Miscellaneous Thoughts

The results for my September 2007 exams will be released on 21st December! The 21st December?!

a) People are most likely going to be travelling home that day for Christmas
b) Christmas! Are they trying to destroy it?! I'm probably going to be miserable about failing.
c) The results used to come out at the beginning of November and the exams were in April. Now they keep pushing results back and back, but not changing the date of the April exams. If you're planning your exams around any resits you might have, this completely screws that plan up because you're effectively losing two months of study.

I know it seems insane to be worrying about this just now, but this is how early we need to start planning things. It's just one thing in a long list to indicate that the Institute are taking the piss! Grrrrrrr!

I made lasagne for the first time the other night. It was very nice, if I do say so myself.

House! I want to talk about it, but I can't work out how to do spoiler tags in this blog, and my comments are a bit more spoilery than my last ones. I might make a special entry in my Blurty.

I've put my name in the pool to be an audience member for Strictly Come Dancing. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

It's the final of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? on Saturday night. I'm so excited. I know that Connie is going to win, but I'm still holding out hope for Helena. I love Helena! She's come through against all odds (She's been in the bottom two nearly every week, but ALW has always saved her. Then amazingly enough, she made it through both public votes last week and didn't have to do the sing-off for ALWs save. Yay!). I don't get what the public has against her. I think she was unlucky enough to be clearly the worst in the first week and the public hasn't really forgotten that. But based on her performances since, I'm putting that down to a bad song, because I think she's great! She could totally do it, if the public could just get their heads out of their arses! Connie is a good singer, she's professional, she has stage presence, blah-de-blah-blah. There's just something about her I don't like. I wish I could put my finger on it. But I'm not too worried though, because I honestly think that all of the three finalists have what it takes to be a good Maria.

I'm going clay pigeon shooting on Tuesday. Look out people, they're giving me a gun! And a bow and arrow! I must admit, when the activity was first suggested as a team building exercise, I really didn't want to do it because I don't like guns and it all seems a bit too upper class for me. But everyone else seemed enthusiastic about it, and we'd been through about 10 other ideas and couldn't reach a consensus, so I wasn't going to be the only one to veto this idea. But the teams have been selected and the trash talking has started, so I'm starting to think it could be a good laugh. We'll see.

House Season 2

My lovely, lovely boxset arrived on Friday! Joy! I probably would have finished it by now, but I had plans to go away for the weekend. As it is, I've only just started the second disc, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm enjoying it even more because I can watch it guilt-free, without the worry of studying looming over me.

A couple of observations:

~ It's very funny. I have laughed out loud at several things, and I don't tend to laugh out loud when I'm watching TV on my own.

~ I can't say that I really like any of the three underlings, Chase, Cameron or Foreman. Don't get me wrong, I don't particularly dislike any of them (even Chase, which is more than can be said for him in season 1). There are times when I really like their storyline or something they've done. But there are too many times I don't. I think the ratio of me liking them to not liking them is about 50/50, whereas I tend to like House, Cuddy and Wilson a lot more often. Especially Wilson! :P

But my opinion of them in comparison to season 1, Foreman is pretty much the same, Cameron has gone down, and Chase has gone up. So I guess Chase is doing better than any of them.

~ It's not as formulaic as season 1. And some of their patients are actually dying! Much more realistic.

~ Is it just me, or would anyone else love to see Stephen Fry as a guest? I had it in my head a while ago that this was actually happening, but couldn't find anything about it, so concluded I'd just made it up. But ever since, I've been thinking about it and would love it to actually happen!

Exam Round Up

9.45am - 1pm - Assets
Not bad actually. I don't think I could have asked for a better paper, in fact. If I failed it, it's not through lack of knowledge, but through lack of detail. I don't do well with wordy exams, and I might write something that I think is worth 10 marks, but only get 6 for it.

2.15pm - 5.30pm - Liabilities and Asset Liability Management
(I only discovered that was the name of the subject today when I hard to write it on my exam paper!)
Worse than the morning paper, but better than I expected. I nearly started crying when I read through the questions, but when I started to work through them, I realised they weren't so bad. There were a couple of things I made up on the spot, but I expected it to be a lot worse.

The crappy thing though is that it's actually one subject and I have to pass both papers to pass it. I could get 100% for one of the papers, but still fail if I fail the other paper. And have to do it all over again! But all in all, it could have been a lot worse. I really had no hope going into it this morning. I'm not saying I've passed. Just that I might have failed by less than I was expecting! It's a sad day when it comes to that phrase making me feel better! :P

7.30pm - bedtime
I was planning on cleaning the flat, but I really have no energy. I'm going to order take away, then plonk down in front of the TV to watch Gilmore Girls.

I might just clean the bathroom. And the kitchen. And put a wash on.

Aahh, no studying! :D

I Don't Trust It!

My water was due to be switched off at 8am this morning, and for the next three mornings, for "essential engineering works". It's still on.

Building work was supposed to be starting in my house at 8am this morning, to add a fifth flat to the loft space. I got a letter today saying it had been postponed to mid October.

Two things that were going to interrupt studying for my exams on Monday, suddenly disappearing? Call me paranoid, but I don't trust it. Something else is going to go wrong, and this time I won't be expecting it! A nice little power cut the night before my exams, maybe?

In other news, Kieran started nursery yesterday. Where is the time going? My sister said that, despite her being worried about him being clingy, he was fine. In fact, he couldn't run away from her to the toys quickly enough. And she was fine too. She didn't get emotional. Much!

Goodbye Chips

My dog was put to sleep this morning. He was having difficulty breathing over the weekend, which was attributed to bronchitis, so my parents took him to the vet and got some tablets to help it. Unfortunately, it got much worse last night and he was taken to the vet again first thing this morning. After some x-rays and tests, it was discovered that his windpipe had collapsed and that he had also developed Cushing's Disease. There was an operation he could have undergone to fix the windpipe, but the trauma he'd experienced over the weekend had exacerbated the disease, and he would still have been extremely ill. So it was decided that the kindest thing to do would be to put him to sleep.

He was an old dog with a lot of health problems, and every time I'd go home, I'd worry that that would be the last time I saw him. But even though I've been expecting this phone call from my parents for a while, it doesn't make it any easier.

Chips originally belonged to my brother in law and we took him in when my sister and brother in law moved in together and they weren't allowed pets. It was only supposed to be a temporary solution, but 10 years later, he was still at my parents house. He was a crazy little Jack Russell pup who mellowed a lot in his old age, but I was still gobsmacked at the amount of energy this 14 year old dog had. He was almost completely blind, but that didn't stop him wanting to play football in the back garden every chance he could get. It didn't matter to him that he couldn't see the ball unless he was two inches away from it! He would sleep in my bed with me whenever I went home, and he liked nothing more than someone taking his collar off and giving his neck a good scratch!

He was such a good dog, and I'm going to miss him so much.

Big Mistake. Big! Huge!

I have been so tired lately, which I don't understand because I've been getting as close to eight hours sleep a night as possible, which is practically forever for me. I usually get by on about six hours sleep perfectly fine, but I find myself barely being able to function at work at the moment with the extra couple of hours.

I got home tonight and was so completely wiped that I lay down for half an hour before I did anything. Two hours later I woke up. This was a big mistake for several reasons.

1) I didn't do any studying tonight - not a huge deal though, because I don't know how productive I would have been anyway;

2) I bet you I have trouble sleeping tonight, despite the fact that I still feel like a walking zombie;

3) That will just mess up my study day tomorrow because I'll feel tired and lethargic all day. I don't mind feeling that way at work, but it pisses me off when I ruin my study days by feeling that way!

Typical Me

I really like this photo of me.



It pretty much sums me up. Plus, my hair is so shiny! :P

12 of 12 (but not!)

I was going to do one of those 12 of 12 posts, but Blogger is being all funny with me and not letting me load all of the photos. (I know, I know, it's supposed to be done on the 12th, but I missed that bit in Helen's post when I decided to do it yesterday. Yes, it took me two times reading it for that to register, despite it being the point of her post. I'm thick, so sue me!) Which is fine, because it was turning out to be a really boring post, and I was just using it as an excuse to tell you something anyway. So I'm just going to tell you the normal way.

I sat my theory test for driving yesterday.


I passed! Woo!

Why Do You Build Me Up?

My mum and oldest sister are coming to visit me in December. The main purpose of the trip is for them to get a bit of Christmas shopping done and for me to treat them to a West End show, Wicked. It's been organised for a while and they booked their flights months ago.

I mentioned it to my other sister last week when I was getting ready to book the theatre tickets, on the off-chance that wanted to come. She was really excited about it. It'd be a weekend away from the kids, which she's never had since Kieran was born. She just had to make sure that Graeme could get the time off work to watch the boys, but that wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't.

But I got an email from her today saying that she can't get the time off! She hadn't even considered that!

Boo! I'm really, really disappointed. Once the idea took root in my brain, I started to get really excited about it, a weekend with just my mum and her girls*. Finding out it wouldn't be happening threw me in a way even I didn't expect. I was really quite down about it for a few hours after I got the email.

I've spoken to my sister since, and we've come up with a couple of different options, included her trying to convince someone at work to swap holidays with her, so it's not compeletely hopeless. And even if she can't come down, I'll still have my mum and my other sister, which will be great! But how much better would it be if it were the four of us? So, please keep your fingers crossed that she can get the swap?


* I did also mention it to my dad, but his reaction was:
"A shopping weekend in London with four women, even if it is my wife and daughters? No thanks!"

Big Love

I really can't stand Nicki! Like, really really. I'm not really a fan of Chloe Sevigny, so I was a bit against the character from the very start, but she is actually horrible! She's a conniving, vindictive little cow!

Min? Danielle? I'm not alone in this, am I?

Naughty girl!

So I did a naughty thing today. I popped out at lunchtime to buy my lunch, and as I was making my way to M&S, I passed Monsoon. With a sale. I thought "I'll just pop in and see if there's anything decent", knowing full well that I detest sales and I would probably walk in and walk right back out again because of the mess and the crowds.

But!

The second I walked in, my eyes fell on this dress (edited with photo taken tonight). Only one left, and it just happened to be in my size. And it's so pretty! I decided to try it on for the hell of it, knowing that I don't usually look good in dresses.

Well!

This one is very flattering! I look so pretty in it! And for me to say that about myself is high praise indeed!

So I bought it! Yay! But no. I have absolutely no reason to buy it. I have nothing to wear it to. No weddings, no christenings, nothing! Last year I had these events coming out of my ears, but this year, zilch. I shouldn't have bought it.

But it was half price! It would have been rude not to.

All Hail The Rain Gods!

It's raining! It's actually raining! Although sod's law dictates that it had to happen in the middle of my first driving lesson in a month! Being a learner driver, driving for the first time in weeks in the middle of a thunderstorm with a new instructor and new car is not fun. Although I think I do like my new instructor. He makes me laugh and I'm not as tense around him. And I definitely prefer the new car (a Vauxhall Corsa as opposed to a Ford Focus - the car of the devil!).

Oh yeah, I changed my driving instructor, by the way. The other guy was doing my head in with his contradicting instructiions and his crazy car!

My water was turned off for essential maintenance work today. Which is fine. I was given plenty of notice and told it would be back on by 12. It actually came back on at 2.30pm, but I can handle that. It's what I expected. But it's still only just a trickle at 7pm! And then I come home from my lesson to find a notice saying my water is going to be off for four, count them, FOUR mornings in a row next month! So based on today, I can expect to be pretty much waterless for almost four full days. Did I mention that it's the fours days immediately before my exams? Grrr!

Happy Birthday Lewis!

Today is my other beautiful nephew's birthday!

He's one years old and I can hardly believe it. It's strange. On the one hand, I can't believe he's one already, but on the other, I can't believe he's only one because it feels like he's been around for longer. It's funny how you can get so used to someone's presence that you can't remember what life was like without them around.

By all accounts he's had a wonderful birthday. He saw all of his grandparents and (nearly) all of his aunties and uncles, he went swimming where he got his first taste of the rapids and slides (all in the careful arms of Daddy), he went to the park and tried to follow his big brother onto the big boys climbing frames, and of course he got lots of presents. Although I must add that when I called to wish him happy birthday, he was happily playing with the empty pack for the air freshener.

The Rocky Horror Show

After the success of the special production of Rocky Horror for the Royal Court's 50th anniversary, the current UK touring production was convinced to drop by the West End for a 3 week limited run. And I got tickets!

I went to see it last night, and I wasn't really sure what to expect. I've been to see the film version in one of those audience participation screenings where people get dressed up, you get handed a bag of props as you go in (eg newspaper to cover your head as Janet and Brad are walking up to castle in the rain, because the ushers squirt the audience with water guns) and you shout out stuff throughout the film (eg whenever Janet's name is mentioned, the audience yell "SLUT!"). But this was a theatre in the West End. Surely that kind of stuff couldn't happen here....

Well, I was right about one of them. There were no props or water guns or stuff, but there were a few Magentas, Columbias and Frank n' Furters in the audience, and all the usual stuff was yelled out. It was a bit strange being sat in one of those theatres, where UK audiences are usually very restrained, to hear the words "SLUT" and "COCK" being shouted at every available opportunity. It got a bit annoying at times when people were just heckling and not shouting the traditional cult stuff, because it interrupted the flow of the show, but usually it was brilliant.

The best bit by far though was my friend's reaction. She knew nothing about Rocky Horror except that it had the Time Warp in it. So the first time someone yelled something out, she looked a bit scandalised! I had to quickly explain the whole thing under my breath (I would have done it earlier, but I had no idea that she didn't know what to expect) before she started drawing people dirty looks or she got up and walked out or something! And she was more than a little shocked when Frank n' Furter revealed his costume (I still can't believe that she didn't know about him!), but she was more into the spirit of the thing by this time, and it was a laughing shocked rather than a we're-british-and-don't-accept-that-kind-thing shocked!

All in all, it was a good night. I prefer the film version because it's more polished, and as fantastic as David Bedella was last night, Tim Curry is the original and best Frank n' Furter! But the show was still really good fun.

At least the next time I go to the theatre, it'll be outside, so I'll hopefully not feel like I'm melting throughout it!

When I'm Wrong, I Admit I'm Wrong

Usually.

I just watched a full episode of Top Gear...and it was hilarious! Although, it can't seriously be that funny every week. I mean they set fire to a bloody caravan site, for god's sake!

The World Cup of Cuteness!

I love this! Posted by Moreena over at The Wait and Wonder.

Weekend Round-Up

I had a fairly uneventful train journey home on Wednesday night. Although there was a cute guy sitting across the aisle from me, which made it difficult to relax because I was scared of falling asleep and drooling all over myself! Actually he probably wasn't that cute, but he was Scottish and after four years in London, I'm a sucker for a Scottish accent now. Actually no, he was that cute.

Thursday was my dad's birthday. The big 63. OK, so not exactly a landmark, but still. He had a very chilled out day, sunbathing in the garden in the morning and going out for a late lunch/early dinner in the afternoon, with various visitors throughout the day. It was a nice day.

I can't remember what I did during the day on Friday (my memory sucks!), but I remember that my sister brought Kieran and Lewis round in the afternoon and Kieran threw up all over my dad. Poor baby, he was in pretty bad shape for a while. But he went to bed for a couple of hours and woke up feeling absolutely fine. My sister was supposed to be going to a wedding that night, with us babysitting, but she wasn't going to go when Kieran fell ill. However, he was so much better after a sleep, that we managed to talk her into going. She phoned several times throughout the night to check up on him, but he was fine. In fact, he was more than fine. Both he and Lewis were in high spirits and an absolute joy to babysit (bit of a change from the last time!). I had so much fun.

I went through to Glasgow on Saturday to catch up with some friends from my uni course. We went to Wagamama's for lunch, which was a strange experience because it's a place that I strongly associate with London. I often go there for dinner before heading off to the cinema or the theatre and, until recently, thought it was a chain limited to London. But it was good, as always, and it was really nice to catch up with my friends. I usually only have time to go through to Glasgow once when I'm home, and tend to always meet up with the same friends and neglect others for many months. That's why I didn't mention I was coming through Sharon. It's been about eight or nine months since I've seen those guys and I was feeling really guilty, especially since I blew one of them off recently when she was in London.

Sunday was a day I've been looking forward to for months. The Wimbledon men's singles final and the World Cup final in one day! How awesome. I even changed my train and took an extra days holiday when I realised I made the grave mistake of booking my train to clash with the World Cup! And how utterly predictable that I woke up on Sunday feeling terrible. I got dressed for mass long enough to realise that there was no way I was leaving the house that day, got back into my pyjamas, crawled into bed and stayed there for the rest of the day. I did watch the games, but fell asleep during them a couple of times.

Tennis - I got my dream final between Nadal and Federer. After the first set where Federer crushed Nadal 6-0, I thought my hopes of a close final were misguided, but no! Nadal came through in the end. It wasn't as close as I would have liked (I would have liked to see it go to five sets), but I think he challenged Federer more than anyone else could have. He never really had a shot at winning, but I think it could defintely be a different name on that trophy in a year or two. I do like Federer and was happy for him when he won, but it gets boring when that same person wins over and over again.

Football - What can I say? I'm gutted. I really wanted France to win and think they deserved it. I thought they were the better team and were attacking more. Italy seemed to be playing a much more defensive game, which isn't a game of champions. And to lose in penalties! How horrible! And Zidane. Oh wow. This was actually one of points in the game I fell asleep. I drifted off somewhere in the middle of the first half of ET and woke up to the commentators saying that Zidane had shamed himself. Luckily, it was replayed right away and I couldn't believe it. More than anything, I feel so sad for Zidane. He's a great player and has had a fantastic World Cup, but his career is always going to be defined by this one act in his last ever game. It was completely out of order and he totally deserved to be sent off, but I hope the Italian player deserved what he got. I'd hate to think that Zidane brought that kind of shame on himself over something really small. It just makes me really sad.

Then another uneventful train journey back to London. I was sat at a table with three lovely pensioners, and it amused me to watch them eat their packed lunch from empty margarine tubs. It reminded me of my gran. There was also another cute boy, but only for a short portion of the journey, so I took full advantage of drooling over myself when he was gone. ;)

Give Me A Break!

I got the train through to Glasgow on Saturday and, instead of giving me the discount for my Young Persons Railcard, the rail assistant applied the discount for the Senior Railcard. I'm guessing it was an innocent mistake, but coming on the heels of finding the gray hair, it would be quite easy for me to develop a complex about this!

An update of my trip home is coming when I can be bothered!

Going Grey

I blame Jazz and Amanda for talking about this recently.

I just found my first grey hair!

While I'm not bothered about it, I am a bit flabbergasted since I'm only 25.

Wimbledon

There is no better weather forecast than the start of Wimbledon.