Being home (a blog post)

So on Sunday my parents turned up in Lancaster with a packed lunch and the willingness to help me get myself and all my "stuff" home.
We sat and giggled about "buttery biscuit base" while we ate our tuna sandwiches, chicken crisps and carrot sticks and stared apprehensively at the pile of boxes and bags that sat on my bed.
I forgot to take a photo of it again but the whole surface area of the bed was covered and the pile was up to my shoulder in some areas.

Thankfully my Dad and James are rather strong, at least, they can carry my heavy boxes of my huge collection of  possessions to the car. It was a struggle to fit it in and still have space for me to sit, we were packed in tight and if some of my boxes hadn't been collapsible and the contents able to be distributed into gaps then I'd have had to get the train back.

We also raided the freezer because there was only Tom and I left in our flat and there was LOADS of food which, because James is staying in Lancaster for another week, we pilfered for him. There was also some Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream, that became mine for the car journey.

That's the majority of my going home story.

Since I've been home I've been to pick up my volunteer shirt for the Brass Festival, go for a picnic with some friends from school, pick up my mugs from Esquires and install the Zommbinis for endless logic fun.

Today I have some planning to do (quite seriously so), I should hopefully find an opportunity to update my website and I will probably play some more computer games.

Tomorrow I'm having tea with an old friend who I rarely see, Chinese food to be precise and we'll then go see the School Concert at our old school.


BASE KNOWLEGE

Gerry could smell fear, I think it's more like panic

I have a lot of things to do before Monday morning.

On Monday they start to mark our work.

Due to this blog being a near diary form of recording I shall lay down my plans for tomorrow.
Hopefully putting them into type will make them come about in a effective manner.

Friday morning should dawn and I will awaken myself with an alarm at about 8am.
I shall get up and blearily shower and eat the banana I have brought with me to James'.
Once I'm ready I'll set off to catch a bus to campus to make it to my 10am session where we'll watch the last of our presentations and hand in our D proposals.
(I have a lot of things on my mind about the big D but I'll save them for a later post.)
Straight from this session I would like to head back into town and buy some fabric or a tablecloth.
However, as no shops I've been in so far have had any white ones it looks like it'll be fabric.
Getting back to campus I will most likely just iron and tack this cloth into a reasonable square/rectangle and display my cups on top of it.
(I had to take my shelf down, Gerry didn't like it.)
Once that's done I'll be onto my sketch book. It's very behind.
This term I've taken a lot of photos of my work in progress and a lot of them still need editing, putting into a word document, printing, cutting out, sticking in and then, after alllllll of that, writing about.
I have the feeling that my sketchbook is going to take all weekend and not just Friday.

So, that's what's on my mind.

Cake is in the oven (a blog from Monday)

That it is, it's a coffee cake and it smells so good and in 5 minutes I can get it out and it is going to be the best thing.

This morning was my Art History exam, I wrote 3 essays in 3 hours, one about the credibility of the Poetic in art in contemporary culture, one about Death of the Author in art since the 1970s and a comparison between Early and Mid Post-Modernism.

Oh, the cake is out of the oven and it smells totally magnificent.

So, the rest of my day I am going to spend listening to old Adam and Joe podcasts and perhaps reading but mostly messing around online until James comes back from his lecture thing.

We're going to go out for a meal tonight and watch Kill Bill 2 on iPlayer.

I've not written any film reviews recently as the ones I've watched are all ones I've seen before, until Kill Bill Vol.1 the other day.
It's got gore but it's comic gore, it can't be taken too seriously because of how OTT it is. I...


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at that point I was somehow distracted and haven't looked at this blog tab since then. Which is insane as it is now Wednesday afternoon and I've just eaten my lunch and soon I'll be going to my exec meeting.

Everything has been good and the next week and a half are going to be so super busy while I finish my art project for the year!

Toodles!

Possessions = Problems

I'm not going to lie, I like things.
I'm a massive fan of trinkets and keeping things for memories sake.
However, I'm also a huge fan of useful things. I never want to be the person who isn't capable of completing a task just because she didn't have the right thing to hand.

Due to this state of affairs I own a heck of a lot and I have a whole crazy amount of this stuff with me at University.
Last summer we barely could fit everything in the car to take me home and that was with an earlier trip to pick up ALL of my art things.

This year I need to keep a big box of my art things to work with for the next 3 weeks so I spent 2 hours today sorting my studio so that I can send as much as possible home early tomorrow.
I'm going to have to head back over there later/tomorrow because there is a board a folder and a bag that I won't need this year that can maybe go home tomorrow too.

Right now I'm listening to Viv on a recording of a lecture telling me that Tracey Emin is a symptom of the culture she live in and that her work is from an authentic experience and creates a similar one for the audience.

My bedroom floor is a tip. I think I should go through my wardrobe again and pack up as damn much as I can because I clearly will not be wearing everything in there before the end of term.

Right, I've taken out two dresses and two more tops... I know I still won't need all that I have but I do have 5 more weeks and I do like choice.

All that needs to be done now is to go through the piles and piles of paper and things that are on my floor and work out which of the papers need recycling, which need shredding, which to be kept but sent home and which are SO IMPORTANT that they have to stay here!

Right, so it's nearly 6 so that means it's nearly Who but it also doesn't for me. I'll be watching it with James later and later probably means after 9!

I'm going to go now, this is just distracting. :)

Four times I've opened this up to blog

Today has not been a blog worthy day. Neither have any of the other days recently.

They've not been particularly AMAZING or remotely bad. Just very average.

So, as you will have judged by now this is not going to be thorough description of an exciting encounter with a celebrity or an in depth discussion about an aspect of society that is lacking.

I'm currently listening to Glee, Grooveshark is my new internet best friend. I'm eating raisins in an attempt to snack healthily but also to compensate the chips I had at lunch. Sort of, it's also because it's the only snack food I have at the moment. Not even dried apricots.

What did you think of the last episode of Glee in this season?
I loved Kurt and Rachel's Wicked moment and Blaine's adoration.
It wasn't the best but that show is all about the cheese.

Mum said I'd stopped blogging. I knew it but now it has been pointed out to me I've set my goal to post on this one tonight and on my art blog tomorrow.

I do blog, every day, just not in words, more in a stream of appreciative moments. That's Tumblr.
I don't even tweet much these days because once again it stopped updating from my texts and if I'm on my computer I'll tumbl my thoughts instead with that bit more space.

I suppose I should write about my trip to Greenclose Studios yesterday but that topic seems like it should go on my website and so it shall. I'll make myself do it tomorrow.

Righteo. That's all for now folks.
Once I've had my exam on the 6th of June I think I'll be back over here (and on the bookshelf too) blogging about my free time. Or more of it.

:D

And the stars look down and give us vision to see the light!

Yesterday was Sunday, today it is Monday, Monday.

So, that's a bad start to a blog. A title from a beautiful Billy Elliot song and a crudely adapted lyric from Friday.

I have three things to talk about today.
A fire, A Knight's Tale and the stars.

1. A Fire.

We had carbonara for tea last night. It was the first time I'd ever made it by myself. After we'd eaten James set off to his to pick up some stuff (including A Knight's Tale on dvd which I had left at his). I completed the arduous task of washing up. Clicked onto my computer and was just starting to scroll when *WEEEOOOWEEEOOOWEEEOOO*, the fire alarm sounds.

So there I am, getting my phone and keys, locking my door, walking downstairs, smelling smoke, walking through smoke. Hang on, this isn't just a drill and this clearly isn't just a toast or deodorant malfunction!
As we got outside we looked up and around to see if we could see any huge billowing plumes.
It turned out that is was a small fire in the "Pump Room" which the porter managed to put out by himself.

We had to stay out for about 40 minutes while they made sure it was safe but we spent that time in Pizzetta playing word disassociation. Basically, everything is fine. Thank goodness!

2. A Knight's Tale

This is one of the first dvd's we ever owned. I remember really enjoying it the first few times I watched it. I hadn't seen it in years but I really wanted to re-watch it. Mainly for the fact that Watt is Wash is Alan Tudyk.
I really enjoyed the whole story, once again. A good choice of film for a Sunday Night.

3. Stars

The credits rolled at about 11:05. James reminded me that I'd agreed to go out and look at the stars if the sky was clear so we could find constellations with his special app on his phone.
Despite it being rather cold it was rather good and once we'd walked down onto the field, away from the lights, it was pretty darn clear.
Really worth a look.

Anyway, today is another research and revision day. Toodles!

#30

I'd like to address the topic of exercise in this blog today.

When I was younger I used to have swimming lessons. They were my only real exercise every week.
When we did PE at Infants and Juniors I wasn't very good but I didn't hate it. I rather liked our silly games and attempts at netball or whatever.
At break time you would probably find me skipping or playing games that involved running.

However, when we got to Comp I sort of developed a dislike for sport. It was a chore, it was 2 hours a week that I didn't like doing because it tired me out and I wasn't good at it. I wasn't fat or particularly unable, I think if I'd tried harder and been dedicated to something I might have been alright at something, maybe. Although I am quite un-coordinated.

Worst of all was running though, anything longer than the 100m would give me stitches, make me feel awful and make me feel bad about myself for the rest of the day. I just didn't have the stamina or determination to be better at it. Basically, badminton and hockey were the only sports I really enjoyed doing at school. By the time we got to 6th form and I didn't have to do sport at all I was happy. Finally I didn't have to work up a sweat over something I didn't enjoy. In my spare time I could read and learn and share and enjoy life rather than feel all ikky and exhausted.

I know the adrenaline from exercise is supposed to be good, and I have to be truly honest and admit that sometimes it did feel good to compete and win. I once got a stamp for a gymnastics routine I came up with and I sometimes aced at ping pong if I was in the right mood.

Basically, I do jack - nowt about keeping fit other than not gorging myself silly on junk food.

Last year I developed a very strange ailment that has something to do with exertion and heat reactions. Once time last year I looked down at my thighs and was a bit grossed out so I went for a run.
This run sent my new and strange hive reaction illness into overdrive and after a 10 minute jog I was so itchy my skin would have felt better if I'd clawed it to blood, I was thankfully running with James and he walked with me back to my room as I tried my best not to tear my skin apart. I ended up blacking out just as I got to my room.
I spent the rest of the day in bed feeling horrendous.

This hive reaction isn't just a running caused thing though. Being in a room that is suddenly warm after a cold outside (or the other way round) and make my skin hive up and itchy. Before I got prescribed my daily anti-histamines I would sometimes have a severe reaction from just a very gentle walk in the sun.

I'm telling you this because it worries me, I don't know if I'll ever be able to exercise properly if I ever decide to make that decision. Also, I don't have a bus pass any more (I only got a 2 term one) and I am now walking every time I go to and from campus/town. Today I felt a tiny bit itchy on my walk. I was meandering, not even walking briskly. It was windy and I was a bit warm from movement. This slight clash was enough to make my elbows flare up even though I'd had my anti histamine an hour before. (Bear in mind they last for 14 hours).

I'm hoping this near daily walking won't be bad for me, I'm hoping very much it will help me tone my legs so I can feel better in shorts in the coming months. Less tights, more leg.

There is no argument to this blog, there is very little point at all. It is a record of my thoughts, feelings and actions and today you got an insight into my experience with sports.

I should have done this earlier in the month.
Alas, earwax.

I'll write back soon, I promise.