Friday, December 21, 2007

Dear Windows...

I would really appreciate it if you didn't lie to me. You know, when you say you're saving something, I think you're saving it. Maybe I was too naive, since in fact, you were eating it. Like a cat with a mouse, you've played with my work, ultimately destroying it. Unlike a cat, I can't tap you on the nose and tell you that you've been bad.

I know you have a habit of tidying up for me, but honestly I can do that myself. I've looked in all your usual hiding places, but to no avail. An old version appears every now and then, taunting me with its representation of eight hours lost.

(Later)

You've well and truly lost it, haven't you? If you were a naughty child I'd make you redo it all. As you're not, I'll just have to do it myself. Marvellous.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Poor work.

It's suffering, because I'm addicted to this game: http://www.aliciaramirez.com/crypto/index.html

Simple, yet addictive.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I'm not dead! \o/

Instead I am incredibly busy with no rest in the foreseeable future. Don't you hate it when real life gets in the way of other, more appealing things? Between work, getting fit at the gym (which is working, huzzah!), climbing and trying to have some kind of social life, I have virtually no time left for other things I'd like to do, like browse certain websites, get outside more, and writing. Such is the way of life.

I've been getting involved with a website and e-zine called 'Locution', which can be found here: http://www.locution-zine.com/forums/index.php . Good people and very good writers, they've inspired me to try getting back into scribbling things, which I used to enjoy. I'm not very used to writing straight on to a computer though - sounds odd but it's hard for me to think properly when faced with a blank Word document compared to a blank piece of paper I can soon make marks on with a pen. Funny how that works. I'm trying hard to write a short story for this competition ( http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showtopic=1726987&st=0), but I'm already into the extended deadline with no real ideas and certainly nothing resembling a finished piece.

My new plan is to spend two hours a week while I'm at home browsing the internets, so I can catch up with those sites I've been neglecting. I have shiny new Ubuntu dual-booting goodness on my laptop, which I've not been spending nearly enough time loving, and it'll enable me to go to sites I can't see at work. I will catch up with my internet friends!

So anyway, how are you? Regale me with tales of passion and horror, because vicarious living is the way to go~

--
Fight slavery! www.stopthetraffik.org

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Is it really that hard?

I tried to make a doctor's appointment. Simple, you might say. I thought so too. I phoned the surgery, and after a few redials got the receptionist on the phone, only to be told that since I'm not actually registered there at the moment (what with having been up in Durham for the past four years) I can't have an appointment. That's ok, I understand that. Can I register? No, she says, we're not taking on patients. Not a problem, should have checked, whatever whatever.

I phone another doctor and ask whether they're taking on patients. Yes, she says after finding out my address, not a problem. I just need to go in to fill the forms in, and then again for a 'new patient medical', and finally I can have an appointment. Um, ok, but I work in Manchester and you don't open till after I've left, and  you're closed before I get home again. You want me to effectively take three mornings off work for one appointment. "Oh, well," she says, "I can post the forms out to you, but you still have to come in for a new patient medical before you can have an appointment." So now it's down to two mornings off work. Can I do the two things together, and take just the one morning off? No.

Can't they just, I don't know, read my fucking medical records which will tell them whatever they need to know in more precise terms than I can? I've just started this job, I earn two days off per month, and I really don't want to spend what is in effect one of them sitting in a doctor's waiting room. Lots of GPs earn over £100k - surely having staggered starting times to cover from, say, 7am to 7pm isn't too outlandish a suggestion? Angry angry angry.

Anyway, Zen-like calm. Zen-like calm. Zen-like calm...

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Hahahaha!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse than those damn Heely things...

http://www.bbyhds.com/index.html

--
More people are sold per year nowadays than during the entire 400 years of legalised slavery. It's illegal, but it hasn't stopped. www.stopthetraffik.org

Friday, August 24, 2007

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Another long gap!

Oh dear, it's been a while. What have I been doing? Well...

I graduated, which was lots of fun and involved swanning round in a fancy gown with a fur-trimmed hood (oh, I love that Durham has Traditions!). I met Bill Bryson, who is our Chancellor, a couple of times - once for the Stop the Traffik campaign stuff, which meant that we got to handcuff him! Heh, he was very sporting and really interested in what we were doing. And he recognised me later on too! After the graduation ceremony, when we were getting photos with him, he was chatting to me about STT. Lovely man.

So I'm officially a graduate. And where has it got me? To an office in Manchester, doing data entry! Although I'm not actually doing anything at the moment (there's no work), and I'm only here to save up monies and run away to New Zealand for a couple of years. biggrin It'll be fun, the boy is coming too and we're just going to do back-packery type jobs and lots of travelling and climbing and other outdoorsy stuff. Yay for Master Plans!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

How very appropriate.

cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.



I don't do this at all.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

So we've got to fill in info for our profile page in the yearbook (which I'm not a fan of, but I'll do it anyway). It's really hard to write one for yourself, so I open it up to you good people! I do maintain the right of veto though. If you'd like to help, I need answers to the following questions:
* Most likely to be in ten years time
* What I did? (No, I have no idea what they mean either)
* Will be remembered for
* Most embarrassing moment (since I don't easily get embarrassed, help me think of a good story)

I've been reading the BBC News website, as I often do, and I came across this story. It makes me sick.

My French translation exam went well. It was invigilated by one of my Russian friends, oddly enough! Next one is tomorrow morning, French language. That shouldn't be a problem either, since we've been trained how to do it all year. The only problem I might have is boredom, since it'll be the same kind of exercises as we've done over and over and over... as you might be able to tell, I'm not impressed with that module. And what kind of time is 9.30 on a Saturday morning for an exam? Bastards. Especially when Hounds is free again tonight... wonder if the crazy people will be in again. It'd almost be worth going just to find out.

Stepmum's not doing very well. That's all I have to say about that.

Off to see if I can learn the past historic tense... haven't ever used it, so who knows!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Orals are finished!

Orals are done! This makes me a happy girl. I actually enjoyed my French one, in a strange sort of way. I was talking about human trafficking, which some of you will know that I'm rather passionate about (the extermination of, not the act itself). This lead on to why people are trafficked, and all the usual questions - the examiners seemed actually interested, which is good. Then came the rather surprising question, "So why do you think men visit prostitutes?" I didn't really have an answer for that! Talking to my friend later, she told me that I should have said "Have you seen their wives?" Alas, I am not so witty.

Last night was the customary post-oral Hounds (club night at the Union, officially called 'Planet of Sound'). It was free! Which was probably a good job, considering that when we walked in we doubled the number of people there. It did fill up later, although mostly with fourth-years. There's something wrong with this picture - why are the finalists getting drunk and the freshers staying in? I clearly am not the right kind of person for this academia thing.

Anyway, Hounds was fun as ever, especially when I got talking to a couple of guys. One of them, a 28 year old with bleached hair, Matrix-style coat and 'anarchy' tattoos (I don't think he realised that it was, in fact, a hexagram and not an anarchy symbol) told me that I should dye my hair, become a witch and "express my personality so that people can't ignore it". Given that my hair is currently purple and he was proclaiming his 'difference' and 'individuality' to everyone near him, I laughed. Hard. Something about the irony of being told that if I was a more individual person by the guy who looked like every other goth anarchist wannabe I've ever seen made me feel this was the appropriate response.

It was made better later when his friend decided I was a lesbian. He could "tell by the way I was standing", and the fact that I'm in a relationship that's been going for almost four years was "just me lying to myself". Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket is the best way for me to deal with that.

And this is why I think drunk people are funny.

In other news, my stepmum has contracted another infection, so she's back on antibiotics. She should be ok, it's just a setback that isn't really wanted.

My exams finish in 17 days. This is a Good Thing, for then I shall go climbing in Wales!

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Golden Compass/Northern Lights

I'm very excited about this film!



But is it really me? Scroll over the image to get a mini-questionnaire about me and see whether my daemon is a match.

http://www.goldencompassmovie.com

Monday, May 07, 2007

Sunday, 6th May

I had my Russian speaking exam yesterday. I think it went ok, but mostly I'm just really glad it's over.

As a reward I spent the rest of the afternoon in the Student's Union drinking Pimms on the balcony overlooking the river. That was a convoluted sentence. It was good, sitting in the sun and relaxing for an afternoon. Then later a bunch of us went out for dinner, and then I was extraordinarily tired so I went to bed while the rest went out for more drinks. Must be getting old.

Today I need to stop idly wandering the interweb and get on with essays and things, but that sounds like it requires intellectual effort and that's just not good. I have a 2500 word essay on translation theory, and the rest of the lesbian sex essay to get done for Friday, as well as a presentation in French on human trafficking for the other oral exam which is also on Friday. I'd like to be organised one day, I hear it's really useful!

But, only 23 days to go and my degree is done.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

I'm really bad at this!

Well, it's been a long while since my last post. Oops. I have no idea what I've done since then, so lets just start again from now.

Right now is exam time. This frightens me somewhat, given that it's my final year and actually counts for something. Bah. As a result, all of us finalists are locked in our rooms going slowly (or rapidly) crazy. My first exam is the Russian speaking, which I'm quite convinced that I'm going to do badly in - 20 minutes of talking is hard enough anyway, and my Russian really isn't up to scratch with that.

So I'm stressed, and that makes me depressed, and that means that the doctor has put up my medication again, and that means I sleep a lot. I mean it. This in turn doesn't help with actually getting any work done, and so it's all one big merry circle. Whee!

Anyway, 25 days and it's all over. Yay!

For those that don't know, my step-mum is in the hospital. She's doing much better though, so that's all I'm going to say about it at the moment.

Here's a silly YouTube video, just because someone pointed it out to me. Thing is, I don't know the original words, so now I can't hear it without singing these words... Heh.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Places I've been to

Ah, the joys of the internet! Got a way to go before I've been everywhere, but this is a good guide to where I've been.



create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Friday, February 16, 2007

Lots of big photos!

Well, after a few days spent not very happily (which is an understatement), I'm back.

Went out and took photos today. It was really warm, and the light was great (until I went down to the river, where the sun was too low for most of it). It helped me feel better.

Pictures then! Beware, there are a lot. I got carried away, and I haven't even posted them all... Oh, and they're BIG, so probs not a good idea for 56k.


Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting Gravestones in St Oswald's churchyard.



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St Oswald's church itself.

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Wall and path by the river (those kids looked at me so mistrustfully... then when I'd passed, they were crowding round their mum telling her about my purple hair smile )


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Path and little kissing gate thing.

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Cathedral from one side of the peninsula.

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A tree I liked the silhouette of.

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I need to figure out the exposure on this so that you can see the cathedral in the background too - the "grey towers of Durham", which are actually more golden.


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Cathedral and archaeological museum.

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Archaeological museum from right next to the water.

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One of the college boathouses (St Mary's, I think) and people putting their boat away.

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Cathedral again. It's so pretty!

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Cathedral from under the arch of Milburngate bridge. At least I think it's Milburngate bridge... there are too many in this city!

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The castle, and that bridge again.

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The same photo, in black and white because I'd just found out how to make my camera do that and I was excited wink




Also, to add to the media-heaviness that's already here, I've had a song called "I'm Not Okay" going through my head, by these guys, Luther Wright and the Wrongs. Couldn't find that song on YouTube (gasp) so here's a different one from the same album.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Overdue update...

I seem to be leaving far too long between updates. Ah well.

All is well at the moment. Plenty of work to be doing, but then that's what the final year is (apparently) about. I feel mislead. It's all good though - translation is just fun in a geeky kind of way, and one of my modules involves reading French books that are highly explicit. The one I'm currently reading ("Therese et Isabelle" by Violette Leduc) is basically a full-on naughty schoolgirl story. Fun.

Been spending far too much time out and drinking though. Two weeks ago I took a bunch of friends to Formal, which is essentially a formal dinner with gowns and stuff, but with a lot of quite bizarre rules. For example, you're not allowed to stand up once High Table have entered except for Grace or to get water, stealing other people's place settings is quite normal, and in order to signal to High Table that we're ready for food we spend half an hour (usually) banging our spoons on the tables in various rhythms, just like four-year-olds. It's all highly amusing, especially since consuming a bottle of wine each in about an hour is the norm.

After formal we went to Planet of Sound, the union's club night, more often (and accurately) called Hounds. I'll let you work out why. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably right. In there I threatened to punch someone in the nose if he groped me again - he [i]almost[/i] came back, but then apparently realised that I was serious and walked away. I hate when people think that because I'm wearing a skirt they can put their hands underneath it. Just no! Le sigh.

Last weekend (the one just gone) was my friend's birthday, so that involved more drunkenness, a really good home-made Italian meal (he made the pasta from scratch and everything, very impressive) and then another Hounds trip. This time I didn't threaten to punch anyone, because I was wearing jeans and looked more Goth and therefore harder to get? I don't know, but it was nice.

Yesterday we continued his celebrations by having his friend over to cook us a meal. Now this other friend is head chef or something similar in a pretty decent Indian restaurant in Durham, so you can imagine how excited we all were. It was truly amazing, really spicy but with flavour as well as heat. I love Indian food and spice in general, and had been complaining about how boring our catered meals are (they used oregano the other day and I got really excited, so that gives you an idea) so I was particularly enjoying it. Mmmm good food...

This weekend coming up, I have some friends visiting! They're both graduates from Durham, so we're going to have a nostalgic weekend (despite the fact I'm still here), and probably end up in Hounds again on Friday... after which I will be Hounded out for the term!

This is long now, so I'll stop. Back to the translations for me! xx

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Christmas and stuff

I'm updating a little later than planned, oops.

So Christmas and all that was good. Rob came over from the States, which was really cool. I don't get to see him nearly enough, so having a whole three weeks with him was great :D We spent a lot of time making mince pies ('cos they're just so good) and walking my nan's dog. Crazy puppy. We also got climbing, which was cool, and of course Rob did the (re)meeting of the family since it had been a while.

New Year was... interesting! We were heading into Manchester for a house party, which was hampered by the fact that BOTH of my home town's train stations were closed. On New Year's Eve. Without any replacement buses (or indeed any buses into Manchester at all). So that involved an expensive taxi to a neighbouring town to catch the train from there. Bastards. But we got there eventually, and had fun (although Rob did drink too much whisky, not helped by the fact that when he asked for water he got given a rather strong gin and tonic instead... not my fault, I hasten to add!)

So yes, good holidays. Now I'm back in Durham and am supposed to be writing an essay, as you can tell by the fact that I'm updating my blog instead. Ho hum.