The Wheel Breaks the Butterfly

Hello again, I do believe it’s time for another catch-up of the more interesting parts of my life.

Wednesday morning saw a visit from my parents because my Mum is having a rare week off work. They took me for lunch at Prezzo, an Italian restaurant which is much posher than the usual type of eating establishment I visit. I soon realised that I was only getting a more expensive meal because my Dad happened to have a voucher, but I’m not really complaining because the “Tre Fusti” pizza I had was really nice as was the Chocolate Fudge Cake I had for pudding. It was just the right amount of food, which happens very rarely these days. I felt neither stuffed nor hungry which is exactly how you should feel.

My parents also came armed with a load of free gifts for me. I was given a new duvet, which will keep me much warmer than the thinner old one did and a new blind which actually blocks out the light from outside unlike the one which used to be here. But the best present by far was the chair they purchased from IKEA. It’s nothing particularly special but it is really comfortable. Comfy chairs are something of a luxury as a university student. Not only is it really comfortable, it rocks! And I’m not saying that in the modern sense in that it’s good, it literally rocks. It’s a rocking chair. I’m not the type of person who gets excited by furniture but actually this is the best piece of furniture I have ever owned. Here it is in all it’s glory:

It was really nice to see my Mum and Dad even if it had been just over a week since I last saw them. I couldn’t help but miss them a little once they had gone. It’s weird that despite the fact I’ve spent a whole academic year away from home that this effect still happens. I wonder if in twenty years time the same affect will still happen.

Lecture time has been fairly limited in the latter half of this week. Yesterday saw a maths session largely about fractions, which as you can imagine wasn’t that thrilling. But actually it’s quite important, because if I can effectively teach fractions then people I teach might not grow up with that fraction fear that so many people have, including me. The tutor unfairly teased us about food just before lunch. First there is a massive picture of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange on the screen. Then it was Mars Bars. She placed one Mars Bar on a seat, two on another seat and three on another seat. In turns people had to get up and stand by a chair and they would get whatever was on it. When more than one person stood next to a chair it was split equally which gradually caused lots of fractions to be worked out. This was all very well and good but no-one in the room actually ended up with any part of a Mars Bar. How unfair is that?

Today we had a short lecture about going on a self-directed placement. Whilst they want us to visit places with younger and older kids at some point, the rest of our self-directed placement is largely pretty free. It doesn’t have to be in a school, in fact they seem to be encouraging us to go somewhere outside a school. The possibilities are pretty much endless. The potential visit to Africa is still in the works but that wouldn’t be until 2013 so I need to work out where I will go on placement during this academic year, most probably during our summer holiday. I am thinking of spending some time in a nursery and/or a local nature reserve. Both would be pretty awesome.

Living in this household is challenging at the moment. You never quite know who will be grumpy and/or upset next. Bad things are happening which I can’t go into but suffice to say there have been many emotional and unpleasant moments in the house. But despite all this, we still have a brilliant laugh too. When I shared a particularly odd and disturbing scene from the book I’m reading, there was lots of laughter. And the Playstation 2 has created some many laughs over the week too.

Year 2 Begins

It’s been a couple of days since by last post and this is largely because of crazy uni life taking over all my time. Once I get back into the swing of things again I shall post regularly once more. This does mean that I have everything from Saturday onwards to share with you.

On Saturday I went to Fresher’s Fair to recruit people to join the rambling society, seeing as though I am the big boss of it these days. Considering that last year it was organised terribly awfully and had three member for most of the year, I feel that we should try and improve things. So we put a nice map on the table and brought some cakes in the hope of getting some people to put their names down. I decided I would be thrilled if twenty people wrote their names but in the end a ridiculous 65 people did. Of course a fair few of them won’t actually come on the walks but hopefully we will have a nice little group. I don’t really want to guide 65 people around the Winchester countryside if I’m honest, that might be a bit of a challenge. It was good fun being at the Fresher’s Fair and the poor scared little fresher's amused me because that was me last year. They’ll soon settle in though.

A fair chunk of the rest of the weekend was sat playing on the Playstation 2 we now have. We’ve been playing multiplayer on various fun games with our current favourite the James Bond game “From Russia With Love”, mainly because I have been playing as Goldfinger who looks really creepy. I happen to be rather good at said game to so I win quite a lot. Winning makes everything a bit more enjoyable.

Amusement galore occurred on Sunday night when housemate Jaz went to collect his washing in the dark, wearing only socks on his feet. As was frankly inevitable, he stood on a snail. The poor thing. We imagined that the last thing the snail saw was a big shadow above it and it yelled “Noooooooooooo”. You have to wonder if the poor creature had a wife and children somewhere that have lost a husband and a father. We also imagined Jaz walking out the house only for a big shadow to appear and something huge stepping on him and moaning about it. We were in tears of laughter and its funny how one small creatures demise could cause us so much enjoyment.

So yesterday my second year of university began. It started off a bit weird as the registration system has changed since last year. Instead of just signing a register, we know have to scan the barcode on our student card on our way into the room. This is all well and good but 200 people trying to do that for a lecture is very slow. Our professional studies topic this semester is about special needs which is a special interest of mine so it should be good, though yesterday’s sessions were mostly introductory. The groups have been mixed up and although I know a few people in my new group, the majority are complete strangers. I didn’t really get to talk to most people but those that I did speak to seemed really nice so I can’t really complain too much.

Today was the first seminar of my specialist subject, history, and I have to say I loved it. It’s so good to be doing history again but without the pressures of coursework and exams I had for A-levels and even GCSE to some extent. It’s largely history for fun with lots on how to teach it all. I get the impression that I am going to love the every module.

Whilst uni life isn’t exactly being exciting, I’ve been having a lot of fun most of the time and largely am enjoying myself. I do feel a lack of excitement in my life right now with the next thing I vaguely have to look forward to being Christmas, which won’t even be that excitement. But I am determined to at least try to be cheery this year. And I have entered a new era of trouser-wearing. The jeans era is over and now its the linen trousers era. Jeans don’t flatter me in the slightest and aren’t really that comfortable. I’m not really sure how they ended up being the only trousers I owned. But anyway, new trousers and cheery mood. Life has been much worse.

Jelly Babies and Other Tales

Today’s post is made up of a collection of short anecdotes about the bizarre things I have got up to over the last few days. Being back at uni is always pretty crazy but this post has an unbelievably random collection of things. So let me begin.

One morning, I accompanied Alice on a trip to pick up her sofa from self-storage. The self-storage centre is huge and like a labyrinth. A night in there and a video camera would provide lots of entertainment. The storage centre have the service where they will transport things in their van but they cannot do the lifting for insurance reasons. Fortunately Alice’s sofa was much lighter than expected so getting it from it's storeroom to the van was no problem at all. For my efforts I got a free ride in a van which was kind of fun.

During a routine shopping trip, I decided to purchase a milkshake from milkshake shop Shakeaway and was about to leave when he the guy behind the counter suddenly asked me and Alice “If you were a Jelly Baby what colour would you be?”. It was such an unexpected question and we were both taken aback. I said green, but thinking about it now I think the answer is red. Nobody likes the green ones do they?

On Wednesday evening we headed to our friend Beth’s house because it’s her birthday today and it was the last night before she was going home. We played a game that apparently appeared in an episode of Friends where the boys and girls asked each other various questions, including many very adult and disturbing ones. I found out some things that night that I shall try never to think about again, like where Dannie’s tattoo is located (we’ll never guess apparently). But I was having a good time and when my housemates decided they wanted to leave I decided not to be a sheep for once and stayed for a bit. My poor housemates looked very confused as they left, like a family leaving their youngest child behind. After they’d gone we sat and watched three episodes of children’s TV show Rastamouse and amongst other things discovered that almost none of the male characters wear trousers.

Oh, and my friend Katie has the most amazing thing in her room. It’s a small wendy house except the walls and ceiling are cardboard and are just white with some black-lined illustrations. This means she has a house in which you can colour in and draw on, which is amazing. A few minutes with us lot around and the house became a little less blank though I think it will take literally years until the whole thing is coloured in.

Thursday night saw me end up at a student union event called “Rockaoke” which was basically karaoke with a live band. Despite a slight temptation to go up and sing a song, I stayed firmly off the stage. They wasn’t many people there though and being with a group of girls for most of the night I felt a bit left out. In fact, it was a pretty rubbish night. My rather stupid solution was to keep drinking alcohol, in the hope that it would cheer me up. All that ended up happening was I was drunk and miserable, which is not really a good thing to be. But still, at least I went out wearing chinos instead of jeans in my new bid to dress somewhere in the realms of trendy. I think I might well buy some different coloured chinos once I have my student loan next week.

The return to the house was a bit weird because I was drunk and my housemate Josh had arrived. As had his parents. So there I was, fairly drunk, trying to make myself look sensible and sober. I’m not entirely sure why I bothered but I didn’t really want to make anymore of a fool of myself then was unavoidable. I am told at one point I was very annoyed when Alice started talking when I had been conversing with Josh. It’s nice to have my closest friend in the house back though and I was with him for a fair bit of the day today. He’s such a laugh.

This afternoon I had an appointment at the Doctor’s so someone could look at the eye infection I appear to have. I thought I knew the way but I got a bit confused at one point so I rang my friend Louise who I knows has been there before. She then proceeded to direct me the complete opposite direction, causing me to miss my appointment entirely. After some time sat in a coffee shop (witnessing a woman accidentally pour water all over herself), the on duty doctor rand me up and told me I could get what I needed over the counter and didn’t need a prescription at all. So in fact the whole afternoon had been a complete waste of time! I am very annoyed about this and I don’t think Louise will ever hear the end of it. I now have some ointment which is placed inside the eyelid to clear up the infection and after just one application I think it may has made a difference already, which is pleasing.

And finally, only a few hours before I wrote this our household and Josh’s parents went to Pizza Hut where we had a lovely meal because stated parents paid the bill which was extremely kind of them. A free dinner is always good, especially when your finances are in as much of a state as mine are right now. I really can’t wait for the student loan to arrive in my bank account on Monday!

So there you have it. I’m off to put strange liquids into my eyelid again so I shall see you sometime soon. If I don’t write for a couple of days it’s because I’m busy doing more random things but I shall post again soon. Thank you for taking the time to read and add a comment to make me smile.

I’m a Cheeky Monkey

As promised, today’s post will be heavily photo intensive. Essentially I’ve been around my room and taken photos of everything, whether they are interesting or not.

Firstly, here is my room from a couple of angles now that’s it all set up how I want it. My dungeon looks awesome now:

Next is what will become my desert garden once I can by a pot for them all and some soil. But it will be pretty awesome (and spiky) soon:

I like having plants in my room and have always liked cacti for some reason. And during the time I’m back home, they will stay alive because they won’t need watering too much.

When I opened my blind when I came back to my room, I discovered a little present from my housemate Josh sat there:

It’s best not to question these things. A good deal at the supermarket and my Dad giving me some has led to me having a ridiculous number of crisps. Some have been eaten, mostly by housemate Jaz who never buys food for himself. So I have around fifty packets in this box

And today I bough the most brilliant piece of clothing, which I took a photo of me modelling. It’s brilliant.

It has a tail and everything and shall keep me warm in my cold little dungeon.

Today has been an odd one, largely good with a big dollop of bad thrown in. But largely good. The coming week has some interesting experiences on offer including a free ride in a van and a visit to the doctors about my suspected eye infection. I’m looking forward to the van ride more.

The Mayhem Continues

I am now writing, for the first time ever, from my bedroom in my uni house in Winchester. It’s a basement so I call it my dungeon. I returned yesterday where I spent the afternoon sorting everything out. The practicalities of life in a new house from someone who is borderline-OCD proves quite a challenge. But I think I am finally there, apart from needing a new desk chair and a few things for the desert garden I have going (more on that tomorrow- what a teaser that is!)

It’s quite nice to be back actually, with Alice, Jaz and Dannie all having returned and our main house of friends have all returned too. I’m still missing my best uni friend Josh though, who arrives later in the week. Last night I felt distinctly uncomfortable when I was sat round our friend’s house but that was probably because I have been little more than a hermit all summer so being in the same room five other people was perhaps a bit overwhelming. But today was much better in that sense.

This morning I got up early (which is really rare for me) and was in time to get our new internet hub. After working out where it would go, we followed the instructions and it was all set up. Except we still couldn’t connect to the internet. I spent about forty minutes on the phone to a nice Indian man called Sayed who did his best but didn’t get anywhere and the terrible phone signal which kept cutting out didn’t help. We eventually learnt that our own university were at fault because they accidentally cut through an important Virgin Media cable. But seeing as though you are reading this, it’s clear that the internet is now fully functional.

This afternoon I had what I can only describe as a typical day at uni without lectures. I accompanied my friends on a long shopping trip. We spent a few minutes looking at the animals in a pet store (it’s like a free zoo for us students) and then went into a DIY store where I purchased a new mirror and items for the previously mentioned desert garden, making full use of Jaz’s handy staff discount. Then we went to the supermarket where I pushed the trolley for Jaz and Alice and we somehow managed to spend probably a couple of hours there. A supermarket is clearly a day out! 

I had a really lovely evening spending time with my housemates. Jaz showed me the more attractive of his Facebook friends which was fun. Before the internet this type of male-bonding just couldn’t have happened. Then a bit later there was sort of a storytelling session where Dannie told us of some of her summer activities, most of them involving large amounts of alcohol and Jaz telling us about his trip to Pakistan (or “the Motherland” as he calls it) and about having typhoid, which can’t have been pleasant.

So all in all, I am pleased to be here. I’ve had more fun over the day and a half I’ve been here than I did for entire weeks in my dull summer holiday. I do wish Josh was here to complete the fun. Apparently he dreamt that I sat on his desk chair and the pole underneath impaled me and since Alice informed me of this I have worried that Josh is getting premonitions and feel jumpy when just walking past the door to his bedroom. But I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Tomorrow my post will be heavily photo-based and I shall show you various things in my room and beyond, including lots of crisps and that desert garden I keep banging on about. Ta-ta for now!

I Need Sleep

I had a terrible night’s sleep last night. I was just thinking of going to bed when I ended up joining a live stream of Doctor Who and didn’t make it to bed until getting on for 3AM. This wasn’t too much of an issue though, it happens fairly often. Then at 5:15AM I was awoken by a horrible and very loud rumbling sound which seemed to be coming from the pipes. My room is right next to the boiler so I heard it worse. After half an hour of putting up with the horrible sound and listening to my Dad wander round the house, I finally got up to investigate. My Dad reckoned there was air in the pipes so bled all the radiators but the noise didn’t stop until he turned the heating off. I was sent to sleep on the sofa in case the boiler exploded or something and I couldn’t sleep too well on that. I am too tall to sleep on the sofa, if only it was a little longer.

All in all, a terrible sleep. And a night of terrible sleep rarely leads into a good day.Though today was OK. I spent a lot of it packing stuff for my return to Winchester tomorrow. It’s so weird to be going back to uni after all this time away. And I didn’t think I had that much stuff left to take, seeing as though I have loads of stuff sat in my house in Winchester. But actually I discovered I have a lot of stuff that I need to take back. Over the last year the amount of possessions I own seems to have at least quadrupled in size.

What I didn’t tell you yesterday was that I received another package in the post. It was some new comics, including the first three issues of Kick Ass 2. I quite liked the film and loved the graphic novel when I purchased it so it’s exciting to be doing things the right way round this time. And if the first Kick Ass was crazy, Kick Ass 2 is ridiculous. Dave tries to set up his own version of the Justice League and to begin with it worked brilliantly but Red Mist is back and things look like they are going to get messy. It’s awesome though.

And that’s about all I have to share with you today. I’m tired, remember? Tomorrow my summer holiday officially ends as I get dropped off at my Winchester house. I’m quite indifferent about the whole thing really. Not really that excited to go back but at least more happens then here at home. I am suffering from a lack of enthusiasm about anything right now. My next blog, if all goes to plan and the internet is installed when it should be, will be on Monday. I look forward to seeing you then.

What People Think

Yesterday a car passed me which contained two people I used to go to school with and I couldn’t help but wonder what they thought of me. It was over three year’s ago that we were last in school at the same time and even then I didn’t really speak to either of them. I may have seen them around town but not together and I could tell they were looking at me and suppose they must have had a conversation about me, even if it was short. So I wonder what they thought.

They may well have thought about me in terms of several things I was renowned for at school. I was such a loser back in school but at least virtually everyone knew who I was. And as most actors say “I’ll be happy if I am remembered for something”. If they did talk about me back in those days, then they probably joked about me and used various bits of language that many would deem offensive. But I’m not really too bothered because I am a different person now.

And I would assume they would have talked a little about how I am now. I doubt either of them know that I am uni studying to become a teacher so they may have speculated about what I am doing these days. I imagine that they would have assumed I am at uni though probably would have thought I was doing something quite academic. I seemed to have had that reputation with some people, despite the fact it’s not at all true. Whilst I’m not stupid, I have never done particularly well at anything and my grades have always been fairly average. It’s difficult to know whether their opinion on this is good or bad but I happen to know that one is a builder now and the other is, or at least was, working in a petrol station, two jobs that are necessary but are not exactly renowned for their intellectual requirements. So perhaps I am a little impressive to them in that sense.

My physical appearance could have been cause for conversation too. Apart from being a bit overweight, I am actually fairly happy with the way I look these days. The terrible acne problem I used to have has died right down, my hair looks ok and my clothes, whilst not fashionable, look fairly good. I probably look the best I have ever done. And I have the beard now which I guess gives the impression that I am not the Average Joe I once was. After a while on this train of thought, I couldn’t help but wonder if I grew the beard specifically for this reason. The average guy my age doesn’t have a beard. Until I started uni, I have always been that average person. I wasn’t popular but not a complete loner, I didn’t do well in exams but I didn’t do terribly. I got 8 B’s in my GCSEs- that couldn’t be much more average?

But since going to uni I have become my own person. I’m doing a course only a certain kind of person can do. My clothing is not the dull rubbish it used to be with some random words on it. Many of my T-shirts actually stand-out quite a lot which I would never have liked a little while ago. But someone actually complimented my clothing on Saturday so I must be doing something right. And the beard too is something different. I have grown to quite like it and though I had to shave it off today because it was getting too long, I will totally be letting it grow back straight away. It’s part of me these days.

Anyway, back to the point. Was there a point? I guess it was when I started thinking about it, I am much happier with who I am now. I have sort of found myself. Sure, there’s big issues with social interaction but I am getting there. And I am going to make a big push to lose weight once I am back at uni too, because I ought to be more healthy. But still. I am me. And I am actually quite happy about that.

A Power Cut, Stationary and More!

Hello! I have a surprising amount of things I want to talk about today. To the casual onlooker they would seem like a set of dull things but I am pleased by the oddest of things. So let’s delve into another bizarre bucketload of things from my life.

Yesterday was one of those odd days where you have no plans yet still feel you didn’t have time to get everything done. I hope you understand that because it sounds completely mental, but it makes sense to me at least. Around half eight in the morning a plumber came round to do a couple of bits to the house. Whilst I was a bit irritated that I would have to get up to avoid being woken up by some horrible noise and not being able to have a shower because the water was off, I didn’t mind too much. I thought I would just sit in my room on the internet and wait for him to leave. However, the moment the laptop went on, we had a power cut.

Remaining an optimist, I decided that instead I would go and some gardening that my Mum had requested that I do. This involved clearing out the weeds and brambles at the side of our house. Except it was a much harder job then I had anticipated as it was mostly some horrible grass which was hard to cut through with the rubbish secateurs we have. Still, it occupied me for much longer than I had expected AND I got a chance to use a saw to get rid of a bit of ivy that was growing up the fence. Sawing through branches and thin-ish trees is one of the few things I can actually claim to be good at and I love it too. It’s fun.

When I returned finally returned inside, the electricity still hadn’t reappeared. Having noticed a few electricity company vans go past, I decided to go and investigate. Upon arriving at the cul-de-sac at the end of our road, I found no less than six vans, a portable generator and a small digger digging up the road. It was literally the most exciting thing our quiet little road has ever experience and clearly there was a major problem with the electricity supply. But hat off to the electricity company, they sorted it out relatively swiftly (well I’m not wearing a hat but if I had been I would have taken it off then). The house meanwhile became the temporary home of two plumbers and an electrician who made lots of noise whilst they replaced a radiator and installed a power shower in my mum and dad’s en-suite. It’s always weird when there is work going on in the house, it feel like a building site.

Anyways, onto one of my favourite things: stationary. If you are anything like me, you will love a good bit of stationary. Well today I had a rare visit to one of those massive shops which sells just stationary. It was like being in heaven. Actually, if heaven exists I would be disappointed to find it is just stationary. But you get the idea. I bought very little in the end, mainly because I have such a huge supply of stationary I don’t need a lot else. But I did get a notepad for the new uni year and a case for my phone to prevent it from breaking again. And that second item isn’t even stationary. However, I have bought an exciting item of stationary lately and here is me showing it off:

That is a TARDIS (from Doctor Who) pencil case. It’s rather awesome and exactly the size I wanted. Though it might give my new uni group the impression I am a loser. Best to get that bit out of the way early I suppose.

The last couple of weeks have been proved excellent for the novel I’m working on. I am nowhere near finishing a first draft but I have the plot and details of it much clearer in my mind and on paper. I already feel that I can say lots of nonsense that people say these days like “it’s been an incredible journey”. Actually the book itself could largely be described as an incredible journey. I’ve written the first three and bit chapters as well as a prologue so far and am really pleased with how it’s shaping up. It will need a lot of tweaking but first I need to write the rest of it. It would be classified as fantasy but it does have a slight element of sci-fi in it at one point- or will have once I’ve written that bit. But yeah, my little project is going brilliantly.

Hmm, is that it? I think that’s all the stuff from my brain poured out onto paper. Or a computer anyway. The idea of returning to uni for a second year has finally stopped being something in the distant future. I return in three days! It’s all very exciting yet still making me inexplicably anxious at the same time. I can do nothing more than wait for the time to come…

Celebrating Road Dahl

Today is Dahl Day, a celebration of the life and work of fantastic author Roald Dahl. Today I am going to remind you of his best work and tell you why it’s brilliant and will still stand up in years to come.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: It’s about a chocolate factory, somewhere children would love to visit. But it’s not dull like such factories actually are, it’s exciting and fun run by the eccentric Willy Wonka with the help of his army of Oomph-Loompas.Not only that, it demonstrates that children who are badly behaved or have certain bad habits get nothing from life apart from hideous accidents. Few books are both funny and have such brilliant moral messages in them.

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator: A lot of people seem to forget this sequel exists. It might not have the plot structure of it’s ancestor but it’s still lots of fun. Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket are now partners in the chocolate factory and lots of crazy things happen involving aliens and anti-aging pills. Both the books will always stand up because children will always love sweets and most of the ones in the books can never be made.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: A story of a clever character outwitting stupid characters will always work if done right. And this one is done brilliantly. A fox called Mr. Fox outwits three mean and wealthy famers so he can steal their food. A simple idea that was executed really well. And perhaps it helped in the ban of fox-hunting too.

James and the Giant Peach: Few novels have such a brilliant title for one thing. Having ended up living with his horrible Aunts, James is pleased when he manages to meet a load of friendly insects in a giant peach. Lot’s of fun things happen but ultimately it’s a romp where James gets to have fun and his aunts have no fun at all. Dahl even managed to turn something as sad as the death of his parents into something quite funny, saying they were devoured by a rhinoceros.

Matilda: Perhaps the most famous because of the film, this is a delightful tale of an incredibly intelligent girl whose parents show no interest and has a terrifying headteacher in the form of Miss Trunchball. Things turn out well in the end after Matilda performs a few miracles and moves in with her lovely teacher Miss Honey.

The BFG: A story about a giant who is big and friendly. Already sounds good. Essentially it’s good giant vs. not so good giants and good giant wins. Fun story and I will always remember being scared initially when Sophie first sees the BFG.

The Twits: This hilarious book sees a husband and wife me horrible to each other in silly, over the top ways.It’s short and easy to read and is very revolting. Dahl’s brilliant descriptions often cause nausea in adults but children love the disgusting to it’s just perfect.

The Witches: A story that is quite scary about a load of witches attempting to turn all the children into mice. Dahl gives them fantastically evil voices too. This is my favourite of all of Dahl’s books because it is so well crafted, has a real sense of danger yet remains very funny. Plus it is mostly set in Bournemouth, which is right near where I live. But I would still love it if it was set anywhere else.

Roald Dahl was one of the greatest children’s writers to ever live. When I am a fully-fledged teacher I will certainly be using some of his books with my class. If there is any of the above you have not read, I fully recommend you read them, no matter what age you are. Otherwise you have missed out on something very special.

I am a Time Lord & A Vet

Hello. It’s been a few days since my last proper post. As I continually find myself telling you, it’s simply because I am still living through the dullest summer holiday ever. Once the uni term starts properly I will be posting much more regularly, which is good. And today’s post is another of those bizarre ones where I just talk about a whole bunch of random things. So let’s stop introducing it and get into it.

Firstly I shall tell you about how I got my Blackberry fixed. You may remember if you are a regular reader that my phone had an accident and the LCD screen was broken. Well I eventually took it into the store I got it from who informed me that I could have it sent off to Blackberry to be fixed and that would cost £169. Things weren’t looking good. But then the lovely lady there gave me a card to someone who could do it cheaper. Next thing I know I find myself talking to a man on a suspicious looking stand in the middle of a shopping centre. After a quick phone call to someone in an Asian language I did not recognise, the man informed me that he could fix it for only £40 and within half an hour rather than the month Blackberry would do it in. With slight worries I would never seen the phone again I left him too it but came back thirty minutes later to find it with a new LCD screen. It wasn’t quite done to the standard that Blackberry would have done but for £129 less I wasn’t too bothered. I’m rather pleased that I can use my phone again!

I had another of my utterly incomprehensible dreams the other night. For some reason I was training to be a vet at “Vet College” or something. I have no idea how you train to be a vet so my mind just made it up. It was very much like one of my uni seminars and the tutor asked us to bring in our pet parrots after the mid-morning break. Fortunately in this dream I not only owned a parrot but could drive (I seemed to own a small red car, a Renault Clio or something similar). I picked the parrot up and took it to Vet College and then time flew forward as it tends to do in dreams. Next thing I knew I was being asked to bring my pet cat in after lunch. I left the parrot in it’s cage in Vet College and then drove home and picked up the family cat, Minstrel, who appeared to have left my parent’s house and moved in with me. And lost a lot of weight too. I can’t remember much after that but I did put Minstrel in a desk drawer to keep her safe for the rest of the day. I have such bizarre dreams!

In terms of real life, as you might imagine not that much has been happening. In a rare treat I actually left the house and went out with Chris for the afternoon. I ended up going into a second-hand shop and decided to spend £20 on really cheap DVDs because I had been getting bored of the ones I already have. Here is the pile of DVDs I ended up getting:

That should keep me going for a bit. I’ve seen most of them before but not for a long time and I’ve never seen Superbad or The Mummy 3 so they should properly entertain me during the weeks to come.

And whilst I am on the subject of the future I can tell you that I plans are afoot for a few people on my course, including me, to do a teaching placement in Africa, quite probably Ghana. This would not be until 2013 though probably and is not much more than an idea but hopefully this will happen. I would teach a class for three weeks and live with a local family. The flights would be the main cost but hopefully with some saving over a couple of years I will be able to afford them. I really really hope that this plan does go ahead because it would be the experience of a lifetime. I shall just have to keep my fingers crossed.

And now to move back into fantasy land. Someone random anonymous person on Tumblr asked me lots of questions about what I would be like if I was a Time Lord, like the Doctor on Doctor Who. I decided that I would be called The Magician and travel in a TARDIS that looked like this (if the chameleon circuit got stuck of course):

I decided that I would travel mostly to different planets but would pop back for a visit to the Earth’s past every now and then. My companion would naturally been some incredibly attractive young woman who fell head over heels in love for me. And I would avoid battling the cybermen wherever possible. They freak me out.

OK and let’s return to the real world once more. Yesterday was the final of tennis’ US Open where usual winner Serena Williams lost to Sam Stosur. The umpire made a decision that Williams didn’t like and unlike most players in her situation, she went a bit mental. She had a right old go at the umpire and then spit out my favourite new insult: “You’re unattractive inside”. Unattractive inside? That is ridiculous. Had Williams caught a glimpse of the umpire’s MIR Scan and discovered something nasty? I feel that whenever I have a falling out with someone I should tell them they are unattractive inside.

And that’s it from me until next time. I’ve no idea when that will be but I will try and make it fairly soon. See you then :)

Year 2 Goals

So it’s not long now until my second year at university begins and I am actually quite anxious about it. For one thing I am in a new group with few people I actually know in it so that will be uncomfortably awkward for a few weeks. But it’s mainly because I want to make this year much better than the first.

I basically messed up last year. Whilst I can categorically say that overall my first year at uni was good, I know full well it could have been a lot better and at some points it was positively unpleasant. Why was that, you ask? Or maybe you didn’t, but I’m going to tell you anyway because that’s kind of the point of this post. Firstly was my interaction with other people. I made some friends but not really that many considering I was in the same position as thousands of other people my age. And I really love the friends I’ve made and everything and treated them pretty badly at times. I mustn’t do that again. Plus it would be great if I made some more friends, particularly going-out type friends. None of my housemates or close friends go out that much and even when they do they tend not to drink much. I would quite happily go out at least once a week but for most of last year I was lucky if I went out once a month. I’m a student and going out on a Friday night is what I should be doing really. It’s the one time in my life where I have such an opportunity. Plus having a wider circle of friends has got to be good anyway.

So number one on the list towards an amazing second year is meeting new people and going out more. And treating the people I do much better. Number two is working harder. I didn’t exactly work my socks off for most of the year and the average marks on my assignments were what I got to show for it. But it was the first year and I could go that and it didn’t matter too much. So if I put in some proper hard work then I should end up doing better on my assignments. It’s probably all the preparatory work that I never did that would make the difference rather than the assignments themself. Either way, more work has got to mean better grades. If I can get at least a couple of firsts during the year then I will be pleased with myself.

And finally it’s money. Now I am quite lucky in that I am better off than the majority of my fellow students. Which meant that last year I just bought pretty much anything I wanted. However, this has caused my savings account to shrink considerably and is generally a bad thing. I will need money in the future, I will have my student loans to pay back as well as things like learning to drive and getting a house/flat. And there is a fair chance the amount of money I will be given in year three will be considerably less so I might need a bit extra then. So number three is spend much less money.

And there you have it. Three things that should help to make my second year at uni much better than the first and therefore be amazing. They should all be attainable really. But it’s number one that’s most important. It’s people interaction that makes or breaks the uni experience and so far I haven't really got it right.

Sorry about the..erm… oddness of this post. It was more for me than for you. But still, if you continue to read my blog then you will find out how successful I am. So there.

God is Dog Backwards

Hello! I have internet access once again so I think it is time to report back on my Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which were a brilliant few days. I took my two best friends, Chris and Mike, to my uni house in Winchester. It sort of replaced our original plan to go camping and I think an empty house with all the facilities we need was a lot better than a tent would have been.

On arrival on Monday I gave Chris and Mike the tour of the house and they were both quite impressed by my dungeon (my basement bedroom). I was a little concerned to discover the odd bit of mould on several of my possessions, including most worryingly my pillow case. Fortunately I had a spare but it seems I might need to purchase a dehumidifier, whatever one of those is. The room has been unoccupied for over a month though so I am hoping the problem won’t be there when I am living in it. I was however amused to find a small gnome with the message “Hi Dan” outside my window, left by housemate Josh without a doubt.

Having purchased and brought with us a fair bit of alcohol, we decided that we ought to drink some of it and played traditional drinking game “ring of fire” where a random card from a pack determines how much you have to drink on that round. We had bought a bottle of jagermeister and were drinking that with pepsi, which was unexpectedly rather nice. After playing a couple of rounds, we headed out into lifeless Winchester. Being a Monday night everywhere was either closed or very quiet but we did find a nice little pub which kept us entertained for a little while. A couple of weeks later when uni has started again and it would have been much busier. Still, we got a little tipsy and had a decent night.

It was well into Tuesday before we had all risen from our sleep, Chris being the last by far. After playing an huge Mario Kart Wii tournament, we went to the local cinema to see The Inbetweeners Movie. For those that don’t know, The Inbetweeners was a rather rude TV show that ran for 3 series which saw four sixth-formers get up to all sorts of antics whilst trying to fit in and get girls. The movie sees them going on a holiday to Malia, where they try to get girls. As usual. It was very funny and made me cringe a fair few times but despite it’s rudeness manages to be charming at the same time. (Today’s title is a quote from the movie by the way)

On the way to the cinema we had a rather awkward conversation with a chugger (charity mugger). A woman was standing outside the chocolate shop giving out free samples and we were instinctively drawn towards her. Out of know where a woman with a children’s charity logo on her jacket stepped in front of us. Normally in such a situation you can just make an excuse but this chugger opened by saying “I know you are not at all interested”. This was correct but us three polite young men (well Chris just walked off so two polite young men) were then forced by our good nature to endure a really awkward conversation. The woman asked us what we had been up to and we discussed Doctor Who when she noticed by T-shirt. Then Mike made the mistake of saying we were going to the cinema and then she was off on her charity pitch. Eventually, realising we really weren't;t going sign up to give the charity money, she let us go. I always feel bad for rejecting charities but I am a student and can barely afford to look after myself, let alone anyone else. When I am older and can afford to do so, I will no doubt be quite a friend of certain charities.

After the cinema we ordered in pizzas and then decided we needed to finish off the copious amounts of alcohol in the fridge. This led us to playing a drinking version of classic board game Monopoly. I had terrible luck with the game but was consuming alcohol rather quickly, several times getting through nearly an entire glass of Pepsi with two jaeger shots in just one circuit of the board. Once again we decided to head out for the evening and once again found it difficult to find somewhere decent to go. After going to one pub and finding it’s occupants all leave within minutes of our arrival, we left too. Eventually we did find somewhere with a bit of atmosphere and cheap drinks so we ended up getting a bit more drunk. Once we had begun to sober up a bit we went for a short walk and sat my a river. It was then that we got all philosophical and sensible and talked about lots of things and gave Chris advice on going to uni (he took a year out to decide what he wanted to do).

We didn’t do a lot yesterday beyond watching some films and tidying the house up. All in all it was a brilliant few days. Hanging out with your two best mates is always great and living with them for three days was ever better. I love the friendship the three of us have. When I went off to uni I was quite worried that I would never end up speaking to my old friends again and in most cases that has sadly been the case. Most of my old friendship group has pretty much forgotten my existence it seems. But me, Chris and Mike or DCM as we are as a collective, have met up loads of times this summer and indeed in our other holidays and our friendship is as strong as it ever was. Hmm, I’m getting soppy now. But yeah, you get the idea. It was a brilliant couple of days which were very funny. And I got my phone fixed which is a bonus too.

I have no idea what’s going to happen in the next few weeks but I shall of course report all the highlights here. In the meantime check out the posts from my absence, a debate on endangered animals and how to spot an e-mail scam.

GP: How to Spot an E-mail Scam

For the first time ever, you are getting a guest post on a day other than Wednesday. This post arrived in my inbox at exactly the right time for me to schedule it. I shall be back with news of what chaos ensued whilst I am in Winchester with my two mates, but today we have a handy little post on how to spot an e-mail scam easily by Sierra Dawson.

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4 Tips on How to Spot an Email Scam Easily

Everyone these days knows that bad guys abound on the internet. There are all sorts of predators out there looking to steal your credit card number and other personal information, and one of the ways they do this is by sending out scam emails. Some of these emails are ridiculously simple to spot, but others look very official and can intimidate you into releasing personal information that can lead to all sorts of problems down the road. Here are four ways to spot these more sophisticated email scams:

1. Links in emails that you aren't expecting

Sometimes, you're expecting an email with a link in it from companies you use and trust. For instance, if you're setting up a new bank account online, your bank will send you an email with a link in it to confirm your email address. Email address confirmations are common even when you're subscribing to a web feed for a particular website or when you're signing up for forums. If you're expecting these emails, and if the links they take you to only ask for you to confirm your email address, then you're usually safe.

However, if your bank or any other entity sends you an email with a link you need to follow and you aren't already expecting this email, you should probably ignore it. Scammers these days can make emails look incredibly official – even using official-seeming websites to pass off their scams as legitimate. Emails with links in them, though, are almost always taking you to an unofficial scam website. If the email seems really official and you have questions about it, contact the supposed sender of the email, such as your bank, to get more information on it.

2. User surveys

Again, sometimes you've been told to expect a survey, and you can use these links and surveys safely. For the most part, legitimate companies will simply send out anonymous surveys that don't ask for personal information beyond, maybe, some basic demographic information. However, if you get an email that asks for personal information on a survey, just skip it.

These emails are common for online video gamers who have personal log in information for their games. For instance, players of the popular online game World of Warcraft by Blizzard often get official-looking emails about World of Warcraft user surveys. These surveys promise prizes or new gaming information in exchange for taking a survey, but the survey requires the user to log on through a scam Blizzard website or to provide their log on information. Then, the scammers can hack the account, using it to "farm" items and gold that they sell for real money later on.

3. Email attachments

Again, many official-looking emails with email attachments will come through. If you aren't expecting an attachment, though, you should not open it. If you don't recognize the email address that's sending you an attachment, try emailing the person or company back if it looks legitimate so that you can get more information. If you don't get a reply, just delete the email. Once in a while, you may just be unaware of a the new personal email address of a friend or coworker, but these people will usually email you back to confirm who they are and what the attachment is for.

4. Asking for more account information, especially in credit and banking situations

The most dangerous thing you can possibly give out through a suspect email is your credit card or banking information. Sure, it can be frustrating to have your gaming account hacked, but it's even worse when you lose money from your bank account or suffer from credit card fraud because of a scam email.

Any time a credit card company or bank is asking for more information, Sierra Dawson from CreditDonkey says, "You should actually call your bank to figure out what you need to do." Sometimes, these emails will even ask you to sign into your online banking account and will provide you with a link. Never use these links to sign into your account, as they're almost always mirror scam sites that will just steal your log in information to use on the real banking or credit card website. Instead, you can sometimes see if the email has any truth to it by simply opening a new internet window and logging into your credit card or bank account as you normally would.

These are just four things to look for that will help you spot potential email scams that could cost you some serious time and money. You should also look for unofficial looking emails that make wild claims, promise huge earnings, winnings, or inheritances, and use terrible grammar, as these are also sure signs of email scams that you'll want to avoid.

Debate: Should we save endangered animals?

I am currently spending a couple of days in Winchester where I do not yet have internet (I’m back on Wednesday). But to save this blog being abandoned for a few days I have written this post in advance, which is unusually organised of me.

So, today we have another debate. And that is whether we should bother saving endangered animals from extinction? Should we spend millions of pounds saving something or should we just let them die out? Let’s discuss the arguments.

So why do some people think, including several high-profile naturalists, that we should let endangered animals die out? Well for one thing, the cost. Charities and governments spend millions and millions a year attempting to save animals. All the research, governmental pressure and habitat management costs a lot of money which could go to some other cause which is more likely to succeed. Perhaps it could be argued that humans are more important than animals and so money should be spent on issues in third world countries. And then there is the issue about evolution. The idea of survival of the fittest means that species either evolve or they die out. So surely these endangered species are not the fittest and are supposed to die out? So perhaps we should let them.

And then there is the other side of the story. If we let animals die out, they will cease to exist and will never, ever be seen again on this planet. Already the human race has caused the extinction of probably hundreds of species, from the Dodo to the thylacine. And it is our duty as the most advanced species on the planet to stop this happening again. Right now, there is an alarming large list of animals which face an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. These species include the snow leopard, the leatherback turtle, the Sumatran Orangutan and the Siberian Tiger. And that’s barely dented the list. These impressive species would cease to exist if we let them and that simply can’t be allowed to happen.

And now I guess I should say my opinion. Which is a bit confused actually. I do think we should stop species becoming extinct but then again if evolution means they should die out, then maybe they should. I guess it goes down to your religious views. Are things “meant to be”? If they are, then perhaps animals should be let to become extinct.

So what do you think? I would love to know what you think of this issue, so why not fling your opinion in the comments! Thank you!

Scarecrows!

What with one thing or another it has been a little while since I actually talked about the latest goings-on in my life. And a few things have actually happened, which is great. I did my last two days of work for the summer holidays, one of which was a lovely day with an interlude of cake and the other was a not quite so lovely day at the local theme park. This was partly because I had to go on one of those rides which lifts you up and then drops you from a great height. It’s the bit where you are hovering in mid-air for a few seconds, knowing that a fall is about to occur very soon. I hated it. I also required some minor first aid when I got home after I got a nasty scratch from a child, but it wasn’t the first time that a child has injured me and I doubt it will be the last.

So yes, work is over for another summer (my sixth, would you believe it!) and so it’s a few weeks of doing whatever the hell I want until the new term starts at uni. And today I did something a little different. Every year a village next door to our town, said village being called Bisterne, hosts a scarecrow festival wear people design scarecrows and you can then go and see them. My dad and I got on our bikes and went to see as many as we could, having purchased a map (proceeds going to charity) from the nearby petrol station. Being the sad little blogger I am, I of course took a camera so that I could share them with you lot. So here are the best scarecrows:

This was a cartoon-style hunters scene with two hunters, a crocodile and a giraffe made out of papier-mâché and a lion made out of grass. I couldn’t get a picture of the hunters though due to some inconvenient people who spent ages stood in front of them staring.

Next was a brilliant Mr. Happy scarecrow, made in celebration of the Mr. Men book’s fortieth anniversary. I like the extra details of the flowers and even the worms.

A silly pun was the basis of this one: “The King’s Speach”.

One house, which was in the middle of no-where, had made a Wind in the Willows scene:

And finally we have the Scarecrow Olympics, with an amusing list of events:

Oh and one other thing I want to tell you is that I had my haircut today and I went for a change of style. My hair has been long-ish for a long time now but I have decided to have it much shorter, so that it doesn’t end up getting scruffy all the time. It’s a bit weird getting used to it though and it will be interesting to see if people notice it straight away. I imagine they will.

And on that note I shall end for another day. I might see you tomorrow, I might not, you will have to wait and see!

Friday Review 4#

Hello and welcome to another Friday review. Once again I shall be sharing my thoughts about a variety of things that I have seen, watched or used over the last week. ★ is the number of stars each item got and a ☆ is an empty star, showing how many away the item was from getting top stars.

Web

Pottermore

Pottermore is the website which is keeping the Harry Potter franchise going. It’s doesn’t open properly until October but one million people have access to the Beta version, including me.The site sees you follow the story through key moments where some artwork is displayed and you can read extra information from J.K. Rowling and collect objects like chocolate frog cards to put in your trunk. During the course of The Philosopher’s Stone, the only book you can play through currently, you also get given a wand and sorted into a house. This is the moment any Potterhead has dreamed of and is very excited. You can also practice casting spells and brewing potions separately from the story-mode. It works well and the artwork is fantastic. But it’s not perfect. The lack of any music at all is odd and in some key moments, there is very little to do. And once you finish The Philosopher's Stone, that’s about it, for now anyway. I imagine that the site will be tweaked slightly for full release and as we have only one book so far, the shortest of them as well, I am assuming we have seen less than a seventh of what the site actually has to offer. Good at the moment with the potential of being fantastic when fully functioning in October. ★★★★☆

The Sims Social

EA have chosen to take on the Facebook gaming kings that are Zynga with a Sims equivalent of Farmville. You can plant and harvest crops but that’s about where the similarities end. Gameplay in the Sims Social is based around you completing a series of missions, most of which require some kind of interaction with your friends. As far as I am aware the missions just keep on going, which is good news. But not so good news if you don’t have many Facebook friends and/or many that play the Sims Social. It will probably seen tedious after a while but with the opportunity to do new things and make your house even better, it might be a long while. Apart from the occasional technical difficulty when the game isn’t available, this is the best game on Facebook. If you are not playing it yet, you should be. ★★★★★

Books

The Burning Girl by Mark Billingham

This is the next novel featuring Thorne, the brilliant detective. Except this book isn’t really a murder mystery. The book with the case already in full operation, a case which sees two gangs kill of rival members. Then there is a link to a cold case where a girl was set fire too which is gruesome and the inspiration for the title. All this is very promising and good to read but the story sizzles out about three quarters of the way through. Although we are not left with any questions at the end, the case is not really “solved” and Throne does some things which seem really against his character. It’s not awful but doesn’t live up to the high standards the previous three books set. I just hope that the series comes back to it’s original high standards in the next book. ★★★☆☆

Watership Down by Richard Adams

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started this book. All I knew is that it’s a children’s book and features rabbits. It didn’t sound very exciting. But I was wrong. Though the characters are rabbits, they come across as humans, perhaps in a remote tribe. A group of rabbits leave their warren and travel to find a new one, only to realise when they get there that there are no females to breed with. So they have to go and get some, from a warren which is rather corrupt. It’s not unlike the day care centre in Toy Story 3 where the toys are not allowed to leave. Stories from the rabbit’s “religion” add to the effect and it turns out the dull-sounding kid’s story is a brilliant adventure. No wonder that it has become a children’s classic. ★★★★☆

TV

Page Eight

This TV film saw Bill Nighy play an MI5 agent trying to sort out the political nightmare that page eight of a secret dossier causes after the death of MI5’s head, Dumbledore. (OK so not actually Dumbledore but the same actor!) Nighy has his next-door neighbour, a woman off of beauty adverts, drive him around and he eventually meets the prime minster, Voldemort (same actor again…). It should have perhaps been entitled “Bill Nighy walks around with lots of money in a Waitrose bag”. It’s more of a political drama rather than an espionage one and there’s no guns or anything like that in it. I’m not sure I really got the point of it actually. OK but not as special as I had hoped. ★★★☆☆

Games

Because Nintendo have reduced the price of their 3DS , they are giving early adopters a series of free downloadable games in the form of a“3DS Ambassador Program”. The current selection were originally available on the NES and here are some quick thoughts on the ones I have played so far. I don’t feel I have played them enough to rate them yet though.

Super Mario Bros: The original platformer and is brilliant despite the years. There’s a fair chance you have played it or the modern version New Super Mario Bros and so you know how good it is. I did find two issues though. The first is that you can’t go backwards which is a bit annoying and the second is that you cannot save your game. This is really, really annoying and ought to be fixed in a future update. Otherwise, brilliant.

Balloon Flight: Uses the physics of the underwater level of the above. You have to pop bird’s balloons and send them falling to the ground and avoid having your own balloons popped. Quite tricky and again no save option, but rather good none the less.

Mario and Yoshi: A puzzle game rather than a platformer as it sounds. It’s essentially an old Nintendo version of Tetris, except harder and less fun. OK for a bit but just gets dull.

Ice Climbers: Supposed to be very good but I haven’t got the foggiest on how to play it. So if you’re like me, it might be confusing.

NES Golf: An old golf game. I haven’t yet worked out how to hit the ball further than a few centimetres and it is supposed to be the worst of the bunch. But could be ok if I could get the hang of it.

 

I shall be back with a new post tomorrow featuring, if all goes to plan, some scarecrows!