Personal

This morning has been… well a bit annoying, but mostly okay. I sent off for my provisional driver’s licence. I took the bad pictures that always come out of those automatic machines. It cost £4.20 and I only had four pounds on me, so the guy that was fixing it gave me the 20p I needed. Such a nice old man. ^_^ But the man behind the counter at the post office was just… gah. I needed a postal order to send with my application so he printed out one for me. I get all of the special delivery envelopes so that they can send me my passport back securely and when it’s time to pay? The wrong amount comes up on the machine. Then he tells me that I need to pay for the postal order with cash. Like I have any, everywhere I go I pay with a card. So he sets things aside and I run across the street to the cash machine and get the £50 I needed. I come back and he’s like: “You do know that there’s a fee with this, right?” I nodded my okay and again, I was about to pay with my card. Nope, he asks if I have any more cash on me. *rolls eyes* Something wrong with the machine that takes cards. I need to run across the street again to get more cash. Geez, he could’ve told me all of this sooner! And because he got me running around, I forgot to write my name on the back of the postal order and get the special delivery number of the return envelope. Hrmph. Although I have had pretty good experiences with the special delivery system of the Royal Mail so I’m not too worried. It’s just the regular letters that get lost into the ether. Could be either Royal Mail’s fault or the USPS. Oh well. But yay, that’s done. I should have my provisional licence in a few weeks! o/

My Writing Project is done. I’ve had people read it, point out the missing words (which is something that happens no matter what medium I’m using to convey my writing, seriously). And all of the typos too. I’ve got the folders for it and now all it needs is to be printed. Which I will do on Monday. I only have one more class next week and then I’m done with all of those too. One 3000 word essay to write, well, now only 1500 words left and once that’s been handed in, I can leave Aber any time I feel like. ^_^ I know I whine about writing these essays, but last night while I was struggling to write about Donne’s poetry, I realized that I actually do enjoy it. It’s fun to learn of various perspectives on things. But it’s also annoying to be “forced” to do it. Then again, if I didn’t have these deadlines to write the essays, then I probably wouldn’t do them at all.

I’m still knitting my modified version of Bad Penny. I added in shaping and some cables because let’s face it, plain stockinnette for a whole sweater gets very boring very quickly. But because of my modifications getting the right stitch count is driving me batty.

Ooh! Yesterday after dance practice I was chatting with Alan about my knitting and he was just wondering at the complexity of my scarf (really, it’s not that hard once you know what to do). So I offered to teach him how to knit. And he said okay. Tomorrow at our final dance competition of the year, I’ll be teaching him how to knit in between dancing. Speaking of, at this one we’re participating in more dances than before. We usually do Waltz, Quickstep, Cha and Jive. Occasionally Rumba. This time we’re doing all of the above and Tango. I’m also doing Samba with Jenni. I am so bad at leading (since I am the taller one of us), but at least it’ll be fun. :) Another thing! Alan and I have been moved from B Team Quickstep to A Team Waltz. Squee! :D

Okay, going to go have lunch and get some more reading done for my essay now. Some of that stuff that I need to wade through is so mind-numbingly dry that it kinda makes me want to not do the essay. But occasionally I do find good quotes to use. ^_^

Okay, now that I’ve gotten back into the swing of things, i.e. having to churn out writing on a regular basis and actually using my brain for something other than deciphering knitting patterns and watching the History Channel and Grey’s Anatomy, I thought it would also be a good time to write in here for a change. So yes, I’ve been gone for about five weeks. Not from the net, just from updating. So what have I been doing that’s been so enthralling that I haven’t even bothered to yammer on about on here?

1. I went to Blackpool for the InterVarsity Dance Competition where all of the universities go. It was pretty fun. Waltz was mine & Alan’s best dance, got to dance four rounds of that. Then came a tie between the Quickstep and Cha with three rounds. And last, as usual, came the Jive with just the first round that everyone gets to dance. For some reason lately we just freeze up when it’s time to do the Jive and well… let’s just say that it was entertaining for the audience. Seriously, we knew half way through our attempts at our routine that we weren’t going to get through. Still, even though our Jive bombed, we were still the beginner couple that did the best from our team. Yay us. ^_^

I was over at Oliver’s for three weeks after Blackpool. I watched a lot of History Channel (there was this thing about Henry VIII’s wives) and knit. I also edited my Writing Project and now it’s ready to be handed in. I just still need to re-read my commentary and then it’s all completely done. And I’ve got a week to spare too. Oliver also bought an XBox 360 while I was there so we played a lot of Star Wars Lego. I’m not that big of a gamer, but there are some games that I quite enjoy. Like pretty much all of the Mario Bros. stuff and this Lego thing. Oliver also bought me the game Lost so I’ll be playing that once I go over there again. :)

The last week of Easter vacation I went back to Belgium for a few days with a few days spent in Finland in the middle (I, ahem, enhanced my stash a bit while I was there). At home I watched a lot of Grey’s Anatomy. I was aiming to see all of seasons two and three while I was there, but I still have three discs left of season three. At least now I know what I’ll be doing again while I’m over there.

Oh coming back from Belgium was not my ideal journey. Firstly, there was traffic and I was afraid that I wouldn’t make it to my train on time. Then we get to the Channel Tunnel and there’s a power outage. The conductor decides to go in anyway and try to get through it slowly. We get to about the middle and discover that there’s a train in front of us that has, and I quote, failed (I just love it when foreigners come up with inventive ways of describing situations). Failed how? I don’t know. Maybe it had just failed in its attempts at achieving train-ness. :P Anyway, I get to St. Pancras three hours late and guess what? There’s a “reported emergancy” so they’re evacuating everyone. When I got to Aber I learned that there had been a suspect package, this is according to the Eurostar website anyway. But! I race all the way to Euston with my very large and heavy suitcase. I have to buy a new ticket since my old one isn’t valid anymore and then I wait for the next train to Birmingham. I picked the train that had fewer stops and crossed my fingers that I might make it in time for the 2:33 train. Nope, I get there five minutes too late. The right platform, but five minutes too late so I have to wait two hours for the next one. *rolls eyes*

And now that I’m back in Aber I’ve been doing what I pretty much have done before. I watch DVDs, climb the hill quite a bit, dance and just now I began writing my final essay of my BA career. Already have my introduction written. The hardest part was deciding what to write about. Oh and another thing that I have to write is my PhD application letter thingy. I’m still waiting to hear from my tutor about specific questions about doing a PhD here in Aber, mainly if it’s possible to do it without having to live in Aber since I want to live in Sheffield with Oliver, and then I’ll hand that in as well.

Knitting-wise? I found a wonderful yarn shop in Sheffield called The Wool Baa during Easter. I went there and bought a hank of Lane Borgosesia Cashwool and a hank of Araucania Ranco Multi. I’ve already made a pair of Freya socks from the Araucania yarn. Then last night I began knitting Bad Penny with the bamboo/cotton yarn I got from Finland. The ballband doesn’t give the color a name, but it looks like an old dusty rose. Very pretty. I’ve also designed a pair of fingerless mitts. I’ve knit one and I figure that when I get bored with the Bad Penny I’ll just make the other one because right now, I’m loving the ease of just stockinette stitch compared to the colorwork I’d have to do on the mitten. Plus, it makes it easier to watch DVDs when I don’t actually have to look at what I’m doing. ;)

Oh oh oh! The shower’s fixed! On Monday when I got back I went to take a shower and it wasn’t working (as in no hot water), so I went downstairs and told the porters and then on Tuesday morning a guy came to fix it. It’s so nice to have a hot shower again. And it doesn’t feel like a certain someone has been fiddling with it since, so double yay. ^_^

Going to Blackpool today. The bus won’t be leaving until 3pm, but I’m gonna have to leave my room by 2:15 if I want to get up the hill with my four bags and not be a big puddle of sweat. I’d be fine if the bus would go to the usual pick up places that we have when we go to competitions; mine is down in town, so it’s all flat to get there. It’s the whole walking up the hill that I don’t like to do when I already feel like a mule. :P

I was supposed to meet Becky yesterday for lunch, but she was mugged Wednesday night. She posted about this on her blog, so I don’t feel like I’m talking about something private when it’s not really my news to tell. Anyway, we decided to meet up today instead so that she could just stay in and mellow out yesterday. Plans change and so we didn’t meet up today either; but she did explain why and that’s good enough for me. :) So I went to Subway by myself. That was such a good sandwich. Way better than what they serve at Spartakus. And if you get the Sub of the Day, it’s only £1.99. Yummy yummy.

I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl. It’s like I couldn’t put it down. It was that good. Now I can’t wait until Thursday to go see it. ^_^

I cleaned the kitchen yesterday. And the hallway. And one of the bathrooms. It was all nice and clean and tidy. I go in the kitchen this morning? It’s all a mess again. Grrr. But Hannah does know that I’m not coming back from Blackpool with Aber team, so she said that she’ll try to get the flat into an okay shape for the upcoming inspection.

I should be cleaning up my room for the inspection next week. I should be packing. I should at least finish the second Clessidra if I’m not going to do the above two “more important” tasks. Instead? I’m hanging out in the kitchen with Hannah, I’m reading blogs, I’m listening to L&V, and now I’m talking about everything that I should be doing instead of just doing it. >_< Nothing really thrilling to report about this last week. Went up to Sheffield on Thursday, hung out, did laundry, watched movies, bought books, came back on Monday. Since then I’ve been to class, bought food for the competition on Saturday and been to dance practice.

About the dancing, our Waltz seems fine, no tripping over feet even when Alan wore his shoes. That’s progress. Made a slight alteration to our Cha routine, now it looks better. And we have finally agreed on our Jive routine. Now we just have to remember it. I’m not doing Rock’N’Roll at Blackpool because I want to focus on the other dances and be better at them rather than trying to remember another routine which I will mess up. So today, while Alan was off practicing his Rock’N’Roll routine with Jenni (they’re doing the acrobatic version; looks very cool), I helped out with teaching beginners the few moves that I did know. There’s this part where the girl passes in between the guy’s legs and is pulled up and usually the person I’m paired up with doesn’t have enough force to lift me up. I mean, let’s face it, I’m not a small girl. So I don’t usually even attempt it. Today though, there was this Romanian guy and he really wanted to practice it, and there was another beginner couple who were having trouble with it, so I demonstrated it slowly for them. I figured that my demonstration of it wouldn’t really work, since it never really has previously. When this guy pulled me up, it felt like he had enough strength to lift me up properly as well! That was like: “Ooooh, this is fun. I wanna try that again!” And so we did. ^_^

Yesterday afternoon I got a headache similar to the one I had at NUDC. At 8:30pm I was like, okay I should probably go to bed after this mug of tea because it’s not going away. I drank the tea, climbed into bed and felt a bit better. So I decided to read for like 10-15 minutes before actually going to sleep. The whole time I kept telling myself that I’d stop at the next chapter break. When my eyes were beginning to forcibly close, I finally put the book down and checked my watch: it’s two and a half hours later. The book that’s so intriguing to me is Philippa Gregory’s “The Other Boleyn Girl” that I bought last weekend. It’s a really good book. A page-turner. And now I’m wondering if I’ll be able to appreciate the movie as a movie and not constantly be comparing it to what I’ve read. I’ll still go see it though. Not with Hannah as we had planned, since the only week that they’re showing it here in Aber is the week that I’m in Belgium. When the man behind the desk at the Arts Center told me that, my reaction was replying in a disappointed/whiny voice: “I’m not here that week… *sad face* … I’m Not Here that week…“Then, just to show him that I really was okay and not genuinely depressed by his news, I grinned and thanked him. That just made him laugh. XD So yes, I will be going to see it by myself sometime this week when I’m in Sheffield. I’ve made plans with Oliver so that I’ll meet him at Meadowhall for food after my movie ends and he has left work. He sounded so sad when he said that he doesn’t really want to go see it. Not about him missing the movie, but making me go by myself. I’m totally okay with going by myself. It’s actually quite fun. Especially when I can go in the middle of the day in the middle of the week when the theater isn’t that busy. :)

Ugh, okay. I’m seriously going to start cleaning my room now. And listen to L&V at the same time. *nodnod*

I got a First!!! *does happy dance* Oh I am so buying three skeins of yarn now instead of two. Just sayin’. Now I need to go find the final colorway to go with my Aww-tum and Printemps.

Last night there was an earthquake. I figured that since the epicenter was in Lincolnshire, that’s why I didn’t feel it. But no. There’s a comment in the “Have your say” section from someone in Aber saying that they could feel their floorboards move. Yeah, I slept through an earthquake. Did not feel a single thing. Oliver felt it (then again he’s up in Yorkshire anyway so it must’ve been stronger over there. I guess I just sleep like a log.

Anyway, I’ve gotten lots of knitting done. My scarf is half-way done; won’t work on it until tomorrow when I get on the train. While I’m still here, I’m going to try to finish up Clue 9 of the SSS since I can’t work on that while on the train. And I need to figure out what yarns to bring with me for my Easter vacation by tonight, since I’m taking up my suitcase to Sheffield tomorrow. There’s been a slight change in plans for next weekend. I was going to spend two nights with Oliver at Blackpool during IVDC, but the Sheffield team has decided to go back already on Saturday instead of Sunday (which is what the Aber team is doing), I’m not totally sure yet what I’ll be doing. I guess I could try to find a place for just me for the second night and come back with the Aber team on Sunday, or then start Easter vacation a week early and just go back with the Sheffield team and not come back to Aber at all for that one seminar. Hmm…

Today’s going to be busy. Just had a group meeting about our portfolios, I’m going over to Dani’s house and watching videos that were taken at NUDC with other team members at three, then at eight I’ve got plans to go see an Ingrid Bergman movie with Alan and Ghislaine. And I still need to pack, do homework, edit my portfolio before sending it to my teacher…

…

There was just a really loud noise from outside. I think it was like one of those air force planes, sorta like what Mud experiences in Camp Nowhere… Didn’t see anything, but I definitely heard and felt it. I don’t know of any army bases near here though. Oddness. Maybe the pilot got lost during training. :P

Where was I? Ah yes, NUDC. It was an interesting competition. Everything went fine, except Jive. First round, Alan and I walk onto the floor, the music starts… We just look at each other with the deer-in-headlights look and ask: “What were we supposed to do again??” So yeah, we knew that we wouldn’t get a recall for Jive. :P Amazingly enough, during the “Old Time Dance” (which was called “The Cypress Swing” I think), we got a recall while Oliver & Jo didn’t. It was a fun sequence dance. ^_^

Warning: rambling about yarn shopping here. Mostly just thinking outloud right now. *sigh* I want a job. No, what I actually want is money. But that money would go to buy yarn. So technically, really, all I want is yarn. And the time to knit the yarn. I’ve been drooling over the yarns at the Loopy Ewe and I still haven’t decided if I should order from there or from Lisa Souza. I know exactly what I’d get from Lisa Souza, but the Loopy Ewe has loads of different yarns in all of these really delicious colorways and I really really want to get a start on becoming a Loopy Groupie. *le sigh* Oh the choices I have to make. Yarn I know or something new? If I go for the new stuff, then what stuff exactly? And I know that if I order from the Loopy Ewe, it would make more sense to buy more than just the two skeins that I was thinking of because of the reduced shipping thing that Sherri does that Lisa doesn’t. With Lisa, my order would be about £22 (including shipping). From the Loopy Ewe, it’d probably be nearer £30 (with shipping). And I just know that if I order from Sherri, I’ll fall off the yarn diet wagon and go BOOM. Then again, if I save my Loopy Ewe order for a bit later and have it sent to Ellu’s once it’s confirmed that I’ll be there for Christmas… Oooooh that’d be the best way to save on shipping because it’s free shipping within the US when the orders are over $75. Which it definitely will be. Yes, I’ll start saving up for that. Then I won’t feel so bad. Okay, this weekend I’ll order from Lisa. And since I know what I’ll be getting, it should be easy too. Not get distracted by other colorways since I’ve seen them all before. XD

And now it’s time to read some more of Spenser’s Faerie Queene. That text just puts me to sleep. Read one Canto last night, by the end of it my eyes were drooping. A 20 oz. Chai tea would help me stay interested, but alas, I haven’t found a place over here that makes it. Which is a good thing actually. Saves me money.

Well, the quiz was a bust. Only three of us showed up when it’s usually more like seven to ten. We did okay on the picture round, as in got everything, but it was all downhill from there. So when one of Matt’s friends called, he and Phil decided to go to the Open Mike Night at the Union and I came back because I had these grand plans of writing up the rest of my Writing Project. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Got sidetracked reading the L&V message boards.

Still, today’s two QOTDs came during the quiz. The first one was when Phil was talking about buying another suit. Matt chimed in with: “Yeah, I need to go to the suit store too.”

One of the questions posed was something to do with boxing and they wanted the “famous lawman who refereed the event.” The table next to ours: “Judge Judy!!”

I’ll do a proper update about yesterday some time tomorrow most likely. Right now I’m just way too tired to do anything but crawl into bed.

Two things really bug me about living at Aber: 1) The boys I live with don’t do a thing to clean up after themselves. Which is why when Hannah went home for the weekend, I refused to do anything dealing with the trash and recycling. Someone keeps throwing in food into the recycling bag meant for cardboard and plastic bottles. And I know that that someone isn’t Hannah, since she wasn’t here. I’m pretty sure I know which one of the boys did it, but since I’m not 100% sure, I won’t say it. Still, it’s a recycling bag. The trash can, albeit overflowing when the pizza wound up in the recycling bag, is right next to the recycling bag. How lazy do you have to be to not bother putting in a new trash bag? *rolls eyes* I couldn’t stop myself from wiping all of the counters and scrubbing the stove though. But that’s because I need to use those to cook and there is no way I’m cooking on something that’s not clean.

And number two: There is no hot water coming from the shower. Seriously. Hot water coming from the taps, but none in the shower. Can’t go downstairs to the reception to complain because they’re not open! How hard is it to get a functioning flat?? This isn’t the first time we’ve had problems with the shower. Or with plumbing in general actually. The toilet next to my room doesn’t flush properly on the first try. The kitchen sink is backed up again. And now there’s no hot water. Grrrr.

On a more positive note, I got me some Welsh cakes today. They’re really good with a glass of milk. ^_^

Today’s been a good day. I’ve just been in an excellent mood ever since I woke up at 7:35 am… Yes, I actually woke up then without the help of an alarm clock. I think it’s because I sleep with my curtains open, so when the sun rises and my room slowly gets brighter my body obviously thinks along the lines of: “Oooh, it’s light outside again. Time to get up! Wake-y wake-y…” Never mind that my room faces west, not east, so it’s not even direct sunlight that’s getting me up. The cool thing is that the sky’s a lighter shade of pink and light blue in the mornings and a really deep saturated pink and blue when the sun’s going down. I think I prefer dawn to dusk.

I’m also really productive in the mornings. Maybe I’m a morning person?? Anyway, I have finished my essay! Well, sorta. I need to flesh out my conclusion (as it is now, it’s like one sentence, so that’s not a proper conclusion, even if it is a good sentence :P) so that’s another 100 words or so? Then I can send it off to Gabe for a read-over, then edit it to make it better, possibly send it back to Gabe if I make major changes and then it’s printing time!

I borrowed a book from Ludwig this morning. It’s Edgar Allan Poe in French. Should be interesting.

Then met Derya for some tea and knitting at the Arts Centre at noon. It’s so nice to finally have someone who gets knitting and yarn like I do. I mean, it’s one thing to ramble on about it online, but she totally gets the whole drooling over pictures of yarn online and the urge to just buy everything mostly natural in sight. I looked at yarn last night. I even calculated how much the postage would be… I’m so glad I don’t have a bank card that the online stores accept or a PayPal account. I do have a credit card, but I do not use that, like ever.

So, it’s been a good day. Been singing along to songs on my iPod while walking up and down the hill. Yes, I did get some looks, but I don’t care. It was a song that just *had* to be sung along to. Silly people. And I curled my hair again. Now if only I wasn’t so afraid of damaging my hair by putting a hot iron to it then spraying the curls I’d do it more often. Okay, so my hair smells great with the hair spray on it (Herbal Essences: Set Me Up; it apparently has cactus flower and bamboo in it. I just like the way it smells).

Dance practice on Sunday was interesting. We were all tied together at the waist with long scarves when doing the Waltz and Quickstep. It was kinda fun, but my shoulders got really tired after going around the room three times non-stop. And now that Alan has sorted out his lock step mistake in the Quickstep, it’s shaping up to be pretty good. It’s not brilliant, but it’s still pretty good. Then later on Sunday I went to the pub quiz at the Cambrian with some of the people from the dance team. Out of eleven teams we came in third. :D And I was actually useful! I knew stuff like what the cassis liquer tastes of (blackcurrant, but that’s because cassis is French for blackcurrant. Never actually had that liquer); what country the “Teddy bear row” teacher went to next (China); and I was able to recognize a Spice Girls song from the very first few notes played, much to the amusement of everyone else at the table. XD And Phil, who was the one my enthusiasm brought most glee to, was the one who told everyone else which Teletubbie had the triangle on its head. Yep, my trivia knowledge wasn’t as bad as his was. Another funny thing that happened at the quiz was that the people at the table next to ours were mostly biology students and they were having a debate about what the collarbone was also called, while me and Hannah, creative writing and drama respectively, whispered in unison: “Clavicle!”

And now it’s time for dinner. Don’t really feel like having pasta tonight (which is the only “proper” food I’ve got the ingredients for right now)… Might make me some mannapuuro. Haven’t had that in ages, mainly because for breakfast I’ve been having Frosties. I don’t usually buy Frosties, but it was a Buy One Get One Free thing, so I’ve lots of it. I think the store has now changed the deal from Frosties to Rice Krispies. Might get some of those if I run out of Frosties…

I love curly hair. Especially when it’s my own. :D

Lookie what happened after 25 mins of trying not to burn my skin or my hair!



Now, I know it won’t last all day, but that’s okay. I still feel great. ^_^