http://www.pottermore.com/
Got myself sorted and a wand and everything. It's a little bit exciting. My wand is Cherry (info), 13 3/4, unicorn core and quite bendy. As for sorting.. I was a Hatstall! I know I'm sad but I found this all to be very exciting. I was given the choice between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and went for the former. I don't know how common this is on the site; in the books it's meant to be rare though. I was a bit unsure when deciding but figured it only fits that my Pottermore account should be the same as the banner that I have in my room...
Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.
Squeeeeeeeeee
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
geeky - What I'm hearing:Fanfarlo- Luna
While I’m settling into things quite nicely now (had a keen day in the hospital today which was fun), I didn’t get off to a great start as far as productivity is concerned. The first week on placement coincided with pantomime, so was a bit of a write-off. But my evenings were very fun! The last time I’d performed or anything like that was at the tender age of 7, when I was a toy drummer boy in the school play, and had to stay really still because an evil witch had frozen all the toys. Not quite an Oscar-winning role, so I wasn’t sure what it would be like to be in a pantomime.
As it turns out, it was great fun. I was one of the two narrators, so was the first person to speak (opening the entire pantomime was a bit of a daunting thought, but enjoyed the experience) and popped up a few times throughout. I was also a chorus member for a few songs and was also in the singing troupe at one point, which much to my horror I discovered involved reading sheet music, but it turned out alright in the end.
There’s a great buzz of performing as it turns out, the energy before a show and the joy once the curtain falls down at the end and everyone’s delighted with the knowledge that We Just Pulled It Off. The whole thing was quite elaborate, with very clever plotlines and jokes (often medic themed, but expertly crafted twists on Harry Potter themes) and a collection of songs, dances and costumes entirely created by people who are simultaneously doing a medical degree. So the fact that it all came together so brilliantly was really impressive, and a real credit to the people involved in making it all happen.
As the weather gets colder, wetter and windier, and as the last leaf falls, we’re reminded of the season ahead of us. But I’m also getting excited about the thing that gets you through winter: Christmas! It’s less than a month away now, which is definitely an excuse to get keen. In Cambridge, undergraduates finish term this week, and so this is really the time that people celebrate Christmas. We went to Christmas formal on Saturday, which was great fun. I brought my red tie, white shirt, red braces (yes) and Santa hat. I was ready and keen to get my drink on and sing some carols. Which is exactly what I did! And a great night was had by all.
I’ve also got my advent calendar ready and a few friends and I are planning a Christmas dinner! The plan is to have turkey, ham, and all the trimmings, and follow it up with some games and a Christmas movie marathon. It’s gonna be a good day. We put the tree and decorations up in the house at the weekend, but seeing as I’m in Bedford a lot nowadays I don’t get to behold it as often as I’d like. Nevertheless, I am EXCITED. Really looking forward to getting home too, especially because it’s been so long since I’ve been back and also because last year I (along with a bunch of my friends) got ill and actually missed Christmas day, spending the day in bed hallucinating. Fun as that was, I’d quite like to have a more traditional Christmas this year.
On that note I best head out: a bunch of the medics are meeting up to see the Christmas lights being turned on in Bedford! Apparently there are reindeer. I may get a little bit over excited and perhaps a little bit wet myself. Then it’s out to an all you can eat Chinese restaurant, which also has the same pee-warning.
Happy holidays folks
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
excited - What I'm hearing:Sufjan Stevens- Impossible Soul
So this year I went to one of the biggest music festivals in the world: Glastonbury. I found out when I was there that the festival site was the size of Bath. Jenkies. I went with eight of my friends, all from Trinity apart from one of Wigglytuff's friends from home who I've met a few times. We'd come up with the name Rees' Pieces for our entourage (with a FLAG) from the Master of Trinity and the confectionary item, while our 12-man tent was called the O2. After spending a hefty amount of money buying all of my camping supplies from scratch, I was psyched and ready to go.
Admittedly I wasn't always keen, though. When my friends had pitched the idea of going to me earlier in the year I wasn't terribly smitten with the idea. My first thought was sure, there will be lots of great bands, but think of the mud and the effort and the annoying drunk people and the mud and the heavy rucksack which my back was never meant to carry and the mud and the travel logistics and the fact that I could be spending grad week nice and warm in my bed. And of course the mud. Nevertheless, they convinced me that it'd be fun so I went ahead and got myself a ticket.
Arriving a day later than most other people, I was greeted with a booklet which I not once got round to reading, a map which I could neither make heads nor tails of, a psychedelic wristband and more mud than I'd ever seen in my life. Mud that tried to not only eat my wellies but also my entire leg. The friends that were already there were pretty drunk, and so getting directions over the phone as we trudged for a mile or two was rage-inducing. Eventually, however, we arrived at the O2 and found smiling, happy people sat around a scented candle (in that it didn't smell of mud) and all our worries melted away. Rucksacks dumped, we got to catching up and eventually headed out to Shangri-La, the utopian party-land area. Truth be told, I remember very little about this point. Apparently, we never made it there. Apparently Wigglytuff came out in flip flops, saw the mud, ran back to get his wellies and wasn't seen again until the morning. Apparently I spent a large portion of my time with HBIC and Hipster Girl supporting an arm each while my head rested on the back of a stranger walking in front of me. The only bit I do remember was HBIC buying me a burger with my own money. All in all.. It might have been fun.
The next day the music started. The cheap guy in me had gotten it into his head that in order to make the ticket price of near £200 worth it, I had to see as many bands as physically possible. So the cheap guy in me gave the Monica Geller in me a call and I got my game face on. The first day was wet, the second day was cloudy/sunny and the third day was baking. But I got through quite a few bands in my time there. IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER I saw:
- The Naked and Famous (was really excited about them but technical difficulties/a few flat moments slightly marred it)
- Emmy The Great (had to basically be thrown off the stage she was having such fun)
- Guillemots (set #1, were brilliant)
- Bright Eyes (didn't think I'd ever get to see them, good set, got my exam results during so was in a good mood)
- Radiohead (wasn't too fussed admittedly)
- Mumford & Sons (band has really grown, held the crowd captivated)
- U2 (wasn't impressed- had the feeling they were just riding the hit train, that if you gave any band that amount of money they'd put on a show as good as/probably better than theirs)
- Stornoway (first band on Saturday morning. From Oxford, brilliant, get to know them)
- Tame Impala (crap white noise. Boring)
- The Gaslight Anthem (HBIC and Tri's highlight, were great)
- Anna Calvi (fantastic woman, very seductive/domineering show- opened with a guitar solo that was basically a metaphor for sex)
- Vinyl Jacket (friends of a guy in uni, on the BBC Introducing stage, really impressive- look out for)
- Wolf Gang (in a socialist tent, following a brief hello from the owner of the farm. Amazing set, one of my favourites)
- Friendly Fires (setting sun, huge crowd dancing like their lives depended on it, luau dancers for Hawaiian Air- my favourite set of the festival. Phenomenal)
- Newton Faulkner (worked the crowd expertly, spilling out of a large tent. Ended on a fantastic cover of Bohemian Rhapsody)
- Guillemots (set #2 and Wow. Acoustic set, playing songs they don't normally do. INCLUDING REDWINGS. Stoned guy in front of me made it even more entertaining)
- Wild Beasts (not what I was expecting, despite having seen them before. Enjoyed them though)
- Jamie Woon (drinking festival strength cider in the middle of a massive field with the sun baking down- was a good setting for his music)
- Laura Marling (hiding in shade by this point, but still thought she was great- new songs sounded brilliant)
- Bombay Bicycle Club (showed up too late and didn't get a good spot, but were alright)
- Metronomy (hipster central. Good show)
- Hurts (really enjoyed these guys, gothic imagery and seamless music throughout, another of my highlights)
- Beyoncé (Hell. Yes. I wasn't ready for her jelly- she gave it 3000% and put on a fantastic show. Brilliant way to finish the festival)
Labdoor
- What I'm hearing:The National- Bloodbuzz Ohio
Been a while. LiveJournal is actually different from when I last posted- wonder when that changed.
Thinking about my LJ, and my journal in general, and realised that I do actually need it.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
procrastinatore is always going on about that "Anchor for Time" idea and I've always agreed, and thought I really liked how I was able to actually know what's been going on in my life, and not feel like time was passing me by. I've done three years of uni now, and a bunch of my friends have left Cambridge. Pretty much without exception, they all talked about how fast it'd gone by. Each time I agreed with them I was lying- it's been three years and I feel like it's been three years. Time hasn't flown by because I've had this blog to keep me ticking along, as proof I've done things. Even if I only rarely go back and read it all.This summer however I've neglected it, and haven't really posted much at all; about five posts in two or three months. And I feel that time has passed me by. I think "What did I do this summer?" and it takes me a while to come up with the list of "Glasto, graduation, Dublin, Oklahoman beer pong, Wales, London, work, Forfey, birthday season" and a bunch of fun in between. Even with the list, the memories seem vague. So I realised that my anchor for time isn't just something I like, but something I need. With my memory anyway.
So I'm going to try and write more on here. Using my brand spanking new computer Cerebro! He's cooler than me. But I get more chicks than him so it evens out. I start clinicals very soon which is exciting! Literally cannot wait. I got my placement schedule yesterday which has only added fuel to the fire. My only problems are that I've neither packed nor revised any of the material I told myself I would look at before starting. TV, computer and Xbox are getting in the way of my non-socialising time. Fingers crossed I won't be the only stupid one there.
Oh and I'm reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Part 1 seems to have basically just been a really long and complicated way of hiding the plot from you. So haven't really gotten into it yet. Continuing on in faith of
intheminding, as she Stans for it. Should be able to get it finished before the movie comes out.I'm gonna post about Glastonbury now. Again I can't remember a huge amount so it may be a list-like entry. SO THERE.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
relaxed - What I'm hearing:The National- Exile Vilify
tessel_ate , don't look. - How I'm feeling: relaxed
- What I'm hearing:Meerket Manor
Still, a good song to dance around to.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
cheerful - What I'm hearing:Lavender Diamond- Open Your Heart
I am ALMOST DONE. Only two more exams to go, come Tuesday afternoon I will be free and ready to graduate. This last day of library slog could not come soon enough. Most of my friends are now finished, there's a group of about five of us that are still going, and it's not exactly a huge barrel of laughs. I'm still having fun, mind, although probably should not be. Yesterday, two days before my exam, I jumped at the chance of going to a garden party (having also been to another the day before) and not only that but decided to also get drunk.
And I had a great time! The spread they put on was fantastic: free pimms, wine, apple juice, orange juice, salmony thingies, canapés, posh jelly, those french tart things that I love, and get this- lavender flavoured ice cream. You hear me- lavender. I thought it might be weird but it was amazing. Remember being a kid and wanting to taste potpourri, only to discover it's disgusting? Well imagine doing that only with it ending well. Aw man.
The garden party was thrown by the Dean of college, and it was mainly adults there, however somehow a lot of my friends (myself included) manage to all chance their arms into getting an invitation, so there were lots of my friends there. Which only added to the joy, it was really great fun!
I should end this with "but then sadly, it was time for the fun to be over and I headed back to the library". But no. Instead, I went back to our room and we watched Zombieland. The wife and I are a little bit obsessed with the prospect of a zombie invasion, and have made numerous contingency plans, working out how to get to each of the people we need on our team of 5 for survival (5 being optimum as any more and you can't fit in a car), and so this film was actually like Our Main Thing. It's about a guy who's been surviving because of the neurotic rules he makes up for himself to stay alive, and is very funny and clever throughout.
We watched it with Clarence, Plato and Wigglytuff, and after it was over we discussed What We Had Learnt (but still failed to agree on the best place in college to form a temporary base) and then watched about a million Disney songs on YouTube. It was great! But seeing as yesterday evening was a complete write-off and I'm here blogging instead of working, I'm now toying with the distinct possibility of these next exams going horribly.
Awesome!
In other news, this is my 299th blog. My 300th may be a drunken mess of typing, and so I figured I might do a bit of nostalgia now. I've really enjoyed writing here over the past three years, I think it's been a great practise in chronicling my life, and allowed my friends to keep track of my life, and vice versa (that is, when any of us actually post). So cheers tessel_ate for coming up with the idea, hopefully in another three years time I'll be writing my 599th entry, freaking out about my finals.
Anyway, I thought I'd insert my very first entry into this, written at the tender age of 17. Aww.
Hello LiveJournal, and welcome to my first post
I finished school yesterday, and as some people say, as one door closes, a window opens. This here is my window. For the next month I have exams, so I won't be properly posting until June, but at that time I hopefully will go berserk. Anyway I'll take this opportunity to give you a little bit of information about myself
1. I'm going to study Medicine at university
2. I have blue eyes
3. I speak french
4. I like green
5. I dislike arrogance
6. I am hungry
I decided to start a LiveJournal because one of my friends approached me with the idea of a few of us doing it, and I thought it sounded better than revision, so here I am. Expect generic blogging, sparks of creativity, and lots of spelling mistakes. It's gonna be fun.
Labdoor
All in all I don't think it's been too bad! My spelling hasn't been abysmal, and sometimes I even got comments! What more could a guy ask for. I really ought to get back to work now though, I'll see you on the other side with a pint in one hand and a grin on my face.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
content - What I'm hearing:Maroon 5- Sunday Morning
Your life is your life, gotta live like it's your life
And it feels like new life can start
And it feels like heaven
- How I'm feeling: excited
- What I'm hearing:Noah And The Whale- Life is Life
I love the excitement when a new album is coming out. I recommend I Don't Feel Amazing Now. Can't listen to it a huge amount right now though because I need to spam myself with Josh Ritter for Wednesday- so excited, should be a great gig. Tried to see him a bunch of times and failed miserably so glad to finally be going.
Have nice days.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: happy
- What I'm hearing:Guillemots- I Don't Feel Amazing Now
When designer Mike Thomspon asked himself, “What if power came at a cost to the individual?” he ended up creating the blood lamp as a statement on energy conservation. This single-use lamp requires a drop of blood to be activated — a personal sacrifice that will really make you think twice before turning on the lights. The lamp’s secret ingredient is luminol, the chemical forensic scientists use to check for blood, which glows blue when it reacts with the iron in red blood cells.
Am tempted to get when I'm rich and make my house the biggest emo pit in the world.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: cheerful
- What I'm hearing:Julian Casablancas- 4 Chords of the Apocalypse
Bam.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: optimistic
- What I'm hearing:Fyfe Dangerfield- She's Always a Woman
I treated this invitation as I treat all opportunities to gain insight into rarely-glimpsed aspects of Cambridge life: with intense excitement. Any chance to rub up with the fellows, get fine wine and amazing food for free is freely accepted by this guy. However, I did have some apprehensions. I had spoken to a friend who went last year and she had been placed in between two fellows, one of whom was deaf and so extremely limited in conversation, the other of whom fell asleep halfway through the dinner. Naturally, then, I was a little afraid of this happening to me, as in my sleep-deprived state my small-talk skills weren't exactly at their peak.
Fortunately, this was not to be the case for me. I was placed in a student-heavy section of the table next to two of my friends (after slight name card swapping) and opposite a young researcher from America who was really great craic, coming out with jokes and generally being good fun. I really appreciated the food, and have thieved a menu as a keepsake from the night. I didn't get too drunk, but certainly took advantage of the amazing dessert wine and the port that was older than I am.
Following the choir's performance from the stand of Teddy Bears' Picnic (yes, really) there were a few speeches and toasts. Sadly I'd run out of port when the toast to the Queen was made. A rather lengthy speech described the fortune of the college and recent successes by both students and researchers, which was interesting and funny, but I was so tired that I found myself drifting off a bit. Once it was finished, he mentioned the after-dinner drinks in the bar for the students, but also the plan for the fellows: to retire to the Master's lodge. He decided the night was still young, and so extended this invitation to the students. This woke me up alright. I stole a few truffles in the hope of sugar waking me up, and headed on up to the lodge to look fancy. I was too busy talking to people (stealing friends) and trying to sit down on expensive-looking seats to take advantage of the free wine/juice/whiskey, but still had a very splendi time pretending to be posh.
The room started to thin out, and so I took my leave and walked down the oak spiral staircase. It was then that three of us spotted a very open door into a very empty Hall. So we ran inside, sat down on high table, the master's chair, and generally prounced around like we owned the place. Which was, to say the least, quite a good feeling! What wasn't fun was sneaking past a fellow, tail tucked between my legs, who knew rightly what we'd just been doing. I comfort myself with the knowledge that he was once a fanboy of Cambridge too.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: relaxed
- What I'm hearing:Carly Simon- Nobody Does It Better
I reckon he'll do a good job. He probably won't troll the students quite like I do though. His loss.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
accomplished - What I'm hearing:Angus & Julia Stone- Devil's Tears
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Get-Your-Shoehor
Spent yesterday morning walking around town trying to find a pocket sized shoehorn after I lost my lucky one- turns out it's difficult, all of them only seem to have big ones. Boo hiss. I've got a load of them, don't get me wrong, it's only that they're either too big to bring around in my pocket or else I don't want to bring it out round with me if it's got a design/picture on it as I think I might ruin it. Yes I have shoehorns with pictures on them now.
Pocket sized donations welcome. Yes, I did just manage to make a blog out of this.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: happy
- What I'm hearing:Imelda May- Inside Out
I spoke to my parents last weekend about China stuff, and discovered it wasn't really financially feasible. We're living in tough times at the minute, and my parents are looking at retirement as a not-very-far-off prospect, so money is on their minds. I basically then thought that the best idea would be to apply to the college's Projects Fund, and have one last-ditched attempt at finding an organisation that allows me to teach in China. After finding plenty that weren't suitable, and plenty that were dodgy as hell, I eventually found one, put together an application for some money from the college, and handed it in. I dunno how likely it'll be that I get it, but fingers crossed as if I don't then realistically I won't be heading to China this summer..
But basically, it's nice to get this stuff all sorted because I wanted everything out of the way before tomorrow, when
dblair01, ficdep and procrastinatore hit Cambridge! Geektown Invasion Round 3- the guys must be sick of the place; I certainly know I'm sick of seeing them here. Been a bit pants with getting it organised and haven't thought of a whole load of things to do but I'm sure we'll cope. I have a few ideas, but they're all pretty much banking on the weather being good, which, for the first time in about 5 weeks, it won't be. Rage. I'm sure we'll have a grand ol' time anyway, and if they get bored they can just entertain themselves watching me squee.Also I decided today I don't believe in evil.
Aaaand that's it.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: happy
- What I'm hearing:The Beatles Symphony Orchestra- Strawberry Fields Forever
The short answer to the last few questions is that it seems like no. The downside to picking this road to go down is that the reading list is humongous, with papers and text books giving me huge amounts to read. But as I'm making my way through it I start to create a picture of them in my mind. They weren't necessarily inferior to Homo sapiens, however they definitely were different. The evidence for art, for symbolic thought, and for ritualistic burials is slim at best, and so either they weren't able to do it, or they just didn't bother. For various reasons I'm swaying a bit more towards the latter, and reckon that they probably were capable of creating things (as a few finds suggest) but it wasn't a significant part of their behaviour.
From what I gather they had particularly tough lives. Rough, very cold, conditions with not a huge amount of food. It seems like they were at least partly hunters, and good ones at that. But in Europe, at times food was particularly hard to come by. They didn't partake in storage or personal possessions, as food was so scarce that it was eaten as and when it was needed/available. They made what they needed to make, and did what they needed to do, in order to survive. There wasn't really any room for sitting by the fire and thinking about why they were here on this earth, or why the rain falls. It's not a wrong way of thinking, it's just different.
And then I realise that they went on doing this for thousands and thousands of years. They lived where our cities stand now, as did their ancestors before them and before that the place had no humans at all. Just animals. Nowadays we have created so much. We're not just living on this earth, we're changing it, moulding it so that our concept of what Earth life is like is completely different from those who came before us, and who lived for a lot longer than we have. It's quite amazing what we've done as a species, but at the same time we are so very small.
I should really get back to reading now. Tell me something about your degree that you find amazing.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
pensive - What I'm hearing:Nicola Benedetti- The Lark Ascending (Vaughan Williams)
- Parental optimism- the idea that animals/plants have more offspring than they need, with favourites and crap ones. The favourites either eat the crap ones for food, kill them, or in case they die get replaced. Lovely. Looking at it in plants/animals and then the relevance that has to humans.
- The decision that I am going to China. Been contacting organisations, and the ones that can get me there have times that don't suit me/rejections/deadlines that are passed or else won't let me know until a long time, by which point it'll be so expensive. So I'm just going to go for it, and travel around. Yet to sort out details but feel free to hop along. We'll eat xi gua, it'll be awesome.
- An obsession with Leonardo Da Vinci. Aside from the whole brilliant painter thing the guy was amazing- search for him on Wikipedia. He's one of those people that comes up with stuff before they're able to be invented, including a helicopter and a tank. Lad. I've decided that he's the person I want to meet if I could meet anyone. So I've spent the afternoon daydreaming about going back in time and meeting him. Which involves figuring out how to find him in the city of Florence and also figuring out how to actually speak to him cause I don't speak Italian and also how to befriend him so he makes me smart and teaches me the lute and also whether or not I should be all "I'm from the future, have some electricity" but then that goes down the road of what exactly the nature of my visit there is for so I have to stop.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: daydreaming
- What I'm hearing:Beirut- La Banlieue
I got a scenario kind of question, with a situation that might come up when I'm on the wards, etc. and was asked to suggest a few answers. I suggested a few, but you're always unsure about how many others you should give. If the pause at the end is because you've forgot and obvious answer or if they're looking for something else they hadn't thought of.
I also got asked to talk about anything medically-related and current, so I brought up the reforms and talked away about how I felt about it all. Then I got asked about a problem with the system and asked to come up with a solution. My thoughts at this point: crapcrapcraphowamIsupposedtoknowwhenthis
ANYWAY rant over, the point is it's done, and I should really be discussing the evidence for, and the ecological context of, the earliest human occupation of Europe. So off I go. (also thanks to everyone who wished me luck you're lovely people)
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
anxious - What I'm hearing:Laura Marling- Blackberry Stone
I've looked at some interview questions, some random stuff on the internet about different medical organisations, scraped the bucket of news stories on the NHS reforms and used up BBC News Health. I also had a mock interview on Friday which went alright, so I've kind of run out of things to do. But at the same time I don't really feel like I'm brilliantly prepared. Touch wood it won't be a trainwreck, but I still feel like I ought to do more. Grr arg.
Wigglytuff is just back. YAY I HAVE A DISTRACTION. halohalohalohalo
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
sore - What I'm hearing:Hello Saferide- Long Lost Penpal
Trying to become a bit of a shut-in for the next few days. I have an essay due in next week so have been doing some stuff for that but the main issue is my clinical school interview on Tuesday. Figure I've gotta prepare for it, so am going to read up on what all the BMA/GMC etc. are doing with themselves these days, have a look at ethics stuff and practice some answers to stereotypical interview questions. It probably won't be that bad, but it's definitely something I don't want to mess up. Also, I have a pretty busy weekend (Medsoc thing for the second years on Saturday afternoon then Hipster Girl's birthday formal that night, followed by Medsoc paintballing the next morning and then pretending to be a lawyer at a cocktail event on the Sunday). Perhaps I shouldn't have booked myself up so much but it was all stuff that I'd organised quite a bit in advance, so couldn't really help it. Figure if I start now, I can get quite a bit of headway.
Also, here's something massively disturbing. Curiosity killed the cat, and if you watch this short film it'll kill your innocence. Enjoy.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
blah - What I'm hearing:Ludovico Einaudi- Nuvole Bianche
This term so far has been, as expected, pretty darn relaxing. I've not exactly picked the most gruelling of subjects for this year, and also my timetable is incredibly sweet for this term (with on 6 lectures a week, resulting in a four-day weekend for the first half of the term) meaning the ratio of Halo Reach:Work is at quite a nice tilt at the minute. However as it's my final year I feel I can't completely slack off, so I do intend to buckle down at some point.
I've also had a few nice nights with my friends, some of which have been alcohol-related. Our room this year is becoming a standard place for pre-drinks/general hanging out which is a lot of fun, even if it does mean quite a bit of washing up. I've caught up with a few friends and become better friends with others, so seems like a success so far. Still, the dynamic of third year with groups becoming less open is a bit sad. But I suppose I'd rather have close friends than more of them. Wigglytuff had a friend to stay last weekend, which was good craic. I've met him once before, and he's a cool guy, so it was nice to see him again and continue my diabolical infiltration of his friends group. The unspoken arrangement is first one to be best man of the other guy's friends wins. Fail at english in that last sentence but you get the idea.
I also went to London last week to sort out some Medsoc stuff, which was good. Although slightly awkward on the train back when I tried my best to make conversation with two members of the college Alumni Relations Office but they weren't really having it. Still, it was a good meeting and we got a lot sorted. I also saw
procrastinatore and we went out for some grub in the infamous Paul's bakery. Yum. And I finally got a bit of a walkabout around Westminster, an area I've never really bothered to go. It was really cool, although a million police officers kind of blocked entrance to a few bits I'd like to go into. Student protests apparently.Next week I've got my interview for clinical school at Addenbrookes. I really hope it goes well, as I don't really fancy going anywhere else. The people who applied to Imperial have already had theirs, and spent the few days beforehand stuck in their room swotting up on the roles of the GMC/BMA etc. and looking at possible interview questions. I suppose I'll be doing the same, only I've a pretty busy weekend ahead of me so will have to figure out how to squeeze in the time.
I'm off to pick up laundry. Tune in next time for such equally exciting insights into my life.
Labdoor
Oh! P.S. New swearword- "Oh, horcrux!"
- How I'm feeling: okay
- What I'm hearing:Beirut- Mimizan
Put this on in the background. Then have that moment when you lift your head from what you're doing and you're like "... I like this"
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: away with the fairies
- What I'm hearing:Broken Social Scene- World Sick
We regret to inform you that we are unable to take your OSCA application further. We have, as expected, attracted a large number of applications and lack the physical means to interview all applicants: consequently, there are many good applicants who we are simply unable to interview.
Thanks for your interest in our project, and best wishes for the summer."
Rage.. I was really hoping to get on that...
MUST. FIND. ANOTHER. WAY. TO. GET. TO. CHINA.
Yes I know the userpic is Korean.
Labdoor
- What I'm hearing:Rilo Kiley- Spectacular Views
Also, this reminded me of you.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: happy
- What I'm hearing:Two Door Cinema Club- Something Good Can Work
- What I'm hearing:Sufjan Stevens- Get Behind Me, Santa!
ficdep is pretty much holding down the fort at the minute as far as representing Geektown on LiveJournal is concerned, so I figure I best post. Been meaning to for a while actually. Nicely enjoying my Christmas holidays so far, seeing family and friends, revelling in the beauty of the snow, helping my dad out a bit with jobs, going to a gig or two (Two Door boogieing and Oh Lowly Knights carol singing), and of course five of my uni friends came to visit for a week.When typing this I realised I never actually blogged about the last time my uni friends came to visit over the summer. Needless to say I had a great time, and hopefully won't forget it- memory been a bit variable recently.
There were five friends over this time: Bald Girl, HBIC,
intheminding, Miss Swoon and Yum. With people arriving at different times, and wanting to do different things, I had to be quite organised to try and sort out when to do certain things. We managed to actually get quite a lot packed into the time there which I was glad about, and they all seemed to like Belfast. Having seen cities like London, I was painting Belfast out to be a very small city, and told them not to expect much, but they actually all commented on how big it was, and how much there was going on.We went around the continental market a few times, walked around in the snow (and made a snowman called Jethro Pennyweather), went on a Christmas tour of Belfast Castle, showed our stuff at the roller disco (which involved summerjets being better than everyone else and me falling on my bum) and of course the bus tour. Oh, and I forced Guiness down their throats. They weren't all fans. Eejits.
I also wanted to take them up to Portstewart for a few nights, as it is such a nice place and such a nice house. We went up for the weekend, on Saturday afternoon after the godson's birthday party and stayed until Monday morning. Apart from the trip out on Sunday around various parts of the North Coast and Giant's Causeway, a considerable amount of time was actually spent in the house, for two main reasons: it was cold, and we were making DUMPLINGS. We'd bought ingredients in the chinese supermarket in Belfast and basically made a huge production line of dumplings, making a few hundred to keep our stomachs happy. The plan had been to drink and go out after- that didn't happen. Instead we just kept eating. The whole trip was such a good food week actually, with Bo Tree food, Made in Belfast mussels, continental market glory (party muffin, dutch waffles, churros, tartiflette, kangaroo burgers, the list goes on..) and I was then left with a very happy belly.
Muchly aimed at pleasing
intheminding, I had planned several things to try and make the trip a little bit Narnia-themed. We saw the film on the Monday night, as well as hunting down all things C.S. Lewis related. This involved getting sallltyleaves to act as a tour guide and bring them into the QUB Library's Narnia room, complete with a wardrobe-style door and map of Narnia on the table. And squealing any time the bus tour mentioned the author. My dad told me there was a blue plaque near our house related to him, but sadly it turned out to just be a normal sign. Fail.Unfortunately, there weren't that many opportunities for the English lot to mix with my friends back home. When they weren't stuck at home from the snow, people had work or mad amounts of uni stuff going on so we really only all got together on the Friday night at the roller disco. But to be honest I didn't really mind all that much, as it was all stuff that couldn't be helped and besides it was only a minor thing about their visit. They still got to see and do a lot of different things while they were here, and I'm still able to see my home friends a lot, so all is love.
Quick bullet point list to remind myself
- It doesn't fit round the back
- What's a Gerard Butler
- Facade is not the same as card
- Sherry vapours
- Eggy farts
- Insert metaphor here in my sleep
- Tangtastic Hide & Seek vs The 10th Cat
- Kitchen chasies
In other news my current favourite YouTube personality is fagottron. I may have posted one of their videos before, basically they do remixes from samples taken from films. Mary Poppins, A Little Princess and Up are particularly good.
Nice to know that
ficdep and procrastinatore are home- looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. tessel_ate good luck with everything, hope it all works out. My sister's in the middle of some travel-related drama, but at least she's on the right island now.Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
tired - What I'm hearing:Dean Martin- Let it Snow
I'm making an advent calendar of songs. Watch this space- or others.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: excited
- What I'm hearing:Sufjan Stevens- Star of Wonder
I went to Oxford today for the clinical school open day. Before I went, I was pretty set on Cambridge for the next three years, as I've had fun here and it's a good course/place. I was mainly going for the day trip, something to see.
But I did end up liking it, and now I'm not so sure about Cambridge. It all seemed so cool, and it in fact might be possible that I could get in. Traditionally they seem to only admit people from Cambridge with double firsts (which I don't have) but if fewer people apply from Cambridge then I'd be in with a shot.
There are however a few problems with this. I would basically be gambling my future. If I didn't get in to Oxford, I wouldn't get into Cambridge as my second choice, as they only accept candidates who put it as their first choice. So I'd end up in London, where I don't want to go. Secondly, I'm not even sure that I liked Oxford in particular. Part of me just wants a change, for the sake of it really, and it's possible that it's that part of me that's talking about how good Oxford is.
Normally with application process stuff I tend to just go for whatever, without thinking terribly hard about it. UCAS? Pah! Just go for it. Cambridge? Why not! Trinity? Yeah that sounds nice. Ooh BioAnth! Sounds interesting. So far I can honestly say that way of living has worked out for me. But I just don't want to risk this one and end up not enjoying it like I fully could. I feel like I really ought to look into the finer details of the course at Oxford vs the course at Cambridge, and see what I think of all the differences, rather than focussing on what I have been in the past: a change, the same-medics aspect of it, the (self invented) stigma of taking the easy option of staying in the same place. I need to properly take this thing seriously.
Another problem is that I don't want to end up in Cambridge thinking that I've settled and should have given Oxford a shot, just in case. I need to definitely want to go to wherever I apply, or else I don't think I'll be fully happy.
Wow I'm impressed at how coherent that's managed to be. Now for sleep.
OH! And I finally saw Up. Such an absolutely brilliant fantastic film. I love where PIxar are going these days.
But seriously, sleep.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
confused - What I'm hearing:Silhouette- Volume Destroyed
I was in London for the weekend for the wife's birthday, and I really really enjoyed it. She'd planned the group equivalent of Joey and Janice's Day Of Fun! and it worked out well. London (ie proper) clubbing was good too, even managed to stay until the end which was an hour longer due to clocks going back. Glad the whole thing worked out, and that she enjoyed herself. Asian Sensation at karaoke was fun, and green tea-flavoured chinese cake was yum.
First supervision was today, with the guy who wrote the textbook I've been trying to digest. He seemed to like my essay, in that he didn't destroy it as I'd been expecting (wasn't sure if I was on the right lines with my answer). Also social awkwardness of talking to a guy that I met two years ago randomly and not spoken since. Normally I'm the one who's all "I remember you from this time and you said this specific thing" but it was the other way round. By the time I remembered him it was too late, was already in the charade of not remembering. Seemed cool though.
Second Medsoc talk tonight. Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, basically the head honcho of autism.Was really well-attended which made me very happy. Interesting talk too, although I really need to be better at thinking of questions to ask. Justin Casey Kevin Spacey.
Meant to be writing an essay. I think I'll leave it at about 2/3 of the way through and just go to sleep. Man alive I'm tired. Night all.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: exhausted
- What I'm hearing:Rilo Kiley- All The Good That Won't Come Out
- How I'm feeling:
shocked
This while I read "A Very Short Introduction to Human Evolution"
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: contemplative
- What I'm hearing:Sufjan Stevens- Too Much
We rocked up to Derbyshire and got sorted into groups, with more experienced climbers taking the "freshers" (although ahem I'm a third year) and I ended up being partnered with a girl who lives across the hall from me. I'd been looking for an excuse to speak to her a bit more so I was quite happy with it. We scrambled up the mountains and found ourselves one to start with. Different routes are different grades of difficulty, and since the guy I was with and I were beginners we started on one that was HVD- Hard Very Difficult. Wait what.
It was actually so much fun. Like really really amazing. The feeling of grabbing onto what seems like nothing and literally climbing up a rock-face is brilliant. When you see other people do it you think they're just using ropes, falling back on them and using them as support. You're not. Ropes are there to stop you dying, not keep you up. So you really are just crawling up rocky mountains. When I was a kid I was really into climbing all over the place, whether it was using the swing to pull myself into the tree to jump onto the roof of the garden shed, clambering up the "penis gates" on my front door at the age of two, or setting up a den on top of my wardrobe that involved hanging onto the curtain rail to get up (it eventually broke). And doing this brought all that fun back to me, and made me very happy.
Before the day was out I did a few routes which were rated as VS (Very Severe) including one which had a pretty awkward overhang, so I was really proud of myself when I got to the top of that one. It does take a bit of strength, which is something I'll need to work on, but the majority of the time it's mainly your legs that you're using which was fine. Aaaaaah it was so much fun. I'm absolutely going back.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: tired
- What I'm hearing:Beirut- Elephant Gun
But at the end of the summer,
alitute asked if I'd like to come to the climbing wall back home, and it was really fun. It was challenging, enjoyable, and it didn't bother my knee. Generic positive. So I made the plan to join some kind of rock climbing society at uni once I got back. I found the Mountaineering Club and on Sunday I'm going to Derbyshire to give outdoor climbing a go. I'm looking forward to it, I'm just hoping that what they keep saying about starting from scratch being possible is true.Today I also went to the language centre to sign up for some other stuff I've been meaning to. In first year I joined a french discussion group, because I didn't want to lose what french I'd learned in school. By the end of A-Levels I felt like I was actually quite good at the language, so it would just be a really awful thing to lose. Unfortunately, supervisions and work got in the way and as a result I ended up not being able to go very often. Hopefully this year with the lower level of work it'll be a little easier to keep my attendance up.
The other thing I signed up for was a language I'm not so talented at but just as interested in: Mandarin Chinese. They run a basic course which lasts for two terms and I'm guessing is probably a bit of hard work, but since I'm a bit of a Chinese groupie and they've just taken a large amount of my money I will hopefully be attending them all. And it'll mean I have even more of an excuse to bugger off to China! Man I want to goooooo.
In other news
procrastinatore came to visit yesterday, bringing with him his mechanisms of buying friends: chinese cake and a giant box of noodles. He was here for only one night, and came with his Lederhosen because a local club was doing OKTOBERFEST NIGHT. We went to formal, got changed into our gear and headed out for some boogieing. We got quite a few funny looks along the way but it was reall great fun. And Snow White and I got about fifty photobombs in so we were happy.Anyway I best go do some work. Textbooks are calling my name.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: relaxed
- What I'm hearing:Pretty Child Backfire- A Gentleman's Afternoon
Only problem with night punting was that at one point I think my phone fell out of my shoe, and there was a little bit of water in the punt, meaning now when I try to press the buttons on my phone.. I can't. I can still receive calls but canny do much else. Can't be bothered to get a proper new phone and repair would be near 60 quid so I think I'm just going to find a cheapy wee phone for a tenner that does the essentials. The Essentials is of course just about how easily I can fidget with it when bored.
One particularly fun night so far was the birthday of
zaiap3 (who I recently realised is on LJ, however she doesn't know that I know). She had the bright idea of trying to re-enact the Japanese Marshmallow Game, which you have to click and set aside six minutes to watch now. Now.Done? Awesome. I fell on the floor with laughter when I first saw that video. She attached a bit of elastic material to a hook on the back of the door, and had marshmallows on strings dangling from a string on the roof. Oh my crap it was hilarious. There were about twenty people in the room, and every single person looked hilarious. As well as the messed up and deformed faces, people's hands were brilliant- because you were so focussed on getting the marshmallow in your mouth you lost all conscious control of what your arms were doing, and so everyone looked like they had tetanus. Brilliant night.
I've also really enjoyed living with Wigglytuff so far. It's a different dynamic from living with the wife last year, but I'm having a lot of fun so far. The room is brilliant- it's in the roof so has slopey ceilings giving it a lot of character. That being said we're keeping a chart for how many times we hit our heads off the ceilings. I'm "winning" on six. It's also been heavily decorated with about a million photos (turns out putting pins into cement walls isn't easy- thumbs are still numb) and other random things that Wigglytuff brought with him. Next week the parents come to visit so I'm looking forward to having them here.
I've also officially started Biological Anthropology. I borrow a bunch of notes of HBIC, who did a bit of it two years ago, but I was not prepared. The first lecturer (at 9 o'clock- boo) said mid-lecture "I'm going to be using terms like this because I will assume that you are more than familiar with the timeline of human evolution already" and I crapped myself a little bit. But as I sat through the other four hours of lectures I had today (I swear this was supposed to be a doss subject) stuff became clearer and I felt more comfortable about it all. It's going to be a bit of an uphill struggle at first but I imagine it will be grand in the end. It's certainly interesting anyway.
That's pretty much all that needs to be said I think. Complete with more brackets than a Sigur Ros album. Speak to you all soon.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: happy
- What I'm hearing:Two Door Cinema Club- Something Good Can Work
This was pretty much the standard for the city, which was really brilliant. Everything was very safe, nice, and clean, and the people were very friendly. They had clearly put a lot of effort into the city and making it as good as it could be. The majority of Munich was destroyed in the bombings of World War 2, so many of the buildings were new, but the architecture was still pretty incredible, as they'd put a lot of effort into making everything look very Bavarian and in keeping with the city's style. Their town hall is called Das Neues Rathaus, a giant gothic building that looks over all of the city. We got up on the tower and could see the whole skyline, which was just brilliant. We counted 11 clock faces, they're apparently mad for them.
The reason I was in Munich was that the wife has spent the past 3 or 4 months there doing an internship. I had planned to go visit her and she said the best time would be towards the end of the summer, when work was ending and Oktoberfest was beginning- I wasn't about to say no to that. Also visiting her were Bald Girl and
procrastinatore, only although I overlapped with the both of them, they didn't see each other as she was there earlier than him. I really liked the opportunity to see them all again, as it had been a long time since we had each seen one another. I enjoyed catching up and hearing about nearly getting killed by German trains, what happens when you break a shower in a beach hut and how to ration toilet roll in Beijing.I enjoyed spending the week or so I was there with them, doing touristy things, going for a few drinks or buying me some Lederhosen. That's right, I bought some. I freely accept that here in the UK they are not cool but I fricking love them. At that time of year, people wear them all the time. Out to bars, when going for some shopping, whatever. So I got my wear out of them in the end. Originally I was very against the idea of getting them but there were that many people wearing Trachten that I got extreme Lederhosen Jealousy and had to cave. I regret nothing.
As I said, the major attraction in Munich at that time was of course Oktoberfest. Bavaria has a lot of beer festivals near the end of the summer, however this is traditionally the biggest one. They're often called Volksfests, which basically means people festival, so it's not just about getting wasted and passing out, there's a lot of stuff going on. Which I have to say isn't something I was expecting. I figured that I would show up and there would be about four or five beer tents, which would be large white canvases (sort of like marquees) over a bunch of tables. Man was I wrong.
The festival is massive. Last year about six million people went to it. It takes place on a huge expanse of land called the Theresienwiese and as well as the approximately 30 beer tents it has countless stalls where you can buy food, merchandise or drinks. There are also flipping loads of amusement rides (I counted five different dodgem places) including a rollercoaster with five loop-the-loops, where each one is AN OLYMPIC RING. It was amazing. Now for the beer tents. As I said I wasn't expecting a huge deal, but when I showed up I saw these massive not tents but buildings, that they had apparently been constructing since June. They were immensely decorated inside to whatever theme they wanted, whether it was Heaven, Hippodrome, or just GREEN GERMAN THINGS. One was even made to look like you were inside a massive beer keg. I was completely blown away by the place, and so was
procrastinatore- I have a photo of his face the first time we walked into one.The atmosphere in the place was brilliant too, and totally contagious. Everyone's standing up on the benches in their traditional Bavarian dress shouting out German drinking songs as loud as they can while (hench) barmaids carry round the big litre-glasses of beer in their hands, averaging about seven at a time. Each tent has a bandstand, where people sing and play brass instruments to keep everyone happy. I managed to learn two drinking songs, which is where the title for this entry is from, but they also played English songs too. The wife went mad when Angels by Robbie Williams came on.
I best wrap up this entry now as I'm leaving for uni tomorrow and kind of still need to pack. So I'll just take a little bit of time to talk about the beer. I'm a bit crap with alcohol, and am not a particularly big beer fan. But oh. my. god. that German beer was amazing. I tried quite a few brands, as the big beer tents tend to be run by different beer companies, and different bars etc. will serve a particular house beer, and all of them were just so good. I happily drank lots of the litre glasses (each one called a Maß) to the very end and it's part of the reason I'd happily go back. My favourite was a beer called Augustiner, which was the first one I tried when there, and it was just so light and tasty.
So yeah, basically it's turned me into an alcoholic. MUST GO BACK.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: amused
- What I'm hearing:Arcade Fire- Rebellion (Lies)
Right now though, I'm off to MUNICH! Yeah baby. Vair excited to see people again: Bald Girl,
procrastinatore and the wife.Man, Oktoberfest is going to kill me.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: excited
- What I'm hearing:Six Star Hotel- God To Me Send Fire and Seas
- What I'm hearing:Sufjan Stevens- The Seer's Tower
( The L words: London and Latitude )
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: accomplished
- What I'm hearing:Arcade Fire- Haiti
I was looking through my room the other day and found a bunch of colouring pencils, and felt like making a picture. I want you to go back to primary school and get drawing. The picture can be of any memory you have, whether other people know of it or not, or if you'd like you can interpret it in a different way and draw what you think a memory looks like. The point is just to get you sitting down and making something for you (and hopefully us) to look at later.
It's an easy one to start off Geek On, and something that you can keep to frame or burn. If you feel like sending your creation into the gallery please do, as it's kind of sparse at the minute.
That's it, so get going! Make your primary school teachers proud.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: busy
- What I'm hearing:The xx- Stars
1 mission: 5 cinemas, 5 films, 1 day.
Was really great fun in the end. First up was Salt, then Dinner for Schmucks, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Avatar: The Last Airbender and finally Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. Dinner for Schmucks and Scott Pilgrim were my two favourites, but had already seen the latter. Think Odyssey won overall for me as far as the actual cinemas go, and it's 50p cheaper. Every little helps.
For my personal records: bottom half of the screen, hating cornetto adverts, never-ending car park, speedy getaways, beeping sound in streat, shooting at oil-tankers, all four elements bent in 3D, extreme close-ups and AWKWARDNESS of being wet.
Tonight I'm going to the climbing wall on the other side of Belfast with
alitute. Really looking forward to it, although I can foresee all the outdoors people taking the mick out of how crap I'm gonna be- apparently they go three times a week every week. Eep.Tomorrow is second of my two coursework visits. I'm going to a complementary therapy place, so open minds and all that.
I also need to finalise my Geek On thing. It's the first one so I feel like it's supposed to be good, but to be honest I think I'll end up just doing what I want to do, and not worry about whether or not people think it's rubbish. I have a few ideas anyway so should be grand.
Ordered two Threadless t-shirts today too. Impatience is a virtue that gets me nice clothes.
Labdoor
- What I'm hearing:General Fiasco- Please Take Your Time
Internet is vastly unhelpful. Turns out it's hard to play an instrument you've forgotten how to play. I really wanna get back into it though. Suppose if I practice in roughly 10 years I'll be roughly not as crap.
Really need to get out of the mindset that my life ends at about 24. I find myself not taking up things because I feel like I have a limited time for me to actually do them, whether it's premature death or a doctor's timetable that's gonna stop me.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: creative
sallltyleaves, writinmytragedy and DL won't be living there any more. Unfortunately it was a bit late once the film was over so not everyone went back. Meaning we were left wanting to have a sort of goodbye night. So, when our slightly crazy friend AS told us that Limelight were having a zombie night I pretty much jizzed in my pants and made it my mission to be all over that.The excitement didn't disappoint either. We were round in the manor beforehand getting ready and it was really great fun.
seasew was designated make-up artist and I was in charge of cutting things. Naturally I was quite happy. dblair01 had brought red and white face paint and we used the former to make pretty extensive wounds. I was really proud of how we looked in the end- blood dripping from our mouths and clothes as if we'd really been caught in a zombie apocalypse (and hadn't come off terribly well)I wasn't exactly sure how busy the place would be. I knew we were keen for zombie night, but wasn't entirely sure that it wouldn't be just us alone on the dance floor. But as it turned out there were a large number of people in the place, all just as dressed up as we were. It was a little bit of an odd sight to see people covered in blood and ripped clothes, faces looking worse than ill, and yet everyone with big grins on them. This bit was just as much fun as the manor. We met up with AS and her friend and had a bit of a boogie, before
ficdep, seasew and summerjets tried our hand at karaoke. I've been preparing for singing Mr. Brightside practically my whole life, so was glad to give it a go. As time went on, someone got the idea that it would be funny to turn the cuts in our t-shirts to full-blown rips, until the point when not only nipple was showing but also moobs and abs. I tried my best to keep myself covered up, by tying as many knots in what was left of my t-shirt. By the end of the night it was absolutely destroyed, and really did not resemble a t-shirt at all. Thanks guys.
The trip to The Emerald for some eats and then the walk back to The Manor was filled with funny looks from other pedestrians. After you walk a few metres from Spring & Airbrake, you stop being in the area where people know why the hell you're dressed like that. So we got lots of stares and one girl muttered "Weirdest fight ever"
The night ended with
dblair01, sallltyleaves and summerjets and I sat around talking for a few hours, until heading off to bed. Using my sleeping bag as a duvet as the zip was broken, I ended up staying up and talking away to summerjets until 5:30 in the morning. Which really gave me a great excuse to stay in bed FOREVER and hang up on my boss when she tried to phone me to ask if I could come into work.The night was the best of both worlds: crazy zombie fun and staying up late talking for hours. Eating brains then picking them (exactly what friends are for). It's definitely fitting with the spirit of my summer so far, and only adds to the fun I've had. A really brilliant night, and certainly one for my books.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: happy
- Revise french
- Learn chinese
- Sort out Munich
- Get birthday presents
- Sort out PfP
- Write in the history book
- Blog on LiveJournal to log summer
- Upload photos
- Do internets- facebook, emails etc
- Sort out Medical Society
A quick jeff duke at my old entries shows that I wrote about the first few days, but didn't put anything down after coming home for a few days. I really enjoyed that quick break, odd though it was to flit between Cambridge and Belfast. My parents were so shocked to see me, which was great, and a very nice feeling. Reminded me to restart doing RAoKs (that and
writinmytragedy's later birthday present) Only downside was that it slightly stopped being a "Yay! The whole family is together again!" moment and shifted towards "labdoor is home! How brilliant!" so I got the feeling I was stealing my sister's thunder a little bit.Another fun thing that we did during our (free!) time was a sneaky wee trip to Alton Towers. Which is apparently in the west of England, along with Coventry. A bunch of us went, mainly the Greece crew, and it was just as good as, if not better than, when I went about ten years ago. I'd forgotten how exhilarating it is to be on a proper roller-coaster. The feelings of fear before Oblivion, the awe during Air and the adrenaline rush after Nemesis.. Lots and lots of fun was had. More importantly we also took a quick trip from Birmingham to Coventry and hit an all-you-can-eat oriental restaurant. Oh my days it was amazing. We destroyed the sushi and just about everything else there. They taught me that the best tactic is not to drink water but to eat watermelon, as it not only earns you back your money but somehow doesn't fill you up as much as water does. Just thought I'd throw that in there for future reference.
Other may week stuff involved just general fun and happy times, whether it was afternoons relaxing in the sun, lazy mornings sleeping through the rain, days full of punting, evenings eating out or nights spent watching other colleges' fireworks be less amazing than Trinity's (before heading back and having failed Harry Potter marathons).
procrastinatore was there for quite a big part of it, which was really cool. Over time the lines between my friends at home and at uni have been becoming blurred, which I quite like the idea of. At first it was odd, but it is cool. In both worlds, these are the people that I've chosen to spend my time with, and so for them to get on means several things: that I'm being true to myself in both locations, that I'm friends with nice, friendly people (sometimes forget this one) and that both worlds are in fact real and not imagined in my head. Always a nice feeling.Entries to follow on Emmanuel June Event and the Wednesday of Trinity Hall June Event, the latter a candidate for one of the best days of my life.
Hopefully this entry has broken the trend of LJ apathy that I've also apparently slipped into. Let's hope this is the start of something, that I can break through and maybe even produce a little mentallatio. Time will tell.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: tired
Holy crap that was fun.
Labdoor
- Where I'm hiding:Thame, Oxford
The words still don't quite seem real on my tongue.
Thank you to
ficdep, procrastinatore, seasew and summerjets for being such good friends.Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: pensive
- What I'm hearing:Broken Social Scene- Ibi Dreams of Pavement (A Better Day)
Enjoy this bad influence.
http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling:
devious
Anyway I've had a really nice time back home so far. Was a birthday when I first got home, and since been hanging out with my friends a bit and today I started work at my new job in a call centre which I nicely worked my way into thanks to the charms of
ficdep. Had quite a bit of fun- it's been a while since I've had a job so I like doing it again. And the promise of future money is always nice.I'm really really glad to finally have summer here, it's been a long time coming. My Director of Studies sent me an email today in which he said "I have special confidence in your ability to have a relaxing summer" and I definitely won't be letting him down.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: cheerful
The actual feeling of finishing was pretty great. My last exam was a practical exam, and they couldn't fit all 300 medics in the lab at the same time, so 10 of us from Trinity finished on Tuesday whilst two others and I were were on Wednesday. When Bald Girl and I came out of the building, after finally finishing our pre-clinical medicine degree, it was into the cloudless blue sky, warm sun and cheers of the other who had finished before us. Oh, and exploding champagne bottles. It was a great feeling to be greeted like that, so when RS came out I tried to repeat it for her, except the champagne didn't so much sprout out as explode, causing one guy to exclaim "OW! That went in my eye!" The less said about that the better.
We decided that the best way to spend our afternoon would be to raid Sainsbury's then head out to the backs to relax in the sun before a spot of punting. We played a bit of Articulate (standard), I got my legs out on the request of my bedder, and we were joined by one of our medic friends from another college, Chinese Lantern, and her room-mate KK. More champagne was consumed, I started to feel tipsy, and we made our way to the punthouse. Unfortunately they were being a bit mean and only allowed us two punts between the fifteen of us, so it was a bit cosy on board them.
The feeling throughout the whole punting trip was so brilliant. Every now and then one of us would just remind us all that we were free, and instantly we all got the biggest of grins on our faces. The scenery punting through the meadows outside Cambridge was really brilliant too, with smelly stagnant river water, topless 70 year olds and dragonflies getting busy mid-flight.
At one point Snow White stole our paddle and brought it onto the other punt, so I jumped off ours and ran along the bank of the river to get onto theirs to retrieve it. Unfortunately I didn't quite make it, and all of a sudden there was the classic awkward moment when you have one foot on the bank and the other on the punt, my legs slowly but surely separating. It was only natural therefore, for me to grab onto the nearest thing possible. Sadly this turned out to be JC, possibly the nicest girl ever, who had just shyly taken over punting the other boat, thinking this part of the river was safest. In a heartbeat I had fallen in and dragged her with me, much to my shame. I helped her out of the river, but for a long time after we were both pretty darn wet. And that water isn't exactly clean. Since then I've been apologising profusely (I think I've totalled up about thirty times now) but to be honest I think I'll be doing so until the day I die.
The rest of the tip was very nice, however. We decided to try and punt to Granchester, a nearby town that's apparently meant to be very nice. We've tried a few times to get there but it ends like it always does: we reach a point where we realised we should turn round or we won't get back in time. Nevertheless it was fun and we got quite far out. On the way back I got marooned on a tree branch overhanging the river, which was a lot of fun. They refused to come back and get me, so I had to climb off it and run through the (what I hope was) mud on the banks to be picked up further downstream.
Later, Peter Perfect, Snow White and I decided we would try our hand at another punting tradition: bridge climbing. Basically You pull yourself up from the punt onto a bridge as your punt comes up to it and then have to climb over it by the time your punt comes out the other side. Peter Perfect and I managed to do the first one, Snow White apparently not having the arm strength, and then I did another later on. It was really good fun actually, and I'm quit proud of the fact that I managed to do two, even if they were the two easiest ones on the entire river.
When we came back into Trinity we had to (in the case of JC and me) get ourselves showered and ready for the evening, when we were meeting up with our supervisors for drinks then heading out to formal. We went to our Director of Studies' room, which is basically a bachelor's pad. We'd originally only seen a room which is effectively the study, but that night we also saw the kitchen, sitting room, bedroom and study. Apparently there's also an upstairs- it was so cool. He also had a bunch of really old paintings, it being Cambridge and all, like one of Edward Coke, a big shot lawyer in seventeenth-century England.
Formal and then the night out that followed were good fun, Bald Girl getting into her usual state when drunk: turning purple then falling asleep, which gave us (me) opportunity to use the highlighter I had brought along with me for just that purpose. I think the actual day in the sun was more fun though, because it symbolised a lot more about freedom. Also because the only sun I had seen in a long time was on the other side of the library windows, which suitably had bars on them.
Since then I've had a really nice time, going swimming in an outdoor pool, having a barbecue, playing frisbee in the dark and going out for dinner a few times. Everyone is finishing now pretty much, only a few of my friends are still going, which is nice because at the start it was just the medics, so I felt bad being happy around people who were still working. It's nice to see how happy freedom makes everyone, and rightfully so as it's quite an accomplishment to survive what we have. This term alone, five medics dropped out of Cambridge because they couldn't really take it. So yesterday I wasn't one bit surprised when about ten people stripped down to their underwear and jumped into the Cam to celebrate. I should really use that as an excuse for falling in.
I'm heading home this afternoon, which I'm pretty excited about. My elder sister has a rare weekend off work, and is coming home to see the family. Normally I don't go home during term time, because I have so much work to do and because I often don't have the money. However now that I'm free I have no work to do, and seeing as I spent all of this term in the library the funds aren't looking too bad, so I really have no excuse. So I'm flying home and driving my sisters up to Portstewart for my cousin's 25th birthday party, and when my parents have finished hugging my sister and talking about how they haven't seen her in so long I'm going to appear beside them to surprise them. Hopefully it'll work, but I can foresee them seeing me getting out of the car as I arrive and ruining the whole thing,
Labdoor
- What I'm hearing:Regina Spektor- The Sword & The Pen
This is currently the last half-hour of my teenage years. I've been thinking about what the last song I'll hear as a teenager should be, and here's the final 5 I listened to.
#5 Kings of Leon- The Bucket
#4 The Cure- Close To Me
#3 James Taylor and Carole King- You've Got a Friend
#2 Broken Social Scene- Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl
#1 The Killers- All These Things That I've Done
It's been fun. Gotta move forwards though. And luckily, tomorrow is BIRTHDAY! I see big things for me in 20. Excitement.
Labdoor
- How I'm feeling: excited
- What I'm hearing:My teenage years, apparently
