I Will Not Fix Your Computer
My secret is out.
I stupidly agreed to fix Bryan's laptop because it wouldn't play his dvd's. And as soon as i had finished that, Mike came up to me and said he'd heard that i could fix computers and therefore could i help him with his webcam. I have now returned from Backhouse, after being named their official IT helpdesk.
Help me.
Emma Is Not Very Happy Today
This morning i was looking forward to just sleeping so i would be refreshed enough to finish my mental rotation lab report. However the fire alarm started going off in reception at about 10 am which woke me up, but i managed to start dozing again when it was turned off. Next thing i know, our actual flat alarm was going off. Cue me jumping out of bed, grabbing my hoodie and boots and banging on Mish's door. He had been in bed as well but managed to actually get dressed in about 5 seconds. We made out way outside to find that it was a drill to see how fast we could get out of our building. So there i am standing outside for no apparent reason with the rest of Fairbridge, but the only one on my red pj's, walking boots and durham hoodie with my hair a total mess and looking, in the words of Stu from upstairs, "Like death!" Therefore i am not a happy Emma today as i am grumpy and groggy and cold and i can't be bothered to do any work so am sat here listening to The Futureheads.
And i only have 3 glasses left out of the 8 that i brought with me this year.
Grrrrrr....
SNOW!!!
Well of sorts... and apart from being the name of my college...
All day we have had a blizzard outside, but there is nothing to show for mother nature's efforts.
It appears that the rest of the country has had snow apart from the little area of county durham/cleveland that i currently reside in. It's just not fair.
Been into town twice today: once with Nat to exchange clothes and the second time with Scott to get 2 new games for his xbox. Still haven't managed to convince him to let me mod it for him. Oh well guess i can find something else to keep me occupied.
Had a lecture on housing for next year: basically go with the uni recommended properties and you shall be fine. Now comes the task of deciding who to live with: Kat and Clare want to live with me and i want to live with them, and Nat. But Kat doesn't like Nat. And Nat would have no one else to live with. Oh well i'm sure things will sort themselves out...
A special mention should be made for Steve (Bozzy) as he has managed to work out how to insert images in his blog with no help from me whatsoever. Good on you mr pirate sir!
Shagadelic Baby!
Last night was the shagadelic theme night at the rocket in aid of SHAG week. Which in case you were wondering, does not encourage you to go out and have lots of sex, rather scare you out of it! Yesterday was spent trawling Middlesborough trying to find something remotely linked to the 70's as the theme dictated. But i always thought that shagadelic was the 60's really? Anywho, after being unsucessful in the ccostume department, it was a good thing really as there were 2 people who dressed up (apart from the condom fairies) and i think they felt a bit stupid.
The cheerleading squad were there celebrating a win in addition to the Queen's rugby team who beat Newcastle:
"FLASH........ AAAAHHHHH....."
We left at about 1 due to the
naked cowboy dancing around on the stage in front of me and really creeping me out. Then Clementine collapsed in the middle of everyone and a few of the rugby guys had to carry her out. She has to be careful, she could get chucked off her course if she gets admitted to hospital with alcohol related problems. Oh the joy of being a medic.
There's Fire in a GOBLET?!?!
On Friday night i hitched a lift with Chris the Medic and Clare to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Now i am one of those people who only read the books when they come out in paperback and i can find them in the bargin bin for about £3.99 and then take them on holiday with me and read in about a day. Once the films come out, i also wait until they are on dvd before even remotely considering watching them. That is how much of a Harry Potter "fan" i am. So this was a new experience for me.
I did not expect to have to stand for 15 minutes in the dark of the cinema trying to find a seat that was not in the front row. I also did not expect to have lots of kids talking all the way through. Finally i did not expect to actually enjoy myself. There were a few bits where i sat there going "What on earth were they thinking?" and also Clare and I made jokes about the bath scene with Harry and Moaning Myrtle which Chris found hilarious and was almost choking.
But i guess i'm getting old because it didn't enthuse me at all to all of a sudden go and buy book 6 or to write a letter trying to make them make the next film a little quicker. All that childhood magic and wonder is lost on me. I live a sad existance.
ETA: Pear cider is very nice
Perl Workshop
Tomorrow is the Perl Workshop in London, and if anyone of you is going (not that many of you who read this will be, but on the off chance) look out for someone wearing a black pinstripe trilby hat...
oh and with a "digital angel" t-shirt on...
carrying a non-digital nikon slr...
and a whole bunch of toast loving people...
all of them wearing something vaguely durham-esque...
*wink*
Why?
Why is it that everytime i go into D009 i feel the need to fall asleep? It might not just be that room, it might just be the very sleepifying subject that is Statistics. Or that i didn't get much sleep last night due to the excessive shower taking by the people upstairs? Or that it's a 9 am lecture and no one can be bothered with those?
Im so tired i think i may fall asleep during Harry Potter this afternoon...
What do you mean?
This is a message for Bryan Anthony Bryant-Steeds:
What do you mean i have unnecessary pictures of Mike?
That is all.
Shut Up!
I'm sitting here with the fire alarm going off all around me and i need to finish my biological essay! It's nothing serious, the caretaker, Paul, is installing a new oven for us and somehow has managed to set the fire alarm off. It's quite deafening really and is doing my head in. I can't go outside because i'm still in my pj's (which aren't really that good at covering things) and plus i have to do this essay.
Which is supposed to be handed in by 3pm today.
And i have lectures.
So i have about 2 hours to finish it.
And i've done 500 words of 1500.
And i have no idea what to write.
Too Little, Too Late
Had a bit of a crap day today, i'm cold, grumpy because Mish woke me up this morning for a stupid reason and I can't be bothered to do this stupid essay in for tomorrow!
Came home from campus to find that we have a new oven. Well it's sitting on the kitchen floor still waiting to be installed. Only problem is that since the big clean, the oven has been fine! Which makes us feel a bit guilty!
It's freezing here! I'm wearing about 7 layers and have my duvet wrapped round me and i'm still cold. And it's supposed to get worse. I think that we may have to start huddling together at night to keep warm!
We're going to mixology tonight, got Clare and Kat involved so it should be fun! The rest are going to Hush afterwards tonight but me and Nat are going to have a Rocky Horror evening. I'm really getting geared up to go and see it live next year! Need to start thinking about a costume...
Bad Signs?
Is it a bad sign when your entire abdomen hurts from coughing too much?
It feels like i've cracked a rib and i'm getting paranoid that i have since it's all swollen and I can see some brusing (I think). If I had a bath, then I would have a nice relaxign one to put my mind at ease, but alas that is unpossible.
Brownies and the network
I am currently sitting here eating choclate brownies and listening to Queen for some reason. Waiting for the room inspection people to come round and trying to avoid doing work. All of a sudden Perl has become quite interesting to me. This may be due to
Dan's somewhat obsession with it and the prospect of the CompSoc social tonight where he will no doubt bring it up again! However they will not have the pleasure of my company tonight as I am going to the John Snow JCR General Meeting with Kat and Clare. Who are going to try and get me to stand for Junior DSU Rep on the Exec. Which wouldn't be
so bad i suppose...
On a different note, it seems that the durham network doesn't like msn in addition to firefox. For everyone here it keeps logging in and out automatically which can be more than a little frustrating when you are trying to have a conversation of an important matter with someone.
My stomach hurts from coughing too much as well. I say coughing, it's more like trying to turn myself inside out by launching my stomach through my mouth.
1:15 am!
Did you know that at 1:15 am on a tuesday morning, they show Antiques Roadshow on BBC 2? I thought it was rather strange myself after watching Lawn Dogs.
Steven Boswell, I like you very much!
In the post today i got a very nice postcard and newspaper article from aforementioned young man who is studying English Literature at Sheffield. A photo of these things will be posted later when i get home! I have to say that it really brightened up my day and i'm on the lookout for something to send him now! Thank you Bozzy if you're reading this!
Happy Birthday Pete!
Today is Pete's 21st birthday and we are all going out to Cornerhouse in Middlesborough tonight. Since I am dosed up on parecetamol then I can't actually drink, so it's the j2o for me tonight! Photo's shall be posted later when i get some. But before that can happen, we have to tidy up the whole flat due to room inspections tomorrow. So off i go have a shower and clean my arse off!
Too much time perhaps?
Some people have just too much time on their hands i think. It does make some good points for example that you would still have the same number of hours in a week, just less days. But would you really want to work for 10 hours at a time?
Well look what insomnia drives you to
In my insomniac state this morning, i decided to have a deeper look around the net and found
this article on
Hack-a-Day. Now i'm slightly scared about letting other people use my laptop.
I also found
this article which may be handy for those of you that have lost files on your hard drive dying.
Today is "Let's Blame Mr Bigg's Day"
Just been woken up by Scott telling me that he needs to borrow my phone because some girl has just declared her undying love for him. So? Why does that justify the need for him to borrow my phone? Plus do i really want to know? He didn't take this much notice when i did it the other week. He still thinks i was very drunk, when i actually wasn't and everybody else knows that. Now i have to wait for him to finish. Which will take ages probably. Then i won't be able to get back to sleep. So it will be his fault that i'm grumpy tomorrow. Lets blame Scott.
So if anything goes wrong for you today, then you can direct your anger and frustration to Mr Scott Edward Biggs c/o me.
ETA: Phone has been returned and i'm no closer to getting to sleep. Suppose i should try my favorite late night activity: doing pointless coding.
Its a small world
How stupid am I? (don't answer that!)
I've just this second realised that I know the vice-president of the
Durham Pagan Society, and have done for a number of years (albeit on a not very personal level). She's on my msn list and I do chat to her from time to time. I can't believe I haven't worked it out sooner! *waves to Julia* Problem is that now I have no excuse not to go to the socials because she would probably come and drag me there herself.
Not dead (quite) yet
Well today i feel a bit better than I did, although I have overdosed on paracetamol probably so if you don't hear from em for a few days then you know that i'm lying in a coma in the bathroom and Kat hasn't been able to find me in the cavenous space.
Just had a lazy day, went to Morry's in the evening to get enough food to last till christmas. It actually felt properly like winter today. And i'm startign to get into the Christams spirit, i mean we had mince pies about 2 weeks ago, but now there is talk of snow which may not always be a good thing.
Talking of snow, my xy parental unit is going to a castle near Aberdeen on Thursday and there is a good chance that he'll get snowed in. If so he might not be back int time to pick me up. Which means that i will have to try and bring all my valuables home on the train. So thats a laptop, tv, stereo, safe and numerous important documents including my books that i need for vacation work. Great fun i think not. Or i could just pay the extra £10.65 a night and stay here all christmas? Decisions, decisions.
ACS?
I've been sent numerous emails inviting me to the ACS launch party. So being the curious person I am, I emalied Dave (jcr president) as to what the ACS actually is. He doesn't even know. If you know what ACS stands for then please let me and Dave know as we're both curious.
Well I did it
As you can see the template has been changed, but there are still tweaks that need to be made. I suppose it will have to do for the time being.
Also the photo is from karaoke the other night (with Dr Dias's hand in the background). But look at the prettyful scarf that i have!
Welcome to my funeral
I'm dead.
Well i certainly feel it.
I'm currently lying in bed trying to find a decent web host but failing miserably.
I might change my blog layout, what do you think?
Leave me comments people, i like having things to read while i sleep.
"Don't go breaking my heart"
Just got back from a rather enjoyable trip to Dubliners for karaoke. Mish left early being the miserable person he is. Kwan persuaded me (more like put my name down without my knowledge) to sing "Don't go breaking my heart" by Elton and Kiki with him. And i have to say it doesn't sound that bad on Scott's phone. Next up was Mr Biggs himself with Dr Dias singing "She's the one" which got a standing ovation from a couple of rather drunk women at the back. Then Emma B sang a Celine Dion track that was excellent, quickly followed by me and Kwan with the now comical "Under Pressure". Kwan can actually hit the Freddy high notes, which Ryan pointed out was probably acheived by having his hand in his pocket at the crucial parts. The evening was finished off by Scott and Ryan singing (or shouting depending on which of them you were listening to) "Unchained Melody". I'm now off to bed as i'm tired, smell of smoke and i can't stop coughing. Kat's staying at Ben's so i have the flat to myself pratically. Goodnight Everybody!
"Goodnight Dr Nick!"
"Oh What A Night..."
"Late December back in '63"
Sorry i couldn't resist! Last night we went to Walkabout, Flares and Hush in 'Boro (see i'm picking up the lingo). Had a very nice time out with the Backhouse Crew.
Vicki, Me and Sarah in Flirt
Pete and Mike in Hush
Mike wrapping up Liz in a curtain at Hush
Kat has gone to a hockey social in Durham dresssed in her full kit, including gumshield and shin pads. She definitely got some looks on the way to college dining, but i saw loads of the guys on the way back dressed the same so she didn't have to wait around like an idiot for too long.
Ball plans are in full swing and i'm getting my dress sent up here. Just need a date now and everything would be perfect! Fat chance of that i think.
We're just sitting around waiting for the guys to be ready so we can go to Dubliners for karaoke! But i'm not going to sing, my throat really hurts and i just want to go to bed. I'm really tired and i just need to sleep.
I Love Wales...
But i would never do something like
this. I'm speechless as to why you would do this. If you have a penis, then please let me know why you would do it.
Today's The Day!
Well my peeps, it's that time of the fortnight again: i have the day off.
"What are you doing today Emma?" is a question you might ask me.
Well the answer is sod all!
Actually that's a lie. It's currently 2:15pm here by my laptop and i''ve only just got around to putting clothes on after a shower a couple of hours ago. But during that time i have:
- Planned an assignment
- Eaten a bannana
- Spoken to Tom about the possible upgrade of Toast
- Taken part in some Phd research
- Been invited to lunch by my tutor
- Rearranged my desk
- Downloaded last weeks Chris Moyles podcast
- Taken my phone apart to try and reset it
- Tried to justify the need for my dad to bring up my old box from home so i can have some linux loving once again
- Made some cous cous
I think it is also rather strange that i have not seen anyone from the flat today. I think i heard Mish come back from lectures but can't really be sure. Kat stayed at Ben's last night so i haven't seen her. And Biggsy should be back from campus soon, so we can make our trip into town. I need to get some envelopes.
Firemen
Forgot to mention that the highlight of my pathetic weekend has to be this afternoon when one of the washing machines caught fire and it set off our alarm because our flat is next to the laundry room. So had to be evacuated and wait for the lovely firemen to turn up! Sure enough they did not too long afterwards and we were made to wait in the freezing cold. Gave me a chance to chat to Stu and Lisa who live upstairs, they are nice people really!
What a weekend!
Well that's a slight exaggeration! Friday night we went to Pimp for a drink then came back and watched more DH (desperate houswives). Mish is obsessed with that program! Then saturday i did work, then went to the CompSoc social with Tom. We talked about random stuff especially the problems that happened on Thursday. In case you don't know the network went down in Durham which then went on to affect the Stockton branch of the network. Anyway after that we chatted about random crap and it was duly noted that we were all going to the assasins night next week! Got off the bus in good old Stockton to find about a million messages asking me to go to the rocket. Went there, met up with Scott, Mish, Ryan and Kwan. Played some pool, had a few more drinks then went to sit with the backhouse gang. Danced a bit with Vicki, even got up on the stage and then went home after some girl had an asthma attack. Did some work today and that's about it for my weekend.
Just had a amassive cleaning spree around the flat with Scott. He's tucked up in bed now because like me he has to be up at 9 tomorrow. Kat comes back at 12 tomorrow, been a bit weird without her.
Better get back to the methods report i guess!
"And this one is from Pensylvania..."
Meeting Dr Bill Bryson was probably one of the most exciting experiences that i've had. It was great fun and i enjoyed it immensely. He is just as witty in real life as he is in his books. There was a short powerpoint presentation that started off with pictures of slides (you had to be there), then he talked a bit about how he got into journalism and ended with a reading from "An African Diary". Then the floor was opened up for questions. One of the best came from Ben: "Yu said that Bradford only exists to make the rest of the world look better. Now you've been to Stockton, has your opinion changed?" He also talked a bit about his new book, which is about childhood, specifically his but related to everybody's as well. I was in such awe of the man, i almost killed myself when they said he would sign books. Sadly i didn't have one with me because, like Ben, i thought that it would be inappropriate. Still there will be lots mor chances i'm sure. I urge you all to go out and read his books. At least one but preferably "An African Diary" as the money from the sales goes to charity. Now go and read!
Cocktails!
Well last night Nat and I went to the Mixology Cocktail society meeting. It was quite good as we learnt how to make a baileys fizz, mojito and a mango margarita. As we were the closest to the shots table, we ended up having double shots compared to everyone else. We loved it so much that on the way back from the rocket, we bought a bottle of baileys and made some baileys fizz for Kat and ourselves. I'm now a cocktail genius so if you wnat any, Fairbridge is the place it's at!
On a different note, Kat and Ben are sorting themselves out, i just wish Mish would as well. I got rahter stressed at him on tuesday as i thought he was talking about what happened on monday (the whole lack of clothes thing) but apparently he wasn't. He's pissing everybody off but we don't know why. Personally i think (and this has just come to me as i type) that we are all a bit stressed and depressed and we're attributing our anger and frustration on him as a situational causal factor. See psychology does come in useful...
Also i've unleashed a monster by introducing Scott to the swallow song. It's now his ring tone and he plays it just as often as Mish plays Toni Braxton.
Problems
Well as you can tell it's realatively early/late at the moment and i'm still awake. This is due to the fact that we (me, Kat, Ben, Emile and Clare) got a bit drunk playing poker and then Circle of Death. However things then kicked off between Kat and Ben for reasons that i will not go into but lets just say that they've been shouting at each other by the stairs for about 2 hours and i can't really sleep for that reason. They're both upset and very wasted (well they were) and i just want to make sure that they are ok. Clare left about 45 mins ago with Emile who will have to sleep on her floor tonight as he's drunk a little too much to drive home. I just hope they sort everything out. I will post later today about the meeting with Mr Bryson, i'm too tired to create a witty and amusing entrylike the great man deserves.
I Love You Bill!
Tonight our chancellor is coming to the university to give a little talk and take some questions and i actually want to go. This is because our chancellor is Bill Bryson the travel writer. Now i am a huge fan. His books make me laugh so much, i can read them in a day and you can read them over and over again and not get bored. No one else seems to appreciate how good the man is and consequently i shall be going on my own it looks like. But do i care, NO! I shall just have to restrain myself from shouting "I Love You Bill" during the question and answer session.
Step away from the Fudge!
Well this weekend was very eventful i have to say. I went to Cambridge to see Elysenburger (sory just felt the need to say that) and i had a wonderful time (see Elyse i did enjoy myself, no need to worry). So sit back and i shall give you the highlights of my trip:
The Train Journey: Well to start with i ended up getting on the train at Thornaby with my JCR president and talking to him a long time about the uni, what we hate about it and what we can do to make the whole place a lot better. Darlington brought a freaky horse racing guy giving me tips while i was trying desperately to read my cognitive textbook (see i'm so studious). Then Peterborough came and went where there was a freaky biker guy sitting in my reserved seat and consequently i ended up surrounded by Russians who wouldn't move when i wanted to get off.
Saturday: Met Elyse at the station, walked back to her room, dumped mystuff and then went into town. Had a cream tea (but with hot chocolate) in Auntie's Tea Room. Walked around, saw some cool shops, wanted to spend money that i don't really have. Then we went and watched Garden State back at Elyse's. Ranted about work loads and various other things. Or conflabbed is a more accurate word. Then we had some lovely yummy food provided by Miss Quinn and set off for the firework display. Except we kind of missed it. Well we saw some on the way there until we were confronted with thousands of people leaving the common. Saw the massive bonfire and spent about 20 minutes trying to find Elyse's friends. Then we went for a tour around Cambridge trying to find somewhere to have a drink, and ended up in the Robinson college bar via Sainsbury's. Had a drink in there, went to the Robinson JCR and met more Cambridge people including Brandon the Candian that knows everybody. Listened to a debate about politics and the various Uni papers and what views they have. Then when we eventually got chucked out of there, there was a muffin fight in the quad thing which was basically Brandon throwing mini muffins at everyone. This included the great jam hunt because someone wanted to make vodka jam. Eventually we headed for bed and had another conflab session.
Sunday: Went to Peppercorn's fpr chcolate crunch cake and then had to head to the station. It was raining as per usual for this week. Felt sad to be leaving Elyse, i really miss her (i really do) and headed home on the train. Journey home wasn't that eventful apart from the rain and most of the people getting on the thornaby train at darlington being Durham students. Got home, fed fudge to people, and then watched Saw which i had only seen half of previously. It's a creepy film i must say and the plan is that we watch Saw 2 tonight. Don't know if i can due to lack of sleep this weekend.
So there you go, we had fun and now i'm back in Stockton going about my day to day business. I shall now leave you with one of the greatest lines i've heard a train announcer saying:
"Don't board this train if you don't intend to travel"
I'm not a Desperate Housewife!
Well it was inevitable really, Mish bought Desperate Housewives on dvd with his birthday money, only because of Eva Longoria though. So last night we sat there watching the first disc, before Scott had to sleep due to getting up at 6 today to go to his school placement. Mish convinced me to trat myself yesterday as well so now i have the rocky horror picture show double disc dvd, team america, the nightmare before chritams and INCUBUS: ALIVE AT RED ROCKS! I have been wanting to get that for ages because it's Brandon Boyd but also because it has the wonderful song Pantomime on the cd that comes with it. Which is just the most amazing song ever. *swoon*
On to other news, Shaun has flu the poor thing and is tucked up in bed in Richmond he assures me. And i'm going to Cambridge this weekend to see Elyse (YAY!) which i am very excited about! Even though my train is at 8am on Saturday. Which means i will probably have to be up at around 6 just to make sure that i get the right train and that i have everything packed. I still have to take some reading with me to do which i'm sure can be doen on the 3 trains i have to get. Scott said i should stay a bit longer in Perterborough because it's such a nice place. Only he would say that because he's from there.
We keep winding Mish up over what he did on Monday night, it's proving quite fun.
I'm off to a cognitive lecture now, fun!
Happy Birthday Mish!
Well yesterday was Mish's birthday and well, the man never goes out. So we decided on sunday that we would go out last night but that all changed because Scotty had football. So we ordered in from the Bite Centre and Kwan went over to Bells to get some Jack Daniels. We decided to have a bit of a Bridget Jones Marathon as Mish had never seen either film. Scotty came back and joined us in my room. However things didn't go wuite according to plan. Basically Mish drank the whole bottle of JD to himself and now my room stinks of it. But the funniest thing is that Mish has never been drunk before and last night was excellent. Drunk Mish is so funny and relaxed and chatty and just wonderful really. Apart from calling me a lesbian and saying that he loved Kwan. We even got him to admit his love for George Michael being more than just about the music. All in all a very good night.
