Rich still found it amusing of course, and I found out that Sarah had had a hand in it too! In any case a number of us ended up in Steve's room, drinking and chatting. Sarah had a beer, even though she still said it was horrible. At one point Steve and I hugged and Sarah decided to join in but managed to unbalance us onto the floor! Steve and Rich seemed...very close. Some of Abi's pictures towards the end of this post on her blog are the best evidence available.
It was a fun night indeed. As well as having a great time with a number of friends from both Hertford and Exeter, I got to play Twister (which, with so many drunk people, is hilarious!). Sarah 'won'. She also was sitting on it almost the whole time. Eventually Rich and Em took her home and Rich returned. I chatted to fellow lawyers Neil and Hannah. Hertford lawyers are often quite reluctant to talk about Law, so it was good to swap a few opinions. Eg. I like Tort but hate Contract with a passion, but most other people have it the other way around. Odd. At the end of the night it looked like Rich might just lay down and refuse to come with us, but he was as good as gold in the end. :-)
As for me, a good night's sleep was well needed, and came as blessed relief. It also was one reason that I didn't show up to the Freshers' post-matriculation drinks the next day, like I was supposed to. The other reason was that I had been confused, thinking I was needed for the Ball in the evening. To make up for the slip I helped set up the Hall from 2:30pm until about 3:15pm, and then from 6:00pm until the Ball started at 8:00pm. As an Exec member I was one of the few non-first years invited, and I got to have Abi along too. It was a lot of fun - the food was excellent, including ice cream, cookies and chocolate cake! Grand.
Once it finished, it was time for tidying away. That took from about 12:00am to 1:30am, with a load of us (including Abi) joining in. She was very amused by me following instructions to push a tablecover across the recently mopped floor with my feet, sliding along. A job well done. Unfortunately with all that, I had done almost no work that day, and it was imperative that I do so. Therefore once I got back, at about 2:00am, I started working. And I went on until about 6:00am. Ouch. Abi had fallen asleep in my room for most of that time. I managed to keep my concentration, but once I stopped I just had to crash into bed.
The next day I basically did as much work as was reasonably possible while still making it to the JCR meeting in the evening. And on Monday morning I was impressed with my ability to do a 1300 word essay in 70 minutes. Having met the deadline I felt okay about going with Abi to the "This House would design a baby" debate at the Union and seeing our local MP, Dr. Evan Harris, speak in proposition. Despite a good speech and the fact that I have a lot of respect for him, I voted against.
The next night Abi, Neil and I (in a very ad hoc arrangement) went to the cinema to see Serenity. It's a rather crazy film to get your head around if you haven't seen the preceding series, Firefly, but I just about managed. It haunted me for the rest fo the evening. Then on Tuesday we went to see Wallace & Gromit which was slightly more straightforward! Funny, but perhaps my sense of humour has moved on somewhat in 10 years...
And so the sick days continue as I hope to get better while (despite all the distractions mentioned above) doing a rather respectable amount of work. I believe I have tonight to properly stick at my work while tomorrow evening is Steve's bithday meal...
I first remember feeling it over a week ago, on Wednesday 12th. Its peak was Thursday, when I woke feeling dead. I still managed to drag my way through a respectable amount of work though, and attended the (surprisingly poor this year) "No Confidence in Her Majesty's Government" debate at the Union. The motion failed, so apparently the Union favours the Government now... I didn't get nearly enough sleep, so felt bad the next day. Events did not help. I ended up looking through my notes for my first week of Trusts in Burger King (Mmm...) and fighting against the wooziness in my head when trying to argue against my new tutor. Was Hunter v Moss correctly decided? I thought yes, but my tutor has come close to persuading me otherwise. I realise this probably means nothing to anyone likely to read my blog. Oh well.
Unfortunately, despite my request that I leave a bit early to get to the lecture (Trusts, no less - the very one she had strongly recommended we attend!) it didn't happen, so I had to dash across town. And feel ill once in said lecture. Bugger. Once I got home it was soon time to go out to the Socrates Society drinks with Abi. It's a philosophy society, and we have both now joined. There is a SocSoc meal on Sunday discussing ethics and hedonism, so I'm looking forward to that... We had to stay beyond the end waiting for Michelle (from Exeter college) because as Treasurer of the Society she had to stay to clear away.
The three of us then headed back down Abingdon Road, but beyond Ab House to Edith Road, home of the Exeter Massive, including Steve and Blath who were having a joint par-tay. Woo! It was a fun one as well. There had already been quite a bit of revelry before we arrived, evidence by people complaining about food having been smeared in strange places, and the fact that Sarah was drunk. She of course denied this at the time. But the fact that she was going around trying to trick people into drinking her vodka and orange (mixed in a 1:1 ratio, no less,) did give it away slightly.
Rich and Steve were also getting there drink-wise. Steve kept apologising for spiking my drink the previous weekend, appearing quite guilty about it. Rich still found it amusing of course, and I found out that Sarah had had a hand in it too! In any case a number of us ended up in Steve's room, drinking and chatting. Sarah had a beer, even though she still said it was horrible. At one point Steve and I hugged and Sarah decided to join in but managed to unbalance us onto the floor! Steve and Rich seemed...very close. Some of Abi's pictures towards the end of this post on her blog are the best evidence available.
It was a fun night indeed. As well as having a great time with a number of friends from both Hertford and Exeter, I got to play Twister (which, with so many drunk people, is hilarious!). Sarah 'won'. She also was sitting on it almost the whole time. Eventually Rich and Em took her home and Rich returned. I chatted to fellow lawyers Neil and Hannah. Hertford lawyers are often quite reluctant to talk about Law, so it was good to swap a few opinions. Eg. I like Tort but hate Contract with a passion, but most other people have it the other way around. Odd. At the end of the night it looked like Rich might just lay down and refuse to come with us, but he was as good as gold in the end. :-)
As for me, a good night's sleep was well needed, and came as blessed relief. It also was one reason that I didn't show up to the Freshers' post-matriculation drinks the next day, like I was supposed to. The other reason was that I had been confused, thinking I was needed for the Ball in the evening. To make up for the slip I helped set up the Hall from 2:30pm until about 3:15pm, and then from 6:00pm until the Ball started at 8:00pm. As an Exec member I was one of the few non-first years invited, and I got to have Abi along too. It was a lot of fun - the food was excellent, including ice cream, cookies and chocolate cake! Grand.
Once it finished, it was time for tidying away. That took from about 12:00am to 1:30am, with a load of us (including Abi) joining in. She was very amused by me following instructions to push a tablecover across the recently mopped floor with my feet, sliding along. A job well done. Unfortunately with all that, I had done almost no work that day, and it was imperative that I do so. Therefore once I got back, at about 2:00am, I started working. And I went on until about 6:00am. Ouch. Abi had fallen asleep in my room for most of that time. I managed to keep my concentration, but once I stopped I just had to crash into bed.
The next day I basically did as much work as was reasonably possible while still making it to the JCR meeting in the evening. And on Monday morning I was impressed with my ability to do a 1300 word essay in 70 minutes. Having met the deadline I felt okay about going with Abi to the "This House would design a baby" debate at the Union and seeing our local MP, Dr. Evan Harris, speak in proposition. Despite a good speech and the fact that I have a lot of respect for him, I voted against.
The next night Abi, Neil and I (in a very ad hoc arrangement) went to the cinema to see Serenity. It's a rather crazy film to get your head around if you haven't seen the preceding series, Firefly, but I just about managed. It haunted me for the rest fo the evening. Then on Tuesday we went to see Wallace & Gromit which was slightly more straightforward! Funny, but perhaps my sense of humour has moved on somewhat in 10 years...
And so the sick days continue as I hope to get better while (despite all the distractions mentioned above) doing a rather respectable amount of work. I believe I have tonight to properly stick at my work while tomorrow evening is Steve's bithday meal...
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Down The Bop
For Saturday night, I planned what we should do. We were to meet in my room at 9:00pm, head to college and to the bar (which I had not yet visited this term), then when it closed, to the bop which was to take place also in Hertford. Basically, the plan succeeded. It was a fun night.
The group ended up as me, Abi, Rich, Steve, Emma, Dan (Emma's boyfriend), Sarah and Dave. We got to the bar about 10 and set up camp at one of the tables with our drinks. I had a coke and Steve had a vodka and coke, which presented Rich with his opportunity. As soon as I was distracted he swapped them round, but I easily caught him in the act. The problem was telling which was which. I sniffed them but of course vodka is odourless, so it was up to Steve to work it out. He took a sip of one and told me it was his, so I happily took a gulp of the other one. Bastard. Should have known he and Rich would have been in cahoots somehow! Man, vodka burns the throat. It also makes the coke taste like it's gone off...
I decided right then to get back at Rich. I don't think Steve had realised that I really don't drink, and anyway he was just following Rich in it. Rich is the brains of the couple, affectionately known as 'Dickie' by his other half. My revenge was quick and simple: I pennied him. For those who have not come across this concept, it is where one puts a penny in the other's drink, thus forcing said person to down it. Rich had a good three quarters of a pint left when I pennied him. And just to give it a sweet taste of irony, the reason he had left his pint unguarded was to get a penny from his wallet to do the same to Dave!
I assume that it must have been downing the pint which got Rich pretty trashed last night, as he didn't seem to drink much else. However, he was drunk enough that when we arm wrestled not long afterwards, and I was blatently winning, he quickly resorted to digging his finger nails in! For shame, Rich. Abi has photographic proof of the result, as well. And I still won :-P.
Soon afterwards the bar closed and we went outside ready to enter the Bop Cellar (yes, it's really called that). Dave, Em and Dan headed off, and I found I had a missed call from Smo. I rang him back and he explained that he was trying to get hold of Sarah (there's no reception down the bar). I told him I'd tell her to ring him, but he asked why I couldn't just hand the phone to her. Uh, because I'm paying for the phonecall, Smo.
So the (not unexpected) result of their chat was that we hung around outside waiting for him to arrive. We met the (I think only) Computer Scientist of the new freshers and chatted to him. He had clearly earned Beast's respect, as the big man himself had given him a beer. We had all seen Beast down the bar earlier as he, Dickie Oldroyd and others are still in Oxford and see the Hertford bar as home (and the cheapest pint available in the city, no doubt).
So Smo arrived and we entered the Bop Cellar. It was not so grand at first, as the music was not the ordinary cheese that Hertfordians (particularly drunk ones) know and love, and it kept stopping at random times. Smo and Sarah soon left, and didn't come back. There's a shocker. The remaining four of us (me, Abi, Rich and Steve) stuck it out to the end and were rewarded with some proper tunes like 'The One and Only' and 'Scatman'. We headed out at the end and to Hassan's for our first kebabs of the term. As a veggie, I of course got lovely cheesy chips, and Abi as usual helped herself to a few. We got to the Exeter college (Steve's college) JCR to eat and drink. Finally with an incredible effort we got a very tired Abi and Rich (tired for different reasons!) to get up and come back to Ab House.
And after talking to Gwen on MSN late at night, I fell soundly asleep.
BTW, I have no idea what happened to Rich and Steve after they staggered back to the former's room. However, I was assured by Blath over MSN that Steve did get back eventually, which is something. As to the rest, we can but specualate... Don't worry Rich, I still love you. Just not as much as Steve, it seems... :-0
The group ended up as me, Abi, Rich, Steve, Emma, Dan (Emma's boyfriend), Sarah and Dave. We got to the bar about 10 and set up camp at one of the tables with our drinks. I had a coke and Steve had a vodka and coke, which presented Rich with his opportunity. As soon as I was distracted he swapped them round, but I easily caught him in the act. The problem was telling which was which. I sniffed them but of course vodka is odourless, so it was up to Steve to work it out. He took a sip of one and told me it was his, so I happily took a gulp of the other one. Bastard. Should have known he and Rich would have been in cahoots somehow! Man, vodka burns the throat. It also makes the coke taste like it's gone off...
I decided right then to get back at Rich. I don't think Steve had realised that I really don't drink, and anyway he was just following Rich in it. Rich is the brains of the couple, affectionately known as 'Dickie' by his other half. My revenge was quick and simple: I pennied him. For those who have not come across this concept, it is where one puts a penny in the other's drink, thus forcing said person to down it. Rich had a good three quarters of a pint left when I pennied him. And just to give it a sweet taste of irony, the reason he had left his pint unguarded was to get a penny from his wallet to do the same to Dave!
I assume that it must have been downing the pint which got Rich pretty trashed last night, as he didn't seem to drink much else. However, he was drunk enough that when we arm wrestled not long afterwards, and I was blatently winning, he quickly resorted to digging his finger nails in! For shame, Rich. Abi has photographic proof of the result, as well. And I still won :-P.
Soon afterwards the bar closed and we went outside ready to enter the Bop Cellar (yes, it's really called that). Dave, Em and Dan headed off, and I found I had a missed call from Smo. I rang him back and he explained that he was trying to get hold of Sarah (there's no reception down the bar). I told him I'd tell her to ring him, but he asked why I couldn't just hand the phone to her. Uh, because I'm paying for the phonecall, Smo.
So the (not unexpected) result of their chat was that we hung around outside waiting for him to arrive. We met the (I think only) Computer Scientist of the new freshers and chatted to him. He had clearly earned Beast's respect, as the big man himself had given him a beer. We had all seen Beast down the bar earlier as he, Dickie Oldroyd and others are still in Oxford and see the Hertford bar as home (and the cheapest pint available in the city, no doubt).
So Smo arrived and we entered the Bop Cellar. It was not so grand at first, as the music was not the ordinary cheese that Hertfordians (particularly drunk ones) know and love, and it kept stopping at random times. Smo and Sarah soon left, and didn't come back. There's a shocker. The remaining four of us (me, Abi, Rich and Steve) stuck it out to the end and were rewarded with some proper tunes like 'The One and Only' and 'Scatman'. We headed out at the end and to Hassan's for our first kebabs of the term. As a veggie, I of course got lovely cheesy chips, and Abi as usual helped herself to a few. We got to the Exeter college (Steve's college) JCR to eat and drink. Finally with an incredible effort we got a very tired Abi and Rich (tired for different reasons!) to get up and come back to Ab House.
And after talking to Gwen on MSN late at night, I fell soundly asleep.
BTW, I have no idea what happened to Rich and Steve after they staggered back to the former's room. However, I was assured by Blath over MSN that Steve did get back eventually, which is something. As to the rest, we can but specualate... Don't worry Rich, I still love you. Just not as much as Steve, it seems... :-0
Saturday, October 08, 2005
The Collection And Beyond
Well, the Collection was a 'mare. I hate Contract Law with a passion. It was the cause of much stress last term, and now I had to sit a three hour paper on it. I had got down to revision about a week and a half before coming up, but rather than focussing on Contract I had gone through Tort instead, partly because the tutor had suggested starting the work on Pure Economic Loss (which I did), partly because we will still be studying it this term (unlike Contract, thankfully!) and partly because I vastly prefer Tort. It was only a few days before coming up that I started revising Contract, and realised just how much I had forgotten about it. Once I got back I revised as much as was possible, but none of it was really going in. Worse, with one day to go I had a full half of the syllabus to revise.
So, in between meetings on Thursday (one with my new Trusts tutor at Merton College, one with my Hertford tutors, lawyers' drinks where we met the freshers and a pseudo-Exec meeting with four of us), I desperately studied Misrepresentation to a decent degree, and attempted to understand Mistake. The last two weeks on Remedies were skimmed through at high speed. Late into the night I tried to remember cases until my brain automatically switched off at 1:15am, and I collapsed, defeated.
The Collection went about as well as it could have. I found myself unable to remember any but the most important and best-named cases, but most of the principles were still floating around in my head. I took the unusual step of doing one essay and three problem questions, rather than two of each, because it was hard to find essays on subjects I knew sufficient about! Still I just about managed to get through it.
Now I'm on tenterhooks for the results. If I get less than 50% (baring in mind that the practical maximum is 70%) then I have to retake, and if less than 40% I get put on probation, which is far closer to the possibility of being sent down (chucked out) than I want to consider. My fellow lawyers were all panicked up to the exam, but responses to the paper have been varied. In all honesty I'm really hoping not to be much below the other lawyers...
That night we went to Dave's place at Warnock House (the rest of us live nearby at Abingdon House) to watch my Team America DVD and finish off the chocolate cake my grandma generously made. Tonight we are going DTB (down the bar) and to the '007' themed bop. Should make for a good weekend before the inevitable hard work from Monday...
So, in between meetings on Thursday (one with my new Trusts tutor at Merton College, one with my Hertford tutors, lawyers' drinks where we met the freshers and a pseudo-Exec meeting with four of us), I desperately studied Misrepresentation to a decent degree, and attempted to understand Mistake. The last two weeks on Remedies were skimmed through at high speed. Late into the night I tried to remember cases until my brain automatically switched off at 1:15am, and I collapsed, defeated.
The Collection went about as well as it could have. I found myself unable to remember any but the most important and best-named cases, but most of the principles were still floating around in my head. I took the unusual step of doing one essay and three problem questions, rather than two of each, because it was hard to find essays on subjects I knew sufficient about! Still I just about managed to get through it.
Now I'm on tenterhooks for the results. If I get less than 50% (baring in mind that the practical maximum is 70%) then I have to retake, and if less than 40% I get put on probation, which is far closer to the possibility of being sent down (chucked out) than I want to consider. My fellow lawyers were all panicked up to the exam, but responses to the paper have been varied. In all honesty I'm really hoping not to be much below the other lawyers...
That night we went to Dave's place at Warnock House (the rest of us live nearby at Abingdon House) to watch my Team America DVD and finish off the chocolate cake my grandma generously made. Tonight we are going DTB (down the bar) and to the '007' themed bop. Should make for a good weekend before the inevitable hard work from Monday...
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
The Last Night at Home
Well, I'm back at university now. It was a good summer while it lasted. I haven't finished the second book yet, but I got a good way through it at least. I did finish the Matriculatrix though (as previously mentioned) which was gratifying. I also saw plenty of Abi, including a trip to Centre Parcs and the sailing trip. I worked enough to get some money, and went from my first ever driving lesson to reasonable competence. Finally, I also got to see most of my friends from home, some many times (sorry to those I didn't see, I will try at Christmas!).
So it came down to the last night before returning to my alma mater, good old Oxford U. I had take-away Indian food with my parents, which was satisfying but a challenge to my stomach! Then I went out with Claire, to meet Dav in The Eagle Vaults in town for a last night out.
During the night out, I managed to spend a grand total of 50p. This is how:
As Claire and I entered I went up to get us drinks and met Matt at the bar. I stood behind him talking to him, ready to take his place when he moved. While he was being served another man slipped in next to him, looking to order. I took Matt's position and tried to catch the eye of the barman. However, the man now behind me, realising that I was looking to get served, started mouthing off at me, accusing me of pushing into the queue when he had been there '10 minutes'. I tried to ignore it but the guy was large and threatening, even when someone behind the bar told him to calm down. To prevent trouble I let him order first, thinking perhaps he had done it just to make sure he got his drinks in first.
Then something strange happened. Once he had ordered he apologised to me, apparently genuinely sorry for his behaviour. I told him it was alright but once he got his drinks, before moving off he handed me a £5, telling me that it was his apology. I cautiously accepted it and he went off. Bizarre. So, I got the round with the note, which came to £3.50 for the two of us. Claire reckoned he must have been on something. I don't know. If anything, I reckon he was just on alcohol and had a short fuse.
The upshot was that I spent much of the night in possession of an extra £1.50. Dav arrived and got himself a whisky. Later Claire drove home and Dav and I went to the Palace, Witney's temple to all that is cheesy. When there I met Emma Pilchard, who I hadn't seen since Year 11 Latin! Anyway, I ended up getting another ridiculously cheap round for me and Dav which cost £2, and we went home not long after. Therefore overall I was only down 50p, a good way to end a reasonably expensive holiday.
Now I'm back at uni, and I really need to study if I want to get a half-decent mark on my Collection (mock exam)...
So it came down to the last night before returning to my alma mater, good old Oxford U. I had take-away Indian food with my parents, which was satisfying but a challenge to my stomach! Then I went out with Claire, to meet Dav in The Eagle Vaults in town for a last night out.
During the night out, I managed to spend a grand total of 50p. This is how:
As Claire and I entered I went up to get us drinks and met Matt at the bar. I stood behind him talking to him, ready to take his place when he moved. While he was being served another man slipped in next to him, looking to order. I took Matt's position and tried to catch the eye of the barman. However, the man now behind me, realising that I was looking to get served, started mouthing off at me, accusing me of pushing into the queue when he had been there '10 minutes'. I tried to ignore it but the guy was large and threatening, even when someone behind the bar told him to calm down. To prevent trouble I let him order first, thinking perhaps he had done it just to make sure he got his drinks in first.
Then something strange happened. Once he had ordered he apologised to me, apparently genuinely sorry for his behaviour. I told him it was alright but once he got his drinks, before moving off he handed me a £5, telling me that it was his apology. I cautiously accepted it and he went off. Bizarre. So, I got the round with the note, which came to £3.50 for the two of us. Claire reckoned he must have been on something. I don't know. If anything, I reckon he was just on alcohol and had a short fuse.
The upshot was that I spent much of the night in possession of an extra £1.50. Dav arrived and got himself a whisky. Later Claire drove home and Dav and I went to the Palace, Witney's temple to all that is cheesy. When there I met Emma Pilchard, who I hadn't seen since Year 11 Latin! Anyway, I ended up getting another ridiculously cheap round for me and Dav which cost £2, and we went home not long after. Therefore overall I was only down 50p, a good way to end a reasonably expensive holiday.
Now I'm back at uni, and I really need to study if I want to get a half-decent mark on my Collection (mock exam)...
Monday, September 26, 2005
Dav's Party
Well Thursday was quite a day...
Firstly there was the punting where Dav managed to climb over a bridge as the punt went under. The first time it was fine, but the second time there were...complications.
(I hope to link to the video if it goes up!)
Then there was the par-tay, billed as the event of the Summer (which was probably true!). It was Dav's 21st, and he had mates from my year and the year above at school, from the leisure centre where he sometimes works, from Nottingham University and from other sources no doubt. He had booked out Baby Love Bar at Oxford (nice place, but somewhat 'spensive, people!) from 7:00pm to 2:00am, on the condition that £1000 cross the bar that night. Now come on, do they really get close to that on a normal night?? Anyway, to get us started Dav had put £200 on a tab for us to take advantage of. Personally I would have put it as the *last* £200, not the first, so people had to pay in order to get to the free stuff. But whatever.
Well not all the events which took place that night are reportable, like admissions of illegality which might get people in trouble (and no Grum, for once I'm not talking about you :-P ). Still, there was more than enough to comment on:
* Shafter (Andy) had his hair in a pony tail. OMG. The Art Student side of him is taking over. I worry terribly for what will happen to him at university, without the relative normality of people here like me, Abi, Ming, Dav, Smo, Matt... Uh, relative normality? Actually forget it, if the pony tail is the strangest thing that happens to him, he will have got out lightly!
* The pole dancing. This started quite early, and for a long time was sadly male-only. Even your resident blogger himself had a turn. Dav certainly did, as did Ming, Matt, and plenty of others. Dav and Matt did male-male pole dancing, as did Dav and his mate Rich, apparently. Oh, and as the night went on and the alcohol flowed, more women took to the pole. What that says about the genders, I don't quite know...
* Dav got drunk. Not really a shocker, but definitely one to be mentioned. It was kind of the theme of the evening, especially as he told us going in that he fully aimed to end up smashed. Oh, did he succeed... I reckon he was properly gone by 11. He managed to get outside to throw up, and then was kept upright by a number of us, and prevented (for at least some time) from re-entering. That was how the following dialogue arose:
Dav: Let me back in to my club!
Ian: It's not your club, Dav. You just hired it.
Dav: I...paid for it! I even paid for...the bouncers!
Ian: There's only one bouncer, Dav.
Pete: It probably looks to him like there's two by now.
Ian: He can probably see eight, I'll bet.
Dav: Yeah, I've got an army of bouncers! (Weakly attempts to sing the Imperial March from Star Wars)
He needed two people to carry him about most of the time. I bet he wished his mum and gran weren't there, although his mum at least told me that she was going to turn a blind eye to his antics of that night - definitely a good thing. He still managed to get back into the bar occasionally, apparently on the promise that he would not drink more. Yes, because that will happen. Anyway, at least Vish made sure he had water, and I got him an orange juice which I allowed him to assume had alcohol in.
* Matt blew two party blowers with his nostrils. Word.
* Smo arrived and got them doing tequila stuntmen. This is where you snort up some salt, take a shot of tequila then squeeze a lemon into your eye. He did two, and Dav and others did one. The only really worrying thing about this was that Smo then drove people home at the end. To be fair it was about three hours later and to his credit they were all fine. Still, it did get me slightly worried.
*Foxy smoked. I know Abi's sick of hearing this, but it really was a shocker. He apparently smokes when drunk. Well, I knew that Smo smokes when he wants to get drunk as it thins the blood and so makes it quicker and cheaper. Still, this was something quite different. He also offered it around. Jimmy took a few puffs, but it was refused by me, Ming, Andy and Matt.
* The dancing was wonderfully cheesy after 10, when the DJ arrived. All the classics were pumped out, and I was happy to join Dav and others in appreciating them. When Ghostbusters came on, Dav, Jimmy and I celebrated, (recalling how the three of us came into school on the last day dressed as Ghostbusters, in Dav's mum's car which had been fitted out as the Ghostbustermobile). Dav and Andy attempted to remember the Men In Black dance routine Dav had created for the school variety show (and Dav still did better, despite being significantly drunker). The Macarena made an appearance, along with the approriate dance, as did The Timewarp. Classic.
* A rather drunken Jimmy talked to Abi. After mistaking her for Sarah (my ex-girlfriend) he then randomly started telling her about Shelley and other things. On the positive side, he seems to like Abi, although there may have been more drink talking than Jim!
* I only heard about this later, thanks to the school forum, but we did get this gem from Smo, talking to Grum about sex (what else?):
Smo: Does she take it up the wrong-un?
Grum: It's not something I would wanna do; it seems a bit gay.
Smo: No her putting on a strap-on and giving YOU one up the gary would be too gay.
For added effect, the music cut out for just the last few words of Smo's line, leaving people staring at him, confused and a little worried.
* Andy and I managed to get into a mock fight about something. It had something to do with him jabbing Abi for something (probably camera-related). I jumped on his back and he swung me about quite a bit.
* By the end, the only ones I noticed as really drunk were Dav (getting the prize for drunkest, by far), Jimmy (who had trouble with words) and Foxy (who by contrast turned into Mr. Suave). Grum and Ming were surprisingly sober, given the amount they had drunk. Smo was sober by necessity. All the girls managed to stay pretty sensible (although given the male : female ratio, this was less surprising!).
* When I changed from punting, I left my casual shirt, shoes and fleece in a plastic bag which ended up in Dav's mum's car. Unfortunately the food was then packed into it at the end of the night so I couldn't get to it when it was time to go home. Result: I went to Abi's house in London from Fri - Sun wearing for the most part an old pair of white trainers!
* And as far as I can tell, we were still £300 short by the end of the night...
Well, it was quite a party. If there's anything I have forgotten, please remind me and I will probably add it in at an appropriate point. Cheers all!
Firstly there was the punting where Dav managed to climb over a bridge as the punt went under. The first time it was fine, but the second time there were...complications.
(I hope to link to the video if it goes up!)
Then there was the par-tay, billed as the event of the Summer (which was probably true!). It was Dav's 21st, and he had mates from my year and the year above at school, from the leisure centre where he sometimes works, from Nottingham University and from other sources no doubt. He had booked out Baby Love Bar at Oxford (nice place, but somewhat 'spensive, people!) from 7:00pm to 2:00am, on the condition that £1000 cross the bar that night. Now come on, do they really get close to that on a normal night?? Anyway, to get us started Dav had put £200 on a tab for us to take advantage of. Personally I would have put it as the *last* £200, not the first, so people had to pay in order to get to the free stuff. But whatever.
Well not all the events which took place that night are reportable, like admissions of illegality which might get people in trouble (and no Grum, for once I'm not talking about you :-P ). Still, there was more than enough to comment on:
* Shafter (Andy) had his hair in a pony tail. OMG. The Art Student side of him is taking over. I worry terribly for what will happen to him at university, without the relative normality of people here like me, Abi, Ming, Dav, Smo, Matt... Uh, relative normality? Actually forget it, if the pony tail is the strangest thing that happens to him, he will have got out lightly!
* The pole dancing. This started quite early, and for a long time was sadly male-only. Even your resident blogger himself had a turn. Dav certainly did, as did Ming, Matt, and plenty of others. Dav and Matt did male-male pole dancing, as did Dav and his mate Rich, apparently. Oh, and as the night went on and the alcohol flowed, more women took to the pole. What that says about the genders, I don't quite know...
* Dav got drunk. Not really a shocker, but definitely one to be mentioned. It was kind of the theme of the evening, especially as he told us going in that he fully aimed to end up smashed. Oh, did he succeed... I reckon he was properly gone by 11. He managed to get outside to throw up, and then was kept upright by a number of us, and prevented (for at least some time) from re-entering. That was how the following dialogue arose:
Dav: Let me back in to my club!
Ian: It's not your club, Dav. You just hired it.
Dav: I...paid for it! I even paid for...the bouncers!
Ian: There's only one bouncer, Dav.
Pete: It probably looks to him like there's two by now.
Ian: He can probably see eight, I'll bet.
Dav: Yeah, I've got an army of bouncers! (Weakly attempts to sing the Imperial March from Star Wars)
He needed two people to carry him about most of the time. I bet he wished his mum and gran weren't there, although his mum at least told me that she was going to turn a blind eye to his antics of that night - definitely a good thing. He still managed to get back into the bar occasionally, apparently on the promise that he would not drink more. Yes, because that will happen. Anyway, at least Vish made sure he had water, and I got him an orange juice which I allowed him to assume had alcohol in.
* Matt blew two party blowers with his nostrils. Word.
* Smo arrived and got them doing tequila stuntmen. This is where you snort up some salt, take a shot of tequila then squeeze a lemon into your eye. He did two, and Dav and others did one. The only really worrying thing about this was that Smo then drove people home at the end. To be fair it was about three hours later and to his credit they were all fine. Still, it did get me slightly worried.
*Foxy smoked. I know Abi's sick of hearing this, but it really was a shocker. He apparently smokes when drunk. Well, I knew that Smo smokes when he wants to get drunk as it thins the blood and so makes it quicker and cheaper. Still, this was something quite different. He also offered it around. Jimmy took a few puffs, but it was refused by me, Ming, Andy and Matt.
* The dancing was wonderfully cheesy after 10, when the DJ arrived. All the classics were pumped out, and I was happy to join Dav and others in appreciating them. When Ghostbusters came on, Dav, Jimmy and I celebrated, (recalling how the three of us came into school on the last day dressed as Ghostbusters, in Dav's mum's car which had been fitted out as the Ghostbustermobile). Dav and Andy attempted to remember the Men In Black dance routine Dav had created for the school variety show (and Dav still did better, despite being significantly drunker). The Macarena made an appearance, along with the approriate dance, as did The Timewarp. Classic.
* A rather drunken Jimmy talked to Abi. After mistaking her for Sarah (my ex-girlfriend) he then randomly started telling her about Shelley and other things. On the positive side, he seems to like Abi, although there may have been more drink talking than Jim!
* I only heard about this later, thanks to the school forum, but we did get this gem from Smo, talking to Grum about sex (what else?):
Smo: Does she take it up the wrong-un?
Grum: It's not something I would wanna do; it seems a bit gay.
Smo: No her putting on a strap-on and giving YOU one up the gary would be too gay.
For added effect, the music cut out for just the last few words of Smo's line, leaving people staring at him, confused and a little worried.
* Andy and I managed to get into a mock fight about something. It had something to do with him jabbing Abi for something (probably camera-related). I jumped on his back and he swung me about quite a bit.
* By the end, the only ones I noticed as really drunk were Dav (getting the prize for drunkest, by far), Jimmy (who had trouble with words) and Foxy (who by contrast turned into Mr. Suave). Grum and Ming were surprisingly sober, given the amount they had drunk. Smo was sober by necessity. All the girls managed to stay pretty sensible (although given the male : female ratio, this was less surprising!).
* When I changed from punting, I left my casual shirt, shoes and fleece in a plastic bag which ended up in Dav's mum's car. Unfortunately the food was then packed into it at the end of the night so I couldn't get to it when it was time to go home. Result: I went to Abi's house in London from Fri - Sun wearing for the most part an old pair of white trainers!
* And as far as I can tell, we were still £300 short by the end of the night...
Well, it was quite a party. If there's anything I have forgotten, please remind me and I will probably add it in at an appropriate point. Cheers all!
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Yaaaargh! Ahoy Mateys!
Yes, I've been sailing for the past few days with Abi, Andy, Gwen and Gwen's grandad. And yes, I did on occasion utter somewhat piratical phrases. That was me getting into the spirit. Ahem.
Of course, we were not engaged in actual piracy. Nor, for the most part, actual sailing. Due to an unfortunate lack of wind we only really managed to use the sails once, and on that day the weather was so extreme that we only stayed out for a relatively short while before heading back to our berth.
While we didn't *crash* the boat per se, there was an incident with a lock. We entered while there was still a great deal of turbulence and ended up at the mercy of the swirling waters. That meant that the back of the boat smashed (see, not crashed...) into the side of the lock, snapping a wooden board holding a motor (for the dinghy) in place. Nothing too drastic, although it was rather embarrassing hopelessly swirling around with the lock master shouting at us to get tied up!
So I'm back, and ready to start updating again. Yaaaargh!
Of course, we were not engaged in actual piracy. Nor, for the most part, actual sailing. Due to an unfortunate lack of wind we only really managed to use the sails once, and on that day the weather was so extreme that we only stayed out for a relatively short while before heading back to our berth.
While we didn't *crash* the boat per se, there was an incident with a lock. We entered while there was still a great deal of turbulence and ended up at the mercy of the swirling waters. That meant that the back of the boat smashed (see, not crashed...) into the side of the lock, snapping a wooden board holding a motor (for the dinghy) in place. Nothing too drastic, although it was rather embarrassing hopelessly swirling around with the lock master shouting at us to get tied up!
So I'm back, and ready to start updating again. Yaaaargh!
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Temporary Work
Well, I didn't guarantee the satire would be brilliant, did I? Meh, if people liked it, feel free to comment. In fact, always feel free to comment.
Just wanted to put down my thoughts about the jobs I have done so far. It is not an incredible list. I have been unable to find proper jobs, and prefer flexibility anyway. Therefore, I do temp work. I've just finished it for this Summer, so here is my CV so far:
Last Summer:
Helped a cartographer map out levels in an old car park - 1 day.
Making / sorting packaging for computer games - 1 day.
Washed up and served in a company canteen - 4 days.
This Summer:
Picked out bad eggs and packed boxes at egg factory - 3 days.
Removed labels from plastic safety devices - 4 days.
So what's to learn from this? Well, firstly, that manual labour can be the pits. The absolute worst was the packaging computer games. Like a fool, I heard "You will be working with computer games" and thought "Ooh, I like them! It'll be fun!" Rookie mistake. After that, it was the egg factory. The stress of preventing the conveyor belts from building up a backlog, spewing eggs all over the floor was actually pretty acute.
But do you know the big difference which made these bad and made the de-labelling reasonably pleasant? In the latter I got a chair. I got to sit down rather than stand up all day. That's definitely worth something. Sitting down to work is wonderful. It gives me another reason to get my degree and get lawyering. Yes I'll be standing up in court, but for a lot of the time I'll be *sitting at my desk*! Excellent!
The other thing that caught my imagination was the job title I got for this latest job. Labelling Assistant. Hmm. Got me wondering whether it would look good on my actual CV. I mean, think about it. I get to put on my CV "Temporary Work:" and then describe the jobs I did. Nice titles like that aren't such a bad way to go. So, let's think about the others, shall we?
Temporary Work:
Cartographer's Assistant [Nice and simple.]
Packing Assistant
Kitchen Assistant
Quality Control Assistant [Bling! Just for removing bad eggs...]
Labelling Assistant
You see? Of course I'm an assistant in each, since it's temp work, but it looks much better than the original list I made, doesn't it? That's using your head...
Just wanted to put down my thoughts about the jobs I have done so far. It is not an incredible list. I have been unable to find proper jobs, and prefer flexibility anyway. Therefore, I do temp work. I've just finished it for this Summer, so here is my CV so far:
Last Summer:
Helped a cartographer map out levels in an old car park - 1 day.
Making / sorting packaging for computer games - 1 day.
Washed up and served in a company canteen - 4 days.
This Summer:
Picked out bad eggs and packed boxes at egg factory - 3 days.
Removed labels from plastic safety devices - 4 days.
So what's to learn from this? Well, firstly, that manual labour can be the pits. The absolute worst was the packaging computer games. Like a fool, I heard "You will be working with computer games" and thought "Ooh, I like them! It'll be fun!" Rookie mistake. After that, it was the egg factory. The stress of preventing the conveyor belts from building up a backlog, spewing eggs all over the floor was actually pretty acute.
But do you know the big difference which made these bad and made the de-labelling reasonably pleasant? In the latter I got a chair. I got to sit down rather than stand up all day. That's definitely worth something. Sitting down to work is wonderful. It gives me another reason to get my degree and get lawyering. Yes I'll be standing up in court, but for a lot of the time I'll be *sitting at my desk*! Excellent!
The other thing that caught my imagination was the job title I got for this latest job. Labelling Assistant. Hmm. Got me wondering whether it would look good on my actual CV. I mean, think about it. I get to put on my CV "Temporary Work:" and then describe the jobs I did. Nice titles like that aren't such a bad way to go. So, let's think about the others, shall we?
Temporary Work:
Cartographer's Assistant [Nice and simple.]
Packing Assistant
Kitchen Assistant
Quality Control Assistant [Bling! Just for removing bad eggs...]
Labelling Assistant
You see? Of course I'm an assistant in each, since it's temp work, but it looks much better than the original list I made, doesn't it? That's using your head...
A Little About Me
So here's about me, which is pretty pointless since I doubt many people will come here who don't know me already...
Okay, so my profile says I am a cynical idealist. I swing between cynical and naive. I belive that no matter an action, if at all possible someone somewhere would do it, for the right price. Or because they enjoy it. That's cynical. On the other hand I tend to be quite trusting of my friends, and I often defend the actions of public figures, putting the best possible light on it. Go figure.
I'm idealistic in that I believe that there is hope, and that while I might not be the one to make a difference in this flawed world, if enough people try then someone will manage.
I'm also an atheist, a secularist, a liberal, a Liberal Democrat, a republican (anti-monarchist, not in any way a fan of Bush) and a Law student. I could go on about any of them, and I probably will at some point. Suffice to say that that's a reasonable textbook summary of me.
I don't have many hobbies. At the moment writing is my primary hobby. I am busy writing my second novel, the second in a series of fantasy books. I wrote the first one last summer. That means that my mind has been working over the world of the stories for over a year now. I love stories. That's why I make them up. I can participate in them more wholly than when reading them or even watching them on TV or at the cinema. I can craft them and make them mine...while trying to make them interesting for others. I love it.
Another hobby I enjoy is writing satire. This was first really engaged about a year and a half ago. I was in my last year of Sixth Form, heading for my A Levels. I was taught History by the Head of History, Mr. South. He was a very unique character, and we had a strange relationship. He could irritate me incredibly, yet often kept me incredibly amused with his bizarre stories and way of being.
I was sitting around chatting with my chums when I came up with a rather random yet humorous idea - that Mr. South, or 'Southy', could secretly be a superhero saving the world from the forces of evil. And so Southman was born. My style was soon set: Scripts written as if for a play, satirising numerous and sometimes random targets. I ended up writing seven episodes of Southman, warmly received by the friends to whom I showed them.
The next big project after that took many many months. Having started university that summer, I began to work on a satire of my college, Hertford, and some of the legendary characters in its ranks. I made it as a parody of The Matrix, using a script of the film to get the dialogue right. It was called...The Matriculatrix. However, due somewhat to laziness and other factors, I didn't finish it at Christmas, nor at Easter. Nope, it was only this Summer that I finished it, and I'm awaiting more feedback...
Yeah, it's not particularly interesting to read about the satire I've done. So just for you, I'm going to put one of my smaller (and more random) works in the next post. You lucky things...
Okay, so my profile says I am a cynical idealist. I swing between cynical and naive. I belive that no matter an action, if at all possible someone somewhere would do it, for the right price. Or because they enjoy it. That's cynical. On the other hand I tend to be quite trusting of my friends, and I often defend the actions of public figures, putting the best possible light on it. Go figure.
I'm idealistic in that I believe that there is hope, and that while I might not be the one to make a difference in this flawed world, if enough people try then someone will manage.
I'm also an atheist, a secularist, a liberal, a Liberal Democrat, a republican (anti-monarchist, not in any way a fan of Bush) and a Law student. I could go on about any of them, and I probably will at some point. Suffice to say that that's a reasonable textbook summary of me.
I don't have many hobbies. At the moment writing is my primary hobby. I am busy writing my second novel, the second in a series of fantasy books. I wrote the first one last summer. That means that my mind has been working over the world of the stories for over a year now. I love stories. That's why I make them up. I can participate in them more wholly than when reading them or even watching them on TV or at the cinema. I can craft them and make them mine...while trying to make them interesting for others. I love it.
Another hobby I enjoy is writing satire. This was first really engaged about a year and a half ago. I was in my last year of Sixth Form, heading for my A Levels. I was taught History by the Head of History, Mr. South. He was a very unique character, and we had a strange relationship. He could irritate me incredibly, yet often kept me incredibly amused with his bizarre stories and way of being.
I was sitting around chatting with my chums when I came up with a rather random yet humorous idea - that Mr. South, or 'Southy', could secretly be a superhero saving the world from the forces of evil. And so Southman was born. My style was soon set: Scripts written as if for a play, satirising numerous and sometimes random targets. I ended up writing seven episodes of Southman, warmly received by the friends to whom I showed them.
The next big project after that took many many months. Having started university that summer, I began to work on a satire of my college, Hertford, and some of the legendary characters in its ranks. I made it as a parody of The Matrix, using a script of the film to get the dialogue right. It was called...The Matriculatrix. However, due somewhat to laziness and other factors, I didn't finish it at Christmas, nor at Easter. Nope, it was only this Summer that I finished it, and I'm awaiting more feedback...
Yeah, it's not particularly interesting to read about the satire I've done. So just for you, I'm going to put one of my smaller (and more random) works in the next post. You lucky things...
First Post
So, I started off blogging in an enthusiasm to get down all my exciting philosophical ideas. I managed to bemuse some people and completely failed to keep it going. But I like having some kind of public forum to say random things. Hence starting a new blog. Rather than attempting to be profound, its purpose will just change with what I want to say. Sometimes I want to be funny. Humour me. Other times I will want to be random or just reflective.
Ah well, let's go with it and see if this blog fades into the background like my last one!
Ah well, let's go with it and see if this blog fades into the background like my last one!
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