Hiatus

It has suddenly dawned on me that I have less than a month to get all my uni work done, so I haven't got time to compose the epic blog post I've been intending to for a few days.

So, I shall leave you for now with the information that I have the greatest pencil sharpener in the world, courtesy of Simon and the Dr. When you stick a pencil up its arse, it mews. It's BRILLIANT.

Even better, unlike Shaggy it doesn't vomit on the carpet when annoyed (which is often).

I also have a job interview next Tuesday. Really hoping I get it - is only a 10-week placement, but actually pays, and will look very good on the CV. So fingers crossed and all that, even if it does destroy any of my plans for a nice summer holiday before starting NCTJ training in September.

I went to see Posh on Friday. I drank a lot of alcohol at the weekend, won the pub quiz and got sunburnt. I plan to do similar this weekend (sans sunburn). My social calendar has suddenly got far busier. Back in February/March I was stuck in most weekends. Now I must must MUST find time to write essays and keep getting invited down the pub. I'm incapable of saying no to the pub, I'm striving to learn.

I shall try and blog if anything particularly exciting happens, but shall very much be absent for the next month or so. See you all again in June.

The perils of cat-sitting

Picture the scene. 5am, I am fast asleep on the sofa when a cat jumps on my face.

Shaggy: Purr purr purr I love you Erykah you're amazing I love you by the way I'm hungry did I mention I love you?
Me: Fuck off I'm asleep.
Shaggy: But Simon and the Dr always feed me at 5am if I'm hungry purr purr you wouldn't want to upset them would you purr.
Me: No they don't.
Shaggy: Do.
Me: Don't.
Shaggy: Do. Will putting my arse in your face make any difference purr.
Me: I was told to ignore you at stupid o clock in the morning.
Shaggy: FINE! I shall go and eat what is left. Though it is probably POISON. Don't say I didn't warn you if it makes me ILL!

*om nom nom*

*huuuuurk*

Shaggy: I told you so.

--

I have temporarily relocated south of the river to look after this creature while his usual slaves are in Glasgow:



I could definitely get used to having a house of one's own; I wonder if I could claim squatters rights?

Film reviews - 'From a Whisper' and 'Rough Aunties'

'Play' supplement,London Student, Volume 30, Issue 11, 15th March 2010, pages iv-v.

Singapore fling

London Student, Volume 30, Issue 9, 15th February 2010, page 25.

Disappointingly, my photo of the bequiffed pigeon was not included. So, I shall exert sub-editing powers on my blog instead.

3 Worst Student Cities

I don't think it'll be any great surprise to anybody which crappy Leicestershire town sprang immediately to mind.

I hope to blog again properly tomorrow. Sunday has been spent recovering from a wonderful, but surreal weekend. These are, I feel, the best kind. I'll be doing it all again in a week; and the week after. I'm not entirely sure when my dissertation is actually going to get written up, but I suspect it may be improved by the presence of red wine.

Election

So the election has finally been announced as the 6th of May. In future, I would suggest that various media outlets contact me on these matters. The polling card that's been in my kitchen for the past week was a tiny clue to when the election was going to be held... Had I known this was actually news, I'd have phoned the Guardian or something.

I'm now just praying the Tories don't get in. I'm not entirely sure I can cope with entering the world of work and the start of a New Blue Empire in the same month. It's just all too depressing. I may take the opportunity to emigrate. Yes, Labour have done a lot of shitty things, but they have also:

* Legalised gay marriage
* Repealed Section 28
* Introduced minimum wage
* Equalised the age of consent
* Banned fox hunting
* Sorted out the majority of problems surrounding Northern Ireland

Though the less said about top-up fees, the better.

Keeping Labour means keeping the BBC. I love the BBC, if the Tories break that as well, I will actually cry. Labour may not be brilliant, but they're better than Cameron and his horrible friends, who'll just sell everything off to the highest bidder.

Not that it particularly matters who I vote for, as in Hackney South and Shoreditch Labour has over 50% of the vote. I don't think that'll be toppled any time soon. Obviously, I'll still be voting, but it's a tad demoralising that whatever I choose won't really make any overall difference.

Easter

Over the past few days, I have consumed a spectacular amount of wine. I personally think that's what Jesus did over the original Easter weekend: after the Last Supper he went on a bit of a bender and finally re-emerged on Sunday morning having recovered from his hangover.

On Thursday, I finished university for ever. Now only 18,500 words stand between me and the real world. HELP.

Thursday evening was spent in the pub with various Doctor Who types. The lovely Jonny lent me a select choice from the BBC Shakespeare collection, prompted by a discussion over Facebook I had completely forgotten about. Aren't my friends brilliant?

On Friday I ventured south of the river, where the equally lovely Simon and the Dr fed me hot cross buns and tea and showed me the dinosaurs. This was followed by getting lost in a maze, Simon giving me lots of advice about how to become a successful writerly-type (see, my friends are brilliant!), before retiring to the pub for wine. Then back to their house for much more wine, aubergines, and being glared at by their slightly evil-looking cat. I even returned home with another Shakespeare DVD and a free book. Although a North London girl at heart (what can I say? I like the Underground!), I'm now thinking I may have to venture dahn Souf more often in future. And, thanks to the new East London line finally opening next month, it'll finally be straightforward to get there from Hackney.

Saturday was, of course, Doctor Who day! A review of the episode shall shortly follow - I'm currently in the midst of another wave of job applications. I joined various friends in a giant Wetherspoons to watch Doctor Who on a giant screen, organised by the wonderful Jeremy Bentham.


Not this Jeremy Bentham.
Other than the episode, my favourite part of the evening was probably Helen's gingerbread Doctors. Must have taken so much time and effort, and they tasted as good as they look.

I got the last Gingerbread Matt!
Gingerbread Docs!
We didn't know each other at all, and it was only due to mutual friends on Twitter that I got to relay my thanks. This is one of the many reasons I love living in the twenty-first century. (In addition to technology, another major plus point is the fact I can do things such as vote and work and go to university. Huzzah for feminism!)

Through reasons unexplained, the pub the party was held in closed just after 8pm, despite still having several hundred people still there. So a large group of us headed to my beloved Shakespeare's Head and gave them all our beer and food money instead.

Essentially, my weekend can be epitomised by wine, Shakespeare, Doctor Who, dinosaurs and friends. I want all weeks to be like this (though I'm not sure my liver would agree).

Wandering lonely as a cloud

I bought more daffodfils. This time the little trumpety bits in the middle are yellow. Metaphorically, my life seems to be improving. Apart from the internet crashing for two days and the boiler breaking. Of course, with the central heating out of action, the weather has decided it's winter again.

Being internet-less was a hideous experience, I had to write an essay doing research in books. BOOKS! I'm used to relying on Google for all my research needs, it was very odd. I hadn't realised until now how reliant I am on the internet. And, naturally, it hit during the week all my housemates have gone home and I'm lacking in human contact.

I have one more day left of university. In fifteen hours it'll all be over - apart from the small matter of writing 18,500 words between now and the 20th May. This terrifies me. I have, however, been unexpectedly asked to progress to the second round of applications for a summer internship, which is promising. Perhaps I'm not utterly unemployable after all.

I have also decided that at some point in the near-future I want to go to Berlin. Unfortunately, I can barely speak a word of German, despite having studied it for two years at school. I blame the fact we only had one lesson a week, last thing on a Friday afternoon. Nobody had their brains in gear by that point. I managed to get an A in GCSE French, and hold a (very) basic conversation, yet the one sentence I can remember in German is "es ist sonnig." And as Germany's in Europe, I'm guessing it's not generally an accurate statement. So, I have persuaded my annoyingly-good-at-languages housemate to go with me. I also have epic plans to head over into the Netherlands to see the lovely Eric, and maybe also Prague and Budapest. But this depends very much on finances, and whether or not I actually have a job by then.