Snow and Comedy

I can not possibly start today’s entry without the mention of snow. There was a small spattering on the ground first thing in the morning which I at least put a smile on my face. But to make things slightly better there was a mini-blizzard from mid-morning to early evening. Most of this snow didn’t settle so it’s hardly enough for a snowman or a snowball fight but at least it looks very pretty. Here’s Josh enjoying it:

I finally finished my assignment today. I wrote nearly six hundred words, which was a conclusion and a lot of adding in the occasional sentence and rewording things to make them sound longer. I know, this isn’t the best way to go about it but this assignment has been incredibly hard. I have at least done all the things I am supposed to have an inserted a fair few references. It should be a pass even if it is a rubbish one. I have to at least pass before I can worry about trying to get a first. My tutor seems to think I have the ability to get a top level degree though I highly doubt I can.

I then accompanied Josh on a very snowy shopping trip. I purchased a few food items though I plan to do the BIG shop tomorrow. I also bought a posh coat to replace my three year old Coq de Sportif one which I bought three years ago. I attempted to take a picture to show you but the lack of light in this room made it impossible. You will have to believe me that’s it’s a lovely coat.

Tonight at the student union myself and Josh went to see some stand-up comedy, in association with Comedy Central. There were three comedians there tonight and really was excellent.The host wasn’t that special but the other two were brilliant.

Gary Delaney is a comedian who I have followed on Twitter for some time so I knew he would be funny. He does one liners and as well as them being absolutely hilarious he is excellent at choosing them dependent on the audience’s reaction. I shall quote one of the many one-liners he recited:

I live next door to a family of anorexic agoraphobics. I bet they have a few skeletons in the closet.

And that’s Gary performing, photo taken from the next act’s Twitter.

Ali Cook is a cross between a comedian and a magician. He told a few jokes which were hilarious and also did a few awesome tricks. I love magic tricks because I am really stupid and don’t have a clue how the simplest things are done. Ali’s were particularly impressive though especially the finale which consisted of him swallowing razor blades. Incredible but slightly disturbing watching that final trick.

I would recommend both acts heartily. Now I sadly can’t remember the name of the host but he was the weaker of the three though there were some very funny moments. A bit of stand-up makes an excellent night out and I wish Gary and Ali all the best for the future. Hopefully we will see them doing some big TV shows sometime in the not too distant future.

Fairy Lights and Pool

A Monday morning which contains a lie-in is a rather good thing. My new PJs really made a difference to how cold I felt, which is excellent news. We had our final maths seminar of the semester which was mostly a review though did see us making various objects out of multi-link blocks. We weren’t supposed to be making various objects but give anyone multi-link and I defy them not to start building things out of it. After a meeting about our first school experience (which begins in exactly a week!) the day was ours.

I had the choice of going to buy some food or doing my assignment and I decided my assignment was more important at this stage. I now have a mere six hundred and one words left to write, which shall be done by early tomorrow evening (fingers crossed!) After some writing I helped Alice put up some Christmas lights around the kitchen window. You’d have thought this was a fairly straight-forward task but apparently not. Eventually the job was done and our kitchen looked even more festive:

This evening we decided to head down to the student union for Skint, an event where the drinks are really cheap. In fact tonight was “The Exchange” where drink prices are worked out in a similar way to the stock exchange. If nobody buys a drink the price becomes really low. This led to buying a pint of Coke for only 40p. Bargain! As a student you look to any opportunity to save money! The highlight of the evening really had to be Tiffany asking Jaz whether his stick was longer than hers. She was referring to pool cues but of course it was taken rather differently. I even played a bit of pool myself, winning one game and only losing another thanks to accidently potting the black. I rather enjoyed myself!

As I head to bed I wonder whether we will be greeted by snow in the morning. There is forecast for some light snow at around 3AM. Whether this actually happens or not is doubtful, and even if it does snow there may be very little of it to witness in the morning. Still, I very much hope some arrives, we have the temperature, we deserve the snow!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

After finally having a decent night’s sleep my day began with witnessing my Mum sort out my brother’s wardrobe. This does not sound an amusing way to spend a morning but you would be surprised. Said wardrobe had clearly not been sorted out for some years. My brother is 15 but there were clothes in there for 8-9 year-olds. Also some old schoolbags were found and one contained a staggering 43 plastic bottles lids and several bits of homework from other people. Why the flipping hell would you carry a bag around that had 43 plastic bottle lids in? My brother is weird.

After some further progression of my assignment (only 850 words to go!) I headed out to the shed to find a Christmas tree to take back to Uni. On my way to doing this I discovered a bucket full of ice and in my wisdom I decided to see how thick it was my putting my foot in it. Turns out said ice was not thick enough to take my weight and my foot, and some of my leg, plunged into a bucket full of very cold water. Not a good moment.

It’s about time I spoke about the weather. Much of the UK has been covered in snow over the last week. Not down South where I live though, other than short snow shower yesterday evening we have been snow free, which is a great shame. I flipping love the snow, as you can see from my entries from January when it snowed. Snow in November in the UK is rather unusual and so the chances of a white Christmas must be higher than usual. Sadly the lack of snow for us just means we are constantly very cold. Living in university halls is a bad place to be in a very cold Winter as the heating is awful. I wake up every morning feeling like I’ve been frozen in a block of ice (Han Solo style!). Early mornings and low temperatures are not a good combination.

I caught some of Strictly Come Dancing this evening, which was unfortunate. Having less channels and less time to watch TV has meant I the only reality show I now watch is The Apprentice and at least that tests skills relevant to real life and is not voted on by the general public. Every reality TV show appears to have it’s useless potential winner. In Strictly it is former politician Ann Widdecome, in X Factor (until tonight) it was Wagner and in I’m a Celeb it’s Gillian McKeith (WHO?). These shows are difficult enough to enjoy as it is, without there being obviously useless people on the show, that the public allow to stay in the programme. The general public are flipping useless.

After my mother had watched Patsy Kensit being kicked off of Strictly (which is good seeing as though her character gets more and more annoying in Holby City) I was driven back to Winchester with a strange collection of objects. Obviously I had by clothes that I brought home with me and also a few more besides. Also, carried on coat-hangers were a load of smart clothes for me to where on placement. Next was a bag full of books to read (including A Christmas Carol) and some Christmas decorations. There was also a four foot Christmas tree for the kitchen. Myself and my family walking across campus carrying all that lot must have been quite a sight.

On arrival in our house I discovered the kitchen has been made significantly more Christmassy and I added the tree to this effect. Our kitchen now looks rather good as you can see here:

            

It’s quite nice to be back now the depressing mood of last week has gone. I put on my new jim-jams and watched some TV in bed. I like my new pyjamas so much I was tempted to put up a picture of me wearing them but I then doubted anyone wants to see that. If you do let me know and I guess it can be arranged. Otherwise I shall see you tomorrow, if I havn’t frozen to death during the night.

Harry Potter 7 (Part One)

I had such a terrible nights sleep last night. I thought this recent trend would change if I was back home in a more comfortable bed but apparently not. The main problem was that the temperature was actually fairly normal and I’ve become used to the chilly nights in my room at uni. To tackle those frigid nights I purchased a pair of pyjamas today, with a couple of quid off thanks to getting a student discount. I love being able to wander into most shops and get money off stuff just by waving a card.

My desk at home appeared to be a better working condition for my assignment. I doubled the amount I’d already written which sounds quite good but that still means I’m only half way through. I’m finding this particular assignment a real bitch but hopefully I will have slayed the beast before the deadline on Thursday.

This evening I met up with my bestest mate Chris and headed into Bournemouth. I’ve missed Bournemouth, it’s the closest I have to a local city and it’s packed full of loads of memories of things I’ve done there. The main purpose for today’s visit was to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One.

I’ve long awaited this film and it lived up to expectation. Of course bits were changed from the book but I think only for the better. It comes together really well and all the key parts were done brilliantly. I only wish the story could have been portrayed in one film but of course it would have been a stupidly long film if that was the case. The presence of Dobby was brilliant and his death was actually quite moving, despite the fact he’s a fictional creature created by CGI. And this line of his is brilliant:

Dobby did not mean to kill, only maim or seriously injure

We now of course have to wait until July for the second part but I know it will be fantastic. I have grown up, along with the rest of my generation, with Harry Potter and it seems fit that the series, on the screen at least, is ending shortly after we started university and have become “adults”- well legally at least. I spent much of my eleventh year wondering when my Hogwarts letter would arrive by owl by that never happened. If only, I could be an aura by now.

To those of you who tried to guess my new word of the day yesterday, it was infinitesimal, not procrastinate: I always procrastinate! I have used a new word today too so try and spot that one. I also hope that you are liking the new look of my blog, I gave it a few tweaks to freshen things up (click here Facebookers!) Tomorrow I am returning to Winchester, to a house that looks rather Christmassy apparently…

Home Sweet Home

I sit writing in my own bed, back in the place I have always lived until earlier in the year. It’s bloody fantastic to be home.

I awoke this morning feeling fairly chirpy which is was a bit different compared to the rest of the week. I procrastinated for a few hours and then headed to a seminar which was mostly focusing on observation. I observed that this was not the most thrilling way to spend an hour and a half.

After an infinitesimal amount of time writing my essay I procrastinated a bit more until it was eventually time for the coach to arrive in Winchester and pick me up. This time came and went and there was no sign of a coach. Half an hour later, by which point I was very cold, the coach finally turned up. The Scottish driver made no apology for the delay and was generally quite miserable. I was not impressed at all by the terrible service of National Express and shall be expressing said thoughts in an e-mail in the near future.

Anyway, so now I’m home. There is lots of food, the internet is quicker and the bed is actually quite comfy. This is exactly what I need. Also many thanks to those of you who attempted to cheer me up a little after reading yesterday’s blog. My mood is significantly improved and other than the coach incident today has not been too bad. Unfortunately my assignment still hangs over me and an imaginary clock constantly ticks down the time before the deadline. The aim is to get as much of the assignment done tomorrow as possible.

Apologies to the lack of interest in that post but I have little report. I have started a new challenge though where I try and use a new word in every blog entry: see if you can spot today’s one!

Feeling Glum

I don’t much enjoy writing posts like this one but I feel it might help me. Spilling out emotions does help to squash them a little. Whether this stays on Facebook or not I don’t know, it very much depends on my mood when it gets automatically imported there tomorrow.

So, what’s the matter Dan? Well everything really. I am not getting enough sleep, no matter how hard I try. I have only had one thing that can vaguely constituent a meal since Tuesday and that was only an instant microwaveable curry: I just haven't felt like eating. Those two things are probably either because of or causes of being slightly ill. I’m hardly dying but my stomach is a bit dodgy and I didn’t really feel up to P.E. today.

So that’s the physical side of things. The mental is worse. Over the last few days I have suddenly started to miss my old Ringwood life quite a bit, even aspects from months and months ago which I thought I was over. Apparently not. The thing is I can never go back to the old life now as my friends are now dotted around the country at various universities and things have changed. Then there’s the fact I have an assignment due in a week today and I am not even a quarter through it. I have even got to the stage where I am considering whether this is the right course for me. Everyone is very excited for their upcoming placement but I’m more terrified than anything else. I can see it will be two weeks where my classmate comes across really well as a brilliant student teacher and I come across the complete opposite. I guess I just need to stick with it at the moment and hopefully my enthusiasm will return.

I also realised today that I have now been single for the longest period of time in nearly four years with not even the slightest hope of that changing. Now I know it’s silly to get worked up about this but I was kind of hoping I would have embarked on a relationship with a fellow student by now. But no.

I have shut myself in my room the last couple of days, only venturing out for an occasional trip to the shop etc. I’ve hardly spoken to my housemates this week. I’m just in a shut away mood. Mumford and Son’s track Little Lion Man is my sort of music right now.

I’ll stop going on now. I know, I know, I should be grateful for the position I’m in and most of my worries aren’t even important. Well they are to me as silly as that may sound. Hopefully a weekend of being home will lift my spirits. Feel free to offer some words of happiness if you so wish (I could do with some right now). Next entry will be more cheerful, promise.

Really: It’s a screwdriver and it’s sonic!

Today has been perhaps the biggest waste of day I’ve ever had. I was supposed to be doing my assignment but I did very little, just a few hundred words. I’m now nearly a quarter of the way through. It is going painfully slowly.

I spent far longer than I ought to have playing Lego Harry Potter. I completed The Goblet of Fire (which was great fun) and then spent a long time wandering round Hogwarts collecting various unlockables. I am still no-where near to finding them all which is very frustrating. Now I have completed the story however I can report it’s an excellent little game. It takes a while to get into, even if you have played other Lego games, mainly because the spell system is a little complicated but once you get used to it it’s a really fun game.

Now onto what I bought yesterday, as promised. Now this is both the saddest  and coolest thing I have bought in a while/possibly ever and here’s a photo of me with it:

Yep, it’s a sonic screwdriver (the one used by the Eleventh Doctor to be precise). I had a spontaneous buying moment when I saw it. I'm supposed to be a poor student, unable to afford such luxuries. Apparently not.

Tonight was book club’s film night, basically an excuse to watch a film with the premise that it was based on a book. We watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe, which I still think as an excellent film, very close to the book.

I shall end with the news that I am going home for the weekend. During that time I shall finally be seeing Harry Potter 7 part one with my mate Chris (the good part) and am hoping to concentrate better at home and finish the assignment (the bad part). But I still have two days of shit to get through before then. Though they may turn out well. But I doubt it. I really need a break and to be home for a few days.

November Q and A

Hi there. Today, so far anyway, has been pretty rubbish. Looking for a house to live in next year has turned into a nightmare and progression on my assignment is non-existent. I could do with a bit of a lift really. Anyway, today sees the return of an occasional feature, where people ask me questions and I answer them.

Your Hot. Does that even count as a question? Thank You anyway.

How uncool is your room right now? x (From Dani, housemate). Actually my room is super-cool right now thanks to it’s extensive Christmas decorations.

If you were to meet someone famous tonight who would it be? Well I would like it to be Taylor Swift. I continue to have a weird obsession with her. She’s so lovely. Oh and hot too.

Vc e a favor da legalizacao de maconha? Fortunately due to my skill in Spanish I can translate that. Basically Are you in favour of legalising marajiana? No, I’m not, not one little bit. If the American government decided to do that it would be the worst mistake they made since invading Iraq. Most of America would be stoned. There’s a reason it’s illegal in the first place.

Favourite sport? Well to watch it’s football but I’m no flipping good at it and it involves running up and down a big field so to play I prefer badminton. Actually I’m really missing playing badminton. The society here is rubbish which is a great shame.

What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do so far? Obviously this depends exactly on my thoughts now. I really struggled with learning how to ride a bike but many years later and I don’t consider that the answer. Getting into university was hard, especially considering just how badly I was doing just six months before my final exams. A lot of hard work got me in.

What is the colour of your toothbrush? :3 It’s white and blue.

Tiffany wants to know if you’re going to Wetherspoons with them? x (From Dani again). Well I ended up going to Wetherspoons with them so I guess it should have been a yes. It was a pretty rubbish night actually but thank goodness Josh was there so we could exchange jokes and lewd comments.

♂ + ♀ = ♥ ♀ + ♀ = ♥ ♂ + ♂ = ♥ do u agree? I most certainly do. People can love whoever they love. One of my key principles is that everyone is equal and people with a different sexuality from the “norm” are no exception.

Favourite TV show? Doctor Who, without a doubt. Oh and that has reminded me that I shall be showing off what I bought today in tomorrow’s blog. You may now speculate what said item is…

I shall return tomorrow with a variety of stuff, from things I’ve bought to anything exciting that has happened. I’m rather excited that I now have 70 followers on Blogger! A whole seventy people! Also I would like to say hello to all my new readers on Facebook, thanks for reading .

Things I learnt this weekend

-that Christmas decorations can be very cheap. I spent £10 on them and now my room is covered in various decorations, mostly courtesy of the pound shop. Yes, it’s a bit early. I’ll show you what it looks like in a video a bit closer to Christmas.

-Lego dementors are not scary. I played through the Prisoner of Azkaban on Lego Harry Potter over the weekend and blew lots of the things apart with the pataronus charm. I have to say that Lego Harry Potter is an excellent little game.

-That I wasn’t allowed a long lie-in. My parents woke me up my ringing me fairly early on Sunday and it was supposed to be my lie-in day. They rang to order me to go to hospital regarding my foot after it’s encounter with our fire extinguisher.

- That the bones in my foot are all fine. I had a nice little trip to Winchester’s Hospital’s tiny A and E. They sent me for an x-ray which turned out to be fine. It’s the first time I’ve ever been into hospital for myself and so was a new experience for me. I was almost a little disappointed I hadn’t damaged any bones. My foot is hurting more today but that’s because it’s healing. So it’s good pain.

-That we are never going to do well at the quiz. Our knowledge set is different to most other people our age, therefore causing a low placing.

- That running round campus wearing an elf hat is great fun. This is how me and Josh spent the evening and no, we weren’t even slightly drunk. Quite how this began I don’t know but we spent about an hour doing it, making people laugh, annoying people and even on one occasion making people jump.

Overall a decent enough weekend. Note the lack of assignment writing, I really need to get down to it. Before I go can I please ask you to write a question in the box over there → or here. ready for a question and answer blog. Anything you like! Thank you

Attack of the Fire Extinguisher

It’s a shame really that Friday’s are actually one of my busiest days of the week, with a lead lecture first thing in the morning and a seminar around lunch time. These were OK but not exactly exciting (though the fire alarm did go off during our lead lecture but it turned out it was only a “fault in the system”).

This evening was a new experience for me. Myself and four of my housemates went to look at some houses as we need to get one now for next academic year. We looked round four, all of which were OK but one stood out and we have now reserved it. Two of our party are a little unsure about whether to go for it but the rest of us want that house. Fingers crossed it will be ours! It’s very scary and very grown-up to be looking round houses. Living in a house will feel so much more homely than student halls.

I was part of an incident this evening which out me in our imaginary house accident book. Josh jumped out at me and I stumbled down the steps, banging into the fire extinguisher which promptly fell on my left foot. Now fire extinguishers are pretty heavy and one landing on my foot was flipping painful. Within minutes my foot was swelling up quite a bit. There may be a chance I have even damaged a bone with something that heavy falling from a reasonable height landing on some thing bones but I shall have to wait til the swelling goes down a bit before I can really tell.

Tonight was Children in Need, the day BBC1 puts on loads of stuff in the hope of getting people to donate money to the charity. I watched all eight hours of it (7PM-2AM, yes I’m that sad). It wasn’t as good as last year though the crossover between the UK’s two biggest soaps, Eastenders and Coronation Street (cleverly named East Street) was rather good!

Nearly Winning a Wok

It’s funny how one day can be so calm and dull and another can be fully of crazy antics. That’s the difference between my Wednesday and Thursday.

I started my final foundation subject today, P.E. For someone as unfit as me this wasn’t a subject I was looking forward to. Amazingly I actually enjoyed it. The tutor is really good and I feel like I learnt a lot.

After a quick change I went into town to buy a few things. My attempts to buy a laundry basket were thwarted by Argos being out of stock and no where else having them. I did however manage to replace my ancient webcam with a new one which actually works fairly well. 

The evening saw the Winchester Christmas Light’s Switch On. There was a stage where the action of the evening was taking place somehow I ended up on it. Basically a woman asked me if I wanted to play a game and stupidly I said yes. Dragging my friend Louise along I found myself playing a game which involved holding up a sign to say whether songs were a Hit or a Miss. I ended up coming second, which is regretful because I nearly won a wok. Up there with my most embarrassing moments of my life. 

There were several musical acts present who did little performances. The first was a guy called Ben Montague (below on left) who was actually pretty good, you can check out some of his stuff on the link. Also present were a band called The Reason (below on right) who apparently were on The X Factor at some point but didn’t get very far. It was pretty obvious why, they were crap. The only good rendition they did was one of East 17’s Stay Another Day which tells you something about the band!

After ordering a laundry basket online we went to rock and roll bingo as per usual. Now I wasn’t planning to drink but I won a tray of sambuca’s (pictured) and so decided to go for it.

There are few days as crazy as this one was!

The Amazing Textbook

For perhaps the first time ever I awoke before my alarm clock went off, proving that my early bedtime last night must have done me some good. It was just a professional studies seminar this morning and then the rest of the day was mine to play with.

At exactly 11:45AM, just three minutes after the BBC had tweeted about it, I discovered the news that there is going to be a royal wedding. I feel proud of how quickly I learnt the news. Prince William is to be married to Kate Middleton in what will be the first royal wedding in my lifetime. I would say I’m a bit excited but that sounds sad so I’ll stick to saying I’m intrigued. As a British person I have a strange fascination with the royal family, those people who are apparently important but seem to do little else but travel across the country and wave at people. Also there is a chance it will be declared a national holiday and we will get the day off, which would be most pleasing.

I decided to entertain myself a little by progressing a little further in Lego Harry Potter. Now I don’t think spiders are scary but giant Lego ones jumping towards the screen from a great height are actually terrifying. I feel traumatised!

I finally decided I really ought to do some work and did a stack load of reading about language development. As textbooks go it was fantastic as it was actually a fun read. A textbook, fun? Has Dan gone mad you wonder to yourself? No, check out this quote as proof:

Basil Fawlty gave his car a good talking to before finally thrashing it with the branch of a tree.

It talks about Fawlty Towers, how awesome is that? Not only that there is a small section listing some tongue twisters. Why not have a go at saying these out loud and let me know how you found them? I think they are really hard!

Red leather, yellow leather (x5)

Quick kiss, quicker kiss (x5)

If Stu chews shoes, should Stu choose the shoes he chews?

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep’s sick.

Flip-Floppen the Flappen-Jacken

A few days have passed since I last updated. I think I prefer this system of the more occasional blog, it makes things more interesting.

Saturday saw a visit from my mum, dad and brother, purely for the convenience as my dad and brother were playing hockey in Winchester anyway. They came armed with a whole stack of food and drink including Dr Pepper which I have missed something awful and some cheese courtesy of my lovely granddad. I have also been given one of the best advent calendars I’ve ever had, one with Lindt chocolate in, which looks like this:

It’s hanging on my wall right now, seemingly saying “Eat me, no-one has to know”.My no advent calendar, I shall be strong and will wait until the 1st December.

Saturday evening saw myself and Josh spend far too long watching clips of the Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show (hence the title).

 

To follow on from this on Sunday we watched my fave film The Muppet’s Christmas Carol. It’s November, therefore it is OK to watch a Christmas film! Amusingly enough the film was one of the answers to a question in the weekly quiz. At the half way stage we were second, despite our oppositions useless adding up of our scores. Unfortunately our advantage gained by a round on Doctor Who aliens and other things we knew was ruined by a poor second half and we came a miserable second to last.

So, what about today, good old Monday? Well it has been fairly uneventful. We were set another assignment (this one’s for English) and had a few seminars. I also managed to spend half an hour in the library looking for books only to discover I had left my library card back in my room and had to walk all the way back up the hill and get it. My lack of sleep lately finally caught up on me and by 8PM I was exhausted. An 8:20 bed time has got to be a good thing hasn’t it?

Treasure Hunts and Rock ‘n’ Roll

Today was one of those days I won’t forget in a while. One of the best of uni life so far.

It began rather horribly as I awoke having had less than five hours sleep and it was pouring with rain. Our geography session involved a treasure hunt where we had to go round campus and find letters in plastic wallets. It was cold and wet but when the deadline for returned was hit we only had one bit of treasure to get so we went and found it. We finally returned to the seminar as everyone else was leaving. Out tutor awarded us with a badge that says “geographer” on it for our efforts.

I returned back to my room to discover that Chris was still asleep in his sleeping bag. He eventually got up and at 11AM we sat and did a two minute silence. The two minute silence once a year is something I feel is very important. Having been to various World War battlefields and museums I know the horrors that many people had to go through and they should always be remembered our country owes them big time.

This evening it was time to get drunk whilst playing rock and roll bingo at the pub. Chris managed to get a full house on his first ever round and then the second round was amusing as it was TV themes. We completely failed at the quiz (it was about movies and soaps, which are not our specialist subjects) and came second last though we did win a tin of quality street for best team name: “We’d rather be doing rock and roll bingo”!

Another couple of games of rock and roll bingo and a few vodka and cokes later and Josh, Chris and myself were quite drunk. I was still just within my limits though, I never want an experience like I had a month ago ever again!

All in all, it was an excellent day. Unfortunately Chris has to leave tomorrow but I’m so glad he came, it has been awesome. Having your bestest friend visit is so good. Thanks for an epic couple of days Chris!

I Have a Guest

The prospect of a technology seminar involving sewing was a daunting one to me this morning, seeing though I having done any sewing for six years and that was in Year 8 textiles lessons. The task was to make a puppet and against the odds I did an OK one. My sewing was fairly poor and I had make the gaps stick together with foul-smelling fabric glue, but I did it. And here is my creation:

Another fairly dull session of ICT about interactive whiteboards out the way and then it was time to go and meet my friend Chris, who is visiting for a few days. It resulted in a bizarre moment when he said “I’m here” on the phone and I also said “I’m here” but we couldn’t see each other.

Having Chris here has been awesome. He survived the trauma of meeting my housemates and we had a really good time sitting around the house and a fairly brief visit to the pub. We had really nice pizza for dinner, courtesy of a local take-away and as we settled to bed we had an epic three hour chat which was lovely, though did result in me only getting three hours sleep.

Tomorrow is our big “go out and get very drunk day”, which should be really fun. Looking forward to it!

Assignments and Trackie Bottoms

All right everyone? I sort of feel I have neglected my blog a little over the last few days but in fact that’s not true, it’s just been a dull few days and I have little to report to you.  Highlight of Sunday/Monday was coming last in the quiz and winning 99p.

Today was our first assignment, in the form of a group presentation. This has meant a lot of organisation and work, I put everyone’s PowerPoint together and our group was rehearsing in our kitchen yesterday lunchtime, which was fun. I rarely have visitors and having six in one go was completely unheard off. The presentation was this morning and it went fairly well, we passed anyway and that is all that matters on this particular one.

Due to an unfortunate occurrence involving a rip in place you don’t want a rip, I had to go and buy some new trousers today. I bought two new pairs of jeans and a pair of tracksuit bottoms. It has been years since I last wore trackie bottoms, I’m never out of jeans except for the Summer when I wear denim shorts. But these trackies are so damn comfortable, I think I may even buy some more. What is happening to me?

Now that both my assignments are sorted the week is getting exciting. My mate Chris is coming to visit tomorrow, I’m going to Harry Potter Flirt at the student union on Friday night and my mum and dad are coming to visit on Saturday. What a week!

I still have the occasional worry though. Like housing for next year. We need to start thinking about it now and because my course is four years rather than three I have to choose carefully. I could end up living in a house by myself for the forth year or a house full of strangers, unless I move in with people who will also be here for four years. Also we have a “ghost” in the house apparently. It’s a little weird…

Winchester Fireworks 2010

A reasonably early start for a weekend today so that me and Josh could wander into town and go to the hairdressers together. We went to what has become known as “the upside-down barber shop” as the sign is upside down. I had a lovely haircut and my hair is now shorter than it has been for years, which is quite a change. I can even see the top of my ears and it’s been years since that was the case. I’m loving the new look though.

Tonight was Winchester’s Fireworks and procession. The mayor, followed by a fire engine and a marching band, led the way to the bonfire, followed by a huge crowd of people with flaming sticks. It was like being part of an angry mob! Also walking along a narrow high street surrounded by fire is rather nerve-racking, we expected someone to go up in flames but fortunately that didn’t happen.

Shortly after arrival at the leisure centre one of the largest bonfires in Britain (apparently) was lit. And it was HUGE!

And another short while later the fireworks began!

And during the evening I recorded some video footage and put it all together in a little video, which is right here:

Thanks to all the people I went with for a fabulous time: Josh, Alice, Katie, Beth, Bianca, Tiffany and of course Dani, who has been dying for a mention in this blog. And also quite literally due to illness. But hi Dani. You can’t complain anymore .

That Don’t Impress Me Much

Most of today was defined by lack of sleep. With a seminar at 9AM and ten minutes walk away, I awoke at 8:40AM. By some miracle of quick-changing and packing I managed to still make it on time.

The seminar I sleepily stumbled into was geography where we basically just talked about what teaching primary geography actually involves. We also talked about our “inspiring place” and I have no doubt to where that is. Almost every day for the last few years until I came to Uni I walked round the fishing lake by my house. It was peaceful and my thoughts there helped me through several very difficult times.

The afternoon’s seminar was history and was mostly about chronology, so we were putting various events and people in order. I impressed several people with my historical knowledge and many by my identification of 60s fashion designer Mary Quant.

After some deliberation I decided to go with my housemates to our local pub for rock and roll bingo (bingo with songs). I got full house on the first round and won £10 which was nice. We took part in the quiz (a respectable forth place) and Josh got steadily more drunk and I got steadily more hyper. I didn’t consume any alcohol whatsoever but I was still acting a bit drunk. Josh and I decided that “That Don’t Impress Me Much” by Shania Twain should become “our” song and we got very excited when it was played. On return home we listened, sang and danced to the Twain several times. I had a really fun night which is lovely.

That Don’t Impress Me Much

A Rabbit and some Cooking

So much to report to you today and so little time to do so in as I should go to bed, I have to be up in seven hours and I’m exhausted.

This week has been pretty rubbish so far other than the fact we have had our last science lesson (I didn’t enjoy it that much). Today though saw a change in my mood. Wednesday’s are amazing.

The day began with a technology session which was based on levers. I really enjoyed it and what I made is actual of a good quality:

It’s a rabbit and when you pull the tail the legs move! Isn’t he a cute little fellow?

A few hours passed with a tedious but important ICT lesson and a nice chat with my friend Jenny. On return home I cooked some proper actual food. No pasta out a packet or microwaveable curry tonight! I made up a cheese sauce and made cheesy potatoes and cooked them along with some sausages. That’s an actual nutritious and quite healthy meal. Here’s a couple of pictures:

It was a lovely meal, the best in ages, and it felt all the better as I cooked it myself. Though a fairly simple dish I was quite pleased with it as my cooking skills are virtually non-existent. I did it!

Before I leave you for another day I just want to direct you to my reading journal. It’s just where I am writing about all the kid’s books I’ve been reading (I have to read 50 for the course). Just click the link if you want to take a look!

It’s November

A slightly different type of post hits you today as I do a bit of reflection. This happens occasionally. Go with it.

So it’s November. The clocks have gone back, the long Winter nights are drawing in and the year is coming to a close. I am glad about that. This has been the worst year of my life so far without a doubt. I was in such a terrible state in the Spring and early Summer and I’m so glad I got through it. I’m at Uni now and I’ve made friends. Sadly the course is now taking it’s toll on me and I am gradually plodding along with it.

October wasn’t bad but it wasn’t brilliant. It had the feel of the beginning of something. The beginning of my Uni course and my career as a teacher I guess. But more than that. It was the beginning of my new life and the new me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a completely different person. But I am subtly different to how I was a month ago. In a good way.

Something happened to me over the weekend, a small something that was important to me and only me. Only one other person knows about said something. My life could have changed dramatically but it didn’t and I didn’t mind. That’s how I’m different.

I am Dan, working hard for my Uni course and having an amazing time whilst doing so. I’m single with no chance of a girlfriend coming along any time soon but it doesn’t matter. I’m happy.