This is a great website. There's lots of hidden things too, so it kept me entertained for a lot longer than it should have!
jkrowling.com
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Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Harry Potter again
So while browsing FaceBook, which is the scourge of every student this year (seriously I think the entire university is a member) I happened to join the "F**k this, I wanna go to Hogwarts" group... which led me to the Dumbledore is not dead website. I thought I'd been thinking about these damn books too much, but I've got nothing on these guys.
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Friday, May 05, 2006
It's May
Already. I'm not quite sure what to make of this.
My weekend in Toronto was fun, all sunny and good for weddings and stuff. Thursday was not too exciting to start off with, as Rob was technically working and I have had enough of wandering aimlessly around cities on my own, at least for a while. So I stayed with Rob and his freelancer Matthew, who was cool and had the best handlebar moustache I've ever seen. There was a lot of non-work talk (which was good for me, but not so good for productivity) and then computer batteries ran out because we were in a coffee shop with wireless access but no plug sockets... so we went back to the hotel and I read the best part of a book while Rob and Matthew worked. Then it was late and we were hungry, so we went to a place called C'est What? for bison burgers and beer :) I like bison, it's like beef but more so. And with 70-odd kinds of beer to choose from, we were happy. Eventually I decided that I wanted to play pool, and won three out of four games by default (yay other people fouling on the black) and then lost the other. I blame it on the drunkenness that occurs when you drink before eating for the first time in 11 hours. Others might say I'm just not a good pool player.
Friday began with a hangover, as might have been expected. Rob was better than me, he drank more water and was therefore up and about a good couple of hours before I was... by the time I was up it was time to go for lunch with Andrea, Rob's friend from university and the bride-to-be. We went for Thai, which was really good, and chatted about life and love and all that kind of thing. It was nice to finally meet her, since I was going to her wedding the day after! After lunch we wandered around a bit and watched some TV and generally chilled out before going for sushi at about 10pm. Then we watched "Howl's Moving Castle" which was awesome!
The next day we were up early(ish) and went for breakfast at a place that promised the best apple cake in the world. I don't think they were lying either, it was amazing and I'm so glad that place isn't in Montreal otherwise all my money would be spent there. Then we wandered around a bit more, just enjoying the sun and seeing some of Toronto before the wedding. The service was held in a hall about 15 min walk from the hotel, which was very pretty. Andrea looked beautiful, Carlos cried as he read his vows (they had the standard vows and they'd written their own too) which almost made me cry cos I'm soppy. It was a short service but nice, and afterwards we found another of Rob's friends from university called Chris, and made arrangements to get out to the reception with him and his girlfriend.
By this point we were both very hungry, apple cake being well and truly gone, so we went to the market for fish and chips. We're nothing if not classy, wandering around feeling very overdressed! Then we set off for a walk fairly aimlessly, taking in the CN tower (which we nearly went up, but the queue to buy tickets was long and we weren't feeling patient), Chinatown and other random parts of the city (what IS the Mars centre?). Four hours later we were collapsed in the hotel room ready to never move again, but then Chris was in a taxi and coming for us.
The trip out to Missisauga (which I think I've spelt correctly) was a bit of a hassle, since the main expressway was closed. Yes, that's right, the biggest city in Canada closes its main artery to and from the international airport for a weekend when the baseball team is playing. Clever. So traffic was chaos and it took us well over an hour to do a 20 minute drive. I thought I was going to die, since I was in the front and the driver kept changing lanes without really checking that it was safe to do so, resulting in several near misses. I was glad of the open bar at the reception!
The reception itself was much like any other, good food, lots to drink and a bad DJ. It was fun though, and that's all that matters.
Then it was Sunday, and time to be packing and leaving and stuff. It was also the only time I was glad that a flight was cancelled, as Air Canada calls Rob and tells him he's on a later flight giving us an extra couple of hours together, yay!
Now I'm looking for places to rent this summer in Chicago, so I can pass the details on to Rob and he can go check them out... we're a disastrously disorganised couple, I meant to start this weeks ago...
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
My weekend in Toronto was fun, all sunny and good for weddings and stuff. Thursday was not too exciting to start off with, as Rob was technically working and I have had enough of wandering aimlessly around cities on my own, at least for a while. So I stayed with Rob and his freelancer Matthew, who was cool and had the best handlebar moustache I've ever seen. There was a lot of non-work talk (which was good for me, but not so good for productivity) and then computer batteries ran out because we were in a coffee shop with wireless access but no plug sockets... so we went back to the hotel and I read the best part of a book while Rob and Matthew worked. Then it was late and we were hungry, so we went to a place called C'est What? for bison burgers and beer :) I like bison, it's like beef but more so. And with 70-odd kinds of beer to choose from, we were happy. Eventually I decided that I wanted to play pool, and won three out of four games by default (yay other people fouling on the black) and then lost the other. I blame it on the drunkenness that occurs when you drink before eating for the first time in 11 hours. Others might say I'm just not a good pool player.
Friday began with a hangover, as might have been expected. Rob was better than me, he drank more water and was therefore up and about a good couple of hours before I was... by the time I was up it was time to go for lunch with Andrea, Rob's friend from university and the bride-to-be. We went for Thai, which was really good, and chatted about life and love and all that kind of thing. It was nice to finally meet her, since I was going to her wedding the day after! After lunch we wandered around a bit and watched some TV and generally chilled out before going for sushi at about 10pm. Then we watched "Howl's Moving Castle" which was awesome!
The next day we were up early(ish) and went for breakfast at a place that promised the best apple cake in the world. I don't think they were lying either, it was amazing and I'm so glad that place isn't in Montreal otherwise all my money would be spent there. Then we wandered around a bit more, just enjoying the sun and seeing some of Toronto before the wedding. The service was held in a hall about 15 min walk from the hotel, which was very pretty. Andrea looked beautiful, Carlos cried as he read his vows (they had the standard vows and they'd written their own too) which almost made me cry cos I'm soppy. It was a short service but nice, and afterwards we found another of Rob's friends from university called Chris, and made arrangements to get out to the reception with him and his girlfriend.
By this point we were both very hungry, apple cake being well and truly gone, so we went to the market for fish and chips. We're nothing if not classy, wandering around feeling very overdressed! Then we set off for a walk fairly aimlessly, taking in the CN tower (which we nearly went up, but the queue to buy tickets was long and we weren't feeling patient), Chinatown and other random parts of the city (what IS the Mars centre?). Four hours later we were collapsed in the hotel room ready to never move again, but then Chris was in a taxi and coming for us.
The trip out to Missisauga (which I think I've spelt correctly) was a bit of a hassle, since the main expressway was closed. Yes, that's right, the biggest city in Canada closes its main artery to and from the international airport for a weekend when the baseball team is playing. Clever. So traffic was chaos and it took us well over an hour to do a 20 minute drive. I thought I was going to die, since I was in the front and the driver kept changing lanes without really checking that it was safe to do so, resulting in several near misses. I was glad of the open bar at the reception!
The reception itself was much like any other, good food, lots to drink and a bad DJ. It was fun though, and that's all that matters.
Then it was Sunday, and time to be packing and leaving and stuff. It was also the only time I was glad that a flight was cancelled, as Air Canada calls Rob and tells him he's on a later flight giving us an extra couple of hours together, yay!
Now I'm looking for places to rent this summer in Chicago, so I can pass the details on to Rob and he can go check them out... we're a disastrously disorganised couple, I meant to start this weeks ago...
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Changing names and things
When were "they" going to tell us folks on our year abroad that the name of our university has been changed from the University of Durham to Durham University? And that they've changed the crest from to make it look like clipart? I'm angry about this. Here's the old and here's the new (top left), and if the old name and crest aren't on my graduation papers I'm not going to be happy, because I applied to the University of Durham and that's where I'm studying. So there.
Apart from that, I'm off to Toronto on Wednesday. That should be fun, since last time I was there it was only for a few hours before I got on a plane to come back home. This time it's for a wedding. No, not mine (at least not that I know of), a friend of Rob's. So exploring Toronto will be fun, and since the weather's being well behaved at the moment it should be a nice trip.
I can't think of the name Toronto without thinking of a song by the Arrogant Worms which starts off by trashing Toronto (or T-dot if you're cool), and then goes on to insult every town in Ontario, and then every province in Canada except Alberta, because "Albertaaaaa... doesn't suck. But Calgary doessss." It's a great song.
In other news, why won't Gmail Chat work in FireFox? It's there, I can see it, but it won't connect... I don't want to use IE, it sucks!
Apart from that, I'm off to Toronto on Wednesday. That should be fun, since last time I was there it was only for a few hours before I got on a plane to come back home. This time it's for a wedding. No, not mine (at least not that I know of), a friend of Rob's. So exploring Toronto will be fun, and since the weather's being well behaved at the moment it should be a nice trip.
I can't think of the name Toronto without thinking of a song by the Arrogant Worms which starts off by trashing Toronto (or T-dot if you're cool), and then goes on to insult every town in Ontario, and then every province in Canada except Alberta, because "Albertaaaaa... doesn't suck. But Calgary doessss." It's a great song.
In other news, why won't Gmail Chat work in FireFox? It's there, I can see it, but it won't connect... I don't want to use IE, it sucks!
And that's quite enough of that for now. Wow everything I find today makes me angry apparently!
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
bah
So I can't send photos to my blog through email... and when I upload them properly I get two little squares. Hmm. If you click on the squares you do get the photos, but that's not how it was supposed to work!
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Another week!
Wow time is fast.
Anyways, happy easter to everybody (and happy patriot's day to those in the US, although it does strike me as very strange that the Americans don't celebrate Easter Monday - the day when Jesus rose from the dead, the third day after Good Friday - but instead try to make people patriotic).
And also happy birthday to my Mum!
So let's see... Rob was here this weekend again, from Wednesday night. Technically he was working on Thursday, so I went to class and he met up with his freelancer and talked about stuff and ended up with a lot of trade magazines. In the afternoon we made shortbread and watched a film called Mirrormask, which is by Neil Gaiman and is very trippy. It's like a dream but you're awake...
Friday was Good Friday, so a day off from college. It was also a nice day, so we walked downtown in the sun and did some shopping. You'd think I'd know not to go shopping with Rob by now. We ended up with a lot of blooming tea, which becomes flowers when you put hot water on it and looks very pretty (and actually tastes good too), and a fantastic pair of hand-painted jeans which have a Japanese-style lady and butterflies on them. They're awesome and I'll post a pic when I have one.
I've discovered the library. Not that it was lost, but it has free wireless internet so I can do things like post photos cos I'm not on dialup!
Can you tell I've not had coffee yet, even though it's 6pm?
Anyway, back to the weekend. I don't remember much else of what we did, it was mostly just enjoying each other's company (aww) and lots of cooking. Sunday was good though, we were invited to Fraser's place for an Easter dinner which was awesome! Raff brought ham, Niki and Fraser provided yams, pasta salad and green beans and me and Rob made pie and brought ice cream. And Easter nests, the chocolate/cornflake creations that you make in primary school and think you've done some baking :) . I'd mentioned them to Fraser and he thought I was crazy, but they went down really well. Anything with chocolate is good.
After that meal (which left everyone stuffed and ready to sleep) we went down to the Cock and Bull to watch my roommates play in their band. Rob and I didn't stay very long - we'd been drinking since two in the afternoon so by midnight it was time to leave! We went home and redyed the blue on my hair instead. Yay.
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Anyways, happy easter to everybody (and happy patriot's day to those in the US, although it does strike me as very strange that the Americans don't celebrate Easter Monday - the day when Jesus rose from the dead, the third day after Good Friday - but instead try to make people patriotic).
And also happy birthday to my Mum!
So let's see... Rob was here this weekend again, from Wednesday night. Technically he was working on Thursday, so I went to class and he met up with his freelancer and talked about stuff and ended up with a lot of trade magazines. In the afternoon we made shortbread and watched a film called Mirrormask, which is by Neil Gaiman and is very trippy. It's like a dream but you're awake...
Friday was Good Friday, so a day off from college. It was also a nice day, so we walked downtown in the sun and did some shopping. You'd think I'd know not to go shopping with Rob by now. We ended up with a lot of blooming tea, which becomes flowers when you put hot water on it and looks very pretty (and actually tastes good too), and a fantastic pair of hand-painted jeans which have a Japanese-style lady and butterflies on them. They're awesome and I'll post a pic when I have one.
I've discovered the library. Not that it was lost, but it has free wireless internet so I can do things like post photos cos I'm not on dialup!
Can you tell I've not had coffee yet, even though it's 6pm?
Anyway, back to the weekend. I don't remember much else of what we did, it was mostly just enjoying each other's company (aww) and lots of cooking. Sunday was good though, we were invited to Fraser's place for an Easter dinner which was awesome! Raff brought ham, Niki and Fraser provided yams, pasta salad and green beans and me and Rob made pie and brought ice cream. And Easter nests, the chocolate/cornflake creations that you make in primary school and think you've done some baking :) . I'd mentioned them to Fraser and he thought I was crazy, but they went down really well. Anything with chocolate is good.
After that meal (which left everyone stuffed and ready to sleep) we went down to the Cock and Bull to watch my roommates play in their band. Rob and I didn't stay very long - we'd been drinking since two in the afternoon so by midnight it was time to leave! We went home and redyed the blue on my hair instead. Yay.
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Ooops
It's been a while again. Sorry.
Let's see... the weekend before last Rob was here (yay) which was fun! We went to see butterflies at the Jardin Botanique, which was awesome even if it did involve lots of kids wandering around asking their parents "Ou sont les papillons?" in the greenhouse that was showing desert plants. Erm, not here. But it was a good display, and there was a very very cool caterpillar which was blue with orange spikes and was rapidly demolishing a rather large leaf. It was fascinating, at least for me as I had visions of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (best kids book ever) in my head... Rob wasn't quite as impressed after we'd stood and watched it for about twenty minutes. Silly ADD.
Today is my friend Danielle's birthday, so it's going to be another late one :) and this after I've promised to miss no more classes after a disastrous week last week where I simply couldn't motivate myself... so my plan is to celebrate in moderation. We all know how well that will go, especially since I always plan to be moderate on a Sunday night at the pub where my housemates play in a band... getting home at 3.30 very drunk and having to be in class five hours later is apparently my new definition of moderation. Hmm.
Anyways, it's time for me to go and "present" something that will lead to a conversation... my feeling is that anything has to be better than the conversation about anorexia and extreme dieting we just had.
More tomorrow (when Rob will arrive again too! Woot!)
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Ah the joys of bureaucracy
Which may or may not be spelt correctly. It's one of those words.
So it appears that my plans to study in the states are scuppered (good word that). Basically, after calling a big long list of colleges in Chicago yesterday (that was a fun way to spend my morning) I found out that the immigration people have a great system, whereby if I want a student visa I need to take a full degree-type course for three years or whatever. I can't study on a tourist visa except for "incidental study" whatever that might be (the lady I was talking to didn't know either, she'd had different answers from different immigration officials), and that only gives me three months anyway. What annoys me is that if I wasn't British and didn't have a visa waiver agreement with the US then I'd have to get a visa, which could be anything up to two years. But because Britain is a friendly country, I can't stay in the States for an extra 30 days. Make sense to you? Certainly doesn't to me.
Anyway, enough of that. I passed my exam with 94% and my course with 93%, so now I'm in level 8... wooo... and should really get back to my lesson. Just felt like ranting (again) about the crazy US immigration system.
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
--
Coffee is thicker than water...
http://avatarofcunning.blogspot.com
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