Monday 4th week

It's mid-morning. Just settling down to Social Stratification revision. Not really feeling too much in the zone, but am hoping to cover the income inequality topic.

Mostly been spending my mornings campaigning for the war in Sri Lanka to end. Writing to MPs and MEPs, newspapers, commenting on articles, signing virtual petitions, feeling sad for the Tamil people there. They say the war is over now and that the LTTE have been destroyed. But the Eelam dream is still alive, the Tamil people want their freedom and their own land, and they will keep fighting for it.

There are thousands of people (some reports say upwards of 250,000) in displacement camps in Vanni at the moment, where there isn't enough food or water or medicine. People live in cramped conditions and don't have freedom of movement. Once you're in the camp, you can't get out, and while visitors are allowed, it's a bureaucratic nightmare to dissuade visits. Further there is still no independent media access or access to the war zone by NGOs. All so the government can continue their dirty work without having anyone question them. It's a terrible situation, poor Tamil people in Sri Lanka...it's like the Jews except here the Tamil people were caught between the LTTE and GoSL - a rock and a hard place it seems. I only hope it gets better.

Aside from Sri Lanka my time has been occupied with revision and cricket - played my first game last week and while my batting was terrible (1 run!), I managed to bowl someone out in one of my five overs, and also bowled a maiden over (where no runs are scored), which is cool for me! I'm enjoying that a lot.

Ok I will get back to work now. Exams in 5 weeks!

Thursday 2nd week

Been working on my thesis and revision. Thesis is going ok. Had a meeting with my supervisor on Tuesday (after a lovely long weekend at home) and have some changes to do but think it'll be ok. Ignoring it for now as she recommended spending most of my time revising.

Have two exams (nothing compared to finals!) so trying to figure out which topics to revise etc.

Home was awesome, first BBQ of the year! Saw lots of family and ate really well :) Saw my Granddad too - he's back in the country for six months, woo! He's 89 now and still going strong, which I'm really grateful for. Played poker with the girls and 304 too, good times.

Made plans to go to Washington for a week in August with my Dad and my brother - it's my cousin's wedding. Will be good to see all the family over there as it's been a while.

What else? X is home full-time - woo! Good work ethics will hopefully rub off on me with regards to revision and stuff. Been watching a lot of football. Controversial football for sure. Poor referees in the Champions League - they are making all sorts of mistakes. My brother made a strong case for video referees in the box when I was watching footy with him on the weekend. Now I'm really starting to agree with him. Wrong decisions in the penalty box happen far too regularly. Poor Fletcher will miss the Final for the red card given because of his excellent tackle. Shocking decision and even worse that it can't be appealed against. He behaved really well though - the Chelsea players could learn a thing or too about respect in football from him. That's the other thing, football doesn't have any respect in it, people dive and complain and argue with the ref all the time. Yesterday Ballack was actually chasing and flapping at the ref! There needs to be a system like in rugby where only the captain can talk with the ref and also if people show dissent then decisions should be reversed or they should lose ground on the free kick or something like that. The FA and UEFA and FIFA all those groups need to sort out the refereeing and get some respect back in the game because players and fans are acting like thugs.

Rant over. Saw In The Loop last night, which was great, so funny and actually satirical. Would recommend it for sure. Also click here for Pizza Express vouchers, which are buy one main course get the second free.

Ok I will get back to reading the sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go. It's called The Ask and The Answer - harrowing stuff, kinda like the situation in Sri Lanka at the moment for the poor oppressed Tamil people caught up in the war zone. I hope this book has a happy ending. I hope in Sri Lanka there's a happy ending too.

1st week

No classes this term! This should be a good thing. And indeed it is. Except it means that all structure to my life has gone. Well, as much as it can go for a semi-serious Virgo like me.

So I have revision for my 9th week exams to do. And I have my thesis to do. And both of them seem due so far away, and both of them are such big tasks (in my head) to even start, that I am failing to do anything properly productive. I know that once I am in the zone of things it'll be sweet, but just getting started is so tedious.

I think it's error working at my desk in the flat. I need to be somewhere where other people are working. That said though, I am loving having this kinda free time. It all feels like I'll get it done someday, so in the meantime I'm just gonna enjoy things.

Finished The Knife of Never Letting Go, which was so awesome. Am very glad that X can get me the sequel before it's released (good stuff those bookshop proofs). We're going to see X-Men Origins:Wolverine tonight, which am pretty psyched about, I love X-Men and Wolverine and Beast are my faves. Sometimes I wonder what I'd like to have as a super power, and I reckon it would still be Prof X's and Jean Grey's ESP-style powers, I mean, they seem really useful in whatever situation.

Was listening to Asher Roth's Asleep in the Bread Aisle - really funny album, would totally recommend it. Now listening to his mixtape The Greenhouse Effect, which I reckon is even better than the full on album! So we will see how the work goes today then.

Nice holiday but very bad in Sri Lanka

I am back. Lille was awesome, lovely beers and mussels and fun all day, I loved it!

Thesis presentation went well this morning, I'm pleased. Will crack on with revision and thesis tomorrow. Exam dates in 9th week - Monday 22nd and Weds 24th.

Horrible things happening in Sri Lanka, hope it all stops soon, those poor people. Saw some terrible terrible photos of dead people, it's so sad. Worse though are the ones that are still alive in those concentration camps, they're alive now as I type this, and as you read this, suffering in a hell-hole. I don't know what to do. There's a mass protest again in London tomorrow, but even when other government's put pressure on Sri Lanka, they just keep doing what they want, they don't care about whom they kill along the way. It's heart-breaking.

Sad about Sri Lanka

I am a bit despairing. The ceasefire is over in Sri Lanka and the shelling and firing have begun again. I keep reading reports about all the tragedy and devastation and human suffering and I just feel terrible. I don't even know what I can do to help apart from going to these protests and writing to politicians. I sign all the petitions and I comment on the news articles. But it's not enough.

I sometimes think about giving money to things like Vanni Mission and other organisations, but part of me is always fearful that secretly these things are funding the Tigers. I don't know where I stand with them. On the one hand I am glad they are fighting for our people and trying to reduce the discrimination against us. I can see why they exist - people can only be pushed so far. On the other hand, when I read that they are preventing civilians from leaving the war-zone, and when I hear about child soldiers and extortion and human shields and all of that, well, it makes me understand why they are condemned.

I just want the war to stop and the international community to step in and mediate and sort out a political solution. Ideally they need to devolve power in the North so that the Tamils finally have their own homeland. It's funny you know, when I read all the news articles and people complain about Tamil protesters and argue that this conflict is external and not the concern of the British people and why don't all these people just go over to Sri Lanka and protest there, I just think what idiots these people are. Of course we'd love to go back and live in Sri Lanka if we could, if we weren't discriminated against and treated as second class citizens. And of course we'd protest there if we could. Except if you speak out against the government you get silenced. Look at all the journalists and people who have been abducted in white vans never to be seen again. So Sri Lanka is a complete no-go if you've got any sanity. The problem is that there are millions of Tamil people who can't get out of there and so are stuck in the suffering. I wish it would all end. I know I'd love to live somewhere where I was actually meant to be, not just some immigrant.

At least maybe this war is doing one good thing in that it is highlighting to the world all the suffering in Sri Lanka. Perhaps a good solution will come out at the end after all.

Read more here from the BBC and here from the Independent.

My cousin's blog

Also check out my cousin's blog here.

It's about his summer in Ghana working with Engineers Without Borders.

Inspiring stuff!

Some random things

Am confused by some of the new icons on the blogger sign in page. Can people text me now? Or does that mean I can update my blog by phone? Hmm...

Should be working on my codebook, which is actually going ok, but am being a bit distracted. Liverpool vs Chelsea last night was so dramatic, I love watching football when it's like that. Been a bit of a housewife yesterday and today, doing all sorts of chores. It's funny how when you want to be distracted there's always something to do.

Very impressed to hear that Obama visited the MyBnk offices, that's awesome! Also pleased that there was a ceasefire in Sri Lanka - hopefully some of the trapped people made it out. Am still campaigning although it's slowed a bit. I want that war to end and end now. The Tamil people need their own land and then things will be ok.

It was Tamil New Year yesterday so am thinking and wishing for positive things this year. Starting with getting my work done!

Four days in Cambridge

Quick blog due to limited time! Am back at home in London and it's very nice indeed. I love hanging out with my brothers and parents, and also seeing lots of my friends from back home around here. Oxford isn't so far away but I still find I don't see people enough. Very much looking forward to seeing my girls this afternoon and playing some poker with an indoor picnic too (boo rain!)

Spent 4 days last week in Cambridge as a staff member on the Teach First Higher Education Access Programme for Schools. Basically we had 120 really bright 16/17 year olds on the residential course, where they undertook sample lectures and classes, completed workshops on interview skills and university applications, and lived a bit of a Cambridge student lifestyle for a few days. Selwyn college hosted us and were lovely. The food was awesome as was the punting and formal dinner and casino and debating and all the other exciting things we did. I led the Physics and Engineering group (NOT my subject specialism) and I have to admit, I learnt some stuff. My favourite part was the night trip to the Cambridge Observatory where we saw Saturn through a telescope made in 1927! We learnt some constellations and about space, it was totally awesome. Am inspired enough to take an astronomy course at some point.

Another poignant part of the trip was when we had to think about our lives and how they are finite and what we really wanted to achieve by the end of them. The kids made lists and we shared ideas. It got me thinking about some of the things that maybe I'd like to change and to do. It's good to reflect I think.

The kids were all really inspirational, really bright and exciting. I was impressed with their manner and attitude and work ethic. It made me want to teach again, but I guess it's unreal as this trip was it's own little bubble and real school isn't like that.

Ok best get on to some work, have a hectic afternoon and evening of socialising!

Some plans and general ramblings

We are making a butternut squash soup with our new blender, Glenda. It's the weekend and we have been super relaxy - doing cooking and playing squash and laying in bed and reading the papers and watching silly films. Awesome!

Have been back in Oxford for 4 days after going home and then having a meeting in Cardiff. Am currently debating whether to take Cardiff's funding offer or to take a year out and apply for the Civil Service. Have got it into my head that I should work for the government, and maybe eventually become an MP (fits my initials and all). But then again I have three years paid for in Cardiff and I can be near X there, so it's a tough decision. Oxford are "re-evaluating" my application, which doesn't sound promising, so I think I'll have to sack that.

Spurs threw away a win against Blackburn yesterday. Admittedly there were some dodgy reffing decisions, including Palacios' second yellow card, which led to him being sent off and Blackburn capitalising on our chaos to score two goals, but even accounting for that, Spurs still were lacklustre. I think Redknapp should have brought on Pav instead of Bent after about 70 minutes rather than sticking with him when nothing was happening. Spurs' goal only came from a debatable hand-ball penalty award so really we are not doing enough to finish in a decent position. My eyes are on next season now.

Next week I'm in Cambridge on a higher education programme with TF. We're helping Y12 kids get in the zone for uni applications, which I'm looking forward too. It's a packed programme, and I've forgotten what it's like to teach/manage people, but we'll see how it goes.

Been planting in the allotment, now about to watch No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Back after Easter!

My children's books!

Wanted to come on here to note some of the children's book titles I've come up with, as I'm starting to forget them. At some point in my life I'll write them, hopefully.

- Reggie the Veggie (the tale of a vegetarian lion)
- The Brontosaurus Bus (dinosaurs discover eco-friendly transport)
- Indiana Bones (a skeleton travels around the world to collect the long-lost bones of his pet dog)

There were more, but I have forgotten them!

Just about to tighten up my Oxford DPhil ESRC one page proposal before submitting it, woo!

Have an annoying pain in my right shoulder, right elbow, and right wrist. Probably slept funny on it. Not good for typing.

Think birds are finally coming to the bird feeder, hurrah!

Looking forward to the weekend, lots of fun to be had in Oxford and London (not including my last shift of work!)

Am still in weekend mode!

The weekend was so good (we had lots of time for us, plus X's family came up to visit for the first time), and contrary to the weather forecast, Oxford is still full of sun, so I am finding it increasingly difficult to get into work mode. By work, I mean academic, not telethon. That work is going pretty well. Spent the weekend trying to speak with loads of overseas contacts, in places as far flung as Taiwan, Hawaii (didn't actually call them, they are 10 hours behind us!) and West Coast America. Was really interesting speaking with some of the African ones and also ones in Europe. I can't believe the range of activities Old Wolfsonians are up to nowadays, it's awesome!

Have only had a few people who are straight out "hard nos" - people who just won't even consider contributing to the Annual Fund. Most people seem ok to spare at least a few minutes to hear about the college and also let us update their contact details and invite them back to college and that kind of thing. Had a really good session yesterday - I won the wine prize from the day before for writing the best follow-up postcard, and then I also got three pledges, one of which was £100 a year until further notice on direct debit, which earned me an extra bar of Toblerone and a Kinder egg! Bonus!

Only two more evening shifts and then Saturday to go at this job, then I'm done with it. It's been really good though, a lovely bunch of people, plus in theory it should make me focused in the day time (not happened so much in practice this week!). On the plus side though, I have been doing lots of email campaigning directed at our politicians to try and get them to put pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to stop the genocide and war going on there. It's really terrible out there right now, they have to stop it soon, so many innocent lives are being lost. So I feel at least I am trying to do something, however small, that is useful and maybe will help. I have had a fair few decent replies back from MPs and MEPs so hopefully some big action from our government or an international organisation will happen soon and the suffering can stop.

We are going to London this weekend to watch the boys' varsity football match at Fulham. Craven Cottage is a lovely little stadium, I'm looking forward to it. It's also the boat race in the afternoon, which should be fun. Then on Monday we are planning on going to the London Transport Museum - they have an exhibition of lots of their old posters there, which I really want to see! Then I'm at home for a few days and then going to Cardiff. Why am I going to Cardiff....well, because I got one of their ESRC studentships to do my PhD! Woohoo! It's ace, it means I can study and be fully funded too! I can't believe it really! I'm probably going to take it, but I also have an application in for Oxford, and the one page summary proposal is due this Friday, so that's what I should be getting on with now. Should being the operative word. But classic fm is so relaxing and the room is full of sun, I just want to take my book out and relax!

I finished Call Me By Your Name, which was really good and so intense and accurate at the end, that a little tear drop escaped my eye. Find it if you can. Now reading The Road Home by Rose Tremain, which has had lots of good reviews. Hopefully it won't be too sad, although you know I have a weak spot when it comes to stories of immigrants.

Right, to work with me!

Finally holidays!

Term is done, woo hoo! And I have done the first of my four part qualitative methods project, and nearly the second part too, so things are looking good! We had some nice end of term things with my class, which was great, it's cool to meet everyone's partners and also to spend some non-stress time together, they're a good bunch.

Am shortly off to do my third night of alumni calling on the Wolfson Telethon. The first night was tough, but last night was more optimistic, and I got my first pledge, yeah!

Yesterday was X's birthday so I was busy doing lots of nice things. X liked the presents and we had birthday burritos for lunch and went for drinks in the KA in the evening with some of our old friends, it was a nice birthday. I love seeing our old friends again, they are good people and really make me laugh. X seemed to have had a great day, which makes me happy!

We went to see John Legend in Birmingham on Saturday night, which was totally awesome! This was part of the birthday package :) The Carling Academy is a pretty small venue so we got to see and hear him pretty well. He is really talented, his voice was lovely and he played the piano really well all night too. His backing band were excellent too! I had a great time, and even enjoyed the many trains we had to take from Oxford to London to Birmingham to get there. I'd definitely see him again next time he's here.

I've become a good little housewife I think. Now that classes are done, my days are up to me to manage. Obviously I have my qualitative methods project and also I have to do my ESRC proposal summary for Oxford (which will patently never make the cut, but I guess I should try) and also I have to get cracking on my thesis. But apart from that I have more time to do laundry and clean the kitchen and cook and do the shopping and work on the allotment. All nice things to me, physical work certainly has a good feeling to it sometimes.

I'm reading Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman, and it's ace, I really like it, but it's totally intense. I won't tell you what it's about, but just encourage you to pick it up. You can google it to see the praise.

What else is new? Nothing really, just enjoying the sun and looking forward to having a chilled weekend with my favourite and my best.

Loads of things!

Things have been really busy lately. I mean really busy. It's a Sunday night now and I'm knackered, really looking forward to an early night! We should be at Scrabble club but I've cancelled it this week so we can chill a bit.

So obviously since I've not been on here for aaages it'll be tricky to tell you everything I've done, so I'll just mention some choice highlights (which will most likely be the most recent things, since that is all I can remember!)

We had our housewarming last night, which was great! It's the first party X and I have hosted together and I think it was a success! It was lovely to have lots of our friends in one place and see them all and have fun together. I was really pleased, and felt really happy to be there.

I've played one footy match this weekend, and have run the line for three other games, so I'm just exhausted. Playing that much footy, including one game that went to extra-time and penalties, is serious hard work on the old knees and thighs. Still, need the money and it was a great experience - today was women's cuppers' final, which was a big game, and yesterday I did the Colleges XI and Centaurs varsity games, which are also very high profile games, so it was cool!

I got the Wolfson telethon job, which should be good fun (and again good for the money situation!) Basically it means working in a call centre calling up old members of college and asking them to donate funds, and also finding out what they're doing and keeping them involved in college life. I've never really done anything like that before, but I'm sure it'll be a good experience.

X took me to see Swan Lake on Friday night. It was a belated valentine's present, and it was just beautiful. I love the music and the ballet - it's all so elegant and graceful, like people are flying sometimes. It would be awesome to have that kind of skill and control in your body. I really enjoyed that too.

Spent last weekend at home as it was my Mum's 60th birthday, which was also great! My parents are pretty sociable and since the building works finished in the house, they've been trying to get back into organising things at home, so the party fitted the bill. Food was excellent and it was good company too, plus both my bros were back, so great to chatter with them too. Mum was glowing, I can't believe she's 60, she seems so much younger!

Went to the Blues night for our qualitative methods music consumption project. Managed to get someone to do the interview about music tastes, but then they bailed when it came down to it, so have to go and try again. The music was really good though - I've never been to a blues night but I'd def go again, the band were totally talented. They were the Sean Webster band - I think you can find them on myspace if you're interested.

X and I baked a fish pie from scratch, I'm very proud of this! We also saw Gran Torino this week, which was really well scripted and seriously moving, I would recommend it, Clint Eastwood was a real star and it's sad but also hilarious at times!

Lastly I've been taking part in some experiments - social science ones, not chemical ones! It's been good fun and quite good money, especially since for the past two I've got there too late so the experiment has had enough participants, so I've just pocketed the "show-up fee" and saved my time, cool!

It's 8th week now, one more week of classes and essays and then a bit of a break, yeah!

Essay done!

Got up early this morning and started stage 1 of my essay. Stage 2 took place between 1545 and 1638 in the SSL. Stage 3 has taken place in the last 30 minutes back in the flat. It is done. It is poor, but it is done. Roll on 9th week I say.

Reffed again this afternoon, girls' football is hard to ref, it's just so different from the boys' game. You have to be looking out for all the big dramas in a boys' game but in a girls' game all the issues are about whether the ball is in or out of play, and also whether the throw-in is a foul or not! There were some free-kicks, but I find my attention lapses. Also it's near impossible to predict where the ball will go - there are loads of those "whack it, whack it back, whack it again" sets of kicks that just confuse me entirely. Luckily I didn't get hit by the ball today, although I did have one player run into me once. I guess I'm just out of practice.

Classes were ok, just tired a bit really, need it to be end of term. Haven't done my redrafted proposal for Cardiff yet, crumbs! It's due on Monday and my supervisors need to see it before then. Will do it in the morning.

We watched Waterloo Road on BBC tonight. It was dramatastic! Literally every single scene had some issue in it, it was gripping stuff! A girl got shot at the end though, and there was also a storyline about a boy who was trying to sell babies, yuck, how wrong is that?!

Ok to bed with me. Rest time :)

Updates

This weekend:

1. Went to Cardiff. Tiring. Academics are weird. I have a lot of work to do if I want them to give me funding. Humph. Oxford is nicer...I'm a villager now.
2. Old school reunion at Teddy Hall. Brilliant. I love those things, especially the chat, it makes me laugh.
3. Old Furies game! Yeah! It was funny, I really liked reffing, even though I was knackered. Wish I was fitter. At least I could run though.
4. Dinner in the Mitre. Had the ribs, yum, I love ribs.
5. Not too hungover, despite having silly Rouse shots and also some pear cider. I think it was the lovely banana and nutella toastie back at Jij's.
6. Lined at cuppers semis, I like reffing, it's good to be back in all of that.
7. Went to the allotment with X. We did our first digs, I am very inspired.
8. Made a wicked king prawn noodles dinner, and had a lovely soak in the bath.
9. Did chores and some work today, but mostly chores. We have started a 3-day weekend. Oh dear.

Very hectic week this week, so no doubt I'll be updating things on here rather than working.

Wednesday...

Wednesday afternoon. So we are officially half way to the weekend. WOooooooOOOO!

This morning I went to the fruit & veg market at Gloucester Green and bought loads of veg. Like this:


I also went to Sainsbury's and bought lots of food. I am feeling like a good hunter-gatherer provider for the nest.

Having X get up at half seven each day for work has been good for my discipline. However, not having X around to make me work has meant that today I have become a bit distracted. I really should be writing my stratification essay (on occupational sex segregation, so something I care about and figure I can actually write about) but I am planning a nap first.

We're going to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tonight, which seems like it could be very interesting. Am pleased as we have bought a cheapy Orange PAYG sim so that we can get the Orange Wednesdays vouchers, a total bargain, two tickets for the price of one means twice as much cinema for us.

Yesterday I managed to get all my reading done, was very efficient, so I got to hang out with X in the evening. We played Scrabble. I won, it was close towards the end, but not close enough.

In our qualitative methods class this morning we were given our course assignments. Our project is to do with cultural consumption and whether it is stratified by class. We have to go to different music venues and interview someone from the audience about their music consumption. It's really cool, as well as the interview (using a schedule designed by us and digital sound recorders), we do an ethnographic style write up of the observations we make, and also make a transcription of our interview. Then we get to see everyone else's interviews and make a codebook for them (a way to kinda generalise the findings into a table with variables and evidence). Finally we use what we've learned to write our own qualitative research proposal, which will be cool as I'm well into all this interviewing and ethnography stuff.

Last thing. X and I were discussing baby names, and we added Winston to the list. It's funny though because when I was talking about this name with some people from my group today, the Americans said it sounded really posh and aristocratic, while the Brits said it sounded more Jamaican/Afro-Caribbean - real opposites! I like the name anyway, and everyone said that they thought it would be a good name for an entertainer, and that he would certainly be a character with a name like that, so I'm keeping it on the list!

Ok I'm off for a nap, just a quick recording of some stuff from today!

V-day and other things!

It is a Monday but I am treating it like a Sunday i.e doing chores and being distracted. I have lots of work to do, as usual, and so am procrastinating, as usual.

Went on strike on Friday and didn't write my essay on transition theory. Turns out no-one really understood the topic anyway, so that's one question I won't be choosing on my finals paper. My other two essays turned out to be good, so my hope that I CAN actually write a half-decent essay has been restored.

Got an offer from Cardiff to read for a PhD there, woooo! Now have to revise my proposal so I can get funding, fingers crossed on that front.

Took X to Bodyworlds on Sat for V-Day, which was really cool. The plastinated models were amazing, seeing the insides of people, all organs and muscles and bones was unbelievable, not to mention the giant giraffe, which was really something else! We learnt loads and I think X enjoyed consolidating the pre-med work. We only got into London around 4ish, but it was nice to have a lazy morning and read the papers/do the crossword on the way down. We missed all the parties and bops in college on Sat night, and I got into a strop cos I'd lost my lovely purple and pink stripey gloves that I've mix-and-matched with X, but I got over it on Sunday. Shame I couldn't be less of a kid on Sat night, but I guess we were both cold and hungry and tired, so that was a bit of a write-off. The pirate pepper grinder that X got me is perfect for our new nest, I like it a lot!

We played our much-vaunted cuppers quarter-final against LMH/T yesterday. Alas we lost in extra-time, it was 4-3, very dramatic! The knee mostly held up - one rather painful moment when I put a cross in and it clicked rather horridly, but it's no more sore than the rest of my very achey body today. Playing 120 minutes of football after having done nearly no exercise (apart from cycling) for about 2 months is a bad plan. I am very naughty when it comes to being good and taking care of myself.

What else? I bought us a TV licence, making us officially grown-up. We have been doing lots of house-based stuff like tidying and doing laundry and food shopping and making it nice. I am gutted to be missing our first book club meeting this Sunday, but it's our old girls' football match on Sat and the dinner too, so I just can't get to London in time on Sunday, oh well. I've been reading Q&A for it, which is singularly awful in my humble opinion, Slumdog is so much better.

Ok I best try and get some work done. Just a quick update to keep the records complete!

The new nest!

Monday of 4th week.

Some points of note:

1. We have moved into our new NEST! Hurrah! The move was a bit of a stress, but much better than it could have otherwise been. I woke up at 7am that morning and we just about finished unloading the last lot at the new place around 11:30pm - looooong day! Luckily no snow and minimum iciness (although enough for the GIANT hired van to get stuck in college!) We now realise we have a lot of stuff, but already our nest looks good and homely and we are going to make it even nicer. I'm excited to be doing this!

2. Spurs drew with Arsenal after a dreadful performance from the Gunners (including Eboue being sent off for being just persistently annoying and naughty). Why Spurs couldn't capitalise on the full three points I just don't know - they had so many shots and attempts but just couldn't break through.

3. I want to mention the GIANT van again, just cos I'm so pleased that I could drive it ok, albeit with X dealing with my freakouts about whether it could fit in gaps, whether I was reversing it ok, where the petrol tank was etc. It's cool to be driving up from a high position, and also it was surprisingly manoeuvrable! I named her Blizzy. Diesel-wise she was excellent value - used up £20-odd of fuel having driven all over London and back and forth from Oxford, plus a few little drives. Good stuff.

4. SO much to do this week and I think there'll be even more next week, but I just don't really have time what with trying to sort the nest out, a knee appointment on Weds, and lots of social stuff. Still, am looking forward to V-Day next weekend!

5. Our battle with LMH/T was cancelled due to more crazy snow. It's on for next weekend though, I wonder if I should play...?

Ok I'm going to go and make us some dinner so we'll be nice and energised for more nest-organising. Hope all is well with you.

SO MUCH SNOW!

SNOW. That is all that we have at the moment.

My relationship with snow is pretty turbulent. Up and down, love and hate, right and wrong. And more annoying opposites.

Right now I am not happy with the snow. It is stressing me out as moving weekend is here and moving is going to be tricky. BUM.

What else? Very hectic week. All my essays were written in dramatic last minute/pressured fashion. Wrote possibly my worst essay of the term at 1pm today in 55 minutes after having a super long journey from London to Oxford because of our good friend, SNOW. Oh and also the Oxford Tube, which has become a bit substandard. Anyway am glad classes are done for the week, and also that Sociological Analysis is nearly done as the class has become really tedious, mainly cos it's a massive lecture, but also cos our essay topics are really odd and so it's difficult to well in them.

Went to X's father's birthday dinner last night, was very nice, we had Indian food. I like going out for Indian food, partly cos it's ironic, partly cos restaurant Indian food is different to actual Indian food. I liked the "manly flowers" I took X's dad - I think men should get flowers too.

Aaah packing, I knew there was something I had to do. How can I avoid it? Maybe whoever gets my room will want my stuff and then I can buy all new stuff??

So the next time I post it'll hopefully be from our new nest :) Wish us luck!

Protesting and other things

It's Sunday of 3rd week already, I can't believe it! And it's February! And it was snowing in London today.

Have had very busy weekend. Was in London on Sat - went to the Tate Britain with X, which was cool, and then we joined my brother for the Anti-Genocide protest march against the war in Sri Lanka and the wrong-doings of the government there. It's some bad sh*t going down over there, but because the Tigers are listed as terrorists, no one else will intervene, even though the Army is basically destroying civilian infrastructure, and displacing and killing thousands of people. It's a terrible thing, I hope they can at least reach a cease-fire soon, if not granting us Tamils as separate state. Anyway, apparently 50,000 people turned out for the march from Tate Britain to Temple, which is loads of people, and all the roads were closed for the walk, with a petition being handed into parliament, so fingers crossed that our voices can help the voices being silenced in Sri Lanka.

After the march we went bowling in Finsbury Park, which was fun, and in stark contrast to all the serious thoughts of the protest. Then we went to one of X's house-mate's friend's gigs in Great Portland Street, which was also really cool, I love live music, especially when it's something different. Then today we chilled for most of the day and managed to complete the Observer speedy crossword - a success compared to last week where we really struggled! Now am back in Oxford, but disappointed since the bar is closed and so Scrabble Club has been cancelled. At least I'll get an early night!

Managed to do the whole of January without drinking, good stuff! Celebrated with a pint of ale with X in Notting Hill, yum. We are excited because next weekend is moving weekend, thus only have a week left in this place! Hopefully all the drama of moving won't be too much - this time next week we want to be nice and settled.

Lots of work for this week, as per usual. Let's keep this train going!